Some Interesting Notes
“We are normally thought of as a country on the move, but now all levels of migration have almost come to standstill,” said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. “People are just staying put.”
Census press release—the national mover rate was 11.9% last year, meaning 11.9% of the people lived in a different dwelling than they did the year before. That was down from 13.2% in 2007. In total, about 35 million people moved last year, down from about 39 million in 2007,[Read more...]
Now is a great time to buy Annapolis Area Real Estate
Largest Inventory in a generation
Just taking a look at the local inventory numbers shows that there are four times as many homes available now as there were 4 years ago. That means instead of having to take whatever is available and racing other buyers to get it, you get to find the house that closest fits your dream for your next home.
Best affordability in a generation
Everyone knows that unemployment is quite high. However,[Read more...]
Why he bought yesterday
I talked this week to a 22 year old. He just bought his first house.
Why did he buy now? Because he has been working for about a year and saved every penny to qualify. Why did he save every penny? Because he was not sure how long, the low prices would last.
And he got a great situation. He got into a starter home, of course, that is where[Read more...]
Glittery Generalities
Yesterday the President gave some remarks about his solution to the foreclosure crisis. The crisis that many say is the root of the current economic downturn. I am not so sure it is the root, but it is at least one of the most dramatic and painful symptoms. Be that as it may, today the pundits got their say.
What are they saying? [Read more...]
Scant Good News
The Commerce Department reported this morning the slowest pace of construction of new homes nationwide dating back nearly 50 years. So if you like to buy newly built homes, now is the best time in most people’s lifetimes.
Looking ahead, applications for building permits, a good yardstick to measure future new construction, dropped to a record low. The new homebuilders are hunkering down for a longer down cycle than they had earlier anticipated.
The scant good news came from the National Association of Home Builders, yesterday [Read more...]
Difficult decisions in Annapolis
Now that you have narrowed down you choice of homes to two or three great properties in the Annapolis, how do you decide between them?
Obviously, you can and should take your list of desirable features and do the pros and cons of each of the houses to compare them as much as possible. But what some people forget sometimes is to do research on the neighborhood.
You should make sure the neighborhood has features that will cause it to increase in value as much as possible.[Read more...]
Carry back loans?
A very interested buyer I had a couple of weeks ago asked a question that all home sellers need to be asking themselves. Are you interested in or open to carrying back a loan on a portion of the selling price?
With today’s buyer’s market, it makes sense for buyers to try to get every advantage they can in trying to find and get into the home of their future. However, does it make sense for a seller to enter into such an arrangement?[Read more...]
Semi-local Big Real Estate News
The Washington Post is one of the four newspapers that residents of Annapolis read, so it is semi-big news that they announced today their alliance with Trulia. What does it mean for local real estate? Probably not much. Newspapers have been dead or nearly dead to real estate since people started looking on Craig's list and other online sources. Not that some people do not read the paper, but the fact is that advertising dollars have been going elsewhere because newspapers have been losing eyeballs.
Trulia claims some kind of web real estate expertise.[Read more...]
January Sales in Annapolis
January is traditionally one of the slowest months of the year for residential home sales. January sales frequently reflect the state of the previous years market as opposed to the next years market, but still the numbers from January this year are striking.
2005 526
2006 432
2007 458
2008 281
2009 204
They are simply by far the lowest this century. What does this mean if you are planning on buying?[Read more...]
Radon in the Annapolis Area?
Do we have radon in homes here in the Annapolis area?
Sometimes, but usually not.
There are areas in Anne Arundel County including some places that are “Annapolis” that have levels of radon high enough to cause concern. The northern part of the county is most commonly has the elevated levels of radon.
What this means for buyers is[Read more...]