DISQUS

Homes and neighborhoods have to be experienced in person (who knows, what looks like graffiti may be public art). Experienced agents on the ground (and residents) know the experience and are a buyer's best bet for evaluating a neighborhood and a home.

Street View is great but eventually we'll all be able to tap into the Big Brother cameras being installed throughout the country and see "real time" what's happening in a neighborhood. That lovely daytime Street View may look completely different at night or on the weekend.

Apparently not by the recipient

Superb.

An official TruZilla Tea Party t-shirt is on its way to you (once I print one up).

Nice having you at the tweetup, Joe.

The home "value" stats are taken solely from zestimates, which are only estimates of home values-- in fact, they are admittedly just "starting points". Thus, IMO, it can not be said that these are statistics for home "values". Values are determined by sales. Sorry to get technical about this but I think folks ought to know the difference between a house value and a house estimate.

Thats' interesting John. Ill have to look into it. Thanks for sharing.

Yes, indeed. Better late than never, Sarah.

I'm weaving a piece right now.

I'm not sure deferring real estate property taxes to seniors (or others) is the road to socialism. Deferment does not operate to excuse the payment, it merely delays it, and at some cost, due to interest.

Since homes are taxed based on their value, and not age or employment of the owner (value of the owner?), I disagree the working owners are paying higher taxes by virtue of the program. In addition, we cannot conclude seniors who must defer taxes are unemployed-- many of them may still be among the working class of British Columbia.

Consider that "school taxes" are often a part of the real estate tax package. Since seniors have already put their children through the school system (and paid their taxes w/o deferment), their continued payment of those taxes puts them in the position of subsidizing the younger families currently putting their children through school. In such case, the idea is indeed a bad one-- seniors taxes should be justly LOWERED to the extent of any school taxes in the mix.

If studies have been made relating to the program's effect, I am unaware of them. Perhaps the author may shed some light on the consequences and the imagined road to hell may be paved in yellow bricks.

No, Jackie, I don't-- but I can recommend Michael Daly's Hamptons blog:
http://thehamptons.wordpress.com/

and Anthony Longo's Condodomain blog: http://www.condodomain.com/blog/

These are a good start.
Good luck with your blogging, Jackie.

Yes, it's real.

Thank you, Roberta, for your support.

Great tips, as usual, Mark. Presentation of content is as important as the content because it may get more folks to read it.

Thank you Kim. Your support means a lot to me.

Thanks Frances for being at REBarCamp in SF and making me feel like I was not a lone voice howling at the moon.

Good luck going forward. Let me know of future enhancements.
Yes, PC Magazine is a great read. I've been a long time subscriber.

I'll take a look Stas.

Correct. Thanks John.

I think all those folks who have their houses on ghost tours may not realize it may make the house harder to sell.

You get my 2 votes (don't ask)

TNAR for Social Media Maverick!

Thanks Cheryl

In Maryland, Yes. But the laws which vary from state to state.

According to Bruce Anderson, who has successfully raffled a home in MD:
In Maryland an appraisal must be completed at the time of the permit and if the drawing is more than 90 days after the permit is issued a second must be completed.

I do sell the candleboxes. Agents have purchased them as house warming gifts.

To the best of my knowledge, none have been completed, although the Absolute Towers are closest. BTW, they will rotate 360 degrees.

As a Zillow board member, I am interested in your opinions.

Taz you are welcome to contribute to this blog under our Open Mike program:

http://tinyurl.com/326yu8

No follow up Taz. Z still doing its thing, as you know.

Yes, Zillow is a favorite topic.

See our zillow posts here:
http://tinyurl.com/4cxmd6