Sarah Toppins

I just finished a six hour shift of manning the phones for the National Red Cross trying to help people who wanted to find out about loved ones in Haiti and/or volunteer time and money.

Let me share with you what I know.

First, for those people looking for news about people in Haiti, the International Red Cross (ICRC) has set up a website (http://www.icrc.org/familylinks) for people to go online and register their missing family members. The Red Cross has "trackers" in Haiti who will post information about people in Haiti as that information becomes available. Unfortunately, most of the information on the website right now is about the missing.

For people who want to help now, the Red Cross is taking monetary donations* one of four ways.

1) By mail, to American Red Cross, Disaster Relief Fund, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20012.

2) Online, through the secure website - www.redcross.org.

3) By phone, 1-800-733-2767 or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish).

or, 4) through a text message saying "haiti" to 90999. With this option, $10 will be charged to your cell phone bill.

The Red Cross is also looking for volunteers. It's a process, so you can't expect to call today and be sent to Haiti tomorrow. But this will be a disaster that will be around and needing volunteers for a long time, so the best approach for someone wanting to help is to go to their local chapter (in the Washington, DC area, the website is www.redcrossnca.org) and do what's required under the "volunteer" tab. Because the Red Cross must vouch for its volunteers, a prospective volunteer must take some free classes and go through a background check.

I first volunteered after Katrina because of Katrina. I didn't go to New Orleans, but I was working floods and tornadoes within weeks of volunteering. Now, I'm a part of a disaster team that usually goes to local fires. But this week, I've been asked to help out nationally with the Haiti response.

It's hard to watch the hardship caused by the disaster, but it does help to feel like I'm doing a little to help out. I hope you will find your way to help as well.

*The Red Cross is unable to take donations of food, clothing, etc. The organization doesn't have the space or the manpower to handle such donations.

In what seems to be a fitting close to 2009, my copy of this morning's Washington Post had 31 pages of foreclosure notices, making it one of the largest classified sections in recent weeks.

However, my email included information about a two part video explaining the government's loan modification program. In very simple language, the video explains how the program works and uses examples to illustrate it. The second part of the video explains what information a person wanting to use the program needs and how the process works. I strongly recommend the video produced by the PMI Group and available at http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/pmi/41078/.

So while 2009 presented lots of challenges, I believe 2010 will provide more solutions. Wishing you all a healthy and more prosperous 2010.

How to Prepare for a Showing

in Ten Minutes or Less

Put dishes in the dishwasher (or quickly wash them).

Wipe the counters (kitchen & baths).

Empty the garbage.

Make the beds.

Hide dirty clothes in the washer.

Take a deep breath!

Check toilets & put down toilet seats.

Make sure all stairways are clear.

Turn on the lights & open shades & blinds.

If time, run a quick vacuum.

Leave house before showing (Take pets with you, if possible).

Smile. You did it!

I've just finished reading Michele Lerner's "Homebuying - Tough Times, First Time, Any Time - Smart Ways to Make a Sound Investment" and can recommend it as a good resource for agents working with first time homebuyers and first time homebuyers.

Lerner is a writer for the real estate section of "The Washington Times" (not my favorite newspaper, but it has a great real estate section). She came to my office to talk about the book (because Lerner bought her current home from one of the agents in my office) and sold out of the 50 books she brought to sell us. I think that's a pretty good recommendation for her knowledge and the information in the book. She's local, so she knows local customs, but the book does not have a local focus and would be good for buyers and agents across the country. (In fact, if I have any quibble it's that she doesn't quote local agents in the book.)

Each chapter begins with a story and ends with a checklist. The chapters deal with the current market, whether a buyer is ready to buy, financing, lease-to-own agreements, finding the right Realtor, choosing the right neighborhood, choosing the right house, short sales & foreclosures, contract & contingencies, insurance issues, legal and tax issues, and what to expect at the settlement table. There's also an appendix with a state-by-state and Canadian programs for first time homebuyers.

I might have organized the book a bit differently. For instance, lease options and writing a contract each get a chapter. I would have given more attention to the contract issues. But Lerner is very pro using a Realtor, so I guess it's my job to fill in the holes in the contract chapter.

The book is currently for sale on Amazon for under $11. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_1_10?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=homebuying+tough+times+first+time+any+time&sprefix=homebuying

Since the first time homebuyer tax credit has been extended through April of 2010, this would be a good resource for those people who have been cautious about buying and want to do their homework.

I thought there would be a big increase in inventory after Labor Day since the supply of houses and condos in Montgomery County has been dropping for more than a year, but that didn't happen. In fact, there were nine (yes, I said nine) more unsold houses (2276) in September compared to August (2267). There were 27 more condos on the market in September (932) than August (905). As a reference, there were 4177 unsold single family homes at the end of September 2008 and 1200 condos.

September 2008 is when the public became aware of the problems in the financial market and when housing sales started to fall, so it's interesting to see what's happened in the past year.

Inventory of single family houses was at its highest in April 2008 and remained fairly steady for two more months before beginning a free fall that bottomed out in August of 2009. Contributing to that big drop is the number of contracts written in April, May, & June of this year, taking a lot of homes off the market. Just over 1100 contracts were written for single family homes in each of those months. The previous record for number of contracts written was in May of 2005 when around 1600 single family homes went under contract. The highest number in 2008 was around 800 contracts written, also in May.

Settlements seem to be lagging behind the numbers for contracts. I attribute that to the length of time it is taking to get responses from lenders on short sales and the increased restrictions from lenders for new mortgages. It normally takes 45 to 60 days between the date a contract is accepted and when settlement occurs. So for April contracts, we'd expect a high number of settlements in June. There were 1103 contracts in April and 557 settlements that month. In May, there were 680 settlements, and in June, 859. The highest number of settlements for the year was in July - 905 single family houses went to closing. That dropped in 760 in August and 635 in September. (My statistics, by the way, are from the Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors.) New appraisal and lending rules went into effect this summer and that may have slowed down some of the settlements.

Our local multiple listing service, MRIS, reports that the average list price of all Montgomery County residential properties (condos & single family houses) was around $410,000 in 2008. In 2009, that average is around $350,000. Over the summer, properties were selling for about $5000 over than average. In September, that averagle sales price dropped to $333,500 from $355,000 in August. I take that to mean that a lot of bargain hunters bought properties over the summer leading to the higher number of sales, but lowering the average price.