Residential
Remove your home from the Internet?
Guest post by VAR member Tina Merritt
I recently read a blog post by Norma Toering entitled, "Please Remove My Home from the Internet". In her post, Norma describes the enormous amount of effort she recently went through to remove all traces of a former listing she had marked as "sold". In my opinion, Norma went above and beyond her duties as an agent.
The situation got me thinking though....what ARE our duties as agents with regards to former listings on the Internet?
According to the VREB:
NAR presses Call for Action on NFIP and USDA Section 502 loans
NAR continues to urge Realtors® to contact their US legislators to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program and the Section 502 Rural Housing Program. Congress's failure to act is unnecessarily holding back economic recovery. Click here to take action now.
Commonwealth magazine arrives this week
Watch your mailbox this week for the latest issue of Commonwealth Magazine. Here's what to expect:
Extension on deadline to close & claim credit in the works
Following up on an earlier story. According to the AP, Senators Dodd, Reid and Isaakson aim to extend the deadline to close on a home and still qualify for the homebuyer tax credit.
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Applications for new mortgages decline
Driven by a steep drop in refinance activity, the number of filings for home mortgages skidded to their lowest level in 13 years last week. This, despite the fact that interest rates are hovering near all time lows.
From HousingWire:
Fiserv predicts recovery for Virginia real estate
It's a bit old, but still worth a look. This map from Fiserv, published in April, illustrates when real estate in various parts of the country is expected to return to peak levels. Virginia's urban crescent (from Arlington to Virginia Beach) is solidly in the yellow and red; a prolonged return to peak prices. Southern and Southwestern Virginia are in the blue and green, which means a quicker return to peak prices.
The REal Show: Online registration is open
The managing editor of HousingWire (Richard Bitner), NAR's Chief Economist (Lawrence Yun), Virginia's preeminent real estate lawyer (Lem Marshall), the industry's social media guru (Jeff Turner), a Super Bowl winning quarterback (Joe Theismann), a dozen other experts to help you earn (and keep) more money, and 1,000 of Virginia's top-performing Realtors. They'll all be at the REal Show. Will you?
New Residential Disclosure Form now available
In accordance with new laws passed by the Virginia General Assembly in 2010, the Virginia Real Estate Board (VREB) has updated the Residential Property Disclosure Statement to reflect a statutory notice requirement concerning wastewater systems. Please use the new form beginning July 1, 2010.
New Residential Disclosure Statement guidance
The General Assembly passed legislation requiring that the Residential Disclosure Statement be amended to include notice regarding a “wastewater system.” (The language to be included in the Disclosure Statement is set out below.)
Here’s what you need to know about the new form from VAR's lawyers:
Mortgage rates scraping all-time lows
Last week's lackluster national jobs report and continuing financial problems in Europe have investors ditching their stocks in favor of surer bets like U.S. Treasury bonds. That's sending mortgage rates lower still, with the 15-year fixed mortgage hitting an all-time record low of 4.20%. The 30-year loan came in at 4.79%. Some believe rates could drop further, and that the record low point for 30-year fixed loans, which currently stands at 4.71%, could fall.