An example of mortgage fraud?Staging Q & A – staging/preparing one’s house is becoming more and more important in this market.Fun with conservationMy new favorite local radio stationMainstreaming of solarThis guy says that the real estate market in 2007 will be good (video). That CNBC is FINALLY offering video is fantastic.
Date Archives December 2006
Perhaps my favorite post of the week – referencing eminent domain
Referencing eminent domain and the Kelo case:Here is my house that you did takeFrom me to you, this spell I makeYour houses, your homesYour family, your friendsMay they live in miseryThat never ends.I curse you allMay you rot in hellTo each of youI send this spellFor the rest of your livesI wish you illI send this nowBy the power of willThanks to Homeland Stupidity.This is the Virginia General Assembly’s most recent attempt to curtail Eminent Domain.Constitutional amendment (first resolution); exercise of eminent domain powers. Prohibits the taking of private property by eminent domain for the predominant use of any private person or entity or for the transfer of ownership to any private person or entity. Further defines the permissible public uses for which property may be taken and the “just compensation” that must be paid for the property taken. The proposed amendment specifies that it is a judicial question whether private property is being condemned for a permissible public use.
New website is finally up
Email is finally working smoothly thanks to Google Apps, jduncanrealestate.com is redirecting to realcentralvarealestate.com and I have some great ideas for both this blog and the new site. Ideas:Targeted pages to some of the strongest employers, specifically the National Grounds Intelligence Center which houses a large number of active military, government contractors and civilians…. Two of the pages I am most looking forward to developing are the ones for first-time home-buyers and luxury buyers. Two very different markets with their own idiosyncrasies and unique aspects.Real estate is local, and the information there will remain local, yet has to have an international reach, so writing ad copy with that in mind will be a focus as well.
Blogs are …
From today’s WSJ:The fatuity matters more than the politics. If the blogs have enthusiastically endorsed Joseph Conrad’s judgment of newspapering–“written by fools to be read by imbeciles”–they have also demonstrated a remarkable ecumenicalism in filling out that same role themselves.I disagree. Many blogs may fit this mold, but the time for safely making sweeping generalizations is over. You just cannot do that to 57 million blogs and be right.
Will Charlottesville City follow?
Kudos to Albemarle County for joining the Energy Star program. Well done, folks. Now, will the progressive City of Charlottesville follow? They may be, but searching for energy, leed, green on their awful, yet award-winning, website yielded no relevant results.
Where is the middle ground?
Is there one? A few conflicting analyses from my feed reader:New Home Construction Rises, But Inventory Levels Still HighForeclosure threat ominous for subprime Borrowers – NAR is concerned, tooHousing market in revulsion stageHousing slowdown nearing end, via the Real Estate BloggersStarts rebound, building permits at a nine-year low – this strikes me as a “good thing.”There is no definitive answer other than that the answer lies somewhere between the extremes…. Buy smart. Sell smart.
Tagged
I am overwhelmed by many of the new technologies that are emerging, and wake up every day with a (hopefully healthy) fear of being left behind…. I never intended to get into real estate, but, being a third generation real estate agent, the business is in my blood. The passion with which I awaken every day is kindled by my desire to help others and to earn to support my family…. John, in the US Virgin Islands.How is this not, in some fashion, like a chain letter?