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 Crown Princess Construction Plaque
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I have an ongoing project in which “expected relocations” is a variable. So I’ve been trying to keep tabs on word about just how bad the real estate market has become in certain portions of the country. One influence on my variable is easy enough to understand: how many people are underwater on their mortgages? Even [...] 
In today’s New York Times, Paul Krugman has an interesting op-ed challenging the idea that homeownership should be a goal for Americans: Listening to politicians, you’d think that every family should own its home — in fact, that you’re not a real American unless you’re a homeowner. “If you own something,” Mr. Bush once declared, “you [...]
A post I saw at CL&P Blog, which mentioned that Minnesota is seriously considering a moratorium on foreclosures, got me thinking. Isn’t a simple moratorium just a postponing of the inevitable? After all, unless something else happens, in all likelihood many of the potential “foreclosees” will be unlikely to catch up with their payments, the [...] 
Ever since childhood, I’ve had a fascination with architecture. I never had sufficient artistry to justify studying it in college or choosing it as a profession, but I enjoy doodling floor plans and looking at how different buildings are designed. One manifestation of that interest is a dream house project. When my wife is having a [...] 
I am plagued with having too many interests (hence the lack of focus on this blog). Two of my older interests have been architecture and conservation. If I had come of age either a little bit earlier or later, and if architecture paid a bit better, I could be designing many of the green properties [...]
Seen at Insurance Journal: No less a figure than AIG’s former head Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, who now heads CV Starr, sounded a similar warning. In his keynote speech to the delegates at the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) Conference in Copenhagen he essentially described the subprime market as a house of cards, built on models [...] 
Seen in the AJC: Curt and Christine Mann are renovating their Grant Park house to make it green to the nth degree. They’re recycling wood, installing airtight foam insulation and solar lighting, and capturing gray water to flush toilets. But what sets the Manns apart from other enviro-conscious families is their plan to install a device not [...] 
Seen on the newswires: The Arizona Board of Appraisal issued two cease-and-desist letters to the company that operates the popular real estate Web site Zillow, saying it needs an appraiser license to offer its “zestimates” in Arizona.[.] The site has been criticized by real estate professionals and others concerned about its accuracy. A complaint was filed in [...]
I encountered the following video on a mailing list I subscribe to: Housing Prices 1890-1997, Adjusted For Inflation….Plotted as a Roller Coaster I so need to get a copy of the software used to create that video. I know how I want to liven up a graph or two in my next Powerpoint presentation. [...] The media have been full of stories in the past couple of weeks about an increase in defaults in mortgages and the apparent collapse of the subprime mortgage market. A couple of days ago, the New York Times ran an article on another aspect of the real estate market’s illness: Here in Ohio, there are [...] |
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