Free Union en One-half of downtown Free Union trades hands after just 11 days on the market <p><span><b>10/10/12&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;</b></span></p> <p><b>Albemarle</b></p> <p>Jeffrey S. Thompson to&nbsp;Argent Development LLC, 1904 Inglewood Drive, Unit C, &nbsp;$34,100</p> <p>Paul E. Jones to Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, 3460 Thomas Jefferson Parkway, $208,958</p> <p>Mark Hoyle&nbsp;Smith to Gary A. &amp; Debra R. Sites,&nbsp;3938 Rock Branch Road, $209,900</p> <p>Stephen Tracy &amp; Beth A. Warner to&nbsp;United Bank, 3488 Preddy Creek Road, $250,000</p> <p>Kenneth G. Moore to Sandra Reese &amp; Guy S. Davis, Jr., 1771 Jumpers Run, $257,500</p> <p><b>Charlottesville</b></p> <p>Christopher Hays &amp; Allison Ewing&nbsp;to Michael &amp; Debra R. Curry, 304 Riverside Avenue, $80,000</p> <p>Jason D. Bauman to 14th St, LLC,&nbsp; 1217 John Street, $226,000</p> <p>Mascha R. Mowry, Trustee, to Sueng Hun Lee &amp; Despo A Louca, 1865 Field Road, $469,000</p> <p><b>10/11/12 &nbsp; &nbsp;</b></p> <p><b>Albemarle</b></p> <p>Terwin Mortgage Trust to Joseph M. Terry, Sr., 1608 Townwood Court, &nbsp;$90,000</p> <p>March Mountain Properties I LLC to Peak Builders LLC, .13 Acres, 20 Block 13A, Old Trail Village Center,&nbsp;$217,500</p> <p>Laurel Park Investments LLC to Timothy G. &amp; Tara G. McLaughlin,&nbsp;3521 Grand Forks Boulevard, $234,300</p> <p>Irene L. Wade Trust &amp; Mercer A Wade Trust To John J. &amp; Angela Flood, 5557 Stonegate Lane,&nbsp;$350,000</p> <p>Lynda D. Mills &amp; Beverly S. Daniel to Margaret Ann&nbsp;Andrews, 2222 Shepherds Ridge Road, $375,000</p> <p><span class="cameraIcon">*</span>Carmel LLC&nbsp;to&nbsp;Free Union Properties LLC, 4294 Free Union Road, $645,000</p> <p><b>Charlottesville</b></p> <p>Charles Wm. Hurt&nbsp;to Jackson B. Smith, 1315 Grove Road,&nbsp;$318,500</p> <p>Momentum Investors, LLC to Adam J. Soroka, 120 Lankford Avenue,&nbsp;$220,000</p> <p>Janis L. Beasley to Federal National Mortgage Association, 1622 Center Avenue, $243,433</p> <p>Federal National Mortgage Association to Jeffrey C. Demo, 1622 Center Avenue, $223,000</p> <p><b>10/12/12 &nbsp; &nbsp;</b></p> <p><b>Albemarle</b></p> <p>John L. &amp; Kimberly S. Baber to&nbsp;Craig Enterprises, Inc., .40 Acres, TM 55-68B, $75,000</p> <p>Jerry M. &amp; Billie W. Carpenter to&nbsp;William S. &amp; Eltonia N. Zeller,&nbsp;2145 Fray Road, &nbsp;$224,000</p> <p>NVR, Inc. to Anthony C. Freund, 458 Rolkin Road, $245,690</p> <p>Andrew T. &amp; Teri P. Guertler to&nbsp;James F. &amp; Sylvia B. Flood,&nbsp;8410 Signal Hill,&nbsp;$535,000</p> <p>Robert Townsend &amp; Judith Williams&nbsp;to P. Murry Pitts,&nbsp;836 Colridge Drive, $599,000&nbsp;</p> <p><span><b>Charlottesville</b></span></p> <p>Paul M. Madden &amp; Karen L. Ryan&nbsp; to Alexander Wilson &amp; Ariel Zwelling, 219 Monte Vista Avenue,&nbsp; $315,000</p> <p><b>10/15/12</b></p> <p><b>Albemarle</b>&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Global Country of World Peace&nbsp;to University of Virginia Physicians Group, 1.53 Acres, TM 61-26A, $745,000</p> <p>Sandbox LLC&nbsp;to Neighborhood Investments TC LLC, 136-2, 136-4, 139-4, 140-1, 140-2, 141-1 &amp; 143-4 Green Turtle Lane, $759,200</p> <p><b>Charlottesville</b></p> <p>William A. Brown, Trustee,&nbsp; to Wilfredo &amp; Deanne De La Pena, 1825 Edgewood Lane, $530,000</p> <p><b>10/16/12</b></p> <p><b>Albemarle</b></p> <p><span>Octopus Property LLC to </span><span>L J McQueen LLC</span><span>, </span><span>280 Riverbend Drive, Unit 3A</span><span>, $105,000</span></p> <p><span>Octopus Property LLC to </span><span>Mingen &amp; Shuchen</span><span> Shieh, </span><span>270 Riverbend Drive, Unit 2A</span><span>, $112,000</span></p> <p><span>Octopus Property LLC to </span><span>Irene B</span><span>. Hoeflinger, </span><span>310 Riverbend Drive, Unit 1E</span><span>, $113,000</span></p> <p><span>Federal National Mortgage Association</span><span> to </span><span>Faith</span><span> Balita, </span><span>1358 Villa Way, Unit B</span><span>, $117,000</span></p> <p><span>Octopus Property LLC to </span><span>Karen M</span><span>. Zerkel, </span><span>270 Riverbend Drive, Unit 4A</span><span>, $120,000</span></p> <p><span>Ragged Mountain Partners LLC to </span><span>Edward S. &amp; Amy F</span><span>. Painvin, </span><span>2.86 Acres, TM 74-5C8, Lot B9 Ragged Mountain Farm</span><span>, $210,000</span></p> <p><span>Lillian Irene Morris to </span><span>River Lawn Farm LLC</span><span>, </span><span>1998 Mount Warren Lane,</span><span> $225,000</span></p> <p><span>James Monroe &amp; Mary H. Shifflett to</span><span> </span><span>Lick Mountain LLC</span><span>, </span><span>3081 Boonesville Road,</span><span> $235,000</span></p> <p><span>Jeffrey L. &amp; Rachel J. Chidester to </span><span>Jean P</span><span>. Wardell, </span><span>1037 Bristlecone Lane, </span><span>$255,000</span></p> <p><span>William J. Moses &amp; Patricia M. Kluge to </span><span>Trump Vineyard Estates LLC</span><span>, </span><span>3055 Ellerslie Drive, </span><span>$368,000</span></p> <p><span>NVR, Inc. to Joel &amp; Barbara Barredo</span><span>, </span><span>507 Jonna Street,</span><span> $379,390</span></p> <p><span>William J. &amp; Joanne E. Muse to John D. &amp; Heather C. D’Arcy</span><span>, </span><span>1390 Corktree Lane,</span><span> $807,000</span></p> <p><span>&nbsp;</span></p> Free Union real estate sold Real Estate - $old Wed, 06 Feb 2013 02:34:50 +0000 Samantha Masone 109104 at New beginning on Old Fields? <p><span><b>8/16/11</b></span></p> <p>Beneficial Financial Inc. to Patrick Rutkoskie Jr., 7027 Secretarys Sand Road, $54,000, Albemarle</p> <p><span><span> </span></span></p> <p><span>Octopus Property LLC to Meneka Nadar, 740 Walker Square, Unit 1A, $197,900, Charlottesville<span> </span></span></p> <p>European Homes of Albemarle to Kasoondie Frazier, 116 Blincoe Lane, $295,000, Charlottesville</p> <p>June &amp; Donald DeFabio to Robert &amp; Sarah Hamfeldt, 1723 Yorktown Drive, $320,000, Charlottesville</p> <p>Sean &amp; Jessica Reilly to Alan Taylor &amp; Claire Waters, 1325 Rugby Road, $1,350,000, Charlottesville</p> <p><b>8/17/11</b></p> <p>Joseph &amp; Carol Flynn to Mark &amp; Judith Beenhakker, 3296 Beau Mont Farm Road, $555,000, Albemarle</p> <p>Melvin &amp; Elizabeth Johnston to Jay Kolbrener &amp; Amy Wells, 1143 Woodlands Road, $416,000, Albemarle</p> <p><span><span> </span></span></p> <p><span>Gordon &amp; Roberta Colley to Sarah Owens, 39 Georgetown Green, $170,000, Albemarle<span> </span></span></p> <p><span><span> </span></span></p> <p><span>Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. to Dorothy Gibson, 6024 Cling Lane, $157,000, Albemarle<span> </span></span></p> <p><span><span> </span></span></p> <p><span>Meadow Wood Inc. to Megan Harris, 1504 Villa Terrace, Unit B, $120,250, Albemarle<span> </span></span></p> <p>Julie Vianello to James &amp; Patsy McCormick-Goodhart, 132 Hessian Hills Circle, Unit 1, $118,500, Albemarle</p> <p>Cary T. Branch Jr. Estate to Ronnie &amp; Barbara Breeden, 578 Huckstep Branch Lane, $38,500, Albemarle</p> <p>Wells Fargo Bank to Laura Light, 322 Berring Street, $32,700, Charlottesville</p> <p>Elizabeth Rosenblum to Kenneth Moore, 2525 Woodland Drive, $140,000, Charlottesville</p> <p>Martha Menard to Rosamond Casey, 1124 E. Jefferson Street, $384,500, Charlottesville</p> <p><b>8/18/11</b></p> <p>Piedmont Realty &amp; Construction Co. to Andrew &amp; Jody Markopoulas, 6541 Woodbourne Lane, $1,047,330, Albemarle</p> <p><span><span> </span></span></p> <p><span>Dayuan Li &amp; Ling Liu to TImothy &amp; Stephanie Smith, 2625 English Oaks Circle, $408,200, Albemarle<span> </span></span></p> <p>Southern Property LLC to Craig &amp; Lynn Ringuette, 2117 Sundown Place, $299,900, Albemarle</p> <p>Argent Development to Trent Snarr &amp; Caroline Wilby-Snarr, 1112 Arden Drive, $281,000, Albemarle</p> <p>Dale Ludwig to Southern Property LLC, 1168 Cottage Green Way, $75,000, Albemarle</p> <p>David Elkins to Dale Felker III &amp; Dolma Pasang, 622 U.S. 250 Bypass, $140,500, Charlottesville</p> <p>Betty Payne to Federal National Mortgage Association, 910 Rougemont Avenue, $128,299, Charlottesville (foreclosure)</p> <p>Federal National Mortgage Association to Anthony Carbonelli, 910 Rougemont Avenue, $80,000, Charlottesville</p> <p><b>8/19/11</b></p> <p>Shelter Associates to Michael Conway, 4235 Free Union Road, $325,000, Albemarle</p> <p>James &amp; Bernice Hutchins to Lynn Bradley, 1521 Jarman Lake Road, $305,000, Albemarle</p> <p>Pedro &amp; Evelyn Ortiz to Craig &amp; Elizabeth Schneiders, 2599 Ravenscroft Way, $254,000, Albemarle</p> <p><span><span> </span></span></p> <p><span>Old Trail B-4 LLC to Jae Yim &amp; Yoon Jung, 1058 Killdeer Lane, $253,000, Albemarle<span> </span></span></p> <p>Adell Haley to Andrew &amp; Juliane Haley, 1785 Jumpers Run, $175,000, Albemarle</p> <p>Hilda Awkard to Federal National Mortgage Association, 1531 Pughs Store Road, $131,562, Albemarle (foreclosure)</p> <p>R.L. Beyer Construction Inc. to<span> </span>David &amp; Elaine Cheng, 229 Huntley Avenue, $416,602, Charlottesville</p> <p><span><span> </span></span></p> <p><span><b>8/22/11<span> </span></b></span></p> <p>Robert &amp; Patrice McKeel to Andrew &amp; Elizabeth Darby, 1763 Locust Shade Lane, $735,000, Albemarle</p> <p><span><span> </span></span></p> <p><span><span class="cameraIcon">&nbsp;</span>William Daniel &amp; Stella Ray to Timothy &amp; Virginia Michel, 4505 Old Fields Road, $620,000, Albemarle</span></p> <p>Alice &amp; Karl Barkley II to Lee &amp; Tommie Bruderer, 1327 Tilman Road, $386,000, Albemarle</p> <p><span><span> </span></span></p> <p><span>Florence Nana &amp; Nana Tchienkou to Servertis REO Pass-Through Trust I, 4000 Tompkins Drive, $342,500, Albemarle<span> </span></span></p> <p>Michael &amp; Brenda Beitzel to David &amp; Lori Rocco, 370 Grayrock Drive, $330,000, Albemarle</p> <p>Janice Hendricks to Robyn Sealey &amp; Michael Sinclair, 1326 Gate Post Lane, $315,000, Albemarle</p> <p>Barbara Ann Graham to Sean Stanford, 1700 Goldentree Place, $224,000, Albemarle</p> <p>Andrew Darby to Timothy Brooks &amp; Rachel Jaberg, 1031 Bristlecone Lane, $214,000, Albemarle</p> <p>William &amp; Howard Goodwin to Robert &amp; Shirley French, 316 Harvest Drive, $208,000, Albemarle</p> <p>Federal National Mortgage Association to Matthew Rusk &amp; Cary Watkins, 4669 Briarwood Drive,$137,500, Albemarle</p> <p>Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. to Gary Smith, 1670 Riding Club Road, $53,199, Albemarle</p> <p><b>8/23/11</b></p> <p>Frances Cheevers to James &amp; Clare Farmar, 2147 Timber Meadows, $351,000, Albemarle</p> <p>Clarence Smith to Jerry Rainey, 1673 Old Brook Road, $290,000, Albemarle</p> <p>Dave Chua to Georgi Zotev &amp; Marchela Panaoit, 102 Milford Terrace, $125,000, Charlottesville</p> _BreakingNews Free Union old fields road real estate Real Estate - $old Thu, 06 Oct 2011 02:10:50 +0000 Samantha Masone 101265 at Slowing postal: Free Union and the place we won't let go <p><em>The United States Postal Service&#8211; who needs it? Our whole society has gone electronic. With the availability of email, iPads, and smart phones, you need paper mail delivery about as much as you need a hi-fi for your vinyl records.</em><br /><br />Well, now. If the above statements characterize your opinion, consider this scenario: The USPS has plans to close <em>your</em> post office. Not somebody else’s post office, but your very own. The one that’s so convenient, where you buy your stamps, mail wedding invitations, and send care packages to your college students&#8211; where you stop to chat with your neighbors and check out the bulletin board to see what’s for sale and whose dog is lost. And maybe you have an eBay business so you rent a post office box where customers can safely send you their checks.<br /><br />Yes, you know that the USPS is said to be hemorrhaging money, but surely they can take aim at the many layers of their bloated bureaucracy and start the hunt for wasted money at the top. At the very least, they should pick on someone else’s post office, not yours.<br /><br />If you happen to live in Free Union, this threat is not just theoretical. During the last week of June, our postmaster received written notice that the Free Union Post Office was being considered for DUO (“Delivery Unit Optimization”&#8211; fedspeak for “downsizing”).<br /><br />Within a week, that consideration firmed up to “definite” status, and preparations began for the transfer of our two mail carriers and our sorting operation to the Earlysville Post Office&#8211; which is over eight miles away&#8211; by September 17th.<br /><br />The given reason was “cost saving,” but just how all that to-ing and fro-ing between Earlysville and Free Union would save a nickel is a mystery to those of us who have taken an interest in this process. And there are a whole lot of us who are passionate about keeping our little post office intact.<br /><br />Here’s why we care so much about what might appear to be an innocuous restructuring of duties and sorting: According to the USPS website, removing the carriers and sorting is the first step in dismantling a post office.<br /><br />Step Two happens in a year or so (or whenever the lease is up) in the form of a resounding slap of the communal USPS forehead, as they suddenly declare that the building is too big for a mere retail outlet that sells stamps and accepts mail but no longer has its own carriers and sorting operation.<br /><br />Who knew? Time to move out of that building! If there’s a store nearby, they might contract with the owner to sell stamps and accept mail. In time, the diminished retail operation may well disappear, and the destruction will be complete.<br /><br />As you might expect, this situation is not unique to Free Union. In June, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe declared that nearly half of the roughly 32,000 postal facilities in our country will be closed in the next six or seven years. <em>Half</em>!<br /><br />Call it the NIMBY effect if you like, but I call it community spirit. We collected over 300 signatures on our petition, which ain’t bad when you consider there are 635 mail boxes in all of Free Union.<br /><br />Free Unionites have been writing letters to our federal representatives and to USPS honchos to advocate for the integrity of our post office. (One fact we make sure to include in our letters is that our post office actually makes a profit.)<br /><br />Staffers in the offices of Senators Webb and Warner, and Congressman Hurt, lobbied the USPS on our behalf. Homemade signs dotted the roads of our community, reminding residents to attend a meeting in the basement of the Free Union Baptist Church, when officials from the USPS in Richmond were to go toe-to-toe with riled-up citizens.<br /><br />At a recent organizational meeting, someone suggested forming a “Pitchforks and Torches” committee. It’s a joke, of course, but a telling one. Our post office is the heart of our sweet hamlet. We don’t want to go hurtling down that slippery slope and lose it.<br /><br />I am happy to report that our efforts paid off: The USPS downsizing coordinator in Richmond just announced that Free Union has been crossed off the list of targeted post offices. That’s good news for us, but the downsizing will continue elsewhere.<br /><br />The volume of first class mail may be shrinking, but we still need, and want, our post offices.<br /><br />When my mother passed away this spring, the sympathy cards flowed into my mailbox and provided great comfort. Then, there were certified copies of the death certificate to be mailed, thank you cards to those who sent flowers, and packages sent to family with mementos from Mum’s possessions: a necklace, a scarf, a book. And all of it went through the USPS.<br /><br />In case you’re wondering whether your post office will be among those closed in the next six or seven years, consider this: Your chances are fifty-fifty.<br /><br />Then again, maybe you don’t care. Maybe you think that 21st century media will totally supplant the older way of doing things. If so, consider the passion that an audiophile brings to his collection of vinyl albums: You can try to take away his hi-fi, but there <em>will</em> be a battle.<br />~</p> <p><em>Do we need to mention that frequent essayist and radio commentator <a href="">Janis Jaquith</a> lives in Free Union?</em></p> _BreakingNews Featured Community Free Union Essays Thu, 21 Jul 2011 19:45:25 +0000 Janis Jaquith 99465 at Free Union 4th of July Parade <p><a class="colorbox" href="/files/images/field_images/Fourth%20of%20July%20-%20Tommy%20Klumker%20-%20Flickr_0.jpg"><span class="imagecache-200px_wide"><img title="Tommy Klumker - Flickr" src="" alt="" /><span class="caption"></span></span></a>Folks from far and wide are invited to celebrate freedom at Free Unions 4th of July parade. The fun includes the Albemarle County Sheriff's office color guard, Dogwood princesses, music, and food. On Free Union Rd. (Rt. 601).</p> _Kids and Family Events Family Outing Ideas Highlighted 4th of July Free Union kids and family parade Thu, 09 Jun 2011 14:27:47 +0000 linda 91555 at