David & Lisa Webber, www.webberteam.com

We've begun to see a change in the area around Ft. Meade already due to the BRAC (Bace Realignment And Closure). This spring the sales market has picked up, a fair amount due to the tax credit, but the biggest change we've seen is in the rental home market. If you do a search for single family homes available for rent in Crofton, there are currently only 2 available! Rental homes normally only last a couple weeks and many rent within a week when they can get well-qualified tenants.

If you're looking to move and want to keep your house or don't want it to sit on the market for sale for awhile, call a Realtor who works with rental properties and ask them what your house would rent for. Keeping the house you are in and renting it out could be a wise financial investment for you.

Some people like to stay in the area but move to another home and they are willing to manage their own properties but need help finding a tenant. A Realtor can help with that as well and it typically costs only about one month rent. The Realtor will advertise the home for rent, put it into the multiple list, and advertise on websites, just like if you were selling the home. They will provide applications for the prospective tenants, pull the credit for you so you can make a decision about renting to them, and they'll provide the legally-binding lease and addendums for you. This can save you countless hours of time and research.

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

I'm sure you've heard of the $8000.00 first time homebuyer tax credit. That's a great credit and you can even ammend your 2008 taxes and get the refund after settlement. That's all fine and well, but what if you need the $8000 to go towards your downpayment? Now the FHA is going to work with their approved lenders to do a sort of bridge loan so that first time buyers can take advantage of the credit BEFORE BUYING and use it towards their downpayment. We don't have all of the details yet and it sounds like the kinks are being worked out, but if this works out, renters can more easily become buyers.

A first-time homebuyer in our area would be in about the $200,000 to $300,000 price range, most likely purchasing a condo or townhome, but in a few areas you can even buy a single family home. You would normally need a minimum of 3.5% for a downpayment, so about $7000-$10,500 out of pocket cash. You can be "gifted" this downpayment from Mom & Dad if they are feeling especially generous, but if you are like most people, Mom and Dad want you to come up with the money yourselves (or their 401Ks have been depleted so they don't have it to give!).

If FHA lenders can stay within the guidelines and work out bridge loans to enable you to use this $8000.00, that would cover your entire downpayment for a $200,000 condo and most of it as you get closer to $300,000!

This is the opportunity that many people who are renting have been waiting for. If your credit is decent, about 620 FICO and above, your American Dream could come true soon.

We work with several great local lenders who can explain how this works and see if you're qualified to become a homeowner. Several of them provide free credit counseling and repair and will work with you over time to get you qualified for your loan, just give us a call and we'll provide you with all the information you need.

Here's the announcement of this big story:

http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/2009/05/re_summit?lid=ronav0019

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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.

If you find yourself relocating to Maryland, you may end up needing temporary housing until you can settle on your home. We're working with a military couple right now who is relocating to Frederick from Germany. The wife flew in several weeks ago to go house shopping and Dave spent three days with her, looking at all her favorites after eliminating many by shopping on the internet.

She chose her favorite which is a bank foreclosure and we're scheduled to close on June 2nd. Only problem is the bank came back and had us do an addendum to extend the settlement until June 18 if necessary because they are so overwhelmed with foreclosures. That means they are going to need a place to stay for longer than originally planned.

Extended Stay America has locations that fill the gap for many people and they have a lot of different locations around the area. Their hotes are designed for longer stays with studios featuring fully-equipped kitchens and plenty of work space. You'll have a refrigerator, microwave and stovetop, workspace with computer dataport, wireless internet, iron and full size ironing board, guest laundry, dining and cooking utensils and some of the rooms are pet friendly as well.

Homestead Studio Suites is another option, similar to Extended Stay America, Homestead Studio Suites offers a comfortable room, fully-equipped kitchen, workspace with wireess internet, and onsite guest laundry. They have nightly, weekly,and extended stay rates. This option also works well for business travelers or vacationers.

If you are relocating to Ft. Meade, Maryland, Shelter Cove apartment complex off Rt. 32 that has regular 1, 2, and 3 bedroom apartments that come unfurnished or furnished. Shelter Cove will let you use your Realtor to help you rent an apartment there and have their apartments listed in the multiple list system.

These temporary housing solutions can also be perfect for you if you have a contract on a short sale property and are unsure as to how long it will take to settle. When you purchase a short sale property, if you have a home to sell, it can be very difficult to coordinate the settlement dates. A solution to this problem is to sell your current home, have your belongings moved to storage, and stay in an extended stay hotel until you are able to settle on your new home. Many times the savings you can get by purchasing a short sale property are worth the short-term inconvenience of a temporary living arrangement.

Your professional Realtor can help you with your relocation plans including obtaining financing for your new home, shopping for your home, previewing potential homes, navigating through the inspection process and paperwork for you when you are not able to be present, so that your move goes as smoothly as possible.

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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.

We've been working on a short sale for a townhome in Elkridge, Maryland.  The home is in a nice neighborhood and was purchased at the height of the market, right before the mortgage meltdown in 2007, for $375K. 

The people who bought the home are a lovely couple with2 small children; he is a military veteran and she is a social worker.  Like many families, they are so busy and admit they didn't have a good grasp on their finances and didn't realize when he got out of the military, their take home pay would be a lot different.  In any event, they were put into a mortgage that they couldn't afford from the beginning. 

Very long story short, they were unable to afford the home from the beginning and were living off of credit cards because the mortgage was over 50% of their income.  They declared bankruptcy in July 2008 based on the advice of an attorney. After their other debts were wiped out, they were still unable to afford the $3300/month mortgage and were discussing a loan modification with Indymac.  These people loved their home, it was the first home they ever purchased and they wanted to keep it.

They began paying a modified amount and after a couple months, Indymac came back and said they were sorry but because the couple declared bankruptcy and did not reaffirm the loan, they were unable to modify the loan.  You see what happens with a bankruptcy and a mortgage is if you do not reaffirm the loan after the bankruptcy, you are no longer responsible to pay it.  The loan (same thing as with a car loan) has been settled, but with a mortgage or a car loan, they are backed by collateral so if you don't make the payments, you cannot keep the collateral.  If you continue to make the payments as they were, then you're fine and can stay in the house, but if you need modification, you need to either reaffirm the loan during the bankruptcy or reopen the bankruptcy and reafirm it.  This entire process was so stressful for the family and the rep from Indymac suggested they do a short sale; at this point that was a good option, so they called and asked us to try tofind a buyer for their house.

We had the home on the market for $299K and had 66 showings before getting an offer.  That tells me that we were priced in a good range.  The offer was decent considering the current market so we submitted it to Indymac back in January.  We have waited patiently through the process, the buyers have been extremely patient.  After many weeks, the BPO has come back and we're close enough that our negotiator said they could probaby work with the offer.  Then she discovered the loan has PMI, mortgage insurance.  When a loan has PMI, the insurance company covers the difference between what the bank is able to get out of the home verses what is owed.  In order to qualify for the insurance, the bank has to cooperate with the rules of the PMI company.

PMI came back and demanded the sellers take back a promissory note for $20,000.  They said it was originally going to be higher, but due to the circumstances, they would make it only $20,000.  Now the problem is, remember these people already declared bankruptcy and the bankruptcy judge ruled that they are not responsible for the mortgage any more.  They are still trying to do the right thing for moral reasons, to keep another foreclosure from hitting the neighborhood, have kept their association dues paid, and have kept the power on in the home to help keep up the condition of the property.  They did move out recently because they needed to find a home in the same area so their children wouldn't have to switch schools and a home came available - they were worried the house could go into foreclosure and they wouldn't be able to find a home when they needed to.  But as far as their credit goes, the mortgage is already showing as being included in the bankruptcy.  They do not want to take on any more debt at this point because they feel like they have been cooperative with the whole process and they are no longer in the home.

PMI came back and denied the short sale based on the sellers not taking back a promissory note.  Our negotiator at that point became rude and uncooperative.  I wrote a long letter to the agent at PMI asking them to reconsider and he did call me.  We spoke about the situation and he said the sellers did not have a "HARDSHIP".  We explained that they were put into a loan they couldn't afford from the beginning (they admit it was a huge mistake) and told him about the other bills, the bankruptcy, the fact that their payment was over 1/2 of their income, etc. If the bank ends up foreclosing on this home, it will sit vacant and uncared for over a period of months and many things can happen to homes once the power goes off in a warm, humid climate.  We have seen countless of foreclosed homes where mold has begun to grow within weeks and has caused tens of thousands of dollars in damage to the home.  By that point you can only have a cash or conventional buyer which further limits your buyer pool and lowers the price.  

PMI's standpoint is they still have the same jobs that they had when they applied for the loan and PMI does not feel that they have a "HARDSHIP".  I told him the bank would lose more money if they have to foreclose on the property and he said PMI does not care; the difference to them is negligible.  I asked if the potential buyer could come up on their offer to make up the differece and he said no, it would't make any difference to PMI, it would only make the loss to Indymac less.

PMI did call the sellers directly to discuss the situation with them two weeks ago and was supposed to call me with either the same decision (no) or a revised decision, but they have not.  I have called and the seller has and we have had no updated response.  Our old negotiator at Indymac has changed departments so I got the information for the new negotiator and am going to try to call her again today to see if we have any updates.

We have contacted Senator Sarbane's office and they said they can file a complaint with Indymac, but I'm not sure where that will go.

It really seems like we have our hands tied as PMI is calling the shots.  It's a shame to have yet another foreclosure and have Indymac lose even more money because of "policies" that are being adhered to. 

Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas as far as how to proceed? I have a feeling this one is going to foreclose.  Very sad.

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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.

It's interesting to me that the news media still continues to imply that foreclosures are found everywhere and they make it seem that you can buy homes for pennies on the dollar. It sure isn't happening here. Prices have come down substantially compared to 2005/2006 but only in some areas. It realy depends upon where the majority of the foreclosures and short sales are.

The neighborhoods in Maryland where we are seeing most of this are the newer neighborhoods with large colonials. For example, the neighborhood of Perrywood in Upper Marlboro. These homes were built just before and during the "boom years" and many of them were purchased with adjustable rate mortgages that are ballooning and they are unable to refinance their homes in this market. In past years, purchasers were able to obain "stated income" loans so that they could purchase more home than they would income qualify for and now you have to show paystubs in order to obtain mortgage money.

So now you have a situation where a high percentage of the homeowners are unable to pay their mortgages and are unable to refinance so they are needing to work out a short sale, where the bank accepts less than what is due on the mortgage rather than foreclose, or the bank is foreclosing.

In those situations, you can sometimes get a real bargain. We found one of those recently for a client who will be moving the end of the month. This home is a large, brick front colonial with 2 car garage. Now the owners of this home were so upset that it was foreclosing that they took the entire kitchen out, the bathtubs (!), washer and dryer and also put animal waste in the sump pump.

So the bank was stuck with this 4400 square foot home (including fully finished basement) with no kitchen or functional bathrooms. The bank actually replaced the whole kitchen, bathrooms, sump pump, and now it looks like a brand new home. The list price on this home, sitting on .32 acres is only $370K. Amazing deal! In 2006, some of these homes were selling for over $600,000.

In other areas you won't find very many short sales or foreclosures and the home prices are more stable. As a buyer, you'll want to choose your own buyers agent to take you around and discuss market conditions in different neighborhoods and what to expect. Having your own buyers agent normally doesn't cost you anything and they'll negotiate for you and help do the research to make sure you are getting what you want.

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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.