… So little time …

I read so much every day and my “blog this!” folder keeps growing … in that vein, here are a few of the things that I have been reading lately that are applicable to the Central Virginia real estate market in some form or another.

This really deserves its own post: Land use regulations cause housing prices to increase.

“The database and the housing report show that the regulatory obstacles are especially onerous for higher-density and smart growth projects. We are losing environmentally and we are losing our competitive edge. We need a drastically different approach if we want to maintain our quality of life.”

YIMBY – avoiding the “NIMBY” attitude.

We have so much of the “NIMBY” mindset in this region that oftentimes, good development is lost or chooses not to even attempt to come. What we may have left are those entities that have the time, money, patience and attorneys to outlast public opposition and governmental inefficiencies.

If more developers used these tactics, I’ll bet that there would be better developments.

Wooing locals is nothing new to developers, though they often received a rubber stamp to build shopping centers and residential complexes as cities grew in the past 50 years. Today, however, the best prospects are increasingly urban and suburban redevelopment projects, on land often surrounded by residents with the money, the know-how and the will to fight. As a result, developers must run something akin to a political campaign to get their projects approved — and in the process, give residents much of what they demand.

Loudoun County as a proving ground for how not to grow.

How Loudoun deals with its growth can teach the rest of the country a great deal,” says James DeFrancia, a trustee of the Urban Land Institute. “It’s become a little test tube.”

What are the chances our region will learn before it’s too late?