CAAR Blog

Here’s a link to the podcast of the 2010 Officer & Director Installation that took place on Thursday, January 7th at the DoubleTree Hotel. Great speech by Greg Slater, our new 2010 President.

After a thorough and open process that included several days of candidate interviews and member input, CAAR has determined the best candidates for the REALTOR® Party. Although REALTORS® often vote based on other issues that personally motivate them, these candidates have been determined to be the best on issues important to the real estate industry, including private property rights and housing affordability.

• CAAR Supported 8 candidates so far in 2009 – 3 republicans, 3 democrats and 2 independents.
• CAAR has supported 2 candidates in Albemarle, 2 in Fluvanna, 2 in Charlottesville, and 2 candidates for the VA House of Delegates. We also interviewed two candidates in Greene that declined support.
• CAAR policy is to invite all official candidates for an office to be interviewed prior to making any support decisions. In 2009 we interviewed 14 candidates from 6 different jurisdictions/districts.

Charlottesville

CAAR has supported two candidates running for City Council:

David Norris

Kristin Szakos

• We feel both of these candidates are high caliber individuals that will make excellent city councilors.

Albemarle

In Albemarle County, CAAR has support:

Duane Snow in the Sam Miller District

• CAAR believes Mr. Snow’s long-time community presence and solid support of business and private property rights makes him an ideal candidate for Supervisor.

Rodney Thomas in the Rio District

• CAAR believes Mr. Thomas was the strongest candidate on three key issues: personal property rights, economic development, and real estate taxes.

Fluvanna

In Fluvanna, CAAR is supporting two challengers:

Shaun Kenny in the Columbia District

Keith Smith in the Cunningham District

• CAAR believes both of these candidates will bring needed change to the Board of Supervisors in Fluvanna. Both have strong resumes as pro business leaders and both are strong private property rights advocates.

Va House of Delegates

CAAR has supported 2 Candidates for the House of Delegates:

David Toscano, 57^th District

Rob Bell, 58^th District

• Both of these incumbents have a strong history of working with CAAR and VAR to support key objectives in the General Assembly.

The following is a summary of one of the 10 trends covered in the 2009 Swanepoel Trends Report.

Factors Shaping Housing Values and Development

Housing demographics are changing.  In 1990, 50% of all households had children, but by 2000 that number was down to 33% and expected to decline to 25% by 2025.  In addition to empty nesters, there are also a lot of younger households being formed and the combination has caused the population in many cites to grow.  The suburban flight of the 70’s is officially over and cities are at the beginning of a surge.  In addition, new development is trending toward new urbanism and walkable communities.

The other trend in the current demographics of America is causing what Swanepoel calls the “real” energy crisis.  America has no energy plan other than to follow the self-serving interests of the American people that are still dominated by the baby boom generation whose slogan is “what’s in it for me?”  For the past several decades, political decisions related to energy and infrastructure have been driven by NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard).  Instead of developing new power plants, or even alternative energy sources, politicians have bent to the NIMBYs wishes and now we find ourselves way behind in energy development and fading fast.

This “real” energy crisis effects housing prices and development decisions.  The situation is already precarious and we are one energy shortage away from exposing this weakness.  Unless we find a way to overcome tyranny of NIMBYism, we will continue to head down a path that could effect our entire economy and our national security.

Cities Ready for an Energy Crisis

San Francisco

New York

Chicago

Washington DC

Seattle

Portland

Boston

Philadelphia

Oakland

Denver

Cities NOT Ready for an Energy Crisis

VA Beach

Fort Worth

Nashville

Arlington, TX

Jacksonville

Indianapolis

Memphis

Louisville

Tulsa

Oklahoma City

Hearty congratulations go out to Carol Clarke of Montague, Miller & Co. upon her selection as VAR 2008 REALTOR® of the Year! Carol was singled out from over 36,000 VAR members as personifying the qualities of a truly outstanding REALTOR® in the state of Virginia. She has shown commitment to local, state, and national issues throughout her years of service and repeatedly demonstrates leadership in both her business and personal lives. She has served as both CAAR and VAR president and is currently Chair of the Virginia Real Estate Board. We have benefited from her dedication both here in Charlottesville and across the state, so please take a moment to join us in thanking her for her service and congratulating her on a well-deserved accolade!

One of the distinct privileges I have in this community is working with the Save the Fireworks Foundation.  This all-volunteer group is responsible for the Annual 4th of July Festival in McIntire Park, including raising the funds and planning the event.  Actually, to call the group “all-volunteer” is a misnomer.  We have professional working the event if you count the Parks staff, the bus drivers, the fire and rescue personnel, the police, and of course the pyrotechnics crew.  The all-volunteer part is the multiple planning sessions that we hold to make sure everything is in order.  At those meetings, all these professionals show up and essentially volunteer their time with the only pay coming in the form of Papa John’s Pizza and a Coke. 

I think I can speak for the entire planning committee when I say that this project is a labor of love.  Personally, I feel a debt to our founding fathers and patriots who created this free country.  They certainly put forth a much greater effort than we do and they didn’t even get Papa John’s Pizza and a Coke. 

A few years ago, the Annual Festival was in danger of going away, but we saved the Fireworks - at least for now - by uniting the entire community around the event.  We now have what I call the 4 pillars of our core community on the same team to make sure we always celebrate the Independence Day in the home town of the man who drafted the very Declaration that began our existence as a country.  The four pillars are the City of Charlottesville, the County of Albemarle, the University of Virginia, and Dave Matthews Band.  For those of you who might be surprised by DMB being included in that list, you should know that the Band, through the Bama Works fund, is the largest supporter of not only the Fireworks, but many other wonderful programs that make this community special.  DMB is a great friend to this community and we are luck to have them as neighbors and supporters. 

Have a safe and happy 4th!

Last night I attended a transportation forum sponsored by Delegate David Toscano.  I was hoping to hear something new in the never-ending debate on transportation funding.  Instead, all I heard was the same old song and dance that we have heard for years.  Here’s a quick summary:

VDOT Representative – We are changing our ways, but there is no money…
Trip Pollard, III from the Southern Environmental Law Center – We can’t pave our way out of this mess.
Dennis Rooker, Albemarle Supervisor – The state is cutting our funds, so we can’t afford new roads.
Harrison Rue, TJPDC – we just need to do a few more expensive studies and hire more consultants to figure this out – okay, he did not really say that.  What he really said was the answer is connecting roads through neighborhoods, but he left out the part about the neighborhoods really hating this idea.
Meredith Richards – Commuter trains are cheaper than roads.

The funny thing is that all of these statements were as true last night as they were 5 years ago.  Nothing has changed and we are spiraling down a deep hole that will be increasingly hard to dig out of the farther we descend.  Will it take a bridge falling down and killing a bunch of folks before we start taking better care of our infrastructure?  Will it take total gridlock before we fund more new road building?  Will gas have to go to $12 a gallon before we decide to carpool or take the bus? 

What I did not hear last night was what the general assembly is going to do about this mess.  They control the purse-strings, both locally and statewide, so they are the ones who have allowed us to get into this mess.  I must confess that I came late and left early, so I may have missed Delegate Toscano’s ideas.  David is not the problem here and I actually appreciate his efforts to pull this forum together.  Unfortunately, I saw no value in the time I spent attending. 

I do not care how this issue is fixed, but the “solution� the Assembly came up with last year was a joke and was intended as a sound bite for the elections.  We need a real solution and we need it yesterday.  I have very little faith in the Assembly coming up with a fix or even adopting the Governor’s plan.  The politics are too tough on this issue to expect real results.

Oh well.  At least I will have plenty to write (read “whine�) about for many years to come.  Here are some past classic rants on transportation that stand the test of time.

Parkway Opponents Cost Us BIG $$
Girlymen Don’t Raise Taxes
NIMBY’s on Parade

(The following list was created by CAAR President Judy Savage and is graciously shared with all agents and sellers to help our fight against overpriced listings.)

The Market Value of Your Home is NOT:

1.         What you have in it.

2.         What you need out of it.

3.         What you want.

4.         What it appraised for.

5.         What you heard your neighbor’s house sold for.

6.         What the tax office says it is worth.

7.         How much it is insured for.

8.         Based on memories and treasures.

9.         Based on prices of homes where you are moving.