Rachel Rabinowitz

Love Baltimore’s Bolton Hill neighborhood?

***UPDATE*** this was a very well attended event!****

This Sunday October 30, 2011 three agents, including yours truly, will be hosting concurrent open houses from 2-5pm at

1819, 1817, and 1720 Eutaw Place Baltimore, MD 21217

Eutaw Place was home to Baltimore’s wealthiest families, and some of our most famous citizen-residents of the 20^th Century.

Nowadays properties are in a various state of use divided between multi-family and single family residences.

This weekend you’ll be able to preview a finished single family home: 1720 Eutaw Place

A multifamily residence being sold at auction Monday November 7, 2011 (1819 EUTAW PLACE);

http://www.tranzon.com/FX6809

And a true fixer-upper with lots of historical charm and great potential: 1817 EUTAW PLACE

Eutaw Place is a European-style boulevard that is centrally located in Baltimore City. The properties open this weekend offer a rare blend of affordability and glamour. Whether you’re “just looking” or you’re in search of a great investment, I hope you’ll consider joining us this Sunday October 30, 2011 from 2-5pm.

Who?

Potential buyers of Baltimore City real estate

What?

“Buying into Baltimore Trolley Tour” - Eastside Edition

Neighborhood tours are scheduled in the spring and fall. The first 50 homebuyers that attend the trolley tour and execute a sales contract within 90 days receive a $4,000 award towards closing costs. To qualify for this program the mortgage loan may not exceed $417,000. Buyer must contribute at least $1000 towards the purchase and must use the property as the principle residence.

Where?

Mergenthaler Vocational Technical High School "Mervo"
3500 Hillen Road Baltimore, MD 21218

When?

Saturday, September 10, 2011

8:30am – 2pm

Why?

The $4,000 award can be applied toward down payment and closing costs. There is a $10.00 participation fee* to attend this event, children under 10 are free. The participation fee also includes a registration packet with home buying resources, so register online today!

Here’s the link to register today!

http://www.livebaltimore.com/events/BuyingIntoBaltimore/

A small activerain success story from an inconsistent blogger:

I’m fairly new to AR, and as a Real Estate Auctioneer, most of my posts are about a niche in our industry that many people don’t understand, or perhaps I should say, don’t trust….

Learning how to be a blogger is a slow process for me, but I’ve got a long-term view of the benefits.

I like activerain , I’m a little afraid of the 100,000+ points super-members, most of the time I gravitate towards the member-posts that are written by average bloggers like me.

One day this summer I decided to write a localism blog post about interesting rowhomes in my Baltimore neighborhood. Turns out it’s the most popular thing I’ve ever written.

http://activerain.com/blogsview/2396952/baltimore-s-charles-village-victorian-painted-ladies-

I got an email this week from someone who liked the pictures from that post:

From: Kerri Pinchuk [mailto:xxxxxx@wheremagazine.com]
To: rrabinowitz@tranzon.com
Sent: Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:43:51 -0400
Subject: Charles Village Painted Ladies photo

Hi Rachel,

My name is Kerri Pinchuk and I'm the editor of WHERE Baltimore magazine. I
came across your photos of Charles Village online and was wondering if you'd
be interested in having one of the photos featured in the "neighborhoods"
section of an upcoming publication. The photo would accompany a brief
write-up of the Charles Village neighborhood, and your name would be
included as the photo credit.

Please let me know as soon as possible if this is something you'd be
interested in - our website is www.wheretraveler.com for more information
about our magazines.

Thanks so much!
Kerri
--
Kerri Pinchuk
Assistant Editor
WHERE Magazine

It sure is nice to have your work appreciated. My success came from keeping it very simple, a stroll in my neighborhood.

What’s next for me at activerain? Perhaps there’s a referral around the corner or a featured blog post I’ll create at somepoint in the near future.

In case you were wondering, here is a link to my favorite blog post; it’s about a difficult subject, estate administration. It violates every suggestion on AR for color, white space, and pictures. However, it is a professional message from the heart, and I like to think that someone out-there will read it and feel comforted.

http://activerain.com/blogsview/2301546/estate-sale-and-administration-survival-guide

I’d like to take some time today to acknowledge my office support staff. She’s a loyal team member who spends countless hours keeping an eye on me.

Ms. Gno-Gno is a rescue cat that I adopted ten years ago from the Baltimore Humane Society on Nicodemus Rd in Reisterstown, MD.

http://www.bmorehumane.org/

When I decided to adopt a cat, I went to the shelter and asked, “Which cat has been here the longest?” I was introduced to this beautiful tortoise-shell cat. Her cage was in the far corner of the room. If you read the report that came with her, you’d surely not adopt this cat. Yet somehow I just knew that her previous owner had it all wrong.

This leads me to a story of my very favorite real estate auction

Two years ago I had the privilege of selling an estate property in Baltimore City that had been willed to the Richmond SPCA. Not only was the property a hidden gem, the fact that so many animals lives were going to benefit made it a truly exciting project.

Luckily the auction was covered by our local news; here are two reports:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emIRY2lxYGc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deNYgoWxgZc

The opportunity to auction real estate to benefit a non-profit organization is a great honor I hope to have again (and again)

in my career.

In the case of this property, the entire proceeds went to benefit the organization. A benefit auction can also be structured where a portion of the proceeds benefit a charitable cause, especially in cases where sellers want to be generous but need to retain some of the proceeds for their own purposes.

This is a great way to sell real estate and benefit your community. If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of benefit auctions, get in touch!

The Highfied House condominium is located in Baltimore's historic Tuscany-Canterbury neighborhood. Built by the famed Bauhaus architect Mies van der Rohe in 1964, it's sleek glass and reinforced concrete construction is a 16 story example of International Style architecture. If you have Modernist sensibilities, and you're in search of Baltimore real estate, you simply must see this building, it's a knock-out.

This building is walking distance from my home and I was lucky to stay here for three months in the Spring of 2008 (when I was between houses) The best thing about living in the Highfield House is the outstanding staff. A uniformed professional doorman is always at the ready in addition to someone positioned at the front desk and porters. You can come home with a car ful of groceries at the end of a long day and they'll take your groceries up to your apartment and park your car in the garage.

The glass enclosed lobby is always sparkling clean. The furniture is all (of course) Mies van der Rohe, including his "Barcelona" tables and chairs. When I have appointment's at The Highfield House, I always seem to arrive a little early to simply linger in the lobby.

There are so many common-area design details I could praise, but just to name a few; there is a service elevator in addition to three passenger elevators so your trip to your unit is never interrupted with elevator congestion, the lawns surrounding the building are golf-course immaculate, and there is a chic circular pool in the recreational area.

Condo's typically are one or two bedrooms offering sweeping city views. The prices for real estate in the Highfield House are surprisingly affordable, one bedroom units are priced under $100,000 (two are currently listed at $88,500 and $89,000) and two bedroom units are in the $200's (one is currently listed at $214,400). In purchasing a condo in Maryland, you'll have seven days to review the condominium resale documents to make sure you are comfortable with the COA and the buildings fiscal position.

There are a few factors that do indeed lessen the surprising savings on the purchase price, the first is the condo fees which are running approx. $500 per month for one-bedroom units and $750 per month for two-bedroom units (luckily these fees include heat and air conditioning) the second is Baltimore City property taxes which are approximately $2,600 on the one-bedroom units and $4,200 on the two bedroom units. The bundled rate for taxes in Baltimore City is $2.268.

The Highfield House is a landmark building on the National Register of Historic Places. It's location in the Tuscany-Canterbury neighborhood in Baltimore is walking distance from The Johns Hopkins University, and it shares a border with the glamorous Guilford neighborhood, "Baltimore's premier residential community".

The building is filled with stylish people who appreciate the Mid-Century Masterpiece as a livable work of art. If you are lucky, a unit will be on the market that includes the original parquet floors, and Mies van der Rohe designed kitchen cabinets. The Highfield House Condominium is real estate you have to experience in person. If you are an architecture aficionado and you want to live in a building oozing "Man Men" era charm, you MUST consider The Highfield House. I'd be delighted to be your guide.