West Towson Real Estate Agent
West Towson Realtor Blog Posts
Dumpster Day at Riderwood Elementary School
April 29, 2011 by Marney Kirk
Filed under Blog, Towson, West Towson
The Ruxton-Riderwood-Lake Roland Area Improvement Association (RRLRAIA) has their annual Dumpster Day this Saturday, April 30, 2011 from 8am-noon at Riderwood Elementary School.
Not only will there be a Dumpster, but The Loading Dock will be there to accept building materials like cabinetry, lighting fixtures, and flooring materials for reuse instead of dumping.
Goodwill will also be there to accept donations!!!!
So if you live in the area, clean out your closets, your garage, your shed, your attic, and make it to Riderwood Elementary on Saturday morning, and donate and dump to clean out your Towson house!
Towsontown Spring Festival 2011
April 27, 2011 by Marney Kirk
Filed under Blog, Towson, West Towson
The 44th Annual Towsontown Spring Festival is this weekend, April 30 & May 1, 2011.
towsontownspringfestival.com
The Festival kicks off with Towson Gardens Day on Thursday the 28th from 10am-3 pm with Wine & Jazz from 5-7 at the Historic Courthouse Garden. Friday night showcases a concert by Mood Swings from 5:30-9pm.
Saturday, the festival runs from 10am-7pm and Sunday is 1pm-7pm.
My son had a great time at last year’s Towsontown Spring Festival at the Moon Bounces and Carnival Games areas — and loved seeing the ponies. These activities are an extra charge, but children love it!
He also loved seeing the firetrucks that both block off the streets and are there for show.
The food is wonderful — the smells wafting through Downtown Towson are amazing!
The Freedom Fun Zone, sponsored and staffed by the Maryland National Guard will have NASCAR racing cars to view as well as inflatable obstacle course and Halo Jumper.
Mix 106.5 has their stage with $2 entry, and Crushing Day plays Saturday 1-3pm, 2U from 3:30-6:30, and Sunday, Mobtown Saints from 1:30-3:30, and Reagan Years from 4-6:30.
Z104.3 is having a Singfest — a singing contest where the winner wins $300 and a trip to the next American Singing Competition!
98 Rock has their Beer Garden for $2 entry, where music & bands play.
There is so much going on, and so many activities for the weekend.
Come to Downtown Towson this weekend and enjoy the fun!
Charles St Ramp to Westbound 695 to be Closed
April 10, 2011 by Marney Kirk
Filed under Baltimore, Baltimore County, Blog, Lutherville, Timonium, Towson, West Towson
The Charles St construction continues and will cause more snafus beginning this week as the ramp to Westbound 695 will be closed beginning Tuesday.
The sign announcing the closure went up last week.
The Charles St entrance to 695 East is still closed.
It appears the ramp to Bellona from Charles St, with the entrance to 83N & 695W will be open at this time.
Alternate routes would be York Rd, which is not a far jaunt, and Falls Rd, which is to the west of Charles St off Joppa Rd, coming from the other part of Bellona.
Be cautious and watch for directional signs to help navigate through the closures.
Baltimore County Yard Trash Pickup Resumes in April
March 29, 2011 by Marney Kirk
Filed under Baltimore County, Blog, Towson, West Towson
Baltimore County yard trash pickup resumes in April, a welcome beginning since it ended in December.
The Baltimore County Yard Material pickup has specific items they DO pick up, and what they don’t.
They DO accept, per their website:
- Grass
- Leaves
- Vines
- Twigs
- Shrubbery Trimmings
- Branches & Limbs less than 3 inches in diameter and shorter than 3 feet in length
♦ Grass and leaves should be in paper or plastic lawn or leaf bags. The County prefers paper!
♦ Vines, twigs and shrubbery trimmings should be bagged or bundled, and the weight should not exceed 30 pounds per bag.
♦ Items should be placed on your yard, as it is a violation of Baltimore County Code to have it in the street. Also, do not put them in trash cans, or they will not be taken!
Baltimore County DOES NOT accept: Poison ivy, sumac, or oak, lumber, food scraps, or yard items that are not listed above.
Thank you to Baltimore County for providing us this service. Our date for pickup here in Towson begins April 13, 2011. I’ll have a bag or two out there!
Southland Hills and Towson University
March 28, 2011 by Marney Kirk
Filed under Baltimore County, Blog, Towson, West Towson
Southland Hills neighborhood is right on the cusp of Towson University, near the corner of Towsontown Boulevard and Bosley Avenue.
Located right behind the Old Towson Jail, which is due to become the Towson Swim Club, the neighborhood has seen a number of changes recently.
The most recent change is that Towson University Public Safety building is due for a major addition to begin this summer — much larger than the one on the master plan in 2009.
It will add much more parking and take over where the tennis courts used to be right on Towsontown Boulevard.
The big question to the nearby homeowners is whether it will affect Southland Hills house values and their current quality of life and neighborhood. That is yet to be determined, possibly unable to do so until the new TU building is finished.
Contact me for both West Towson house values and Southland Hills house values. I live nearby!
**Please note: As of March 6, 2012, the Towson Swim Club project has been terminated. Any links to the Towson Swim Club website may no longer link correctly, and there is currently no pool scheduled to be built in West Towson.**
602 Meadowridge Road Towson
February 28, 2011 by Marney Kirk
Filed under Baltimore, Baltimore County, Blog, Homes For Sale, Ruxton, Towson, West Towson
602 Meadowridge Road is a five bedroom cape cod in the Riderwood Ridge neighborhood of Towson, MD.
**UPDATE! House went under contract in less than a week on the market!**
Meadowridge Rd is a cul de sac street located just off the bridge from West Joppa Rd that crosses N. Charles St. The next street over is Greenwood Rd, where the Baltimore County Board of Education sits. It is on the cusp of both the Ruxton neighborhood and the West Towson neighborhood.
602 Meadowridge Rd had recent work done, including a large kitchen with beautiful granite counters and cabinets, and a mud room with built-in cabinets. An addition was done to create three bedrooms on the second floor, one of which is a master bedroom with bath, and laundry room.
It has a screened porch overlooking the large, level back yard.
602 Meadowridge Rd is the first house to come on the market on the street since the last house sold in 2002!
Contact me for more information on 602 Meadowridge Rd or other West Towson homes for sale. I live in the area and know it well!
Listing Courtesy of Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc.
Speedbumps on Greenwood Rd in Towson
February 27, 2011 by Marney Kirk
Filed under Baltimore, Baltimore County, Blog, Towson, West Towson
If you have driven down Greenwood Road in Towson in the past week, you may have noticed three new speedbumps along the road.
This was to slow down traffic in & out of both the parking lots to the Baltimore County Board of Education, and from Joppa to Charles St.
Two of the speedbumps are near each other near Joppa Rd, around the bend that is already very narrow, and the third is close to the newer light at Greenwood and Charles St across from the West Towson Elementary School.
So, be cautious and slow down as you drive along Greenwood, and save your car’s shocks!
How is My Baltimore County House Assessed for Taxes?
February 20, 2011 by Marney Kirk
Filed under Baltimore, Baltimore County, Blog, Lutherville, Ruxton, Towson, West Towson
How is my Baltimore County house assessed for taxes?
How does Baltimore County determine my house assessment?
These are two very good questions which determine how much you pay in property taxes each year.
First, tax assessments are done as mass appraisals. This means there are many homes being valuated at the same time.
The Baltimore County tax assessors are trained as appraisers and have a number of ways they come up with your assessed value. There is a homeowner’s guide to property taxes and assessments on their website, which gives some details about the process.
Recently, I was able to listen to the heads of both the Baltimore County and Baltimore City departments, as they explained more in detail what they do.
They use a cost approach and land value. The cost value is how much the house would cost to be built today minus depreciation based on age and condition of the house. Any finished heated space is included in the valuation of the house.
They do not come into your home, so they make assumptions on things based on County permits pulled by contractors doing work on your home.
Often, when a homeowner appeals, they will point out deficits, which is how they know what problems there may be with your home.
They use the multiple listing system that real estate agents use as well, called MRIS.
Short sales and foreclosures are removed from consideration, as they consider them “bad sales”.
Neighborhoods, as determined by the Baltimore County Department of Taxation and Assessments, are not the same as the neighborhoods established.
Neighborhoods are graded on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the best. An assessor I spoke with said that a well known and established neighborhood, Ruxton in Towson is graded as a 10. There are neighborhood sets and subsets, for example, Old Lutherville is a subset of Lutherville. And even within subsets, the type of house will be assessed at different “rates.”
Because these assessments are done every three years and on a mass basis, that is why there is an appeals process. Especially with higher priced homes such as those in Ruxton, the homes tend to be unique, and the mass valuation may not be correct.
Learn more about different Baltimore County tax appeal processes so you can understand if an appeal may be right for you and your home.
Towson High School Named Blue Ribbon School of Excellence
February 11, 2011 by Marney Kirk
Filed under Baltimore County, Blog, Towson, West Towson
Towson High School was named a Maryland Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.
It was one of six named in Maryland in 2010, and is the 15th school in Baltimore County to receive the honor, and the third Baltimore County High School to do so.
According to the Baltimore County Public Schools article:
Blue Ribbon School designation is a state and national program that recognizes schools that meet rigorous standards developed by the Maryland State Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Education.
Towson High School students are 98% proficient or above in Mathematics and 99% in English, according to the Maryland State Department of Education tests, and even Newsweek has named the school to its annual list of the best high schools in the nation for the past few years. In 2010, it was ranked #334.
This could help Towson house values as many homebuyers may look to the high school’s current zoning district to try to send their children to the school.
What buyers need to be aware of, is that school districts can be adjusted at any time, as many Towson homeowners found when West Towson Elementary School was opening.
Meanwhile, CONGRATULATIONS to Towson High School students and staff! Your hard work is definitely shining through!
Snow Day and Sledding in Towson
January 27, 2011 by Marney Kirk
Filed under Baltimore, Blog, Towson, West Towson
Yesterday late afternoon and last night was a major thundersnow storm, with heavy snow, lightning and thunder. It was an incredible event. The snow was coming down so heavily that a large number of people had to abandon their cars on the way home, and others took about 9 hours to commute. Even snowplows got stuck!
Large Crowd Sledding at the Board of Education in Towson
We lost many tree limbs, and there are a number hanging precariously on other branches. We have about a foot of heavy snow on the ground and in the trees! Many lost power. We were lucky because ours flickered a number of times, but remained on.
The fun part was the sledding yesterday and today at the Baltimore County Board of Education on Charles Street in Towson.
Lots of people came out to enjoy the HUGE hill. It is the best place to sled in Towson!
There is a possibility of snow up to an inch tomorrow and another dusting Saturday.
Hopefully we won’t have the Snowpocalypse(s) like we did last year. Here’s hoping for warmer weather soon!
