Baltimore County Restaurant Week January 14-28 2011

Baltimore County Restaurant Week is back beginning Friday, January 14 for a number of eateries in the area.

The County has made sure it is TWO weeks, as it ends on January 28.

The meals prices are $10.11, $15.11, $20.11, $25.11, $30.11, $35.11, depending on whether it’s lunch or dinner.

This time 41 restaurants in Baltimore County have joined in, opening the door for you to dine at your favorites or try someplace new!

Towson restaurants include Razorback’s, Melting Pot, and 7 West.

Timonium restaurants have really stepped up, with Basta Pasta on Timonium Rd, Christopher Daniel on Padonia, Joey Chiu’s and Tark’s in Greenspring Station, Liberatore’s on Deeerco, as well as Michael’s and PepperMill on York Rd.

A number of Hunt Valley and Cockeysville restaurants are also involved.

There are many more restaurants in North Baltimore County, as well as west in Owings Mills and Pikesville, and east towards Essex. Here is the full list of participating restaurants.

The first Baltimore County Restaurant Week in August 2010, and it was a great success. I can’t wait to hear the places people will have tried this time around!

Purple Week Day 4 January 13, 2011 Ravens Playoffs

Purple Week  Day 4 is here, and my purple Ravens playoff shirt ready for this weekend.

This week has been so much fun, and luckily I own enough purple & Baltimore Ravens gear (plus a good washing machine. ) to last through Festivus Maximus!

GO RAVENS!

Purple Week Day 1

Purple Week Day 2

Purple Week Day 3

Purple Week Day 3 1-12-11 Ravens Playoffs

Happy Purple Week!

Today is Wednesday, so we are on Day 3.

Luckily I have my Ravens fleece in addition to my heavy coat because I am going to be shoveling out two of my listings that have showings today.

GO RAVENS!

Purple Week Day 1

Purple Week Day 2

Purple Week Day 2 1-11-11 Ravens Playoffs

Day two of purple week, where a few of my friends from twitter & I decided to show support for our Baltimore Ravens all week by wearing purple each day.

Not only am I wearing purple, I wore a Ravens fleece, and also got my playoff decal today to put on my car — though until after the snow, it is going inside the car.

GO RAVENS!

Here is Purple Week Day 1.

Purple Week Day One January 10, 2011

With the Baltimore Ravens taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers in PA this Saturday after a huge win in Kansas City yesterday, a few of us were chatting on twitter about how this week should be ALL purple.

I’m wearing my purple to support the Ravens all week. Will you? Join in to support our boys on their Festivus run!

This is for you, @katekatebear, @sarah21210, @janineculotta & @SushGirl!

GO RAVENS!

This Month in Real Estate January 2011

This Month in Real Estate for January 2011 has been released.

The January episode begins with the National Association of REALTORS(R) statistics on how Home Affordability is at an all time high.

Jay Papasan discusses these statistics, sharing that home payments are only 13.6% of the median family household income. In 2007, the percentage was a whopping 20%.

Low home prices in addition to low interest rates make this a great time for homebuyers wanting to own a home!

Bryon Ellington discussed how buyers currently have the upper hand when it comes to the current real estate market. He says that experts predict this will not last for too much longer.

Experts predict a housing shortage in the future because many builders are not currently building, which will create an issue as demand for houses outpaces the supply. This could happen in the next few years. Some even say many areas will see signs of this later this year.

The area closest to the Baltimore real estate market reporting low inventory is Washington, DC.

When the housing shortage hits, sellers homes may be worth more, however, those same sellers would pay more for their next house too — and possibly be in competition with others for it!

For more details on our local market, including the Towson real estate market, contact me. I follow it closely!

Ravens Playoffs Purple Friday

GO RAVENS!

The State of Maryland has been painted purple, with employees allowed to wear Ravens gear to support our home team, the Baltimore Ravens in their playoff run.

SO, HAPPY FESTIVUS, Baltimore!

Let’s keep up the big support and cheer our boys onto FESTIVUS MAXIMUS!

GO RAVENS!

Computerized Appraisal Problems

Computerized appraisals have been an issue for awhile, but recently, they have become a problem for a much larger group of people.

Appraisals done by people in general are both objective and subjective, which means that often if you had two professional appraisers come to your house, you would likely get two different price opinions, if they did not have a target price to go from.

Computerized appraisals are just that. It uses transactional data information but does not take updates and other ancillary details into consideration. According to the Wall Street Journal article by M.P. McQueen,

Automated valuation models were pioneered by Yale economist Robert Shiller, who developed the first systems in the early 1990s. While arguing that these appraisals are more objective than human appraisers, Mr. Shiller and others say that in some situations the models may be providing unrealistically low values, prompting lenders to reject loan applications or lend less money on particular properties.

I have to question as to whether the data is similar to those used by Zillow Zestimates to find value. Baltimore County Zillow Zestimates have been well off in many situations, and the disclaimers on their site are many. Their CEO & CFO explained their data issues to me, and I discussed them in my post about misleading Towson Zestimates.

If owners have tax credits or have lived in the property for a long time, that can easily skew results, creating an incorrectly low “appraisal” or Zestimate.

So, if you are looking to refinance your Baltimore County home, be aware of computerized appraisals.

Economists Predict Growth in 2011

Economists predict growth in 2011, according to an article in the Washington Post on New Year’s Eve.

One of the factors used was that the National Association of REALTORS(R) (NAR) stated that pending home sales were up 3.5%, showing that more buyers are moving into the real estate marketplace, and a sense of confidence about future home prices rising.

The Washington Post article by Neil Irwin also states that many consumers are paying down their debt, and lenders are loosening their credit availability, also adding to the ability of potential homeowners to buy houses. They do think that residential housing still won’t be a huge factor in the growth, saying,

Few forecasters are expecting major improvement in the housing sector, which has been a drag on the economy for four straight years. But neither does housing appear set to be a major drain on growth. Residential investment constituted its lowest proportion of overall economic activity on record in the third quarter, meaning that even if it were to contract a bit, it would have little impact on growth.

There also is a glut of houses in foreclosure, waiting to be released for sale. Banks have estimated these to be in the millions. This year, we do not expect to see housing prices rise in the spring as in the past, as I discussed in my post,”Will My Timonium House Be Worth More in the Spring?”

So what does this mean?

It means we it appears we are in the beginning of recovery in our recession. This takes time.

It also means that sellers need to be aware that low prices are what are driving buyers into the real estate market. To sell your Baltimore County home, you need to be priced aggressively and show beautifully.

For more information on your Baltimore County neighborhood, contact me. I am happy to help!

Baltimore City Christmas Tree Pickup

Baltimore City curbside Christmas tree pickup begins January 4, 2011 and runs through January 28.

Unlike Baltimore County tree pickup, the Baltimore City Department of Public Works asks residents to put their trees out where their trash is normally collected, and they will be picking them up on regularly scheduled trash days.

All trees must be empty of ornaments and tinsel.

Baltimore City DPW also offers the ability to bring your tree in to have it mulched, and if you bring bags, you can take that mulch for your own personal use. There are two locations for this service, Sisson Street Citizen Drop-off Center, 2840 Sisson Street, and Reedbird Avenue Citizen Drop-off Center, 701 Reedbird Avenue both from 9am-2pm.

If you had a real tree for your holiday celebration, you have some time to still enjoy it, or you can put it out for collection as soon as Tuesday.

Happy New Year!

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