David & Lisa Webber, www.webberteam.com

We went to a districting meeting which concerns a brand new neighborhood that is in the planning stages right here in Crofton, Maryland and wanted to share our notes with you.

The Enclave at Riedel Pond is going to be built in an area that many may not realize is there. As you drive down Riedel Road going towards Rt. 3 leaving Crofton, you’ll pass Nantucket Road and before you reach Crofton Valley, there is an area where the entrance to the community will be. A long road will lead you back into a huge, well-planned neighborhood with a lot of common area space and walking trails; a total of about 200 acres of property. The subdivision is already drawn out and the plan is to build 182 single-family homes, no townhomes or condos.

As most Crofton Maryland residents know, the schools throughout Crofton are highly rated in Anne Arundel County, many are Blue Ribbon schools, so it probably comes as no surprise that the newest Crofton school, Nantucket Elementary, is already past capacity and is considered a closed school by the county. In Anne Arundel County, once a school is at or beyond 100% capacity, it becomes a closed school so no new neighborhoods can be added to it. Crofton Middle School is also projected to be at capacity in the very near future as is South River High School.

This brings the county to the dilemma of what schools to send the kids who are going to move into The Enclave at Riedel Pond. With this location, their normal schools would be Nantucket Elementary, Crofton Middle, and South River High School, so the districting proposal for this neighborhood is Crofton Meadows Elementary, Arundel Middle and Arundel High School. Currently The Enclave at Riedel Pond is a proposed active adult community, which means it is age restricted to one of the buyers being 55 or older and no one under 18 living in the home full time.

The problem with this as you may guess is that the demand for age restricted housing is not very great in this area and people who live in neighborhoods now with age restrictions either are unable to sell their homes, or they are losing a ton of money when they do sell. This situation is simply not good for our community or our neighborhoods to continue to build restrictive housing. There are only a few lots throughout Crofton where you can buy new homes and no area the size of The Enclave at Riedel Pond. Crofton has so many townhomes and condos available and when those people want to sell and move up, there currently are only a handful of new homes available.

If this neighborhood is open to ALL PEOPLE and not just 55 and older, the builder will be able to build higher quality homes (because demand will be higher for non age restricted homes) and that will help the surrounding neighbors keep the values of their homes. In Anne Arundel County, the subdivision process is lengthy and complicated and this subdivision has been in the planning stages since 2005. As we all know, the market has changed and the economy has change dramatically. A project like this one we feel will be a good one for the area and potentially fuel the domino effect in housing and it will also put more people to work.

We understand the concerns of people who are concerned about schools becoming fuller, but we have also lost good teachers when school capacity drops. South River High School in Edgewater Maryland recently lost one of their administrators, some kids say the best one, because their enrollment declined. Keeping the capacity in the schools will keep our good teachers in their schools and keep that stability.

According to what we were told in the meeting, if the districting is not approved, the law is that if the schools stay at capacity, then in 6 years the neighborhood can be built anyway and those kids will go to the school they are districted for so it’s either help get them districted to the schools which have the capacity or in 6 years they will be going to Nantucket, Crofton Middle and Arundel High School and odds are there will be more major redistricting at that time.

The timeframe currently is they should have final approval by the end of 2012, then will be working on the infrastructure and plumbing and the first homeowners should be moving in there in about 3 years and they are estimating 5-6 years until the community is totally built out.

The powerpoint presentation we viewed is available on the Anne Arundel County Public Schools website, www.aacps.org.

No one has a crystal ball so we don’t know what is going to happen but if you want a say, come to the hearing on March 20, 2012 at 7pm at South River High School in Edgewater Maryland and hear testimony at the public hearing. It will be interesting to hear what everyone has to say! Oh, and if you want to be kept in the loop as far as this neighborhood goes, email or call and we'll keep you informed!

Here is a diagram of approximately where the neighborhood is:

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To list your property for sale or to purchase a property in Anne Arundel or Howard Counties as well as parts of Prince George’s, Calvert, and Mongtomery Counties, call Lisa & David Webber, Licensed Realtors® at 410-320-0242. For more information on our services, please visit our profile or our website. To view all the homes available for sale in Maryland, click here for your FREE ListingBook account and search like a Realtor does.

Beware Craigs List Rental Scams!

This is the time of year that a lot of people are moving and the Nigerian scammers are out in full force. Below is a real e-mail exchange that took place when a Nigerian scammer hijacked one of my listings. This listing is a rental home in Baltimore County that they are asking $1400 per month for and at that price we’ve gotten a ton of showings. The only reason it’s still available is the landlord has turned down several applications because of credit reasons. The scammer put the same house up for rent for $700/month and looked up the owners name in the property records and made up an email address with the owner’s name in it! I took out the names of the real people to protect their privacy.

Before reading this remember, if a home is available for rent, you will be able to see it on the inside before paying for it! Some agents will ask that you fill out an application or submit a credit report initially only because they want to see if you would qualify. Here in the Ft. Meade area, the rental market is fairly fast moving and it is difficult to get people approved who have questionable credit (late payments, open collections, judgments) approved. In some cases it’s easier to get a mortgage than be approved to rent a home!

DO NOT GIVE OUT PERSONAL INFORMATION in an email to a stranger! This guy FILLED OUT much of the information the scammer asked for so now some guy in Africa has his address, children’s names and ages, relatives, etc.

If the rent advertised on Craigs List is HALF WHAT EVERYONE ELSE IS ASKING FOR RENT that should be a big red flag. Landlords and property managers are not stupid and you are not going to get a deal like that unless your Daddy owns that house. If they can get $1400 they may take $1300 but why in the world would they advertise it for $700.

I am really surprised that people are still falling for this, but this one happened just this past week. If you hear a friend talking about anything that sounds like this, refer them to this blog. If the home is listed in the MLS, a licensed Realtor can confirm the amount of rent and there are Realtors who will help you rent a home in the Ft. Meade Maryland area and you won’t have to send Western Union payments to Nigeria.

By the way, this gentleman fortunately contacted a licensed Realtor who explained to him what was going on and showed him this property yesterday.

Check this out:

From: G
Subject: Re: Property on Craigslist
To: "D E”
Date: Friday, April 22, 2011, 11:29 AM

Hello Mr D ... I'm having problems printing your application. Could give me a call please.443 xxx-xxxx. . Im really interested in renting your property. As soon as possible...

Email from Scammer:

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To list your property for sale or to purchase a property in Maryland, call Lisa & David Webber, Licensed Realtors® at 410-320-0242. For more information on our services, please visit our profile or our website.

To view all the Maryland Homes For Sale Click here and then click on Property Search on the left hand side. We know Anne Arundel, Howard, Calvert, Charles, Baltimore, and Prince George's Counties and look forward to the opportunity to serve you.

We're already seeing a lot of activity in the local market, more and more buyers are coming out and going house shopping. What you may not realize is not only are other home sellers going to be getting their houses in "model home" condition, you may also be competing with new construction. Builders are coming out again and starting to build as the market is turning around.

If your house is 20 or more years old and your roof is starting to show it's age, you may want to call a roofer and get some quotes on replacing it. An old roof at the end of it's normal life expectancy is something that a prospective buyer is going to need to replace soon after purchasing the home and can be a major turn off. I've heard buyers say things like, "Wow, it needs a roof? That's going to be $15,000." This was on a townhouse. Many buyers, especially first-time buyers, don't have a clue how much major purchases cost. A roof for this townhome would be about $2200-$2500 so the seller could potentially lose out on a lot of money if a buyer puts too much cost on repairs. Ask your friends or your Realtor for recommendations for roofers to make sure you get a good one that will be reasonable as far as price and also warranty the work.

We've worked with a couple of good companies that are reliable, reasonable, and stand by their work:

Kelbie Home Improvement is a local company that does everything from roofing and gutters to siding, painting, and remodeling. Call Mike Kelbie for an estimate, 410-ROOFERS.

LKC Construction is another local company with a great reputation that can take care of all your large projects like roof, siding, remodeling and additions. Craig Charpiat is the owner and will come out to meet you and help with your plans - his number is 410-672-6618.

If there are other things that you've been thinking about updating or if your Realtor has recommended projects to get you the most money out of your house (basement finishing, remodeling dated kitchen or bathroom), have them give you estimates for those items too while they are out. Your kitchen may be able to be freshened up just by painting the cabinets, replacing hardware and countertop, and maybe new appliances - that's a lot cheaper than doing an entire remodel where you replace all of the cabinetry. Contractors can help you do this as well.

In the current market, fixer-uppers really take a hit as far as offer price so if you have the cash or the ability to finance the projects in advance, you may be better off when you sell. You may be surprised at how reasonable some of these projects can be; it's worth a call!

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To list your property for sale or to purchase a property in Maryland, call Lisa & David Webber, Licensed Realtors® at 410-320-0242. For more information on our services, please visit our profile or our website.

To view all the Maryland Homes For Sale Click here and then click on Property Search on the left hand side. We know Anne Arundel, Howard, Calvert, Charles, Baltimore, and Prince George's Counties and look forward to the opportunity to serve you.

We just had a very unusual situation happen. Our buyer is using a Columbia Maryland mortgage lender as requested by the seller, even though we did not recommend them, because the seller said the only way they would give them closing costs is using her preferred lender.

This is a FSBO being orchestrated by a former part-time Realtor helping her parents sell their home in Columbia, Maryland and who hasn't been licensed in several years. She had it listed at what it might have sold for in 2006 at the height of the market. We negotiated the initial offer back and forth and did get them to come down from the initial amount they desired. It's much easier to come down in steps so we wanted to get it down as much up front and then when the appraisal came in, get them to lower it to appraised amount.

We provided the buyers with a very thorough CMA to show them market research and of course Realtors are not appraisers so we can't determine market value, but we can get pretty close. The appraisal came in low as we expected; it came in $2k below our CMA. The change in sales price will obviously change the closing costs and we have been waiting for a GFE The buyer has not been provided an updated GFE yet, nor have WE, the BUYER's Realtor but the lender provided it to the SELLER already and the seller's daughter is coming back wanting to negotiate closing costs because "you know you can't get cash back at settlement" (yes we know).

Do Mortgage Lenders have any ethical responsibility to buyers who hire them to do their loans like Realtors do? Are they able to divulge a buyers financial information to that point where they are sharing it behind the buyers back with the seller? I know this is morally wrong but is it illegal or unethical?

Then there is the question of the daughter practicing real estate without a license......

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To list your property for sale or to purchase a property in Maryland, call Lisa & David Webber, Licensed Realtors® at 410-320-0242. For more information on our services, please visit our profile or our website.

To view all the Maryland Homes For Sale Click here and then click on Property Search on the left hand side. We know Anne Arundel, Howard, Calvert, Charles, Baltimore, and Prince George's Counties and look forward to the opportunity to serve you.

I read a post earlier with this title and have some thoughts on the matter. This is a question that you can ask on a national level, and on a national level the answer may be no. But, what does that mean to the individual real estate agent? Very little.

All real estate is LOCAL. What may be true for Dearborn, Michigan is not true for San Antonio, Texas. I spoke to an agent from San Antonio last week and they have not experienced the same market as agents in Tampa, Florida have. They did not have 20% appreciation each year for 4 years; they had modest increases each year like a "normal" market. In San Antonio there are some foreclosures unfortunately and that may be a matter of the types of mortgages that some people took out during the "boom" years; adjustable-rate, interest-only, or balloon loans.

Here in the Baltimore/Washington real estate market our housing values in most neighborhoods have declined since 2006, however 20% annual appreciation was just not sustainable and prices needed to adjust to get back in line with incomes. We are at the point now where housing prices are more in line with incomes and our market is getting back to normal.

From now, mid-November through January/February 2011, we will have the normal slower market as many people do not want to move during the holiday season, but we expect another good spring market, especially with the influx of people moving into the Ft. Meade area.

With the lower prices that we are seeing in the Ft. Meade area and the historically low interest rates, this area is beginning to recover nicely, while other markets may take longer to recover.

Remember that all real estate is LOCAL, before making sweeping generalizations about the real estate market.

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To list your property for sale or to purchase a property in Maryland, call Lisa & David Webber, Licensed Realtors® at 410-320-0242. For more information on our services, please visit our profile or our website.

To view all the Maryland Homes For Sale Click here and then click on Property Search on the left hand side. We know Anne Arundel, Howard, Calvert, Charles, Baltimore, and Prince George's Counties and look forward to the opportunity to serve you.