N. Massie's blog

The entire real estate industry is capital intensive.  "Capital Intensive" is a fancy way of saying that it takes a lot of money to buy real estate, develop buildings or subdivisions, and then operate those developments.  Each development is like a business.  It takes a significant amount of money usually in the form of debt to be able to operate these businesses.

In my 38th year of being a land broker, I have lost track of the number of times someone has asked me the question "what is the average acre of land in Virginia worth?".  My usual response is "show me the average acre and I'll tell you what it's worth".

The real answer is there is no such thing as an average acre.  The land market is a matrix and every acre is different, which means that ever tract of land is different, which means that there is no average price per acre that is a meaningful number.

VDOT Regulations:

Under Governor Kaine, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) issued three regulations that are exceptionally detrimental to Virginians:

1. Commercial entrances on state roads were severely restricted;
2. New regulations require sight distance easements for road entrances;
3. And, cul-de-sacs can no longer be brought into the state road system.

Cash Proffers:

The theory of cash proffers is very appealing on a superficial basis - new folks moving into a community should pay their fair share defined as the marginal increase in cost of providing services to them.

In practice, cash proffers horrendously distort the market.  The concept of cash proffers originated in California in the early 1950's to "manage growth", have failed there for 50 years, and now that failure is being replicated elsewhere, including Virginia.  Some items never discussed are: