The British Open….a severe weather fest

OK, I digress quite a bit to put this up…but I just finished writing some business documents and wanted to see about the first round of the British Open. When I was young I played a lot of golf -some of it in pretty miserable conditions. I’ve cycled in rain storms going down hill at 40mph [...]

Home Valuation Code of Conduct

The current mortgage problems have hatched the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (sounds like the Boy Scouts….and maybe that is not a bad model).
http://www.freddiemac.com/singlefamily/docs/030308_valuationcodeofconduct.pdf
There has been substantial rumbling in the appraisal community because it restricts who might order appraisals for mortgage lending…only the lender….real estate agents or mortgage brokers can’t order the appraisal. It also [...]

Pipeline Damage Assessment from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

The recent energy price increases have caused a huge discussion of whether to expand exploration and recovery of domestic oil resources. Part of the discussion has been about the safety of the exploration and pipeline infrastructure…and folks have used the Katrina and Rita hurricanes as an argument on both sides of the issue.
Here’s a link [...]

Rules vs Principles…Part 2

The federal agency appointed in 2005 by Congress to oversee the development of offshore wind, tidal, and wave energy projects has released its proposed regulation. It is 450 pages and reported to be far from easy to understand.
Tom Jensen, a lawyer who helps wave and tidal start-up companies navigate the federal permitting process, says “On [...]