I’m looking to move to C’ville. What neighborhoods/counties are nice to raise a family.
For instance where does Howie Long live?
[editor’s note: Real Estate Agents, this is your cue to be helpful!]
Popularity: 35% [?]
Tagged as: Charlottesville, family, neighborhood, raise
I’ll answer this question as I answer many buyer/potential client questions -
What do you want/need to be “close to”? How far is “too far” from whatever you want to be close to? What does “nice to raise a family” mean to you - walkable streets? Other kids? Close to grocery stores? Day camps? What is important to you?
Top 5 Questions Home Buyers ask - and why Realtors can’t answer most of them.
Relocation page with a Google Map - I break the CharlAlbemarle area into sub-regions to help narrow the search down.
This is a post
Posts with Enduring Value
Howie Long lives in Albemarle off a quiet road, in a very convenient location to Charlottesville City.
May I suggest Oregon? Run faaar away from Cville while you still can!
/I may take my own advice.
The white, upper middle class ones.
The best neighborhood in Charlottesville is Southwood Mobile Home Park off fifth street. Yep.
A bunch of my friends grew up in the Forest Lakes/Hollymead area. Seems pretty nice up there, plus there is a lot of growth up that way. Dunlora is also kinda nice, but it seems to me like there are more older folks, that might be changing though. Howie lives out in Ivy, I don’t know if he’s really in a neighborhood..probably more like a big house with lots of land. There are some nice places to live out in the Crozet/Ivy area too…I forget their names, one is called Corey Farm I believe (it’s across from where they’re building the new Harris Teeter sorta) Id say just go for a drive and see whats out there.
Howie Long lives on Bloomfield road. The Seagrams family has a farm nearby. It has lots of large farms, but not what I’d really call a great neighborhood to raise kids.
Wait! Howie Long lives here? I am so the newbie out of the loop.
I second Thurston’s suggestion.
And as to the question of where Howie Long lives… I would imagine he lives pretty much anywhere he damn well likes. He’s got millions and is like nine feet tall!
@4,8 Comcast apparently cleaned a quarter of a million pounds of garbage out of Southwood over the last few weekends as part of their community service probation…er project. And the BoS was set last night to approve an expanded Boys and Girls club for over there.
the BoS
Springsteen?
Southern Greene County is nice, until the kids have to go to school, then you skip back over the line into Albemarle with all the money you saved on property taxes in Greene! at least, that’s what i’m hoping to do!
Springsteen?
He may have approved it too.
What is the preferred shorthand for those tax-and-spend politicians? The Supes?
I used to always see little kids waiting for the schoolbus on Rugby road on the way to work, it seems like it would be pretty strange to raise a family in the middle of fratland, but I guess farther down the road its less and less UVA.
It depends on your priorities, as Jim said. My priority is not spending my life in my car, so we’re raising a family in Belmont. It’s close to everything, we have a beautiful park, nice neighbors, and the houses have character. I don’t want my children to have the bland suburban existance that I experienced growing up.
ewwwwww, families are for old people
I just moved to the Locust Ave. area. Seems very family friendly, is very convenient to the MJH, downtown, and the 29 area. I see children all over the place, how many points for twins again?
I’d live in Belmont if I could afford the upkeep on an older house and I could keep sending my kids to Albemarle county schools.
@4… HA!. It IS home of the taco truck 5 nights a week though
Gotta throw in a good word for Woolen Mills.
Interesting history as it relates to the mill itself, very quiet (as far away from the University as you can get & still be in the city, I think), easy to get anywhere else in town or on the interstate, and the options of either heading downtown or patronizing even more local businesses such as Aqui es Mexico, Beer Run, etc.
Plus its own pool hall, if the mood strikes & you can endure the cigarette smoke…
There’s a pool hall in Woolen Mills?
Two Sides, on Carlton close to CVille Market. Restaurant also, but most of the money comes becaue of the billiard tables, I suspect.
@21 you’re not a lurker anymore, which presents you with an interesting dilemma. do you change your name and come back as somebody new, and set about rebuilding all your credibility from scratch? or do you continue to live a lie?
…
… no, YOU’RE being melodramatic.
Hey Lurker31. Are you friends with Lurker72?
Ivy was great for growing up but it did make pub crawling difficult.
When I lived in Ivy- pub crawled to you!
Open fields and coolers
@wingnut: Southern Greene County? it’s the frigging Greeners commuting in and out of town that make 29 N such a nightmare every weeknight. Thanks a lot.
try to LIVE within 5 MILES of WHERE YOU PLAN TO WORK, assholes.
@26 there aren’t enough high-skiled jobs in rural areas for that to be possible…asshole.
obviously that should be “skilled”
it’s the frigging Greeners commuting in and out of town that make 29 N such a nightmare every weeknight. Thanks a lot.
And you know this why? A nightmare for whom? Could it be you in your car going to work?
try to LIVE within 5 MILES of WHERE YOU PLAN TO WORK, assholes
What a boojy thing to say. A lot of people dont have that luxury.
That was a pretty lame statement dude.
Most jobs are in the city and not everyone can afford to live in the city.
/has a 20 minute drive every day
@26 so I’m an ASSHOLE because I live 9 miles from work?
And people who have to live in Greene in order to afford a nice house and work at UVa are a problem because they are using YOUR roads?
Dude what’s wrong with you. I don’t have a trust fund to buy a penthouse on the mall.
not serious, dude.
People who call people assholes are such assholes.
@32 cool- at least throw a smiley face or somethin’ in there so I know the diff.
so I’m an ASSHOLE because I live 9 miles from work?
No, its because of that other thing…
:):):):):):):):):):):):):)
Those are supposed to be smilies.
people who take blog comments seriously take blog comments seriously
@35 True that- everybody does “that other thing” from time to time
you gotta space ‘em out B-yo:
:) 
:) 
:)
WTF? Fail.
insert a nose, FTW
I know you guys are all hugging it out, but I kinda agree with t(h)om on this one, but not just because of traffic.
I mean, it doesn’t work for everyone economically of course, but communities are healthier when living and working is integrated. This is more of a 20th century urban planning critique, but a lot went downhill when we started segregating our lives. Instead of building complete places, we started building subdivisions, eight lane highways to ship people back and forth, then strip malls to get products to them. Why do we live in Charlottesville? for U.S. 29? nope. If I had kids, I’d try my best to live in one of the neighborhoods downtown.
I’d love to live downtown. Unfortunately, when I moved here, the housing prices were still insane, and it wasn’t a viable option. Now that prices have come down, I can’t sell my house in the first place to be able to move, so .. yeah.
but I kinda agree with t(h)om on this one
Me too. We’re all assholes.
batesville day is Sat. if that area would intrest you.
Parade, band, food
@42 I feel you and it’s well said- extra points for not calling anyone an asshole that might differ with you.
It’s wasn’t what but how it was said that I disagreed with.
@dieter why do you hate the first amendment?
@47 Sorry- could I see those press credentials again?
46: thanks… I was raised in the suburbs and lament that my upbringing was largely without a sense of place or character. Viewing everything as a compromise (I can either have an extra bedroom or a five minute commute. A second car or a house in town) I think in town living is more attainable than people think.
also the smiley faces: what’s the deal? I know typed communication lacks nuance, but this is getting to be like the internet version of “bless her heart.” You can say whatever dick thing you want, but just put a smiley on the end and it becomes sarcastic or just for fun. seems lazy.
/penis.
@ the :0
are just a meme in this thread I hope
oh belmont, I saw that one coming. so cute.
I bet a trolley that mc has read (and enjoyed) Crabgrass Frontier.
/it’s okay; I did, too.
No offense to anyone that lives up there, but I would avoid anything North of Rio Road on 29.
@1 Jim I am just curious as to why you rarely contribute to the site, and yet you jumped on this post at 8.31am today. Do you see this site as a lucrative prospecting opportunity?
Floozy -
Thanks for calling me out.
I contribute where I think I might be able to add value to the conversation, and would like to think that my answer did in fact attempt to answer the poster’s question. I don’t see it as a prospecting opportunity so much as trying to help someone who seems to have an honest need for advice.
Floozy, don’t pick bones with Jim! He does A LOT of hard work covering market area real estate info… plus realtors would probably know best.. don’t you think?
sometimes, when thor acts like the hall monitor, i kind of… let’s duct tape his ass to the flagpole with a wedgie up to his ears.
damnit i forgot to add a winkyface.
personally, i feel safer knowing Thor is up there in the sky.
btw, Friendship Court is really friendly, just like it’s name.
I go commando 100% of the time, so it may be difficult to do the wedgie thing.
/rain on YOUR PARADE!
@60 no apostrophe in “its”: that’s for “it is”, not the possessive
@17 why knock (Belmont) city schools. I’ve yesterday been to Walker’s orchestra concert and last week to Burford’s orchestra concert, plus have rising 7th & 8th graders doing wa-a-a-ay advanced work at Burford, plus have a rising 4th grader at Clark: blowing out the SOLs and doing incredible stuff after school. It can be done next to the children of Friendship Court, if only you think it can. Diversity? Isn’t that for someone else? Move in with your kids & join the PTO: I;ve been there for six years. Wake up and smell the community!
I love Cville when it pulls me into its deep crevices, saturating me with festive energy, propelling this ecstatic mind far beyond comprehension and into…………
……..drunky.
Have a good night, y’all. (:
@53: I win a trolley! Never got around to that one, but I do recommend:
Suburban Nation by Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk
Geography of Nowhere by Jim Kunstler
and the ultimate book on creating great places, big and small: A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander.
I have to put in my plug for Belmont as well. It’s not for everyone - if you are into clean, neat streets where every lawn is mowed, the sidewalks have no cracks, and the neighbors keep their domestic disputes to themselves, this ain’t it. We are raising a family here and we love it. Great people, great location, great chickens (seriously, everybody here seems to be raising them in their backyard). We have two cars, but mostly because I have been too lazy to sell the second one. Our kids are too young for school, but they will be attending Clark in a few years. From what I can tell, that school has a pretty lousy reputation among people who don’t know it, a fantastic reputation among people who do. I trust the latter.
By the way, while it is true that many of Belmont’s lovely porches have fallen into a sad state of disrepair, the Belmont Dilapidated Porch Foundation is working tirelessly to restore them to their former glory.
/couldn’t resist the shout-out to a fictional charity, even if it did lose the Space Party voting.
@62 Belmont does have a distinctive smell, at least where I used to live. Like damp swampy growing stuff near a river.
Or maybe that was just Fox’s, or that tire place…
@17 ahhh city schools. you could always homeschool. i hear thats hot. City schools are invited to international science competitions, win national awards for arts and music, have classes in diverse things such as set design and offer a lot of advanced classes (ap, honors) for their students. There are co teachers for the kids with special needs.
County schools are the schools in the area where kids plan on blowing shit up and bring guns to the grounds. (Western, Henley)
oh yeah, but city schools have black kids. commonly referred to as “them”. i forgot, thats a major detractor.
@62 and 68. Thanks for the preaching. I taught in the city schools for a number of years and the diversity you speak of is a joke. There are two separate and very unequal systems uneasily coexisting. The middle and upper class kids are catered to by the city schools and do have access to a very good education. The top kids in Charlottesville can compare to the top kids anywhere. If you’re poor (white/black/brown) and/or have special needs, get used to being warehoused and tracked into large classes with overworked teachers and substandard curriculum. Don’t worry, maybe you’ll get to see the “smart” kids at lunch. If you’re not college-bound, there’s very little available to you as even CATEC focuses much more on the techy end and less on the functional work skills so many of these kids need. Don’t get me wrong, the county schools have work to do as well in this area, but they are well ahead of where the city is.
@65 By the way, I hear Clark is doing much better as well.
Thor… what bones did I pick? I thought I asked a reasonable question. If the original inquiry had been about where to buy tires, and a semi-lurker had jumped straight in with a reply containing 4 embedded links back to THEIR website “Blow Me Tires LLC” then I think it would be considered advertorial, even if the site gives great general advice. The bottom line is they sell tires, and Jim sells Jim because he is a business… a strange concept but true.
Jim… I think you are a superb example of the species called Realtor, and greatly admire your online work but it is not born of benevolence. It gives you a marketing edge and raises your profile to generate clients so you get paid.
Hahaha! Remember when Belmont living was in the same category as Southwood Mobile Homes, it’s so bourgeois (thanks b’yo) now! How posh!
/remembers when people were like, whoa you live across the tracks??!!
When we first came to C’ville, we told a Realtor we were interested in a house on Monticello Rd–the now-fabulous block between Avon and Hinton–and she screamed, “NO!” as if we’d told her we were interested in living in a dugout under the coal tower.
I meant Avon and Rialto, not Hinton. All those Belmont streets converge right in that area.
it’s so bourgeois (thanks b’yo) now!
Was the croquet and topiary too much, too soon?
/do you have any grey poupon?
@69 The tracking of which you speak was brought up in a school board meeting recently for evaluation about how to get rid of it since diversity helps all kinds of kids, which Im sure you are aware of. The parents fought vocally and viciously against it, including statements of the kind that their kids would surely be brought down by “them” and that their children really wanted to learn and that they wanted to be in school and shouldnt have to be around people who dont. (Ah yes I remember well the days i spent wanting to be in school. right.) anyway, many people, teachers included, want to be rid of tracking since it is a system set in place to ensure that privileged kids get into the “right” schools, it doesnt really help anything else. It just lets kids talk about the honors classes they took. The parents love tracking.
You are right about two schools there though, and thats why. Good old Charlottesville parents cant stand the thought of little Jimmy not having the luxury to be able to not be around people who are different and might make him uncomfortable. The horrors! Imagine being forced to share space and oxygen with someone who has cerebral palsy. Or is black. Or from…Hogwaller! Ah, elitism, racism and classism all rolled into a big ball and forced into the mouths of our impressionable youth.
And whats the internet for if not preaching? Next you’ll tell me I make you want to puke.
/i kid
@ Floozy -
Thanks for the kind words, and you are correct that I am not strictly benevolent and altruistic with my advice.
But … here’s what I perceive to be the difference, and it may be semantics, between my comment and a link back to the referenced tire website.
I debated saying in my comment “If you have any further questions, please contact me,” but I specifically didn’t want to overtly ask for business. My site is more of a passive interview process for potential clients to decide if they like me and the information I provide. If they like both, hopefully they’ll contact me. If they don’t, that’s fine too.
I earnestly wanted to answer the poster’s question, and had written a couple of stories that were pertinent (easy to have done as I’ve been writing for nearly 3.5 years).
So my question for you is this - do you see a difference between offering information and overtly saying “if you want to buy, call me!”
And again, thank you for calling me out and for the opportunity to clarify my intent. (did it work?)
Any where on Cherry Avenue should do. You’ll get your exercise outrunning all the gangs, and dodging bullets.
I second the notice of Oregon. Get the Hell out Charlottesville ASAP. In fact, don’t even consider Charlottesville, unless you enjoy click-ish snobby rich folks, and UVA alums.
RUN FOREST RUN >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
@76 - Hey Rose, what do you know, we’re in substantial agreement after all! It’s not preaching if it’s stuff I want to hear
@69 and 76…
There are many complex issues that you both bring to the table regarding our educational system, especially here in Charlottesville/Albemarle. I am in favor of collapsing levels and having students of varying abilities, socioeconomic backgrounds, and ethnicities grouped together but the majority of people that have a strong voice don’t feel that way. The parents that are extremely involved are usually the parents of higher performing students and therefore push for tracking and leveled classes because it is, in their opinion, in the best interest of their children. To a certain degree I can empathize with them, although I disagree with them.
Also, while I believe that there are still a lot of snobby/racist/elitist parents out there, the majority of parental concerns do not stem from parents upset that their children will be next to a minority student or a low SES student or a student with special needs. The main concern they have is rather that their children will be placed with students with significantly lower abilities. BUT, right now in America if you are a minority or poor or disabled, chances are greater that you will be of lower ability (this is not based on my opinion, but rather factual evidence of an extreme achievement gap).
To fix the problem, we need to find ways of helping minority, economically disadvantaged, and special needs students become more academically successful. The best way, imo, is to fund more early intervention programs and help families that are economically disadvantaged or uneducated help their sons and daughters break the mold.
In elementary school today, it is typical for some students to enter class never having seen a book, been read to, understand colors, shapes, or numbers, or even use the bathroom independently. And there are others that read on a third grade level. That is a tremendous disparity that is almost impossible to overcome, even through 13 years of public schooling.
And that’s how tracking begins. Because, how do you teach a class of students whose abilities vary that greatly? You either break them into manageable ability groups, or you keep them together and the teacher has to differentiate instruction to meet individual needs. But the latter takes not only experienced, passionate, and amazing teachers (which are rare for many reasons which I won’t delve into here), but it still does little to overcome that initial disparity. It’s also hard to differentiate instruction, no matter how amazing the teacher, and not have either the highest kids not be challenged enough or the lowest kids individual needs not met enough.
I know this is a long one, but it might help show what a complicated issue it really is…
to decide if they like me and the information I provide. If they like both, hopefully they’ll contact me. If they don’t, that’s fine too.
I feel the same way about extra terrestrials.
It was passive aggressive marketing, but it wasn’t too in your face so no harm no foul.
Who is that “Belmont Expert” realtor dude who used to send me newsletters and stuff. Did the crash eviscerate the funds for his pr blitz or what?
@ 80, yeah, I miss the “Sweet” flyers from the Belmont expert on my car windshield every few weeks. Maybe it was that dump across the street from Clark Elementary that he was trying to sell for $450,000 that did him in…
::checks into it::
Yeah, that was it
Yeah, those three houses across from Clark have been on the market For. Evar. (Jim, would you please swoop in with some passive information and do something about that?)
I especially liked the belmont business “phonebook” the friendly belmont man sent me. It had like seven listings.
Icenine, I disagree with nothing you say. It takes systemic change and flexibility, targeted resources for intervention and progress monitoring to make sure we are on the right track. It’s hard turning around the status quo, but not impossible.
@Belmont Yo -
This is my goal with most of my social media efforts - to become “the” person people think of when they think about real estate. If I asked for business in every comment (or post on my blog), readers/consumers/potential clients would be turned off, I suspect. That’s why I try to provide information and analysis.
Here’s the Monticello Avenue update -
922 Monticello -
On the market for 248 Days. Original Listing price of $279,900 now at $239,900
908 Monticello -
Originally listed 5/3/2006. Original Listing price of $324,900 now at $249,900
935 Monticello -
On the market for 18 Days. Original Listing price of $259,900 now at $259,900
912 Monticello -
On the market for 106 Days. Original Listing price of $512,000 now at $484,000
606 Monticello -
On the market for 51 Days. Original Listing price of $619,000 now at $599,000
800 Monticello -
Under Contract - on the market for 21 Days, asking price was $349,900 (my buyer clients)
Wait, are *you* the “Belmont realtor dude”?
Are 908, 912 and 922 the three sisters of unsalability? I am surprised Dick Spurzem hasn’t made you an extreme lowball offer on the set yet… heh.
I’m not “the” dude, but I do work there.
@ 80: *applause*
thanks for shedding some light on what is indeed a rather complicated issue. i’m not sure i could have been so concisely eloquent in treating that subject…
/coffee now, sociology later
I think the Charlottesville City public schools do not do such a great job of identifying kids of lower socioeconomic backgrounds who are also highly intelligent and ought to be in upper level classes, starting at an early age. The advantages that come with growing up in a family with a comfortable income can mask an average intellect, while the disadvantages of growing up poor may mask a gifted child’s abilities. ALL kids benefit from academic enrichment, regardless of their abilities. I don’t know, that’s just my observation as a parent of kids in the city schools.
amen patience!
@80 as a teacher I can say that you are spot on, icenine. differentiation is far and away the hardest skill for a teacher to learn, and it really takes time and effort to develop. it can be very intimidating (and overwhelming) as a teacher when you have such a wide range of abilities amongst your students. I teach middle school and I have 14 year old kids who are reading at a third grade reading level in the same room with kids reading at the high school level. Even with all the differentiation and individual attention in the world, it is going to be difficult to get a student to pass SOL tests that they can (literally) barely read.
but hey, I guess the profession is all about trying your hardest to do the seemingly impossible, and I wouldn’t trade it in for anything else in the world
@80 and 91 You guys are exactly right, asking the individual teacher to be able to differentiate instruction and assessment day to day can be extremely challenging. However, if you adapt a grade’s, a school’s or a school system’s structure to free up people to be that interventionist for those students not accessing the regular curriculum while making sure that each teacher is teaching what they should teach, now you’re talking about something that can and should happen in every school.
@92 It would be great if that kind of instruction could happen more often, but it isn’t just the school. Its the community and the parents and (let’s face it) our detention systems too. Our community has no faith in its teachers, I know of parents who think involvement means going to the school in the middle of the day to lambast teachers in front of their classes, which is of course completely inappropriate. But since their kids are in honors courses, that makes it ok in their minds. They should get arrested for trespassing, but alas, no enforcement. Then there are the actual kids who bring violence to the schools, who go to Juvey Hall and get virtually no remediation no skill development no therapy nothing. they color all day then throw gang signs around trying to recruit. No one visits them. Its sad and pathetic. Then they go….back to school, where they are even less well prepared. And the community refuses to recognize that theres a gap here for adolescents, that we are failing them. Not just the poor minorites being recruited to do petty gang jobs, but even the honors kids who need to become invlolved in adult activities like volunteering or charity work. And I admit im part of the problem, i dont want to spend time at work with a bunch of know it all teens or chapeone at school functions where i dont even have kids yet, but i should and maybe i will. Maybe we could all chaperone the chs homecoming in the fall, bustin up booty dancers, telling girls to respect themselves more. then getting drunk afterwards!
/do as i say, not as i do!
@85 - Still WAY too fucking expensive. I’m happy renting. I was lucky and found 2br/2ba place to rent 2 blocks off the mall for pretty cheap. (I am looking for a roommate btw - if you can tolerate cats and living with a geek)
And Rosie-Rose I agree with your points but I do think you’re painting the worst possible picture of city schools. I’m an alumni and I think the problems with them has less to do with race than socioeconomic class and parental neglect. I am so snowballed by the many sides of the issue that I can’t even begin to make some internet statement on it.
@94 Ah crap! I am in love with city schools! I think they are the best and it really chaps my ass when I hear people say they stay out in the county “because of the schools” City schools are awesome and read Icenine’s exemplary explanation of the few serious problems that exist there (tracking, parents, experience etc) . I think if you want a superb education where your kid might get the chance to be exposed to kids from different backgrounds, send them to city schools.
i WENT to county schools. It was terrible. It was far less diverse than any of the classes I see at CHS. The classes themselves were tracked to within an inch of the students lives. And frankly, as an adult looking back, the teachers were entirely uninterested in the students themselves and as an adult assessing the education that I got, I feel failed in the sense that the system allowed me to fall through the cracks. As a teenager with a bad attitude, I thought I was handling my world ok. Looking back, an intervention might have made a huge difference. My point is there are teachers who really care at CHS. Which is the main reason i think it is an unbeatable school. But I think it can do better. I think we can do better as a community to help our public schools out with the children that live in our community who will grow to either fuck it up or make it better than it is right now.
as for race not being an essential ingredient to the problem cake, students are given very different punishments depending on the color of their skins, in school and in detention centers. Ive seen that shit first hand and it is absolutely mind blowing. and terrible.
Probably what fuels my anger at the city schools is the potential for something so much better. When I was teaching there there were so many teachers that inspired me to push for more and better. Coming to Cville I choose the city schools over the county to work in because I believed so much in the mission of the (semi-)urban school. While the county is ahead on points right now, I’m ultimately rooting for the city schools to turn it around and be what it can be.
I live near CHS (my kids don’t go there, and I don’t know anything about it). The neighborhood is great. I just wish the bus ran out here.