Date Archives July 2005

Today’s eminent domain article

Courtesy of the WashingtonPost.com – To call it a backlash would hardly do it justice. Calling it an unprecedented uprising to nullify a decision by the highest court in the land would be more accurate.In the four weeks since the Supreme Court sanctioned the seizure of private homes by municipal governments for private “economic development,” a firestorm of reaction has broken out in state legislatures and in Congress.Brilliantly stated. When the citizens and politicians are in seemingly unanimous agreement, something must be right with the world.

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Alternative transportation poll

The Daily Progress has a poll asking “Do you think Charlottesville needs more alternative transportation options?”When I answered the poll question this morning, 80% (178 votes) had answered yes…. Not really.If I could figure out how to do a poll on this site, and I had the traffic to give a decent, non-scientific response, I would ask – –Do you think the Central Virginia region needs more alternative transportation options? –If yes, would you be willing to pay an additional $5 per day/more in a localized gas tax/higher consumption tax of some form in order to pay for these improvements?–If yes, would you be in favor of the local governments possibly taking property from private landowners so that they can build these improvements? (this would be an example of the right kind of eminent domain!)–If no, are you happy with the current amount of traffic/infrastructure in our region?We have to realize that the transportation issues we are all facing impact us all from a property value aspect as well as a basic quality of life aspect.

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End Growth in Greene?

From cvillenews – If there’s one thing that every candidate for the Greene County Board of Supervisors can agree on, it’s the need to end growth. So reports Kate Andrews in today’s Progress:This should prove an interesting story to follow. The region is facing growth issues – affordable housing, resource limitations, infrastructure weakness and inadequacies …… What impact can the County BOS have when private landowners continue to sell their land to developers?

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“Discount” brokerages taking hits

Hagerty says the discounters’ noses are bloodied by recent minimum service legislation sweeping the nation and scores the latest round in favor of traditional REALTORS® (hat tip: RealtyBaron)Realtors have taken some knocks lately in Washington, where antitrust officials accuse them of trying to stifle cut-rate competition. At the state and local level, though, real-estate trade groups are fighting back — and in many instances prevailing.At issue is the proliferation of discounters offering lower fees on home sales than do traditional broker firms. In the past year or so, half a dozen states have imposed laws that require real-estate brokers to offer a minimum level of services, whether customers want to pay for them or not. Such hurdles could undercut the discounters’ business model.In a further blow, some local Realtor groups are imposing rules that make it harder for discounters to get their listings on national and regional Web sites.

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Market shift a good thing

In general, what I’ve witnessed is that brokers are taking a hard and strong look at expenses built in a great market and looking at a normal market — and trying to pair those two things up,” said Kenneth L. Jenny, managing director and CEO for tranCen, a company that offers business advice to residential real estate companies.Jon Cheplak, a former real estate executive for Better Homes and Gardens of Las Vegas who now serves as a real estate consultant for The Real Estate Recruiters, said he expects that some agents will leave the real estate industry and some companies won’t survive the transition as the market turns…. You will see many agents getting out of the business,” he said.As many of my readers know, I think that a slight shift in the market will be a good thing. Home prices may become a bit more affordable/tolerable and the wheat will be separated from the chaff, with respect to the sheer volume of Realtors.

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