Friday Links – 06-27-2008

“A model for how to do rural development” – Bundoran Farm. Granted, with lots starting at $365k and going upward to $1.3 million (no longer available), there is a very limited market. Bundoran Farm is a brilliant concept and implementation. It’s a shame that it costs so much to buy into what they are doing.

What is Neighborhood Friends? Very interesting (no longer available).

The “steroids” come in the form of the features that should make NeighborhoodFriends.com attractive to the post-”Friends” set. A tie-in to Google Maps, for example, allows users to connect with neighbors who have also signed up for the site. And businesses and churches can create what amount to free web pages that advertise specials or serve as a conduit of information for church events or other happenings.

“What we’re trying to do is get communities back together again,” Rodes said. “Basically what we all do now is go home, get out of our cars, close the garage door, and most people, if they’re lucky, know who’s beside them, but they don’t know who’s two houses up. What we’re trying to do is connect people.

Downtown Charlottesville to be blanketed with wifi (archived: 2009)? (H/t cvillenews)

5 Ways to cut commuting costs

This is why I run data analyses manually – There is often more to the story than top-level computer generated data show. An automatically-generated analysis (via the Charlottesville MLS) of six representative properties in Albemarle County looks only at the difference between the Final Listing Price and the selling price, not the difference between the Original Listing Price and the selling price:

There’s data and then there’s data.

If you’re a real estate blogger, take five minutes to complete this survey.

If you’re a Realtor, please help one of our own; if you’re not, Charles Richey could still use your help.

An apology for the delay in promised posts. The Rent -v- Buy post is coming next week as well as the vacant houses and homeownership post.