Laurie Miller

Everyone else is jumping on my bandwagon lately. It must be the economy - not everyone's got a streak of Scottish thrift in their blood like me :)

I've always mowed my own lawn, pulled my own weeds, painted my house, fixed leaky sinks & toilets, repaired appliances and my lawnmower.

For people who may be new to this do it-yourself home maintenance, here are some websites to visit:

• General Handyman Repair Advice: 1)http://www.doityourself.com 2) http://www.naturalhandyman.com
• Washer or Dryer Repair (buy videos) http://www.do-it-yourself-washing-machine-and-dryer-repair-help.com
• Auto Repair: http://autorepair.about.com/
• Appliance Repair http://www.applianceblog.com/
• Great free videos about Lawn mover Repair: http://www.ehow.com/videos-on_4931_repair-lawnmower.html
• What Type of Lawn to Plant: http://www.lawngrasses.com/info/climate-map.html

It has been awhile in the making ... but people can actually afford to buy a house in the Maryland suburbs of DC again.

That's the good part about this economy. Of course there are a lot of short sales and forclosures on the market now ... a very rough estimate after looking through the MRIS is that somewhere near 50% of the listings are either short sales and foreclosures. No one likes to walk through a short sale or foreclosure and know that someone has lost their home because of bad loans, loss of a job ... but the bubble had to break somehow and given a year or so more the housing market will recover ... for the better.

Three years ago, little houses that sold for $500 pushed a lot of people to the limit in terms of what they could afford simply to get in a house (that in turm might have cost them a lot more than the sales price because of bad plumbing, roofing, foundation problems "overlooked" because no seller was accepting home inspection contingencies). Now those same houses are selling for a much mroe reasonable $350 or so ...

And it's not just short sales and foreclosures for sale. Some sellers need to sell even though the market value of their homes have significantly dropped. These are great buyers for qualified buyers (who are out there!). The home prices are back to to "reasonable" and with a living, breathing seller there can even be negotiation on price, repairs and closing help.

So for people how are moving into the area, there are actually homes they can afford. It is good to know that you can actually help people find houses that not only meet their needs but are also reasonably priced.

I have driven past Suburban Florists on Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda for years ... I have probably even received an FTD flower arrangement via them, but I have never stopped in the shop until today.

They have their own parking so that makes getting in the shop easy ... but the best part are the folks who run the shop. Two sisters took over the business from their mother years ago, and they have done their mother proud.

We walked in looking for small bunches of flowers to give out after our daughter's summer drama camp production without much of an idea about what they should look like ... but we knew we needed 10 bunches (and the tenth one had to be bigger/more unique with sunflowers for the director) and that we had about $90 to spend.

The women there made up 10 great bouquets within 20 minutes and got us out the door with money still in our pockets and smiles on our faces.

I highly recommend this local, family owned business.

It's been a while since I have posted, so I'd better catch up with the latest and greatest news.

Most everyone currently interested in buying a home knows about the government's recent stimulus package that includes a temporary (until December 31, 2008) increased limit for conforming loans, but if you are not sure exactly was this means or want to hear about it straight from the horse's mouth, here's two links from FannieMae:

• http://www.fanniemae.com/media/statements/2008/030608.jhtml?p=Media&s=Statements
• https://www.efanniemae.com/sf/guides/ssg/annltrs/pdf/2008/0805.pdf

So what does all this mean? It affects buyers and current homeowners in the following ways:

• Between March 1, 2008 and December 31, 2008,
  
• buyers can borrow more money at a lower rate or
  
• current homeowners can refinance at a lower rate.
  

This adjustment to the conforming loan limit reflects the increase in the cost of housing over the last few years which kept many new home buyers out of the market and began to make it difficult for some homeowners (those who most likely bought at the height of the market and/or who had ARM loans that were too difficult to pay).

So this is the year to buy! Prices are low because of saturated markets and it is easier to get loans for the houses in major metropolitan areas such as DC & LA.

And with the loan limit increase set to end 12/31/08, there is still time for people who need a half a year to clean up their credit before buying. So anyone who is considering buying a home should contact a Realtor and mortgage lender as soon as possible to see what is possible in 2008.