Add to the never-ending List of Things That Caused the Housing Market Collapse: zoning. Specifically, zoning for too many large, expensive, single-family homes. That kind of policy, according to a paper in the journal Housing Policy Debate, left … [Read more...]

Every 17 years, cicadas emerge from the ground for a few months of mating frenzy — the spring break of the insect world. Then they go back to living underground. There are different colonies or ‘”broods” of cicadas across the … [Read more...]

Since November 2012, an arsonist has been plaguing the Eastern Shore, setting more than 70 fires in abandoned and unoccupied buildings. He (or they) have eluded police and are driving the local volunteer firefighters nuts — these are folks with … [Read more...]

Let’s play the glass-half-full game, and see all the positives in what the American Society of Civil Engineers’ “2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure” had to say about Virginia! First off, we didn’t fail … [Read more...]

A new CoreLogic report says that “shadow inventory” (homes in the foreclosure process that will presumably enter the market soon) is down — in January it was 18 percent lower than a year ago. And it’s continuing to drop. For a … [Read more...]

Some last-minute work by VAR has paid off: In his proposed amendments to Virginia’s transportation bill, Governor Bob McDonnell has asked that the proposed grantor’s tax increase in Northern Virginia be reduced from 25 cents per $100 to … [Read more...]