Today is the first day of my childrens summer vacation. The boys ares ages 7 and 10 and they just left with their friends mother to do a campout, creek swim, and tour of Virginia Safari Park.

Central Virginia offers many choices where parents can take their children and get them out into nature. Here is a list of just five items you should do to get you and your children outside:

• Blackwater Creek Trail - This trail is about 13.5-miles long from the Greek Orthodox Church to its end in Amherst. Stop at Hollins Mill and explore. Lunch at The Depot, a children’s favorite. Locate the Virginia rock exhibit.
• Peaks of Otter - Made famous by the writings of Thomas Jefferson this mountain offers several trails with different levels of difficulty.
• Mt. Pleasant Trail - Located in Amherst County this trail is easy and great for kids. The rock outcropping are fun for climbing and offer great views of the valley. You may even see a hawk.
• Buffalo Creek Nature Area - This unique short trail, 0.8-miles, displays a variety of birds, wildflowers, and hemlocks. It is also one of Westvaco’s conservation sites.
• Tube the James River - For an old fashioned, which means slow, ride of the James try out the area around the James River State Park. This area is also fun for camping and fishing.

For those that may be interested in following these and other subdivisions please contact me and I will create a report that will meet your criteria.

For further information check out my blog categories for “Subdivisions.”

REPS. CALVERT AND KANJORSKI LEAD CONGRESSIONAL EFFORT URGING FEDERAL
REGULATORS
                  
TO ADDRESS GROWING COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE MARKET CONCERNS

WASHINGTON, D.C. February 1, 2010 ­ Today, Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) and Rep.
Paul E. Kanjorski (D-PA), Chairman of the House Financial Services
Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored
Enterprises, along with 77 of their House colleagues, sent a bipartisan
letter to
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke about the growing concerns that deteriorating conditions in the
commercial real estate (CRE) market may threaten an economic recovery.

³I am deeply concerned about the health of our commercial real estate market
and the stability of thousands of small businesses across the country,² said
Rep. Calvert.  ³We must take the appropriate steps to ensure that our
commercial real estate market does not experience a liquidity crisis that
would further exacerbate our struggling economic situation.²

³The growing bubble in the commercial real estate industry has the potential
to infect our economy and slow a recovery,² said Chairman Kanjorski.  ³In
order to safeguard the businesses operating on Main Street and protect the
millions of jobs depending on commercial real estate, the Treasury and the
Federal Reserve now must take needed and urgent action to stave off a
potentially devastating wave of commercial real estate foreclosures and bank
losses.²

“A liquidity crisis in the commercial real estate market is hurting small
business owners across the entire nation,² said National Association of
REALTORS President Vicki Cox Golder, owner of the commercial real estate
company Cox & Associates in Tucson, Arizona.  ³I join with all commercial
property owners who applaud the efforts of Reps. Calvert and Kanjorski to
resolve this problem and put small business owners back in business.”

Specifically, the letter asks regulators to take the following steps:

      ·        Establish a clear method for measuring and evaluating the
effectiveness of recent CRE loan modification guidance issued by the
regulators.

      ·         Institute metrics to more clearly differentiate performing
versus non-performing loans as well as any other steps that provide lending
institutions with more confidence in assessing CRE loans.

      ·         Make clear public statements encouraging lenders to continue
to make credit available for performing assets as a means of restoring
confidence and long-term value in the CRE market.

The $6.7 trillion CRE sector supports 9 million American jobs.  If the
conditions in the CRE market deteriorate further the negative effects will
be significant and widespread, rippling not only through the CRE sector but
also the broader economy.  More than $1.4 trillion in commercial mortgages
will come due by 2013, and as much as 65% of those deals will have trouble
getting refinanced according to recent analysis conducted by Deutsche Bank.
While the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department have acknowledged the
ongoing CRE challenges, their actions have so far failed to ease growing
concerns among economists and market participants.

The text of Congressmen Calvert and Kanjorski¹s letter which is signed by an
additional 77 Members of Congress to Secretary Geithner and Chairman
Bernanke follows:

Dear Secretary Geithner and Chairman Bernanke:

As you know, the financial crisis continues to have a dampening effect
throughout the credit markets.  The commercial real estate (CRE) market, in
particular, continues to experience difficult credit accessibility
conditions.  Moreover, the scarcity of credit in the $6.7 trillion CRE
sector poses a
dangerous threat to our financial system just as our economy has begun to
show signs of recovery.

Earlier this month real estate data provider Trepp announced that the
delinquency rate for loans underlying commercial mortgage-backed securities
(CMBS) ballooned 500 percent in 2009, surpassing 6 percent in December for
the first time.  Additionally, the CMBS market has all but shut down over
the
past year making it more difficult for CRE owners to sell or refinance.

We appreciate the acknowledgement by federal regulators of this situation in
October, when the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, along
with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency, the National Credit Union Administration, and
the
Office of Thrift Supervision, issued a policy statement advising financial
institutions to extend and/or restructure loans backed by income-producing
and/or development properties whenever possible in order to minimize losses
as well as to stabilize overall asset values in the communities they
serve.

While the regulatory guidance is a relatively recent occurrence, we remain
concerned by early indications that it may not yet be having the desired
impact in stabilizing the CRE market. While some properties are in desperate
need of modification due to the economic downturn, we are not convinced
these loans are being serviced properly or in an efficient manner.  Of even
more concern, anecdotal evidence suggests that regulators continue to
encourage lenders to write down the value of performing loans, whose
payments may well be current and, in some instance, even call the loan.
This further
exacerbates the crisis by creating defaults in properties that were able to
meet their debt servicing.

To ensure the recent CRE loan modification guidance will have a positive and
stabilizing effect, and to protect the broader economy from further
disruptions, we urge you to establish a clear method for measuring and
evaluating its effectiveness.  Furthermore, we encourage you to institute
metrics to
more clearly differentiate performing versus non-performing loans as well as
any other steps that provide lending institutions with more confidence in
assessing CRE loans.  We also call upon you to make clear public statements
encouraging lenders to continue to make credit available for performing
assets as a means of restoring confidence and long-term value in the CRE
market.

In sum, we strongly believe that regulators must take continued steps to
mitigate ongoing turmoil in the CRE sector before it becomes a full-fledged
crisis, forestalls our economic recovery, and possibly requires additional
taxpayer-funded capital injections.  Consistent with all applicable law and
regulation, thank you for the consideration of our views and your attention
to these matters.

A copy of the letter with signatures is attached.
                  
###
 (See attached file: Commercial Real Estate Letter.pdf)
————————–
Ken Wingert
Legislative Representative
National Association of REALTORS
500 New Jersey Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20001

(2006 - 2009) Fourth Quarter

On December 31st the Lynchburg MLS has 1131 land listings with 891 being less than 6-acres. The number of new properties six-acres, or less, increased by 211-lots from the third quarter, but at the time of this post they have gone back up to 1115. This massive change is due to end-of-the-year expirations and the change-over to a new MLS system. 

Choices still favor the purchaser. This is still a buyer’s market.

“A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.” — Harry Truman

I wish I was an auctioneer today, they are getting the business. Everywhere I turn, I see the same auction companies selling property. I am being asked questions about recent sales by auction. Here are several:

“What sort of sales price are auctions bringing?” They are bringing current prices. A current price can be more, or less, than what the auction company, or seller expects. It is the price you would expect to get if you have a sufficient number of people who will bid for the property at that specific point in time. Good real estate companies keep large databases of people that have interest in certain types of property. They are able to bring these people together and facilitate a sale through the use of a sales practice called “urgency.” – If you don’t act now this property may be gone in the next “hour.”

“How do current prices of today compare to two or three years ago?” 2006 and 2007 were great years for selling land. Currently, there are many properties that are selling at 50% to 60% of what they would have sold during those years. Camp Fincastle was on the market for six years. It was appraised and listed for $2.35M. It sold for $1.5M. Eight waterfront lots and seventeen interior lots at Heron Landing sold for $618,200, or $24,728 per lot. - In 2006 there were two waterfront lots that adjoined these that sold for $189,900 and $200,000. In 2006 a farm was purchased for $10,000 per acre and sold for $8000 per acre with an additional 5% buyer’s premium added. The fact is that you can not compare prices because markets change and because my opinion of value may be different than yours. Remember in an auction there is only one purchaser and the rest have said the price is too high.

“Are properties not selling at auction?” I don’t follow every auction but I know of a house in a great Lynchburg neighborhood where no one bid on the house. This house was close to where my mother lives and I saw the auction sign on Langhorne Rd. for weeks. It was also promoted in the newspaper, so it is true that some properties are not selling at auction, even when they are being well promoted.

Yes, I wish I was an auctioneer today because they are getting the job done. Some people are more willing to buy because they feel they are getting a bargain, or they feel the urgency. What they don’t understand is that any good piece of real estate can be sold today and it can be sold for 50% to 60% of the listed price, they just have to write the offer and find out.