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Asheville Real Estate, North Carolina Luxury Homes, Mountain Real Estate, NC Horse Farms Home | Featured Listings | MLS Search | About Us | Contact Us Horse Farms | Land | Luxury Homes | Condos & Lofts | Waterfront Property | Commercial | 1031 Exchange Phone Asheville Real Estate 828.694.1558 Asheville MLS Search Featured Listings Search Asheville MLS Search Tryon MLS North Carolina Horse Farms North Carolina Horse Farms Featured Horse Farm For Sale Featured Waterfront Horse Farm Featured Equestrian Center For Sale Equestrian Communities North Carolina Land North Carolina Land For Sale Featured Development Land For Sale Featured South Carolina Land For Sale Land Conservancy North Carolina Luxury Homes North Carolina Luxury Homes Asheville Condos and Lofts Asheville Waterfront Homes Featured Asheville Luxury Home Featured Asheville Contemporary Home Featured South Carolina Luxury Home North Carolina Commercial Real Estate 1031 Exchange Real Estate Commercial Real Estate Featured Event Facility For Sale Sheelah Clarkson Asheville Real Estate Agency About Us Asheville Real Estate Careers Sitemap Contact Us Member, Realtors Land Institute Sheelah Clarkson Asheville Real Estate Agency Uncommon Properties for the Uncommon Lifestyle December 29, 2005 S heelah Clarkson Asheville Real Estate Agency is privileged to offer signature services for investors and buyers seeking investment property and gracious living. We serve as national and international buyer's agents for North Carolina luxury homes, horse farms, land, commercial real estate and 1031 exchange property. Our service area spans western North Carolina mountain real estate and upstate South Carolina properties with a focus on real estate in Asheville NC and the nearby towns of Hendersonville, Brevard, and Tryon. If you are looking for exceptional mountain property, please contact us . Western North Carolina MLS Search Sheelah Clarkson Asheville Real Estate Agency offers the rare opportunity to search thousands of mountain real estate and luxury homes listings in two Asheville area MLS systems covering more than a dozen counties across western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina. Search Asheville MLS listings in the Western North Carolina Regional MLS , an MLS search covering Asheville real estate as well as properties across more than a dozen counties. Search listings in Hendersonville, Waynesville, Mars Hill, Black Mountain, Maggie Valley and Brevard NC. Search Tryon MLS listings in the Polk County MLS , an MLS search that includes real estate in Tryon, Columbus, Saluda, parts of Rutherford County and parts of upstate South Carolina. Some Asheville real estate offerings, including certain exclusive luxury estates and commercial properties are not listed on any public MLS. If you are seeking high end luxury homes, large acreage tracts of land, or commercial real estate in western North Carolina, please contact us to receive information about select properties that meet your requirements. Our Uncommon Real Estate Services At Sheelah Clarkson Asheville Real Estate Agency, we dedicate ourselves to the uncommon -- uncommon ideas, uncommon properties, and uncommon service. We're pleased to specialize in properties of unique character. Luxury Homes : As western North Carolina luxury homes specialists, we showcase the most distinctive private estates and luxury properties for national and international buyers. Our expertise spans the luxury real estate market throughout the greater Asheville area, allowing us to present buyers with a portfolio of the most notable estates our region has to offer. Horse Farms : We are pleased to present our equestrian clients with this region's state-of-the-art horse farms and fine equestrian estates. Some of the most exclusive horse farms for sale in North Carolina can be found in our area. We are equestrians serving equestrians and we know North Carolina's premiere horse country by heart. Our featured farm for sale is a meticulous 39-acre equestrian estate near Asheville . The property features a 2001 custom built home with matching barn and fenced pastures for your horses. This horse farm offers exceptional year mountain views and is located only minutes from some of western North Carolinas most beautiful public horse trails. Land : Serving as buyer's agents, we assist investors in locating western North Carolina land. Often, the larger tracts are not listed in the public MLS. We work through a network of regional specialists to identify large acreage tracts of mountain land for sale. Our featured landfor sale is a rare large acreage tract of development land. This 228 acres of land in Waynesville NC is ideal for urban village or mixed use development in keeping with smart growth concepts. 1031 Exchange : Our brokers specialize in western North Carolina 1031 exchange property for those seeking the benefits of a tax deferred exchange. We assist buyers in finding their replacement properties quickly. Commercial Real Estate : With more than twodecades of experience in industrial and commercial real estate sales and acquisitions, SheelahClarkson Asheville Real Estate Agency offersboth industry-wide expertise and regional insight into the western North Carolinacommercial real estate markets. Asheville Real Estate at Its Finest Whether we are working for local sellers, national buyers, or international investors, we maintain personal, client-focused service as the hallmark of our brokerage firm. With licensing in both Carolinas and a quarter century of experience in the commercial and luxury home markets, Sheelah Clarkson Asheville Real Estate Agency brings to the table regional know-how, sound business expertise, and world-class solutions. Please contact us to view a portfolio of fine properties that meet your specifications. Credits Programming and Database Development by S2L Design Photograph of Asheville courtesy of David Bonyun Hawaii Real Estate | International Luxury Homes To report problems with this site: administrator@sheelahclarkson.com Asheville Real Estate | Asheville North Carolina MLS | Tryon North Carolina MLS | Asheville Homes For Sale | Asheville Condos North Carolina Luxury Homes | North Carolina Land For Sale | North Carolina Acreage | North Carolina Mountain Real Estate North Carolina Horse Farms | Equestrian Communities | Horse Property | Equestrian Property | North Carolina Mountain Land North Carolina Commercial Real Estate | 1031 Exchange Real Estate | NC Waterfront Property | Sitemap | Links | About Us | Contact Info © 2005 Sheelah Clarkson Sheelah Clarkson Asheville Real Estate Agency • PO Box 8804 • Asheville,NC 28814-8804 Phone 828.694.1558 • Fax 828.694.1549 • Email sheelah@sheelahclarkson.com
buy property to prevent
Neighbors Buying Property To Prevent The Establishment Of A Group Home The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law Issue: Housing About News In court Take action Publications More resources Topics : Information sheets Advocacy resources on fair housing Jump to an issue: Advance Psych. Directives Children Civil Rights and the ADA Criminalization Education Elders with Mental Illnesses Housing Insurance Involuntary Commitment Managed Care Medicaid Medicare Rx Drug Benefit Mental Healthcare Privacy Restraint and Seclusion Supports in the Community - SSI - Temp. Assist. for Families Voting Fair Housing Information Sheet # 3 Neighbors Buying Property To Prevent The Establishment Of A Group Home Imagine the following scenario: A house in a residential neighborhood is for sale. A provider of residential services to persons with mental retardation believes that the house would be a great location for a group home for three women and submits a bid to purchase the house. Neighbors of the seller learn of the provider's interest in the home and meet to develop strategies for preventing the women from moving into the neighborhood. Eventually, the neighbors conclude that the only way to prevent the provider from purchasing the home is to submit a higher bid. The neighbors realize that none of them can afford to buy the home alone, so they pool their resources, give the money collected to one of the neighbors, and that person offers the seller $5,000 more for the home than does the provider. The seller sells the home to the neighbor acting on behalf of the group. Do the actions of the seller or of the neighbors who purchased the home violate the Fair Housing Act? The FHA makes it unlawful to discriminate in the sale or rental, or to otherwise make unavailable or deny, a dwelling to any buyer or renter because of a handicapof (A) that buyer or renter; (B) a person residing in or intending to reside in that dwelling after it is so sold, rented, or made available; or (C) any person associated with that buyer or renter. 42 U.S.C. 3604(f)(1). The FHA contains an exemption for single-family houses sold or rented by an owner, provided that the owner does not use the services of a real estate agent or broker, own more than three such single-family houses, and, if the owner is not a resident, has not completed more than one sale within a 24-month period. 42 U.S.C. 3603(b). Thus, assuming the listed conditions are met, it is likely that the owner cannot be found liable under the 3604(f)(1) of the FHA. But what of the neighbors, who banded together to buy the home in order to prevent persons with disabilities from living there? Courts that have faced this and similar scenarios have answered the question in different ways. In Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service, Inc. v. Babin , 18 F.3d 337, 344 (6 th Cir. 1994), the Sixth Circuit called action similar to that described above as "normal economic competition." The Babin court analyzed the liability of the neighbors who contributed extra funds to make the purchase possible under 3604(f)(1), specifically the "otherwise make unavailable" provision. The court explained that, in normal economic competition, every purchase of a unique commodity affects availability to others. Thus, the court concluded, finding the neighbors liable would cause the statute's reach to be overbroad, and it affirmed the summary judgment entered by the court below. A claim also was asserted against the seller and the neighbors pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 3617, which makes illegal interfering with the exercise and enjoyment of the right to fair housing. The Sixth Circuit also rejected this argument, finding that the seller was motivated purely by economic considerations and that, while the purchase of the house disrupted the provider's negotiations, it did not prevent the provider from making an even higher bid on the property. Babin, then, stands for the proposition that actions related to the purchase of property even when taken for the sole reason of preventing the use of that property by persons protected under the FHA is "normal economic competition" and therefore is not a violation of the FHA. Not every court that has considered the issue since the Babin decision has agreed with that proposition, however. In United States v. Hughes , 849 F. Supp. 685 (D. Neb. 1994), the court denied a motion to dismiss and found the Babin decision "plainly wrong" in suggesting that there is an economic competition exception to the FHA. In Hughes , the court determined that a lender, who agreed to finance the purchase of property knowing that the intention of the buyer was to prevent the establishment of a group home, could be liable under 42 U.S.C. 3617. The court held that a bank violates the FHA by intentionally aiding buyers in keeping a home from other purchasers because those other purchasers are or are associated with persons with mental illness: [T]rue ' economic competition' does not exist when the purpose of the competition is to deny a protected person access to housing, as opposed to securing housing for oneself or for investment purposes. In fact, it is irrational to spend money for the purpose of prohibiting someone else from living next to you, if the reason you do not wish to live next to that person is because he or she has a handicap protected by the Act.-- Hughes at 686 (emphasis in original). A third opinion on this issue adopts the Hughes analysis. In Step-by-Step v. Lazarus , No. CV-97-1006 (M.D. Pa. Oct. 17, 1997), the court, in denying a motion to dismiss, held that the FHA "does apply to a buyer who purchases a property with the intention of preventing the purchase by an entity planning to use the property as a Group Home for members protected by the Act." Id. , slip op. at 1. In reaching this conclusion, the court agreed with the Hughes reasoning and stated that normal economic considerations do not exist where the underlying intent of the purchaser is to discriminate. The court found support for this proposition in 24 C.F.R. 103.20(a), which allows the filing of a complaint against "any person" engaged in a discriminatory housing practice, and in 24 C.F.R. 100.50(b)(3), which makes it unlawful to engage in "any conduct" that denies or makes housing unavailable to persons with disabilities. As these cases demonstrate, determining the motives of a buyer, seller, or neighbors and whether such motives are legally relevant is a complex issue. On the one hand, Congress has clearly mandated an end to discrimination in housing, and a narrow interpretation of the FHA, such as in Babin , allows persons with discriminatory intent to prevent individuals with disabilities from moving into a community. On the other hand, examining the private motives to all the various parties to a real estate transaction may be both unwieldy and burdensome. Clearly, it is helpful to fair housing advocates that the reasoning in Babin even though articulated by an appellate court was not convincing to the next two courts to consider very similar situations. While it remains too soon to make any definitive pronouncements on the merits of the issues, it is apparent, given the holdings in Hughes and Step-by-Step , that the actions of neighbors who buy property to prevent the establishment of group homes remain subject to viable challenge under the FHA. This information sheet was produced under a contract with the Advocacy Training/Technical Assistance Center of the National Association of Protection & Advocacy Systems For more information, contact Michael Allen, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, 1101 15th Street, N.W., Suite 1212 Washington, D.C. 20005-5002. Phone: 202/467-5730 ext. 117. E-mail: Michaela@bazelon.org . Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law 1101 15th Street, NW, Suite 1212 Washington, DC 20005 Phone: 202-467-5730 Fax: 202-223-0409 Email: webmaster@bazelon.org Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law 1101 15th Street, NW, Suite 1212 Washington, DC 20005 Phone: 202-467-5730 Fax: 202-223-0409 Email: webmaster@bazelon.org
Home Mortgage
FRB: Understanding the Home Mortgage Process Understanding the Process and Your Right to Fair Lending Shop for the mortgage package that best meets your financial needs. If you apply for a mortgage and the lender says you don't qualify, keep in mind that some lenders have stricter credit standards than others. Try someone else. Don't stop shopping after one discouraging experience--or even several. "Just Right!" Youve been looking at houses for months and months, and you have finally found it--the house thats just right. Now, youre anxious to buy your new home, move in, and get settled. But you still have an important task ahead of you--getting a mortgage loan. This brochure explains about dealing with mortgage lenders. It tells you where to look, what to look for, and what takes place when you apply for a mortgage. Knowing what to expect, especially if you are a first-time homebuyer, may make it easier for you to get through the process. Youll also learn about your legal rights to fair lending and what you have a right to expect in fair treatment. The Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act make it unlawful for a lender to decide whether you qualify for a loan, or to offer less favorable terms, for reasons such as your race, national origin or sex and other prohibited factors. If you believe you have been unlawfully discriminated against by a lender, or have questions about the treatment you have received, this brochure also tells you where to file a complaint. Where to Shop and What to Look For The Mortgage Application Process Understanding Your Rights to Fair Lending Directory of Federal Agencies Home | Brochures Accessibility To comment on this site, please fill out our feedback form. Last update: June 21, 2001
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Amazon.com: House of the Dead: DVD Your Store DVD See All 32 Product Categories Your Account | Cart | Wish List | Help | Advanced Search | Browse Genres | Top Sellers | New & Future Releases | Television Central | Life & Learning | DVD Essentials | Blowout DVDs | Movie Showtimes | Used DVDs Search Amazon.com DVD Web Search Join Amazon Prime and ship Two-Day for free and Overnight for $3.99. Already a member? Sign in . DVD Information Explore this item buying info editorial reviews customer reviews cast and crew fun facts Listmania! The worst Modern Horror Films : A list by Jason Voorhees "Jason V" Add your List Ready to buy? Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering. A9.com users save 1.57% on Amazon. Learn how . MORE BUYING CHOICES 183 used & new from $0.70 Have one to sell? House of the Dead (2003) Starring: Jonathan Cherry , Tyron Leitso Director: Uwe Boll Rating: See larger image Share your own customer images List Price: $18.00 Price: $15.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. See details You Save: $2.01 (11%) Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Want it delivered Friday, December 30? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. See details 183 used & new available from $0.70 Edition: Other Versions and Languages Other Versions (VHS Tape) List Price Price Other Offers: VHS Tape House of Dead (2003) (Spanish) (Sub) $44.98 $42.73 VHS Tape House of Dead (2003) $9.98 $9.48 34 used & new from $0.45 Better Together Buy this DVD with Alone in the Dark DVD ~ Christian Slater today! Total List Price: $37.98 Buy Together Today: $33.98 Customers who bought this DVD also bought Alone in the Dark DVD ~ Christian Slater Boogeyman (Special Edition) DVD ~ Barry Watson Saw (Widescreen Edition) DVD ~ Leigh Whannell The Texas Chainsaw Massacre DVD ~ Jessica Biel Explore Similar Items : in DVD , in Books Storyline Genres: Horror , Thriller , Action , Mystery Tagline: The dead walk...You run Plot Outline: A group of teens arrive on an island for a rave--only to discover the island has been taken over by zombies. The group takes refuge in a house where they try to survive the night. Plot Synopsis: This film is a prequel to all of the The House of the Dead video games. Set on an island off the coast of Florida, a techno rave party attracts a diverse group of college coeds and a Coast Guard officer. Soon, they discover that their X-laced escapades are to be interrupted by zombies and monsters that attack them on the ground, from the air, and in the sea, ruled by an evil entity in the House of the Dead... Plot Keywords: Cleavage | Spin Off From Video Game | Gun | Zombie | Based On Video Game | Island | Florida Keys | Martial Arts | Nudity | Decapitation | Gore | Severed Head | (Show all 68 plot keywords recommended by customers) Product Details Actors: Jonathan Cherry , Tyron Leitso , Clint Howard , Ona Grauer , Ellie Cornell , See more Directors: Uwe Boll Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dts stereo, Widescreen, Ntsc, Widescreen Anamorphic Region: Region 1 ( U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats. ) Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Rated: (Not for sale to persons under age 18.) Studio: Live / Artisan DVD Release Date: January 27, 2004 Run Time: 90 min (original theatrical or airing runtime) Average Customer Review: Based on 287 Reviews DVD Features: Available Subtitles: English, Spanish Available Audio Tracks: English (DTS 6.1 ES), English (Dolby Digital 5.1 EX), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo) Commentary by: director Uwe Boll, post-production supervisor Jonathan Shore, producer Shawn Williamson, and actor Jonathan Cherry (Unknown Format) Commentary by: executive producer Mark Altman (Unknown Format) Deleted scenes "Behind the House: Anatomy of the Zombie Movement" making-of featurette "Stacked for Zom-Bat: The Sexy Babes of House of the Dead Prepare for Battle!" Sneak peek of new Sega game Nightshade From IMDb: Quotes & Trivia ASIN: B0000YEE6C Amazon.com Sales Rank: #12,784 in DVD Theatrical Release Information US Theatrical Release Date: October 10, 2003 MPAA: for pervasive strong violence/gore, language and some nudity. Production Company: Boll Kino Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, Brightlight Pictures Inc., Herold and Besser Studios, Mindfire Entertainment USA Box Office: $10 Million Budget Estimate: $7 Million Filming Locations: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Editorial Reviews Amazon.com The usual slasher-movie teens charter a boat to attend a rave in Washington's San Juan islands, find zombies there, and splatter their guts all over the place. House of the Dead shows early promise when the boat captain is the dude from Das Boot (Jürgen Prochnow) and the mate is the inimitably weird Clint Howard. Alas, things devolve from there. The movie includes frequent flashes from its video game inspiration, not that we need much reminding of the obvious source. Amongst the rotten dialogue, bad acting, and gratuitous topless scenes, there's one looooong shootout sequence in the middle of the picture that should be the main attraction for fans of this kind of thing. Otherwise, it's at the level of every other slasher movie, video game or no video game, in which stupid people do stupid things to keep themselves in harm's way. --Robert Horton Customers who viewed this DVD also viewed Dawn of the Dead (Widescreen Unrated Director's Cut) DVD ~ Boyd Banks Elektra (Widescreen Edition) DVD ~ Jennifer Garner Land of the Dead (Unrated Edition) DVD ~ Simon Baker Blade - Trinity (Unrated Widescreen Edition) (New Line Platinum Series) DVD ~ Wesley Snipes Explore Similar Items : in DVD , in Computer & Video Games Spotlight Reviews Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers. 47 of 50 people found the following review helpful: Lord have mercy! , March 30, 2004 Reviewer: Shawn Watson "God of Gods" (Badger's Brook, Scotland) - See all my reviews There are people out there who will greenlight anything! That is the only explanation I can offer as to why the House of the Dead movie exists. And that's only scary part to the whole movie. It's so bad you'll go off movies forever. I seriously wanted to switch this off and turn the TV over to the Paint Drying channel but I was bound by my word to suffer the whole thing. I don't know why I do these bad things to myself. As if it matters, here's the basic jist of the 'story'. A group of twenty-somethings are so desperate to go out to some island in the Pacific Northwest (Canada actually, because it's cheap) for the 'Rave of the Century' (which consists of about 8 people and un-raving music) that they pay some craggy old fisherman $1000 to take them there after they miss the main ferry. That's gotta be some rave to be worth all that dough! The fisherman warns them that the island is also known as the Island of the Dead (hang on-I thought this was HOUSE of the Dead?) and that they are all doomed yadda yadda yadda. First faults here. Why would a tiny little rave (of the Century my foot!) be held on some remote island? Why would anyone willingly pay loads of money to get it? Why pay even more to the craggy old fisherman to take them back when they could just come back with the others? Once they arrive they discover that the rave (which consists of about 2 tents, a small stage and a port-a-john) has been smashed, there's blood everywhere and no one is around. What would any rationally thinking person do? Run for their lives of course. But no, these clueless, obviously blind people decide to go look for them. Soon enough they discover an old ramshackle house that's 50 times as big on the inside as it is on the outside. Another half hour of stumbling around in the forest follows, as an excuse to kill of some of the lesser characters, and after much tedium they arrive back at the house again. The characters, like the movie, go nowhere. Jammed into this ghastly disaster is a superabundance of gibberish dialogue, heinous acting, mumbo-jumbo exposition and zillions of clips from the once-popular arcade game of the same name. Why this was universally accepted as a good idea with the filmmakers I'll never know. The clips have no reference to any of the scenes and only degrade this trash even further, if that is at all possible. It has nothing to do with the game save for some cheap, throwaway line at the end. It makes Resident Evil look like cinematic glory. Hell, even the Double Dragon movie seems multi-Oscar worthy in comparison to this junk. The only one who comes out of this with his dignity still intact is Jurgen Prochnow. He could have just taken his money and ran but he tries his best with the awful script and brings a tiny bit of pathos to his character. The rest of the cast suck I'm afraid. The characters are idiots and deserve to die. Plus, if you cut out the swearing and pointless nudity, I see no reason why this film cannot be shown on Saturday morning TV. It's not frightening in the slightest. Pirates of the Caribbean is more scary than the skeletal bad guys in this film. And where did all those bad guys come from anyway? There were only a few people on the island to begin with. I guess this justifies the reason they chose to reuse footage over and over. I kid you not, you'll see the same zombie die a dozen times. Who's ultimately to blame for that scandalous waste of celluloid? None other than director Uwe Boll. His control over the movie is non-existent. You can clearly the see actors have no idea what they should be doing and that the zombies aren't really taking it all seriously. The actors seem like they're reading off cue cards as they constantly pause in the middle of long sentences and carry on talking as soon as they see the next card. It all feels very unnatural. Plus the film is shot like a two-part mini-series. I have indeed seen better TV productions. And don't get me started on the editing. The film is an incoherent babble with thousands upon thousands of pointless shots and dozens of meaningless camera pans. No real skill or talent was put into making this at all. It truly baffles and boggles the mind how movies this unfathomably bad can get made and George A. Romero can't even get anyone to take his calls. House of the Dead makes some idiotic reference to Romero in a lazy attempt to be 'post-modern' but it only irritates that they think THIS is in the same league as a REAL zombie movie. For what it's worth, the 1.85:1 anamorphic picture looks great and the Dolby 5.1 soundtrack is clean but very unimpressive and only serves to pronounce the heavily over-used ADR even more. The DVD comes with extras but why torture yourself. Isn't this review warning enough? Stay away! You are all doomed I tell you! Doomed! Doomed!!! Was this review helpful to you? ( Report this ) 11 of 12 people found the following review helpful: Bad, but not fun in the way some bad films can be. , November 9, 2004 Reviewer: Christian Hokenson (Burbank, CA United States) - See all my reviews Folks, save yourselves from "House of the Dead." This is pretty atrocious filmmaking at its most insulting. Worse than even "Resident Evil." I know, I know... they are just videogames, not a movies (but if you check out the special features junk on the "House of the Dead" DVD you can find out the filmmakers had a much different, and much higher opinion of their effort). "House of the Dead" offers lots of action but, as usual for today's young auteurs weened on MTV, it's pretty damn hard to follow and, after a while, it becomes repetitious to the point of sheer boredom. The acting is rotten (save for Jurgen Prochnow (it's a long way from Das Boot, ain't it captain) and the ever weird, always interesting Clint Howard (it's a long way from "Evilspeak" isn't it Coopersmith)), the special effects are decent (when you can see them, and hey... ALL special effects should be decent nowadays, shouldn't they... no points there). The direction is nearly non-existent, and the screenwriting is simply bad... but not bad in a fun way-- the way you can play drinking games with a movie or MST3K it to death on a Friday night around the hookah. I can't even really bring myself to call this a horror film, for not once was I horrified save for the moment, toward the end, where I thought to myself, "y'know, you've actually wasted nearly two hours of your life on this inglorious piece of poop, man." This "film" has the temerity to namecheck George A. Romero and his (as one character aptly puts it) "Holy Trilogy" of zombie classics: "Night, Dawn and Day" natch. Well, 'tis true.. Romero is clearly sui generis when it comes to apocalyptic zombie horror. No need to run (as the current spate of zombies is wont to do), for there's nowhere to hide. Romero at the very, very least has an understanding of the basic rules of filmmaking that at least keep a viewer's interests alive for his dead folks... not only that, but he clearly understands the most basic rules of drama and character. I know many folks that didn't grow up with Romero's films might look at them with some derision regarding black n' white zombies in "Night of the Living Dead" or the baby-blue flesh and Crayola day-glow colors of blood from "Dawn of the Dead." Yet, Romero knew how to handle the gory violence in his films (over-the-top and with great shock-value) and, in the end, Romero wasn't simply striving for realism in gore so much as he was trying to make a valid (still valid!) point about how human beings act in a society under severe stress. He had something to SAY, and he was able to SHOW it without lots of lame-assed exposition that passes for dialogue these days. Uwe Boll on the other hand, knows at least how to load a camera and keep it running (and running and running and running). But he has no sense of story whatsoever, no sense of pace, no sense of continuity and no sense of fun. This is a dreary exercise in crap filmmaking with a decent-sized budget... the kind of budget Romero should have had for his underrated films, but hey! at least Romero knows how to use a dollar wisely. Boll seems to be a kid on the ultimate sugar high as he spends money on fancy camera angles, weird point-of-view shots, CGI gore, and buffed out stuntpeople as decayed corpses... and yes, I know this movie is really just a videogame. In fact, the "director" even goes so far as to include shots from that videogame as segues to his badly choreographed action sequences. After the first few heads a-poppin' (yay, for gun violence) it gets rather dull, and then the action speeds up even more in order to keep the audience awake and, well, just plain confused from what I could see. Boll hits all the cliches just right... POV of the bullet going into flesh and inanimate objects, bullet-time cinematography (can someone please put a stake in the heart of this visual stunt once and for all?!?) and of course some good-lookin' young adults with sawdust for brains and the martial arts skill of Bruce Lee flippin' the bird to the laws of physics. It's inane, it's astonishingly lame and it's insulting to sit through, and yet I did, just so you can avoid having to sit through it too! One thing about George A. Romero and his highly regarded trilogy of zombie films: the zombies themselves were often secondary to the living human characters they sought to munch on. They were scary because you could clearly see they were no longer reasonable human beings-- your family, your friends-- but just dead things with a devastating single-minded instinct for moving foward toward a hot lunch. It didn't matter if they ran or did Cirque d'Soleil-style acrobatics in order to get to you, or just simply lurched. The zombies were always a wave of nearly unstoppable slowness, and thus a very handy metaphor for everything from groupthink to mall shoppers on a Sunday afternoon. In "House of the Dead" the zombies are just fodder, nothing but magnets for lead projectiles... and yes, I know, it's just a videogame. In the end, avoid this load of manure and check out Romero's films if you haven't yet (and, really, what self-respecting zombie fan has not seen them yet?!?). If you can't handle character building, drama and a fairly amazing story of the breakdown of society due to lack of cooperation among the living (and, yes, plenty of gore), then I say turn to either "Re-Animator" or, better yet, "Return of the Living Dead" which at least also manages to tell a story and offer up some halfway decent acting with he gore. Both of those films also offer copious amounts of nudity for you teenage horror fans who seemingly can't get close to the real thing... and yes, I know the videogame movie does too, but the other movies have the added benefit of actual skilled filmmakers behind the scenes, while "House of the Dead" does not. "Return of the Living Dead" actually gives the horror fan a shining example of what "House of the Dead" could have been in the right hands. One film is loads of fun (and hey, by the way, Romero's films offer fun and humor in spades lest you think they are simply turgid sociological dissertations), and the other is so much less than fun it could lead to suicide. I know I wanted to off myself just for getting through to the credits. The films of Romero along with Peter Jackson's brilliant, low-budget "Braindead/Dead Alive," and the recent releases of "28 Days Later" (a quasi-zombiefest) and the hilarious (and quite bloody) "Shaun of the Dead" all offer far more entertainment value (key words here, folks) than "House of the Dead." These films all have some quirky things to say about life along with loads of furious bloodletting, while "House of the Dead" is simply a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. Was this review helpful to you? ( Report this ) Customer Reviews Average Customer Review: Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers. Give it a break! , December 28, 2005 Reviewer: Erick Irungaray "erickufo" (el paso, texas United States) - See all my reviews What do the people expect out of a movie that is based on a real shooting arcade game? We all know that lately, most of the horror movies suck now in these days, don't they?. Was this review helpful to you? ( Report this ) 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: OMG , December 6, 2005 Reviewer: Jonas Brock (Tampa) - See all my reviews I expect horror movies to be somewhat bad or silly, but this was unreal. Avoid at all cost. Was this review helpful to you? ( Report this ) 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: This is bad. , November 13, 2005 Reviewer: Kimberley Wilson (VA USA) - See all my reviews House of the Dead is based on a video game I had no expectations that it would be good but I was astonished at how bad it is. While watching it I kept thinking that it must be a parody. Surely Uwe Boll was joking when he did this, right? He's mocking bad horror movies, right? Wrong. I suspect that everybody who worked on this film was serious. This movie is so bad it's pathetic. It' likes watching Old Yeller get shot, seeing Litte Timmy drown in the well and finding out that the department store Santa is just a guy from Skid Row who was sobered up for the evening. I won't get into the plot becuase there aint any but there's a scene in it that's so dumb it haunts me and is a perfect example of the whole film. One of the "teens" (Why do teenagers in horror movies all look like they're on the wrong side of 30?) decides to fight the zombies with karate. Karate on the undead. Think about that. I don't care if you studied for five years under Pei Mei and David Carradine was your sensei, karate is not going to cut it when fighting zombies unless you're going to do the flying walk to safety thing. She gets eaten of course and one of her companions just stands there and looks. He has no reaction at all. The actor plays the scene like he's at the beach. Some bad horror movies are funny is a goofy sort of way. Others are mildly interesting because somebody at least tried to do something with them but this is just miserable. How this thing got to the theaters is some kind of mystery. Was this review helpful to you? ( Report this ) 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful: Holy crap, this movie is terrible , November 1, 2005 Reviewer: Michael J. Gold - See all my reviews I've seen some bad movies in my time, but man this one really takes the cake. I can't believe this garbage was put in theatres. The acting is hilarious. I love how there are zombies all over, and one guys girlfriend even turns into one and attacks him, then gets shot repeatedly. The boyfriend just kinda shrugs it off. No emotion at all. NOTHING Although my favorite part ever that me and my friend are now quoting non stop is the heartfelt scene where Curien is crying about how some lady died, he says (and i quote) She's dead, i didn't save her.. IT WAS MY FAULT... Were you here? did you see it? Did you see watch them rip her apart? SEE WATCH them rip her apart. I had to rewind to make sure i wasn't hearing things, then i put on the subtitles. Was that REALLY their best take? Man this movie is horrible and that's what makes it great. One of those corny ass flicks you can watch just to laugh at. Was this review helpful to you? ( Report this ) See all 287 customer reviews... Listmania! The Scariest and Coolest Moder... : by K. S Schneider The Good, The Bad, and The Ugl... : by Lunar Strain The worst Modern Horror Films : by Jason Voorhees "Jason V" So You'd Like to... Remember why they call film art : by Colin Nickell , Amateur Movie Critic Know How to Survive the Best Zombie Movies? : by hitlercosmetics , Zombie movie lover. watch the 100 worst movies of all time : by Joseph Dewey , a fan of really horrible movies Fun Facts from IMDb.com: Awards Click here to see more Awards Fangoria Chainsaw Awards: Chainsaw Award for Worst Film Leo Awards: Leo for Feature Length Drama: Best Make-up Trivia Click here to see more Trivia The movie is set before the events of the first House of the Dead video game. At the end of the film the survivors are rescued by a helicopter. As it is landing two men dressed in trench coats get of the helicopter. This is a reference to the original House of the Dead video game in which the protagonists are two special agents in over coats. Goofs Click here to see more Goofs In the laboratory, one of the supposedly gray, rotting, skeletal zombies lying on a table has a very visible pink, healthy nose sticking out of its skull. Crazy Credits Click here to see more Crazy Credits The opening credits play over video of the games, from both the arcade andDreamcast versions, begining with the famous "You must stop Curien!" scenefrom the game! Movie Connections Click here to see more Movie Connections Followed by: House of the Dead 2: Dead Aim Edited from: House of the Dead Quotes Click here to see more Quotes [pointing on a zombie in the water] Greg : Shoot it! Capt. Victor Kirk : What do you think I am trying to do, you f***ing moron? Rudy : You did all this to become immortal. Why? Castillo : To live forever! For more information about "House of the Dead" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) Look for similar items by category Browse similar items in: DVD > Actors & Actresses > ( B ) > Brazeau, Jay DVD > Actors & Actresses > ( C ) > Cornell, Ellie DVD > Actors & Actresses > ( H ) > Howard, Clint DVD > Genres > Action & Adventure > General DVD > Genres > Art House & International > By Country > Canada DVD > Genres > Art House & International > By Country > Germany > General DVD > Genres > Art House & International > By Genre > Action & Adventure DVD > Genres > Horror > General DVD > Genres > Horror > Things That Go Bump > Monsters DVD > Genres > Horror > Things That Go Bump > Zombies Suggestion Box Your comments can help make our site better for everyone. If you've found something incorrect, broken, or frustrating on this page, let us know so that we can improve it. Please note that we are unable to respond directly to suggestions made via this form. 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Real Estate prices in
Google Answers: Real Estate prices in San Francisco Bay Area - Los Altos, Cupertino, Saratoga .. Log in | Google Answers Home View Question Ask a Question Q: Real Estate prices in San Francisco Bay Area - Los Altos, Cupertino, Saratoga .. ( Answered , 4 Comments ) Question Subject: Real Estate prices in San Francisco Bay Area - Los Altos, Cupertino, Saratoga .. Category: Business and Money > Economics Asked by: realestatedoom-ga List Price: $10.00 Posted: 06 May 2002 14:46 PDT Expires: 05 Jun 2002 14:46 PDT Question ID: 13448 With everything in the economy setting new lows, the SF bay area realestate is growing up surprisingly. During the hey days of internetboom, the real estate hike was justified with the stock prices. Nowmost of those internet companies are bankrupted or trading at theirlows of a few pennies. Yet, the bay area real estate is HOT, sizzlingand I heard that the home prices are indeed going up. This has left meclueless as it defies all the gravity. I would like to know thereasons. Also, if the reasons indicate that there is a manipualtion ofthis market by vested parties, I would like some pointers as well. Andabove all, when does one see the real estate crash in this area andwhat could trigger the same. Thanks. Answer Subject: Re: Real Estate prices in San Francisco Bay Area - Los Altos, Cupertino, Saratoga .. Answered By: easterangel-ga on 19 May 2002 03:53 PDT Rated: Hi! Thanks for the question. I have collected the following assessments on why the Bay Area realestate market is being overpriced right now.According to these two articles by Broderick Perkins of the RealtyTimes he mentioned two underlying factors: (a and b).a. The area's housing market is further influenced by the contractionof household wealth, largely due to the bust in the area'stechnology-based economy.When the market crashed, housing prices declined, and many newhomeowners, who found themselves with a mortgage they could no longerafford, put their homes on the market.These statements are particularly trying to point out that a selectivefew are trying to squeeze the real estate market especially forhigh-end homes. http://realtytimes.com/rtnews/rtcpages/20020205_bayarea.htm b.) The spotty-market syndrome A record high "luxury" home price index that doesn't fully jibe withreports of lagging sales activity is a red flag indicating aspotty-market that warrants close scrutiny by both buyers and sellers.Spotty-Market syndrome or reporting is using data that does notadequately represent the targeted population in this case the sellersand buyers of homes in the Bay Area. Home shoppers may buy into bidding wars that don't exist and pay toomuch in a flat or depreciating market in a given neighborhood
couldbe trickling down to mid-priced homes which aren't appreciating asfast as even cheaper condos and townhomes. http://realtytimes.com/rtnews/rtcpages/20010223_bayprices.htm Do these two statements subscribe to your suspicion as regards tosomeone or somebody trying to control the market? I think they do.c.) Supply and demand. There is such a demand for land/housing in theBay Area, and this drives the price of homes up. However, there areaffordable housing options. This was taken from Advantage Homeswebsite. This can be located at the lower part of the web page. http://216.239.33.100/search?q=cache:2eSmmIcxiNcC:www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/business/personal_finance/debt_management/mortgages/ask_expert_front.htm+%2BWhy+Bay+Area+homes+expensive&hl=en d.) The region's economy is so much more diverse than a decade ago.This reason is specifically a factor for the Sacramento area accordingto this article. http://www.sacbee.com/static/archive/home/realestate/2001/0520.html Some housing bargains in the Bay Area are mentioned this article.Housing Bargains: http://beta.kpix.com/news/5reports/Housing_Bargains.shtml As to your question as to when it would end? The second article ofBroderick Perkins which I cited said this near the end."Buyers and sellers are cautioned to keep tabs on sales and prices ofall homes. As spring approaches with its seasonally more activemarket, a clearer picture of the spotty market should emerge -- forbetter or for worse."The article continued that small changes in the Bay Area economy willchange the balance of supply and demand bringing pressure for high-endhome prices to go down. http://realtytimes.com/rtnews/rtcpages/20010223_bayprices.htm I pray that right now this is the case. Search Terms Used:+Why Bay Area homes expensivespotty marketI hope this would be of help. Thanks for being a part of GoogleAnswers.Regards,Easterangel-ga realestatedoom-ga rated this answer: provides good insight. of course, i am still puzzled on who and howpeople can so easily afford 1+ million homes in the bay area assumingnot much money is flowing from stock options?. i am also a littlepuzzled that the "demand" has not waned out significantly due to fallout of "tech" economy here!. in any case, thanks for the answer. Comments Log in to add a comment Subject: Re: Real Estate prices in San Francisco Bay Area - Los Altos, Cupertino, Saratoga .. From: delphina-ga on 06 May 2002 15:33 PDT prices are indeed going up. houses are still selling quickly withmultiple bids. why? not everyone was wiped out in the dot-com crash.those that made it, made it, and those that didn't are already gone. basically, it won't crash unless there is an earthquake.everything you need to know is in carol lloyd's Surreal Estate columnin the San Francisco Chronicle.see here: http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/lloyd/archive/ Subject: Re: Real Estate prices in San Francisco Bay Area - Los Altos, Cupertino, Saratoga .. From: realestatedoom-ga on 06 May 2002 16:43 PDT so, how does an earthquake impact the prices given that this region iseqrthquake prone. why is the buying herd not factoring this?. readingthrough lloyd's article, there is a sense of desperation amongstbuyers (so there are still buyers at this price left:), wonder whythey don't choose other greener pastures where they do not have tosacrifice their entire life paying huge mortgages in an uncertain andimploding tech and job market!.) to own the realty in the bay area. isthat desperation out of a need to be in this area or pyramid formationwhere you buy and get out of this in a few years selling the home fora huge profit. a.k.a like buying internet stocks at hyped up priceswith an idea of selling them to a bigger fool at higher prices. aslong as the pyramid continues, it all looks great. didn't we seeenough of that with internet stock bubble?. if so, when does the realestate bubble/pyramid come crashing? Subject: Re: Real Estate prices in San Francisco Bay Area - Los Altos, Cupertino, Saratoga .. From: claudietta-ga on 17 Jun 2002 01:19 PDT I think there were plenty of people with high incomes waiting for thehousing market to adjust, prior to the bubble bursting. Since therecontinues to be a large portion of high income earners in SiliconValley, say >$100k/person/yr; a $200k household could easilty afford a$1m-home. These could be earned by a single CEO or two professionalswith that sort of total income. In the high-end districts, Los AltosHills, Saratoga, Woodside, this is precisely the profile of the homeowners. There are plenty CEOs and professionals (lawyers, engineers,managers) who make that amount of money.I've also heard of many who've lost their $5m-homes, and have had to'settle' for a $2m-home.The very high-end, >$2.5m is where the real housing crisis is inSilicon Valley.claudietta-ga Subject: Re: Real Estate prices in San Francisco Bay Area - Los Altos, Cupertino, Saratoga .. From: krup-ga on 30 Oct 2002 01:38 PST I am baffled that the effect of low interest rates has not yet beenmentioned- people are able to afford more, so they do. It's theAmerican way.Check out Fortune's recent cover article with a pic of an SF domicileentitled, "Is this House worth $1.2 Million?" It sums up thesituation perfectly.http://www.fortune.com/indexw.jhtml?channel=artcol.jhtml&doc_id=209840 Important Disclaimer: Answers and comments provided on Google Answers are general information, and are not intended to substitute for informed professional medical, psychiatric, psychological, tax, legal, investment, accounting, or other professional advice. Google does not endorse, and expressly disclaims liability for any product, manufacturer, distributor, service or service provider mentioned or any opinion expressed in answers or comments. Please read carefully the Google Answers Terms of Service . If you feel that you have found inappropriate content, please let us know by emailing us at answers-editors@google.com with the question ID listed above. Thank you. Search Google Answers for all questions answered questions unanswered questions Google Home - Answers Help & Tips - Answers FAQ - Terms of Service - Privacy Policy ©2005 Google