Archive for February, 2008

Government Sweating Revenue, or No More Private Idaho

The fear of lost revenue is what keeps government officials up at night not the welfare of the citizens.
And if you do not believe that, look at what is happening in Idaho. The State Senate is looking at making it criminal not to report exactly the amount of real estate transactions in the state [...]

22Feb2008 | Tom Royce | 2 comments | Continued

The 10 Year Canadian Real Estate Boom

One would think hearing the horrors of the United States real estate market and the struggles that it is in that it would translate to our cousins north of the border. However, Canadian real estate is still holding it’s own and has just completed a decade of prosperity that has been unrivaled in it’s past. [...]

22Feb2008 | Tom Royce | 2 comments | Continued

Metal Roofs Making A Comeback

Metal Roofs are making a comeback. Living in suburbia it seems everyone has an asphalt shingled roof that needs replacing every 15 years. We are in the same boat, but have been looking for an alternative.
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal talks about the benefits of a metal roof, both short term [...]

22Feb2008 | Tom Royce | 6 comments | Continued

Houseswapping, Something Your Pastor Might Even Approve Of

ABC News has an article on the act of houseswapping. Now get those evil thoughts out of your mind, it is something that is completely benign and legitimate. Houseswapping is the act of essentially trading homes between two households.
And it sounds so easy and simple in the article. But in my opinion it looks [...]

21Feb2008 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued

Impact Fees Another Form Of Governmental Price Support?

Anne Arundel County in Maryland is looking to raise it’s impact fees for new construction from nearly $5,000 to $21,000. The fees are governments way of recouping money they invest to support the homes with city infrastructure.
You have to wonder if the motivation now for these fees are twofold. First, with the housing slowdown in the region [...]

20Feb2008 | Tom Royce | 1 comment | Continued

GPhone For Realtors By Christmas

I carried a Blackberry, never really liked the Treo, but this looks like something that I would not mind carrying around. The Samsung Google Android Phone.

20Feb2008 | Tom Royce | 2 comments | Continued

How Restrictive Zoning Creates Housing Bubbles?

One of the questions that often arises is why some cities experience such huge price swings, or bubbles, while others tend to remain fairly constant. Edward L. Glaeser of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston at Harvard University has put out a new study that ties housing bubbles to restrictive zoning. Cities such as Atlanta are [...]

19Feb2008 | Tom Royce | 4 comments | Continued

British Real Estate Facing It’s Own Bubble Popping

After years of rising property values, the British are facing their own housing bubble and it is not going to be pretty. The use of subprime loans as housing prices stripped the ability to pay for a conventional loan became popular in England with the same results as in the United States.
Now that housing prices [...]

19Feb2008 | Tom Royce | 6 comments | Continued

Homes of Presidents of the United States 30th Coolidge to 43rd Bush

This is the fourth and final installment of our Presidential homes series. In our first we covered Washington’s to Harrison’s homes. The second installment covered the homes of Tyler to Hayes. The third has the homes of Garfield to Harding.
It is an interesting assortment of homes from the lavish to the utilitarian homes of very modest upbringings. Which says [...]

18Feb2008 | Tom Royce | 3 comments | Continued

Homes of Presidents of the United States 20th Garfield to 29th Harding

Celebrating Presidents Day I thought it would be fun and educational to see the homes of where our former Presidents lived at some stage of their life. We will be posting them throughout the day.
Twentieth President, James Alan Garfield’s Home:

Twenty-First President, Chester Alan Arthur’s Home:

18Feb2008 | Tom Royce | 4 comments | Continued