Potomac Maryland Real Estate - Colleen Barlow, Realtor

Let's face it... our homes require maintenance and we often can't do it all ourselves.  So you need a plumber, or an electrician, or a handyman -- a roofer, a carpet installer, a painter; how do you find a good one?  The saying "you get what you paid for" is generally true, but there are decent c...

AP is reporting that the homebuyer credit extension has passed the House -- homebuyers will have until September 30th 2010 to close on properties that they put under contract by April 30, 2010.   This would certainly be a good thing for those buyers who haven't been able to close on their homes f...

It appears that there's little hope for an extension of the now infamous "Homebuyer Tax Credit".  Every Realtor, Settlement Attorney, and Lender is crazy busy through Wednesday as you've got to settle by 6/30 to be eligible for the credit.  Although the credit certainly seemed to boost home sales...

Thankfully, the President signed the law extending the $8000 First-time Home Buyer Credit and adding a credit of $6500 for other "Repeat" Home Buyers.  Thanks to Scott Schaub of M-Point Mortgage Services for this summary of the new law: $8,000 First-time Home Buyer Tax Credit at a Glance •·   The...

According to Yahoo Finance...  WASHINGTON (AP) -- To prevent inflation from taking off, the Federal Reserve will need to start boosting interest rates quickly and aggressively once the economy is back on firmer footing, Fed officials warned Tuesday. "I expect that when it comes time to tighten mo...

I often asked what the square footage of a home for sale is.  This is a really "gray" area, unfortunately.  Most often, I will quote the square footage stated in the Maryland State Department of Taxation  and Assessments (SDAT) database.  This figure is normally the approximate square footage of ...

For instructions on the process of appealing your property tax assessment in Montgomery County, MD; please see my post below.  If you'd like a free Competitive Market Analysis of your home's value, just click on the image below and fill-in the blanks:   You'll receive your market analysis by emai...

Today CNN/Money has been heavily advertising their new interactive map which shows their predictions for when each area of the country will "hit bottom" and how much further they believe each area's housing prices will drop.  Unfortunately, for us (the closest areas defined for the Washington, DC...

If you received a property tax assessment that you believe is too high, or if you recently purchased a home for less than the assessed value, it may be worth the effort to appeal the property tax assessment-even if you are in the middle of the three year assessment cycle.  Information on the appe...

Some interesting facts from the Maryland Association of Realtors were just released... Did you know that 45% of the total Maryland County/City local government revenues come from real estate taxes? The most current assessment for the fiscal year beginning July 2008 estimates the total vlue of Mar...