One of the top 10 home sales in September in the Richmond area was for a house with 12,870 square feet that sold for $931,900. It is assessed for $1.845 million. Is this a crazy market or what? Yes and no. The house, at 330 Pembroke Lane in Goochland County, was a foreclosure. It was listed in 2006 for $2.995 million, according to the county assessor’s office.

Missed out on Cash for Clunkers? Congress has another deal for you: Buy a home before May 1 and collect up to $6,500 from the government. If you’re a first-time homebuyer, get up to $8,000. As part of efforts to encourage people to spend money to help revive the economy, the House voted yesterday to expand a popular tax credit for homebuyers.

Steadier housing markets across much of the country are leading Genworth Financial Inc. to ease some rules for writing the coverage buyers need to get into a home. In nearly 200 markets in 45 states, Henrico County-based Genworth has gone back to issuing mortgage insurance for homebuyers making 5 percent down payments, the company disclosed. Mortgage insurance, which homebuyers pay for, repays banks if homeowners stop paying their mortgage.

BRIAN GLASS Metro Business asked Brian Glass, senior vice president at Grubb & Ellis/Harrison & Bates Inc., about the status of the retail commercial real estate market: “With regards to leasing, we have seen rates drop in the past year approximately 11 percent. We’ve seen vacancy rates go up from 5.9 percent to 7 percent. And we’ve seen a lot of tenant lease renegotiations.

The fallout from GVA Advantis closing its local office continues. FirstService Real Estate Advisors, a commercial real estate firm that is part of Toronto-based FirstService Corp., has hired three former GVA Advantis brokers to open a Richmond-area office and increase business here. Vance Spilman, Andrew Ferguson and Muscoe Garnett are all directors of the local FirstService office in Henrico County. As part of a Global Workplace Solutions division, Spilman, Ferguson and Garnett will work with regional and national clients.

Home resales dipped unexpectedly last month, falling 2.7 percent from a month earlier, the National Association of Realtors said yesterday. That reversed steady monthly gains since April, but most economists called the drop temporary and said they expected sales to strengthen this fall. “It doesn’t change the underlying trend of improvement,“ said Dean Maki, chief U.S. economist at Barclays Capital.

If it weren’t for an $8,000 tax credit, Roger Hoskins says, he never would have been in the market to buy a house. He will move in a few weeks from an apartment in Henrico County to a $124,000 town house in Rappahannock—and pay about the same for a mortgage as he does for monthly rent.

If you are on the transaction side of the commercial real estate business, you may feel as if you are an unwilling participant in a video of heavy metal band Quiet Riot’s “Bang your head” song where nonstop music streams to your ear in ever louder chords. Every day is similar to the last. Deals are few and far between, and they just don’t close.

Jones Lang LaSalle is expanding its commercial brokerage services in the Richmond region. The Chicago-based firm, which started operations locally in July, has hired 13 more people to its local team—all formerly with GVA Advantis. Jones Lang LaSalle was able to grow rapidly here because it took advantage of the closing of the local office of GVA Advantis, one of the largest commercial real estate companies in the Richmond area. GVA Advantis still has offices elsewhere in the country that remain open.

Incident in Northern Virginia prompts reminder that real estate agents must call “Miss Utility” before planting “for sale” signs.

Even as Americans suffer rising unemployment, foreclosure rates in three states hit hardest by the housing bust — California, Arizona and Florida — stabilized in June, offering hope that the worst of the real estate crisis is over.

Owners of shopping malls, hotels and offices are defaulting on their loans at an alarming rate, and the commercial real estate market is not expected to hit bottom for three more years, industry experts warned yesterday. “The commercial real estate time bomb is ticking,“ said Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-N.Y., who heads the congressional Joint Economic Committee.

Goochland County will begin assessing its real estate annually after this year’s biennial results shocked many residents who saw an increase in their assessed values. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday night unanimously approved the change, which could mean a loss of $2.34 million in county revenue next year. It also could mean higher real estate taxes in coming years.

After five years living in the Richmond area, Jessica Fulbright has decided the time is right to become a homeowner. “I don’t plan on leaving Richmond anytime soon,“ said Fulbright, a 28-year-old restaurant general manager who has been renting for years but started house-hunting just a few weeks ago, motivated by what seems to be a good market for first-time buyers.

Sales of previously occupied homes rose modestly from April to May, the third monthly increase this year, but signs of a housing recovery are fragile at best. The National Association of Realtors said yesterday that existing-home sales rose 2.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 4.77 million, up from a downwardly revised rate of 4.66 million in April. But the result missed analysts’ expectations.