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Lawrence Evans

Top Rated Properties in Germantown Maryland 6 March 2009

The properties below are this week's top rated properties in Germantown:
Location: Shore Harbour, Germantown
Status: Regular Sale
Priced: $250,000
Built in 1992
Value: 5 (Overpriced, should be no more than $230,000)
Condition: 8 (Superior condition and staged beautifully)
Location: 10 (This is why this home has rated so well - panoramic views of the Lake)
Motivation: 7 (Average motivation)
Total Rated Score: 30 - If this condo were to be priced at market it would score a 32 (4 points higher than the average home in Germantown), question the buyer could have is do I want to pay an extra $3 a day for a view?
Location: Laurel Hill Way, Churchill Town, Germantown
Status: Regular Sale (Vacant)
Priced: $248,750
Built in 1984
Value: 7 (Market Value for the square footage)
Condition: 7 (Expected condition, new appliances, good windows, but poor front appeal)
Location: 8 (Backing to parkland, partial view of the lake from the deck)
Motivation: 7
Investor Score: 18.5
Total Rated Score: 29 (With some upgrading to the curb appeal, this is a keeper)
Location: Staffordshire Place, Waters Landing, Germantown
Status: Foreclosure
Priced: $209,900
Built in 1990 by Ryland Homes
Value: 10 (Very well priced - won't last long)
Condition: 7 (Newer appliances, fresh paint - appears to be in the process of addition TLC)Location: 7 (Average location backs to storm water pond)
Motivation: 7 (Corporate Owned)
Investor Rating: 20.5 (Great rental property, potentially flippable)
Total Rated Score: 31 (Highest rated foreclosure/home on the market in Germantown - will be sold by the end of the week)
The above properties have either lowered their price (increased value) and/or added to their condition - they can now be considered good buys. For your information Team Limejuicer and I have previewed over 3,000 homes in the past year and a half. We rate and rerate if necessary, homes on a daily basis - this system allows us to not only keep our seller clients informed as to their competition, but also allows us to find the best valued property for our buyer clients.
Hopefully you found this information useful, if you would like to learn more about the Limejuicer Rating system please feel free to contact me directly. Team Limejuicer is waiting to serve your real estate needs and always welcomes referrals! Thank you for your time.
Lawrence Evans, P.C. - Real Estate Consultant
Re/Max Town Center Cell: (301) 922-2156
Office: (301) 540-2232 Ext 125

Germantown Housing Inventory Numbers Plummet with Increasing Home Sales

Is Germantown seeing the market changing? Yes - a drop of almost 40% of inventory since the beginning of the year. Want some good news for a change? There are currently 191 homes under contract in Germantown, during the same period in 2004 there were only 149 homes under contract. These are incredible numbers considering all that has been going on lately, however, admittedly a very large number of these are foreclosed homes. What you can take from this is the following, call/email all the folks you know that don't currently own a home and tell them that the market is getting much better and the boat could be leaving port soon (in passing you could also mention the rates are only 5% fixed and they only need to have 3 1/2% total cash to buy). If you have followed my rating system (aka the Limejuicer Rating System) explained in past blogs it is now serving a purpose for which it wasn't originally intended. In brief the system analyses all properties on the market according to value, seller motivation, location, and condition providing both the consumer and the realtor a more accurate assessment of available properties. Well during the lengthy process of development, data entry, thousands of house previews/ratings, tweaking, learning and re-learning a number of unforeseen happenings occured. In future blogs I will explain them all, but for now one of these happenings is the system's uncanny ability to predict within a 7 day period a properties time on the market. At first I wasn't necessary sure what I was seeing, but the more I tested, retested and retested the numbers came together. So a seller no longer needs to be concerned as to time on the market, the systems knows it and the buyer now also knows all the best properties on the market...Period....

Waterbury Down South/North Subsection of Waters Landing and Churchill Town Sector, Germantown 2008 Market Update

Waterbury Down South and North are located in the popular Waters Landing Subdivision - Which is also part of the Churchill Town Sector north of Father Hurley Boulevard. These were originally built by Ryland Homes between 1983-1986, the largest model the "Patuxent" boasts 1600 square feet and usually has 3 bedrooms and 2 and one half bathrooms. Their only drawback is that they are back to back townhomes, in other words do not have a basement, however this is one of the most affordable sections of the County. The Home Owner's Association has an on site manager and in my humble opinion is one of the better run Associations in the County, they have been able to keep their dues lower than most HOAs and still provide some of the best amenities around. There are two swimming pools, a dozen or so tennis courts, loads of play areas and walking paths to Lake Churchill and Black Hill Regional Park. The children will go to either Waters Landing Elementary School (Whitechurch Circle) or Lake Seneca Elementary School (Demetrias Way and Larentia Drive), Middle Schoolers go to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School and High Schoolers go to Seneca Valley High School. Both Waterbury North and South are on the local bus route making commuting to the MARC or Metro extremely easy. Highest Sale 2008

19803 Larentia Drive - 3 Level - $265,000 - Sold in March 2008

Home was in above average condition and scored an 8, it was listed above the market at the time and scored a 6. Total score for the buyer was 22 and for the seller it was 28. The higher the number for the buyer the better, the lower the number for the seller the better.

Lowest Sale 2008

13353 Demetrias Way - 3 Level - $162,750 - Sold in November 2008

Home was in below average condition and scored a 5, it was listed below market and scored a 9. Total score for the buyer was 27 and for the seller it was 33. The higher the number for the buyer the better, the lower the number for the seller the better.

Total Number of Successful Sales for 2008 - 15

Total Number of Failed Sales for 2008 - 19

All 19 of these properties were represented by agents outside of Germantown, 12 of them weren't even from Montgomery County.

Best Buyer Deal in 2008

13353 Demetrias Way - Bank owned property started on the market 28 March 2008 at $250,000; dropped their price 24 April to $237,500; dropped again 4th June to $225,900; 4th August to $195,000 and finally contracted 10 October and settled in November 2008 for $162,750.

Worst Buyer Deal in 2008

13433 Demetrias Way - Short sale (Pre-foreclosure), Priced at market in February 2008 $260,000; sold in May 2008 for $255,000. The property was in need of appliances, new carpet and paint. No clue why a buyer would have bought this one when the above property was on the market at the same time....mmmmm? Buyer scored a 19

Best Seller Deal in 2008

Goes without saying if the buyer didn't do well then the seller must have....the winner is 13433 Demetrias Way - Seller scored a 25

Worst Seller Deal in 2008

Winner is 13353 Demetrias Way - Seller scored a 33 - Could they have improved their position, absolutely - If they had replaced the appliances, carpet, windows, and painted (Total cost $20,000) they could have sold it in May for you guessed it $255,000 as opposed to $162,750 in November. What a concept!

Forecast for 2009

The market value for these homes should stabilize this year, they are now under market even for the current economic conditions. There should be at least 12 to 15 sales on these streets with the Sold Prices for the foreclosures being no lower than $145,000 and the improved regular sales capping out at $175,000. A steady depreciation of 1.2 to 1.4% on a monthly basis can be expected. Should Germantown's inventory numbers decrease to between 270 and 320 total properties available one can anticipate we will have reached the last of the monthly depreciation. Current Germantown inventory numbers are 458 total homes available a decrease of over 30% since November 2008.

I hope you found this information useful, please feel free to contact me directly if you would like to make sure you get the best deal in town for both buying and/or selling.

Lawrence Evans

Team Limejuicer - Re/Max Town Center - Germantown

http://www.limejuicer.com/ or my cell phone (301) 922-2156

The Limejuicer Rating System is copywright protected 2009

Best Deals for Week in Germantown, Maryland by Team Limejuicer

The properties below are this week's top rated properties in Germantown:


Location: 11412 Applegrath Way, Brandermill
Status: Active, (Bank Owned
Priced: $164,900 (Originally priced at $164,900)
Built in 1986

Value: 10 (Hit the really good buy list)
Condition: 6 (Slight aroma, newer appliances, new carpet, paint is okay, needs new windows)
Location: 6 (Backs to other townhomes)
Motivation: 7
Investor Rating: 19.5 (Good rental property - could be a flip at the right price o/a $140,000)
Total Rated Score: 29 (Shouldn't last long especially with the low interest rates)


Location: 18640 Sage Way, Cinnamon Woods
Status: Active (Bank owned)
Priced: $134,900 (Originally $144,900)
Built in 1975

Value: 10 (Great rental property)
Condition: 6 (Needs new appliances and carpet)
Location: 6 (Backs to other townhomes)
Motivation: 8 (Really motivated Bank)
Investor Rating: 20 (Really good rental potential flip o/a $120,000)
Total Rated Score: 30 (Should be the first to sell in that subdivision)



Location: 20229 Shipley Terrace, Lakeview (Close to Town Center)
Status: Active (Bank owned)
Priced: $136,000 (Originally $169,900)
Built in 1983

Value: 10 (Great rental 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom)
Condition: 6 (Needs flooring and paint)
Location: 7 (Close to Germantown Town Center)
Motivation: 7 (Uninformed, under marketed Foreclosure)
Investor Rating: 20 (Speaks for itself - good investment)
Total Rated Score: 30 (Will not last long at all)

The above properties have either lowered their price (increased value) and/or added to their condition - they can now be considered good buys.

For your information Team Limejuicer and I have previewed over 3000 homes in the past year and a half. We rate and rerate if necessary, homes on a daily basis - this system allows us to not only keep our seller clients informed as to their competition, but also allows us to find the best valued properties for our buyer clients.

Hopefully you found this information useful, if you would like to learn more about the Limejuicer Rating system please feel free to contact me directly. Team Limejuicer is waiting to serve your real estate needs and always welcomes referrals! Thank you for your time.


Lawrence Evans, P.C. - Real Estate Consultant
www.LimeJuicer.com
Re/Max Town Center

Cell: (301) 922-2156
Office: (301) 540-2232 Ext 125

E-mail Lawrence@LimeJuicer.com
Blog: http://limejuicerrealestate.blogspot.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/3/52b/65b






Homes sold so far this month: 33 - Averaging 3 a day

The Limejuicer Rating System is copyright protected 2008

7th Annual Germantown Walk for the Homeless

In 2005 the Washington metropolitan area saw approximately 14,000 people homeless on any given day.

Nearly half are families; more than a third are children.

Many people assume that most people lose their homes because they abuse drugs or alcohol. But it's not that simple. People get evicted from their homes because they cannot afford steep rent hikes. People lose their jobs and wind up on the streets. Single working mothers show up at shelters with their children because they can not afford day care. Other people end up homeless because they are too sick to work or were forced to flee an abusive home. Some people ran away as teenagers and cannot afford to live on their own. While everyone's story is different, all homeless people have two things in common: They are extremely poor and they have no permanent place to call home.

I have asked Catherine Matthews, Director of the Upcounty to update these numbers for us - My thoughts are that these numbers will have increased due to the high foreclosure and short sale rates.

It is with this in mind that I have decided to organize the Germantown Walk for the Homeless for the 7th year - I will keep you all posted as to the date of the walk and how you may be able to assist or sponsor. I would like to thank you in advance for any help that you may be able to provide.

We will be updating the official walk website as time goes along - please feel free to check it out. http://www.germantownwalk.com/