In Loudoun County News…

There’s been a bunch in the news/media recently regarding Loudoun County. Here’s a recap…

Thousands in Northern Virginia face tax increases

Increased tax bills – fair or unfair?

George Mason University to explore options for full Loudoun campus

Plans to redraw school boundaries in Eastern Loudoun goes back to the drawing board

Ashburn job fair this coming Thursday draws over 40 federal agencies and private employers

Lowe’s Island Golf Club bought and renamed to Trump National Golf Club, Washington, DC

“One Loudoun” development update

Loudoun County Farmers’ Markets Open

Ribbon cut on Nokes Boulevard interchange on Route 28 – set to open mid-June

News From Around Loudoun…

Aside from the Loudoun/Broadlands BRMC hospital battle (which has since shifted to Fairfax County/Reston news media), there hasn't been much news making huge "headlines" in Loudoun. But there has been a lot of little local news floating around lately and I thought I would bring it to your attention in case you missed it:

Donald Trump buys Lowe's Island Golf Course in Sterling

CiCi's Pizza opens in Leesburg

Johnny Rocket's opens in Brambleton

Dunkin' Donut's finally set to open in Broadlands (their drip coffee is so much better than Starbuck's burnt crap)

Wegman's opening doors in Leesburg November 8, 2009

Loudoun libraries may see programs and services cut

March 2 is deadline for Loudoun businesses licenses for business owners and self-employed people

Battlefield Parkway/Route 7 interchange making progress

Loudoun County Parkway/Route 7 interchange construction underway – drive cautiously

Equity Homes land holdings go up for auction

Loudoun may cut aid/help to new/existing businesses

Loudoun Summer Music Fest up in air without sponsors

County Supervisors oppose power line project

Route 50 near South Riding being widened in 2010

News Stories, Developments Affecting Loudoun County Real Estate

In case you missed them, here are a few news stories and recent developments that affect Loudoun County real estate:

- Stephen Fuller, Economist, outlines how important Dulles Region is to Loudoun, Fairfax – calls it a "magnet"

- Developer, Mike Scott, wants to build Minor League baseball stadium in Loudoun County – revenue, traffic impact?

- NVRPA plans new Loudoun County park along Potomac north of Leesburg

- Leesburg making it easier for developers and businesses to set up shop downtown 

- Loudoun County and Town of Purcellville reach agreement on new high school

- Loudoun County Planning Commission recommends approval of Broadlands Regional Medical Center land use applications

- Loudoun County hiring senior budget analyst to be part of Loudoun's budget team

Real Estate, Lending News Stories Worth Reading

If you've been out of the loop lately, here are some of the top real estate, mortgage and financial headlines worth reading:

U.S Unveils Mortgage Plan

U.S. Mortgage Plan Falls Short

Citi To Modify $20 Billion In Home Loans

JPMorgan Chase Expands Housing Rescue Plan

Foreclosures Spike 25 Percent Year-On-Year

Countrywide Cancelling Short-Sales and Freezing Foreclosures

Foreclosure Freeze "Icing" Loudoun Real Estate Market

Obama and the Housing Market, Loudoun County and Beyond

Many homeowners are wondering how President-Elect Barack Obama will tackle the housing and credit markets and the affect of that on them personally. That's a question I don't have the exact answer to (nor does anyone really), but there's a good blog post about this topic by Jeremy Hart over at NRVLiving that talks about some of the things that Obama is planning on doing once he takes office.

Here's an exerpt:

"So what's an Obama administration mean to the housing market?  Well, his website lays out a plan:

Protect Homeownership and Crack Down on Mortgage Fraud – Obama and Biden will crack down on fraudulent brokers and lenders. They will also make sure homebuyers have honest and complete information about their mortgage options, and they will give a tax credit to all middle-class homeowners.

• Create a Universal Mortgage Credit: Obama and Biden will create a 10 percent universal mortgage credit to provide homeowners who do not itemize tax relief. This credit will provide an average of $500 to 10 million homeowners, the majority of whom earn less than $50,000 per year.
• Ensure More Accountability in the Subprime Mortgage Industry: Obama has been closely monitoring the subprime mortgage situation for years, and introduced comprehensive legislation over a year ago to fight mortgage fraud and protect consumers against abusive lending practices. Obama's STOP FRAUD Act provides the first federal definition of mortgage fraud, increases funding for federal and state law enforcement programs, creates new criminal penalties for mortgage professionals found guilty of fraud, and requires industry insiders to report suspicious activity.
• Mandate Accurate Loan Disclosure: Obama and Biden will create a Homeowner Obligation Made Explicit (HOME) score, which will provide potential borrowers with a simplified, standardized borrower metric (similar to APR) for home mortgages. The HOME score will allow individuals to easily compare various mortgage products and understand the full cost of the loan.
• Close Bankruptcy Loophole for Mortgage Companies: Obama and Biden will work to eliminate the provision that prevents bankruptcy courts from modifying an individual's mortgage payments. They believe that the subprime mortgage industry, which has engaged in dangerous and sometimes unscrupulous business practices, should not be shielded by outdated federal law."

There's another post over at VARbuzz enitled, "How will the Obama Administration affect the real estate industry? Dr. Paul Light et. al. explain". It considers both the good and bad. Worth the read.

On a side note…There's a survey at VARbuzz that asks the question, "How will the election of Barack Obama affect the real estate economy". Take a moment to check out the survey and see what the results of the survery are so far. (It's at the top of the very right hand column of VARbuzz's home page)

LoudounScene.com Makes Agent Genius “Most Sphere’d” List

 

Warning: This is shameless self-promotion :) I'm proud to announce that LoudounScene.com has made the Agent Genius "Real Estate's MOST Sphere'd" list of real estate blogs in North America.  AgentGenius, a top national real estate magazine/blog, launched their new Agent Genius Sphere service for consumers and real estate professionals today and this list is part of that service.

The list includes real estate blogs and bloggers that I have looked up to and learned a great deal from making this a huge honor. Jim Duncan put it well in a related post this morning,

If you’re a consumer curious about what some of the best and brightest real estate minds have to say, or if you’re in real estate and want to learn about real estate trends, technology, mortgage news, even finding a local real estate professional and general movements within the industry, check them out.

And if you're from Virginia, you should be proud. Eight of seventy-five real estate blogs/bloggers on the list are from Virginia! Here are the other seven:

• Heather Elias
• Brian Block
• Daniel Rothamel
• Jim Duncan
• Scott Rogers
• Christine Rich

• Matt Wilkins

Congratulations to everyone on the list (especially those from Virginia)!

Disclaimer: I'm a writer on Agent Genius, but had nothing to do with the selection process nor did I even know they were launching the Sphere or News services.

Linked Up In Loudoun No Longer Active, Living In LoCo Takes Helm

The Washington Post announced that Linked Up in Loudoun is no longer active and that they will be focusing all their energy on the Living In LoCo blog, authored by Erica Garman.

Though it's sad to see Linked Up in Loudoun shut down, Erica Garman and her Living In LoCo blog are more than capable to taking the helm and are a respected and credible source of insider information regarding Loudoun County.

If you haven't checked out Living In LoCo before, definitely take a few minutes to do so and subscribe to the RSS/news feed or add it to your Google Reader. And if you're on Twitter, check out Erica Garman's Twitter profile.

I'm sorry to see Linked Up in Loudoun go, but excited to see Living In LoCo sticking around and helping keep all of us in the loop with what's going on in Loudoun County.

Coldwell Banker National Sales Event May Be Costly to Sellers and Agents

Coldwell Banker is having a National 10 Day Sales Event to help spark sales for their seller clients, their agents and the brokerage firm as a whole. Sounds like a win-win situation for everyone, right? Well, the folks over at The Real Estate Bloggers took a closer look at the Coldwell Banker National Sales Event and make some very interesting points.

Here's an excerpt:

"Who is giving the discount? It is your clients. Essentially you have told them that the price they have listed the house is a good one to get the listing, now you are asking them to lower their price for your sales effort? Mrs. Smith, we are running a promotion. Please take a $40,000 price cut on your home to help us with our promotion.

…And finally, it highlights one of the greatest weaknesses in the National Agency/Agent/Homeseller relationship. The National agency, in this case Coldwell Banker, does not care about the individual home seller. They are worried about the bottom line and are willing to put the agent’s relationship with the home seller in jeopardy to help their marketing.

If I was selling with a Coldwell agent and was approached with this promotion I would tell them to shove it where the proverbial sun will not shine, and then seriously wonder about the agents and agencies commitment to me and my needs."

And here's what one commenter who's an agent wrote:

"Your job is to be completely honest with your clients and to do all you can to get a sale. If the need to achieve this is done by corporate offering National Sales Days then the Coldwell model is broken in my opinion."

Makes you wonder…

Heading to Vegas for RE Blog World and New Media Expo

  

I'm off to Vegas! No, not quite for pleasure (though I'm sure to have at least a little bit of fun). I'll be attending RE Blog World, the Real Estate & Mortgage Conference at Blog World and New Media Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The three day event (today through Sunday) features more than 50 seminars, panel discussions and keynotes from iconic personalities on the leading-edge of online technology, and internet-savvy business. Not to mention all the pre and post session networking with these folks…

RE Blog World presents a unique opportunity for myself and others attending to learn from the top new media and blogging personalities, inside and outside of the real estate vertical. And these folks aren't just bloggers or tech-geeks. They're extremely talented, skilled and successful real estage agents, brokers and mortgage professionals – some of the top guns in the industry.

I look forward to learning a great deal at RE Blog World and implementing that new knowledge and those new technologies into my daily business as a Realtor here in Loudoun County. This will further elevate the level of service I provide to my clients and fellow real estate professionals.

Here are some of the speakers at RE Blog World:

Dan Green

Daniel Rothamel

David Gibbons

David Smith & Rich Jacobson

Dustin Luther

Jason Berman – Event Organizer

Jeff Turner

Jim Duncan

Kelley Koehler

Mariana Wagner

Matt Fagioli

Meet our moderators. Jan O'Brien, Kevin Boer, & Pat Kitano

Michael Price

Mike Mueller

Morgan Brown

Teresa Boardman

Todd Carpenter – Event Organizer

To my clients and those looking to contact me… I will have full access to my cell phone, email, IM, Twitter, Facebook, Skype, etc. If you wish to see a property between today and Sunday, let me know and I will have a fellow Realtor I trust and have worked with for years show you the property and be available to you as well.

Court Ruling On Purcellville High School, “Loudoun 5″ Now “Tuscarora”

The Virginia Supreme Court ruled today that the Loudoun County Planning Commission must review its plans for a new high school to be located just outside the town of Purcellville. Here's an excerpt from the article on Loudoun Extra:

"The town has fought the county for years on the issue, objecting that the location of the high school differs from what was contemplated in a growth plan adopted in 1995, and that the planned school would bring unwanted traffic and infrastructure problems to an area that has already experienced fast-paced growth.

The nuanced court ruling asserts that the location of the planned school is at odds from what was in the original growth plan — a point the county had disputed. That will trigger a review by the planning commission with jurisdiction over the area. The court ruled today that commission is the county's, not the town's.

The ruling seems in some ways a setback for the town, leaving relatively few roadblocks to construction of the school."

In a related story, the Loudoun County School Board has officially named the county's newest high school, to be built in Leesburg. It's official name will be "Tuscarora High School" after an American Indian tribe. Find the full story and a map of the proposed school site over at Loudoun Extra.

 

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