US Dept of Justice plans to sue Realtors
WSJ.com - (link good for 7 days) WASHINGTON – In a widening push to promote price competition in sales of residential real estate, government antitrust enforcers are preparing to sue the National Association of Realtors, alleging that its policies will illegally restrict discounting of sales…
Why Do We Work So Hard on Our Lawns?
Why Do We Work So Hard on Our Lawns?: The answer is a combination of habit, snobbery, capitalism and government intervention. I live in a relatively new construction development (as there is so much in the Charlottesville area) and could not agree more with this…
Fighting The Power To Take Your Home
Fighting The Power To Take Your Home: ... Many municipalities use eminent domain to assemble land for redevelopment, either to revitalize downtowns or to boost tax revenues. A case pending before the Supreme Court, Kelo v. New London , concerns a redevelopment plan in Connecticut;…
Technology
I will speak more of my technology woes later. In the meantime, a good vignette. I am working with a client who is on her way out of town. I need to get her a Contract to sign. So ... checked Google's Local Search, searched…
Property Assessments once a year?
WINA link Albemarle Supervisors renew talk of annual assessmentsThe Albemarle supervisors are still tossing around the idea of assessing property values once-each-year instead of every two years. ... Chairman Dennis Rooker notes a yearly reassessment would bring Albemarle in line with most other jurisdictions. Rooker…
U.S. real estate affordability improves
Inman Real Estate News - U.S. real estate affordability improves (link requires paid subscription) Housing affordability conditions have improved for two consecutive quarters, keeping housing within reach for people in most of the country, the National Association of Realtors reported today. ... The index shows…
Took off the “more”
I took off the "more" in the header of the blog this afternoon. I found that I was doing very little, if any of the "more," so ... there you go.
Lots of good stuff in C-Ville
C-Ville Weekly - Charlottesville's Best Weekly Newspaper: Over the past 30 years the RWSA has tried, unsuccessfully, to expand the local water supply, which currently provides Charlottesville and Albemarle about 13 million gallons of water per day (that figure does not include the Beaver Creek…
Lowes and Home Depot interior designers
RealEstateJournal | Home Improvement: When it comes to interior decorating, the big buzz is coming from an unlikely creative community -- designers whose nametags read Ikea, Lowe's, even Ace Hardware. Hoping to boost their share of the $196 billion home-remodeling industry, national chains are expanding…
Pending real estate sales gain momentum
Inman Real Estate News - Pending real estate sales gain momentum: An index that measures U.S. pending home sales dipped 0.3 percent from February to March but is up 1.7 percent since March 2004, the National Association of Realtors reported today. I wrote about this…