Williamsburg, VA

Reduced price on this house in Williamsburg, Va. This is a one level (or ranch style) house with three bedrooms and two baths. It has an open floor plan, a split bedroom configuration and has been extremely well maintained. The master bedroom and bathroom are handicapped accessible.

At $225,000 this is the lowest priced house in the subdivision Powhatan Crossing. To see all the homes that are currently listed in Powhatan Crossing click on this link.

The house is located next to a house on a large corner lot so the yard appears to be much bigger than it is. This is the lowest priced house in Powhatan Crossing.

Saying this is well maintained house is an understatement.

To see the MlS listing on this property click here.

With the reduced price this house may be the best buy in Williamsbug, Va it will be hard to find a better buy.

When I said wanted to live on the water this is not exactly what I had in mind. When I got up on Thursday, November 11, 2009 I realized that the remnants of tropical storm Iva and the resulting Nor'Easter had pushed the usually friendly waters of Powhatan Creek about 150 feet closer to our house. Thank goodness Iva was not nearly as strong as her cousin Ernesto who visited our area on Labor Day Weekend of 2006. During that storm, we lost two trees and the dock and pilings were completely submerged. In the picture below you can see the outline of the rock walkway to our dock taken on November 13, 2009 at 8:40 am, the second day of the Nor'Easter.

The photo above left was taken from the walkway. I was as close as I could get to the dock without stepping into the water. The smaller photo points out the pilings and the surface of the dock which is barely visible.

My husband and I relocated to Williamsburg in 2002 and knew that we wanted to purchase waterfront property. We had lived on waterfront property in Florida and knew what a good investment it is. We looked at several waterfront properties near Williamsburg. One of the properties that we considered was on the York River and had an incredible view. Fortunately someone told us that the York River is very shallow in that area so a dock or pier that would accomodate a boat like ours would need to extend several hundred feet out into the river. We estimated that it would cost about $100,000 to build a pier and trying to keep the birds and other wildlife off of the dock would have been an ongoing problem.

When we decided against purchasing the property on the York River, we looked at a house on the Chickahominy River, which is a beautiful river with deep channels and fresh water. Most private docks on the Chickahominy River are not more than fifty or sixty feet from the shore because of the water depth. The Chickahominy is a great river for playing, skiing, riding jetskis and fishing. There is one place in the Chickahominy River where there are sandbars in the middle of the channel. On the weekends in the summer it is not unusual to see 50 or more boaters anchored on the sandbar. People get out of their boat and walk around sharing stories, food and beverages. It is a unique experience to be standing in water that is about 2 to 3 feet deep knowing that an 80 foot deep channel surrounds you and the closest shore is about 1000 feet away. The Chickahominy River flows into the James River. The subdivision Governor's Land at Two Rivers is situated where the two rivers meet.

The James River is somewhat shallow and the water is slightly brackish, There are not many sailboats on the James River near Williamsburg, but there is good fishing and it is a good river for watersports. Cruising on the James River is a great way to see some historic plantations and Jamestown Island. We once saw a huge bald eagle on Jamestown Island from our boat.

The York River is very brackish, you will see jelly fish and playful dolphins. You may also be able to catch a lot of salt water fish in the York. which flows directly into the Chesapeake Bay. The York River has enough depth for sailboats and you will see a lot of people sailing just off the shore at Yorktown. We like to anchor near our marina and watch the fireworks over the water on July 4th.

I have found that the best way to learn about the creeks and rivers if you own a boat is to get out and explore. The name of our boat, REEL ESTATE, was my husband's idea! If you are moving to this area and want to purchase waterfront property, I will be happy to share with you the knowledge that I have gleaned by exploring the waterways in and around the Williamsburg area.

Another important issue with waterfront property is the environmental impact and any regulations that apply. In this area of Virginia, all waterfront property is protected by the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act and all waterfront properties contain an RPA (resource protection area). To learn more about the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, click on this link.

The following is a market report for Williamsburg for first week of November, 2009.

Eight homes went under contract in the Williamsburg area and there were thirty one new residential listings in the Williamsburg area during the first week of November 2009. These listings include single family residential homes, condos, townhouses, and mobile homes with land. To view the new listings and pending sales, click on this link.

Homes for sale in Williamsburg Va. are priced lower than they have been in years! In many areas the home prices are lower than they were in 2004 or 2005.

I often have people ask me if the home sales in Williamsburg, Va. are picking up and I am always honest with them about my observations about our real estate market in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Most property owners who ask about home prices in Williamsburg, Va. seem very discouraged when I tell them that I don't think their home's value is going to start increasing significantly very soon. Based on historic trends in home sales and the predictions of many economists, I believe it may be four or five years before we see home prices rise significantly.

Real estate trends have always been cyclical and the cycles tend to go up or down about every seven years. The last "up cycle" that we experienced was longer than normal and prices escalated at rates that our economy could not support. What we all need to accept, whether we like it or not, is that the value of our homes have more than likely dropped from what they were in 2005 or 2006.

Remember that all real estate is local. I posted a blog about home sales in WIlliamsburg, Va. a few months ago. I noted that the values of homes in some areas have remained relatively stable, while in other subdivisions they have dropped dramatically. To read this blog click here.

If you are considering buying a house within the next couple of months, you should probably buy now while the prices and interest rates are low. (Some economists predict that interest rates will start to rise in January). If you are going to buy and plan to stay in the house for at least four to six years, then you will probably see your property's value increase. If you get an especially good buy, the value of your home may begin to escalate more quickly.

When I searched our Williamsburg MLS for homes that have sold in the Stonehouse subdivision in the last six months, I found the data very interesting. If you are thinking of buying or selling a house in Stonehouse, you will probably find this spreadsheet helpful.

You can view a spreadsheet of all the homes that have sold in Stonehouse within the last six months by clicking on this link. You will no be able to view this link after December 8, 2009. The data in this spread sheet gives a lot of information about homes that have sold in Stonehouse. You can quickly see how long houses were on the market, the list price/sold price per square foot, age of the house, list date and sold date.

Other data includes number of bedrooms and bathrooms and heated square footage of the house.

If you would like to receive regular emails regarding home sales in Williamsburg Va. visit my website and register for the free MLS search.