Death by a thousand cuts
or ... how to tax new construction (and thereby purchasers of new construction) yet another way. Is this where I pull out the argument that, "in this time of the housing market's transition, this is not the time to put further strains on housing affordability"?…
Tracking local politics that affect the real estate market
Politics influence the real estate market - Things like impact fees on developments, qualifications of assessors and appraisers, tax credits for energy efficient or Earthcraft houses, exemptions for wells on properties under three acres, limitations of property tax rates, suspending water hook-ups during certain emergencies…
Google’s speedy indexing of pages not always a good thing
(For those of you who are not Realtors or bloggers associated with real estate - the general theme of this discussion is freedom of speech, governmental intervention, property taxes and assessments and blogs. If you care to catch up, you can start here.) Especially if…
Attempted Censorship or misguided public official?
Real estate assessments - high and low - bring about emotional responses. Local government, and government in general, have an insatiable need for our money. Sometimes, as in this case, the responses are from the public officials charged with assessing property. I would however request…
Private Malls are “public” places
At least in California. As noted on the Consumerist - "A shopping mall is a public forum in which persons may reasonably exercise their right to free speech," Justice Carlos R. Moreno wrote in the majority opinion.This case seems very similar to the one that…
Learn about the FairTax
The WSJ has a great editorial today (temp free link). The distributional effects of the FairTax have been extensively studied, and although the proposal has distinct advantages for investors and wealth creation across the income spectrum, the greatest benefit of the FairTax is to low-…
Assessments, property taxes and shifting market values in Albemarle County
Albemarle County's real estate assessments are now going to be done annually rather than biennually (contrast that with Nelson County to the south re-assesses every five years). I just received a call from an appraiser working for the county. He noticed that one of my…
Clarifying my stance against Dual Agency
I have long argued against Dual Agency, and need to slightly redefine/clarify my opposition - My beef is with Single Agent Dual Agency where the same agent represents both sides of a transaction. In principle and practice, Dual Agency, also known as Designated Agency, when…
Virginia General Assembly 2008
The new session is right around the corner, so expect more postings regarding bills and discussions relevant to the new session, real estate, eminent domain, property taxes, transportation and whatever else is related to real estate. This bill, for example, submitted by David Toscano, that…
We’re all dealing with less money
And the local government should deal with it, too. Slutzky countered that the tax rate was only dropped last year to counter-balance the effects of large increases in property tax assessments. “Now that we're not even close to that same scenario, I'm suggesting that a…