RE

118 and 8--some movement but not worth commenting on.

Plus the snow from yesterday was not handled as well as previously. All surrounding towns and townships did a better job, except, of course, EN.

Covered Bridge Construction Update and Icy Roads Last Week

No idea why the dates are set European, but it's Jan 25, 2009, and this is what the (is it?) three months of "construction" have yielded. Doesn't look like much has happened. Maybe the "construction" was a ruse b/c the bridge was structurally unsound. Who knows. It'll be nice when this bridge is open once again.

Also wanted to note, in the spirit of my more positive/productive posts, that I was driving home from Elkton last Sunday or Monday or whatever day when it snowed all day long, and on the day it was coming down hard and the day afterward, the roads in Elk were always in better shape than the roads in Elkton/Cecil County and into East Nottingham Township and into the Borough of Oxford. The roads in Elk are almost always in better shape when it snows than in other places. There's often a good coat of salt and gravel already waiting before it snows. So good work, whomever plows and watches out for the roads.  

Yahoo RE for 19363

117 and 10.

Cold as hell outside--18 degrees with 15 MPH wind.

A RE Theory from a Calculated Risk Posting

I was reading something of interest, related to earlier RE posts, on calculated risk (one word @blogspot.com):

"As the U.S. housing recession enters its fourth year, there’s no sign of a recovery because speculators account for most of the rise in sales.
...
While the purchases are trimming the inventory of unsold properties, most of those bought by speculators will likely return to the market when prices rise again, hampering any recovery, said Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz and Yale University Professor Robert Shiller in interviews.

“We’re creating a shadow inventory of homes that will be right back on the market as soon as the economy and the housing market begin to improve,” said Stiglitz, a Columbia University professor of economics. “We could see a double-dip in the housing recession if that happens.”"

(http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/01/speculators-or-investors.html)

What I find interesting isn't that speculative investors have bought up all that inventory that disappeared in the fall, but that some fraction of that inventory--at the lower end, I imagine???--as rock-bottom-priced real estate. I've seen some great deals--the one on Glendale springs to mind, and that seems to be a rental or a owner-residing fixer-upper now.