David & Lisa Webber, www.webberteam.com

We were asked today about a program that I've never heard of and wanted to ask for any information that anyone might know.

A client of ours owns a home that she wants to move out of because her roommate was shot in the head in the home and she came home and found the girl. Fortunately the roommate lived and they just arrested the person who did it.

Our client was approached by a local Realtor who told her that she was a victim of a crime and as such, she could sell her house, the government would pay for any difference that she is upside down, and she could purchase another home with only $1000 down.

I have never heard of such a program and would love to know if one exists or if she is going to be taken advantage of. Thanks for any information!

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To list your property for sale or to purchase a property in Maryland, call Lisa & David Webber, ABR, Licensed Realtors®. 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.

This may be "the perfect storm" here in the Anne Arundel/Howard County area as far as home sales go.

Rates are again BELOW 5% as of today, historically low, and prices have come way down throughout most of the state of Maryland. Homebuyers now, even first-time homebuyers have their choice of some really nice homes. There are bank foreclosures being listed in nice neighborhoods where you would not expect to see foreclosures and "short sale" properties as well. These bank sales are bringing prices down among regular home sellers as well.

For a complete list of homes available in the areas you are looking, give us a call or e-mail and we'll get it out to you. Includes "best buys" and foreclosures!

Your first step is to see what rates you'll qualify for - FHA is even below 5% today! If you'd like a recommendation for a good lender, give us a call; we use several really good mortgage brokers in the area that can help get you approved for your new house then we can go shopping so you can take advantage of this PERFECT STORM!

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To list your property for sale or to purchase a property in Maryland, call Lisa & David Webber, ABR, Licensed Realtors®. 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.

They have largetanks of live fish and good prices on regular and exotic produce. They also sell medium and large containers of really good Kimchi at awesome prices. I found a great grocery store that sells all types of international foods right in Glen Burnie. Fresh World International Supermarket/El Grande Supermercado is located at 7927 Ritchie Highway is located in the old Giant Grocery store location, across from Marley Station Mall. The store is more than 5,000 square feet and stocks Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Pakistani, Indian, Filipino, Hispanic, Thai and Malaysian food.

Growing up in Korea, I developed a love for the people and the FOOD and it can be hard to get good Korean food locally. There is a Korean restaurant in Glen Burnie, but sometimes it's nice to be able to just buy the food and bring it home. They have everything you could possibly want including many different brands and types of large packages of dried seaweed. Their prices on seaweed are very good too, much better than at Giant or Shoppers. This is one of my favorites:

You can use this for making your own sushi, or "kim bap" if you'd like, or just use it to wrap up your rice and kimchi. I like to take a sheet of this yummy, salted seaweed, tear it into smaller strips, pile on a scoop of rice and a piece of kimchi.

They also have marinated bulgogi meat in the meat section that you can purchase by the pound. Bulgogi is a dish that many Americans like, even those that don't otherwise like exotic foods. It's basically thinly sliced beef strips, marinated in a special sauce with soy, ginger, garlice, onions, etc. It cooks up quickly on the grill or in a skillet for a great lunch or dinner. They also have all those interesting cuts of meat that you don't find at your regular grocery store.

You can also get all of the pre-made side dishes like seasoned bean sprouts and that other green veggie, can't think of the name of it.

They have largetanks of live fish and good prices on regular and exotic produce. They also sell medium and large containers of really good Kimchi at awesome prices.

The last time I was there, they were preparing a restaurant area with tables and chairs so you can stop for lunch!

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To list your property for sale or to purchase a property in Maryland, call Lisa & David Webber, ABR, Licensed Realtors®. 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.

As a first time homebuyer, there are a lot of things to consider when purchasing a home and many people will recommend that you stay away from foreclosures but I think that they can be some of the best bargains in this market. There are other bargains of course including motivated sellers that have been in their homes for a length of time and have a good amount of equity, people who are in a divorce situation, or people relocating out of the state.

Some foreclosures are not for the faint of heart, this is true. But most of the foreclosures we're seeing in todays market were just sold between 2005 - 2007 and were in geat condition when they were purchased by the previous owner. Many people who have lost their homes are not trashing them. Some are angry and damaging walls and taking appliances, but some almost look like model homes - it's true!

You will want to make sure you are pre-qualified so you know exactly the price range you're going to want to look in. You'll want to research the areas that you are thinking about living including types of homes and prices so that you'll know when that bargain hits the market. You'll want to have your Realtor put you on an automatic e-mailing so that every single day as a new home with your criteria is listed for sale, it will be in your e-mail box and you'll have the information right away. The best deals are going under contract in less than a week in most cases so you'll need to be ready make a decision quickly. And that quick decision can get you a home with thousands, many times tens of thousands of dollars in instant equity, even in this market!

There are some potential pitfalls when dealing with purchasing foreclosures, but get yourself a good Realtor with foreclosure experience and they'll school you on the process. Remember, the bank will even pay for your Realtor so you'll have an expert to help guide you through the process!

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To list your property for sale or to purchase a property in Maryland, call Lisa & David Webber, ABR, Licensed Realtors®. 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.

Most of the homes I've been showing lately are bank foreclosures.

I can certainly understand why - some banks are putting homes on the market for so far under current market values they are absolute STEALS!

What I'm also seeing in many, if not most, bank foreclosures is mold in the basements. This happens fairly quickly when the houses are closed up and utilities are off. Normally you'd be running air conditioning or heat, running the sump pump in the basement, and keeping the humidity down in the home.

But the banks right now are holding so many foreclosures on their books and are not paying the monthly costs to keep the utilities on so the homes are building up moisture on the inside and mold is growing.

When some people hear "mold", they don't want to have any parts of it and I can understand why. I've seen the news programs showing homes that have "toxic black mold" in them making people terribly sick. But there are different types of mold and the most common mold that grows in the basements of these homes is annoying and does need to be removed (it's most harmful to people that have asthma or suppressed immune systems), but in most cases is more nuisance than deadly.

I'm not a mold expert, but here is a great article containing an interview with a home inspector. If you're in the market for a foreclosure in this market, make sure to click on the link below and read this so you can educate yourself on the subject:

Mold Is The Issue

If you're in the market for a bank foreclosure, make sure to give us a call and we'll take you around to see some bargains!

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To list your property for sale or to purchase a property in Maryland, call Lisa & David Webber, ABR, Licensed Realtors®. 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.