Anne Arundel County Real Estate

Effective October 1, 2007 two laws take effect that affects some contracts/properties in Anne Arundel County.

The required addendum for Anne Arundel County dated 10/1/2007 is to be used with all residential contracts of sale in the county.

Also new, the Anne Arundel County Required Addendum should be filled out at time of listing, and sent with the disclosure/disclaimer to an agent wanting to write a contract.

Here are the changes:

The first is a disclosure of pending enforcement action in a critical area:

NOTICE – CHESAPEAKE BAY CRITICAL AREA. If Anne Arundel County or the State has initiated enforcement action for a violation of a local law described in § 5-106(BB) (1) of the courts and judicial proceedings Article, a contract for sale of the real property where the violation occurred shall disclose:

(I) The nature of the violation;

(II) The status of any ongoing proceedings to enforce the violation; and

(III) Any actions the buyer of the real property may be required to take with respect to the property in order to cure the violation.

The second, is a disclosure of a subject property being located in a historical district in Annapolis:

ANNAPOLIS HISTORIC DISTRICT ONLY-REQUIRED NOTICE-CITY OF ANNAPOLIS-Property is located in the Historic District as defined by Annapolis City Code Section 21.56.030. Buyer should visit the website of the Historic Preservation Commission to learn about the various requirements that apply to properties located in the District.

(I saw this come across on a search query for one of my other real estate blogs - so I thought I’d answer it).

The short answer is - the Seller sets the asking price with the input of their Realtor or other real estate professional. The eventual sales price of the home is determined by agreement between the buyer and seller.

One of the most important roles a Realtor can serve for a buyer or seller, is that of consultant.

A Realtor brings to the table his knowledge and experience of the sales and transactions in the local and surrounding neighborhoods.

When I go to a listing appointment (or many times beforehand) I always have prepared with me a CMA or Comparative Market Analysis for the property.

This CMA looks at two main things:

1) What have similar homes sold for in the recent months? Including the days on the market, any closing costs paid, etc.

2) How many similar houses are on the market right now and what are they listed for.

Based on this info, I put together a price range of what the sellers should expect to receive if they were to list their home.

When I visit the house, I make a list of recommendations on what they can do to better showcase their house. Sometimes these recommendations can add a lot of value to the house - in other cases it will simply make the house sell quicker.

But then it is up to the sellers to determine where the price of the home will be. And they should also determine how much money they need when they sell their home and need to buy another one.

If the Sellers need help with this last item, I will assist them by putting together a “Net Sheet” which will show what they could expect to clear from the sale of their home at the price they want.

But I usually wait until an offer is made on the house before I put together a Net Sheet (at the offer price).

I found this today in the LA Times while checking out some other real estate related info:

Robert J. Bruss, an author, investment expert and syndicated real estate columnist whose advice appeared in newspapers across the country for more than two decades, died Wednesday at his Burlingame, Calif., home, according to Inman News, the Emeryville, Calif., news service that distributes his column. He was 67.

The cause of death was cancer, said Bradley J. Inman, his friend and publisher.

Bruss, who began writing his column 23 years ago, was sometimes called the “Dear Abby of Real Estate” for his straightforward, knowledgeable writing on questions that often perplex consumers. He wrote about such matters as how to prepare a house for sale, whether vacation homes were good investments and how to choose a Realtor or home inspector.

I’ve been a fan of Bob Bruss for awhile. You can’t do too much real estate blogging or real estate news reading without coming across something he wrote. His contributions to educating the public about the real estate industry are immeasurable.

One of the great things that I love about living in Anne Arundel County is everything the county does to make dogs feel welcome.

Go down to Annapolis in the summer months and you’ll find that a lot of city merchants have placed bowls of water outside of their doors. Stroll around the city dock, or along ego alley or over the bridge in Eastport and you’ll find Annapolitans everywhere with their four-legged friends.

And the canine friendliness doesn’t end at the city borders. Anne Arundel county maintains four public dog parks (areas fenced in specifically to allow dogs to run free) and not one, but two dog beaches.

Because of its proximity to Annapolis, the most popular dog beach of Anne Arundel County is located in Quiet Waters Park.

The second dog beach, is located at Downs Park and is pictured below.

The glut of unsold homes and condos is turning many owners into landlords, often to the consternation of their neighbors.

Owner-occupants in many condo complexes or neighborhoods that suddenly have a high number of renters are fearful that too many renters will result in homes falling into disrepair, overcrowded streets and driveways, rising crime and increased noise.

Also, many lenders won’t give the lowest mortgage rates to buildings with too few owner-occupants. (For example, in most cases Freddie Mac buys mortgages only for buildings with at least 60 percent owner-occupancy. Individual lenders often have more stringent requirements.)

Home owners in these communities are organizing to ensure that landlords maintain their properties and tenants behave themselves. Some developments are even requiring owners who want to rent their properties to register and capping the percentage of rentals at 10 percent to 25 percent.

Other communities are banning rentals altogether during the first year of ownership.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Ben Casselman (09/21/2007)

From the Office of the Attorney General

Chapter 606 - Sale of Property Encumbered by a Conservation Easement
(Effective Date: Oct. 1, 2007):

The seller of property that is subject to a conservation easement must give the purchaser, on or before entering into a contract of sale for the property, or within 20 calendar days after entering into the contract of sale, a copy of all conservation easements encumbering the property.

The contract of sale must also contain a specified disclosure (set forth in the attached bill). Failure to comply with these requirements gives the purchaser the right to rescind the contract of sale.

The days of house flipping appear to be over, but there are still good real estate bargains to be found in many parts of the country — places where homes are affordable, price appreciation is imminent, and the underlying economy is strong. Where can you find these good buys? Many of them are in the South, where the climate is appealing to both retirees and businesses.

With assistance from economists at Fiserv (FISV), Lending Solutions, and Moody’s(MCO) Economy.com, BusinessWeek compiled a list of the best metropolitan areas for bargain homes by looking at affordability, forecasts for price appreciation and job growth, and recent price fluctuations.

Here are their top picks, the median home prices in these areas and the predicted increase in value over the next two years:

* Austin-Round Rock, Texas: $186,600, 5.4 percent
* Baton Rouge, La.: $174,700, 7.7 percent
* Birmingham-Hoover, Ala.: $164,900, 9.2 percent
* Corpus Christi, Texas: $130,000, 10.3 percent
* Durham, N.C.: $180,100, 6.1 percent
* Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss.: $154,200, 10.8 percent
* Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas: $154,900, 6.4 percent
* Mobile, Ala.: $140,400, 8.1 percent
* Montgomery, Ala.: $150,100, 7.8 percent
* San Antonio: $154,300, 6.4 percent

Source: BusinessWeek.com, Maya Roney (9/18/07)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 -The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) today
called on the U.S. House of Representatives to approve legislation this week
that would allow the Federal Housing Administration to insure more home loans
and address problems in the subprime mortgage market.

Underscoring the importance of this issue to the housing community, NAHB sent a
letter to every House member urging them to support H.R. 1852, the Expanding
American Homeownership Act of 2007, when the bill goes to the House floor later
this week.

“Because this measure is so vital to restoring the FHA’s capacity to support
affordable mortgage financing and to allow the agency to address problems in the
subprime mortgage market, NAHB has designated passage of H.R. 1852 as a key
vote,” said NAHB President Brian Catalde, a home builder from El Segundo, Calif.

Faced with a deepening constriction in the availability and affordability of
housing credit at time when FHA’s programs have failed to keep pace with
competing conventional mortgage loan programs, NAHB told lawmakers that
“Congress now has the opportunity to modernize the FHA and enable it to play a
key role in stabilizing the mortgage markets, while offering borrowers a safe
and fair mortgage alternative.”

In addition, NAHB is also urging House members to support a bipartisan amendment
to H.R. 1852 offered by Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Gary Miller (R-Calif.) and
Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.) that would enable more creditworthy borrowers to
purchase an FHA-insured home in major metropolitan markets by raising the FHA
loan limits in high-cost areas. Currently, the FHA loan limit is too low to
allow many potential home buyers to utilize the FHA program in markets where
housing costs run high.

Are you currently in the middle of a rent to own property deal? If so, you know that one of your options may be to walk away from the property when your lease ends. As you can imagine, this is something that a lot of people do. And when it comes down to it, the ability to walk away is one of the biggest benefits of getting involved with a rent to own property. But of course, you need to make sure that walking away is the right choice to make. In many cases, you may think that leaving the property without purchasing is the thing to do, but a bit more detective work may show you that you are wrong.

First and foremost, before you sign a rent to own property contract you need to make sure that you will have the chance to walk away without buying if you so desire. The biggest mistake that you could make with a rent to own property would be to not have this out clause in your contract. If you do not have the right to leave after the lease is up, you are not really taking full advantage of what a rent to own property has to offer.

The main reason for leaving a rent to own property instead of buying is if you are not happy about what the home is offering. But before you jump the gun, make sure that you take two things into consideration. First off, you need to make sure that you are comfortable walking away from the deal. In other words, if you walk away you may not be able to find something better elsewhere. In turn, you will find yourself wondering why you left your rent to own property. Additionally, you must also make sure that you have somewhere to go. Moving from one rent to own property to the next is never a good idea. If you are not going to buy the home that you are in, you should simply decide to either rent or own. This will help you to make the most out of your money as well as your real estate deals.

If it is in your contract, you have every right to walk away from a rent to own property. Just make sure that you are comfortable doing so before you make a final decision to leave the property.