Yesterday, the Anne Arundel County Volunteer Firefighters Association Parade was held in Crofton, MD. The last time Crofton was able to host this event was back in 2000. Crofton residents, adults and children alike, lined Crofton Parkway to celebrate these brave volunteers. It was especially fitting to honor these first responders on the 9th anniversary of 9/11. The weather was perfect and the firetrucks and equipment shined and polished. The National and State Colors honored at the front of the Parade. The obligatory open convertible. This one was even red. Arundel was there in full force. The Odenton Ladies Auxiliary marched on a perfect day. Woodland Beach with one of the few white firetrucks. Thanks Hillside. Riveria Beach at the North end of the County. One of the crowd favorites f... 09/12/2010

Crofton MD Market Statistics - August 2010Crofton, MD seemed to have had a sideways trend when comparing real estate data from August 2009 to August 2010. Considering the impact that unemployment, and the economy in general has had on many other real estate markets, Crofton, MD actually did pretty well. Sales volume increased slightly from $9,072,291 to $9,265,500. An increase of +2.13%. While certainly not significant, it does show that the Crofton, MD real estate market has seemingly stabilized. Average and median sold prices were relatively flat, as was the total number of units sold. This statistic supports the current pricing strategy of many Crofton, MD homes. No significant increases or decreases. Another significant data point is the Average Sale Price as a % of Average List Pr... 09/11/2010

If you thought Crofton, MD didn't have affordable homes for sale for first time home buyers, then you should check out Cedar Grove. This community, just off of Rt. 3 N. near the Sears/KMart shopping center. Cedar Grove does have affordable condo's for sale. Right now there are six on the market, including one foreclosure. Priced between $199K - $229K. Condo's in Cedar Grove are what can be considered townhouse style piggy back units. One condo occupies the upper two levels and another condo is below on a single level. Whether you choose an upper or lower level unit, they are very similar in size. Click on any of the icons on the map below and it will bring up a page where you can view details on each of the six condos for sale in Cedar Grove. If you're not already working with an agent ... 09/10/2010

The short answer to that question is yes. Crofton, MD, like many other communities here in Suburban Maryland is very competive when it comes to selling your home. The current inventory is high, and buyers can afford to be picky about which home they purchase. Certainly, the outside of your home has to show as well as the inside to attract as many buyers as possible. You've probably heard the expression..."you don't get another chance to make a first impression." Well, it's true. I've dealt with many a buyer who eliminated a house because the exterior "curb appeal" wasn't up to par. If the outside of your Crofton, MD house for sale needs cleaning or painting...do it. Painting the outside trim finishes off the appearance of your house and adds to it's curb appeal. Once you fix the outside... 09/04/2010

The Annual Anne Arundel County Volunteer Firefighters Parade will be coming to Crofton, MD this year on September 11, 2010. Volunteer Firefighters from around Anne Arundel County will be bringing their firetrucks for the largest parade Crofton has had in quite some time. There are over 100 units expected to be in the parade and on display. The parade will be held starting at 10:00 AM, and expect it to last a while with that many participants. The firetrucks will be staged near Urby Drive and will travel along Crofton Parkway to Duke of Kent. They can be viewed anywhere along the way. Residents should be aware that the parade route will be closed off to normal traffic for several hours on the morning of September 11, 2010. No complaints as this is a privilege to have the Firefighters ch... 09/03/2010

Homes that have completed the foreclosure legal process frequently revert back to the bank, if they're not perviously sold at auction. While Crofton, MD doesn't have a significant number of bank owned properties, some are always available for preview and purchase. Bank owned properties can be a great deal for potential home buyers. Crofton, MD has had a total of 193 homes that have sold from January 1, 2010 through August 31, 2010. Of these, only 15 were bank owned (foreclosure) sales. This equates to 7.7% of total sales. Compared to other communities in the area, this is a very small number. The process of purchasing a bank owned property is well documented, and varies only slightly from a normal resale. The fact that there hasn't been many foreclosures in Crofton, MD has tended to he... 09/02/2010

It's Back to School Night for Crofton Elementary, this evening (September 1), but each school seems to have its own schedule.  Here are the details: Crofton Elementary –  9/1/2010, 6 p.m. Arundel H.S. –  9/2/2010, 6:30 p.m. South River H.S. –  9/2/2010, 6:30 p.m. Nantucket Elementary –  9/7/2010, 6:30 p.m. Crofton Woods Elementary –  9/7/2010, 7 p.m. Crofton M.S. –  9/16/2010 –  6:30 p.m. Crofton Meadows Elementary –  Unavailable (will update this when it becomes available) Parental involvement is a major factor in our excellent schools, and there's no time better than Back to School Night for you to get started!     09/01/2010

Bowie, Crofton, Crownsville, Davidsonville, Gambrills and Odenton, Maryland real estate sales don't always match what you see in the media. "REAL ESTATE SALES DOWN 27%" read the headlines and led the TV news reports earlier this week. Was anyone surprised that closings in July were down, since home buyers were bribed into closing in June with an $8,000 tax credit?  Anyone who planned to buy a home this summer (maybe even this year) had big incentive to advance their timetable and buy a home in time to close before June 30.  OF COURSE, home sales were down in July - at least on a global level! Frankly, I'm surprised the drop in sales wasn't even greater.  But 27% was the percentage for home closings nationwide and we've all heard repeatedly that "real estate is local"... Let's look at un... 08/28/2010

  OK, you've already selected Crofton, MD as your destination of choice to buy a home. Now its time to drill down into the specific neighborhoods. One of the ones that should be high on your list is going to be Chapman Farm. This unique subdivision is made up exclusively of single family detached homes. Built in the late 90's, these homes have a lot to offer. Most with finished basements, nine foot ceilings and maintenance free exteriors.  Chapman Farm is a community with houses for sale starting in the mid $400's and going over $600 in some cases. This report does show one Chapman Farm home for sale listed at $399,900. This is a 3 br, 2.5 bath home. Today, there are 6 homes for sale in Chapman Farm, Crofton, MD. Clicking on any of the icons on the map below will bring up a page where ... 08/22/2010

Six new rentals came on the market in Crofton, MD last week bringing the total rentals available in Crofton to 21. . All the current rentals are townhouses, except for one semi detached home. Rental prices range from $1,425/month to $1,900/month. Eight new homes became active during the week of 8/8/10 to 8/14/10. One of these would be new construction. The current available homes for sale in the Crofton, MD inventory remains at 154. This is an excellent combination spanning all price ranges. The least expensive Crofton, MD home is listed for $129,900 and the most expensive is listed for $650,000. Five homes went under contract/no kickout status, and three went under full contract status. One home went under contract with a kickout. This activity is an indicator of future settlements in... 08/22/2010

The Crofton area is about to see some major changes with the construction of Village South at Waugh Chapel in Gambrills.  I can just imagine what that complex will do to traffic on Route 3 between Crofton and Severna Park, can’t you? Things have certainly changed around here since we moved to our first Crofton home in 1970.  We really didn’t mind a bit that buying groceries or filling up the car with gas required a drive to Bowie.   I happened to be serving on the Crofton Civic Association Board of Directors when developers proposed the retail centers where Giant and Kmart are located.  Vocal residents didn’t think we were doing enough to stop this commercial growth, so they showed up at meetings to protest, and anonymous residents mailed threats… no one would admit to seeing a need for... 08/21/2010

  The Crofton, MD rental market is extremely robust right now. Quality, affordable rentals are very hard to come by. I'm getting calls and emails every day from people looking for decent rentals in the area. Renters are getting pretty aggressive trying to get into a place before school starts.Many military families are being relocated and will be working at Ft. George G. Meade, or the NSA. Some as a result of the Base Realignment and Closing initiative (BRAC), and others with their Permanent Change of Station orders.Crofton, MD is an excellent choice for renters. Located about 15 minutes from Ft. George G. Meade, Crofton has a lot to offer both buyers and renters. Crofton has a nice selection but only 20 rental homes in the current inventory. This is a pretty small inventory for a comm... 08/15/2010

Six new rentals came on the market in Crofton, MD last week. This is good news since the rental inventory is pretty low, and the demand is high. That brings the total available rentals in Crofton to twenty. All the current rentals are townhouses. Rental prices range from $1,275/month to $1,995/month. Four new homes became active during the week of 8/8/10 to 8/14/10. The current available homes for sale in the Crofton, MD inventory stands at 154. This is an excellent combination spanning all price ranges. The least expensive Crofton, MD home is listed for $129,900 and the most expensive is listed for $639,990. Four homes went under contract/no kickout status, and four went under full contract status. This is an indicator of future settlements in Crofton, MD. One application was register... 08/15/2010

Crofton, MD tends to be a destination point for buyers relocating into the area and working in DC or Baltimore. Situated almost equidistant between those two large employment markets, Crofton, MD offers a lot to local and relocating buyers. Once you add Annapolis to that mix, you have a combination that's hard to beat. Crofton, MD has many subdivisions that have grown into the Greater Crofton area over the years. It would be hard to find any nicer than Walden. Surrounding the Walden Golf Course is a terrific selection of single family, townhouse and condo offerings. Prices for these listings range from the $190's to the $700's. There is something for everyone in Walden. Today, there are 22 homes for sale in the Walden sub-division of Crofton, MD. Clicking on any of the icons on the map... 08/15/2010

Nothing puts the market into perspective like a comparison of the same month over the course of several recent years.  This chart provides exactly that. As  you can see, the real estate market in Crofton is down a bit from last year, but certainly not dead: There were fewer new contracts than July 2009, but not a lot. The average sold price was up slightly (2%) over last year but down slightly (3%) for the median price. Many fewer homes sold and settled (almost 25%), but that was to be expected, due to the tax credit deadline requiring closing by June 30. Higher days on market than last year (9%), but nowhere near the 2008 level of 122 homes. And the List vs Sold Price percentage has been fairly consistent for 3 years. Overall, I'm kinda relieved to see the sales statistics for July 201... 08/13/2010

Welcome to the Baltimore-Washington area where you'll find thousands of communities to choose from for your next home. Yikes... That's a little overwhelming! So you spend some time with a map, talk to friends of friends who may have lived in this area at one point in their lives, and do a Google search for communities.  You read my blog and others, and eventually decide that Crofton, Maryland, seems to have everything you're looking for in a community.  In your mind, the hard part is done now and all that remains is to jump in a car, go look at three homes (like they do on HGTV) and you'll be ready to set a date with your movers. WRONG!   You see, there's more to Crofton than meets the eye:  There are forty-some unique neighborhoods built at different times by different builders - each ... 08/08/2010

The Crofton real estate market may be sluggish, but it's NOT dead.  Eight homes went under contract in Old Crofton last month (July 2010) and twenty more went under contract in other areas of the community.  Five of these 28 homes have already settled and another twenty-one contracts are either firm (no contingency) or contingent without a kick-out.  Only two are contingent sales with a kick-out.  So let me ask a question:   Are you… Dreaming of a retirement home by the water? Feeling cramped in your first home, now that you have three children? Tired of sharing the bathroom? No longer able to keep up with home-maintenance?   If you're postponing a home sale and move because of today's real estate market in Crofton, listen up… NO ONE is predicting a turn-around any time soon, so who kno... 08/07/2010

  The Crofton, MD rental market is blazing right now. Quality, affordable rentals are very hard to come by. I'm getting calls and emails every day from people looking for decent rentals in the area. Many military families are being relocated and will be working at Ft. George G. Meade, or the NSA. Some as a result of the Base Realignment and Closing initiative (BRAC), and others with their Permanent Change of Station orders.Crofton, MD is an excellent choice for renters. Located about 15 minutes from Ft. George G. Meade, Crofton has a lot to offer both buyers and renters. Crofton has a nice selection but only 16 rental homes in the current inventory. This is a pretty small inventory for a community this size. 15 of the 16 rental properties are condos or townhouses. Only one is a single ... 08/01/2010

Homes that have completed the foreclosure legal process frequently revert back to the bank, if they're not perviously sold at auction. While Crofton, MD doesn't have a significant number of bank owned properties, some are always available for preview and purchase. Crofton, MD has had a total of 165 homes that have sold since January 1, 2010. Of these, 13 were bank owned (foreclosure) sales. This equates to 7.8% of total sales. Compared to other communities in the area, this is a very small number. The process of purchasing a bank owned property is well documented, and varies only slightly from a normal resale. The fact that there hasn't been many foreclosures in Crofton, MD has tended to help keep property prices stable. As of today, August 1, 2010, the map below shows the seven proper... 08/01/2010

Crofton, MD is a terrific destination point for local buyers as well as buyers coming into the area for the first time. Along with a wonderful inventory of homes, Crofton, MD is situated pretty much right in the middle of the Washington, DC and Baltimore corridor. Add Annapolis about fifteen minutes away to that huge plus and you have one of the main reasons buyers choose Crofton, MD. Like many other communities in the area, Crofton, MD is made up of several sub-divisions. Some older, some newer, but all in Crofton. One of the most unique sub-divisions is Walden. Walden is made up of a combination of condos, townhouses and single family homes. These range in price from the high $190's to the low $700's. Quite a diverse spread. Surrounding a golf course, Walden homes were built in the 9... 08/01/2010