Foresight is 20/20!
Until now, the proverb went a little differently. But I have a treat in store for you to start the New Year...
"Providing a Sea of Real Estate Service" is my slogan. It's a play on my name Windy C (or Seay for my longer-term friends) and the desire to provide real value to my friends, neighbors, and clients. One thing that 15 years serving the real estate community in Hampton Roads/Tidewater/"the 757" has provided me is the knowledge on when and where to get things. Some say that hindsight is 20/20, but this year, I'm proving that its FORESIGHT that's best by providing you with "The Best Time to Buy" calendar and monthly tips. Make sure that you receive Notifications on my Facebook page Windy Crutchfield, Realtor and/or that I have your email address to get the most from this year-long campaign. I look forward to hearing your feedback, so I can build an even better calendar for your benefit in 2021!
The truth is that it is not hard to predict the future when you carefully evaluate the past. Every December, I give you my projection for the housing market in Hampton Roads in the year ahead. It's based on the monthly Housing Market Review that I do, as well as a study of economists' expectations. I post on this page for you and for some of my colleagues that follow it, but admittedly, it's not a riveting read. However, it's important for me to be as close as possible to the data that's available, so I can give the best advice to my clients. In an effort to not be so long-WINDed as I tend to be, I'm going to slim the content down this year and use more visuals.
Housing Market Projections for 2020
Low inventory and high demand will continue to be the story in the lower price points for the upcoming year. Market conditions are very strong. Federal and defense spending in Virginia is up alongside private sector job creation and wages. Unemployment...
Elizabeth and Scott Stahl bought their Beach Home in 2013 and, as many homeowners do in the mature Baylake neighborhoods, they immediately began improvements. The home had been on and off the market for five years, constrained by a dated compartmental style, and had finally come down to a price they found attractive. They both had a vision for updates and a strong work ethic going for them, which allowed their family to enjoy the spacious and beautiful home for the past five years. Military orders have called them to move away now, and their efforts paid off--the home was under contract within 5 days of being listed at $700,000!
Prior to the Stahl’s ownership, the home reaches back a few decades to the custom design ideas of Stephanie and Ezio DeBerladino. They bought the lot in 1977, when Baylake Beach was being developed. Stephanie said she wanted an overly large kitchen, which was very unique then but is featured in every new construction home today and is what every contractor hears today: “I need a bigger kitchen!” The kitchen at this home not only has a center island, a peninsula, endless cabinets and counters, but an eat-in kitchen with a bay window and a door to the back deck. The DiBerladinos chose a Center-Hall home design for its traditional roots to this area.
This style of home is also known as a Williamsburg or Tidewater-type Cottage and it was conceived in colonial times. It’s ancestor was the modest hall and parlor house (“Virginia style”), where the hall was the primary center of activity and the parlor was a more private room usually used for sleeping. This two room configuration evolved into adding a center passage with a
stairwell.
The style is significant in the Baylake community because the neighborhood is also the site of the English settlement known as Henrytown (a supply artery along the Bay west of Cape Henry) founded in the early 1600s. As the settlers there became...
Along the banks of Lake Joyce, four gravestones tell a small part of the story of the Early Republic and the Civil War era. Times were substantially different then... Let today’s manicured lawns, glistening pools, and the peaceful paddleboarders on the 85 acre freshwater lake drift from your mind. This was no resort area. The early settlers replaced Coastal Virginia’s woodlands with farmlands. The Revolutionary War had been won, the Constitution written, and young Americans in the South were providing for an exploding population. Princess Anne County was yet to become identified as a tourism destination and later renamed Virginia Beach. And the Joyce family farmed the lands along their future namesake as the young country faced an economic decline.
Joyce families are found in the area back to 1624 when the region was first settled. Although sometimes identified as “Joice” in some census data, on the gravestones along Lake Joyce, as well as a few related at Kempsville Baptist Church, the spelling is “Joyce” During the period when the Joyce family lived in what is now Baylake Pines, it is reported that over half the land supported the agricultural needs of the settlers.
Nicholas Joyce appears to be our first resident on record in the Joyce family, although his stone is not in the Baylake collection. In the 1830 Census he was identified as a landowner with two male slaves under the age of 10, one adult male slave, and two adult female slaves. Nicholas is referenced to be the husband of Jacamine (Jacomine on some census data) H. Joyce on one of the gravestone. Jacamine was born in 1801. She was just 6 years old when the HBMS Leopard attacked the USS Chesapeake along the Lynnhaven Inlet in 1807. Shortly thereafter, Congress passed the Embargo Act which prohibited trade between the US and Britain, and ignited the War of 1812. ...
