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!**

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!

Also known as the Perry Hall/White Marsh Town Fair, it incorporates local businesses and fun from both areas!

For kids, the Oriole Bird will be there, Bubbles the Clown, and a HUGE slide, obstacle course, TWO moonbounces, games, and a Super-Soaker arena (wear your swimsuit under your clothes!) for minimal cost.

For adults, live bands, and beer & wine garden, and a cornhole tournament will entertain!

There are over 180 vendors, including food & crafts, as well as a silent auction.

There are specific parking lots set up with shuttles running throughout the day. For more detail, visit the fair’s website here.

So come out to Perry Hall for fun, food, and relaxation!

One event that is good for your Baltimore County house is their upcoming “Secure Your ID” Day with the Better Business Bureau on Saturday, April 16, 2011 from 8am-12pm.

From theavenueatwhitemarsh.com

With Identity Theft on the rise, security experts recommend shredding old paperwork to ensure that those personal documents do not fall into the wrong hands. The Avenue decided to host the event as a courtesy to their Baltimore County neighbors, and help them to clean out up to three boxes or bags of papers!

The Better Business Bureau will also be on hand to hand out information on tips and resources to help you protect your identity.

Also going on from 8:30-10 that morning is Breakfast with the Easter Bunny at Red Brick Station. There is a $7 charge and you must sign up in advance, but while you wait in the car line to have your valuable papers shredded, someone else can take the kids over to Red Brick Station to have some fun!

Come protect your identity courtesy of The Avenue at White Marsh. You will be glad you did!

Forecasters were predicting a dusting to three inches of snow. As most of us realized yesterday, it was more like 6-10 inches.

The major problem was that State Highway Administration crews apparently were not prepared. At noon, as I was on 695 traveling east toward White Marsh, it became very clear that road crews had not been out — there was no salt, sand or plowing. Snow began around 10, and it was sticking very well to the cold roadways.

I would have thought that 95 North of the Beltway would have been better, but I was wrong.

Numerous cars spun out, down embankments, in the medians. I saw about 4 accidents and probably 13 cars spun out in my short trip to Abingdon. I have a heavy SUV and it handles very well in the snow, but even I found my wheels losing their grip as I traveled slowly north.

As I was meeting with sellers and listing a great property in the St Clair neighborhood of Abingdon (it will be online in a few days — stay tuned!), the snow continued to fall quickly. At 3 pm I went to leave.

Route 24

And Route 24 was a parking lot.

It took about 35 minutes to go just over a mile on that main artery toward 95 South. Police were out directing traffic, which is the only reason things were moving at all.

Once I got on 95 South, roads were a little better than earlier. It appeared at least the left lane had been sanded, but in between lanes there was a decent amount of snow built up and the right lanes completely covered. To be safe, you needed to drive in the grooves in the snow that other cars had created. Again, though, the number of ambulances and fire engines I saw was astounding. All I could think was that maybe if these roads were treated, the EMTs, firefighters, and police officers wouldn’t have to be working so hard!

695 West was decent, but Eastbound still was not. An hour & 1/2 later I was getting to Towson and York Road was untouched by plows. Bosley was a mess with cars attempting to go uphill without traction. I am still amazed that one car did not slide back down and hit me. I saw it happening and was able to navigate my way around him (thank goodness for growing up in New England — we learned how to turn into the skid!).

By the time I got home, my nerves were shot, and I was shaking from being so tense for that two hour period of driving. I was glad to get and remain home.

I wish that forecasters had been closer or that the State Highway Administration had taken precautions and sanded “just in case” so there wouldn’t have been so many accidents.

I hope you were able to remain home, and that you remembered to check out my past post on how to Enjoy the Winter White for fun things to do. It appears roads have been cleared this morning, at least here in Towson, so we may venture out. If you do so, please be careful!

This could be wonderful for the White Marsh and Perry Hall housing market because these jobs created may bring people from outside of the area, and they will need places to live! Other areas that could benefit could be Harford County up towards Bel Air like Abingdon, Fallston & Joppa, because they tend to be a quick commute to the area where the factory will be.

The expanded plant is due to open in 2013, with the new jobs beginning right around that time. Job training should begin before then with people moving into the area at that point.

This is GM’s first foray into electric motor cars, and is creating good buzz for the company, which bodes very well for the White Marsh area of Baltimore County!

Add onto that a few short miles down 95 South, where on July 12, 2009, there will be a major switch in traffic pattern at the 895/95 split in Baltimore. Currently, motorists remain to the left to get on to 895, and merge to the right to remain on 95. As of July 12, this will switch COMPLETELY around, making motorists merge to the left to remain on 95 and to the right to get on 895. Here is a graphical description of the change.

This means motorists who just navigated the merge onto 95 from 695 from the right now have to merge across traffic to the left lanes to remain on 95 South.

What does this mean for the people who live nearby? Have their house values dropped due to this? With the noise, dirt, dust, and road closures forcing motorists onto Route 1 or Philadelphia Rd in White Marsh and Rosedale, or Eastern Avenue near Canton in Baltimore how has this effected their values?

So far, running statistics, the market has not dropped in those areas. A few are actually better over last year. Was the year ago value drop due to early construction & in anticipation of what was to come? Possibly.

I am pleased to see that house values in White Marsh, Canton, Rosedale and the other areas surrounding this construction have not been hit hard. I will keep an eye on the statistics to keep updates coming.