They Were Shocked By Their Tax Assessed Values Every three years, in Maryland, properties are assessed to determine their value for tax purposes. Supposedly, the assessed values are in accordance with actual market values. When real estate prices went up a few years ago during the boon in the market at percentages reaching 20 percent per year, the tax assessed values went up accordingly. Fortunately, the property tax for existing homeowners did not go up by the same amount, even though their property's assessed values had gone up.  This was due to the Homestead Act, which limited the annual increase in their taxes to 4 percent per year.  Unfortunate for home buyers, they would be hit with the full amount of taxes for the assessed value. In recent years, tax assessed values came down in ... 01/04/2012

Game PlanMaryland Under Governor Martin O'Malley, the State of Maryland has been aggressively planning and implementing a comprehensive smart growth policy. With the PlanMaryland initiative, more of the future growth would occur within existing areas of infrastructure.  Efforts would be made to decrease commute times, increase the use of public transportation, and increase the possibilities for walking and biking. The plan would try to save agricultural land and open spaces, reduce the levels of pollution on the water, land, and air, and keep the costs of growth low. While the plan would increase the density of existing areas, it would not completely prevent growth in outlying regions. On the PlanMaryland website, there is an interactive game which shows the impact of different planning... 12/22/2011

Term Limits; Home Limits Many people have suggested that there should be term limits for all political offices.  They believe that with the current system that politicians are always in campaign mode.  As soon as they are elected they are thinking about getting relected rather than thinking about long term solutions to issues. As an alternative, they might want to consider increasing the length of all terms to six years rather than limiting the number of terms.  This would allow for the politicians to give some thought to longer term solutions to issues without having to worry about whether their plans were showing immediate results or not. Home Limits Let's for a moment assume that anyone who resides in a home can only stay in it for two years. If they were to purchase the home, it is ... 12/21/2011

My Dog Ate My Homework Okay, it was not really a dog and it was not really homework, but the concept was the same. Sometimes our clients are busy doing other things or are distracted and prevented from getting back to us with our urgent needs. My client really was prevented from getting to her assignment to look at listings which I had emailed to her and it really was the fault of her pet kitten. Be patient with your clients.  As much as we wish that they did, their lives do not revolve around their agents. 12/10/2011

You Gave It Away Long Ago We have all heard sellers say to us "I'm not going to give it away." Usually this statement has nothing to do with the actual market value, with the condition of the property, or even with reality. Instead, it is based upon some warped sense of the value of the property which the seller must have pulled out of a hat. In many cases, the sellers fail to recognize that their property is not in the same condition as other properties which deserve to sell at a certain price. These are the sellers who have given their property away long ago. Long ago when: they stopped trimming their trees and bushes and let a jungle grow around their house;   they stopped cleaning their carpet and let it build up with mud, tar, oil, and other contributions from their pets;   they de... 12/02/2011

Here Comes Peter Cottontail Here comes Peter Cottontail, Hoppin' down the bunny trail, Hippity hoppity, Easter's on its way. Easter seems to get here sooner and sooner every year. No wait, that's what they say about Christmas. Well, enjoy the Christmas season, but keep a close eye on the upcoming Spring. My prediction is for a decrease in unemployment numbers, a stabilizing of real estate prices, and a slight increase in mortgage interest rates. What does this mean? It means that buying a house now before the interest rates start to go up and while it is still a buyers market makes more sense than waiting until the spring. If you do wait until after the holiday season, then be prudent now and do not overspend hence leaving yourself in too much debt to be able to buy that house of which ... 11/29/2011

If a society could exist without money, then what would your role be in such a society? Money is used as a common denominator to measure and to trade goods and services. Without the goods and services, there would be no need for money.  In and of itself it has no value.  It only has value as per the definition stated above. Following through on this concept, the true wealth in a society is in the goods and services and not in the money.  Since money is only there as a reflection of the goods and services, the amount of money in a society should not be more than those goods and services. However, when our economy is viewed, there seems to be an abundance of business operations which are directly related to money, perhaps more than the amount of goods and services. Examples of the many pr... 11/23/2011

Occupy Your Parent's House Movement Lien Free Home Owners Are An Economic Problem. To be healthy the economy needs money to be flowing. Of course, money is generated when wealth is created, but if there is no money to buy the newly generated wealth, then the wealth will not be produced. Lots of wealth has been created in the United States, but lots of it is tied up and not flowing in the economy. One place where the money is tied up, about two trillion dollars of it is in banks, which is absurd.  Banks distribute money and they make a profit in doing it.  So one might ask why are they holding onto the product which they sell.  This would be similar to Walmart or Sears collecting a big inventory of goods and then not selling them. But another place where much of the country's wealth is t... 11/16/2011

How Much Does a Potential Condition Raise the Value of a Property? Potential means that something is possible, but it is not actually that at the current time. Assume that someone has a house which sits on a two acre lot. Assume that houses similar to this house which sit on lots from about 1 to 2 acres in size are worth about $300,000 plus or minus a few thousand. Maybe in the particular area lots of about 1 acre are worth $50,000. Assume further that the property in the example has the potential to be subdivided into two lots of about 1 acre each.  One lot would be where the current house sits and the other lot would be where potentially another house could be built. Because this property has the potential to be subdivided is it worth an extra $50,000 or closer to $350,000? In other w... 10/18/2011

Could Overpricing Be Caused By Dyscalculia? Many sellers will overprice their properties when they place them on the market. Commonly, we relate this to things such as greed, a failure to accept reality, or other such concepts. However, this overpricing may be related to a condition in the brain which is called dyscalculia. Most of us have heard of dyslexia, which occurs when the brain does not properly recognize and process certain symbols. Dyscalculia is similar to dyslexia, except that it deals with the inability to firmly understand mathematical concepts. This condition has not received as much attention as dyslexia, so problems with math have been dismissed for other reasons similar to how learning disabilities caused by dyslexia used to be prior to learning more about it. We know ... 10/05/2011

Short Sales Are In Decline Among First Time Buyers Among first time home buyers, short sales are in decline, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance housing survey. First time home buyers purchased 54.1 percent of all short sales in November of 2009. That number declined to 39.7 percent in August of 2011, which was the third straight month of a decline in these purchases. The main reason for the decline is related to the long completion time which averages around 4 months. The short sale process is often delayed due to paperwork issues, challenges coordinating with multiple investors, slow appraisals and under staffing at mortgage servicing outlets, according to the survey. However, short sales still are of interest to some first time buyers because these sales generall... 10/02/2011

An Overgrown Property and a Bee Attack It was a listing of mine which had a yard with extremely overgrown shrubs and trees. One of the potential options for the property was to subdivide it into two buildable lots. My concern in selling the property was that it was a bit difficult to see it with all of the over growth. I went to the property a few times.  It was near my office so it was easy enough to go by frequently.  One stop was to install a sign, one stop was to take photos of the house on the property, another was to take photos of the lot itself, and a few other reasons. Each time that I was there, I took a few moments to clear a little bit of the lot.  I wanted prospective buyers to be able to see the lot, to walk, at least, parts of the lot, and I wanted to be able to actually ... 09/22/2011

You Will Pay When You Own Your Home Or You Will Pay When You Sell Your Home You will pay the cost of maintaining and upgrading your home while you own your home. Alternatively, if you do not make the investment while you own your home to maintain and upgrade it, then you will pay, at least, the same amount when you sell your home. Obviously, a home which has not had proper maintenance or a home which has not been upgraded over time to more modern and efficient systems will not be as valuable as a home which has had these things done. At the time of selling, not only will the home be, at least, lower in value by as much as the cost of these now necessary and required improvements, but it is likely that most buyers would want to pay even less for the home since they will have the hassle o... 09/21/2011

Multi-Tasking For Football Fans It's football season again and you do not want to miss a single play of a single game, at least, for your favorite team. At the same time, you are in the market to buy a house, but you are too busy with work during the week and too occupied with football on the weekends to have the time to go out and look for that house. Have you considered multi-tasking? That's right; with multitasking, you have more than one thing happening at the same time. With myself for instance I will have several things happening this Sunday. I will be watching the Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans football game on the big screen high definition television.   I will be holding an Open House at one of the most spectacular properties in Baltimore County.   I will be on my comput... 09/15/2011

Where Should She Set Her Thermostat? The Temperature Is . . . . But It Feels Like Usually when temperatures are in a moderate range, we do not hear the statement about what it feels like. Of course, in the dead of winter, there is talk about the temperature feeling lower than it is because of the wind chill and in the peak of summer there is talk about the temperature feeling higher than it is because of the humidity. Remember earlier in the summer when temperatures in the northeast United States were in the upper 90s to low 100s, but how it felt like 115 and such because of the humidity. Now that temperatures are in the more moderate range of the 70s to 80s, we are not hearing about how it feels. However, I have found that this may be just as relative a range of temperatures for having... 09/09/2011

She Told Me That A Woodpecker Did It I went on a listing appointment and as I always do on such appointments I walked around the property to see just what it entailed. There was a nice sized deck off of the back of the house, which would be a very good selling feature. However, I noticed that several areas of the supporting framework for the deck had some issues. I was thinking that maybe it was some form of dry rot or an eating away caused by termites or some other wood destroying bug. In actuality, it did not seem to fit any of these possibilities of which I was thinking so I asked the owner what she knew about it. She told me that she had a problem with woodpeckers. She had tried different things to ward them away, but nothing seemed to work. Although, I knew that woodpeckers pecked ... 09/09/2011

High Days on Market Equals Desperate Seller? What are they asking and how long has it been on the market? These are two of the questions which many buyers ask when they are thinking about making an offer to purchase a house. Obviously the price is important, but how much relevance to negotiating a deal does days on market actually have? There are many reasons for why the days on market could be high, for instance: The seller started at a high price to test the market, but gradually dropped to a reasonable price when reality showed that a high price was not going to happen.   The seller put the house on the market prematurely.  For example, work was still being completed on the house so it did not show well until the work was complete.   What should be considered a high number of days on... 09/08/2011

NOTTINGHAM HOME FOR SALE - NEW LISTING BY MIKE KLIJANOWICZ INTRODUCING 8257 BERRYFIELD DRIVE NOTTINGHAM, MD 21236        If you are considering listing and selling your Baltimore County or Harford County Maryland real estate, I can provide a FREE HOME EVALUATION REPORT also known as a Comparative Market Analysis Report (CMA).  The report will detail all of the Baltimore County or Harford County homes comparable to yours that have recently SOLD in your immediate market area!   CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR FREE BALTIMORE COUNTY OR HARFORD COUNTY MARYLAND HOME VALUE REPORT AND TELL ME A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR HOME! Are you searching for a new place to call home in MD, PA, VA, DC, or WVA?  Then CLICK HERE FOR A FREE MLS SEARCH AND SEE ALL OF THE ACTIVE HOME LISTINGS!  They are directly downloaded from... 09/05/2011

PERRY HALL HOME FOR SALE - NEW LISTING BY MIKE KLIJANOWICZ INTRODUCING 4120 SLATER AVENUE NOTTINGHAM, MD 21236        If you are considering listing and selling your Baltimore County or Harford County Maryland real estate, I can provide a FREE HOME EVALUATION REPORT also known as a Comparative Market Analysis Report (CMA).  The report will detail all of the Baltimore County or Harford County homes comparable to yours that have recently SOLD in your immediate market area!   CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR FREE BALTIMORE COUNTY OR HARFORD COUNTY MARYLAND HOME VALUE REPORT AND TELL ME A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR HOME! Are you searching for a new place to call home in MD, PA, VA, DC, or WVA?  Then CLICK HERE FOR A FREE MLS SEARCH AND SEE ALL OF THE ACTIVE HOME LISTINGS!  They are directly downloaded from th... 09/05/2011

Interest Rates Are Incredibly Low A national lender just gave me his mortgage interest rates. Wow!  They are incredibly low! The rate for an FHA or a VA loan is 3.875 percent with no points. The rate for a conventional loan is 4.000 percent with no points. This is getting close to giving the money away for free. A couple of years ago the rates were closer to 6.000 percent, which would have been equivalent to about a 20 percent increase in the mortgage payment. If you want to get the economy moving and save money in the process, then buy a house while interest rates are at these unbelievably low rates.   09/04/2011