Description
Tolani E
At Neighborhood Properties, we strive to develop, lease, and maintain quality neighborhoods in and around Charlottesville. We are interested in making sure that our residents have more than a nice home or apartment; we want you to enjoy your neighborhood experience!
In December of 1980 (Jimmy Carter was still President), Richard T. Spurzem made his first real estate investment as a 19-year-old, Second-year Echols Scholar at the University of Virginia. He responded to a classified ad in the Daily Progress advertising a house on Douglas Ave. in Belmont for sale at its assessed value. With two partners (including future Charlottesville Mayor Blake Caravati), they paid $15,300 for the run-down house with $2,800 cash down and seller financing for the rest. They renovated the house into two apartments. A few months later, Richard purchased his first property on his own, again with the help of seller financing as interest rates were at an all-time high of 18+%. With a “rinse and repeat” strategy of buying a house, fixing it up, renting it out, and re-financing it to pull cash out for the next deal, Spurzem has spent the last 40 years building and upgrading a residential real estate portfolio in Charlottesville, Albemarle, and the surrounding areas. In the City of Charlottesville alone, Spurzem has owned over 360 different properties, which represents about 2.5% of all the tax parcels in the City. Spurzem is now one of the five largest private real estate owners in Charlottesville/Albemarle (based on tax assessments). Neighborhood Properties continues to buy and renovate properties, so it can provide quality housing to area residents and UVA students.