About Baltimore County, MD

Maryland: Smart, Green, and Growing

There are numerous initiatives in place to make and to keep the State of Maryland a smart, green, and growing community.

Below is a statement from Governor O'Malley regarding the Plant a Tree program.

Plant and be counted!

Forests are our most strategically important natural resource. Trees protect water quality, clean our air and provide wildlife habitat. One large tree can eliminate 5,000 gallons of storm water runoff each year, and well placed trees can help reduce energy costs by 15 to 35 percent.

Trees also enhance our quality of life, beautifying neighborhoods and highways, providing sound barriers and shade, and helping increase property values.

Today the State of Maryland is partnering with businesses, communities and citizens like you to help fund and plant new tree cover. Our State agencies are working to plant 1 million new trees by 2011, and were asking private citizens to join us by planting 50,000 trees by 2010.

Explore this website (below) for advice on where, how, and what type of trees to plant, and for discount coupons, made possible through environmental mitigation fines and participating vendors, for your tree purchases. Then, come back and register the trees you've planted, site them on our interactive map and calculate their benefits to you and our planet!

Working together as One Maryland, we can not only preserve our remaining tree cover but grow new trees to create a smarter, greener State for our planet and for future generations.

Governor Martin OMalley

Learn more about what your State government is doing to create a more sustainable future and how your participation can make a difference at www.green.maryland.gov

A Message from Governor Martin O'Malley

Snow Removal Budget

How much money is in the budget of the county or the state for the removal of snow for each year?

There are two main costs incurred with snow and ice storms. One is the cost of plowing and removing the snow, which includes the cost of the equipment and the labor cost for the drivers. The second major cost is for the laying of tons of salt to help to prevent the freezing of the roadways.

The Mid-Atlantic region is seeing record snowfalls for the season, for the year, and per storm so it is understandable if the budgeted amount for dealing with the snow is less than expected this time around.

However, I can not remember a year, whether it had record breaking high amounts of snow and ice or record breaking low amounts of snow and ice, where there was not a concern expressed about the fact that the budget had already been exceeded.

This does not stop the snow removal process. We simply hear that this is a priority and that the money will have to come from some other account.

Now, this is just a thought, but if there are accounts from which the money can be taken, because those accounts are not as important, then why do those accounts exist in the first place?

The Weis Ripoff

We all know about convenience stores. They can be found all across the land. Even gas stations have added them to their locations.

Why are they convenient? It is because we can quickly pull in and get a coffee, a soda, a hot dog, a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, a candy bar, a pack of cigarettes, or similar "I don't have time to waste items". The stores are relatively small so they carry a limited selection and inventory, but this adds to their efficiency of getting you in and out in a hurry.

Of course, this convenience comes with a price, but not so high that we are not occasionally willing to pay the higher price. If we are out on the road, rather than carry a cooler with some hot dogs and a grill to heat them up for when we get hungry, we can just stop at the convenience store and purchase a preheated "possibly all day long" hot dog.

When we have more time to shop and look for specials and sort our coupons, then we can plan on a visit to the local super market, or depending upon how you shop for the lowest prices, several super markets.

Although, a super market certainly is convenient because it has such a wide selection of goods, it is not typically thought of in the same way as the smaller convenience shops.

Weis is a chain of super markets in the Mid-Atlantic region of the US.

Weis has apparently added "convenience stores" right into their super markets. One of the more frequently purchased items of many shoppers is milk. Weis "for your convenience" has positioned a milk shelf directly where you enter the store. That is convenient and very thoughtful of them.

They, also, have milk available near the back of the store where it is more typically found in most stores.

The exact same brand of milk in the front of the store costs $0.50 more than the milk in the back of the store.

Weis freaks, you are not a convenience store. If someone goes to your store, even if just for milk, then they can certainly walk to the back of the store to get the milk. Do you want to stay in business? Do not play idiotic games. Do you really think that it is worth $0.50 to walk from one end of the store to the other?

By the way, BJs, which requires a $40 annual membership, sells a gallon of milk for $2.15. For milk drinkers, the savings per gallon of milk can quickly pay for the membership fee.

How Do You Match a Buyer with a Neighborhood?

As real estate agents working with buyers, we are often asked about neighborhoods. Is that a nice neighborhood; is it safe; do they have good schools; is it this; is it that? Usually, these are buyers who are moving to your area from out of town.

Depending upon how general the question is, we may be able to give a general answer, but usually this is a question from which we try to shy away, because answering it could get us into trouble.

Yes we can give general answers and sometimes we can refer the buyer to a source which will provide the answer about their concern.

Is the area safe? Many cities keep detailed crime statistics which are posted online. One can see the frequency and location of burglaries, assaults, rapes, murders, and such.

Are the schools good? Again, many areas have detailed statistics which are available online. They might include graduation rates, percentage of students taking and passing AP courses, or number of students going on to college. But, giving our opinion of a good school may be dangerous, since our view may be entirely different than theirs.

Some buyers ask the more difficult questions which we certainly can not answer, such as those which refer to race, religion, or even social class. Many buyers are sophisticated and realize that agents can not easily answer these types of questions, so they may be creative in how they ask, however, agents are, also, intelligent and recognize when they are starting to enter forbidden territory.

Regarding religion, letting them know where they may find the nearest houses of worship for their particular religion could help to narrow the search.

If they are moving to a new job, we may be able to isolate their search based on how close they would like to be to their employment.

We could ask them if there might be someone at their work, a friend, or a family member who could suggest neighborhoods to them.

Price is usually a big determinant in where they will choose to live, and, hence, it is also, a method of reducing the possibilities.

There are some areas, which have neighborhood organizations, with ambassadors, who may be very good sources of information regarding their areas. The buyers could contact these people directly.

When buyers start to narrow their search, there is always the suggestion that they drive through the neighborhood on different days and at various times. This is provided that they have the available time.

In actuality, the real estate agent usually knows exactly what neighborhoods will meet the buyer's objectives. After all, we work with buyers and sellers in these neighborhoods every day. In fact, part of the reason that a buyer may want to use an agent is because of our knowledge of the neighborhoods. We just have to be careful in how we convey it.

Cost Scenario For A Buyer

There are many people out there who would like to purchase a home, but for a variety of reasons they are waiting. Certainly there are many factors to consider when making one of the biggest financial decisions of ones life, so it is prudent to act wisely in evaluating all of these concerns.

Some of the bigger factors that potential buyers are considering these days are the many foreclosures that currently exist, the concern as to whether or not home values will decline further, and the uncertain state of the economy.

While all of these concerns are relevant and important, none of them gets specific with the financial nature of what is largely a financial decision.

The numbers below, which are meant primarily for a first time buyer, but which have some relevance to any buyer, are intended to give some general idea as to the actual monetary layout involved in making a purchase.

• The type of home could vary, but the price used is one that could easily afford a nice 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath townhome of about 1400 square feet of living area plus a finished basement, within the Baltimore and Harford County areas of Maryland.
• The purchase price would be $250,000. Obviously, depending upon the particular deal, this number could vary.
• The type of loan used would be a 30 year, fixed rate, FHA loan.
• The interest rate used is 6.0%, which is a conservative number as of February 2010. Depending upon the Buyers financial background, rates under 5% may be available.
• The down payment and closing costs would total about $17,000. Keep going; do not be discouraged. This will be addressed.
• Your monthly payment will be about $1800. This will include principal, interest, property taxes, home insurance, and mortgage insurance. Once again, keep going; it will look better. This number could vary depending upon the property taxes and insurance, but for the particular area it is a good estimate for a typical house as described.
• The monthly tax savings related to the mortgage payment would be about $425. This can vary depending upon your income and the specifics of the mortgage, however it is a good starting point.
• When the monthly payment is adjusted for the tax savings, then the monthly outlay is $1375 ($1800 - $425). This adjusted number is slightly better than what it would cost to rent an equivalent home.
• Help would be requested from the seller for your closing costs. The amount requested would be equal to 3% of the purchase price or $7500. This would leave $9500 for you to pay at closing.
• If you are under contract by April 30, 2010, then the government will give you a tax credit of $8,000. You will not receive this until the following year. This leaves your total cash layout after tax credit at $1500.

Bottom line:

• Your monthly payment after tax savings equals $1375.
• Your cash needed after seller contribution and tax credit equals $1500.

As stated, depending upon the specifics, the actual numbers could vary, whereby they could be lower or higher, but the example given is very realistic.