wild horses and quiet beaches

[Interested in a 3.25 interest rate on a waterfront townhome in Norfolk, or a beachfront condo in Sandbridge in the low 300's? Call me at 757-879-5830. Read on to find out more...]
Over the holiday weekend I wanted to take a walk on a quiet beach. Even the locals beach, Buckroe, is crowded in summer, and on a holiday weekend would be even more so. So I headed to Grandview, an isolated beach a few miles from Buckroe, also on the Chesapeake Bay in Hampton. I have not gotten out and walked all the way down the trail and onto the isolated beach since I took this picture back in February of 2008.

In a previous blog post, I wrote about my conception of Grandview. Once again, I counted the confederate flags waving from houses on the 3 mile stretch of Beach Road that leads to the trail. For the first mile or so, Beach Road looks like the rest of that part of Fox Hill/Buckroe - older homes with well maintained yards. As you reach the Zoom's and approach the elementary school, you round a bend and pass one of the few remaining Civil War Era graveyards on the Peninsula. Obelisks abound, and you feel like you have stepped back in time. You start to see more turn of the century and depression era farmhouses and colonials. And if you are so inclined, you can start to count confederate flags. I counted five or so in the two mile stretch to the preserve. I realize that this road will never cease to amaze me. After living here most of my life, I have never encountered another road in Hampton Roads, from Williamsburg to VA Beach, that has so many confederate flags in one small stretch.

Though there was no one on the trail when I headed out, as it opened out onto the beach, there were quite a few people there, so I didn't feel too isolated. The thing about Grandview though, is that it's stinky. The first few feet of the beach are littered with seaweed, moss, tree stumps, and sea creatures. It's pretty smelly. But as I walked on, the beach opened up, and was a bit cleaner. Two groups of people were fishing. Others were sunning or walking. Still, it didn't quite float my boat, and I had an appointment to get to, so I turned back, making it just a half hour walk. I made up my mind to head out to Back Bay in VA Beach on Memorial Day. I have been meaning to go there for years.

Back Bay Wildlife Refuge is located south of Sandbridge. Sandbridge itself is a quiet beach, just a few miles south of the tourist trap that is "the strip." I hadn't been to Sandbridge in decades, though I had been as far as the Nimmo area within the past year. I'd read that there are feral horses and pigs on Back Bay and decided that Monday was going to be the day I'd get down there.

Originally I'd thought of driving over in the morning and maybe catching the 9 a.m. tram for a tour. Since I had to hold open a townhome development in Norfolk that afternoon, I nixed those plans - no need to drive back and forth through the tunnel twice in one holiday weekend. I decided to head over after the open house. As it turned out, it took my normal 20 minutes from Hampton to Widgeon Point in Norfolk - a local bank is offering a special deal for these 1,879 square foot town homes - a 3.25 interest rate! Traffic was cool. I'd figured it would still take roughly an hour to get out to Back Bay from Norfolk. I was right. I headed out from Widgeon at five after 6 and arrived at Little Island Park in Sandbridge at 7. VA Beach covers a *lot* of land. I enjoyed the drive. Took Independence/Holland out from 264. After passing the Chimney Hill/Green Run areas, the road turns into a winding two lanes, weaving through homes and trees on either side. Turning left onto Princess Anne Road, I took a right at the intersection of Princess Anne and General Booth, passing Nimmo Church Lane, home of Nimmo United Methodist, established in 1789,the oldest surviving Methodist Church in continuous use in Virginia.

Standing as it has on its present site since George Washington was the President of the United States, Nimmo has witnessed the brightest and darkest times in the history of our country.

About 1840, the balcony was added as a slave gallery. It survives today as the only remaining structure directly related to the period of slavery in Princess Anne County. If one looks closely at the floor at either end of the balcony, wooden plugs are visible which cover holes left by the iron work to which the shackles of slaves were once fixed. Records show that in 1846 Nimmo had 170white members and 42 "colored members."

During the early part of the civil war, this area came under the control of the Federal Forces. Nimmo was then used to house Federal troops and as a Federal hospital. During recent renovations, it was discovered that these troops left the initials and names of their sweethearts carved into the posts supporting the balcony. Covered again by molding, these markings remain to be rediscovered by future generations.

Princess Anne turns into Sandbridge Road, and I followed it on out to Sandpiper Road, at which intersection I had arrived at Sandbridge Beach. I still had to drive a few miles down Sandpiper to get to Little Island Park. Beach houses lined the sides of the road. In a few minutes I'd be at Little Island Park.

I hadn't been to Little Island Park before, and hadn't been sure of how much Sandbridge - locals beach - or how much Back Bay - wild horses and refuge - it would be. On the way down the winding road through the beach houses to Little Island Park, I saw this sign. It renewed my hopes that even though I wasn't going all the way down to False Cape State Park - 30 more miles out, practically at the North Carolina line - that there would be some wild horses at the north end of the refuge.

Alas, I did not see any horses, nor any pigs. Little Island Park was completely civilized, though blessedley less crowded than Buckroe. I parked in the lot where I could still see the pastel condos I had just passed - The Sanctuary at False Cape - condos for sale and rent. Sale prices in the low 300's.

I looked around and observed that I was basically still in Sandbridge. There were a playground and shelters with grills. I had driven 40 miles from Norfolk, plus the 20 from Hampton, and was still having a typical Hampton Roads experience. No wild pigs. Ah well.

Little Island has trails that lead down to the beach, like at Ocean View in Norfolk. I like that. The water is sparkling, cleaner, and the surf more vigorous, like at all the Atlantic Coast beaches in VA Beach, compared to the Chesapeake Bay Beaches in Hampton, Norfolk, & VB's north end.

I walked out onto the beach, and though I normally love being able to walk next to the surf with no crowds, I left immediately to do some more exploring.

I'd noticed that all the cars behind me hadn't turned into the parking lot, and that the road curved after the canoe launch and appeared to continue. I got back into the car and headed out. A couple seconds later, I rounded the bend and saw that I was on my way to the contact station.

After passing the signs, I found that there was even more winding road weaving through the dunes.
After a short while, I arrived at the visitor's contact station.

I checked out the arrows pointing to different trails, and decided to try the Bay Trail first. There were some weird, prehistoric looking dandelions at the entrance of the trail, where I was warned by a couple with a little girl that they had encountered a cotton mouth.


Lots of honeysuckle on this trail. It smelled divine.



A cute little bridge led me to the end of this short, just under a half mile trail.

Next, I headed to the Seaside trail.

I liked this trail better immediately - the boardwalk and the less dense shrubbery that let in more light, the sand and the tall dunes in the distance.


The trail winds up and around, parts of the boardwalk completely covered by sand.


Then it opens up and you can see the beach in the near distance.

There was absolutely no one on the beach.

I headed back to Little Island Park and walked a bit more. It took me 40 minutes to get back to central VA Beach - I left Little Island at 8:20 and was at Chipotle at 9:00. Here's the map of the round trip from Widgeon Point to Sandbridge to Chipotle, not counting the 20 mins from Hampton and 30 minutes back.

View Larger Map
The next time I head down that way, I'll have to suck it up and make it an early morning trip, 60 miles out, so I can catch the tram the additional 30 miles down to False Cape State Park. I want to see some wild horses and feral pigs! I guess for now, prehistoric dandelions will have to do.

Interested in a 3.25 interest rate on a waterfront townhome in Norfolk, or a beachfront condo in Sandbridge in the low 300's? Call me at 757-879-5830.

Peninsula home prices stabilizing

Peninsula home prices stabilizing, Realtor says
By Veronica Chufo
247-4741
May 28, 2009


The median sales price of existing homes on the Peninsula was up 1 percent from April 2008 to $195,000.

When new construction is figured in, the median sales price was $205,000, down 4 percent from the same month last year. It's 14 percent lower than the June 2007 peak of $239,400, but up from March's $191,900.

That's an indication that prices are stabilizing, said Bob Sullivan, president of the Virginia Peninsula Association of Realtors.

"I really think that the consumer confidence is coming back," Sullivan said. "I expect this summer will bring some sense of normality back into our marketplace."

The sales pace is still lackluster, down 19 percent from the number of existing-home sales in April 2008, according to information from the Real Estate Information Network Inc.

Nationally, the number of existing-home sales last month was 3.5 percent below the April 2008 pace, and the median sales price was $170,200, down 15.4 percent from the same month last year.

About 45 percent of April's sales nationally involved foreclosures, short sales or bank-owned properties. That's depressing the median sales price, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Locally, buyers have been making offers that were $5,000, $10,000, even $15,000 below the asking price. But sellers aren't accepting them.

"Right now, we're having sellers holding firm on their price, and we're having buyers who are being more realistic," Sullivan said.

Now that it appears prices are stabilizing, they can begin a slow climb, he said. He predicts that over the next year, houses will appreciate 1 percent to 4 percent, depending on the city.

Hampton and Newport News appreciation might be slow because that's where the bulk of the Peninsula's transactions happen, so it takes longer for change to kick in, Sullivan said.

As for new construction, the sales pace on the Peninsula continued to lag behind last year's figures, falling 46 percent behind April 2008. The median sales price of new construction was down 10 percent.

New-construction sales price gains were made in Newport News, where the price rose 11 percent to $244,000; in York, where the price rose 34 percent to $563,000; and in Isle of Wight, where prices were up nearly 8 percent to $356,938.

Isle of Wight also saw a 26 percent jump in the number of existing homes that sold last month. Twenty-four homes sold, up from 19 in April 2008.

But there were so few new-construction sales last month — 12 in Newport News, five in York County and four in Isle of Wight — that it's likely a few big sales could skew the numbers, said Andy Cohen, a real estate agent with Abbitt Realty in Hampton.

Condo sales were down 55 percent on the Peninsula, and the median sales price was down 15 percent to $175,120.

Average market time for new and existing attached and detached homes was 114 days, up nearly three weeks from 94 days in April 2008.

The Peninsula's inventory is shrinking, which is also a good sign for a market turnaround. Fewer homes for sale drives up demand, Sullivan said.

In April, there were 3,719 homes for sale on the Peninsula. That's down about 3 percent from the 3,823 homes for sale in April 2008.

At the current sales pace, it'll take an estimated 8.7 months to absorb the number of homes listed for sale on the market in Hampton. Newport News has an 8.2 month supply, and York has an 8.4 month supply.

"We have to get rid of that inventory," Sullivan said. "Once the inventory comes down, things will really start to pick up."

Copyright © 2009, Newport News, Va., Daily Press

Inspired? Check out Homes for Sale in Hampton Roads.

Plenty of incentives, risks for home shoppers ready to buy

As buyers creep back into the real estate market this spring, typically the busiest season for home sales, many are faced with a mix of incentives and pitfalls.

Interest rates for a mortgage are at historic lows. Government tax breaks for first-time homebuyers were sweetened even more this year. And an abundance of homes on the market in Hampton Roads has made buying more attractive.

At the same time, many people fear for their long-term job security given the economic uncertainty. And unstable local home prices have made it trickier for buyers to know if they’re getting a good deal.

eatin' round town

Back in December, I went to pick up some items from the home of a jeweler. To my surprise, her house was filled with the smell of baking loaves. All my life, I have been accustomed to the smell of my grandmother and aunts' homemade rolls, but there was something different about this smell. The smell assaulted my nose and I couldn't help asking a few questions. I found that these loaves were sourdough, and had been baked not with store-bought yeast, but with starter. Before leaving, I was gifted with my very own loaf and promised some starter in the future. She told me that she has had the starter since her teenage daughter was a baby, and that you have to "feed" it every week, even if you're not baking. Since receiving my starter, I have kept it alive and baked bread several times. Each cup makes three loaves. Here is the loaf D gave me in December.

I wrote a few posts back about how S and I went to the Ship's Cabin in Ocean View after the East Beach open house in December. We had some of the best bread w/olive oil and parmesan and homemade blue cheese dressing. We were given some dressing to go, and I used mine the next day on a salmon salad. Um um.

Two posts back, I wrote about how I'd eaten the same meal at Food for Thought in Williamsburg twice in the past year. I was mistaken: it was three times - twice last spring, and once this past winter when I got carry out. I think those are cheese grits along with the squash casserole. The original combo is still the best.

I think I wrote about the variety of nuts at the Smithfield Ham Shoppe in February. The wasabi nuts are awesome.

As are the Hot Southern Nuts.



M and I went to the Queen's Way Soul Cafe in downtown Hampton in March. I had heard they had good drinks, but had never eaten there, except for the fish sampler served at Wilson's Landing last September. M told me that they have awesome grilled shrimp, and I agree. She had hers with greens and cabbage, and I had mine on a salad. Very good.



On to sushi...
A few weeks ago, I was in Norfolk to hold open Widgeon Point townhouses - 0 down, 3.25% interest - and drove down to MacArthur mall afterwards for a quick stop at MAC. (hey, even frugal folks have their indulgences). On the way home, I drove past Domo and thought, man I need to check them out. A few days later, S and I were at Widgeon Point. We had been talking about going for sushi for weeks, so we headed over to Domo. Oh my goodness, what a menu. Domo has the most extensive, creative sushi menu I have ever seen. I satiated myself with reading it, and ended up choosing a fairly tame spicy tuna roll. The twist? It included cilantro. As it turns out, I couldn't taste the cilantro. S got a specialty roll. Can't say I was too much into it - didn't like the sweetness - but I have picked out several specialty rolls to try in the future. And my tuna roll was excellent.
Just a few days later, we were at Musasi in Hampton having lunch. I prefer Musasi's salad dressing to Domo's. Less sweet, more peanuty. My salmon lunchbox was close to perfect. I was disappointed with my rolls though. I expected the standard California roll, with roe! Everything else was excellent, as usual.