Countrywide in the Charlottesville market
*Note: the bulk of this article was written by a Charlottesville loan officer. I added my two cents here and there and debated italicizing my comments/editing, but felt that that would have detracted too much from the readability. What will Countrywide's laying off of 12,000…
What should the Martha Jefferson neighborhood look like?
Dave Norris put together an impressive array of historical photos (read the comments, too) of the Martha Jefferson neighborhood and raises the question - if the Martha Jefferson community had input, what would become of the Martha Jefferson campus? The Martha Jefferson Hospital is the…
Foreclosures, Charlottesville and CNBC
CNBC actually had a non-scary housing story last Friday! Diana Olick noted that the data show that: "A full third of those facing foreclosures are speculators who took risky bets and lost." read: not homeowners who were duped into getting shady loans. and: "it just…
Housing appreciation in the Charlottesville region – second quarter 2007
The OFHEO has recently released their study looking at housing data for the first two quarters of this year (PDF). “House prices were basically flat in the second quarter despite tightening credit policies, rising foreclosure rates, and weakening buyer sentiment,” said Lockhart. “Significant price declines…
VAR Reaches out – Part 3 of 3
This concludes the interview with Ben Martin, VAR's "Robert Scoble" (his analogy, which hopefully will prove accurate). My thanks to him for taking the time to answer so many questions. While he's been on the job for less than a month, expectations are high that…
Jott gets even better
Jott is one of the "Web 2.0" services that has become an absolute necessity for me. I use it at least once a day, and have debated putting them into "My Circle." What's Jott? It's a website where you call the free phone number that…
What if I see something the inspector doesn’t see?
A simple argument against dual agency. In speaking to a respected listing agent last week while negotiating an offer, she assured me that I wouldn't have to worry about her selling the listing herself via Dual Agency. (the thought had never entered my mind, as…
Virginia Association of Realtors reaches out – Part 2 of 3
Realtor associations provide more for their members than the respective MLS' - most importantly perhaps is the lobbying they do on behalf of their members, and often the general public - from issues such as recordation taxes, disclosure/disclaimer laws, zoning, preservation of property rights, transportation…