There is no doubt that the Charlottesville/Albemarle real estate market is fragile and will travel a long road to recovery.  There is some signs of life though which can be seen by reading this article www.tinyurl.com/ylk8y43

Excess inventory of homes is still the #1 problem in the Central Virginia area.  We still have twice as many resale homes on the market as necessary but the new home inventory has shrunk considerably.  Sellers are much more realistic with their pirce than they were even a year ago and banks while still needing to improve, are finally making the short sale process a little less frustrating.  Couple these facts with low interest rates (which everyone says have to go up) and the Home Buyer tax credit of $8,000 for new buyers or $6,500 for move up buyers, and you have legitimate reasons to consider  buying sometime soon.  One tip for those of you who are considering buying a home.  Make sure your mortgage payment is equal to what payment you could expect if you rented the property.  That way if you had to move or wanted to keep the property as a long term investment, you would not be negatively effected financially.