Buying Tips

Back to School Brings Buyers Back to Towson Real Estate Market

September 8th, 2009

Last week, Baltimore County went back to school. A long Labor Day weekend allowed for a feeling of lengthened summer, but today is the official day that we are back in full swing and the long days of summer are over. Since kids are back in school, that usually brings a boost to the Towson [...]

First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit is Running Out of Time

August 24th, 2009

November 30, 2009 seems far enough away. It's after Thanksgiving, and it's currently 95 degrees out. Who's counting? Towson First Time Homebuyers should be, that's who! If you want to take advantage of the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit, you must get MOVING NOW! It can take some time to find a house. If we [...]

Great News for Towson Homebuyers — Affordability Abounds!

July 15th, 2009

Exciting news for the Towson Homebuyer -- the 43% of the homes in the Baltimore real estate market are in the "affordable" range -- under $250,000, according to the Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, the multiple listing system in our area. Towson's percentage is lower, however a few neighborhoods that were more expensive before are now in that [...]

Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) Could Negatively Affect Towson House Values

June 24th, 2009

From our esteemed guest blogger, Tasha Linton, of Atlantic Home Equity Mortgage, more details about the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC), enacted May 1, 2009, and how it is negatively affecting home sales. -------------------------------------- As we all know, the recent implementation of the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) has caused many issues in [...]

Towson Condo Owners Need to Be Aware of New Law

June 22nd, 2009

Beginning June 1, 2009, Maryland Law HB287, approved by the Governor May 19, went into effect. The bill discusses Real Property Condominiums -- Damage and Destruction. Here is a copy of the bill . What this means for the Towson condo owner is that before this bill, condominium associations, for the most part, were responsible for [...]

Incorrect Towson Zillow Zestimates Strike Again

May 26th, 2009

Memorial Day brings families together, and discussions many times go to real estate, especially when you have a member of your family who specializes in that field. I like to know my Towson real estate marketplace so when I am asked how much a home is that someone passed on the way to my house, [...]

Misleading Towson Zillow Zestimates Explained Further

May 21st, 2009

As I wrote March 2, Towson Zillow Zestimates in general, are statistically off by a large amount. Last week I had a client call me because his HELOC was reduced by a large amount right in the middle of construction to improve his home. He could not understand how the bank could make the determination [...]

HUD Withdraws Offer/Statement on $8000 Tax Credit

May 14th, 2009

On Tuesday I wrote about an exciting new program that HUD & FHA were rolling out to let the $8000 Tax Credit for First Time Homebuyers be used as a downpayment. That has now been retracted, and the letter removed from the HUD site. Yet Yesterday, HUD Secretary Donovan said that many states already were [...]

$8,000 Tax Credit Can Be Used for Downpayment for Baltimore Homebuyers

May 12th, 2009

**Update May 14, 2009, please see my update that HUD has retracted its statement and that this may NOT be the case everywhere.** The Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced at the National Association of Realtors summit today that the FHA is going to allow lenders to let First Time [...]

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