Posts Published by Jim Duncan

Father, husband, Charlottesville real estate agent, bicycle rider & soccer coach. And more. Lots more.

When Buying a Home, Manage your Credit Wisely

But … apparently lenders wont’ have to run a second full credit check before closing on a mortgage : Despite earlier reports to the contrary, it turns out that your mortgage lender will not have to pull a second full credit report on you hours before closing on your home purchase or refinancing. In a clarification of a policy announced earlier this year, mortgage giant Fannie Mae now says that applicants will need to come clean about any debts they have incurred since they submitted their mortgage application — or debts they never disclosed on the application. But a formal pre-closing credit report will not be mandatory to confirm creditworthiness. The chances of everyone in the lending pipeline (underwriters) actually getting this memo: slim to none.

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Funding and Intent Are Two Different Things

Two clichés come to mind: – where there’s a will, there’s a way – perfection is the enemy of progress People move to the Charlottesville-Albemarle region because we don’t have Northern Virginia traffic and congestion; it’s one of the reasons Charlottesville is one of the 10 most livable college towns . … The transportation section of Albemarle County’s Places29 Master Plan has been slimmed down to include only projects that have a reasonable chance of being constructed within its first five years. … I don’t know whether I’ve ever seen the business community campaigning against growth while the Piedmont Environmental Council and Southern Environmental Law Center are campaigning for growth : Carter Myers, a former member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board who owns several car dealerships on U.S. 29, said grade-separated interchanges would threaten Albemarle County’s bottom line. … But Jeff Werner of the Piedmont Environmental Council said the interchanges would provide a way for motorists to cross U.S. 29 without stopping, a necessary step in alleviating traffic congestion.

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YAT – Yet Another Study in Albemarle

From today’s C-Ville : When the Albemarle County Planning Commission unanimously approved the 54-acre rezoning of UVA’s Fontaine Research Park in July, it did so without specifically including the most scrutinized piece of park property: a plot of land reserved for the Sunset/Fontaine Connector.

…“We’re looking forward to the Board of Supervisors meeting on September 8 as a final step,” says Fred Missel, UVA Foundation’s Director of Design and Development, of the park’s rezoning. But while the UVA Foundation is committed to building the connector, a route between Fontaine and Sunset avenues—first recommended in 2004 in a study produced by the city, county and UVA—is yet to be finalized. Now, a new study by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission will examine the UVA Foundation’s preferred path, along Stribling Avenue, as well as other routes that might lower costs to the county.

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Charlottesville is “Super Brainy”

With all the lists that Charlottesville* gets put on, I think I like this one the most. … We’re #9 , in fact. Charlottesville is Super Brainy The Atlantic notes : Last Friday, my list of America’s Brainiest Cities ran over at The Daily Beast. Boulder topped the list, which comprised a mix of larger knowledge-intensive metros like Washington, D.C., Boston, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Austin, and Seattle, and college towns like Ithaca, Charlottesville, Madison, Iowa City, and Durham, North Carolina, among others. * “Charlottesville” may mean “Charlottesville, Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene” but in this case may in fact mean “The City of Charlottesville.”

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What’s That Fuzzy-Looking Thing? Addition to Nest’s Signs – Trying Something New

It’s been a while since we’ve played with the design, other than refinements here and there.

…Real estate signs matter . Real-estate-signs-matter-2.jpg If you have an iPhone, these are some QR Code readers ; for you Android users, these are a few . … I’ve had questions over the years asking what I do besides write a kick-butt Charlottesville real estate blog. I’m a Charlottesville Realtor with a writing problem , and a pretty good one at that.

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Three Common Questions Homebuyers Ask – About Homeowner’s Insurance – Part Two

Any time there is a new purchase, an insurance company will run what is called a “loss report” to see if the buyers have had any previous claims, and to see if the home they are buying has had any losses. … For many companies, this is not the case, but a buyer would want to know if there were any prior repaired losses on the home they are buying. If the buyer knows that there was a loss before the inspection occurs, he/she can instruct the inspector to make sure that the necessary repairs were done and there is no hidden damage. Since the buyer cannot order a loss report on a home they do not own, it’s important to have the insurance company involved early on in the process.

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More Fiber in Coming to Charlottesville?

The completely underground fiber optic network will use enhanced fiber for lower latency and provide a diverse route to companies in Charlottesville seeking mission critical, high capacity optical transport to the greater Washington D.C. area. The network will be directly connected to FiberLight’s vast multi-ringed 500+ mile network linking the high-density government and enterprise corridor encompassing Northern Virginia, Washington D.C. and greater Baltimore, all 100% underground. … As one of the nation’s leading providers of mission critical, high performance fiber optic networks, FiberLight is building on its successful initiative started in 2009, when it constructed a self-funded 136-mile diversely routed fiber network connecting to the NAP of the Capital Region in Culpeper, Virginia. The new network is in response to demand by government and enterprise customers seeking high-bandwidth transport for the purposes of data replication, data security and low latency transport of voice, video and data to offsite locations.

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