Price and Other Considerations: HB734

Virginia House Bill #734 would, if enacted, represent another assault on my community's traditional way of life. Full text:

http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?121+ful+HB734

Regardless of its "assessed value" on the real estate market, the traditional way some families, like mine, transfer property is for a token price "and other considerations." These "considerations" may include cash or non-cash payments, but they also include things that don't add up to any obvious "amount," such as the value of keeping property in the family name, making sure property is transferred to people who already fit into the community, and keeping banks, loan sharks, real estate agents, and their customers out of the neighborhood.

In most cities and suburbs, houses are routinely sold to the highest bidder, with the result that home owners don't know or trust one another. Despite the best efforts of "neighborhood associations," community life is rendered impossible. New neighbors are strangers. Doors are locked even when people are at home. Children and pets can't be allowed outdoors "off the leash." People who do like the neighbors they have when they move in, who are a minority, probably won't like the neighbors they have ten years later. All neighborhoods tend to become less desirable until they are abandoned to rot.

How can one even begin to estimate the value of the "consideration" of keeping the cycle of city neighborhood decay from starting? One can't. It would inflate the value of rural houses, farms, and land beyond all hope of anyone's ever being able to pay for it.

HB734 doesn't prevent people from giving property to the people they prefer to keep in the neighborhood, but it does convey the erroneous impression that their "considerations" can be reduced to any material amount, or used to assess the market value of property that is not advertised or sold on the market. It serves no good purpose, can only serve harmful purposes, and should be thrown out.