NANCY NOLET

If you're currently house-hunting in North Baltimore, I have a question for you. How many houses have you looked at so far--ten; twenty; fifty? That's a lot of time out of your life, so get ready to move your search into the twenty-first century.

New applications for the smartphone or tablet are now available to make home buying easier than it's ever been. From an article on the MSN Real Estate website, here is an overview of some of the best new apps.

Home Search Apps - All of these include GPS.

• Realtor.com - They say there are over 3 million listings on this app with photos, pricing and open house information. You can highlight areas to search and find homes for sale in your area. Cost: free.
• ZipRealty - This free app lets you see asking price, photos, and homes that have sold recently for listings in 5,000 cities.
• Zillow - Along with listings and estimated worth of a home, this app also provides rental-rate estimates. Cost: free.

Real Estate Transactions - These will help you understand terms and calculate potential costs.

• Dictionary of Real Estate Terms - If you don't know a bilateral contract from a carrying charge, this app is for you. This is available for lots of devices. Cost for iPhone and iPad: $1.99.
• Mortgage Calculator - This will compute monthly mortgage rate and price per square foot. It also has an amortization schedule. Cost for iPhone and iPad is 99 cents, and there are similar apps for other devices.

City and Neighborhood Information

• Wikihood - Take mini-tours of neighborhoods all over the world and learn about their history, culture, and businesses. Free for iPhone and iPad.
• Suburb Scout - Search for potentially annoying sites near your home: airports, landfills, sewage plants, etc. For Android phone. Cost is $1.99.
• Safe Neighborhood - Free for the Android, this app provides access to the National Sex Offender Registry and locations of offenders in your potential area.
• Crime Stats - Using FBI data, this app shows statistics on violent crimes and property crimes for U.S. cities. Cost: 99 cents for iPhone and iPad.
• Walk Score - If you prefer walking to driving, you'll want to know an area's Walk Score. On a scale from 0 (poor) to 100 (great), this score rates how easily you can walk to grocery stores, coffee shops, drug stores and more. It's free for the iPhone and iPad.
• Around Me - Similar to the Walk Score app, this version gives distances to important locations such as banks and post offices. Also free for iPhone and iPad.
• SiteWise - This app uses current census data to provide a demographic report of your prospective area. Information includes population by age, number of children, household income, and more. Cost is $9.99 for Blackberry and iPhone.

If you don't have the particular smartphone or tablet to run these apps, contact your Internet service or phone provider to see what they offer. New apps are constantly being developed, so you shouldn't have long to wait.

Using any of this technology and teaming up with a great Realtor® will make finding your dream house faster, easier, and ultimately more satisfying.

No matter how you conduct your buying or selling process, I can make it go smoothly. Let me show you how my experience and support can help you make your dreams a reality. Check out my website. I look forward to making a connection with you!

When shopping for a home in North Baltimore, you can't go wrong attending an open house. It's a great way to get not only information on a potential home but also to learn about a neighborhood and even check out potential Realtors® to help with your search.

If you know the right things to ask you can learn more than just the basics. From the MSN Real Estate website, here are some key inquiries that you (or your agent) should make at your next open house.

• Any offers yet? Asking this lets you know if you're competing with anyone. If offers were made and rejected, try to find out why so you can come up with an offer the sellers will accept.
• Has the house been in escrow? If yes, find out why with some follow up questions. Was there an appraisal issue? Was something major found during the home inspection? Get the inspector's reports so you know what you'll need to follow up on if you make an offer.
• How long has the house been on the market? If it's been listed for a while, a lower offer might be accepted. Also ask if/when there's been a price reduction.
• Why are you selling? You might not get much of an answer to this, but whatever you learn can be helpful in deciding your offer price or closing date. Ask several different times to see what slips out.
• Does the property have any liens? This would include construction liens, tax liens or other claims from unpaid debt that you don't want to get stuck with.
• Will the home meet my lender's appraisal expectations? In this market, you can't assume appraisal at listing price. Have your agent check on pending sales so you don't end up losing the money you'll spend as part of the offer process.
• Are there any other associated costs? You want to find this out before closing, not after. If the house is a condo or part of a closed community, ask about dues for the homeowner's association and any other assessments. Also, contact the homeowner's association to check out whether you can abide by their rules for pets, parking, etc.

Even if you like everything you hear, get the answers in writing. You can have your agent follow up with the listing agent for this. And plan to have your own home inspection done regardless of what you were told. Home buying is sort of like marriage--it's easier to break off a bad relationship before the vows are said versus after, so the more information beforehand the better.

From open houses to the offer process, let me show you how my experience and support can help you make your dreams a reality. Check out my website. I look forward to making a connection with you!

Contingencies are the conditions that a seller must meet before a buyer will honor his purchase offer for the home. For a seller, these clauses are obstacles; for a buyer, they're protection. If you're buying a home in North Baltimore, Monkton, or any other area, AOL Real Estate recommends that the following three contingency clauses always be a part of your contract.

Contingency 1: You Must Sell Your Home Before You Buy - This is a must if you need money from your existing home to purchase your next one. If your home doesn't sell, you don't buy. The seller won't like it, but this is a better alternative than taking on loans for both your old house and your new one. There's no telling how long your old home will take to sell or how much the final selling price will be. And as a seller, you can write a clause that accepts an offer contingent on your finding a house to purchase.

Another approach is to set up your North Baltimore home-sale contingency for a 21-day period. That way the seller can still keep the property on the market while you hopefully get some offers on your own home. After 21 days you can either buy the house or let your offer die.

In this market, buyers are in control. If the seller walks away because of your contingency, move on or come back to the seller in a few months. Most likely the house will still be for sale.

Contingency 2: You Must Qualify for an Affordable Loan Rate - Even though interest rates are low, lenders don't always qualify you for the lowest rate. Figure out the highest rate and least-attractive loan terms that you can afford and write those into a contingency clause. If things then go in the wrong direction, you can back out based on your cap.

Contingency 3: No Home Inspection Means No Deal - Your offer should be subject to the house being inspected for all possible issues, including termites. If the inspector finds big issues, you can renegotiate the sale price or ask the seller to make the necessary repairs before you buy. Sellers will usually put a ceiling on how much they'll pay for, but you must then state your own cap as well. If a very expensive problem is uncovered, you'll have a way out of the offer.

Some real estate agents privately refer to contingency clauses as "weasel clauses," insinuating that it allows buyers to "weasel out" of an offer penalty-free and with a refund of their earnest money deposit. In reality, contingency clauses are just common sense precautions for buyers and for sellers. Planning ahead for contingencies helps everyone to know where they stand and can often help a deal close with little or no angst.

I can help you plan for and handle any contingencies in buying or selling a home. Let me show you how my experience and support can help you make your dreams a reality. Check out my website. I look forward to making a connection with you!

Facebook lovers, raise your hands! (Mine is up.) What a great way to connect with friends and family both in and outside of North Baltimore. If a foreclosure is looming, however, your Facebook account might bring you trouble--literally. In the very near future, lenders could be using the social networking site to serve foreclosure notices when other contact methods fail.

A case in Australia is creating this hub-bub. A couple who had defaulted on their loan could not be found through a physical address or email, but the lender found them on Facebook and served legal papers via that site. The Australian courts upheld the lender's right to this action citing that there were no privacy protections on the couple's account and they visited Facebook often enough to "reasonably receive notice."

Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports that the courts in New Zealand, Canada and the U.K. have already followed Australia's example, so people like Marc Rotenberg, president of the Washington DC-based Electronic Privacy Information Center, believe it's only a matter of time until this happens in the U.S.

Many of you may be wondering, "Why not just use email?" The U.S. courts have already ruled that email is not a safe or reliable way to deliver legal notices. The basis for this is that people get so many email messages, many of which are not opened promptly or end up in a spam folder, that the intended recipient can claim, "I didn't see the email."

Facebook is viewed in a totally different light. Most of us in North Baltimore don't have thousands of friends, and we regularly post things that show we're active users. So an excuse that we didn't get the notification probably won't cut it in court.

Legal analysts say that though it will be unpopular, it's likely this practice will be deemed permissible. So if you're in a situation where you don't want a bank to locate you (for whatever reason), turn on those Facebook privacy settings and think twice about posting personal data. The long arm of the law wants to serve you, not friend you.

For me, Facebook is a great way to keep up the important connections in my life, which include helping you find the best place to live. Let me show you how my experience and support can help you make your dreams a reality. Check out my website. I look forward to making a connection with you!

Whether you live in Towson, Monkton, or Baldwin, owning a home comes with many responsibilities. Some we all know, like repairs and maintenance. But there's another level of homeownership that's just as important: getting involved with your local community.

It's the people in neighborhoods and cities that get things done, help out others, and make a difference.

From the RealtyTimes web site, here are a few ways to be a homeowner who's engaged with your community.

• Volunteer or donate to your local American Red Cross.
• Donate items to Goodwill or the Salvation Army.
• Become a Big Brother or Big Sister to a child who needs a positive role model. If you can't volunteer, you can donate at www.bbbs.org.
• Participate in your local Relay for Life to raise money for the American Cancer Society.
• Attend activities or sports events run by the local school system. Buy that candy bar or magazine from a student or just make a donation.
• Take a role in city or town government. Run for city council or school committee and you'll influence big changes. Or just attend city meetings and be sure you vote.
• Be a good neighbor. Join a neighborhood watch if you have one, or just join with your neighbors to watch out for each other's families and homes.

These are only a small percentage of possible activities. You have only to look to discover many more things you and your neighbors can do. But know that by getting involved at any level, you make your city or town a place that everyone will be happy to call their home.

Contact me today, since developing personal connections is just as important to me as helping you find the best place to live. Let me show you how my experience and support can help you make your dreams a reality. Check out my website. I look forward to making a connection with you!