REO Bargains in Hagerstown Take Thorough Assessment, Hagerstown REO bargains can’t help but catch your eye when you’re searching through the latest residential offerings. Whether you are a future homeowner or an investor looking for an opportunity that makes financial sense, bargain basement prices are hard to skip past. Washington County REO homes (the “REO” is Real Estate Owned, meaning bank-owned) are still being offered at relatively low prices — sometimes, remarkably low prices. But like skilled investors in any realm, successful REO buyers make sure they know why those prices are where they are. In the REO world, the standout factor is this: buying REO means cutting out a proud owner who cares, instead dealing with a bank that wants to sell. It’s a personal pride deficit that inev... 05/26/2013

Disclosure Signatures Disclosing material facts that might affect your Hagerstown property’s value is a fair obligation that’s understood by everyone. Yet properly disclosing all material facts won’t help you at all if an issue comes up later but you can’t prove the disclosure. A good agent will double- and triple-check all the signatures, but at the end of the day, your peaceful sleep at night is only protected when you also take care to keep complete copies of the paperwork with all signatures accounted for. Earnest Money Ah — the thrill of getting the first offer! After readying the property and listing your home, when an offer comes quickly, you’ll be tempted to say, “Where do I sign?” But slow up: getting a great offer is just the first step. Part of being a prudent seller is scrut... 04/27/2013

Having survived last week’s End of the World, you might think the coast would be clear for a while. But -- at least when it comes to Hagerstown real estate matters -- some would have you believe we are face-to-face with another extreme dire threat: the Internet buzz about a (gasp!) huge new federal sales tax on all real estate transactions. This one was all over the web even before passage of the federal health care act. It has staying power, and comes in several forms. The one that circulates most often is an email message warning that a 3.8% Medicare surtax that is going to hit “average, middle-class investors” on January 1. Supposedly ALL real estate transactions are subject to the tax “no matter how low their income might be…” If Hagerstown real estate holders (in other words, most ... 12/23/2012

Bank Owned Properties Can Affect Hagerstown Homeowners   Nationally, the supply of the bank-owned properties for sale has been trending down -- potentially good news for anyone and everyone with an interest in Hagerstown real estate. Competition from the glut of foreclosed properties has had the effect of driving down home sale prices, so any drop in the number of Hagerstown bank owned properties will remove that downward pressure. If the trend continues, it should also affect even the bank owned properties themselves. A drop in supply will increase competition for the bargains they represent. But this is why alert bargain hunters should keep their pencils sharpened. As retail merchants understand, just slapping a ‘SALE!’ sign on an item may help it sell -- even if it isn’t really a pa... 09/17/2012