If you are looking for a warm, inviting place to enjoy a delicious entrée of Bangers and Mash, washed down by a pint of Guinness, all while listening to a live musician play Irish tunes - then stop by one of the Burg’s newest restaurants – Corgans’ Publick House.
Photo courtesy of Mike Miriello (who also takes our real estate listing photos!)
Conveniently located on Port Republic Road (in the 865 East building), Corgans’ offers a full bar and evening entertainment (to include live music and trivia nights). However, its main focus will be on excellent service and food. Corgans’ menu not only features traditional Irish fare including Cottage Pie, Fish n’ Chips, and Corned Beef and Cabbage, but also countless other pub favorites such as salads, burgers, reubens, pizza, & wings.
Corgans’ Publick House is the brainchild of Katharine Corgan, a 2006 JMU graduate, and her fiancé, Vito Pellerito, owner of Vito’s Italian Kitchen, located just down the hill from Corgans’. If you have dined at Vito’s then you already know the pair have mastered the art of owning a successful restaurant.
For more information, including pub hours, a sample menu, and an entertainment schedule, visit www.corganspublickhouse.com. They’re also on Facebook!
“Battles on the Home Front” is a new program created by the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Sesquicentennial Committee to bring visitors to the Shenandoah Valley — specifically Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. This program highlights the historic Civil War sites in our area, and incorporates compelling stories, museums, interpretive centers, and a 2012 calendar of commemorative events, plus walking and driving tours!
The Committee had SIDECAR (a local design and marketing firm) develop two important marketing materials to use in promoting this program: a brochure describing “Battles on the Home Front,” and a map directing folks through a walking tour of Downtown Harrisonburg and a driving tour around Rockingham County.
Though this program will bring visitors to our area, it is also meant to educate local residents of the rich history of the Valley.
“The Harrisonburg-Rockingham Sesquicentennial Committee and partners have worked to engage local citizens and visitors of the unique and diverse stories in the Harrisonburg-
Rockingham County area,” says Cari Orebaugh.
A couple years ago, we published a list of things to do in Harrisonburg with kids, and it has been one of our most popular posts since! A few more options have become available in our area, so we decided now was a great time to add to the list. Here are more things to do in Harrisonburg with kids!
JMU Planetarium: The John C. Wells Planetarium offers free shows for the public on Saturdays during the fall and spring semesters at James Madison University. There are two shows each Saturday — one at 2:30 PM and the next at 3:30 PM. The earlier show is geared toward families with young children, and the second appeals to older children and adults. Each show is followed by a 25-minute “star talk” that provides visitors with updates about the night sky, including constellations, planets, and any comets that might be visible. (Seating begins 10 minutes before showtime on a first-come, first-seated basis.)
Chick-fil-A Come & Play: Chick-fil-A not only serves up delicious food in a kid-friendly environment, but they also provide a Come & Play time on Thursday mornings from 10:00 - 11:00 AM. (Bonus: if you arrive before 10, you can get a free small cup of coffee!)
RMH Wellness Center Programs for Children: We all know that RMH Wellness Center offers great fitness and health equipment and classes for adults, but they also provide wonderful kid’s programs. Try swimming lessons, classes specialized toward toddlers (Creative Movements), infants (Giggle & Grow), yoga for kids, personal golf training lessons, youth tri club, and more!
Story Time at Barnes & Noble: Every Friday morning at 11:00 AM, the Harrisonburg Barnes & Noble offers a wonderful story time on the stage in the children’s section.
International Story Time at A Bowl of Good: More fun story time can be had at A Bowl of Good on Wednesday mornings at 9:30 AM! These stories highlight cultures from around the world. They also serve snacks from the culture of the story. Children and big kids at heart are all welcome.
Kid’s Night at The Little Grill: A long cherished, locally owned restaurant in Downtown Harrisonburg (and known for their to-die-for breakfasts), The Little Grill offers half off the kids menu, live music, and fun bingo prizes on the fourth Wednesday of every month from 5:00 - 9:00 PM.
As always, if you know of any other fun activities geared toward the younger crowd, comment below or contact us so we can update this list!
Last week, in our December Market Report, we promised to delve deeper into the year end statistics for Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. As we already know, sales were up by more than 4%, contracts increased by over 20%, and home values decreased almost 8%. Lets take a closer look at some data that shaped the local 2011 real estate market.
This chart should look familiar as we posted it in our December Market Report, but we show you again because it is crucial to understand that one reason 2011 fared so well in terms of real estate is because the amount of supply (homes for sale) decreased from last year, and the amount of demand (homes that sold) increased. This closes the gap in the market, and while it is still very much a buyer’s market right now, this smaller gap shows a “light at the end of the tunnel” for sellers. There was definitely more balance this year than last.
Most home owners want to track their home’s value because it is typically their largest asset. The chart above shows how values have trended since 2006, and the average size of homes that buyers have gone for. We calculate home values by taking the average sold price and dividing average square footage from it. As you can clearly see, back in ‘06, folks were buying much smaller homes and paying a lot more for them. Sometime in 2010, that shifted and buyers got larger homes and spent less for each square foot. In 2011, home size continued to increase, while home values (or price-per-square-foot) continued to fall. Values at the moment are at $101.47/square foot on average.
This chart simply shows the median sales prices over the last 6 years and the number of homes that have sold, and how they correspond. Over the years, sales prices increased slightly and then fell quite dramatically. In 2011, we saw the first increase in sales since 2006!
Again, we look at median sales price, but this time we are comparing it to the average sold/list percentage. Previously, we’ve described sold/list percentage as this: the average sold/list percentage tells us how much the seller got as a percentage of the final list price. For example, if Mr. Smith listed his home for $250k and sold it for $210k, his sold/list percentage would be 84% (210,000 divided by 250,000). For the past 3 years, the average sold/list percentage has corresponded fairly well with the median sales price, but it has fallen continuously since 2006. You can see that ‘06 was a sellers market because they were getting about 99% of their asking price! In 2011, though, it was less than 95% (which is still pretty good).
2011 was a good year for our local real estate market. We are looking forward to how 2012 will pan out, and are excited about the opportunity to be a part of it! If you’re thinking of buying or selling this year, let us know how we can help you.
Remember back in June when we posted about the possibility of an open air amphitheater making its debut in Downtown Harrisonburg? Well, progress has been made on this front and a public meeting will be held this Thursday, January 12, for all who are interested in hearing from a team of local citizens and public officials about recent visits they made to other successful urban parks in the region, and the team’s recommendations about what can be possible for our community.
“A downtown public park has been under consideration for several years and the logical next step was to learn from other communities about what works well and what is not a successful model,” says Eddie Bumbaugh, Executive Director of Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance. “The team brought back many photographs and much information from the park tours and meetings with community representatives. We welcome the opportunity to ‘show and tell’ the highlights of our visits.”
A plethora of information, including proposed plans, expansion of the farmer’s market, how the venue would be used, and more is available at planourpark.com! (You can also call Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance at 540-432-8922 or visit their website.)
Meeting Information
Plan Our Park - Update & Public Meeting
Thursday, January 12, 2012
6:30 PM @ City Council Chambers
409 South Main Street, Harrisonburg
Coming soon to Eastern Mennonite University is the annual Career and Service Day Fair. This year, it is scheduled for February 22 from 3:00 - 6:00 PM. It will be located on the second floor of University Commons on the indoor track, and there will be free parking available. Last year, sponsors included companies such as Dynamic Aviation, BB&T, Fairfield Center, Harrisonburg City Schools, Generations Crossing, Rockingham Memorial Hospital, James Madison University, Sustainable Solutions of Virginia, and many more.
Sponsorship for this year’s event is still available — due by February 17. (There is a registration form online that you can fill out if you are interested in being a part of this year’s fair!)
Before the fair begins, there will be a time for interviews for current or upcoming opportunities. These will be held from 11:00 AM until the fair begins at 3:00 PM.
Event Details
EMU Career & Service Day Fair
Located in EMU University Commons on the 2nd floor
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
3:00 PM - 6:00 PM (interviews from 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM)
Registration for sponsors is open through Friday, February 17
Free parking
With December coming and going yet again, we’ve come to a new month AND a new year! To celebrate, we’ve put together our monthly Market Report — yes, we do find it exciting — so put your party hat back on and take a moment to review the year 2011 in local real estate statistics.
Sales increased from 2011 over 2010 by 4.4%! This shows us that over the past 12 months, buyers have been buying… and more often than the year prior. Those buyers also got more “bang for their buck” because sales prices were down, thus bringing down the average price per square foot (by 7.9%, to be exact). Although home values are down, the fact that sales increased is a good sign that our local market is bouncing back a bit.
Above, you can see how sales ebbed and flowed throughout the year. December finished strong with 79 total residential sales, which matches August and September, and even beats out April, which is typically a strong month as well!
Lets take a look at contracts. Though contracts decreased by 20 from November, they increased over the year by over 20%! So not only did sales increase over 2010, but contracts did as well. Another sign of healing in our Harrisonburg real estate market.
And here you can see how contracts fared over the past 12 months. December was indeed the lowest month for contracts in 2011, but this is typical because most buyers put their home searches on the back burner over the holiday season. We hope to see an uptick in contracts this month, but only time will tell.
The above chart shows the number of properties that have sold over the past 3 full years, and each month’s respective average sales price. The December numbers are highlighted. 2011 sales are higher than both 2009 and 2010 sales, and average sales price fell between the two previous years.
The graphic above shows us the median list and sold prices over the past 12 months, with the orange line depicting the average sold/list percentage. In simpler terms, the average sold/list percentage tells us how much the seller got as a percentage of the final list price. For example, if Mr. Smith listed his home for $250k and sold it for $210k, his sold/list percentage would be 84% (210,000 divided by 250,000). Back to the graph above, it looks like sellers were listing around $180k and selling for $170k.
Days on market plays a role in pricing. If a seller wants to sell quickly, the price has to be aggressive (or at least priced reasonably well). The average DOM in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County in December was 206 days. As you can see, DOM for 2011 has been higher during most months this year than in the previous two. Buyers are buying, but houses are sitting on the market for a longer duration. Perhaps buyers are able to be more picky? This brings us to supply and demand…
Supply and demand is a basic economics concept. Supply, in this case, is the number of homes for sale (active listings), and demand is the number of homes that sold. In 2011, there were 1,854 active residential listings, and 791 homes sold. That is a lot of supply for a small amount of demand (though it is a bit better than 2010 was). Buyers can be more picky, because there is an overwhelming amount of homes to choose from in our local market.
To recap, we’re celebrating because sales are up, contracts are strong, and the future is bright.
In the next week, we will be showing you some more year-over-year statistics regarding the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County real estate market. (We provided you with a lot of info here, and didn’t want to overwhelm you too much!)
And as always, stay tuned for our next Market Report, right here on Harrisonblog…
It has been a great year for The Harrisonburg Homes Team, and we look forward to more opportunities and another fresh start in 2012. To kick off the year, we’re making some pretty big marketing changes… and we’ll tell you about them later. For now, though, we made a simple update to our blog and wanted to share with you about it.
Over on the right sidebar, we’ve changed the top section to include more ways to connect with us than just our RSS Feed. We added a link to our Facebook Page, our Twitter Profile, and our new Google+ Page, and of course, kept the option for you to subscribe to Harrisonblog. We like to be in several places online so that you have the option to connect with us however you see fit!
So check us out in other webispheres, connect with us, and let us know how you’re doing. We truly appreciate keeping in touch with our followers, friends, clients, customers, strategic partners, and subscribers!
First Night Harrisonburg is a time-honored tradition in the streets of Downtown Harrisonburg. Ring in the New Year with (alcohol-free) fun festivities for the whole family, starting at 6:00 PM and continuing until midnight when the fireworks fill the night sky! Entertainment includes children’s activities, music performances in different venues around downtown, the fireworks, and more.
Admission to this event requires the purchase of a button (pre-sale of buttons starts today!), and will be available in several locations. Buttons are $8 at the event, or $6 pre-sale. Check the First Night website for all other admissions information.
A list of just a few of the sponsors of this event:
Since the beginning of the planning process for Rockingham Memorial Hospital (RMH) in Rockingham County, using eco-friendly materials and “going green” throughout the building process was one of the top priorities. Thanks for Chevrolet, RMH is using methane gas from the Rockingham County landfill for power. Our local landfill receives 300 tons of trash per day, which produces methane gas and is captured into tanks, then travels through a series of pipes 3 miles long to the hospital. This is used as a substitute for natural gas and is used at RMH for heat, hot water, and to sterilize surgical instruments. Check out this video for even more information:
@dnr_business Yes! Harvey's does serve coffee! Can't believe I forgot about that. Frankly, anything with a drive-thru would be great. .................................................. @HburgHomes Twitter RSS Feed
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