What a Difference the New Year Makes

It's interesting to me that the news media still continues to imply that foreclosures are found everywhere and they make it seem that you can buy homes for pennies on the dollar. It sure isn't happening here. Prices have come down substantially compared to 2005/2006 but only in some areas. It realy depends upon where the majority of the foreclosures and short sales are.

The neighborhoods in Maryland where we are seeing most of this are the newer neighborhoods with large colonials. For example, the neighborhood of Perrywood in Upper Marlboro. These homes were built just before and during the "boom years" and many of them were purchased with adjustable rate mortgages that are ballooning and they are unable to refinance their homes in this market. In past years, purchasers were able to obain "stated income" loans so that they could purchase more home than they would income qualify for and now you have to show paystubs in order to obtain mortgage money.

So now you have a situation where a high percentage of the homeowners are unable to pay their mortgages and are unable to refinance so they are needing to work out a short sale, where the bank accepts less than what is due on the mortgage rather than foreclose, or the bank is foreclosing.

In those situations, you can sometimes get a real bargain. We found one of those recently for a client who will be moving the end of the month. This home is a large, brick front colonial with 2 car garage. Now the owners of this home were so upset that it was foreclosing that they took the entire kitchen out, the bathtubs (!), washer and dryer and also put animal waste in the sump pump.

So the bank was stuck with this 4400 square foot home (including fully finished basement) with no kitchen or functional bathrooms. The bank actually replaced the whole kitchen, bathrooms, sump pump, and now it looks like a brand new home. The list price on this home, sitting on .32 acres is only $370K. Amazing deal! In 2006, some of these homes were selling for over $600,000.

In other areas you won't find very many short sales or foreclosures and the home prices are more stable. As a buyer, you'll want to choose your own buyers agent to take you around and discuss market conditions in different neighborhoods and what to expect. Having your own buyers agent normally doesn't cost you anything and they'll negotiate for you and help do the research to make sure you are getting what you want.

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To list your property for sale or to purchase a property in Maryland, call Lisa & David Webber, ABR, Licensed Realtors®. For more information on our services, please visit our profile or our website. To view all the Maryland Homes For Sale Click here and then click on Property Search on the left hand side. We know Anne Arundel, Howard, Calvert, Charles, Baltimore, and Prince George's Counties and look forward to the opportunity to serve you.