Looking to buy a house in Southwest Virginia?  Perhaps you've been looking at homes in Christiansburg, or in Radford, and you just don't think you can afford it.  I'd remind you that the opportunities are there for buyers right now for two reasons - (1) the inventory available, and (2) the rates that local lenders are willing to lend at.  Let's look at the numbers ... Assuming a house is priced at $150000, and the interest rate is 5.00% (the current USDA rate), here's how your monthly payments would break down on a home in Christiansburg purchased for $150000 with NO MONEY DOWN: Principal & interest:       $805.24 Prop Taxes (estimate):     114.83 PMI (None with USDA):             0 Total Payment:             $920.07 Imagine - a $150000 mortgage for less than $1000 a month.  And it's im... 12/16/2008

Ever been in a candy shop?  You know, the type where there are candies of all sizes, shapes and colors lining the walls?  The shops where you shove a big metal shovel the size of Delaware into a barrel of assorted candies, and you come up with all different types of sweets? Yea - that's what the real estate market is like right now. It's not that it's a huge surprise ... the winter is always slower than normal, so we were prepared for that.  I can't say anyone saw bailouts of the banks, the construction folks, the auto makers, the pizza bakers and the professional matchmakers, but needless to say here we are.See how I did that, the whole rhyming thing and all?  I know - Eminem I'm not.  Nor am I fan of bailouts of irresponsible mismanagement, but that's a story for another day. Buyers,... 12/03/2008

Somehow, when Vanilla Ice was spewing the lyrical genius that was "Ice Ice Baby" (I couldn't write that without chuckling, have you seen these lyrics?), I've got to imagine this wasn't what he was referring to when he spoke of the wind blowing his hair ... The Roanoke Times' Lerone Graham tried out one of these low-speed vehicles recently; I'm certainly no fan of the idea, and I thought some his quotes were telling enough to give Councils who are considering allowing them on public streets pause.  Consider: "Because the E-Merge has no doors and is lower to the ground than normal-size vehicles, I felt exposed when vehicles would fly past me.""... most of the time they will do about 18, which is only a little more than half of the speed limit.""Though it was a very routine turn, a person ... 09/11/2008

Christiansburg's Town Council has approved the use of low speed vehicles on Town streets. Just because the Commonwealth allows it, doesn't mean it makes it a good idea . They're called low-speed vehicles for a reason.  Putting them on streets with vehicles that travel at HIGH speed, when they have no exterior protection or safety features, is just asking for trouble. Councilman Huppert has it right, I think, but why did he give in? "... should the vehicles become a problem."  How will we determine that they're truly a problem?  When someone loses their life?  08/25/2008

Congratulations to the Christiansburg Dixie All-Stars, headed to the Dixie League World Series in Mississippi. I liked Seth Willis' quote:  "We're ... just happy to be here."  Proof you can start the athlete cliches early. :) If you enjoyed this post, why not leave a comment and subscribe via RSS or email here to be sure you don't miss the next post? 07/24/2008

Don't know if saw the article last month in the Roanoke Times about the number of Christiansburg residents who, according to the article's author, are "'pajamas journalists' -- keystroke correspondents eager to bestow percipience on the politics, issues and bones of contention rattling local government." Call them what you will, but folks paying attention to local issues and writing about them online is a good thing, in my opinion.  It's another source of information, a different voice, and the anonymity of the Internet - whether that's truly a good thing or not - encourages conversation.  So when I read the article - I'd encourage you to click through and read it - I knew we had to have some of these bloggers on the NRVLiving Real Estate Show.Carol Lindstrom of DepotDazed, and Council... 07/13/2008

It's that time of year again where the local communities begin publishing the results of their water tests during the previous year.  According to federal and state regulations, the local Water Authority (described as the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-VPI Water Authority) has to monitor for 76 regulated, 48 unregulated, and many nonregulated contaminants in our drinking water.  Christiansburg has just published the results of their testing in the document entitled, simply enough, the "2007 Water Quality Report."  You can download the whole report here, or view the table following: Download 2007_water_quality_report.pdf 07/07/2008

I don't know if you've seen the Town of Christiansburg's website recently, but it's SO 1994, and a poor introduction to such a great New River Valley community; certainly not fitting of it's title "Progressive Small Town Living At Its Best".  Try to get information about upcoming events on there - when I wrote this post about 4th of July fireworks happening throughout the area, I had to *gasp* email someone at the Town for information and times!   It seems trivial to some, I know, but a Town website is the face of a community to a visitor to the New River Valley.  The tone of the site tells you something about the residents of that community, amenities available, and the atmosphere you'll experience.  Imagine you're considering moving to the New River Valley, and want to live in Christ... 07/06/2008

I mentioned a few weeks ago that Christiansburg Town Council member Brad Stipes had started writing a blog.He recently wrote that he had participated in a Q&A with 5th grade students at Christiansburg Elementary. The Councilman wrote that the topic at hand was what the kids thought made Christiansburg a great place to live, and what could make it even better. Their responses were funny, enlightening, and - in some cases - dead on. An excerpt here, make sure to read the whole article - and the comments - for a good chuckle and some thought-provoking comments: Matthew E. will run a recycling program in Christiansburg when he grows up - "Did you know there only about 2 - 5 recycling places in Christiansburg? I have said that because I think that Christiansburg needs a recycling program wh... 06/19/2008

Just discovered this ... A Christiansburg Town Councilman has started blogging.  Brad Stipes has started a blog entitled "AdvanceChristiansburg" and says that he wants to provide residents another forum to offer comments and suggestions, as well as find out what's going on in the community.  I'm not a a resident of Christiansburg, but I think this is a great way to find out "first person" what's happening in the Town - Christiansburg residetns should be proud they elected this guy. Another blog to add to the feed reader.  There are more and more local blogs coming online, it's great to see!   If you enjoyed this post, why not leave a comment and subscribe via RSS or email here to be sure you don't miss the next post? 05/30/2008

Regardless of where you stand on the BURG vs. First & Main debate going on in Blacksburg, I thought a post on a local blog, "Think, Christiansburg!", did a good job of looking at a broader picture - what are we doing to our region when we consider "development".  Do I agree with every point in the article?  No, but  the point made in the third paragraph hits the nail on the head - empty storefronts add no quality or value to an area.  Regardless, our elected leaders seem to be negligent at helping to find creative ways to combat this blight.  What will it take?  Maybe the name of the blog should be "Think, New River Valley!" Here's the text in its entirety: Dialog published in local newspapers in May 2007 about the proposed development on South Main should be reframed beyond SCATs or Co... 05/08/2008