Assigned Out Of a Commission Here is the possible scenario: A real estate agent has a signed Exclusive Buyer Agency Agreement with a buyer. A property is found and placed under contract with this buyer using this agent. The listing agent for this property has indicated via the Multiple List Service that a commission is being offered to buyer's agents, but not to sub-agents. The buyer assigns the contract of sale to another agent. The contract of sale that is typically used in Maryland does not allow for assignments. Since this particular buyer is a wholesaler, the agent, buyer, and the seller agree to remove this clause from the contract. The new buyer, the assignee, does not have an Exclusive Buyer Agency Agreement with the real estate agent and hence, has no obligation to pay a commis... 08/24/2023

Conforming Loan Limits to IncreaseThe Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) will increase conforming loan limits, effective January 1, 2023, by about 12.2%The FHFA determines the amount of the increases once it has received the third quarter housing sales numbers.For most counties in the country, the limit will increase from $647,200 to $726,200.The highest conforming loan limit, which will be available in 99 counties in the country, will be $1,089,300.Note, these limits are based on home prices and not on interest rates, affordability, wages, inflation and so on.In Maryland, the high limit of $1,089,300 applies to five counties: Calvert, Charles, Frederick, Montgomery, and Prince George's.Check with your lender to determine the limits for the area where you are looking to purchase.If y... 12/02/2022

Should HUD Practice Social Engineering?With a FHA loan homes have become affordable, which sounds like a good idea.But, when someone forecloses on a FHA loan and HUD picks up ownership of the house, should they, then, practice social engineering?HUD is not in the business of owning real estate, so they should put the properties that they obtain on the market as quickly as possible and to the largest buyer pool possible.No, HUD creates all types of categories of buyers and makes properties available to some groups and not to other groups.Here is one: Good Neighbor Next Door.  What is a good neighbor?  Is it a teacher, a police officer, or the like?  Apparently so.  So what does that make me?  Am I a bad neighbor next door?Here is another one: Government agencies and non-profits.  Does HU... 12/02/2022

Mortgage Interest Rates Here is about where the rates stand this week (first week of December 2020) 2.750% for a 30 year fixed rate conventional loan; 2.375% for a 15 year fixed rate conventional loan; and 2.375% for a 30 year fixed rate VA or FHA loan.  To give you more perspective on what this means, you may want to think in terms of how much your monthly payment would be.  For a 30 year conventional loan with a fixed rate of 2.750%, your monthly payment would be $4.08 for every thousand dollars that you borrowed.  So the monthly payment for a $250,000 house would be 250 x $4.08 or $1,020.00.  This includes principal and interest.  It does not include property taxes and property insurance. If this tempts you to think about buying, then contact me so that we can discuss it further or g... 12/04/2020

Check Your Spam Folder; It Might Have Something WorthwhileThe other day I prepared an offer for my client.  Before I sent the email off to the listing agent, of course, I had to decide, if I wanted it to go to their primary email folder or to their spam email folder.I doubted that this low ball offer would be accepted so I just checked off for it to go to the listing agent's spam folder.Now, you are probably wondering where is this check box that allows for you to check primary versus spam.Let's back up a moment.  There is no check box that determines whether an email goes to someone's primary email folder or to their spam email folder.Also, I would never give any less effort to any offer that I submitted.This raises a question.  Does anyone send out emails with the intent that they wil... 12/02/2020

Next Door Heroes Program  Next Door Heroes Program for Front Line Workers.   Buy or sell your home with Ron Trzcinski of Century 21, The Real Estate Centre, and receive an eGift Card good at Home Depot for $200 to $1,000 depending upon the price of the home.   Ron Trzcinski Century 21, The Real Estate Centre 410-935-5844 Direct rontrealestate@gmail.com 11/12/2020

The Corona Virus is not a Computer Virus Of course, everyone knows that the corona virus causes disease in humans, while a computer virus causes disarray in computers.  But what is the point? As it relates to home buying and home selling, while there is a concern about coming into contact with the corona virus and getting sick, the majority of a real estate transaction, from start to finish, is done online where the corona virus has no powers. The primary method to sell most houses in today's market is by advertising the house online.  There are thousands of websites that do just this by being the vehicle for displaying tens of thousands of houses.  The basic information and much more about any given property is found online. The online data for any given property which is for sale will... 03/21/2020