MARYLAND REAL ESTATE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES CAN BE PURCHASED BY FIRST TIME HOME BUYERS WITH AS LITTLE AS $1,000.  Yes, Homefinders.com has been in the market looking for money for our first time home buyers.

                              WE FOUND FINANCING FOR $1,000 TOTAL CASH NEEDED.

Contact Lenn Harley, Broker, Homefinders.com, 800-711-7988 to make application for this special financing offered to home buyers.  Take advantage of helpful programs for financing and Homefinders.com’s experienced Buyer’s Agents will help you find that special home.  The real estate market in Maryland has a good inventory of homes for sale and our buyers are able to find their home of choice in a short period of time.  Call me and make an application. 

Also FREE for our home buyers - FREE One Year Home Warranty - FREE Home Inspection up to $400.

Experienced Buyer’s Agent to help you from Search to Settlement.  Prices for homes in Maryland are now back to the level of about 2004 prices.  It’s time to take advantage of the homes for sale and the special financing offered for our home buyers. 

The homes shown below are all priced in the $425,000 range and all qualify for First Time Home Buyers with a total investment of $1,000 ***.    

INCOME LIMITS UP TO $113,850 for a family of 3 or more.**

COUNTY	INCOME LIMITS	HOUSE PRICE LIMIT
Calvert County	$113,650	$429,650
Charles County	$113,650	$429,650
Frederick County	$113,650	$429,650
Montgomery County	$113,650	$429,650
Prince George’s County	$113,650	$429,650
Incomes for households of 1-2 is $99,000.
Anne Arundel County	$108,690	$429,620
Baltimore County	$108,690	$429,620
Carroll County	$108,690	$429,620
Harford County	$108,690	$429,620
Howard County	$108,690	$429,620
Queen Annes	$108,690	$429,620
Incomes for households of 1-2 is $93,840.

**Income limits for households of 1-2 is $99,000.

This assumes the seller will pay 3% towards buyers closing costs and prepaid items.

Minimum credit scores apply, call for pre-qualification, 800-711-7988.  We can help and you’ll be out looking at homes for sale with an experienced Buyer’s Agent this week. 

Special financing is available for First Time Home Buyers in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Charles, Frederick, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Queen Anne’s Counties for chart above.

Contact Lenn to apply for special financing.  Lenn Harley, Broker, Homefinders.com, 800-711-7988.

HOMES FOR SALE IN MARYLAND are at an all time high inventory. Home buyers have a wonderful opportunity to buy at the best price in five years. Homefinders is on top of the pricing trends and will give you the best and latest information about the market to help YOU get the very best price, terms and condition possible. 

Enjoy the Home Buying Experience 

HOMEFINDERS.COM CAN HELP 

           Available for single family, townhouses and warrantable condominiums

BANK FORECLOSURES A GROWING BUT NOT SIGNIFICANT PERCENTAGE OF HOMES LISTED FOR SALE.

FINDING DIAMONDS IN THE SAND.  OR, FINDING READY BUYERS IN THE CROWDS OF FENCE SITTERS.

WHO IS BUYING A HOME TODAY?  There are several types of home buyers today.  Knowing who they are will help
agents target their time and advertising money to viable market areas. 

IT ISN’T THE 1980S ANY MORE.  The days of personal promotion for agents are over.  Just touting your own personal
experience isn’t going to impress home buyers who have the benefit of a wealth of real estate information at their fingertips,
thanks to the Internet.  Many home buyers today believe that they have all of the information they need from the thousands
of “how to buy real estate” articles on the Internet. 

Think of the many web pages available to consumers about:

• Sellers have a hard time adjusting to falling prices.
• Many home owners are 100% leveraged and can’t reduce their price.
• Agents recommend higher than market prices to gain listings.
• Home owners still believe that their house is better than average.
• Buyers need more cash and better credit scores than at any time in about 7 years.
• Taxes have risen in many areas.
• Insurance rates have risen in many areas.
• There is no good real estate news in any media accessible to home buyers. 

HOMES ARE STILL SELLING

Homes are selling in many real estate market areas but at much lower numbers than at any time since about 2003. 
Between 2003 and 2005, prices escalated as much as 90-110 percent in many areas.  However, since 2005, when
prices started falling due to reduced demand (market force), prices are still out of the price range for many buyers who
find qualifying harder (market force), cash needs higher (market force) and sellers intractable (market force). 

FINDING THE DIAMOND IN THE SAND

Who are the home buyers today?  Think about it. Many consumers don’t understand the real estate market and
they know it.  Many buyers are looking for the bargain of the century and they say so.  Many buyers don’t know
the market.  Who are these buyers?

First time home buyers.
Foreclosure buyers.
Relocating home buyers.

First time home buyers are new to the market and ask for help.  They rarely even pretend to know what they are
doing and seek help from agents who are friendly, helpful, patient, have good qualifying skills, are willing to show
buyers homes to acquaint them with what their money will buy.  If you have the personal skills to work with first
time home buyers, you can sell homes.  Target first time home buyers in your advertising. 

Foreclosure buyers.  Foreclosures on the market today are not the old HUD homes that we remember from years
past.  Due to the mortgage mess, many luxury homes, new homes and recently built homes have been foreclosed
and offer wonderful opportunities for buyers who will buy if they can find a home that is considered a great buy.
Foreclosure buyers are not just investors any more.  Target foreclosure buyers in your advertising.

Relocating home buyers. Families with children in school select areas in which to buy based on transportation
alternatives for employment and schools.  Relocating families will buy rather than rent at higher numbers than
any other group.  Families with children are looking for stability.  They do not want to enroll children in public
school only to move them again a year later. These families will look at more homes and consider more areas, but,
with patience and helpful agents, they will buy.  Target relocating home buyers in your advertising. 

We can help home buyers get off the fence by knowing our market and understanding how to help buyers.

PINEY ORCHARD IS A WONDERFUL COMMUNITY IN NORTHERN ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY.
The town of Odenton is a community popular with folks seeking an easy commute to:

Ft. Meade * BWI Airport * Baltimore * Annapolis * MARC Train * NSA *  Columbia

PINEY ORCHARD OFFERS AN ABUNDANCE OF ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN AND ADULTS

Opened in 1991, the community of Piney Orchard has been growing over the years to now over 3,500 homes including Condominium Homes, Town Homes and Single Family Homes.  The community of Piney Orchard is home to almost  8,500 residents.  Piney Orchard has developed into a viable village with home types for all.  Piney Orchard offers a community Elementary School

PINEY ORCHARD AMENITIES

Piney Orchard is an established community with maturing trees.  You’ll enjoy the amenities including a lake for fishing, boating and hiking.  Piney orchard is surrounded by acres of protected land, a river and beautiful quiet countryside. 

The Community Center is about 15,000 square feet and offers

Lap Pool * Fitness Center * Meeting Rooms * Tot Lots * Playground Area 
Tennis Courts * Ice Arena * Hiking and Biking Trails * Swimming Pools 
Child Care Center * 45 Acre Nature Preserve * Ball Fields

Location?  Rockville is located in the heart of Montgomery County and is popular with residents for:

• Public Transportation, METRO, MARC Train, Ride-On Bus
• Shopping, White Flint Shopping Center
• Public Schools; Montgomery County Public Schools
• Housing, prices and variety of types and styles available

Rockville Demographics:

• Population - 51,000
• Land Area - 13.4 Square Miles
• Population Density - 3,720 persons per square mile
• Economic Growth - 1.1% Per Year (5 year average)
• High School Graduates - 94.1%
• College Graduates - 61.4%

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION MEANS METRO.  Metro provides three stations for METRO riders; Rockville Station, Twinbrook Station and White Flint Station.  Rockville Metro offers effecient and comfortable connections to Bethesda, Gaithersburg, Silver Spring in Montgomery County.  The Rockville Stations also offer connections to and from Prince George’s County, New Carrollton, Greenbelt, College Park and Takoma Park; Northern Virginia Stations in Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax County and Reagan National Airport.  Stations in Northern Virginia have hubs to connect to the Virginia Railway Experess Local Commuter Train.  At every METRO Station are connections to the Ride-On Bus which offers hundreds of connections throughout Montgomery County. 

SHOPPING IN ROCKVILLE BEGINS AT WHITE FLINT.   The sampling of White Flint stores below are an example of the style and variety availalbe.  Located just minutes from more shopping along Rockville Pike.  White Flint is the shoppers’ choice in Montgomery County.   Metro stops here too.

Bloomingdale’s Borders Books Lord & Taylor
Pottery Barn Kay Jewelers The Coach Store
Gap Godiva Chocolates White Flint Toys
Anne Taylor Banana Republic Victoria’s Secret
AMC Lowes Theatre
 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN ROCKVILLE are a popular attraction for families with children.  Comprehensive testing, boundary information for Montgomery County Public Schools is available at the Montgomery County Public Schools At A Glance site.  Information available includes but is not limited to:

• School Assignment
• Testing
• Demographics
• Special Programs
• Maps

HOUSING IN ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND offers a home for any serious home buyer.  Single Family homes are availalbe throughout as are townhomes and condominium homes.  Prices for real estate in Rockville ranges from the condo home priced at $150,000 to the luxury home with acreage priced at $3,300,000.  The average price for Single Family Homes in Rockville is about $525,000.  The home below is a wonderful example of a Single Family Home in the average price range.

Property Details for listing # MC6799992
Price:  $519,900 City:  ROCKVILLE
Bedrooms:  5 Bathrooms:  3 full  1 half
Type of Home:  Detached Style:  Colonial
Year Built:  1988 Lot Acreage:  0.366253
Subdivision:  NORBECK MANOR  County:  MONTGOMERY, MD
State, Zip:  MD, 20853  Status:  ACTIVE
Listing Office: RE/MAX Home Center

MEET THE HOMEFINDERS PARTNERS

HOMEFINDERS.COM is a real estate brokerage assisting home buyers, new and resale buyers, with their home search in Maryland and Northern Virginia. Our loyalty and fiduciary is to YOU, our home buyers. WE NEVER PRACTICE DUAL AGENCY.

WHO PAYS OUR FEE?? Our fee is paid at settlement by the seller, the listing agent or the builder. There is NO FEE to you.

Do we list properties for sale? Yes, but ONLY when for our buyer clients. We offer a 4% listing fee to our buyer clients who have a home to sell. That fee represents a 1.5% Listing Broker fee and a 2.5% Buyer’s Agency Fee. We offer FULL SERVICE listing for 4% including CMA, evaluation of your property, a web site to promote your property, MLS listing and listing in Homesdatabase.com for public viewing, brochures, flyers and yard sign.

  

We ARE

Familiar with the luxury home market in Maryland. Luxury home buyers are best served by Buyers Agents familiar with the luxury home markets, valuation of unique properties, super jumbo financing and the dynamics of negotiating the terms and conditions of the luxury real estate market.

                                    * * * *  HARD CORE REAL ESTATE TALK * * * *

LESSON FOR BUYERS AGENTS:   Information contained in listing REMARKS and about $3 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks. 

I COULD HEAR THE ANGER IN HIS VOICE.  I received a telephone call today from a broker (former agent) who had just lost a bid for a short sale.  His big complaint was that he relied on the REMARKS in the listing and yet they lost the bid.  The agent was hot.  Sadly, he didn’t get any sympathy from Lenn.  He was really complaining about the 5 hours he felt was wasted in preparing the offer and the additional hours previewing homes and showing the buyers homes in their approved price range.  Fact is, if the agent learned anything, the time wasn’t wasted. 

Lenn’s Law #127.  Don’t believe a word you read in the short sale listing REMARKS.  Or, REMARKS in any listing for that matter.  The listing remarks said:  “Lender approved for $210,000.  The buyers were pre-approved for $210,000.  They wrote a contract offer for $215,000 with $5,000 closing. 

There’s more.  In the area of Montgomery County Maryland where the buyers need to buy, every single listing meeting the minimum needs are priced $210,000 or less is a foreclosure or short sale.  Since the buyers can’t qualify for more, they already have a 47 ratio, they either have to look farther out in the county, or they will have to wait for prices to come down more, which may or may not happen.  In fact, I have shared similar experiences with other agents in my network about short sales and especially foreclosures selling for far over list price.  The lesson is simple.  Don’t rely on the list price or REMARKS. 

There’s more.  The market value for similar town homes in that area is about $235,000 to $245,000.

The agent relied on the REMARKS in the listing.  Big mistake.  An experienced agent knows to do their own research and advise their buyer based on the results of the research, not based on what is written by the seller’s agent in the listing REMARKS.  The agent has no way of knowing when those REMARKS were entered in the listing.  Most agents enter a listing and then, no matter what transpires, with the exception of price changes, never revise the listing details or REMARKS.  As it turned out, once the offers started to come in, the bank raised the minimum acceptable bid and may raise it again.  None of that is reflected in the listing REMARKS.  Nor does it have to be. 

DON’T LET THE FOX GUARD THE HEN HOUSE.  Buyers Agents should not rely on listing agents or sellers for information.  Between the time the information is conveyed, the sellers could have a complete change of mind, which is the case in this scenario.  Do your own research and advise your buyer/clients accordingly.  If the buyers insist on making low offers, losing one should teach them a lesson.  If not, perhaps they need to work with another agent.  Agents and brokers are experienced in market research for non-foreclosure / short sale listings.  We know when a home is overpriced and advise our buyer / clients about offering ranges.  We can do the same for underpriced listings.  Just because it’s priced below market doesn’t mean that your buyer will be successful trying to buy below market.  Factors such as average market prices, days on the market, condition, market trends, pre-approvals, contingencies, inspections, price range, etc. affect successful offering prices and negotiations 

Knowing that short sale and foreclosure listings have recently been priced low to attract bids, it’s doubtful that this buyer had a chance with any listing in this area.  In fact, we’ve discussed this between agents and brokers to alert them about the pattern evolving.  Bait and switch listings are nothing new here, but they’re usually auction listings. 

WHAT DOES LOSS MITIGATION MEAN?  We know that the bank is going to take a loss on the short sale listing.  It just makes sense that if they list low and several higher bid come in, that they would revise their “minimum acceptable bid”.  REMARKS like “Bank approved for $XXXX” are totally unreliable and meaningless.  The departments in the banks that process short sales and foreclosures have a title.  Loss Mitigation means that the bank mitigates their loss on a transaction. 

DUE DILIGENCEmeans that an agent or broker does their own research, their own CMA and advises their buyer client accordingly.  If the listing is clearly below market for the area and condition, the agent must expect that there will be vigorous bidding for a property and walking a fine line with qualifying and offer price just doesn’t compete.  First time home buyers and buyers for lower priced homes are back in the market.  If the buyers are bidding at the limit of their qualifying range, they are not likely to be successful. 

This is a good agent.  I don’t believe he’ll make the same mistake again. 

HOUSING IS THE FIRST NEED.  Locations for personnel relocation include the need for information about not only housing, but also schools, shopping, transportation alternatives, local municipal services and recreation.  The first need for military relocation is housing.  On base housing is often limited so relocating usually means that the family must locate a home that suits their family size and local needs, schools, transportation and more.

NEW HIGHER VA LOAN LIMIT.  The Veterans Administration has raised the loan limit for eligible home buyers, military and civilian, to $729,000 through December 31, 2008.  The new higher limit is set to expire end 2008.  Further announcement will be published by Homefinders.com when received.

BRAC Bases Impacted in Maryland
National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda
Fort Detrick
Fort Meade
Aberdeen Proving Ground
Andrews Air Force Base
Pax River Naval Air Station
Edgewood Arsenal

LOCAL COUNTY GOVERNMENTS’ ACTION PLANS FOR BRAC

• Anne Arundel County
• Baltimore County
• Harford County
• Howard County
• Prince George’s County
• Montgomery County
• Frederick County
• Cecil County
• Baltimore City
• LOCAL BRAC INFORMATION

POPULAR LOCATIONS

• Waldorf, MD in Charles County - Andrews AFB, Bolling AFB

FOR INFORMATION ABOUT HOMES IN A PARTICULAR AREA, contact Homefinders.com.  We are experienced with home sales and the real estate market in all areas of the Military Relocation needs of military and civilian military employed families. 

The increased limits in the general home loan program for all veterans’ home purchases or construction will be based on local housing costs, tied to the similar locality adjustments of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., Freddie Mac.

VA home loans are available for veterans to purchase or construct single-family homes, and to purchase condominiums or cooperative apartments.  There are about 2.3 million existing VA home loans, more than 90 percent made with no down payment.

The limit for Fannie Mae Loans in the Maryland and Northern Virginia real estate market is $729,000 in

For more information, contact Lenn Harley, Broker, Homefinders.com, 800-711-7988

Many home owners, because of national publicity, believe that any home owner is a candidate for a
short sale solution.  It’s not that easy. THE OWNER MUST QUALIFY.

Some things must happen before your home should be listed as a short sale. 
        1.  You should have contacted your mortgage company and let them know that
        you are in financial difficulty and need a solution. The mortgage company
        may question you about
                a.  assets
                b.  earnings
                c.  have you tried to sell?

Once the mortgage company understands that you are serious, they may send you a “short sale package”
for you to complete with necessary information to return to the bank.  Based on your information, the
bank will advise that you may want to list as a short sale. 

There are several events that must occur for a potentially successful short sale.
        1.  You need to understand the market value of your home. 
        2.  You must list the house for sale with “third party approval required”.
        The “third party” that must approve the contract of sale is your mortgage company.
        3.  When you select a listing agent, make sure to use the services of an agent with
        short sale experience. 
        4.  Understand the market in your area before pricing the home.  Your mortgage company
        will require detailed market information before approving a Contract of Sale.
        5.  Your agent may recommend that you obtain the services of an attorney to communicate
        with your mortgage company because real estate agents cannot give legal advice.
        6.  Make sure you disclose to your agent all mortgages, liens and encumbrances that
        you may have.  HELOC loans, second mortgages, consumer purchases that are a lien
        against the property can make short sales difficult. 
        7.  Make the house as accessible as possible.  You can’t sell it if you don’t show it.
        8.  Cooperate with the bank with timely letters and forms as requested.  The banks are
        not always quick to review and approve short sale contracts.  Everyone involved in the
        process must have patience.
        9.  You must disclose all of your assets to the mortgage company.  Your mortgage
        company will not approve a short sale on your residential real estate if you have assets
        that can be liquidated to pay your deficiency. 

Consider the above and if you believe that you may be a candidate for a short sale, contact
Homefinders and we’ll help.  800-711-7988.