As spring is beginning to hit Richmond, Va., the Fan District is coming alive. People are out jogging, kids are playing on the parks and the students can be seen riding bikes throughout the Fan streets. But as life is beginning to come to life in the Fan district, one thing is for sure, the real estate market is already alive and well. In the past few months, we have seen the number of single family homes and condos on the market in the Fan District drop drastically, with seemingly little inventory coming to market.
For the past ten to fifteen years, the Fan District in Richmond, Va., has seen steady growth as young professionals and empty nesters alike have flocked to its historic row houses. The draw has been the restaurants, stores and museums, all within a few block walk. With the expansion of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the addition of dozens of new restaurants and the growth of Carytown, the Fan became The downtown neighborhood in Richmond. Moreover, as City schools began to improve, such as Fox Elementary and Binford Middle schools, we started to see families not only stay put in the city to raise the children, but actually families moving back to the city to raise their kids in an urban environment.
GARNET HILL
As the price of gas has continued to rise, more and more people are attracted to the urban, walkable lifestyle concept that the Fan District has to offer. Within the Fan District, you can walk to coffee shops, local markets, wine shops, art studios and shops, dozens of restaurants and bars, video stores, dry cleaners, one nationally rated hospital, multiple museums, including the Virginia Fine Arts Museum, which is currently hosting the Picasso Show, numerous urban parks, an elementary and middle school, a veterinarian clinic and even a DMV. As you can see, the Fan District is a self contained city within a city.
State of the real estate market in the Fan District
The Fan normally begins to heat up a little earlier than most parts of the city, but this year, the Spring rush has started even earlier than normal and this looks to be a very strong year. Last week alone, we saw two houses on the same block go under contract within 4 days and 1 day of listing, respectively. Another house went under contract before the agent was able to have the agent preview!
We are seeing people upgrade within the Fan, we are seeing a fair share of out-of-towners moving to town, but most impressive is the number of people moving from the counties surrounding the city into the city. In a recent open house that I held, I had 3 relocating buyers, 2 from the neighborhood and 6 groups from the counties. When asked why they wanted to leave the counties for the city, the majority wanted to be able to walk to everything, be closer to the city and wanted to feel like they lived in a true neighborhood.
As I was walking my two school age children tonight in the Fan, I was reminded of why I lived in the Fan and why I enjoy selling real estate within the Fan. Within a block of our house, we bumped into three sets of neighbors enjoying the evening on their porch. As I arrived at my friend's house to hang out with their two children on the sidewalk as our kids rode bikes, their neighbor and a teacher at my daughter's elementary school walked by on their way to a Joes Inn, a local restaurant and institution in the Fan.
The Fan District has had its ups and downs, good times and bad. Fortunately for all of us living and selling in the Fan currently, times have been pretty good lately and only seem to be getting better. The economics of the world we currently live in, coupled with the desire to live a more simple, walkable lifestyle make the Fan District a great place to live and own real estate.
Richmond's Fan District: The Secret Is Out GARNET HILL
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