More Employment Means More Homes Sold It is very simple.  If someone does not have a job, then it is difficult to purchase a home. If people are employed, then they can purchase a home. When more people start to purchase homes, then the economy starts to thrive again. Many veterans are returning from the wars and they will need to find employment. A part of the President's veterans employment initiative is the Warrior to Workforce Program. This is a 3 year entry level program resulting in job placement in the Federal Government Acquisition Workforce. It provide 3 years of training in Frederick, MD with job placement in their Washington DC office. Starting salary of $34,075 with promotion potential to $62,000 after the third year. It provides college courses and training to become a Cont... 12/08/2012

  ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL SALE! SOLD ON 11/16/12 8901 PARLO ROAD NOTTINGHAM, MD 21236 SOLD BY MIKE KLIJANOWICZ WITH REMAX AMERICAN DREAM IN PERRY HALL, MARYLAND! FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT: WWW.ISELLMDHOMES.COM or CONTACT MIKE DIRECT 410-236-3331 (CALL or TEXT)         SEARCH FOR NEW HOMES ON MIKE'S INTERACTIVE HOME SEARCH MAP JUST CLICK THE MAP BELOW! CLICK HERE OR ON THE MAP ABOVE TO USE MY STATE OF THE ART MAP BASED HOME SEARCH SYSTEM! Search for ALL of the Baltimore, Maryland area homes that are currently for sale, Search for ALL of the recently sold homes in your Baltimore, Maryland neighborhood including those listed in the MLS system and those that were never listed by real estate agents (for sale by owners, new construction, etc), Search by whatever terms you want: Baltimore, Marylan... 12/07/2012

  ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL SALE! SOLD ON 10/22/12 56 OPEN GATE COURT NOTTINGHAM, MD 21236 SOLD BY MIKE KLIJANOWICZ WITH REMAX AMERICAN DREAM IN PERRY HALL, MARYLAND! FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT: WWW.ISELLMDHOMES.COM or CONTACT MIKE DIRECT 410-236-3331 (CALL or TEXT)         SEARCH FOR NEW HOMES ON MIKE'S INTERACTIVE HOME SEARCH MAP JUST CLICK THE MAP BELOW! CLICK HERE OR ON THE MAP ABOVE TO USE MY STATE OF THE ART MAP BASED HOME SEARCH SYSTEM! Search for ALL of the Baltimore, Maryland area homes that are currently for sale, Search for ALL of the recently sold homes in your Baltimore, Maryland neighborhood including those listed in the MLS system and those that were never listed by real estate agents (for sale by owners, new construction, etc), Search by whatever terms you want: Baltimore, Mary... 12/07/2012

  ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL SALE! SOLD ON 9/14/12 4310 E. JOPPA ROAD NOTTINGHAM, MD 21236 SOLD BY MIKE KLIJANOWICZ WITH REMAX AMERICAN DREAM IN PERRY HALL, MARYLAND! FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT: WWW.ISELLMDHOMES.COM or CONTACT MIKE DIRECT 410-236-3331 (CALL or TEXT)         SEARCH FOR NEW HOMES ON MIKE'S INTERACTIVE HOME SEARCH MAP JUST CLICK THE MAP BELOW! CLICK HERE OR ON THE MAP ABOVE TO USE MY STATE OF THE ART MAP BASED HOME SEARCH SYSTEM! Search for ALL of the Baltimore, Maryland area homes that are currently for sale, Search for ALL of the recently sold homes in your Baltimore, Maryland neighborhood including those listed in the MLS system and those that were never listed by real estate agents (for sale by owners, new construction, etc), Search by whatever terms you want: Baltimore, Maryl... 12/07/2012

Have You Considered The Cost Of Furnishing Your Home? A friend of mine was comfortably living in a nice home of about 3,000 square feet of total living area, which included 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, a half bath, and 3 fully finished levels. This home was plenty adequate for him, his wife, and their two children. This house was fully furnished. But then, somewhat inexplicably, when the children were at an age where they were about to move out, they decided to purchase and move to a larger home. Yes, they moved to a home with nearly 8,000 square feet of living area. After they had moved in to their new home, I was visiting my friend and he commented, as we listened to our footsteps echoing through the cavernous structure, that he did not know what to do with all of the space.  He did not ... 12/03/2012

Do You Want A Christmas Present? Remember way back in the last decade when there was an incredible housing boom? People were buying houses left and right and the prices were climbing at ridiculous rates.  In some areas yearly appreciation was in the range of 20%. Additionally, interest rates were 5%, 6%, 7%, and even 8% along with every kind of creative financing that one could imagine. Guess what? Real estate prices have depreciated to levels below where they were when the housing boom started. Interest rates are at 3% with no points.  They are at 3.25% for jumbo loans.  There is no creativity required; these are 30 year fixed rate loans. Keep in mind that every 1% drop in interest rates is about the same as a 10% drop in price.  That's right, not only have prices come down to normal a... 11/24/2012

Buyer Protocol Recently, I heard a question asked from a Buyer about Buyer Agency Protocol.  The particular Buyer had been working with a Real Estate Agent for about a month, but without a Buyer Agency Agreement.  Eventually, the Buyer found a house on his own and worked directly with the Seller to write the contract.  The Agent, with whom this Buyer had been working for a month, was not involved. Afterwards, the Buyer posed the question: "What is Realtor protocol in this type of situation, because I want to be fair?" In that month, prior to the Buyer going out on his own, the Agent had done copious amounts of work for him.  Naturally, the Buyer did not want to take advantage of this Agent. So, Mister Buyer are you willing to pay that Agent 3% of the purchase price for that deal that yo... 11/06/2012

The Cold Months Are Coming; Should I Wait Until Spring To Sell My House? We are moving into the cold months of the year and into the holiday season. For many people who would like to sell their homes, they feel like they have missed the prime selling season and so they intend to wait until next year. There is a common belief that the best time to sell a house is in the spring when the snow has thawed, the holidays are over, the flowers are blooming, the children will soon be ending school, and vacations are still a few months away in the summer. Indeed, the numbers do show that the winter months have fewer sales than the rest of the year.  The drop may be as much as 25%. Could Sellers be missing out on a very good time to sell their homes? Here are some reasons why the winter months may... 11/05/2012

Credit Is Important For Buying, And For Renting The are several reasons why someone may choose to rent a place to live instead of buying a place to live. Two major reasons are based upon finances and credit. From a financial standpoint, it could be that one does not make enough money, makes too little money relative to their debt, or possibly is waiting for home prices to come down or for interest rates to come down. From a credit standpoint, some of the reasons are similar to the financial reasons, but frequently it is because the credit is bad. Credit scoring uses a sophisticated algorithm, but generally speaking there are certain things which may tend to lower the score. Some of the things which may lead to a lower score include making payments late, having too high of a balance rela... 11/04/2012

Is It About The Community Or Is It About The Team? Many of us grow up in areas which have major league football, baseball, and possibly some other sports franchises. They are the home team and we live and die as they win and lose. It becomes a passion that we can share with all of the citizens, our neighbors, of that region. Most teams have their ups and their downs, but we consider the team to be a part of the community, so we support them through these good times and these bad times. However, in our very mobile society, we sometimes are faced with the need to relocate, usually to keep good employment. Moving may be a necessity to maintain our livelihood, but it can be a sad experience having to leave family, friends, and familiarities behind. It may be so tough to leave some things be... 11/03/2012

A Great Deal For Veterans; Maryland Mortgage Program The Maryland Mortgage Program has an element which is designed to help current and former military homebuyers by offering a lower-than-market interest rate and additional downpayment and closing cost assistance. This program will continue until June 30, 2013 or until the $50 million of allocated program funds have been committed. The program applies to all of Maryland, although targeted areas will see an interest rate of 2.875%. Downpayment and closing cost assistance could be $10,000 and can be combined with some other programs. For more details, you can go to the fact sheet at:   The Veterans and Military Family Mortgage Program     10/10/2012

So You Don't Do Dual Agency I will just speak for the State of Maryland. Real Estate Agents are not, are never, dual agents. If a situation of dual agency exists, it is the Real Estate Broker who is the dual agent. In order to have dual agency, there must be three individuals, which are the Broker and two Real Estate Agents, who are affiliated with such Broker. One Real Estate Agent would represent the Buyer and would be called an Intra-Company Agent. The other Real Estate Agent would represent the Seller and would, also, be referred to as an Intra-Company Agent. Although, the Broker is the only one who acts as a dual agent, the Broker has very little to do with the advice which is given to either of the Clients, Buyer or Seller, since this is handled by the Intra-Company Agents. If a B... 10/06/2012

What am I, a circus monkey for your entertainment? A previous client referred a seller to me who wanted to list his house. On the phone, the seller told me that the house was in very poor condition. When I met with him at the house and saw the actual house, I thought that using a description such as "poor condition" was a statement of puffing for this dump. Nevertheless, I gave him my opinion as to what a fair market value would be for this property.  I looked at it in two ways, one was as a house needing to be rehabbed, and two was as a potential lot for a new home, which, of course, would require the knocking down of this beauty. My estimate was that it was worth about $75,000 for either of the options.  He could start with a slightly higher price, because it still would have easily h... 09/29/2012

You Were Preselected That's right; you were preselected to receive this email because you are: a real estate agent; a real estate broker; a member of a multiple list service; a member of an association of realtors; a member of the real estate community; a person who previously looked at our web site; a person who happens to have an email, which we got our hands on; and on and on and on. When it comes to the internet and email, it seems that there is no such thing as targeted marketing. I have several email addresses so that I can try to force these emails to be targeted. Some of my emails are for business, some are for personal purposes, and some are for exploratory purposes whereby I fully expect to get follow up spam. I opened an email with Yahoo and immediately started getting spam, ... 09/28/2012

Today The Super Big Gulp: Tomorrow The Super Big House Mayor Bloomberg of New York City wants to ban fountain soda drinks which are over 16 ounces. This would apply to drinks sold at the stadiums and arenas for sporting events, at movie theaters, at local convenience stores such as 7 Eleven, with its Super Big Gulp, WaWa, with its super swawa, and so on. The rationale for such a ban is to curb Americans' appetite for sugary foods which partially lead to the obesity problem which the nation faces. Some people wonder how he could push for such a ban on soda, while seemingly being okay with people smoking joints on the street. Others think that it is simply related to an inferiority complex that he has about his being only 5 feet tall and weighing about 75 pounds. Most people do not questi... 09/14/2012

The Age Of Communication? Yes, indeed, it is the age of communication. You can email, call, text, and even twitter and tweeter to your hearts delight and reach almost anyone in the world at almost anytime. In the case of real estate agents, whose business requires that they be reasonably available, it is almost a prerequisite for being in the business to allow for people to contact them through as many means as possible. Contact information for most agents can usually easily be found with a quick internet search. The agents are on Active Rain, Trulia, Zillow, Facebook, and all sorts of other places. In fact, I find that people will frequently call me and ask about particular listings that I have. We will talk a bit and exchange some information and then set up appointments to see the li... 09/13/2012

I Make My Bed In Less Than 60 Seconds Yes, It's true.  I make my bed in less than 60 seconds every day. Not only that, but dirty clothes disappear in moments.  At least, they disappear into a hamper. My morning bathroom ritual has me using several items, including a tooth brush, a shaving razor, tooth paste, shaving cream, shampoo, a comb, at least for a few more years, and other items yet when I am finished there is no sign of these items, unless you open the cabinet door. Once I eat my breakfast, as well as any other meal, the dishes are not only washed, but dried, and put away. No I do not have a servant taking care of these things for me and no it does not take much time for me to do these things. In other words, my house is in market showing condition at almost any time of the day.... 09/12/2012

  ANOTHER SHORT SALE COMPLETED SUCCESSFULLY AND A FORECLOSURE AVOIDED! SOLD ON 8/21/12 46 SURREY LANE #125 (RED FOX FARMS COMMUNITY) NOTTINGHAM, MD 21236 SOLD BY MIKE KLIJANOWICZ WITH REMAX AMERICAN DREAM IN PERRY HALL, MARYLAND! FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT: WWW.ISELLMDHOMES.COM or CONTACT MIKE DIRECT 410-236-3331 (CALL or TEXT)         SEARCH FOR NEW HOMES ON MIKE'S INTERACTIVE HOME SEARCH MAP JUST CLICK THE MAP BELOW! CLICK HERE OR ON THE MAP ABOVE TO USE MY STATE OF THE ART MAP BASED HOME SEARCH SYSTEM! Search for ALL of the Baltimore, Maryland area homes that are currently for sale, Search for ALL of the recently sold homes in your Baltimore, Maryland neighborhood including those listed in the MLS system and those that were never listed by real estate agents (for sale by owners, new ... 09/03/2012

  SOLD ON 8/15/12 46 SURREY LANE #125 NOTTINGHAM, MD 21236 SOLD BY MIKE KLIJANOWICZ (BUYERS AGENT) WITH REMAX AMERICAN DREAM IN PERRY HALL, MARYLAND! FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT: WWW.ISELLMDHOMES.COM or CONTACT MIKE DIRECT 410-236-3331 (CALL or TEXT)         SEARCH FOR NEW HOMES ON MIKE'S INTERACTIVE HOME SEARCH MAP JUST CLICK THE MAP BELOW! CLICK HERE OR ON THE MAP ABOVE TO USE MY STATE OF THE ART MAP BASED HOME SEARCH SYSTEM! Search for ALL of the Baltimore, Maryland area homes that are currently for sale, Search for ALL of the recently sold homes in your Baltimore, Maryland neighborhood including those listed in the MLS system and those that were never listed by real estate agents (for sale by owners, new construction, etc), Search by whatever terms you want: Baltimore, Maryland zip c... 08/19/2012

My Client Is In Her New Home; Meanwhile You Are Still Laughing My client was a serious buyer.  She was preapproved, was going to use a conventional loan with a decent downpayment, was not going to have any home selling contingencies, and, basically, was ready to make a reasonable and uncomplicated offer to purchase a home. We looked at several homes as she did not want to buy just for the sake of buying, but wanted to get a home which met most of her desires for a home.  Finally we found a home which met her tastes. The home was within her price range, but it was more than she wanted to pay for the particular house.  In my opinion, she was right.  When reasonable comparable properties were examined in relation to the subject property, we consistently determined that the price was too hi... 08/01/2012