News

Charlottesville Realtor receives state association’s highest honor

Tuesday at 12:37 PM

Carol Clarke, president of Montague, Miller and Company in Charlottesville, VA has received the 2008 “Realtor of the Year” award, during the recent annual Convention of the Virginia Association of REALTORS® (VAR) in Baltimore, MD.
Realtor of the Year recognizes faithfulness to principles of organized real estate, laws and the Realtor Code of Ethics; efforts to [...]

"The Giant Pool of Money"

Tuesday at 9:49 AM

One of the best explanations of the whole subprime/credit crisis we’re watching now comes from a segment of NPR’s This American Life. It’s a beautiful bit of reporting, going into enough detail to make you say, “Ahhhhh!” without overburdening you with too much financial detail.
Even better, it’s available as a very readable transcript.
There are problems. [...]

Here comes the neighborhood

Wednesday at 9:56 AM

From the September/October issue of Commonwealth:
International clients. Immigrants. Foreigners. New Americans. Green-card holders. You are already selling to them, right?
If not, why not? Think it would be too complicated? Think there’s a language barrier and a culture barrier? Wondering if immigrants can get a mortgage?
Don’t. One Northern Virginia agency, in fact, is doing a booming [...]

Send in the immigrants

Wednesday at 9:07 AM

When you start to plan an immigration issue, you know you’re entering a minefield. It’s a touchy subject, and it’s one that has become, shall we say, just a bit over-politicized.
As soon as we bring up the subject, conclusions are jumped to, hackles are raised, and hair triggers are prepared.
Then there’s the whole prejudice issue. [...]

New home-price index from Coldwell Banker

Tuesday at 1:10 PM

How much would a home in one place cost if it was in another? Every year the people at Coldwell Banker find out. They compare similar homes in different markets to create the equations that let you compute the difference. It is very interesting.
For example, a $250,000 home in Richmond would sell for $252,941 if [...]

Wednesday smile

Wednesday at 9:24 AM

If the Simpsons’ house was real…