Jim Duncan

@jimduncan

Charlottesville, Crozet real estate agent & partner w/ Nest Realty, husband, dad, bike rider, wishing for fewer cars, more bikes and sidewalks. I write JimsNote.com - one note a month about real estate market + stories, & RealCentralVA.com, RealCrozetVA

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Jim Duncan@jimduncan· 29d

Spring of 2022. :) This is inclusive of new construction, though.

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· Jul 14

Doing some early prep work for this Friday's Charlottesville Reddit real estate AMA.

The Real Cost of a Typical House: the Monthly Payment" illustrating the principal and interest for a typical detached resale home in Albemarle and Charlottesville City from 2006 to 2026. A highlighted box shows that for 15 years, the monthly cost remained relatively flat, dropping from $1,721 in 2006 to $1,435 in 2021. The chart then shows a steep, dramatic increase, noting the payment doubled in just four years to reach $2,868 by 2025

Line graph titled "How Much of the Original Ask Do Sellers Get?" showing the median sold price divided by the original list price for resale homes in Albemarle and Charlottesville City over the last three years. The line fluctuates tightly near 100%, dipping to a seasonal winter low of 95.9% in late 2025, before climbing back to 100% by July 2026.

When Do Resale Homes Come to Market?" displaying the average share of annual resale listings by month based on 2023-2025 data for Albemarle and Charlottesville City. March, April, and May represent the peak season, accounting for roughly 38% of the year's listings. Text on the chart projects about 2,290 total resale homes for 2026, noting a 7% increase compared to 2025.

The Rhythm of the Resale Market" tracking monthly new listings, ratified contracts, closings, and expired listings for resale homes in Albemarle and Charlottesville City over three years. The data shows clear seasonal trends, with new listings consistently peaking in the spring months—reaching nearly 300 homes in Spring 2026—and dropping during the winter.

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· Jun 18

Working on it. Curious? JimsNote.com

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· Jun 11

Nice birdfeeder you’ve got there.

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· Jun 8

A good thought, seen on my morning ride today.

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· Jun 7

Philosopher comics.

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· Jun 6

13 miles not driven. Showing houses this morning; first appointment, my buyer met me at the office and we rode to 4 houses. I'd like to do that more often. Also, Saturday traffic in Charlottesville is non-existent.

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· Jun 3

In the god-awful facebook post, the consensus is: - we don't trust that infrastructure will be provided (valid) - growth is bad - we're full - Nothing will be affordable again - too many homes & townhomes - developers are bad. - BoS doesn't care or listen And then there's this comment.

Hi. I live in an affordable house in Crozet. As in quite literally designated affordable, where the purchase price was capped and we had to make below a certain income to qualify to buy it.
I’ve been here seven years and I love Crozet more than anywhere I’ve ever lived, including the rural town I grew up in. I love the people, especially the multigenerational community. I love the parks and the views of the mountains. I love that I can bike to get groceries, or go to a farmers market where I know the farmer loves a few miles from me, to to get coffee with a friend, or to the park or lunch or our amazing library. (Where I worked for 5 years serving the people of this amazing community, who were overall so kind and smart and engaged.)
My house is not big. It’s not standalone, either: I share walls with neighbors on either side. I don’t really have a yard. But it is my home and I love it. And I’m one of the incredibly lucky ones: almost no one in my generation can afford to purchase their own home and put down roots in a town they love — especially not if they work in the nonprofit sector helping their community, like my husband and I have for over a decade.
But what I don’t love is all of the comments like this that make me feel like I’m not welcome here. That as much as I love this community, as much as I’ve put into it, it would be better if I weren’t here because my house is an eyesore and my car adds to traffic and I’m one more person in line at the grocery store. Comments like these make me feel like my neighbors wished I lived somewhere else, but they don’t really care where that is. As long as they don’t have to see me. And they wish the same thing for all the future folks who might make a home in Crozet and be part of our incredible community.
Affordable housing IS possible in Crozet. I know because I literally live in it. And I really hope that one day I’ll also live in a Crozet that prioritizes it, for your favorite neighbors you haven’t met yet.

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· Jun 1

Blue shows traveled roads. Red is untraveled. I have some work to do.

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 31

There is so very much in this week's Week Ahead. communityengagement.substack.com/p/week-ahead... - Natural gas connection fees going up in the City of Charlottesville? - Don't worry about the stream buffer. Build it anyway, apparently. - Transportation with limited money. Yay

"The purpose of this prioritization effort is to produce a ranked project list within a relatively short timeframe using readily available data and resources, without a large-scale overhaul of the methodology developed in 2023," reads the staff report.
There are a total of 169 projects and one purpose for the project is to guide use of the county's Transportation Leveraging fund which covers the costs of local money required to match federal or state grants. According to the draft FY2027 budget, Albemarle has about $14 million on hand and will put another $4.5 million into the fund in FY2029.
This version of the prioritization list introduces the concept of project stages. Those in the first require further study before being eligible for funding. The second stage projects still need to go through preliminary engineering in order to have cost estimates produced. Third stage ones are ready to pursue funding. Fourth stage? Fully funded and off the list!
That same budget lists $13.6 million in funding for Eastern Avenue in Crozet. Last year, the county tried to move that project forward with a public-private partnership but the effort did not yield a successful bid as reported by the Crozet Gazette.
The list of projects is going before Supervisors for a vote at the same time the county begins work on a "Multimodal Transportation Plan" as one of the five Comprehensive Plan projects being undertaken first. Learn more about those projects in this story I wrote in mid-May.

The second public hearing is to raise the connection fee for each new natural gas connection from $340 to $1,950. This is a relatively new fee enacted Council has previously authorized the ability to set up the fee.

The first item on the regular agenda is a special exception request that was deferred from the May 18 meeting. I repeat the same copy from two weeks ago.
Should a three-car garage illegally built in a stream buffer be removed or allowed to stay? That's the main question in a consideration of a special exception request from a landowner who built a three-car garage within a stream protection buffer. (item materials)
"Rather than pursue removal of the structure, the current owners are seeking relief from this ordinance provision to allow the structure and improvements to remain in the stream buffer," reads the staff report.
The previous owner constructed without a building permit and the new owners bought the property without knowing the structure was not in compliance. That owner had applied for one, got denied, and built the garage anyway.
"We believe the best option for the current owners, the County, and the environment writ large, is to mitigate the stream buffer encroachment by planting various landscaping in the surrounding area per the enclosed landscaping plan," reads the site
plan from Shimp Engineering.

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 31

I took this yesterday up 29 North in Albemarle. The Wawa canopy should 100% be solar panels. Not requiring that is a failure of leadership and government.

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 27

Graphically -- and a reason why when doing analyses for clients, I do much tighter searches than high school districts. For broader conversations, this is reasonable.

New construction sold prices by high school district in Albemarle County since June 2025.

Attached: Median prices are remarkably consistent — $465K to $480K regardless of district. Builders have found the price point.

Detached: You're looking at $843K–$943K median depending on where. Albemarle High district is the most active with 94 closings. Monticello only had 9 detached sales — not enough to draw conclusions.

The average-to-median gaps tell you where the outliers live. Monticello detached average is $1.5M on 9 sales — a couple of high-end closings doing all the work.

Condos excluded. (14 White Gables II units at $1.2M–$2.4M would distort the attached numbers.)

317 new construction sales in ~12 months across three districts. The market is building. The question is whether it's building what people can afford.

Source: CAAR MLS
realcentralva.com

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 26

I think I might like this note. I know I like the picture, as I moving quickly on my bicycle, and noticed later that I quite like the photo. JimsNote.com

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 25

May's note is going to be published in May, dammit. Definitely by Wednesday. JimsNote.com

Quiet Wins, Paradox of Choice, Closing Chapters, Seasoning, and the Market.
May 2026. | Note from Jim
JIM DUNCAN
MAY 25, 2026

Issue #187

Making the May note by the skin of my teeth. It’s been a productive few weeks. I eschew the term “busy” as I think “busy” carries a negative connotation. We had a Nest client event a few weeks ago, and clients who purchased a home adjacent to my neighborhood said, “we were talking the other day that we’ve seen you a lot less than we expected!”

It’s true. I’ve been working a lot, and that’s ok. I’ve been doing this long enough to appreciate the days with minimal breaks, as I remember the days when I was wondering if the phone would ring (I still do have that hunger, and still love what I do).

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 25

True.

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 23

But … won’t there be foot traffic *after* they build housing for people? This is where government needs to say no, build the damn places to walk. c-ville.com/hundred-unit...

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 22

A positive of the Trump/Republican war? www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 22

Cartoonists are on point.

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 22

Reasonable

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 19

No.

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 19

Good sunrise, and I had to stop and turn around to take a picture of the old man in the field with his cane. #fromthebicycle

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 18

One thing you pay great attention to when e-biking around Charlottesville in 95º heat -- the shade from trees is incredible.

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 16

Tempted to take a day off and just ride to all the places

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 16

Would love to see the Blue Ridge Homebuilders Association address this. dailyprogress.com/news/local/c...

Then she approached a white construction foreman standing near a truck.

“Did they just take your whole crew?” she recalled asking.

“Yes, they did,” the man replied.

The foreman later spoke with The Daily Progress on condition that neither he nor his company be identified.

“They’re great guys," he said, "responsible, respectful and do good work for us."

"They had all their company paperwork filled out," the foreman continued. "Our company only works with licensed and insured subcontractors."

By afternoon, according to Clarke, fear was rippling through construction companies in the greater Charlottesville area.

“I know other crews have stopped working,” she said. “People are scared.”

Clarke said she regretted not recording the arrest scenes but feared drawing attention to herself after thinking about the Jan. 7 killing of Renée Good during a tense roadway confrontation with ICE agents in Minneapolis.

“What really bothers me is the fact that I was too scared to get my phone out to get video evidence,” Clarke said. “That’s not OK.”

The Greene Sheriff’s Office declined to answer questions Thursday and referred inquiries to ICE’s Washington field office, which responded with a statement describing its mission as identifying and removing “aliens who present a danger to national security or a risk to public safety.”

No information about the identities of the detained men, their possible criminal histories or immigration statuses has been released.

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 15

Any day I can ride my bike to meet the photographer at one of my listings is a very good day.

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 14

Working outside today. Got this guy off my face. View made it worthwhile.

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 13

Fair. There’s a reason that I do everything I can to keep my phone away when I’m with clients

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 12

I have 10 minutes before I need to go take a video of a house nearby for a new client, so I’m sitting at a table in the shade at Belmont Park eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. There are worse ways to spend 10 minutes.

A view from the picnic table looking into Belmont Park. Piece of a playground to the left, orange netting around the apparently under construction spray pad, grass, and concrete pathways in front of me

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 10

I am apparently of the age where this is satisfying

Jim Duncan@jimduncan· May 9

Saw this taped to a light switch in a bedroom of a house I showed yesterday. I don’t know these people, but I like them.