This beautiful home on College Ave, near Eastern Mennonite University, offers gorgeous Western views and a 2 bedroom in-law suite.

You could also continue to rent the in-law suite, offsetting your mortgage payment by $650/month --- giving you a $300K mortgage payment on this $425K home!

• a photo tour
• the size and age of the neighborhood
• an overview of the floor plans available
• property owner association dues
• trend data showing the pace of sales and changes in market value (just updated for 2013-Q3)
  
• a neighborhood map
• properties currently for sale
• recent sales in the neighborhood
• restrictive covenants and a plat

The townhouse communities featured on HarrisonburgTownhouses.com include:

• Avalon Woods
• Beacon Hill Townes
• Blakely Park
• Country Club Court
• Emerald Drive Estates
• Harmony Heights
• Liberty Square I
• Liberty Square II
• Meadow Pointe
• Northfield Estates
• Parkcrest
• Preston Lake
• Reherd Acres
• Southside Heights
• Stonewall Heights
• Taylor Grove Townes
• Taylor Spring
• The Gables
• The Townes at Bluestone
• The Townes at Wellington Park
• Twin Gables
• Vista Terrace

• Spooky tunes by DJ Neals Barkley
• Face Painting by Larkin Arts
• MedExpress "Build-Your-Own First-Aid Kit" Station
• Balloon Animals
• Storytime with The Gus Bus
• You Made It! Clay Play Station
• Caricature Drawings
• Witches Brew by Hess Orthopaedics
• Paint on Canvas
• Cupcake Decorating by The Cupcake Company
• Themed Dances by the Shenandoah Contemporary Dance Theater ("Thriller" + "Crypt Pickers")
• Carnival Games by Explore More Discovery Museum

Find out more on the HDR Blog.

• February 2005:  N Main Properties purchase for $1.3M
   
  
• June 2007:  N Main Properties to Criticon for $3.8M
   
  
• January 2008:  Criticon to DBT-Data for $3.6M
   
  
• March 2010:  DBT-Data to Harris Corp for $41.6M
   
  
• Harris Corp invests another $22M in the facility  ($42M + $22M = $64M !?!!)
   
  
• Feb 2012: Harris shuts down data center
   
  
• Sept 2013:  Harris Corp to DBT-Data for $35M

A recent press release offers further insights on the facility....

• DBT-Data (the new owner of the Harrisonburg data center) now owns five data centers in Virginia.
   
• The Harrisonburg data center is the only data center in Maryland or Virginia with a Tier III certification from the Uptime Institute.  This ranking relates to the "security and risks of a data center's performance" --- there are four tiers (I, II, III, IV) with IV being the highest.
   
  
• The Harrisonburg data center (aka the "Cyber Integration Center") features 100% perimeter fencing, card readers and biometric access at all control points, 24/7 on site IT and security staff, high-efficiency evaporative chillers, air-side economizers for free cooling, and UPS.

It will be interesting to see if DBT-Data can now make good use of this data center, and bring in government and private sector clients for their data storage needs.

• Reports of Rapid Growth.... 
  An article in the Daily News Record on June 19, 2009 stated that enrollment was 17,964 in 2008 and would increase to 21,542 by 2013.  That would have been an increase of 3,578 students. 
   
  
• Student Housing Developers Respond....
  Per my calculations, student housing developers (and JMU) added beds for 3,792 additional students between 2008 and 2013, including a new JMU residence hall, and new housing at Charleston Townes, Sunchase, North 38, Campus View, 865 East, Copper Beach, Urban Exchange and Aspen Heights.
   
  
• Actual Growth Was Much Slower....
  The Total On-Campus Headcount (shown above) actually only increased from 17,964 to 19,409 between 2008 and 2013.  This is an actual increase of only 1,445 students.
  

• declining property values in some privately own student housing complexes
  
• the rebranding of some off campus housing complexes to try to gain traction in an oversupplied market
  
• the apparent auction of a major off campus student housing complex

And yet, at the same time....

• new housing complexes being planned (though not yet implemented) even further from campus
• one newer complex was sold at a tremendously high value with high occupancy rates
• the first student housing complex was planned and built in the County

Why did it all happen?

So, we apparently have a tremendous oversupply of student housing in Harrisonburg -- many wonder why it happened.  Read my theories here.

Looking forward....

Given this new data (at the top of this post) about increases in JMU enrollment (Total On-Campus Headcount) what can we say or know about the future?

• Further projected increases in student enrollment should slowly eat into the oversupply of student housing.
  
  
• Our local market DOES NOT need any further off campus student housing!?!

This is a lot of information -- if you have questions, feel free to email me at scott@HarrisonburgHousingToday.com.

11:00am-2:30pm:  Day-of Registration

11:00am-3:00pm:  Eat lunch, decorate your hula hoop, play games, watch demonstrations and practice the routine

3:00pm:  Large Group Practice

• As shown above, a higher List to Sales Price Ratio equates to less negotiating.
   
  
• The amount that a seller will need to negotiate will also depend on how realistic their list price is at the time that they receive an offer.

• Six Paired Homes have sold.
• The 7th and 8th Paired Home are under construction....and under contract.
• Only two paired homes remain!
• A new model home (detached) is under construction!
  

• door hardware and locks
  
• household sensors and alarms
  
• security systems
  
• energy management devices
  
• lighting control modules
  
• thermostats and accessories

CNN has the answers, but here's the gist:

Fannie and Freddie will continue to operate. They aren't funded by the government; they make their money via fees.

However, FHA, VA, and USDA loan applications won't be processed.

The good news is that government shutdowns don't tend to last very long. There have been 17 of them since 1976 — the longest lasted 21 days; the median was just 3 days.