More This n That

Short on time today.....so just a couple interesting resources and facts courtesy of my favorite paper (WSJ).

-- Affordable Suburbs Still Outdraw Hip Cities: An economic study recently showed that "educated professionals who are drawn to urban areas..... in their 20s still seek more affordable markets typified by the suburbs..... by the time they reach their 30s and have children." Another study apparently cites that suburbia provides strong community life as opposed to the city. (They could have saved a lot of money by asking what an average home buyer thought...I would have told them exactly the same thing. We lived in D.C. till we were in our late 20s, then moved to the Northern Virginia suburbs, where we had kids....and obviously relocated to the to Sacramento suburbs shortly after looking for more community and a slower pace.)

-- Assessing Environmental Hazards: Since asbestos is such a hot button topic around here I figured I would post these resources, courtesy of the Journal, for uncovering toxic conditions that may affect a potential home. I haven't vetted them...so feedback is always appreciated if anyone has used them.
www.epa.gov/enviro
http://www.scorecard.org/
http://www.edrnet.com/

Additional Note: So it looks like my newspaper is being sold to News Corp. Not sure how I feel about this. I know they plan to beef up advertising. One of the reasons I trust the WSJ when it comes to housing related news, is the revenue from the housing industry (agents, mortgage bankers, developers, and other housing related services), comprises just a small fraction of their advertising, as opposed to papers like the SacBee (see yesterdays post on Sacramento Landing), VillageLife, and the Folsom El Dorado Hills Telegraph. With the WSJ, I don't have to worry (as much) about their potential bias or influence on housing issues. Of course, the WSJ has its failings, their editorial section is soo monotonous....lower taxes, lower taxes....yadda yadda yadda. But that section is easy to ignore.