Mold, bubble, energy prices and Zipcars!

This WSJ article (here for subscribers) describes how the “mold boom” may be coming to and end. We typically hear only about the horror stories. This article brings some rational thinking to the debate.

Signs of a bubble. Is there one locally? Time will tell. One sign of the continuing shift is that Sellers are now more willing to accept home-sale contingencies – unheard of in recent history.

What will CNBC (archived: 2006) and BusinessWeek cover if the market only shifts and doesn’t “burst”?

Is the price of your house about to plummet? There’s no one foolproof indicator of a local housing bubble, so the best approach is to evaluate the situation from many angles. It’s important to gauge such factors as construction permit issuance, local incomes, job growth, and rental rates to determine if you’re living in a danger zone. “You have to triangulate,” says Susan M. Wachter, a real estate economist at the Wharton School.

This is an excellent article (archived: 2008) on Wharton’s site that explains several housing myths.

Who knew? Caulk will help lower your energy bills.

With heating prices expected to soar over the next few months, homeowners are starting to take a newfound interest in the unfashionable minutiae of caulking, insulation and tankless water heaters.

Good conservation resources here as well.

UVa. students may soon have another transportation option (no longer available).

Update 10 November, 2009: The above link to the Cavalier Daily was broken, so I updated this post on Zipcars in Charltotesville with this good link (archived: 2010).