Where are the College Bubble Blogs? Why is the same amount of vitriol not conveyed upon higher education institutions?

The Higher Education Bubble: It’s About to Burst

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When Buying a Home, Manage your Credit Wisely

by Jim on September 2, 2010

Why not to get credit cards in the time leading up to buying a home. [click to continue…]

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Funding and Intent Are Two Different Things

by Jim on September 2, 2010

No grade-separated interchanges at 29 and Rio:


“I think to be intellectually honest we have to say all the traffic studies indicate that we should put the interchanges in,” Boyd said. “But I think I’d rather simply say at this time there’s no funding and no intent to do it.”

Two clichés come to mind:

- where there’s a will, there’s a way
- perfection is the enemy of progress

People move to the Charlottesville-Albemarle region because we don’t have Northern Virginia traffic and congestion; it’s one of the reasons Charlottesville is one of the 10 most livable college towns. Without progress on our transportation and infrastructure, this quality of life will decline, and we will all suffer the effects. Our “leaders” need to determine what they want our area to be in 25 years and find a way to act on this vision.

The transportation section of Albemarle County’s Places29 Master Plan has been slimmed down to include only projects that have a reasonable chance of being constructed within its first five years. That means county staff will not perform any design work for a grade-separated interchange at the intersection of U.S. 29 and Rio Road.

I don’t know whether I’ve ever seen the business community campaigning against growth while the Piedmont Environmental Council and Southern Environmental Law Center are campaigning for growth:

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Charlottesville is “Super Brainy”

by Jim on August 31, 2010

With all the lists that Charlottesville* gets put on, I think I like this one the most. (Thanks to the anonymous reader for pointing this out to me!)

We’re #9, in fact.

Charlottesville is Super Brainy

The Atlantic notes: (bolding mine)

Last Friday, my list of America’s Brainiest Cities ran over at The Daily Beast. Boulder topped the list, which comprised a mix of larger knowledge-intensive metros like Washington, D.C., Boston, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Austin, and Seattle, and college towns like Ithaca, Charlottesville, Madison, Iowa City, and Durham, North Carolina, among others.

* “Charlottesville” may mean “Charlottesville, Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene” but in this case may in fact mean “The City of Charlottesville.”

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What’s That Fuzzy-Looking Thing? Addition to Nest’s Signs – Trying Something New

30 August 2010

It’s been a while since we’ve played with the design, other than refinements here and there.

…Real estate signs matter . Real-estate-signs-matter-2.jpg If you have an iPhone, these are some QR Code readers ; for you Android users, these are a few . … I’ve had questions over the years asking what I do besides write a kick-butt Charlottesville real estate blog. I’m a Charlottesville Realtor with a writing problem , and a pretty good one at that.

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Three Common Questions Homebuyers Ask – About Homeowner’s Insurance – Part Two

30 August 2010

Any time there is a new purchase, an insurance company will run what is called a “loss report” to see if the buyers have had any previous claims, and to see if the home they are buying has had any losses. … For many companies, this is not the case, but a buyer would want to know if there were any prior repaired losses on the home they are buying. If the buyer knows that there was a loss before the inspection occurs, he/she can instruct the inspector to make sure that the necessary repairs were done and there is no hidden damage. Since the buyer cannot order a loss report on a home they do not own, it’s important to have the insurance company involved early on in the process.

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Proof that Price Matters

26 August 2010

Now, Redfin provides statistical proof . After the first month, a home is in pergatory Damn, it’s easy for me to say, “price your home right,” when I’m not the one faced with the life decisions that you or my clients are. But that’s what sellers in the Charlottesville area and virtually every other market in the country are facing – life decisions . … It’s easy to tell my clients “I know you bought for $400k, but if you want to sell and move on, you need to put your house on the market at $335k in order to 1) beat the competition and 2) be priced for the market” – two similar but different dynamics – but it’s much harder to act on this advice. … All I can do as a Realtor is advise my clients and potential clients of where the market is and how they fit into it.

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National Housing Numbers Mean What for the Charlottesville Real Estate Market?

25 August 2010

I was saving this post and data for Friday, but the release of the national housing data spurred me to publish today. … * Charlottesville and Albemarle Attached home sales – June and July for the past decade : Charlottesville & Albemarle Attached Home Sales - June & July Charlottesville and Albemarle Single Family home sales – June and July for the past decade : Charlottesville & Albemarle Single Family Home Sales - June & July Charlottesville MSA Attached Home Sales – July for the past decade :   Charlottesville MSA Attached Home Sales - June & July Charlottesville MSA – Single Family Home Sales – June and July for the past decade : Charlottesville MSA Single Family Home Sales - June & July So … what are home prices doing in the Charlottesville MLS**? – The moving median price for the past 200 days shows stability . – The moving median price for the past 90 days shows what may be a coming decline. – The moving median price for the past 200 days shows stability . – The moving median price for the past 7 days shows that the Charlottesville real estate market has transactional volume sufficient to be swayed by even a few transactions. Moving Median Average for Charlottesville MLS - 30 Days Looking at the moving median home price for the Charlottesville MLS for the past year,we see the spike attributable to the housing tax credit and either what could be the bottom or the first dip. Moving Median Average for Charlottesville MLS - One year And now for the past five years: Moving Median Average for Charlottesville MLS - Five years And really, if you’re surprised by this drop, you haven’t been paying attention ; we’ve been seeing these trends in the Charlottesville housing data for quite some time . ” But no matter when one thinks summer ends, it’s already way past obvious that the Obama administration’s “Recovery Summer” has been and will end up being a big, fat, embarrassing failure. … Related News: Housing: No Longer A Sure-Fire Wealth Builder – The Big Picture The Impact Housing Inventory Has on Prices – Keeping Matters Current Housing Market Insight – Week of August 23rd – Bigger Pockets Blog Housing: Still Widely Misunderstood – The Big Picture Existing Home Sales Plummet 27& – The Big Picture Existing Home Inventory decreases 1.9% Year-over-Year – Calculated Risk Existing Home Sales lowest since 1996, 12.5 months of supply – Calculated Risk * You won’t find this data anywhere else.:) ** Charlottesville MLS = Charlottesville, Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Nelson, Louisa …

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