Monday links 03-19-2007

Posted on March 19, 2007 by Jim Duncan

One of the best things you could subscribe to and read right now – The Dip by Seth Godin

A good story referencing home warranties – I recommend that all of my purchasers get home warranties (some are good, some not so much) – if that $400 saves you $6,000 when the HVAC dies – isn’t that money well spent?

Housing and the Stock market

A doom-and-gloom perspective on the housing market

Mortgage suitability? (via Volokh) – How much protection from themselves do buyers need?

School Vouchers in Utah

Solar-hydrogen house = $0.00 energy bill

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About 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.
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  • TrvlnMn

    I wonder how that voucher would work with students that are “home schooled.” I am of the opinion that school vouchers do not really empower school choice, but simply allow the more affluent a way to get back a portion their tax dollars. Even with a school voucher the poor and working class would probably still not be able to afford to send their kids to private school. So the argument that it allows people to “vote with their dollars” (as made in that article linked to) is false.

    Now having said all that, I wish Utah the best of luck with this experiment. I have absolutely no faith in public schools as educators. So I wouldn’t mind having a voucher system.

    Since I don’t have kids I also wouldn’t mind seeing something that would give me that portion of the tax dollars I paid, which was used for public education, refunded to me. For example- If I paid 10 dollars in taxes and $1 of that $10 was used to fund public schools, but I don’t have children in the system- I’d like at least 25 to 50 cents back. Call it a tax deduction that doesn’t incentivize breeding.

  • Ray Hyde

    That home energy bill ia far from zero. It is at least equal to the interest on $500,000, plus the cost of his knowledge and maintenance.

  • http://www.realcentralva.com Jim Duncan

    Ray -

    His bill probably is zero. The cost to get to that $0 bill is far higher. However, as somebody said elsewhere, without the early adopters, we wouldn’t have any progress.

  • Ray Hyde

    Agreed. But technical feasibility and economic feasibility are far different. Selling this as a zero energy bill would be like you offering a house for free – if only the buyer pays $500k for the tree in the front yard. You wouldn’t do it because it is dishonest.