Rising temperatures, increased frequency of wildfires, and more severe weather events have heightened awareness about environmental safety.

NC DENR and VA DEQ have great intentions, and I support their efforts in general, but I can't afford $150,000 for all the environmental surveys and sediment studies for the small acre land disturbance area that I build.

The mold is most likely environmental.

Our preference is to take ownership now, so that we have an element of control.

Anything higher than that has some speculation element in it.

For example, it would be foolish to buy any commercial property without having a Phase 1 Environmental completed. 

The high speed rail has some approval: The high-speed rail station in Merced is environmentally cleared to be located adjacent to State Route (SR) 99 and the Union Pacific Railroad (UPPR) line on SR 59 – also known as Martin Luther King Jr.

Buyers get spooked easily, plus every year the process gets more complicated with financing, appraisal and inspection issues (which can vary from lender to lender) that could be easily overcome threatening to crash deals without someone experienced in there herding all the "cats" (lol- elements) in the deal to a successful close of escrow.Also most of those comps you are seeing-maybe even all of them- have had a commission and some fees paid by the seller, and the appraisors are aware of that.I hope your home sale goes smoothly.

Jack - Elements of seller financing that I think would be interesting to call out/explain are:- Payment structure (length and rate) to seller.- Tax Benefits of receiving installments instead of a lump sum payment.- Legal Options for the seller if the buyer does not make payments.- Visual/Explanation of how the loan looks on the HUD-1 at closing.Good Luck!

The only element I'd reconsider is the 5-year pre-payment penalty.