Posts Published by Jim Duncan

A Charlottesville Realtor who tries to stay on the bleeding/cutting/functional edge of technology and real estate trends. I have been selling real estate for the past 10 years, lived in C'Ville for twenty+ and am married to one of few Charlottesville natives left.

October Home Sales Up. Meh.

From the Wall Street Journal : About one in seven American households with mortgages is behind on payments or in foreclosure, according to new data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. … The trade group reported Thursday that 14.4% of first-lien mortgages on one- to four-family homes in the third quarter were 30 days or more overdue or in the foreclosure process. … Another Wall Street Journal : The proportion of U.S. homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than the properties are worth has swelled to about 23%, threatening prospects for a sustained housing recovery. … … The National Association of Realtors reported Monday that sales of previously occupied homes in October jumped 10.1% from September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.1 million, the highest since February 2007.

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CharlAlbemarle Transit Authority – What’s Next?

The fate of a proposed Regional Transit Authority (RTA) could depend on who is selected in January to represent the City Council and the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors on two regional transportation bodies.

…Earlier this year, the General Assembly passed a bill authorizing Charlottesville and Albemarle to create a transit authority , but a companion bill that may have provided a funding source for enhanced service did not make it out of committee. That legislation would have authorized a referendum in which city and country residents would have voted on a sales tax increase to pay the RTA’s operating and capital costs.

… The Charlottesville/Albemarle region needs some form of transit that helps alleviate the traffic and congestion that, while not as bad as other areas (Northern Virginia/LA/etc) – is bad by Charlottesville standards – and frankly, those are the standards that matter to me.

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Electronic Signatures – Not Groundbreaking but Great all the Same

Here’s what happened: Rather than drive around Charlottesville meeting one buyer at work on the south side of town, the other buyer on the north side of town or both of them together after work at another location, I simply emailed them the contract, they clicked the places they needed to sign and initial and they were done.

…Legal recognition of electronic records, electronic signatures, and electronic contracts. (a) A record or signature may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form. (b) A contract may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because an electronic record was used in its formation. (c) If a law requires a record to be in writing, an electronic record satisfies the law. (d) If a law requires a signature, or provides for certain consequences in the absence of a signature, an electronic signature satisfies the law. (2000, c.

…FHA does accept DocuSign today As the real estate industry’s leading provider of electronic contract execution, DocuSign has also sought to establish a clear distinction between an electronic mortgage – with process requirements and controls that must be in place at closing – and an electronically signed real estate contract, seeking appropriate treatment of electronically signed real estate contracts by lenders, the FHA, and other “downstream” recipients of these 100% valid and enforceable agreements. … Over the past five years, hundreds of thousands of real estate documents have been electronically signed by buyers and sellers using the DocuSign electronic contract execution platform, and not one of these transactions has failed for fraud or unenforceability arising from use of the electronic signature.

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Albemarle County Board of Supervisors Agenda – 2 December 2009

There’s a whole lot of important stuff on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors’ agenda next week – the bold parts are most interesting to me. The next Albemarle County Board of Supervisors meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 2, 2009 starting at 9:00 a.m. in the Lane Auditorium, County Office Building, McIntire Road. … Nonconforming Lots – 09-03( ) – Agricultural and Forestal Districts In addition… – Establish Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Cost Recovery Billing Rates – Work Session: Five Year Financial Plan – Hatton Ferry – Acceptance of donation from VDOT and transfer to nonprofit entity The Board will then recess and reconvene at 3:30 p.m. in Room 241 for a Joint Meeting with the School Board. They will discuss the following items: – Capital Improvements Program (CIP) Oversight Committee Recommendations – Proposed Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Plan (VERIP) Amendments – FY 2010-11 Budget Issues

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Curbside Recycling Goes Big in Charlottesville and Albemarle

And now, thanks to the Vanderlinde Recycling facility , no-sorting, curbside recycling is an option for many, many more people in Charlottesville and Albemarle 1 – Most people aren’t going to “go green” unless they can justify the “green” decision economically first.

…If you’d like us to take away the recycle bin just contact us by email under comments at www.timedisposalinc.com and we will recycle those as well for you. … All aluminum, glass, plastics (all), all cardboard, newspapers, junk mail, magazines, catalogs, steel and tin cans and styrofoam will all be taken from your regular trash right out of the garbage no need to sort items – this is Stream Line Trash & Recycling at it’s best. … “When in doubt… put your trash out” Thanks, Boyd McCauley Owner, Time Disposal Trash Service * I’m not getting compensated for this post, but think that if we can more efficiently recycle, why not?

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UVA’s Construction Plans – Current and Near Future

I frequently tell my clients that at any given time, UVA has a couple hundred million dollars of construction underway. … Charlottesville Tomorrow reports : Pace Lochte, UVA’s director of economic development, said that a “miniature intelligence community” is developing around NGIC and the North Fork Research Park. … “This is the kind of development and economic improvement that every community in this country would just die to have it come into their community,” Sandridge added.

… Claude Moore Education Building– operational by May 2010 Bavarro Hall – complete by August 2010 First two buildings of the South Lawn Project operational by January 2010, rest in July 2010 Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center – operational by April 2011 Four new Alderman Road dorms to be built in two phases (2 in May 2011, 2 in June 2013) Information Technology and Communication Data Center – operational by May 2011 Bookstore expansion – operational by summer 2011 Rice Hall (engineering building) on Whitehead and Stadium Road – operational in August 2011 College of Arts and Sciences Research Building (currently unnamed) – operational by August 2011 Rehearsal space on Culbreth Road – operational by 2011 72-bed intensive care unit expansion at UVA Medical Center – complete by January 2012

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