Sued for Cigarette Smoke, Government tracking Cell Phones and House Prices

A few stories of interest from my Posterous site this week:
– I know a lot of people lost power last week in the Charlottesville area, but I am grateful we did not, particularly with trees such as this weighed down (no longer available).

– An energy-efficient tax credit – the amount of time and effort required to claim a $10 credit – is it worth it, or political posturing and pandering (archived: 2021)?

– Who knew that Bodo’s had gift cards (archived: 2021)?

– Home prices to drop an additional 20% (archived: 2021)?

This story of a listing broker being sued for (allegedly) assuring a buyer that the cigarette smoke smell would dissipate is interesting and is a perfect reminder of (archived: 2021):

– The four corners principle in real estate.

– Why one of my favorite answers is, I don’t know, but I’ll find out.”

– Would the situation have been different if the buyer had had buyer representation? (assuming she didn’t)

And everything else seems trivial in the context of our government saying (archived: 2021):

In that case, the Obama administration has argued that warrantless tracking is permitted because Americans enjoy no “reasonable expectation of privacy” in their–or at least their cell phones’–whereabouts. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers say that “a customer’s Fourth Amendment rights are not violated when the phone company reveals to the government its own records” that show where a mobile device placed and received calls.