Amy Bender Webb - Your Charlottesville Agent

Here are a few of my favorite events going on in the Charlottesville Area in the next month or so:  some of these are one-time happenings, celebrations and festivals and others are links to ongoing forms of entertainment in our community.

Fall Fiber Fest and Sheep Dog Trials at Montpelier - October 4,5

Crozet Arts and Crafts Festival - October 11, 12

Martha's Market - October 10 - 12

Blackfriars Playhouse/The America Shakespear Center

Virginia Film Festival - Oct 30 - Nov 2

Montalto Tours and Nature Walks at Monticello

UVA Sports!

Trick or Treating on the Lawn at UVA: the afternoon of Halloween on the UVA Lawn behind the Rotunda...be there an bring your camera!

Public Night at the UVA Observatories ( as in looking at the Sky )

The Montpelier Races - November 1

Lots of reasons why Charlottesville Virginia is a great place to live!

If you live in the mid-Atlantic region and are looking for a weekend getaway this fall, or if you live right here in Central Virginia and want to spend a day appreciating our gorgeous Autumn foliage, here is a great website which will help you plan your tour of the Monticello Wine Trail!

The last 20 years have seen the Charlottesville Area wine industry really come into it's own and many of our local wineries have tasting rooms and tours. My personal favorite is King Family Vineyards, just down the road in Crozet; the wine is spectacular and so are the magnificent Blue Ridge views from their patio: a wonderful way to spend a few serene hours.

In fact, I have to confess to stopping there for a mid-afternoon refresher with some clients a few weeks back! We were out touring land and homes in Western Albemarle and had 35 minutes to spare between appointments, and we were right there, just a 1/2 mile down the road from King Family....The problem of course, is now my clients want a property with just that same view and those are not easy to come by!

Winery Tours: another reason why Charlottesville, Virginia is a great place to live!

If you are hoping for a medical residency at the University of Virginia and want information and advice about Match Day and about Charlottesville, here is a list of resources:

ERAS Residency and Osteopathic Applicants

National Resident Matching Program

FindAResident - Examine the Possibilities

Charting Outcomes in the Match: Characteristics of Applicants Who Matched to Their Preferred Specialty in the 2005 NRMP Main Residency Match (PDF)

UVA Health Systems

UVA Medical Residency Programs

Other UVA Links

All about Charlottesville

Search for Charlottesville Property

The Home Buying Process

When you are waiting for your match and then suddenly you have to find a great home and move your family, it can be stressful! My job is to simplify that process and make your relocation to Charlottesville as easy as possible. Call me any time to discuss your home search and to learn about the services I provide!

If you are an NGIC employee considering relocation to Rivanna Station-Charlottesville and you have children, the needs of your children are going to be paramount in your decision.

Here is a list of resources to help you with your research:

First and Foremost

Learn about our Area Schools including

• Albemarle County Schools
• Charlottesville City School
• Greene County Schools
• Fluvanna County Schools

and there are links on this page to help you check out School Ratings and Comparisons.

Family Activities, Lessons, and Fun
The biggest and most thorough resource in our area comes from Albemarle Family Magazine
This site will help you learn about recreation, sports, lessons, events, activities, camps and just about everything kid-related when it comes to the Albemarle-Charlottesville Area!!

If you have questions about moving to Charlottesville with your family, about schools, activities, the community in general, if you want to search the Charlottesville Area MLS for properties for sale or want help finding a home near NGIC, feel free to visit me online at NGIC Homes or call or email any time!

There are many advantages to having a Realtor on your team when you are thinking about your NGIC relocation, trying to make the best decision for your family and planning the logistics of your move. Contact me anytime to discuss the home buying process and how I can help!

We all have heard about the importance of recycling and "going green" at home, but what about at work??

We work in a paper intensive industry, so what can we do to help? My own personal effort is to scan just about every listing agreement, contract, amendment, floor plan, plat etc...every piece of paperwork I deal with : I keep them filed electronically on my computer so that I can relay paperwork in that form to clients, other agents, attorneys etc. Obviously there are certain documents that must be printed for legal purposes, but I think in Real Estate we do tend to over-print and over-copy and we need to make a conscious effort to reduce waste. Here are a few more ideas which I employ:

I have a Trustfax number so that I receive incoming faxes in pdf form.

I minimize any advertising related printing I do: handling nearly everything electronically, except for the occasional proof.

I try to refer potential clients to on-line sources of information: community data, school ratings, visitors guides, home listings etc...rather than printing and mailing paper.

I recently signed up for Dropbox, an awesome service which allows me to share documents and photos with clients, other agents and so forth on-line and even collaborate through shared files with automatic syncing!!....Not only does this save paper, but it impresses tech oriented clients/ Just today a client asked me about a piece of land on the market: there were only a few photos on our MLS, so I popped out and took some: within minutes of unloading my camera I was able email a client a link to a "Lightbox" slide show: it was a much more effective presentation of the pictures than simply emailing the individual photos as attachments....fast, easy, snazzy and paperless!

Here is a great set of tips about reducing waste in the workplace by
reducing use of office paper
printing greener
buying green for the office
and more.....

Realtors: Take the initiative; institute a green effort in your own practice of real estate and in your office!

...and this is advice that applies to any industry, business, workplace in the community, so pass it on! Charlottesville is a really green oriented town, but I bet a lot of folks make the effort at home ( if we don't, our kids remind us to! ) and do not make as much effort at work! Maybe the entirely paperless office is down the road a bit, but we can move closer every day to make Charlottesville ( and your town ) an even better place to live!