Baltimore County Christmas Tree Pick Up 2012

Baltimore County Christmas tree pick up 2012 will be here before we know it, so here are the details in order to be prepared!

Tree pick up will begin the week of January 9, 2012, and to ensure your tree is taken, it must be placed at the curb by January 14.

PLEASE NOTE that the Department of Public Works will not be collecting from alleys, so if you live in a neighborhood like Rodgers Forge, where trash is generally collected from the alley, your tree needs to be placed in front of your house at the curb.

Baltimore County officials also caution us to make sure that there are no decorations on the tree, it is not in a bag, and no tree stand attached, so if you have tinsel or anything of that sort, it must all be removed before placing out for collection.

If you would like your tree removed earlier, or should you miss the collection, you can also take your tree to one of three places in order to have it recycled & made into mulch. Tree drop off begins December 27, 2011.

Those three locations for drop off are: Baltimore County Resource Recovery Facility off Warren Road in Cockeysville, Western Acceptance Facility in Halethorpe, and Eastern Sanitary Landfill Solid Waste Management Facility in White Marsh off Pulaski Highway.

So, if you had a real tree for Christmas, just make sure to have it taken down by the 9th to ensure it can have a second life as mulch for the County!

Happy New Year!

 

**Click here for Baltimore City Christmas tree pickup details!**

This Month in Real Estate November 2011

This Month in Real Estate for November 2011 has been released!

The numbers from October, presented by Jay Papasan, showed the home sales at an annual pace of 4.9 million, down slightly from last month, but much better than September’s numbers. Median home price was $165,000, which is another drop from This Month in Real Estate October 2011. Interest rates rose very slightly to an average of 4.1% for a 30 year fixed mortgage.

The Top Story asks the question, “What are first time homebuyers looking for?” According to KW research, much of it is to stay in the same area as they were renting. 3/4 of first time homebuyers bought a single family home, and most purchased a three bedroom, two bath home.

Of course, this data is nationwide, and the Baltimore real estate market is different than any other. Many areas of the country do not have the dense, highly populated areas with rowhomes such as Downtown Baltimore in Federal Hill, Fells Point, Canton, and Locust Point. Even Baltimore County has many townhouse neighborhoods, such as Mays Chapel in Timonium, Rodgers Forge, and areas of White Marsh and Perry Hall.

In News You Can Use, Bryon Ellington discusses three things you should know about buying versus renting.

1) Equity. You can build wealth through equity. He aligns it with a long term savings account. Every month that you pay your mortgage, a portion of the mortgage goes into that “account” (your principle).

2) Appreciation. If the market where you buy appreciates, then that equity becomes even larger.

3) Make it your own. You can renovate, paint, do whatever you’d like to it!

He also points out that when you pay rent, you are still paying a mortgage. It is just someone else’s mortgage, and you don’t get the benefits of ownership.

For more information about buying a home in Baltimore, please contact me. I would be happy to help!

St. Pius X Carnival

The St. Pius X Carnival is coming up this weekend, May 20-22, 2011.

St. Pius X is located at 6428 York Road just next to the Rodgers Forge community.

The St Pius Carnival is a big event (but on a smaller scale) like the Towsontown Spring Festival, which was held a few weeks ago in Downtown Towson, with fun for the whole family! There will be rides, an inflatable slide, a moonbounce, carnival games like “Frog Flippin” and “Toilet Paper Toss”, plus booths with food, plants, a silent auction, crafts, and more!

Hours of the Carnival are 4-11pm Friday, 12-11pm Saturday, and 12-6pm Sunday.

Photo courtesy of Find Me Famous via Flickr CC.

Baltimore County Christmas Tree Pickup

Each year, Baltimore County offers curbside pick up of Christmas trees for residents, and takes them to be recycled.

Tree pick up will begin the week of January 10, 2011, and to ensure your tree is taken, it must be placed out at the curb by January 15. They will not be collecting from alleys, so even if you live in a neighborhood like Rodgers Forge, where trash is generally collected from the alley, make sure your tree is out in front of your house at the curb.

Baltimore County officials also caution to make sure that there are no decorations on the tree, so if you have tinsel or anything of that sort, it must all be removed before placing out for collection.

Should you miss the collection, you can also take your tree to one of three places in order to have it recycled & made into mulch.

Those locations are: Baltimore County Resource Recovery Facility off Warren Road in Cockeysville, Western Acceptance Facility in Halethorpe, and Eastern Sanitary Landfill Solid Waste Management Facility in White Marsh off Pulaski Highway.

So, if you had a real tree for Christmas, just make sure to have it taken down by the 10th to ensure it can have a second life as mulch for the County!

Happy New Year!

 

**HERE IS THE INFORMATION FOR Baltimore County Tree Collection 2012**

Baltimore Ground Rent Houses

There are many ground rent houses in Baltimore.

What does this mean?

Guest blogger, T Jeremy Loomis, Sales Manager for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, explains more about Baltimore ground rent homes:

What is ground rent (also known as a leasehold estate) and why would I have it?

Ground rent is when a fee is paid to the holder for leasing the land that the property sits upon.  This dates back to the 18th century and was meant to keep homeownership costs low because the buyer only paid for the building and simply rented the land at a fixed cost (this is your ground rent or leasehold estate).  You will not find ground rent on all Baltimore houses, and generally it is not a high cost; anywhere from $50 to $150 per year.  Your REALTOR can tell you if the property you are looking to buy has ground rent, if not then the property would be called “fee simple”.

Thank you, Jeremy!

In Baltimore County, you can find Rodgers Forge ground rent homes, as well as Loch Raven Village ground rent homes. They take a little extra in the appraisal process, but one thing to understand and be aware of is that as long as you pay your “ground rent”, you may do what you want with the property. The ground rent holder (or leasehold owner) cannot do anything or take anything of your property as long as you pay your ground rent!

Please contact Jeremy and myself for further information on Baltimore Ground Rent homes and the new FHA Appraisal Guidelines for leasehold properties.

New FHA Appraisal Guidelines for Leasehold Properties in Baltimore

Beginning June 13, 2010, the FHA appraisal guidelines for leasehold properties (also known as houses with ground rent) will be changing.

Guest blogger, T Jeremy Loomis, Sales Manager for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, explains what this means for Baltimore ground rent homeowners:

Confused on the recent news about new FHA ground rent appraisal requirements?

Simply put, the appraiser (this is who will provide an estimate of the homes value by using similar properties that have recently sold around the home you would like to buy) will now need to tell the bank if the ground rent has any adverse effects on the mortgage they are providing to you.  The information they will provide will include details on the ground rent agreement; including, conditions, restrictions, and terms.  And when the appraiser looks at those similar properties they must make every attempt to use properties that have a ground rent agreement on them as well, and if not then they will be allowed to use similar properties that are “fee simple”.

So what does this really mean to you if you have a Baltimore ground rent home?  Just keep in mind that it may take a little longer to hear back from the appraiser and bank when it comes to your appraisal report.  And know that all involved are trying to make sound decisions and provide you with a sound and solid mortgage for your new home.

Thank you, Jeremy!

As a side note, many Baltimore neighborhoods have ground rent homes. Even in Baltimore County, the Rodgers Forge neighborhood and the Loch Raven Village neighborhood have many homes with ground rent.

Please contact Jeremy and myself for further information on Baltimore Ground Rent homes and the new FHA Appraisal Guidelines for leasehold properties.

West Towson Elementary School Boundaries Meeting March 10 and West Towson Homeowners

On March 10, the Baltimore County Board of Education had a final meeting before their March 23 vote on the boundaries of the new West Towson Elementary School.

This meeting, unlike the one in January, which had hundreds of attendees with many speaking about the boundary options, this one had very few, and only four Board of Education members available.

Loni Ingraham of the Towson Times covered the hearing, and described it as very tame in comparison to other sessions.

The scenario that has been recommended by the panel for the vote is the West Towson Scenerio G, as depicted in the 4th page of this document provided by Towson Families United.

It is a relief to have these meetings behind us and will be nice to be able to move forward, knowing where children will be attending school in the fall. Most West Towson homeowners were in the same position as my family, where in any of the scenerios, our district would be changed to the West Towson Elementary School, so we were not as affected as others.

I can understand the irritation and passion over where someone send their child to school, but redistricting can ALWAYS happen, and at least the Baltimore County Board of Education gave Towson residents the opportunity to have their voices heard.

This redistricting is part of why Maryland Realtors® are not allowed to talk about the quality of schools when helping someone with the purchase or sale of a home. Most also recommend calling your local school board or looking online (like www.bcps.org for Baltimore County Public Schools) to find a school district. You cannot safely choose a home solely because of a school district because you never know when the attendance boundaries might be changed.

Towson Residents Help Determine West Towson Elementary School Boundaries

Over 300 people attended the meeting at Loch Raven High School last night about where the boundaries may be drawn, and which children in Towson may be redistricted to the new West Towson Elementary School.

The Towson Families United group, which is “A coalition of parents and residents seeking a long-term solution to Towson’s overcrowded schools”, reports on their site that four different options were presented, and then the attendees were split into smaller groups to discuss what factor was most important to them in making a boundary change, and each individual was asked to choose which of the four they would prefer to see. The data collected will be sent to an independent research facility for analyzing and the results sent to the committee for further review.

The boundary committee making these recommendations to the Baltimore County School Board is run by Central Area Assistant Superintendent Barbara Walker, and is comprised of parents, community representatives (for example, there is one from the Ruxton Riderwood Lake Roland Improvement Association and one from the Rodgers Forge Community Association) , teachers, and Administrators.

A formal recommendation will be given to the Baltimore County School Board by school officials on February 9, 2010 at its regular Board Meeting. After that point, another meeting will be held for public commentary on February 24, 2010 at Loch Raven High School.

The final decision will be announced March 9, 2010 at 7:00 pm.

It is wonderful that Towson residents are given this opportunity to voice their opinions and be such a large part of this large decision making process. It makes it more and more prevalent why living in Towson is such a great thing!

West Towson Elementary School Boundaries to be Revealed January 6, 2010

The West Towson Elementary School is under construction, and the plans for boundaries are being revealed at a public meeting on January 6, 2010.

The Baltimore County School Board would like input on the boundary drawing possibilities from the Towson neighborhoods affected by the possible change in redistricting.

The open meeting being held January 6 will be at Loch Raven High School, which is located at 1212 Cowpens Avenue in Towson, MD 21286 at 7 pm.

The West Towson Elementary School is scheduled to open in August 2010 and is located on Charles Street next to the Ridge Ruxton School. The school is being built primarily to help reduce the overcrowding at Riderwood Elementary School and Rodgers Forge Elementary School in Towson.

Robert E Lee Park Improvement Update Meeting Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Proposed Phase One of the Robert E. Lee Park ‘s improvement plan will be presented in the third community meeting held by the Baltimore County Department of Recreation and Parks on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 7 pm at Dumbarton Middle School.

The proposed improvements include replacing the bridge going into the park, the development of an official dog park, and picnic areas for all to enjoy. As I discussed in an earlier post (see link above), the improvements are an exciting and necessary plan for the Robert E Lee Park, as it had become run down with crime rates rising, and bridges unsafe for walking. A one-time hidden gem, it had become unusable in its current state.

The Baltimore County Parks & Rec would like to have Towson neighborhood input in order to make our park one that all community members can benefit from having nearby.

The location of the meeting is the cafeteria at Dumbarton Middle School, located in Rodgers Forge, at 300 Dumbarton Road, Baltimore, MD 21212 (map).

For more information, or special accomodations for the meeting, please contact the Baltimore County Nature and Recreation Resources Office at 410-887-4156.

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