June Piper-Brandon, CRIS, ePro, Broker

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!! Even after the bailout was agreed upon the stock market continues to take a beating. This week we've seen more of the same upheavle in the financial market that home buyer's and seller's alike seem to be paralyzed by fear. Do we try to sell our house? Do we try to hold on? Do we buy now or wait? So many choices to choose from. Thoughts are straying to Halloween and the holidays after that. The market remains fairly stable with some increases in sales with the drops in interest rates, and a few more buyers searching for their first or next home. I'm surprised I'm not seeing more individuals making the decision to buy with some of the seller funded downpayment programs going away at the end of September and with the increasing number of down payment assistance programs available. The weather has started to cool down with moderate days and cool nights and people are thinking about the end of summer and back to school and I think this may be having some cooling effect on the number of home buyers looking for new homes. The number of new listings has increased slightly and the number of homes going under contract has also increased. The numbers show a slowing in the market over all compared to this time last year. It will be interesting to see how this all changes with the changes in the FHA and Jumbo loan limits and adjustments in the interest rates. Overall, it's still a great time to buy.

These figures are taken directly from our MRIS system and are believed to be accurate.

Glen Burnie, MD

New Listings 18 (decrease 2 from last week)

Under Contract 9 (increase 4 over last week)

Settled Sales 6 (decrease of 5 from last week)

Anne Arundel County

New Listings 192 (increase 18 from last week)

Under Contract 65 (decrease of 4 over last week)

Settled Sales 35 (decrease of 68 over last week)

Glen Burnie offers many affordable housing opportunities for those relocating to Ft. Meade and Annapolis. Glen Burnie is located north on 97 from rt 50 or north on Rt. 2 from Annapolis Naval Academy and east along 32 and north on 97 from Ft. Meade. It is a relatively easy commute from either base and only a couple short miles from the Curtis Bay Coast Guard Station too, as well as being commutable to DC whether you ride the MARC from Odenton or drive.

If you are thinking of buying or selling a home give me a call today and we'll talk about the market conditions and what your home could possibly be worth in today's market place if you are thinking of selling. If you are considering buying a home, there is no better time than now to buy. The tax savings and wealth building a lone is worth the plunge into todays market.

June Piper-Brandon, Broker - Advance Realty - http://www.gb-advancerealtyusa.com/ or http://www.homesdatabase.com/junepiperbrandon

I've been watching with interest what has been happening on Wall Street during the past few weeks and wondering about all the folks out there who have 401K retirement savings funds that are steadily losing value as the Dow Jones continues to fall. For many this is their nest egg for their retirement years. Where will it stop?

If you are concerned about the values and where your retirement savings will end up perhaps you should be speaking to a financial planner and asking about a self directed IRA. With a self directed IRA it is possible for you to invest those funds wisely in income producing real estate.

When you are thinking about investing in real estate be sure you shop around for an agent and find one that specializes specifically in investment real estate. In Maryland, you will want to choose an agent that has completed an investment real estate class and definitely someone who is familiar with 1031 investments.

In Maryland, especially Baltimore there is a shortage of rental properties. It is possible to earn between 15% to 20% return on your investment. Are you earning that now in your IRA? It is still possible to pay someone to manage those properties if you don't live in the area and still get a very good return on your investment.

If you are thinking about investing in real estate. Advance Realty Anne Arundel has several agents that specialize in the area of investment real estate. I have taken a residential investment real estate class and have taken several 1031 classes.

Check back here often for more investment opportunities in the Baltimore market.

June Piper-Brandon, Broker - Advance Realty Anne Arundel - http://www.gb-advancerealtyusa.com

junepiperbrandon@advancerealtyusa.com

This week we've seen so much upheavle in the financial market that home buyer's and seller's alike seem to be paralyzed by fear. Do we try to sell our house? Do we try to hold on? Do we buy now or wait? So many choices to choose from. Thoughts are straying to Halloween and the holidays after that. The market remains fairly stable with some increases in sales with the drops in interest rates, and a few more buyers searching for their first or next home. I'm surprised I'm not seeing more individuals making the decision to buy with some of the seller funded downpayment programs going away at the end of September and with the increasing number of down payment assistance programs available. The weather has started to cool down with moderate days and cool nights and people are thinking about the end of summer and back to school and I think this may be having some cooling effect on the number of home buyers looking for new homes. The number of new listings has increased slightly and the number of homes going under contract has also increased. The numbers show a slowing in the market over all compared to this time last year. It will be interesting to see how this all changes with the changes in the FHA and Jumbo loan limits and adjustments in the interest rates. Overall, it's still a great time to buy.

These figures are taken directly from our MRIS system and are believed to be accurate.

Glen Burnie, MD

New Listings 20 (decrease 4 from last week)

Under Contract 5 (decrease 8 over last week)

Settled Sales 11 (increase of 3 from last week)

Anne Arundel County

New Listings 174 (decrease 30 from last week)

Under Contract 69 (decrease of 22 over last week)

Settled Sales 103 (increase of 14 over last week)

Glen Burnie offers many affordable housing opportunities for those relocating to Ft. Meade and Annapolis. Glen Burnie is located north on 97 from rt 50 or north on Rt. 2 from Annapolis Naval Academy and east along 32 and north on 97 from Ft. Meade. It is a relatively easy commute from either base and only a couple short miles from the Curtis Bay Coast Guard Station too.

If you are thinking of buying or selling a home give me a call today and we'll talk about the market conditions and what your home could possibly be worth in today's market place if you are thinking of selling. If you are considering buying a home, there is no better time than now to buy. The tax savings and wealth building a lone is worth the plunge into todays market.

June Piper-Brandon, Broker - Advance Realty - http://www.gb-advancerealtyusa.com/ or http://www.homesdatabase.com/junepiperbrandon

Eating seasonally-grown, local food has been getting more and more coverage in the media lately, but a lot of people in Northeast Baltimore have been quietly doing just that for years now by participating in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) through One Straw Farm. They own "shares" of the harvest and pick up their veggies once a week, either at the Church of the Messiah in Hamilton, Zeke's Coffee in Lauraville, or at the Waverly Farmer's Market.

The Church of the Messiah likes to celebrate every CSA season by throwing an old-fashioned potluck in the fall, and this year, there will be music, too - thanks to some members of the Baltimore Songwriters Association (BSA), who will be performing at an open mike. The potluck will be held this Monday, October 6^th, from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. Everyone is invited to attend, shareholder or not, and if you're a musician, you're invited to come and play for one of the best audiences ever: your neighbors, celebrating community and enjoying home-cooked food.

The Episcopal Church of the Messiah is located at 5801 Harford Road along the #19 MTA bus transit line, with parking available behind the church off White Avenue, and you can always visit http://www.MessiahBaltimore.org or call 410-426-0709 for more information. You will need to RSVP to ensure there is space.

For more information you can visit: http://www.messiahbaltimore.org/csa_potluck.htm

There are a number of other opportunities in Maryland for Community Supported Agriculture. This is a great way to get locally grown produce and keep your costs down while supporting our local farmers. For more information about these great opportunities you can visit the Maryland Agriculture site to find a farm in your local area.

Employees working for John's Hopkins in Baltimore City who are looking to buy a home in Baltimore City can now receive a grant of Up to $17,000

The live near your work program that helps Johns Hopkins Institutions employees buy homes in select Baltimore City neighborhoods near Hopkins campuses is expanding, making available grants up to nearly seven times larger than before.

The "Live Near Your Work" program, that used to provide up to $2,500 to help with down payments and closing costs, will now offer up to $17,000 in financial aid to eligible homebuyers. Much of the additional support is due to a significant new grant from The Rouse Company Foundation.

The program is designed to help Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Health System employees become homeowners in Baltimore City, often close to the Johns Hopkins campuses at which they work. At a time of rising transportation costs, the chance to cut commuting costs and travel time are obvious benefits. In addition, the program will give employees an opportunity to build home equity, in many cases for the first time. These Johns Hopkins employee homeowners will be able to enjoy the economic and social rewards of urban living while strengthening the economic viability of their new neighborhoods.

The program benefits Johns Hopkins by helping the university and health system to recruit and retain quality employees. With a common interest in seeing increased homeownership and the associated community strengthening benefit, the partnership between Johns Hopkins, its employees and Baltimore City will be enhanced. The Live Near Your Work program also is in sync with the region's "smart growth" strategy, which encourages development where infrastructure already exists as a way to reduce sprawl, cut traffic congestion, promote environmental sustainability and cut down on homeowners carbon footprint thus helping the environment.

Johns Hopkins is one of the cities largest employers, currently employing about 45000 people. By encouraging employees to live near their work, Johns Hopkins is also helping families to spend more time together and improve their quality of life.

Johns Hopkins originally launched Live Near Your Work in 1997 as a collaboration with Baltimore City and the state of Maryland. It provided financial help to benefits-eligible employees who chose to purchase homes in more than 12 neighborhoods surrounding the Homewood, East Baltimore, Peabody and Bayview campuses. Since that time, the program has enabled more than 300 Johns Hopkins employees to purchase homes in the targeted communities and has encouraged investment in these communities. Under the original guidelines, Johns Hopkins awarded each homebuyer up to $1,500, and Baltimore City contributed another $1,000. Through 2004, an additional $1,000 per grant was available from the state. The program has required that recipients own and occupy the home for a specified period and contribute at least $1,000 toward the purchase, depending on where the home was located.

In recent years, however, because of rising property values, these grants have covered a smaller portion of the costs associated with purchasing a home. To make this benefit more attractive and more helpful to employees, The Rouse Company Foundation has provided a grant of $2.5 million. In accepting the grant, the Johns Hopkins Institutions agreed to provide a matching sum. The revamped program has set a goal of providing grants to more than 300 Johns Hopkins employees who choose to purchase homes in designated Baltimore City communities during the next four years. The revised grant program took effect on Aug.1, 2008.

The program is open to most full-time, benefits-eligible employees of the Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Health System. Eligible employees at campuses in other cities, such as the Montgomery County Campus in Rockville, Md., and the School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., also can participate if they wish to live in the targeted Baltimore City neighborhoods. No retroactive grants will be awarded.

Under the revised guidelines, home purchases must be made within one of two Baltimore City program areas, one near the university's Homewood campus and the other surrounding the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Exact boundaries can be viewed on the map posted on this Web site: www.jhu.edu/LNYW.

Within these two areas, grant amounts will vary according to the neighborhoods in which the homes are purchased. On the online map, the areas targeted for the largest grants are identified as "Tiers." For example, home purchases in Tier A1, an area that includes portions of the Harwood, Barclay and Greenmount West neighborhoods, and Tier A2, the East Baltimore Development Inc. area just north of Johns Hopkins Hospital, are eligible for $17,000 grants. In Tier B, which includes the Remington and Better Waverly communities, as well as a section of Abell, $10,000 grants will be awarded. Tier C, which includes Baltimore-Linwood, is designated for $6,000 grants. Home purchases in the areas located within the Live Near Your Work footprint but outside of these specified tiers, will be eligible for grants of up to $2,500.

By allocating the largest grants in the targeted tier neighborhoods, the program administrators are trying to focus the home ownership incentives in a way that maximizes the positive impact on select neighborhoods, especially those that are viewed as key to the viability of north-central Baltimore City and East Baltimore and are located near several of Johns Hopkins' city campuses. By providing the greatest home-buying incentives in these priority areas, the program aims to bolster neighborhoods that already are doing well and to strengthen emerging neighborhoods as they become more vibrant, diverse and desirable places to live.

The original Live Near Your Work program was administered by three separate offices, each serving the Homewood/Peabody, East Baltimore and Bayview areas. In the updated program, these have been consolidated into a single centralized administration, based within the Johns Hopkins WORKlife Programs for employees. In addition to the Live Near Your Work grants for home purchases, participating Johns Hopkins employees also will be eligible for homeowner counseling services, funded by Baltimore City. Live Near Your Work is one of a number of programs that promote work/life effectiveness by reducing the personal barriers that affect employees' ability to be fully engaged at work.

Advance Realty is an active member Live Baltimore and assists many home buyer's purchase homes in Baltimore City, including the neighborhoods around Johns Hopkins campuses that qualify for this grant as well as other city incentive programs. If you are thinking about buying a home in Baltimore City, give us a call today 410-761-1550 and ask an agent about this program and others available in the City of Baltimore.

June Piper-Brandon, Broker/Realtor - Advance Realty Anne Arundel Inc. - http://www.gb-advancerealtyusa.com