Date Archives March 2010

So … the Homebuyer Tax Credit Costs (way) More than $8k per House

From Calculated Risk : (bolding mine) This is no surprise and suggests that the extension and expansion of the home buyer tax credit will probably cost taxpayers over $100,000 for each additional home sold. … Buyers – are you waiting until after the tax credit expires ? Congress – will you pander some more with tax dollars and attempt to extend the tax credit for a fourth time ? Since 1 January 2010*: 373 residential properties have gone under contract in the Charlottesville MSA. 108 – 29% – are under $200k 168 – 45%- are under $250k 218 – 58% of homes that went under contract since the first of the year are under $300k. 70 – 19% – are between $300k and $400k 35 – 9% – are between $400k and $500k 40 – between $500k and $999k 12 – over $1 million * “Now” is 7 am on 5 March 2010 * I’ll turn this into an “official” Friday chart this evening.

Read More

City Buying Land for Homeless Shelter

The enrollees got either an efficiency at the Y.M.C.A. or an apartment rented for them in a building somewhere else in the city, provided they agreed to work within the rules of the program. … An efficiency apartment in Denver averages $376 a month, or just over forty-five hundred a year, which means that you can house and care for a chronically homeless person for at most fifteen thousand dollars, or about a third of what he or she would cost on the street. The idea is that once the people in the program get stabilized they will find jobs, and start to pick up more and more of their own rent, which would bring someone’s annual cost to the program closer to six thousand dollars. … I wonder how much is being spent now in the City on services related to caring for the homeless and whether there are parallels to the Gladwell story.

Read More

Stupid Real Estate Questions

Transcription: As I tell my customers and clients, it’s not a stupid question in that you’re in a stupid mindset, but it’s a stupid question in that there are no such things as dumb questions, just the ones you don’t ask. A lot of what I do is complicated, it’s complex and it’s very intricate in details and it seems really simple to me because I do this everyday. … So that’s my thought process for this site, stupid real estate questions is I want to answer the questions that my clients have frequently, the ones that almost every single one of them asks, I want to be able to put in one place so that they can go and find these answers because a lot of them will ask: – Should I get an attorney or a title company? – Should I get a home inspection? … And these are questions that happen every single day, so I want to help and educate and put them all in one place.

Read More

Albemarle County Budget – 2010 – Reductions all Around?

If you’re pressed for time or attention span, start with the Budget Summary (pdf) – that’s where I found this unfortunate nugget:

…One-time funding for this program in FY 10/11 could be available and considered for reappropriation if this program does not meet its anticipated demand in FY 09/10

Find the fat, suggest changes (the first public hearing in 3 March at 6pm at the Lane Auditorium at the Albemarle County Office Building ). This is a hard year for localities’ budgets – Charlottesville , Fluvanna , Greene , statewide (and nationwide ), and Albemarle County is no different. – There is a great discussion at cvillenews , with Jeff Uphoff getting his math on in the comments . – There’s a petition to “fully fund” Albemarle County Schools . – The Daily Progress details the discussions on how to cut teachers .

Read More