This Month in Real Estate August 2010 has been released. As I mentioned in my July 15 post, "Mortgage Rates at Lowest Point in Five Decades," mortgage interest rates have dropped to their lowest level in the past 50 years. On July 29th, that number was 4.54%! Freddie Mac's current average interest rate is at [...]
Baltimore City property tax bill errors were popping up in large amounts last week. Approximately 7,900 city residents received additional bills because of a computer issue, stating that their taxes were past due. Many of those who received the erroneous additional property tax bill were newer Baltimore City homebuyers who bought their homes sometime between [...]
Emergent BioSolutions will have 120 new jobs in Baltimore in the next few years. The company, based in Rockville, had a ribbon cutting ceremony on their 56,000 square foot facility on Lombard Street in Downtown Baltimore on Friday. Emergent is the maker of the only FDA approved anthrax vaccine. The Washington Post reports that they [...]
Mortgage rates are at the lowest point they have been in five decades. The national average is 4.57% for a 30 year fixed conventional loan. MSNBC reports that: Rates have fallen over the past two months. Investors, concerned with the European debt crisis, have poured money into the safety of Treasury bonds. Treasury yields have [...]
A recent statement by John Paulson of Paulson & Co, Inc. shows that housing prices are expected to rise 3-5% in 2010. CNBC published an article with quotes from the group's owner, who tracks home prices in California, and notes that what happens in the state tends to trend about six months later in the [...]
Baltimore home sales were up 35% in April over March's sales as well as over April 2009 sales. This a telling sign that buyers were looking to take advantage of the ending homebuyer tax credit, as well as hopefully previewing that the economy is beginning a recovery. The Baltimore Business Journal reported this on information [...]
An unfortunate new trend has developed across the US - that of "strategic defaults" - homeowners walking away from their mortgage obligations. 60 Minutes did a story on this disturbing trend on Sunday. Watch CBS News Videos Online Though I understand the thought and concern about the low prices in areas, but I don't understand [...]
This Saturday, May 8, 2010, you can qualify for $3,000 to help buy a home in the West side of Baltimore City in the Buying Into Baltimore 2010 Homebuyer Fair and Neighborhood Tour. What do you have to do to qualify for the $3,000 award? First, you must visit 4 of the 16 homes featured [...]
The Baltimore job market is getting better, according to headhunters in the Baltimore area. The Baltimore Business Journal reported that Maryland added 36,000 jobs in March, which is a great number. What that number doesn't state, but the headhunters do, is that many of those jobs are temporary or not "permanent hires". This means that [...]
Foreclosures in Maryland rose above the national average in February, with a total of 5,732 according to the Baltimore Business Journal. This was a 9% increase over January, and an 80% increase (yes eighty percent) over February 2009. In Maryland, one in every 407 houses was in foreclosure in February. The national average was one [...]