The top 5 stories on this blog from the past year – Zillow steps it up – Zillow is just “hot”What I want in a real estate website – It worked; now I have most of what I was looking for.Google and Zillow – both are changing the real estate industry with their innovation.A sign of the times – the changing market brings out silly offerings. Since this story, I have seen much sillier offers – a Mercedes, a 7-day Caribbean vacation, more big televisions …Rent -v- Buy – hopefully candor is recognized and appreciated.
Browsing Category sideblog
If the taxes are local …
… shouldn’t the localities decide how to tax themselves?Bah.Requires each locality to lower its real estate tax rate for the forthcoming tax year, to produce no more than 101 percent of the previous year’s real property tax levies when any annual assessment, biennial assessment or general reassessment of real property by the locality would result in an increase of 1 percent or more in the total real property tax levied. The locality may increase the rate above the reduced rate after a public hearing held no sooner than 30 days after the rate reduction.
Hiatus almost over
Batteries are almost recharged, planning is nearing completion, and most importantly – I spent two nearly uninterrupted days with my family, something I haven’t done in nearly a year. The Charlottesville area market seems to be balancing out, and a bit of analysis is in the offing. Stay tuned.
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.
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.