In the News: HOME and Wells Fargo begin effort to Increase African-American home ownership

Article Originally Appears in Virginia Business

Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia Inc. (HOME) and Wells Fargo Bank announced on Monday a partnership agreement aimed at increasing homeownership opportunities and expanding mortgage lending for African-Americans and African-American neighborhoods in the Richmond area.

The partnership provides for more than $4 million in financial support to HOME. It was described as one of the largest agreements ever between a financial institution and an individual fair housing organization.

“Differences in homeownership between African-Americans and white Americans are the foundation of wealth inequality in Richmond and across the country, and HOME is committed to rooting out these differences in opportunity to reduce racial gaps and inequities and build a strong middle class,” Heather Crislip, president and CEO of HOME, said in a statement.

Brad Blackwell, a Wells Fargo executive vice president who is head of housing policy and homeownership growth strategies, noted that Wells Fargo announced a nationwide $60 billion lending commitment earlier this year to create at least 250,000 African American homeowners by 2027. “Our efforts with HOME in the Richmond area will be a perfect complement to the broader national commitment and establish the foundation for what we expect will be a long and substantive relationship with one of the country’s pre-eminent fair housing organizations,” he said in a statement.

The agreement provides HOME with $3 million over four years to enhance and support its foreclosure prevention, financial literacy, and homebuyer education and counseling programs.

The Wells Fargo investments are designed to allow HOME to expand access to credit in Richmond’s underserved communities and make homeownership available to qualified, first-time homebuyers throughout the region.

Wells Fargo also will provide $1 million over four years in down payment assistance to low- and moderate-income, first-time homebuyers in the region. As part of the partnership, HOME will work with Wells Fargo to conduct fair-housing compliance testing at Wells Fargo branches and provide other monitoring and training assistance.

HOME had investigated regional mortgage lending activity and brought concerns it had to government regulators and Wells Fargo about underserved minority communities in the Richmond area. “As the largest lender in our region, we believe this initiative by Wells will set the standard for other lenders to follow,” Crislip said.

Amherst Historic Mill will be turned into a hydro-powered brewery

AMHERST COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ7) The 200-year-old Historic Mill of Amherst Milling Company is getting new owners and a face-lift.

Waukeshaw Development, a Petersburg-based company, purchased the Mill and will re purpose it into the country's first hydro-powered brewery, making use of the Mill's old water wheel.

The Mill has been owned by the same family since 1941, providing Amherst County residents with many products including hay, feed, and flour.

The development company's president, Dave McCormack, plans to keep the building preserved while bringing in new elements. In addition to the brewery, he hopes to maintain the Mill's upper level to give tours.

"This wonderful mill might just go out of existence, period," said Victoria Hanson, Executive Director of the Amherst Economic Development Authority. "And instead, we're going to have this new creative idea that's going to bring a lot of people to Amherst County."

The mill will be closing July 6th, and the family will be holding auctions to sell the rest of the inventory. The brewery hopes to be open by this time next year.

RP "Share This Consumer Alert: Beware of Wire Fraud Schemes When Buying a Home"

June 22, 2017

Buying a home is an exciting time. You’ve saved, found the perfect home and planned the move. Now, the closing day for your home is just around the corner.

The American Land Title Association wants to make sure your home purchase doesn’t get derailed by a dangerous threat that could keep you from getting the keys, painting walls and decorating. Criminals have stolen money meant for the purchase of homes through malicious wire fraud schemes targeting consumers across the country.

Criminals begin the wire fraud process way before the attempted theft occurs. Most often, they begin with a common social engineering technique called phishing. This can take the form of email messages, website forms or phone calls to fraudulently obtain private information. Through seemingly harmless communication, criminals trick users into inputting their information or clicking a link that allows hackers to steal login and password information.

Once hackers gain access to an email account, they will monitor messages to find someone in the process of buying a home. Hacks can come from various parties involved in a transaction, including real estate agents, title companies, attorneys or consumers. Criminals then use the stolen information to email fraudulent wire transfer instructions disguised to appear as if they came from a professional you’re working with to purchase a home. If you receive an email with wiring instructions, don’t respond. Email is not a secure way to send financial information. If you take the bait, your money could be gone in minutes.

“Attorneys and title companies have taken many steps to combat this problem, such as putting consumer warnings on websites and communications, securing email communications and sending notices to consumers and real estate agents informing them of the scams,” said Michelle Korsmo, chief executive officer of the American Land Title Association. “But the criminals are smart and constantly alter their tactics to steal information and money.

“Everyone involved in real estate transactions must also be aware of the potential losses as criminals phish for information and stalk home closings, hoping someone makes a mistake. If someone does mess up, it could cost your savings or retirement.”

Here are five tips to protect against wire fraud:

1. Call, don’t email: Confirm all wiring instructions by phone before transferring funds. Use the phone number from the title company’s website or a business card.
2. Be suspicious: It’s not common for title companies to change wiring instructions and payment info
3. Confirm it all: Ask your bank to confirm not just the account number but also the name on the account before sending a wire.
4. Verify immediately: You should call the title company or real estate agent to validate that the funds were received. Detecting that you sent the money to the wrong account within 24 hours gives you the best chance of recovering your money.
5. Forward, don’t reply: When responding to an email, hit forward instead of reply and then start typing in the person’s email address. Criminals use email address that are very similar to the real one for a company. By typing in email addresses you will make it easier to discover if a fraudster is after you.  

More Homebuyer Tips & Information

The American Land Title Association helps educate homebuyers about title insurance so they can protect your property rights. Check out www.homeclosing101.org to learn more about title insurance and the home closing process.

Contact ALTA at 202-296-3671 or communications@alta.org.

Misconceptions about purchasing a home that is over $1 million

In addition to residential real estate, Safe Harbor Title Company manages multimillion dollar commercial real estate transactions on a daily basis.  Our expertise handling these transactions combined with our regulatory knowledge, makes Safe Harbor Title uniquely qualified to provide settlement and title services for luxury home buyers.

There is a misconception that if you are purchasing a home that is over $1 million you need a lawyer.  There are two reasons why that is not necessarily true: 1. Residential mortgage lending, even jumbo loans, is highly regulated by the federal government.  The loan documents “are what they are,” and cannot be negotiated.  Additionally, the terms of the contract are typically worked out among the Realtors and it is rare for contractual issues to arise.  2. As mentioned, we handled transactions with lots of zero’s on the end every day.  We understand that in these situations we may be receiving money from investment accounts (sometimes multiple), as well as from Seller’s and loan proceeds.

Recently we provided settlement and title services for a home in the West End that sold on May 1st for $1.9 million, one of the highest transactions for Residential Real Estate in the month of May. We suggest that you take a moment to read this article from Richmond Biz Sense about that property, it's a pretty great read!

June 2017 Hard Hat Happy Hour - Richmond Biz Sense

We love compliments!

We got an awesome letter from a client who was very pleased with Candace's work. She's an awesome worker and an integral part of our team. These folks are out of Seattle, WA so you can imagine how thrilled we were when we got this in the mail. 

Looking forward to doing more businesses with Marcus & Millichap in the future! 

Double vision: Chesterfield craft brewery to open second spot in city

Original article appears in WVTR

Posted 6:32 pm, May 4, 2017, by Alix Bryan, Updated at 06:46PM, May 4, 2017

Siblings Brittany and Brad Cooper, co-owners of Steam Bell and Canon & Draw. (Mike Platania of Richmond Biz Sense)

RICHMOND, Va. – The Cooper family has double vision; they founded Steam Bell Beer Works in Chesterfield in 2016 and just announced plans to open craft brewery Canon & Draw later this year in the Fan District.

Brad Cooper, who opened Steam Bell after losing his mining job, said they happened along the location at 1529 Main Street, near the Virginia Commonwealth University Monroe Park Campus, during a search around the area which also included Brookland Park and South Richmond neighborhoods.

“We fell in love with it,” he said of the 5,000-square-feet building that has sat empty for years – downstairs, at least.

Blackwood Development has been slowly using historic tax credits to renovate the former Eclipse Linen Service and Laundromat. There are 16 apartments upstairs, above the commercial space.  Canon & Draw will occupy two retail spaces in the recently renovated building.  Nolen Blackwood said the renovation of the building cost around $3 million, reported RichmondBizSense. There are 16 apartments above the commercial space, ranging from 550 to 950 square feet, according to the BizSense report. 

Canon & Draw will have a partition dividing the tasting room area for private events. (Mike Platania of RichmondBizSense)

Things continue to take shape for a family who name is rooted in the craft itself. Traditionally, a cooper’s work included assembly of casks and barrels. A steam bell is used to cover a barrel and helps ply the wood into shape.

Building upon that branding, canon is French for barrel (though related more to artillery), and a drawknife is used to shape hoops for barrels. And when the soon to be released craft soda line is released, it will be called Trussing Craft Fizz, as a nod to the initiation ceremony that all cooper apprentices go through to become a journeyman.

The sodas will be the only product sold at both places; otherwise, they will be completely separate entities. The farmhouse ale focus of Steam Bell will “hop forward” on this side of the river.

“I’m looking at doing some lagers as well,” Brad said.

“Canon & Draw is an opportunity for us to create a brand that is a perfect fit for the area,” said Brittany Cooper, who moved back to Richmond to help her brother with the marketing side of Steam Bell, and who stayed on as a partner while continuing to work remotely at her IBM gig in New York.

“It’s really a completely a different concept,” she added. “It will be higher end, with leather couches and darker wood – cool, eclectic, old Southern atmosphere.”

Canon & Draw or C/D will be open six days a week and have over 10 taps for smaller batch, experimental varieties. Cooper will use a seven-barrel brewing system, and seven-barrel fermenters.

“We are really excited and already working on pilot batches,” he said.

The opening is set for late summer or fall of this year, though the lease details are still being finalized.

The specific area is surprisingly void of any craft breweries, though plenty of bars and restaurants are nearby. Garden Grove in Carytown is over 1.5 miles away, and in the other direction, Triple Crossing is over a mile away on Foushee.

Steam Bell crew. Left to Right.
Bryan Hicks, Maggie Pearson, Jacob Morgan, Connie Cooper, Brittany Cooper, Jody Brunner, Brad Cooper, Joey Johnson, Jeff Stoker and Tom Cooper

There are close to 30 breweries in the Richmond-metro, with more opening this year, but the Coopers see room for more, and aren’t worried about the brewery boom going flat.

“I believe there is, especially with the rise of the tasting room,” Brittany said. “But with distribution, there is only so much shelf space.”

The local bottles and cans still duke it out for space against the regional and national beers in a distribution scenario, Brad pointed out.

“The distribution market is really competitive,” he said.

Brittany added that the business is “market driven” and that you’ve “got to win a customer.”

Something the Coopers seem to have accomplished in Chesterfield. Right out of the gate, Brad said he hit the goal he had proposed in his original business plan.

“I had this dream of what we would start with and then scale it up over years,” he said.

Canon & Draw is near VCU, in the 1500 block of W. Main Street.

“It’s very humbling to get that level of support from people,” his sister added.

“We were getting a lot of support, so we put our heads down — we knew what we wanted to do the next few years — and went aggressively for it,” Brittany said. “In the first six months we released 40 different beers — we never dreamed we would do that.”

In late January 2018, the Coopers will take over space next door and use the extra 3,000-square-feet as a bottling line for beer and Trussing Craft Fizz. Look for flagship flavors like mint/tea and ginger/lime, along with seasonal varieties like apple/sage and blueberry/basil.

Meanwhile, the one-year party to celebrate the success found on Oak Lake Boulevard is June 3. The anniversary beer, a Brett Rye Saison, is currently fermenting in white wine barrels and awaiting it commemorative 500ML bottles – their first bottle release.

“I still have to order the bottles,” Brad said, as he laughed.

_________________________________________________________________

Canon and Draw
1529 W. Main Street, Richmond
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Steam Bell Beer Works
1717 Oak Lake Blvd, Midlothian
Facebook

Map of Richmond-metro breweries

SCAM ALERT!

If you've been following our blog recently, you've probably noticed that we've talked a little bit about security and privacy. We'd like to share a very real story that happens more often than you'd expect and explains why we're in business.

A buyer finds a property, they fall in love with it and they put in an offer. Simple right? Before the transaction can be completed, usually a title company like ours, comes in and verifies that everything is in order. We make sure that the title is clean and that there aren't any pending liens on the property, but what you wouldn't think to expect is that the seller isn't even the real owner! 

Yes, this happens occasionally and it is truly scary. Maybe a distant family member or even a complete stranger discovers a property that has been unnattended for many years and decides to put it on the market and tries to sell it. Something that is not theirs to begin with! What is somewhat amazing about this is how far some buyers get into the transaction with someone who is not authorized to sell the property. How can you verify who the owner is unless you hire a Title Company? A Real Estate Agent can lookout for signs of fraud but for most properties, there is a public record of it that anyone could easily lookup and learn everything there is to know about it, and therefore appearing to be the owner. 

Having the right title company is important too because you just don't really know what to expect. We've dealt with so many deals across the board both commercial and residential, that at this point, we've seen it all! If something seems amiss with your 

Why companies are flocking to Richmond

April 13, 2017

By Paula C. Squires (read the original article as it appears in VirginiaBusiness.com by clicking here)

Riverfront Plaza towers in downtown Richmond 

Richmond has scored some big business wins recently.

Not only are companies like Owens & Minor choosing to expand their existing presence in the market, but the metro area is drawing new tenants who are relocating from other major cities or opening new operations in Richmond.

Downtown has proved extremely popular with CoStar, a Washington, D.C.-based real estate research company. It picked Richmond for a 100,000-square-foot operations and research headquarters.  Another newcomer is International City Management Association - Retirement Corp. (ICMA-RC), a non-profit independent financial services company, that’s leasing 55,000 square feet at Riverfront Plaza.

So why are these companies coming to Richmond?

That was the subject of a market research report released this week by Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer.  The real estate firm concludes that a wealth of millennial talent, a lower cost of doing business compared to other metro areas and lower rental rates are among the drivers.

The report notes that Richmond has access to plenty of millennial talent because it’s home to several universities including Virginia Union University, Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Richmond. In addition, there are schools not too far away, such as Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia, the College of William and Mary, Christopher Newport University, Old Dominion, and James Madison that help provide a pool of educated young employees in Richmond.

Helping the millennial population are rental rates that Thalhimer says are substantially lower than nearby metros. Both CoStar and ICMA-RC have an existing presence in D.C. where a one-bedroom apartment can rent for as much as $2,221 compared to Richmond’s rate of $972.

Overall, the cost of living in Richmond is 5 percent below the national average,  and housing costs are 11 percent below the national average. “So not only do companies get to save money, their employees do as well,” the report says.

On the business side, the city’s sales and use taxes are not only low compared to nearby competitive metros, but, according to the report, are the fifth lowest in the nation at 5.3 percent.
                     
According to Thalhimer, Forbes magazine recently ranked the cost of doing business in Richmond as 109th lowest in the nation, better than Nashville, Baltimore, & D.C., which came in at Nos. 115, 176, and 195 respectively.

Newcomers and expansions in the office marketplace have led to more than 1,400 new jobs since the beginning of 2016.  The CoStar expansion is expected to contribute more than 700 new jobs, Owens & Minor downtown expansion will bring 300 jobs and ICMA-RC, 200 jobs.

Along with the jobs come capital investment. Owens & Minor plans to invest $15 million in a new Client Engagement Center at Riverfront Plaza, CoStar is investing more than $70 million and ICMA-RC plans to spend over $10 million.

The report notes that eight Fortune 500 companies are currently located in the Richmond area. With so much going for it, including light traffic congestion compared with other metros, the report concludes that Richmond "is growing into one of the major destinations for companies both large and small in the mid-Atlantic and the Southeast.’’

What do we do? (According to Zillow)

What Does a Title Company Do?

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A title company makes sure that the title to a piece of real estate is legitimate and then issues title insurance for that property. Title insurance protects the lender and/or owner against lawsuits or claims against the property that result from disputes over the title.

Title companies also often maintain escrow accounts — these contain the funds needed to close on the home — to ensure that this money is used only for settlement and closing costs, and may conduct the formal closing on the home. At the closing, a settlement agent from the title company will bring all the necessary documentation, explain it to the parties, collect closing costs and distribute monies. Finally, the title company will ensure that the new titles, deeds and other documents are filed with the appropriate entities.

Here’s what potential home buyers need to know about title insurance.

How Does a Title Company Determine That a Title is Valid?

The title company makes sure a property title is legitimate, so that the buyer may be confident that once he buys a property, he is the rightful owner of the property. To ensure that the title is valid, the title company will do a title search, which is a thorough examination of property records to make sure that the person or company claiming to own the property does, in fact, legally own the property and that no one else could claim full or partial ownership of the property.

During the title search, the title company also looks for any outstanding mortgages, liens, judgments or unpaid taxes associated with the property, as well as any restrictions, easements, leases or other issues that might impact ownership. The title company may also require a property survey, which determines the boundaries of the plot of land that a home sits on, whether the home sits within those boundaries, whether there are any encroachments on the property by neighbors and any easements that may impact an ownership claim.

Before a title company issues title insurance, it will prepare an abstract of title, which is a short summary of what it found during the title search (basically, this is the history of the ownership of the property). Then, it will issue a title opinion letter, which is a legal document that speaks to the validity of the title.

What is Title Insurance?

Once the title is found to be valid, the title company will likely issue a title insurance policy, which protects lenders or owners against claims or legal fees that may arise from disputes over the ownership of the property.

There are two main types of title insurance: owner’s title insurance, which protects the property owner from title issues, and lender’s title insurance, which protects the mortgage company. You, the home buyer, will pay for the lender’s title insurance when you close on the house, but it’s also a good idea to make sure you have an owner’s title insurance policy as well (in some areas of the country, sellers pay for these policies; in others, the buyer must purchase it).

For example: You buy a home and get both lender’s and buyer’s title insurance, but then someone comes forward claiming they are the rightful owner of the home. If, in fact, the title was wrong and they are the rightful owner of the home, your title insurance policy will likely pay you the value of the home and the lender the amount they lent you to buy the home.

How Do You Pick a Title Company?

Ask your real estate agent, peers who have recently bought a home or your lender for recommendations for a title company. Then, do your homework on the title companies recommended.

Look for a title company that has years of experience doing this (have they done hundreds or even thousands of these kinds of transactions?). Contact the Better Business Bureau to determine whether the company has any complaints against it.

You should also shop around for the best premium rates in your area; if you buy an owner’s title insurance policy, make sure you get one with as few exclusions as possible and that it covers the full purchase price of the home.

What Does a Title Company Charge?

The cost of title insurance depends on the size of the loan and varies greatly depending on the state. The good news is that the premium is a one-time fee you pay at closing, not an ongoing expense.

According to the Federal Reserve, “a lender’s policy on a $100,000 loan can range from $175 in one state to $900 in another.” You’ll typically pay an additional amount — usually a few hundred dollars or more, depending on the size of the loan and your state of residence — for a buyer’s policy.

Note that you may be able to get a discounted rate on your title insurance if the property was sold within the previous five years; just call and ask.

When Do You Meet With the Title Company and How Often?

You may meet with or talk to an agent from the title company on multiple occasions. First, you may decide to meet with a few agents from title companies before you buy your home to help you decide which company to go with.

If the title company maintains an escrow account for you, the agent may reach out to you to provide details on that account or you may contact him with questions.

If your title company handles your closing, you will meet with a settlement agent in person then. At this time, the settlement agent will explain all the documents related to the settlement before you sign anything. And, of course, if something goes wrong with regards to the title, you will likely meet with one of their agents then.

Consumers should feel free to contact their title company at any time to get answers to their questions on title searches, title abstracts, title insurance, escrow accounts or closings.

View the original article on Zillow by clicking here!

How To Easily Get Hacked

Password security is serious business, especially when we live in a world where we conduct the majority of business electronically. We can deposit checks via smartphone, we can transfer money easily between accounts with the push of a button and we pay at the stores with a piece of plastic. 

Most apps and programs that deal with finances have different encryption systems that make doing all of this possible and safe, but there is one downfall to all of this and it has to do with your email. In a way, your email is the key to all of your accounts. Why? If you lose your password or if an app wants to verify your identity, it will typically send you something to your email in order to continue the log in process. 

Email is pretty secure nowadays and email servers don't get hacked as often as some of the other websites we frequent. This is the exact reason why your email password should be different than your other passwords. Let's say that Facebook or Instagram gets hacked, both Facebook and Instagram have your email and if your password is the same as your email, a hacker can easily log into your email. So even though your email didn't get hacked directly, someone can still gain access to your email. Once someone is in your email, they can see what other accounts you have registered with that email by doing a quick search within your inbox. If online banking is tied to that email, they could easily go in and reset your password by sending themselves a link to log in.

The reason why we are talking to you about this today is because of an incident that happened to one of our clients. Someone had hacked into a realtor's email and used the realtors email to send a letter asking for a wire transfer as part of the downpayment for a home. The buyer, trusting the realtor, did the transaction as requested. It wasn't the realtor who was requesting the money, instead it was being wired to someone else's account. 

As you can probably imagine, this created a lot of confusion and frustration for all parties involved, and it also made you question the realtor's ability to keep a transaction secure. At the end of the day, this could've happened to anyone but it is just an example of how easy it is for hackers to trick you into doing things that could really hurt you. 

So our advise to you, don't use the same password for all your different accounts because even though your email might be secure, if you use the same password and another website gets hacked, a hacker who is able to log into your email will gain access to pretty much all of your accounts. 

Active-adult living booming in region

Active-adult living booming in region

TRENDS AREA IS HOT SPOT FOR THOSE 55 AND UP

Original article appears in Fredericksburg.com

But the couple, who have lived in Spotsylvania’s Virginia Heritage community ever since, were impressed with the amenities and the clubhouse.

She said there are always activities, such as her Thursday dominoes-and-lunch group.

“I’m never bored,” she said.

The Clemonses are both retired from the federal government and moved here from Maryland. She is from Orange County, but wanted to be in a more populated part of the Fredericksburg region.

They sold their first home in Virginia Heritage a few years ago and purchased a house with a smaller footprint in the same development.

“It became too much and they were building smaller in a new section,” Pat Clemons said.

They aren’t the only ones in the region looking for a more manageable way of life.

The Census Bureau estimates that by 2050, the country’s 65-and-older population will double. As baby boomers age, that group will number 83.7 million.

According to one local developer, those baby boomers are looking to downsize.

The demand for communities catering to the 55-and-older demographic exploded in the region about a decade ago, spawning places such as Legacy Woods and Virginia Heritage at Lee’s Parke in Spotsylvania, The Evergreens at Smith Run in Fredericksburg, and Falls Run in Stafford County.

Demand for those types of homes dropped along with the rest of the housing market after the Great Recession, but is now showing signs of revival.

Cornerstone Homes, the developer of Regency Park Villas in Spotsylvania, started building in the Fredericksburg area again as demand for its core business—active-adult communities—picked up.

The company sat on 32 acres near the intersection of State Route 3 and Gordon Road for eight years, waiting for the market to improve. Cornerstone recently started work on The Villas at Barley Woods. The first homes are expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Cornerstone owner Roger Glover said demand never died off for senior-living communities, but a poor real estate market kept people from selling their homes.

“Now those homes are selling and they need somewhere to move,” he said. “We’re seeing pent-up demand that has surged in the last couple of years.”

Cornerstone already rezoned the property when the recession hit. Glover said the recession changed his approach to building, and he chose to focus solely on active-adult communities ever since.

Cornerstone is in the final stages of floor plan designs for the communities and will start constituting the model homes and clubhouse this June.

The Villas at Barley Woods will be a small, 55-plus community of about 120 homes.

It will also have features that Glover said seniors are increasingly seeking: walking trails, an executive suite for the semi-retired, a pool, a grandchild play area and a dog run.

It’s not the only outdoor-friendly community Cornerstone is working on.

Hanover County recently approved Cornerstone Homes’ proposal for Chickahominy Falls, a 400-home development anchored by a community farm.

Glover said Fredericksburg ticks all the boxes for a successful senior-focused development. It is on the East Coast, near cities like Richmond and Washington D.C., but far enough removed to offer a slower pace of life. With the region’s growing population, he said many older people are moving here to be close to children who live in the area.

Cathie and David Taylor moved into another Cornerstone development, the Villas at Magnolia Lakes in Richmond, last June.

“From a real estate perspective, I decided to focus when I saw the trend coming,” said Dort, who fits the demographic. “I’m one of them.”

At age 57, he said he’s among the younger residents of the development but needed to downsize from their longtime three-story home on more than an acre.David Taylor is the co-owner of Libbie Market, a full-service grocery story in the Westhampton area of Richmond, and due to the demands of his job needed less home maintenance.

He said with his own health concerns, aged parents and work, it made sense to downsize.

Taylor recommended other people making a similar move take their time and make sure the lifestyle fits their expectations.

Linda Dort, a senior real estate specialist with Century 21 New Millennium, works exclusively with homes in senior communities and communities that are appealing to retired people.

She releases an annual “Guide to Main Level Living” that lists 23 local communities that offer maintenance-free communities with social opportunities. Some of these communities are partially age restricted, and some now allow younger buyers.

Dort also lives in Virginia Heritage. She moved there in 2007.

Active-adult communities are creating new opportunities for local business people.

Thomas Pentland, owner of personal driving service At Your Service, said the aging population created a need for his business.

He focuses on elderly clients who don’t drive, but need to run errands. He moved here from Maine to be closer to family and was struck by the number of senior living developments.

“I went to a lot of those communities and talked about their residents’ transportation needs,” he said. “It’s just because of age. Baby boomers like me are the larger portion of the population, and they are going into retirement.”

Lindley Estes: 540.735-1976

lestes@freelancestar.com

Cornerstone Homes

The Chestefield Chamber of Commerce did an awesome live video about a project being done with Cornerstone Homes. Guess who their preferred settlement services provider is? Yep, you guessed right, only if you guessed Safe Harbor Title of course!

Check out the video below to learn more about this awesome project!

R*Home - Finders Keepers

Original article appears in R*Home - Richmond Magazine

Jodie Strum collects Midcentury treasures to fill her Roslyn Hills home | Photos by Ansel Olson

When Strum moved in, the home was almost entirely brown. She transformed it by painting the walls white with contrasting black beams and installing statement wallpaper. Strum has furnished the home with a mix of Midcentury and contemporary furniture.


When Jodie Strum bought a Midcentury home in Henrico’s Roslyn Hills neighborhood, she scoured the Internet — and area antique stores — for hard-to-find furnishings and home décor items that would help transform the space.

The only thing Strum had no problem finding was the house itself. Her brother was the listing agent, and when he showed her the 2,300-square foot California ranch, built in 1959, she thought she’d walked onto the set of “The Brady Bunch.” Everything — from the walls to the radiators to the living room fireplace — was painted one of three shades of brown. “I didn’t know what I’d do with [the house],” says Strum, a commercial real estate broker, “but I did know I liked the flow.” She purchased it in May 2015.

Strum, who grew up as a member of a large Italian family in Bon Air, had good reason to be impressed by the open floor plan. “When I was young, we ate at my grandmother’s house every Sunday night, all of us wedged in the tiniest kitchen you ever saw,” she recalls. Strum and her siblings have continued the tradition. “We’re big eaters and big entertainers,” she says.

“I wanted to stay true to the Midcentury feel without getting kitschy.” —Jodie Strum

Strum hired Kauffman Construction to bring the house into the 21st century and took to the Internet to learn everything she could about Midcentury home design. Her plan was to keep the best parts of the house intact, while also making the home extremely livable. “I wanted to stay true to … the Midcentury feel without getting kitschy,” Strum says.

Jodie Strum stands in her dining area, which features wallpaper by Matthew Williamson for Osborne & Little. The 1970s table and brass chairs are by Mastercraft, and the light fixture is by Jonathan Adler.

The sunporch features pieces from Strum’s large collection of coveted Russell Woodard furniture, a lucky Craigslist find.

In the kitchen, she opted to save the cabinets but reconfigured them, turning an island into a peninsula and moving the location of the refrigerator. The cabinets got a coat of high-gloss white paint and new hardware, but it was the white glass countertops Strum saw on Houzz and tracked down through a New Jersey-based distributor that really transformed the space.

If she was going to make all those large family gatherings happen, Strum knew she’d need more than just a pretty kitchen. To increase her seating, she added a breakfast bar, which she topped with a heavily epoxied wood countertop, fabricated by Wellborn + Wright. And in the dining room, Strum committed herself to finding a Midcentury table that could extend when the whole family came for dinner. She located a burl wood table with brass inlay, manufactured by Mastercraft in the 1960s, through an antique dealer in Chicago and had it shipped to Richmond.

For finding Midcentury pieces online, Strum relies on Etsy, Chairish, 1stdibs and Craigslist. When a pair of 1960s-era Russell Woodard gliders went up for sale on Craigslist, Strum dropped everything and drove her brother’s truck to Washington, D.C., to pick them up. Her determination earned her the admiration of the couple selling them, and she came home with not two but 17 pieces of the highly coveted patio furniture.

The sunken family room opens to the sunroom and features a cushy velvet couch from Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams paired with an Adrian Pearsall chair and a custom table from Epoch Furnishings.

Selecting new lighting that appropriately evoked the era of the house proved to be one of Strum’s toughest challenges. She went with Jonathan Adler chandeliers in the dining room and the den. In the living room, as well as a guest room, she chose Aerin Lauder pendants, which she ordered from Visual Comfort. And in the kitchen, she commissioned two custom light fixtures — made with milk glass and hemp — from Ro Sham Beaux in Charleston, South Carolina.

The key for Strum has been mixing the old with the new. “I find myself gravitating towards the stuff from the ’50s and ’60s because of the quality,” she says, “but I’ve had to force myself to buy some new things, too.” In her den, a reupholstered Eames chair scored at Born Again Furnishings sits beside a Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams sofa and a coffee table that was custom made by Epoch Furnishings from locally sourced wood.

“I find myself gravitating towards the stuff from the ’50s and ’60s because of the quality.” —Jodie Strum

That desire to blend the old with the new extends to other design decisions. “I read an article that said the worst thing you can do to a Midcentury home is paint the brick,” Strum says. “I would watch TV and stare at the brick [fireplace in my den] and tell myself, ‘Jodie, the worst thing you can do is paint the brick.’ When I finally had it painted, I came home and said, ‘Oh, it was supposed to be painted.’ ”

Strum credits the house with helping her find her personal style. “I designed this house myself for a reason,” she says.

Hard Hat Happy Hour: Bus Barn Takeover

Richmond is continuously growing in unexpected ways. This was further proven to us when we attended the latest Hard Hat Happy with Richmond Biz Sense.

About the event and purpose,

"Now dubbed Cary Street Station, the 7-acre site at 101 S. Davis Ave. is being transformed by developers Tom Dickey and Chris Johnson of the Monument Cos., and Howard Kellman of the Edison Co., into 285 apartments and commercial space, for a combined 280,000 square feet. (...)

Upon completion, Cary Street Station will have nine buildings, including seven rehabbed structures and two built from scratch.

Johnson said last week 47 of the 160 apartments in the existing historic buildings are ready, and 30 already are leased. Another 64 apartments will be completed March 1, an additional 49 will follow later that month, and the new buildings are set to be ready by summer. Leases are in the works for restaurant and office tenants in the Cary Street-fronted commercial space." - via RichmondBizSense

What's so impressive about this particular development, is that it was an area that could have been potentially been left untouched. The recent sprawl of restaurants and with Carytown being just a few steps away it made this project a no brainer for this space to be repurposed into a residential area. It's good to see that there is plenty of people with vision in Richmond who have a commitment to making our city even better than what it is now.

We love being involved in these types of events because it allows us to learn where new projects are being developed in the city, giving us insight into what commercial and residential Real Estate will be like in the future.

HHHunt closes on land for Henrico townhomes

Safe Harbor Title worked closely with the Seller, Purchaser and the Purchaser's legal team to see this transaction through from start to finish.  We look forward to watching this new Henrico County community develop!

Read the full article below, click here to view original source

A rendering of HHHunt's planned three-story townhomes 10700 Ridgefield Parkway. (Courtesy HHHunt)

A site in western Henrico previously eyed for a senior living facility will instead be filled with more than five dozen townhomes by HHHunt.

The developer closed Friday on a 7.5-acre property at 10700 Ridgefield Parkway, where it plans to build 66 three-story townhomes. The site is along Ridgefield Green Drive between Ridgefield and John Rolfe parkways, behind a Walgreens pharmacy east of the intersection.

The purchase price was not disclosed nor listed on online property records Friday afternoon.

Jonathan Ridout, development director for HHHunt Communities, said the purchase price is included in its overall cost estimate for the project, $5.2 million. HHHunt Homes, another division of the company, will construct the project, called Ridgefield Green.

HHHunt Communities purchased the land from the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, which bought it in 2004 for $1.6 million. A county assessment most recently valued the property at $1.13 million.

Ridout said the company picked up the project from another developer that secured zoning approval last year. County records list that developer as Wilkins-Bradley Partners LLC.

The property previously was eyed by Bickford Senior Living for a facility it has since constructed at 11200 W. Huguenot Road in Chesterfield County. The Kansas-based company had proposed a project comparable to the 37,000-square-foot, 60-bed facility in 2015, but withdrew its rezoning request after several deferrals by Henrico’s review boards.

Ridout said the project was appealing to HHHunt as an infill opportunity.

“We traditionally do larger, master-planned communities, but we also have been looking for some of these smaller infill projects. This is just in a great location,” he said.

“You’ve got the John Rolfe YMCA that’s right across the street from it; it’s so close to the other parks, little league fields; it’s got great schools.”

Each unit at Ridgefield Green will be at least 1,540 square feet and include a front-entry one-car garage and customizable interiors. Prices for the units, ranging from two to three bedrooms and 1½ to two bathrooms, will start in the low $300,000s.

The property will include a small park area with tables and open space in the center of the community. A development plan was approved by the county in January, and Ridout said the company is securing construction approvals.

Construction is scheduled to begin this month, with the first units opening by late August or early September.

Known for larger communities such as Wyndham, Wellesley and Twin Hickory in Henrico and Charter Colony in Chesterfield, HHHunt has added several projects to its plate in recent months. On the multifamily side, it’s planning its next wave of townhomes at Rocketts Landing, where construction on an apartment building recently began.

Last month, the company announced plans for a 520-home age-restricted community on 200 acres next to Capital One’s Goochland County campus. It also is planning more than 1,000 homes on 250 acres near Virginia Center Commons, recently selling a portion of that project slated for apartments to Virginia Beach-based Kotarides Builders.

Jonathan Spiers is a senior reporter and assistant editor at BizSense. He covers residential real estate, public companies, and advertising/marketing. He's a graduate of Virginia Tech. He can be reached at Jonathan@richmondbizsense.com and (804) 308-2447.