Allison Brophy has another great article  in the Culpeper Star Exponent taking a closer look at the real estate market and the state of foreclosures in Culpeper county. Culpeper's been one of the hardest hit counties in this part of Virginia.

And a timely article in Slate on why the argument that the sub prime mess is because lenders were forced to do sub prime mortgages by the government is hogwash.

There are some signs that lenders are anticipating President-Elect Obama's 90 day moratorium on foreclosures and voluntarily beginning to comply in advance. If your a seller this will be good news, at least in the short term! Prices may stabilize sooner than anyone anticipated. And, if these properties stay off the market, that stabilization may last.

While it would seem that at the end of that time you'd get a bunch of foreclosures hitting the market and driving prices down once again, I'm not sure that will be true. I suspect that during the 90 days plans will be made to permanently reduce the foreclosures to a trickle.

If you're a buyer, it means the number of great deals may be shrinking quickly. If you've been waiting for the bottom of this market, waiting any longer could get expensive.

I couldn't have said this better myself! Here, in the Culpeper Star Exponent is a framework for Culpeper's future.

I'd add that we should look at the transportation issues and work on better rail connections with these technology centers.

And, I'd add to his rationale for attracting high tech jobs that they tend to pay well enough for people to afford to buy homes, as opposed to service industry jobs.

The local real estate market could use that shot in the arm!

The Culpeper Star Exponent carried an update on the local housing market yesterday. If you've been regularly reading this blog you won't be surprised by most of what you read there! Wish they'd made the reference to this blog a hot link!

People charging money to "help" distressed homeowners with short sale and/or foreclosure information scum! This article over the weekend in the Washington Post talks about this racket.

Why I want to be the Rickie Lee Jones of real estate blogging!

There was a story in yesterday's Culpeper Start Exponent about a couple in Culpeper county who are losing their home to foreclosure. It's just one of the many painful stories out there. This couple is right in saying they're not alone. Not even close!

The article also briefly discusses where the foreclosures are concentrated. As you'd expect, most of them are in the recent developments in Culpeper. Lakeview, the largest of those developments, is the hardest hit. But the other new developments along 522 aren't far behind.