The Weis Ripoff We all know about convenience stores.  They can be found all across the land.  Even gas stations have added them to their locations. Why are they convenient?  It is because we can quickly pull in and get a coffee, a soda, a hot dog, a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, a candy bar, a pack of cigarettes, or similar "I don't have time to waste items".  The stores are relatively small so they carry a limited selection and inventory, but this adds to their efficiency of getting you in and out in a hurry. Of course, this convenience comes with a price, but not so high that we are not occasionally willing to pay the higher price.  If we are out on the road, rather than carry a cooler with some hot dogs and a grill to heat them up for when we get hungry, we can just stop at the c... 02/09/2010

How Do You Match a Buyer with a Neighborhood? As real estate agents working with buyers, we are often asked about neighborhoods.  Is that a nice neighborhood; is it safe; do they have good schools; is it this; is it that?  Usually, these are buyers who are moving to your area from out of town. Depending upon how general the question is, we may be able to give a general answer, but usually this is a question from which we try to shy away, because answering it could get us into trouble. Yes we can give general answers and sometimes we can refer the buyer to a source which will provide the answer about their concern. Is the area safe?  Many cities keep detailed crime statistics which are posted online.  One can see the frequency and location of burglaries, assaults, rapes, murders, and suc... 02/08/2010

Cost Scenario For A Buyer There are many people out there who would like to purchase a home, but for a variety of reasons they are waiting.  Certainly there are many factors to consider when making one of the biggest financial decisions of ones life, so it is prudent to act wisely in evaluating all of these concerns. Some of the bigger factors that potential buyers are considering these days are the many foreclosures that currently exist, the concern as to whether or not home values will decline further, and the uncertain state of the economy. While all of these concerns are relevant and important, none of them gets specific with the financial nature of what is largely a financial decision. The numbers below, which are meant primarily for a first time buyer, but which have some relevanc... 02/08/2010

Some Considerations for Buyers to Ponder There are several concerns that a buyer, or potential buyer, should consider when deciding to purchase a house.  Many would be buyers are sitting on the fence waiting before they make the move.  Why are they waiting? There is currently an extremely high number of foreclosures among buyers who have purchased homes over the last 5 years.  This is creating trepidation among the many who would like to buy, but are worried about getting into the same situation. Should they be concerned?  Yes, they should.  However, the buyer of today has the advantage of seeing what went wrong with this recent set of buyers and of not making the same mistake.  Sub-prime loans, with upwardly adjusting payments, which they would not be able to afford, put those people i... 02/08/2010

Do You Wish You Sold Four Years Ago? I was speaking with someone about the value of real estate.  Four years ago during the peak of the real estate bubble, they could have easily sold their home for $400,000.  Today, this person could get $325,000 for the same house, which through upgrades is actually a better house. I asked this person if she wished that she had sold her house four years ago.  She said no.  Her reason was that she was not interested in selling her house at that time, because it was her home.  She wanted it as a place to live and, furthermore, she intended to live there for several more years. Now in this person's case, she had no debt against the house, paid about $70,000 for it about 35 years ago, and even at a $75,000 reduction in value in the last four years was sti... 02/08/2010

Snow in Maryland, Again The weather forecasters are frequently wrong, but somehow or another they had to be right on the BIG ONE.  Two to three feet, no exaggeration, of snow fell in The Mid-Atlantic region in a thirty hour period from Friday to Saturday. And now, when we are just barely shoveled out from this storm, another little storm of about one foot is scheduled for Wednesday.  Additionally, there may be another winter blast on the weekend, but who listens to long term predictions. Your back, your legs, your arms, and your every inch of your body may be aching from the snow digging workout, but there are some important things to consider, which may mean a bit more moving of that snow. Keep an eye on your roof.  If icicles are forming try to knock them off.  The snow and ice could ... 02/08/2010

Snow in Maryland The snowfall has been more than normal this winter season in Maryland. There were two smaller storms over the last week.  They were of just a few inches.  But the BIG ONE has just started to let loose.  Two to Three Feet, not inches, but feet, which will have completely unloaded and crushed the ground by Saturday evening is currently lambasting the area. When did the North Pole move to Maryland? I have been stretching and exercising, but I don't know if my back can take the shoveling required for this one.   02/05/2010

Buyer Confusion The real estate market speaks for itself.  But, when the real estate market speaks, is it being understood. Some things seem obvious especially to those who are in the business, such as real estate agents. For example, the following seem to be transparently obvious: Interest rates are as low as they have been in years.  They are as low or lower than when the market ballooned not too many years back.   Home prices have come down substantially.  In many locations, they are at levels below where they were prior to the market bubble.   The Government is giving away, depending upon the type of purchase, $6,500 and $8,000 gifts for purchasing a house.   The number of homes on the market relative to the number of Buyers is high.  Basically, this is a Buyers' market where the Bu... 02/04/2010

A Great Offer From My Lender Your clients can lower their monthly mortgage payment for FREE! My office is offering a free .25% rate buy down for purchase mortgages. The buy down is absolutely free, not built into the rate and with no additional closing costs. Your clients will receive a rate reduction in their mortgage at no cost, when they apply and lock in their rates now through the end of February. Hopefully an interest rate in the 4%'s will motivate some of your hesitant buyers. If you have any clients that would benefit from the free interest rate reduction, or if you would like me to prepare property specific marketing flyers for your listings highlighting the potential savings, please call me at any time. I appreciate our partnership!  Thank you for your business, Jason Call Ron... 01/30/2010

Give Me That; It's Mine It sounds like the innocent remark of a child, who has not yet learned to share.  That's mine, you can't play with it. If they get their way, they then may be seen awkwardly standing there with a toy that they really had no interest in having in the first place, but it was theirs, so nobody else could have it.  They may eventually put it down and play with something else, but they will still not want the other child to have it. Of course, the other child is left without a toy and crying. That is what happens, unless an adult is nearby who can mediate and find a happy solution for all of the children, while teaching the value of sharing. We teach our children these beautiful principals by which to live and as our children grow, they find out how wonderful a place ... 01/21/2010

Nottingham Maryland 1-18-2010 It is time to buy and Nottingham Maryland is the place. Interest rates are low, home prices are low, homes are aplenty, $8,000 freebie is available. Nottingham is affordable, beautiful, convenient, accessable, and everything else that your dreams desire. Take a look at some of the homes in the link below. http://mrislistings.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Portal.aspx?ID=34780507561   01/18/2010

Why Not To Use a Real Estate Agent You want to sell your house.  You think about using a real estate agent to list it for you.  To determine, which agent to use, you figure that if you can see some of their work, then you can make an intelligent decision as to whether or not to use them. You stop at an Open House which is scheduled for a property in your neighborhood. The agent shows up late.  They hurry to the house as they drop items all along the path way.   You ask for a brochure about the house, but they say that as they hurried out of their office they left them on the desk.  They get you a wrinkled and soggy brochure from the brochure box.   They find a piece of scrap paper and quickly draw some lines and ask you to sign in.   You ask the price.  They tell you the price and state... 01/12/2010

Main Street  Maryland The State of Maryland through its Department of Housing and Urban Development created the Main Street Maryland program in 1998 to revitalize its traditional downtowns. Intended to spur economic opportunities while preserving the rich historical flavor of these towns, the program has proven to be an enormous success as it has substantially boosted business activity. See the video for more information: Main Street Maryland 01/12/2010

Baltimore and TeleWorking The Greater Baltimore Region continues to move forward into the modern age by promoting green options for employment.  They are on the forefront of finding ways to reduce traffic, congestion, and fuel consumption.  TeleWorking is just one of the initiatives aimed towards meeting those objectives. Companies which provide telework arrangements report anywhere from a 10 to 40 percent improvement in productivity.  They attribute this increase to more time spent doing actual work because of no commute, fewer distractions, and a willingness to work more hours. Improve Your Bottom Line and Make Baltimore a Better Place! More and more businesses are realizing bottom-line benefits from structured telework programs. The Baltimore Metropolitan Council  and the Maryland De... 01/12/2010

I Don't Need to Sell It's a popular line that many Sellers use.  "I don't need to sell." Most often it is used by the Sellers who are asking too much for their homes. One of the most important determinants in whether or not a house will sell is price.  So, if a Seller, or pretend to be Seller, prices the house too high, then, indeed, it will not sell.  But, that's okay, because they don't need to sell. Of course, with the high price, the house will sit on the market, which will make it even less attractive, so, again, it will not sell.  But, that's okay, because they don't need to sell. The statement of "I don't need to sell" leads one to ask a particular question.  Why, then, do you have your house on the market? It could be that they are testing the market.  This would be ridiculous, ... 01/05/2010

Interest Rate Volatility Concern The creative sub-prime loans of just a few years ago have almost become nonexistant. At that time, borrowers would all too frequently borrow to their limit with loans that were designed to push the initial monthly payments extremely low. Today, home prices have come down, but without the creative loans, Buyers are still taking loans which are at their limits, since the monthly payments are no longer creatively, or artificially low. The concern with the interest rate hikes that are likely to take place this year, and in fact which already have begun to occur, is that the affordability of Buyers will be going down. Because of this mortgage interest rate volatility, which is generally upward, today it is more critical to keep an eye on the rates and corresp... 01/05/2010

Call in the National Guard Two weeks ago, several areas in the eastern part of the United States were hit with a blizzard.  It was of a magnitude that surpassed many storms of recent years. In Maryland, the Governor called it a state of emergency and called upon the National Guard to assist the State in maintaining safety and helping in the cleanup efforts.  Swift action such as this helped to get the State back to normal and prevented most people from having any major problems. However, even if there had been no assistance from the National Guard or from the government itself, the State would have been removed from danger within just a few days as higher temperatures melted most of the snow away.  In fact, the efforts of individual citizens would have helped to alleviate much of the pr... 01/04/2010

Origins of the Conservative Talk Show Host We know who they are: Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Glen Beck, . . . They rant, they rave, and they get their listeners and viewers riled up around the nation as they espouse conservative ideals. Write your congressperson, call your congressperson, march on Washington, town hall meetings, the tea party movement, the 9/12 project, . . . But, how did it start?  Where did it start?  Are they making an impact? Let's go back to the mid 1970s.  Yes, that's right, all the way back to the 1970s. Take a look at these short clips from the movie, "Network: Mad as Hell".  Does it look and sound familiar? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90ELleCQvew http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfGdbFh6cSI&feature=related Are you "Mad as Hell"?  G... 01/04/2010

A Message to NAR While I understand that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has as one of its primary goals to protect the interests of real estate agents and that there are benefits that I do receive from being a member, it is not for these reasons that I a member. There is actually one very different reason than those that NAR might believe for why I am a member.  That reason is the following: In order to belong to the Multiple Listing Service for my area, if my Broker is a Realtor, meaning that my Broker must be a member of NAR, then I, too, must be a Realtor, meaning that I must be a member of NAR. As such, I would appreciate it, if NAR, or its representatives, would not send letters stating that they are speaking on my behalf.  For example, the letter, which is shown in the... 01/02/2010

Interest Rates Are Up as of 1-2-2010 Potential Buyers, who have been holding off on making that home purchase because of uncertainty in the market, may want to act soon. Numerous warnings have gone out regarding the possibility of interest rates rising. Over the last two weeks, interest rates have increased by .375%.  This is the largest increase in over 7 months. This may be related to better than expected economic reports.  For instance, jobless claims have gone down and the consumer confidence level has gone up. These statistics push money out of the bond market, which supports interest rates, and into the stock market which is showing strong signs of recovery. Even if homes have a slight decrease in prices, which may occur with the possible foreclosures which may hit the market in 2... 01/02/2010