The real estate carnival makes its way to Central Virginia this week. Well done, Daniel.
Date Archives February 2007
Beer and subprime mortgages
Who woulda thunk that that the future of the two were related? So says the Financial Times:The rapid expansion of biofuel production may be welcome news for environmentalists but for the world’s beer drinkers it could be a different story.Strong demand for biofuel feedstocks such as corn, soyabeans and rapeseed is encouraging farmers to plant these crops instead of grains like barley, driving up prices….The USDA expects US barley acreage over the next 10 years to remain flat. That might not be the case for the price of beer.The USA Today reports that subprime mortgages may be the worst threat to the market. If biofuels may influence the future of the beer industry, what industries might the subprime mortgage sector touch?Who doesn’t love unintended consequences?
Subprime mortgages poised to attack
At the same time, some lenders have become more reliant on computer models to estimate the value of homes.”We’re not really sure what the guy’s income is and…we’re not sure what the house is worth,” says Mr. Ranieri, who now runs his own investment businesses in Uniondale, N.Y…. (bolding mine)The shakeout of the subprime market could have profound implications on the entire real estate market, the mortgage market and many of the ancillary businesses.Who was looking out for those who took the subprime loans?… (Wharton)NovaStar Financial Share Prices Rocked By Earnings Report (Real Estate bloggers)Seeking AlphaBlock’s Blocked with this telling paragraph that to me simultaneously describes and indicts the entire segment:Block chased borrowers who shouldn’t have been borrowing right along with the rest of subprime lenders. The whole category is tatters these days, with defaults for the industry up and several lenders going bankrupt.CNNGroup sees spike in subprime mortgage foreclosures (MSN)Subprime woes (WSJ)I am waiting for the spike in this Google Trends graph:http://google.com/trends/viz?q=subprime&date=all&geo=US&graph=weekly_img&sa=N*I am not an economist.
Limited service agency bill in Virginia
Interesting addition:”Limited service representative” means a licensee who acts for or represents a client with respect to real property containing from one to four residential units, pursuant to a brokerage agreement that provides that the limited service representative will not provide one or more of the duties set forth in subdivision A 2 of §§ 54.1-2131, 54.1-2132, 54.1-2133, and 54.1-2134, inclusive. A limited service representative shall have the obligations set out in the brokerage agreement, except that a limited service representative shall provide the client, at the time of entering the brokerage agreement, copies of any and all disclosures required by federal or state law, or local disclosures expressly authorized by state law, and shall disclose to the client the following in writing: (i) the rights and obligations of the client under the Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act (§ 55-517 et seq.); (ii) if the client is selling a condominium, the rights and obligations of the client to deliver to the purchasers, or to receive as purchaser, the condominium resale certificate required by § 55-79.97; and (iii) if the client is selling a property subject to the Property Owners’ Association Act (§ 55-508 et seq.), the rights and obligations of the client to deliver to the purchasers, or to receive as purchaser, the association disclosure packet required by § 55-512. A limited service representative may act as the agent or representative of the client only by so providing in writing in the brokerage agreement. If the brokerage agreement does not so state, the limited service representative shall be deemed as acting as an independent contractor of the client.
Call Jim Duncan with your Charlottesville real estate questions
I don’t add widgets or sidebar stuff very often…. If you have a real estate questions, give me a call by clicking on the button below or on the main page. Chances are, I’ll take it out sooner rather than later, but, you never know until you try. Thanks to the Trulia blog for the heads-up.
Monopoly in Wintergreen?
Thanks to the HooK, I saw this story in the DP…. At the very least, this should prove interesting. If partnering with Wintergreen is a monopoly, might this have ramifications with developments (not location-specific) that say “exclusively marketed by” whereby the implication is that buyers must use that company if they want to see the development? Wintergreen is a very different market than Charlottesville, but I didn’t foresee this coming.Update: Jennifer gives us the attorney’s point of view.
Neal Boortz coming to Charlottesville
Sweet. Despite NAR’s opposition to the FairTax, it’s a good idea. Mark your calendars for 21 and 22 March, during the Virginia Festival of the Book.*A quick Google blogsearch reveals that Rick was in fact the first to mention Neal’s arrival.