More helpful links with information on schools, demographics, crime, environmental concerns & more!

Below are links you may want to add to your favorites for future reference. These are all fabulous sites that will answer most of your questions around the country concerning important issues on schools, crime, environmental, census facts and more.

I am more than glad to add to this list, so any suggestions on what you'd like to see would be welcome.

SCHOOLS:

The US Department of Education has a very useful national database of school demographic information, called the National Center for Education Statistics: http://nces.ed.gov/index.asp.
Click on the "School, College and Library Search" tab for a school’s student/teacher ratio and more.

Two more sites that let you compare schools for academic performance are "Great Schools" http://www.greatschools.net/, and "Standard & Poor's School Matters" http://www.schoolmatters.com/. Many school districts and state education departments also post useful online information.

CRIME:

The Virginia State Police Sex Offender Registry Search:
http://sex-offender.vsp.state.va.us/Static/Search.htm. Also of interest to families is the National Sex Offenders Registry, found at http://www.familywatchdog.us/ You can enter a street address and generate a map that plots where sex offenders live. Information often includes a photo. The maps give buyers a comparison of the density of sex offenders in the neighborhood.

Family Watchdog is also developing another tool to track other crimes. Some towns already have such sites, such as http://www.chicagocrime.org/ for the city of Chicago. If clients are concerned about crime in a particular area, I encourage them to talk to the police department and/or department of public safety. Many cities and towns also offer this info on the web.

ENVIRONMENT:

Questions on environment? Visit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s website:
http://www.epa.gov/epahome/commsearch.htm. If you'd like to read a pollution report card by county, including air and water quality, go to http://www.scorecard.org/. This web site has a tool for accessing an area by zip code for environmental facts such as pollution statistics, proximity to hazardous waste sites, and information about the local watershed.

DEMOGRAPHICS:

Demographics: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/index.html lets you find statistics about an area’s demographics, broken down by city and country, as well as general socioeconomic data. You will need to provide phone # or address.

MORE:

Need to look up someone's phone number? Or you have a phone number, but don't know who it belongs to? The site http://www.whitepages.com/ can do both for you. Try a "Reverse Search" to look up the owner of a phone number.

My website at http://www.move2va.com/ also has lots of references and lists.

Check your credit report once a year & how-to

Everyone should check their credit report annually. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, or FACTA, provides for one free consumer report from each of three agencies once a year. Some government regulations are good, and this act was created to help all of us. Of course, if you're buying a home the lender will run a new credit report for you, but this could give you a start.

Read this article from BankRate.com to learn how to obtain a free annual credit report as well as "12 free credit monitoring strategies":

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/financial_literacy/June07_free_credit_information_a1.asp?prodtype=mtg

First mortgage rate decline in 7 weeks!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stay in touch with your local mortgage lender.

If you don't already have a lender, feel free to call (434) 980-2860 or email me at Kehoe@Move2VA.com, and I'll send you list of the local lenders I recommend.

It's a buyers' market... now's the time to buy!

For more on the rate decline, read this article from BankRate.com:

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/mtga/June2107_mortgage_analysisa1.asp?prodtype=mtg

Luxury home buyer trends

What are the latest, hottest products for the luxury market? Spa features, green elements, technology and more!

Read this article, "New must-haves for luxury homes" at MSN to learn more:

http://realestate.msn.com/Improve/Article_forbes.aspx?cp-documentid=1357754

Any comments from anyone, and where do we go from here? Also any ideas?

This week's Featured Home

Each week I will be featuring one local home. Sometimes I will give you the neighborhood information, and sometimes information on the area.

I will feature well priced homes, or very motivated sellers, who want to sell their homes in this buyers' market in the Charlottesville/Albemarle County/central Virginia area.

This will give you an idea of what types of homes are currently on the market locally.

Here's this week's Featured Home:

Only $229,900 and priced near tax assessment

• Lake Monticello has boating, swimming, dining, tennis & golf
• Move to a resort and get an affordable home at same time
• First time home buyers welcome & we can get creative financing

If you'd like more information on this home, you can email me privately at Kehoe@Move2VA.com.