The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Veronica Piller And Matthias John Joined Michael Urpí & Xavier Urpí On "Today y Mañana!"

Episode Date: May 30, 2024

Veronica Piller, Artistic Director at the Albemarle Ballet Theatre, and Matthias John, Owner of Matthias John Realty, joined Michael Urpí & Xavier Urpí On “Today y Mañana!” “Today y Mañana��� airs every Thursday at 10:15 am on The I Love CVille Network! “Today y Mañana” is presented by Emergent Financial Services, LLC, Craddock Insurance Services Inc and Matthias John Realty, with Forward Adelante.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Today Manana. I'm Michael. This is Xavier. We're happy to have you on this beautiful summer day. So kind of get cozy, grab your iced cafe con leche. I think that today's an iced cafe con leche day, and, you know, enjoy some Today and Manana. Pops, I'm happy to have you here with me. Well, I'm delighted that you can host the show today.

Oh, yeah? Why, you don't like hosting the show? No, no, no, I like, yeah. I like second fiddle. I like second fiddle. I know, me too, but when Alex is here, we can't both be singing. That's right. We're both on the same side. Side by side. Nobody over there. That one looks so good.

No, it looks so good. As always, we're happy to be presented by Emergent Financial Services and sponsored by our wonderful partners, Matisse Sion from Matisse Sion Realty, Craddock Series Insurance, Charlottesville Opera. Speaking of Charlottesville Opera, they actually have the two events are getting very close.

I think they already have tickets on sale. In June, right? So June they have The Music Man, which is, I wrote down the dates because I knew I won't remember if I did. June 21st, 22nd, 23rd at the Paramount. And then in July, they have the opera The Elixir of Love, which is July 12th and 14th at the Paramount. That's a great name, Elixir of Love.

I mean, you've just got to go see that. Yeah, I don't know. I can't remember the name of the composer. Nick would probably know. He's going to yell at you. Yeah, I know. I'm not knowing that. I know, I know, I know.

But that's okay. I got the dates so people can go online check them out and you know kind of start getting their tickets because i it's exciting i mean we had um i think it was caroline um come on the show with us and they kind of went over the the play and kind of like the themes of kind of like because both kind of involve like comments there was kind of like that that theme you know kind of going on i don't know whether there was supposed to be like a reasoning behind that but it was sort of like that was kind of like the common theme behind the two yeah the musical and the opera so yeah i mean what i only doubt that the music man is a is a it's a great you know musical and um and the elixir of love is

a it's it's it i mean this is of course just a personal opinion and so it's not a traditional opera and the way I look at opera, only because operas are always like there's always something going on that at the end is not a happy ending. So I'm used to those. But it's also a great piece. So I think people will enjoy both. That's good.

Have you ever seen The Music Man at Curiosity? Well, I've seen it when I was much younger on television. Oh, you said like the movie you sang? The movie, yes. I've never seen it on Broadway or anything like that.. Oh, you said like the movie you're saying? The movie, yes. Oh, okay. I've never seen it on Broadway. You've never seen it on Broadway. Okay.

Now you've got your chance, Pop. Exactly. Absolutely. You know? Also, another quick update, too. I think, I don't know if you saw, UVA Baseball is actually hosting a regional. Yeah, this weekend, right?

This weekend, yes. Yeah. I don't know who's playing and all that. I just saw that they were hosting a regional. Saturday, I think it is, right? Isn't it this weekend? Or Friday, Saturday, and Sunday? Oh, it's all three. I think it is. Is this already for the region? Or is this for the NCAA?

To be honest, I'm not 100% sure. That's Alex's department. He's got to call in and answer that question. So Nick's department was... I only briefly saw it this morning because it was like for different reasons, but I briefly saw and I was like, oh look, they're hosting a regional. Alex had been talking about that. He was hoping that they would host and we are. I just don't know the context of what it means in regard to

the college baseball World Series and all that. Hopefully we do well. Yeah, keep our fingers crossed. We didn't have such a great ACC tournament, but we've been worried about the pitching, and that's kind of what happened. The pitching just... Well, we lost 12-7 to Florida State.

So we scored seven runs, which usually should be good enough to win a game, but you give up 12, that is a lot. That's a pretty big mountain to climb. It really is. So the pitch has got to do better. But if we can keep hitting, we've got a chance.

Keep our fingers crossed. Well, I don't know about you. I'm ready to go to our first guest. Well, absolutely. She's sitting here. She's talking about baseball and storms. She's like, come on, let's get going. So we are very happy to be welcomed to welcome Veronica Piller

to the show. Thank you, Veronica, for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. It's great to be here with you. It's a pleasure. It's our pleasure. It's our pleasure. So please tell us a little bit about yourself. And for our viewers who kind of don't know about the Albemarle Ballet Theater, kind of give them like a run through of kind of what you guys do and what you're about. Sure. Well, I come from a family of dancers.

My sister and I were both professional dancers, and my mother and her sister were both professional dancers. And my mother started Album Raw Ballet Theater, excuse me, in 2004. And I had recently left an apprenticeship where I was dancing for Charleston Ballet Theater. And I came back to the Crozet area to help her open the ballet studio. And her mission has always been to provide really top quality, excellent dance training to everyone who wants to dance

and to offer it at as affordable of a cost as we can. We partner with a local nonprofit studio for the performing arts, and we're able to offer scholarships for dancers both through our studio and throughout the community to be able to take classes there. Another one of our big focuses is really quality programming in performances.

We love putting on full-scale productions as opposed to recitals. So we do two large performances a year. Oh, wow. We have our annual performance of the Nutcracker in December. And then we have a gala every May that we perform at PVCC.

And it's usually mixed repertoire. We bring in local choreographers. We like to partner with people to highlight other artists in the community and to highlight our dancers. And so performances are a large part of what we do at ABT. Okay. And you mentioned classes. So kind of what classes do you kind of provide for prospective dancers?

Kind of like what's the age range that you kind of take in people of like parents are kind of looking to bring their kids? Sure. Well, we have classes for children starting at age two all the way through adults. As long as you want to move, you can come and take classes. So we have creative movement classes for our littlest ones, exploring ballet for kids as they get a little bit older. And we offer a recreational track of training. We also, as our students advance into the upper levels,

we offer a pre-professional level of training. We teach classical ballet, point, modern dance, jazz, and tap. Oh, wow. So I'm curious about something, because I remember, I don't know who I was chatting with, and maybe this is talking, chatting with your sister, but historically ballet dancers, because of how they have to stand, their damage to their toes or whatever can be extensive over time, right?

Is there a new way of teaching ballet without necessarily having that, or is ballet ballet? That is a great question, Xavier. So one of our primary focuses at ABT is training the whole dancer physically and emotionally, and we really focus on timing when it comes to putting dancers on point and then being very intelligent and cautious with how we allow them to move forward with that. We offer a lot of injury prevention clinics, additional strength and cross training for dancers. And we partner with a local dance medicine specialist at ACAC who has worked wonders with our dancers, both in educating them and also in helping them to overcome injuries.

But injury prevention is a huge part of what we teach. I actually have a question to kind of back off Xavier. So sometimes this kind of start with the sports analogy, like people as kids get older, right? There's been a lately the past like 10 years has been a focus of, oh, if my my kid if i want my child to play baseball for example i'll only have him play baseball but there's a lot of experts kind of come and saying well you know it's actually sometimes better if they play multiple sports because their body is kind of used to different movements and it prevents injuries is that something that you see with ballet that if you kind of like you know someone's like well my child wants to learn ballet but you're

also like you know it's also good it's good if they learn other dancing as well, instead of just singularly focus on ballet to kind of maybe move their body in different ways. Have you seen that or heard about that? And does that kind of relate? Absolutely. Both in my personal career and other peers and colleagues that I know. And in dance medicine, we're seeing more of an emphasis on training the whole body as a system

and not just focusing on keeping on that one track with ballet. It's really important also, I think, for anybody that is pursuing anything at a higher level to stay well-rounded. And so we love that our dancers pursue soccer, gymnastics. Many of them take music classes, which goes hand in hand with dance. And so we do encourage that. Okay. I was curious, just, you know, considering you were a professional ballet dancer, is there an age where, you know, in ballet itself, you know, there's a, let's say, you know, from x age to this age is where they peak and then

thereafter you know it's best to just you know not not continue or in in ballet does it matter whether they're 30s and 40s so many things have changed in the dance world even since my career ended um i think in the last 20 years what what we've seen are really huge advances made in dance medicine and kind of in the overall perception of dance and physical bodies on stage. For previous generations, there was a very strict physical aesthetic that dancers were pushed to adhere to, and that has dramatically changed. and I think that has also diminished the number of injuries that we see in dancers of all ages but it's also really helped dancers to prolong their careers into their 30s and 40s and sometimes even their 50s so if you're and I think also it matters like

who you're working with if you have a if you have a great you know Pilates instructor or dance medicine specialist that you're working with, they can kind of be your team to keep your body on track. But I can tell you from my career that when I hit 30, my body definitely felt different than when I was 20 or 25. And I could feel the injuries that I had sustained over my career. I could feel them a little bit more. Yeah, I wonder because I mean, I grew up, my parents worked in the ballet and opera fields, right? So I used to go see a lot of ballet when I was a kid and so in New York. And I used to watch these dancers and, I mean, they were all awesome.

They were unbelievable, the things they did. I used to look at their feet and say, how did they even stand up? I couldn't believe it. But then I realized that most of them were on their younger side, but there was one, and I can't remember her name, there was one famous Cuban ballet dancer that she came to New York at four years old, and that was supposed to be old, and she did, you know, like a bunch of pirouettes and stuff like that,

and everybody was like up in arms how she could still do that. So I was just wondering whether because of whether it's just age catches up or whether in today's world, whether the way people are taught in medicine, people can dance longer. We place an emphasis

on quality training so that whether the dancers who come through ABT go just do it recreationally or do take it to college or to a professional level, that their bodies don't, you know, sustain any injuries that are going to change their quality of life or harm them. We really want to maintain a holistic track for our dancers so that they can live their best life. And if they want to continue dancing, great.

Or if they just want to wear shoes comfortably when they're my age and not feel arthritis that you know that's a perk too that's important yeah very important um so oh yeah i was gonna quickly mention you also um you mentioned a non-profit too at some point this was it the studio for the performing arts can you tell us a little bit more about that sure so we partner with the Studio for the Performing Arts. We have since we opened. And they umbrella all of our community programming, all of our outreach performances, and all of the clinics that we offer for the community. So this year we've actually restructured our nonprofit. We've hired a new executive director. And we're taking more of our programming into the community. We're expanding into Augusta and Nelson counties. Um, and we're offering, um, classes that we're partnering with title one schools for, um, programming for the elderly. We're bringing more of our small performances into the community. We do a performance series called step into the story and they are small

30 minute performances that are truncated versions of our larger performances for younger children. They're sensory friendly. And the dancers go and meet and greet and mingle with the children. And we also do some education about the performance and classical music. We're also going to be doing injury prevention clinics, a clinic on nutrition that will be done in a series. And we do clinics on everything from upcycling and thrifting clothing and turning them into costumes to stage makeup and stage hair. So we'll really be expanding that programming throughout the next year. Wow, that's a pretty encompassing program.

I mean, even with the costume thing, that's kind of like Abuelito and Abuelito, my grandparents, his parents kind of department a bit. Yeah, I remember that. So, I know you mentioned, I guess, so the Nutcracker, is that something that you do every single year?

Yes. And the beautiful thing, I guess, about the Nutcracker is you get the youngsters in there also, right? Yes. And the beautiful thing, I guess, about the Nutcrackers, you get the youngsters in there also, right? Yes. From the littlest ones all the way up through our advanced dancers. And they're so cute. Yeah, they are.

Yeah, so we do a Nutcracker every December. We perform at Waynesboro High School at their theater there. And we're looking forward to bringing it to the community again this year. That would be great. And how about the other one, the one that you said was in May? Yes.

So we do a spring gala annually in May. We actually didn't do one this year. It was the first time in 18 years we haven't done one. We needed to scale up our infrastructure. We actually just hired a bunch of new teachers, and we just needed more teaching base to be able to continue to offer things at that scale. But we do a lot of original works.

So last year we did our largest original work we've ever done. It was a ballet called Once Upon a Time that I had been kind of, the wheels had been turning with the idea for this ballet for a number of years and we had 85 local dancers in it. It was a huge two-act ballet, and we're really excited about bringing more programming like that to Charlottesville and the surrounding areas.

Who gets to choose the ballet? I do. You talk it to the boss. Oh, no, absolutely. That's great. I do, yes. It's actually my favorite part of the job is choosing the programming. And so you're able to use some of the, I guess, some of the people are taking classes, et cetera, and then obviously you also get some professional dancers.

So, no, actually that's one thing that makes us really unique. We don't hire professional dancers for any of the lead roles in our ballets. We, all of our dancers at ABT, all of the students are performing all of the parts. And so that's a really exciting part of each show is that we get to work with each dancer one-on-one to help them rise to the occasion of these larger roles and really carry the show. And it's incredible how to see them all grow and really blossom into like the next phase of their training and artistry. Yeah, that's a pretty big step to perform in front of a lot of people. That's fantastic. Yeah, I mean, it's a great learning curve, too,

but it's got to be daunting. I can't even fathom your training, and now suddenly it's like, now I've got to perform. I think it's amazing. The teenagers that carry these roles are outstanding. And getting to work with them and help them over the hump of getting stage jitters is wonderful. But they're so eager and hardworking and dedicated. And they make it easy.

Did you ever get stage jitters when you performed? I did. And now I get stage excited because I don't get to perform anymore. I think I still yearn for the spotlight. So anytime I have an opportunity, I still get excited. I was talking to someone the other day who was dancing. I'm like, oh, you get nervous when you perform? He's like, no.

I'm like, no. He goes, nah. He goes, you know, for me, it's fun. I do it all the time. But still, I'm like, you don't get like a little bit nervous? He goes, no. So I was like, okay. And I was just curious.

Kind of like some people, it's like, oh, like, you know, they've been doing it for 50 years, but I still get nervous. And other people are like, nah, it never bothered me in the beginning. So I wasn't sure. Towards the end of my career, I had moments where I wondered if maybe I was too comfortable on stage because I would be waiting backstage and check my phone. But now I think I would be really nervous if I had to step on stage again to perform.

I haven't danced in a long time. Well, I assume there's a lot of practice. So by the time you get to perform, it just becomes second nature. And I guess part of it is also because it's with music. Again, you memorize that music and you just know, boom, I've got to jump here. I've got to do this here. I've got to do that. And then it's just like you just flow with that music.

It does put you in a flow state. And I think even when I see the youngest dancers, the littlest ones, when they hear their music backstage, you can see something shift. Like, okay, this is what I've been practicing. I'm ready for this. And the music is a really big piece of it. Yeah. I always feel like whenever you're kind of performing in front of people, it's like the first kind of few minutes of like the worst, the anticipation. And then when you first get on the stage, but once you kind of get into the flow of it, I just feel like your brain stops thinking, oh my gosh, you're performing. Now you're just kind of in the

mode of basically just kind of doing everything. And then you don't even realize that it's over until it's like, you know, your cue goes. And then you leave the stage. You're like, oh, wow, I did it. That's so true. That's a really, really accurate assessment. Yes, the anticipation is the worst part. It really is, yeah.

I mean, the few times I've had to do like a public speaking and stuff, it's always like, oh my gosh, I'm not going to be able to do it this and that. And then you go on stage,'re nervous you start talking and then the minute you just keep talking you're not even thinking about the fact that you're in front of a bunch of people and then you end and you're like i made it through i made it oh man but um so before i let you go um where can people find you i know you're located in crozet um if people are interested kind of like in classes where can they go to kind of like sign up for that? So our studios are located in downtown Crozet. We're located in the old Fruit Growers Complex, which is the top floor above Crozet Pizza.

Oh, I know exactly where that is. I pass it all the time now. Yeah, when you go visit. My oldest son lives basically almost right around the corner where those Stanley Martin homes are now. So I think that three-notch road, and I get to that corner where there's a stop sign, and on the right I always see that. There you are.

That's us. I see you all the time. Yeah. I didn't realize that I didn't make the connection that that's where you guys were. Well, now every time you pass by, you have to wave. I will. Absolutely. Might even stop by and say, let's see what's going on. Come watch now every time you pass by, you have to wave. I will. Absolutely. Might as well stop by and say, let's see what's going on here.

Come watch a class. You guys signed up for class? No, I don't think so. You don't want me in leotards. That's for sure. And if the online class is where can people kind of like, you know, kind of sign up online? Is it like a website? Yes, you can visit our website. And we have, we work through

an online platform called Jackrabbit where we have registration. Veronica, thank you so much for coming on. It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much. You have a good one. You too. Thanks. I love ballet. I think we've talked about it before.

One of the things about ballet is that first of all, I love classical music. And so that music is so melodic because it has to be danced with. And then to watch the dancers do things that I just sometimes I say, you know, how did they do that? You know, the way they jump and then, you know, they actually do the pirouettes. Yeah, the little twinkling toes. The twinkling, yeah, yeah.

It's very impressive. And then when they go to the turn, the turn, the turn, it's like I'd be dizzy by the time they do the second turn. It's great. It's always impressive. I mean, we've been lucky to see Swan Lake and the Nutcracker, and I mean, both times we were awed. And it really helps, too, I'm not going to lie.

As a music person, you get Tchaikovsky going there. It's like the themes are just like famous. and you could hum them off the top of your head so it's kind of like you you hear the great music and now you kind of get in a visual performance what they're ready the musical performance and it's just it's absolute pleasure so yeah the Nutcracker in December is a great is a great one to see yeah absolutely in the mood there's something about it right away put you in the yeah it really's something about it that right away puts you in the mood. It really is. I don't know what it is.

Ballet during Christmas time feels like right. It's like hot cocoa. Drinking hot cocoa when it's snowing. I can drink hot cocoa in the summer, but it's true. But anyway. So from one great guest to another, now we're excited to be joined by Matthias Young. Matthias, thank you so much for coming on. He's got charts and everything.

I know, he's got papers and everything. I'm going to be confused in 10 seconds here. Look at all this. Well, thanks so much for having me again, even though I'm bringing all those charts and graphs and data to go over. I thought that was homework for Xavier. I was like... The first half of the show was fun.

We listened and learned about ballet, and now we're looking at numbers. Numbers, there about ballet and now we're looking at numbers. Numbers, there you are. Now we're looking at houses. Why are we doing this? Listen, it's important. You've got to live somewhere, right? You don't want to be on the street.

You've got to find a home. That is a good point. You know, it's funny. I was sitting on the other side of the room listening to Veronica go over the ballet and then I slowly realized sitting on the other side of the room listening to Veronica go over the ballet. And then I slowly realized she is the daughter of my daughter's godmother. So I actually know her mom.

And it just made me realize again we live in a tiny world sometimes. It's amazing sometimes how you meet people and then that person knows somebody else's woman. I know that person really well. And it's just, it really is a, first of all, it's a small world sometimes when you think about it. But when it comes to the community, sometimes it's incredible how you just, it's like you meet somebody. I mean, even yesterday we went to a luncheon. And I'm looking at this lady. She's looking at me, and I'm saying, I know this lady. I just can't remember her name.

Who is she? And then she goes, you look familiar. I said, yeah, you look familiar, too. Before we started chatting, oh, yeah, how are you doing? So it's incredible. You meet people. You know people. It's great.

It's been 10 years now that I moved to Charlottesville from Germany. And so I wonder, am I now entitled to call myself a local? You know, after 10 years? The minute you move here, you can say, well, why not? Because I'm among those that now claim that there are so many people that constantly move here, right? Well, that's what I did 10 years ago. But if you ignore my accent, you might as well think that I

belong here. You don't have to admit, though, considering you moved here 10, did you live in the States at any other time? No. Straight from Munich to Charlesburg. It is, I mean, I have to, and I'm not saying this just because you're here, but it's unbelievable how well you speak English considering you've only been here 10 is, I mean, I have to I mean, and I'm not saying this just because you're here but it's unbelievable how well you speak English considering you've only been here 10 years. I mean, I know people that have been here all

their lives and can't speak as well as you do. No, really, it's the truth. I mean, it's just amazing. So, I don't know whether you learned English in Germany from a really good teacher and you were a good student, but you have... Matthias was like he would

have been a really good student. You have that studious kind of like nature to yourself, you know? You look like you would get like all A's. I'm not sure if that's a compliment from you. No, it is. It's an absolute compliment. Take it easy. It doesn't give you anything.

Take it easy. I had good school years and bad school years. But you're right, Xavier. We learned English at an early age in Germany, all over Europe, actually. But I also grew up close to Australia. So I went to Australian International School when I was younger. That probably helped me with my vocabulary a little bit. I'll take my hat off to you.

There's no question that we can speak to you in our language here, well, his language here, and not have any issues whatsoever. You just catch, you respond. Like I said, there's people here that have lived longer than you, and sometimes they have no clue what you're saying. But anyway, we're here to talk about... Well, here's what we are talking about. And Alex, who's not here today,

he has been bugging me about this topic for a long time because I'm here as a realtor and as a member of our Charlottesville community and we always talk about how Charlottesville is relatively expensive compared to

other areas in Virginia or in the country. At the same time it is the city we love it is the city we love. It is the city that attracts so many people for various reasons, whether it is to retire here in the area or it is because UVA has a job opening. Whatever the motivation or intentions are, we have this steady stream of people moving here, right?

And so we listen to this in the headlines all the time, too. But just for our conversation here today, what does it mean for Charlottesville? What does it mean for the housing market, right? Let me ask you this. Do you know what the median sales price is for a home in Charlottesville or in Albemarle County, for example? I'm going to guess, and because you asked the question under the assumption that things are expensive here, I'll say $550,000. That's what I was going to guess. I'll go high. I'll go $600,000. Yeah, it's not that high.

Actually, in Albemarle County, and that number is from last month, it's 527,000. And Judah, there's a nice graph if you want to put this on the screen for us. It's called Overview. Charlottesville is actually closer to your number. It's about 570,000. And Albemarle County

527,000. And I think that is interesting to talk about for a moment. I don't know how much you paid when you purchased your house in Ivy many years ago, right? But obviously there's a drastic increase year over year, and that has an impact on affordability. Most people that move here don't see the same increase in their salary, right?

Right. So what do people do? Combined with the problem we have with a relatively low inventory, and of course we're all tired of talking about it, low inventory, that's a situation we face everywhere in the country. But just speaking about Charlottesville, do builders build new homes in the same capacity we need them? The answer is no, even though there are a lot of new developments, new neighborhoods forming.

And so the question, the big question for all of us moving here is, where can we actually live? And as a result, people explore other solutions, right? We have suburban neighborhoods in Charlottesville. We always had them. But then we also have those bedroom communities that are either being formed or they existed for a long time. Could you define for me bedroom communities? What does that mean? Bedroom community is a community where people live,

but the center of their life is not necessarily in that town or village, but they are commuters. And in our case, that would be, you know, you work in Charlottesville, but you struggle to find a house here either because it's unaffordable or because it's just, you know, we don't have enough inventory. And so you decide for yourself

what is the commute time I'm willing to drive every morning and every evening. And then you choose the area to live in. And those are bedroom communities. And it's not everyone's favorite term because by saying bedroom community, you're implying that that area you live in, that city you live in, that town you live in, doesn't have its own identity, right? So you're merely there because you have your bedroom there. And obviously it's more complex than that. And so maybe that's the wrong term, really, because let's look at Waynesboro, for example.

And I have a graph of that as well, Judah, if you get the chance to pull that up. I have this map that I brought that shows the greater Charlottesville area and where people live. We have bedroom communities. I guess you could call it such in Scion Crossroads, Spring Creek, for example.

A lot of people know that name. And that's a relatively new development and is still within driving distance for a lot of people that actually have a job in Charlottesville, right? So it still makes sense for them. You would not necessarily live in Richmond because there's a higher inventory, but work in Charlottesville. That wouldn't make that much sense. So you find out for yourself what do you compromise on in terms of distance right let me ask you that

was that was that was actually going to be my question for you like when you're selling houses and people come to you say i can't afford charlottesville but i'm willing to kind of go outside of charlottesville even though i work there what's the distance that they feel comfortable kind of driving there because you could live in, for example, like you said, Zions Crossroad. Okay, maybe, what is that, 25 minutes if you take the 64 to Charlottesville? But once you kind of start getting to maybe Waynesboro, get even closer between Waynesboro and Harrisonburg, now you're starting to get 30 minutes, maybe, you know, 40 minutes.

What's the extent that people are kind of willing to commute daily to kind of go to Charlottesville? Right. Driving distance is one of the biggest factors. That's true. And I ask that question when I work with clients that are looking for a house, let's say, in Waynesboro or the other side of town, but actually are relying on coming every day to Charlottesville.

And the sweet spot for most people seems to be 20 to 30 minutes. That's what they're willing to drive. And I think the conversation would be different if you lived in D.C. or if you had a job in D.C. and you end up spending maybe a total of two hours each day in the car because the traffic is congested and so on. But for our case, it really is 20 to 30 minutes. And so when I work with a buyer and obviously I have my list of questions to go over,

and that is always one of the most urgent questions. How far are you willing to drive each day? And well, the good news is we have a lot of options within that 20 to 30 minute driving distance radius, right? And would you mind putting on that map so that we can look at that real quick? You won't see it here. Oh, you will see it. You won't see it there. But, yeah, I mean, so it's interesting because, I mean, you know, as I drive around, the one thing I realize is that there really truly is construction in quite a few number of places. And there are places where you can just see they're going to be building because it's been, you know, all the trees are gone, right?

And what I notice is that what appears to be happening is that they're building townhouses, and then within the townhouses is also single-family homes, right? So it feels like they're building little communities, right? But as you mentioned, they're little communities, but other than, yeah, they'll have the little park and things of that sort where the kids can go play, et cetera. But in order to do your shopping or the work, whatever, you need to get in the car and drive to Charlottesville or wherever else you may want to go. But because there's just nothing else. maybe not totally ever, but one of the first times where we find ourselves in a situation where people have really low mortgage rates are sitting there and saying,

I'm not moving, not because I wouldn't want to maybe get a bigger house or a nicer place, but I'm not going to get a 3% mortgage anymore. I'm getting a 7% mortgage, and therefore I can't afford anything that I really want, no matter how much my house went up. So you're stuck with no inventory for people selling unless they have to move out of state. And then you still have a lot of people moving in for the reasons you mentioned. You've got UVA. You've got a medical center.

This is a beautiful place to live. I mean, you've got the mountains right here, right? I mean, no matter which way you look, it's green. It's beautiful. So people want to move here, but there's no inventory. So I guess there's no choice but to begin to figure out what's the distance I'm willing to drive, you know, to live in a place that is close enough to where I work. And, you know, the good news is that the builders that we have in our area, they know about this, of course. And while the approval process with the counties is a long process,

I'm actually very interested in seeing the numbers and where exactly neighborhoods are being built right now. And so earlier this morning I looked at our MLS, curious about the exact numbers and which area is actually the most interesting for builders and for people moving there. And just speaking about homes that were built between last year and this year, the numbers are very surprising. If you had to think about areas where you see developments popping up, new houses being built, what comes to your mind? Probably Crozet, the old trade development, and all the others that are forming around Crozet. What else comes to mind? Well, actually, close to

Charlottesville. Well, you mentioned by Zions. Up 29. Up 29 is a lot. It's a north point, exactly, yes. But even, I mean, even going to Waynesboro, before you get to Waynesboro, if you look to the right, I mean, they're building right there. You know, it's like, so it's, you don't even have to get to Waynesboro. It's probably the very first exit in Waynesboro. There's already areas that you can see are being developed because the vicinity, right? It's right around the interstate.

Exactly. And, yeah, I was shocked to see the numbers. Just new homes built last year and this year. You mentioned north of town. Yeah, we have 1,000 homes that are just in the general airport area, right? Obviously, it stretches up to Ruckersville and down to the Walmart area, but 1,000 homes were built there since last year. Crozet keeps building.

It didn't stop with Old Trail. We all know, as you just said, they keep building, so we have 500 more homes there. Waynesboro, the numbers are even higher. And I think we will see much more construction in the near future in Waynesboro along the 64 corridor, but also Fisher's Will, Stewart's Draft, over 500 homes in a year. And on the other side of town, we have the same trend towards Zion Crossroads, but also

between there and Charlottesville. So there is demand for houses outside of the city, and they are being built, right? And that has an impact on median sales prices in those counties as well. You know, just because we acknowledge Charlottesville is very expensive. Albemarle County is very expensive.

The rise of people moving to Nelson County, to Waynesboro, to Louisa County obviously has an impact there as well. So we see numbers coming up there too. And it's very interesting to explore that because we always talk about Charlottesville. And sure, we're sitting here in the office of the I Love Civil Network. But I think it should be part of the conversation when we talk about what attracts us about Charlottesville. It's really the general area, right? And technically speaking, Nelson County is not Charlottesville. But for me, it's part of the conversation, right? conversation right and when when I explained to my parents and in Germany

for example that I live in Charlottesville but actually I live outside of Charlottesville I don't specify exactly where that right right so yeah so living and enjoying Charlottesville and working in Charlottesville means for a lot of people actually that they live in Wentzboro or in Zion Crossroads or in Scottsville or up in Ruckersville. I think two of your brothers, well, you only have two more brothers, but both of them last year moved to Crozet. So they and their partners, they went through the same thought process. What am I getting in Crozet compared to Charlottesville?

And how far am I willing to travel? You know, what are the compromises? What are the sacrifices? And what do I gain? And the answer, and I've spoken to them, so I noticed it happens to be true, is they can get a yard in Crozet and that's less affordable in Charlottesville for them.

Right? That was actually one of, from Alex when he was looking for a house, one of the issues that actually he found in Charlottesville was, besides the prices, you kind of look at the houses and it's like the only ones that seem to be affordable, like Matisse is saying, have no backyard. They have no front yard.

You're kind of like house on top of house kind of thing. So it was kind of like if you want a little more space, even within the city limits, you kind of have to go outside because it's like I don't want to kind of open the door and then shake my hands with my neighbor kind of have to go outside because it's like, I don't want to open the door and then shake my hands with my neighbor kind of feeling. So if you want more space, you kind of have to explore. I did want to ask you a question. You talk about all these different

places where these houses are coming up outside of Charlottesville. Do you find younger people moving out there? Is it younger couples, middle-aged couples, older couples? Who do you kind of see starting to go to the outskirts of Charlottesville? Well, the majority moving to those outskirts, as you call them, or we can call them suburban areas, bedroom communities,

are typically younger people. There are exceptions. I'm selling a house in Waynesboro right now, and the buyers are moving here from New Jersey, and they're in their 60s, right? But that's not the... That's very young, yeah. That is not the average buyer of a house in Waynesboro right now, right?

So they're younger folks. And in that context, what I found interesting, our MLS provides all the data to really dive into that subject a little bit more. Judah, maybe you can show it on the screen as well. It's called the Affordability Challenge for Gen Z and millennials. What I found interesting in that context is the annual household income for someone living in Charlottesville is, well, you are finance guys. What do you think it is?

Don't put me in the spot. The annual income of Gen Z's and millennials in Charlottesville? Yes. What, maybe $55,000 a year? Yeah, that's probably the individual income. Higher than that, but still, I'm referring to the annual household income. And Charlottesville is in second place, Virginia-wide, obviously after Northern Virginia.

But it's $150,000. Yeah. Okay. Right? And so if that is the annual household income, does that mean for this household that they can afford a house in Charlottesville with all the features and specifications that they can afford a house in Charlottesville with all the features and specifications that they want, nice yard, three bedrooms, a basement to have a home

theater. Those are just examples, but does that translate into that reality of being able to afford it in child's will? And the answer for a lot of those within that threshold is no. That's just the truth. Child's will is very popular and houses are in demand and as a result the prices are different. And so people in that age group, in that age bracket, explore other options. And, you know, my young family is one of them. We currently don't live in Charlottesville. Would we like to live here? Yes, definitely, because my office is here in Charlottesville. But I'm not able to afford the same size of yard compared to outside of Charlottesville.

That's just a reality. I'm not complaining about this, but I think as we hear other people complaining about affordable housing in Charlottesville, and a lot is being done on that front, there are opportunities for all of us to live in the general area and still get to enjoy Charlottesville and the downtown mall and everything that we love about it. You know, I mean, these topics are always challenges, right? Because, like I mentioned before, when you have the university, you have two major hospitals here, right? The salaries of doctors and even some nurses and technicians and computer people, they're on the high side, right? And people that are moving here, right, are moving here because, yeah, they're even the high side right and people that are moving here right are moving here because yeah they're even moving from northern california or sometimes from new york new jersey where they can find themselves in a situation where i can either work from home right or i can start my own shop and their salaries are already high so what they're coming here and they're just

lifting those prices of these homes around the area up. Again, it's supply and demand. It's only the supply. The demand is here. The people that are coming here have jobs that have good salaries. So there's nothing you can do about that. That's just the way it is. So for everybody else, you now have to, and you mentioned locals, for locals sometimes it's like, I can't even afford to live where I grew up. I need to move away. But that's happened everywhere. I mean, that happened in New York. I mean, you look at Queens, you look at Brooklyn. There is a lot of people from Queens

and Brooklyn that, you know, they grew up there and they look at their parents' houses. I can't afford this house. I need to move. And they went to Staten know, they grew up there, and they look at their parents' houses. I can't afford this house. I need to move. And they went to Staten Island, and they went to New Jersey, and then they go on further to Pennsylvania. It's just a transition. It's just what happens over time. And, you know, it's difficult, but that's why, I mean, that's why there's buildings.

You know, that's why they're, you know, you have construction in the outer limits of Charlottesville because it's where the builders can afford to build. Well, first of all, there's not enough land around here probably, right? But that's where the builders can afford to build housing in such a way that those people can now afford them. It reminds me of this friend that I have who lives in Texas who has been complaining about the Californians

to me. There's a steady stream of Californians leaving California for various reasons whatever their motivation might be and the number one state right now for them is Texas. And the reality is that home prices in California are such that a regular middle class house might sell for a million or a million and a half. And they take that money and purchase a million dollar house in Texas, even though they are considered middle class. And so that has an impact on those that already live there. And Virginia, fortunately,

is more balanced. Sure, we do have the occasional family moving here from California. And they have a different buying power, if that makes sense. But I think we see here people moving from New York State because of the climate, the same reason for people from Florida that just like the more balanced climate here. And whatever the reason is, it is across all demographics, and that makes it so interesting here. It's not one-sided.

And I think if you walk the downtown mall, you notice that. I just want to say that Nicholas said that he said, hey there, Matthias, good to see you, and Stephanie American Past, I guess,

Stephanie from American Past, I guess, was commenting. And I guess we also have El Jose, Ruby Ross Natalie Papillon Billy McKessney all like the show so just want to shout out to all those people I never have to do this

because usually Alex is I know I said Nicholas probably sent me some stuff I just adore him. I have no problem. As you mentioned, Texas is seeing that inflow from Californians. But Virginia, like I said, like you mentioned, Virginia has New Yorkers coming here. People from New Jersey coming here,

Northern Virginians coming here, which basically are people from D.C. moved to Northern Virginia. Now they're moving down here. So, again, it's, you know, it's one of the challenges of living in a beautiful place and, two, having the quality of health care. A lot of people like that, the idea that, hey, if I want to retire, where would I like to retire? And quality of health care is important to these people. So again, a lot of people want to retire here. So, you know, this whole area is growing, and I mean, I really don't see it stopping. Can I ask a quick question? I thought you were going to end your sentence in a different way. I thought you would say that the problem that we are facing

is that we have to share it with all those people that come here. Yeah, well, but listen, it's like you and I. I came from, I mean, remember, I lived in New York, went to California, and came here, so, you know, I'm in the same, you know, I'm one of those. So I can't poo-poo. It's like, why are they moving here, you know? Although I have to admit, I always remember that people want to, I always say, one of the reasons you move here is the quality of life.

So I don't want, definitely, I don't want Charlestown to become New York City. I mean, I don't want a situation where it takes me, instead of 15 minutes to get to downtown, it takes me 45 minutes because there's a bump and a bump of traffic. I don't want that. I definitely don't want that. So the idea of turning Charlottesville into kind of a New York-style community, I wouldn't want that. Because the reason people move here is the quality of life.

So if you start saying, yeah, we can. So we have to maintain it. Yeah. I mean, if you say, yeah, you take that house and build a 10-story building, the answer is no. I don't want that. I don't care. I don't care about anything. I mean, we moved here for that reason.

I don't want to convert this to something that I moved away from and everybody here moved away from. Yeah, I think it's actually important just hearing you talk about that that we have to kind of it's not just always about making Charlottesville bigger it would be good if we also made some of the surrounding areas kind of attract other people as well like Crozet they've tried to do that in Zions Crossroad

where it's like for young people living there instead of always kind of being like well I have to go to Charlottesville for work and if I actually want to do something I've got to go to Charlottesville now work, and if I actually want to do something, I've got to go to Charlottesville. Now you're creating all this traffic constantly into Charlottesville. If you kind of build around those other communities, kind of either up north in, you know, Ruckersville or kind of in Zions Crossroads or maybe in Crozet,

now people kind of feel more dispersed that it's, that you're like, okay, I don't have to always necessarily go to Charlottesville. In fact, some people might start having jobs in Crozet, or my job actually is in Zion's Crossroads, rather than everything just feel like it's coming in and out of Charlottesville. And that reminds me again why the term bedroom community is really not appropriate in that context, because Ruckersville, Scottsville, Zion Crossroads, Waynesboro, they are proper cities themselves.

So they have the health care over there. They have grocery stores and so on. So it's not, you know, you don't live in Waynesboro and you drive to Charlottesville to buy groceries. No. So it is sustainable to live in those areas without needing to come here, and that's, I think, a great development that we also need to talk about when people want to move here. It doesn't mean that your quality of life immediately decreases because you can't live right on the downtown mall. No, that's still, everything is within reach.

And we also need to highlight the qualities that those surrounding communities, Ruckersville, Scottsville, Waynesboro, whatever that place is, what quality they have and what cultural offerings they have, what's the infrastructure like. And I have to say that all those places that we just mentioned are constantly improving and building and creating more amenities. I'm not getting tired of speaking about Waynesboro because it has so much growth happening and so many great new amenities that the the city government is creating so that it's no longer oh I have to live in

Wainsborough because I can't afford Charlottesville or Ruckus or whatever no it's actually you can say I live in Wainsborough and I love it here for reasons ABC and my office is in Charlottesville. So that's a shift the way we talk about quality of life in our area. I find that remarkable. And it will happen. You see that. I mean, it's the chicken and the egg, right?

So, in other words, do you first build the infrastructure so that then people build homes and people go there? Or in this case, there's no choice. You've got to build the homes out there because there's no capacity here. And then once you build it there, then you'll see somebody just say, hey, you know what? There is no Cuban restaurant or Mexican restaurant here or Italian or German, whatever. And so people then say, I'm going to put the restaurant here. So before you know it, it's like, well, I don't need to go downtown now to eat all the time. So, yeah, I don't mind going to downtown once in a while or I'm going to go see the game

or I'm going to go to the concert. But on a normal basis, if I just want to go out to eat now, I have a place here in Bruckersville or wherever it may be. And so the infrastructure then begins to grow because there's enough people. It's like, yeah, I can build this business here based on how many people live around the area. And that's, I mean, I'm sure that's what's going to happen. Because even, you look at Crozet, it's like, it's overgrown and there really isn't.

I mean, I don't live there, so maybe I'm speaking out of turn because I don't live there. But every time I go there, there really aren't that many places to go out and eat in Crozet yet. Right. And I'm sure that's going to begin to grow also. Right. People, restaurants, businesses see the demand and will start to cater to those needs. Exactly. Speaking of which, why is it that we still don't have a German restaurant in Charlottesville?

That's a good question. There's one in the mountains. There's one in Madison, too. That's right. I don't know. Matthias, that's your department. You've got to find that right chef so that we can open one up. We were so happy when Great Heroes finally came.

We were finally at a Cuban place because for so long we were like, there's no Cuban restaurant. I found it at Great Heroes games. We were heard. Our cries were heard. Our prayers answered. That's on you, Matisse.

Is there one in Williamsboro? No, there's one in Stanton or outside of Stanton called Edelweiss. What's it called? Edelweiss. Edelweiss, okay. And then you have the Bavarian chef up in Williamsboro. That one I'm familiar with. Here in Charlesville proper.

That's true. It's a food desert, don't you think? You're going hungry. You're like, I got nowhere to eat. But in reality, German cuisine is not that special. No, it is. I mean, we love it. When we went to Austria, I mean, I don't know the difference

between German and Austrian cuisine, but man, it was delicious. And I mean, I'm not going to lie. I mean, who's going to complain about sausage and potatoes? I'm not. Wiener schnitzel? Sheesh. I'll eat that stuff every night. When you like food, it's the variety

that I enjoy, the ability to eat whether it be Mexican, Italian, German, Spanish, Thai. It's just the options that if you enjoy food to say, I'm going to try this now. So yeah, we need a German

one here. Yeah, well, we've got to take it up with Charlottesville Council. I guess I don't know. We need some entrepreneur to say, yeah, I can do that. Is it difficult cooking German food, Matthias, or is it... Well, it's very heavy, savory food.

You were just talking about sausage and potatoes, but the reality is that those are staples of German cuisine. It's difficult to cook. It's not as... It's not fine dining

necessarily like Italian or French cuisine so I wouldn't compare that and that's why we Germans joke you know, give me a sausage and a potato that I don't have the need for a restaurant that's all that is but it's more nuanced of course

and to be fair we have everything here in Charlottesville. I don't crave any European food because we have all those restaurants that cover those needs here, except maybe a German bakery. Every now and then I think about that. But everything else I can find here. Well, listen, I mean, on our side, man man I'd love for a really good Italian bakery here no one no one does cannolis or what the ones that I love well I love for you tell us but the ones

is I could don't know what the cannoli cream do you know which one that is the the spinches feature yeah yeah I. I think you have some vendors on the farmer's markets that have Italian pastry and baked goods. I need to check that out. By the way, in Stanton, his name is Giancarlo. He's Swiss-Italian, I think, and he has his little bakery. In Stanton? In his backyard. In the main drag?

No, in a residential neighborhood. Oh, residential, okay. But he has fantastic pastries there. Ah. He was trained in Austria or in Switzerland, I believe, and he has Italian pastries, German. So it's a destination. After the show, make sure you stay

and give us his contact information. I'll take a drive to Stanton anytime. Are you kidding me? That's the only thing that I will say. When you compare American food, when they try European style of food, they can capture some of it, but the baking

in Europe is still, to me, a little bit ahead over American baking when it comes to pastries. I noticed that our topics today are housing and food. Food. The two essentials. Absolutely. It is. Yeah.

A roof over your head and food on the table and everybody's happy. Or they should be at least. I think that's a beautiful sentence to end this topic. Thank you. Thank you. Finally. Well, Matthias, thank you so much for coming on. It's been great.

It's been great. Thank you for coming by. Always fun talking, catching up with you and discussing real estate, which is a very important topic. It really is. Yeah. And just kind of getting the trends of what's going on in Charlottesville. You're always on the ball, Matthias.

Do you ever feel that way? I know, it's true, yeah. He knows what's going on. Thanks so much for having me. No, it's obviously a passion of mine. I do it for a living, but I don't get tired of talking about it. And also to mention again and again that we have a lot of great places

outside of Charlottesville where people can find a house and a nice community actually to live in still close enough to town they certainly are and knock on wood 20-30 minutes around here

is not bad. Yes. Easy driving. Easy driving. Not traffic, so it's less frustrating. And beautiful driving. No matter which way you look, you're looking at trees, mountains. Well, I mean, compared to what you used to have to do, you lived in Brooklyn and had to go to the city.

How long did it take you for that commute? So a typical 20 minute drive, when no traffic was 20 minutes, it took me about an hour for me to drive. It took the bus about an hour and a half. There you go. And that's not a fun drive either. It's people honking on you, bumping your bumper off.

Ugly buildings, potholes everywhere. Exactly. Construction. Oh, yeah, easy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They were construction, but the workers were just sitting there. Exactly.

They're still working on the VQE. They've never finished it. What's going on? I mean, yeah, I hear that joke a lot about New York State construction workers, right? There's 15 in a group and one is working. Exactly. What's that joke? A lot of 15 have little notebooks.

Well, I mean, Matthias, there used to be a road that when my grandmother and Pops' mom lived in Queens, we'd used to take something called the BQE, which is like the Brooklyn Queens Express. The Gowanus. Yeah. Like basically to get to her house, right? And for years, it felt like it used to be like two lanes, but it became like one lane.

Or it used to be three and became two because they were doing construction on this lane, right? It felt like that way for years. Then finally, the construction ended. And next thing you know, there's construction on another lane. So now you're still back to two lanes. It felt like it was never three lanes. It never finished, yeah. They never finished.

One side or the other. Yeah. There was always something. There was always something on construction. It reminds me of the Belmont Bridge. Never mind. Let's not talk about construction. Just a joke.

Thank you, Matthias. Thank you so much. See you next time. Looking forward to it. Absolutely. That was good. That was good. I'm very informative. Like Mattia said, there are lots of different places you could look at. It probably feels daunting, I can imagine,

to new people looking for a home, kind of coming to Charlottesville and being like, man, I can't afford this. Oh, wow, this is kind of what I'm looking for. This is too small. I've been looking for something spacious. There are options outside of Charlottesville. And there are good options. Beautiful spacious. There are options outside. There are. And they're good options. Beautiful options.

There are. So at least there is that. Well, this is fun. This is good. We're coming to the end of our show, Pop. Thanks for joining me. Well, thank you for hosting there. Like I said before, it's a privilege to be with you. Same here.

Same here. I imagine next week Alex is going to be back. I think so, from what I understand. So I don't have to host. But next week we do have a couple of special guests. We've got Ricardo, Ricardo Cruz Durant coming back from Total Mortgage.

He's always an amigo del programa. And then we also got Seth from Seth B. Woodworks. I think he's a young entrepreneur who does, I think, wood carving. I think that's what Nick told me. But, yeah, it should be a good show, kind of a nice little kind of. It'll be interesting because I think Ricardo is now in Harrisonburg. Yes.

Right? Yes. Even though he works in Charlottesville. I think. So it'll be nice. He's had like kind of the grand opening a month back or something like that. Yeah. Yeah.

So, yeah, and he's a great, great guy. He really is. I'm looking forward to seeing him. We kind of miss him. He's not in Charlottesville anymore. He's kind of went to Harrisonburg. Well, you said he works a lot here. Yeah, I know. So we'll just have to corral him more often.

Exactly, yeah. But, I mean, Harrisonburg is another place that's starting to grow. And isn't that kind of close to where JMU is? That's right. That's where JMU is. So I think it's a to grow. Isn't that kind of close to where JMU is? It's right. That's where JMU is. So I think it's a nice little area. So at least now it's kind of that little kind of, okay, you have Charlottesville's real nice, but now Harrisonburg's kind of growing too.

So maybe in the middle between there, like Matisse said, Waynesboro, the Stantons, you could probably start seeing them pick up, I imagine. No doubt about it. To kind of close out the show, as always, we're happy to be presented by Emergent Financial Services, sponsored by Matias from Matias Young Realty,

Craddock Series Insurance, Charlottesville Opera, Ford Adelante, Faba, the premier Latino business and networking group here in Charlottesville. I'm Michael. That was Xavier. And as always, thank you. Oh, wait, That was Xavier. And as always, thank you. Oh, wait, wait, wait. I forgot to say thank you.

Judah. You got to thank Judah. I got to thank Judah. I love C-Ville. Thank you so much, Judah, for doing the graphs and, like Alex says, making us look good. Thank you, Jerry, for having us at the I Love C-Ville. I can't forget Liza.

Thank you for Liza being our biggest supporter. Biggest fan. She's the happiest one when Xavier and I come into the office, I'll tell you that much. And thank you also to our wonderful viewers who kind of made this possible. I know we had a lot of people watching today. Forgive us, Xavier and I are not tech savvy. I don't even have a Facebook. He has one, but he probably doesn't even know how to log in.

So looking at the comments and seeing her view, it's kind of difficult, but we see you and we thank you. And as always, we look forward to next week, but as always, hasta mañana. Thank you.