Category Archives: Blogroll
Attempted Censorship or misguided public official?
Sometimes, as in this case, the responses are from the public officials charged with assessing property.I would however request that you immediately remove all inappropriate and misleading information related to the Office of the County Assessor, real property taxes, and the assessment process in Loudoun County from your web site.Properties are assessed on an annual basis…. At no point in any of the emails from Todd Kaufman the Loudoun County Assessor, does he identify exactly what part of the post he found to be “erroneous and misleading.”This situation goes beyond real estate and real estate assessments and into the realm of trying to squash free speech and open public discourse…. The Free Flow of Information Act says we might:(2) COVERED PERSON- The term `covered person’ means a person who is engaged in journalism and includes a supervisor, employer, parent, subsidiary, or affiliate of such person.(3) DOCUMENT- The term `document’ means writings, recordings, and photographs, as those terms are defined by rule 1001 of the Federal Rules of Evidence (28 U.S.C…. Trying to keep the County Officials in check via a blog is like sticking your finger in a bee’s nest!I’d argue that trying to keep public officials in check is our shared responsibility and obligation.Realtors are held to a higher standard due to our shared Code of Ethics; public officials are supposed to be held to a higher standard as well.This seems to me to be an egregious attempt to control a conversation.
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Steering buyers’ agents
In a presumably-paid-for-piece in the “Business Journal” section of the DP a local Realtor says:”The commissions offered in a buyer’s market to participating agents are very important…. This quoted sentiment may be applicable to some Realtors, but I would argue that it’s not for most of the good Realtors in the Charlottesville area.Here are two questions for real estate consumers to ask -1…. – Do you get a higher commission if you sell one of your company’s listings?- How many buyers are even told anything about co-brokerage other than “don’t worry, the seller pays the commission.”?2…. (note: in my company, we practiced Dual Agency about 8.5% of the time in the same time period – which is still too high in my opinion, and I haven’t done it yet).As a buying or selling client – do you really think you are getting 100% representation from your contracted representative if your agent is “representing” both parties?Earlier this year I wrote A Call for and End to Cooperative Compensation.
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