Feeling adventurous? How about a hike on the legendary Appalachian Trail? Maryland is home to 41 miles of the 2,175 miles of the meandering trail that goes from Maine to Georgia. The trail follows the ridge of South Mountain which borders Frederick County and Washington County. The elevation of the trail varies from 200-1,800 feet. According to the ATC website this is an easy section of the trail great for a 3-4 day hike. You hike past places along the trail like the Washington Monument State Park not "the" Washington Monument, but the first one to honor the Father of our country and a small portion of the C&O Canal. If you're doing the whole 41 miles, you might as well do a couple more miles into West Virginia, where one of my favorite places is located, Harper's Ferry. This little town has great charm and is deep history. Harper's Ferry and the C&O Canal are only about 15 miles south-west of Frederick MD. A local hikers club offers trail guides and information to help you with a successful trip, if you don't want to do this on your own.

OK, you're not ready for a long hike...pack a picnic basket (throw in your favorite bottle of wine), hike over to Annapolis Rocks for the evening and take in a gorgeous sunset. This is a popular trip by local couples especially in the fall.

The entrance to the trail is right off Route 40 West about 10 miles from Frederick MD. Happy Hiking!

When you need help in finding real estate in Frederick County, call Bob Carney at 240-285-4918 or email at Bob(at)Gotbob4homes.com.

In the first part of this mini series, I talked about the process that leads up to the making the offer. Well, now that offer is in the hands of the Seller's agent and the seller. They will review the thoughtfully prepared and professionally presented offer. If they accept everything in the offer, they will sign off on all the pages that you did and it now becomes a contract. Wah..Lah!

Chances are they will make some changes. Read the rest of the story...

When you need help in finding real estate in Frederick County, call Bob Carney at 240-285-4918 or email at Bob(at)Gotbob4homes.com.

The Early Show had a financial advisor on this morning to talk about buying in today's market. So, I thought I would elaborate a little about it as it related to Frederick MD. We are not too far off from what the rest of the nation is experiencing in the housing slump. Our homes are staying on the market a little longer (116 days average time on market for month of May) than they did last year at this time (57 days.) That's twice as long than last year. The prices have come down some since last year too (down 1.47%) There are more than 2200 homes in inventory and there were 1800 last year.

What does that mean to the average buyer? Read the rest of the story

When you need help in finding real estate in Frederick County, call Bob Carney at 240-285-4918 or email at Bob(at)Gotbob4homes.com.

When you ole' duffers are ready to go out and knock around a little white ball for awhile, here is a list of places to go in Frederick County. I have not played all of them (yet). They are all unique in their own way and offer their own challenges. They vary from semi-private to public. Clustered Spires is a great course for the price and it's managed by the city of Frederick. If you get a chance, go check it out. On of the cheaper course for those of you looking to improve your game, try out the Frederick Golf Course...You will see it is rated in the Pasturegolf.com. Just don't hit the cows, it will cost you a stroke. (just kidding, no cows...unless you are REALLY bad) You will know which ones I played, they are the ones with the broken windows on the house that line the fairways and the ones with the golf bag in the lake. See you on the links.

Oh, yeah...when I yell FORE!!! RUN!!! Very fast!!!

I have a tip that can take five strokes off anyone's golf game: it's called an eraser. ~Arnold Palmer

Fast becoming a bedroom community to Frederick MD, this area offers some of the most affordable housing in Frederick County. You will enjoy the country charm of the open pastures and mountain views. Located off Route 15 north of Frederick, you have an easy commute (a little more than an hour) to Baltimore and Washington DC. (By Washingtonians standards) Home prices are currently range from $185,000 to $995,000 from brand new to historically preserved.

Surrounded by history, you have Gettysburg, PA to the north which has some of the greatest battles in Civil war history. Tucked away in your back yard hidden in the Catoctin Mountains is Camp David. Many historical summits took place at Camp David. You will find plenty of that history documented on the walls of the Cozy Inn, as this is a popular place for the news media when Camp David is occupied.

Virtual Tour of the Thurmont

When you need help finding real estate in Frederick County, call Bob Carney at 240-285-4918 or email at Bob(at)Gotbob4homes.com.

Conveniently located off of Interstate 270 and Route 355, this desirable neighborhood was built back in the late 1990s. This Planned Urban Development has a home for everyone. The homes range in size from 1,600 square feet to over 5,000. The prices range from $350,000 to $900,000. You have plenty of homes to choose from in the Re-sale Market while they are continuing to build new ones too. Builders include; Ausherman Homes , Classic Community, NVHomes, Main Street Homes, M/I Homes, Parkwood Homes, Ryan Homes Not all builders have sites available, but they contributed to the communities beauty.

Living in this community you are within an easy commute to Washington DC, Baltimore and moments from Downtown Historic Frederick. You are living in the middle of everything. The shopping center was recently built at the entrance offering a Giant grocery store, a variety of restaurants (Subway, New York J&P Pizza), and other necessities (Curves, Liquor Store, Banks.)

Find out more about Urbana at their community website.

Take a virtual tour of Urbana Frederick MD here

When you need help finding real estate in Frederick County, call Bob Carney at 240-285-4918 or email at Bob(at)Gotbob4homes.com.

Have you ever been around someone that was laughing and you found yourself just laughing for no reason what so ever???  Why is it that some laughs are so infectious?  I really don't know why...I just enjoy a good laugh.  It feels soo good after a good laugh.  Usually tears are running down your face, you're winded and maybe if you laughed hard enough, your stomach hurts.  Laughter is the best medicine.  The University of Maryland did a study on it and shows that it helps the blood flow throw you body and helps reduce heart disease.  So the next time you roll your eyes at a dumb joke, it might have just saved someone's life. 

So, if laughter is the best medicine, why do miserable people live so long?

Here's your medicine for the day.  This bady just cracks me up.

Burkittsville, MD, a small town south of the Middletown Valley nestled at the base of the mountains and surrounded by farmland lays Burkittsville. Named after one its earliest settlers, Henry Burkett, it still has that old town feel. The town still reflects that of 1800s. Your imagination draws images of old horse drawn buggies roll over the Cobblestone road at the main intersection of town. During the civil war, settlers were run out by the Union Troops as they fought the Battle of Crampton's Gap in 1862. This battle flourished in to the Battle of Antietam and the homes were used as hospitals and shelters by the 6^th Army Corp. They are still intact today.

Few years later, a notable Maryland author, George Alfred Townsend moved into Burkittsville. He had an influential part in the memorial that still stands at Crampton's Gap in the Gathland State Park known as War Correspondents Arch. The town still looks as it did back in the 1800s thanks to the preservation efforts of it's inhabitants.

In 1999, Burkittsville made it to the big screen as this was the backdrop for the horror film, The Blair Witch Project. This was the brainstorm of a few broke movie makers. Their marketing was so believable that fans still trek to Burkittsville in hopes to see the witchcraft fables that made the movie so popular.