Fort Meade - USNA - Andrews AFB: October 2007

With such a huge housing inventory, it's our moral obligation to bring out the buyers and improve the economy.  Right? 

With that in mind, why don't you hold an OPEN HOUSE TOUR of properties by combining the elements of an open house and showing property.  It won't be easy - there are so many details:

1. Pick 5 homes based on something in common such as 5 nearby condos or 5 waterfront properties, or 5 homes on acreage or... well, you get the idea.  They don't have to be your listings and, in fact, should not be because you will conduct the tour as a buyers' agent.
2. Schedule the home tour a few weeks in advance so you have enough time to promote it through advertising, mailings or whatever. 
3. Pick a time, such as 1 p.m. on Sunday, and a meeting place, preferably your office.
4. Promote your tour to your farm and past clients (they may know someone who would be interested, even if they are not), and advertise in the Open House section of your local paper.  
5. Indicate that participation is limited - R.S.V.P. is necessary. 
6. When people R.S.V.P., obtain all their contact information, so you can remind them the day before the event, and verify that they do not have a buyer agency contract in effect with another agent.

Day before the event:  

1. Makeyour final selection of homes for the tour, and schedule appointments for showing the properties.  You may wish to enlist the cooperation of the listing agent - i.e., some listing agents will need to replenish their supply of property info packages and others will want to be there to help manage the flow of prospective buyers.  
2. Make reminder phone calls and/or send reminder emails to everyone who R.S.V.P'd 
3. Prepare a flier with photos and directions from one property to the next.  Attach customer version of mls printout for each property

Day of the event: 

1. Have refreshments available at the meeting place.  Greet each visitor personally.  You may wish to have your assistant and a lender in attendance to work the room while you wait for arrivals.
2. Before departure, explain buyer agency and that you do not represent any sellers of homes on the tour.  Have them sign whatever agency disclosure is required in your state and a buyer-agency contract for the specific homes on the tour.  Explain that you will be asking for their feedback, and collect a feedback form at each property.  ALWAYS DEPART ON TIME. 
3. Give your tour guests a folder with a copy of the agency disclosure, the buyer-agency contract, the tour information package you assembled, and a feedback sheet for each home.  You may also wish to include information from a lender about the likely interest rate, down payment, and monthly payment for homes in this price range.
4. Optional - have a magnet or a sign that can be attached to their side window that says I'M LOOKING AT HOMES WITH YOUR NAME - or whatever.  Talk about visibility in your neighborhood, where housing inventory is at an all time high!
5. Show the properties, doing your best to keep people together - this is where it would be handy to have your assistant, to act as a shepherd - or the listing agent present.  I'm thinking maybe three couples max inside a house at any one time, while other visitors check out the exterior.
6. Back at the office, invite guests in for more information and refreshments; schedule an appointment to follow up.

 Day after the event: 

1. Send a personal note thanking participants for joining you on the tour, making some comment based on their feedback, and offering to help them with their home purchase.
2. Call or send a note to thank the listing agents who opened their homes to the tour.

Be sure to follow up, as you would for an Open House or showing property, perhaps enrolling participants for automatic MLS updates based on the guidelines of the open house tour or your follow-up with them.

If this is succesful, you could make this a monthly event in your market!  Can't you just picture a caravan of cars driving from house to house (perhaps with magnets on each side that say "Your Name's Sunday House Tour").  You could take some photos, issue a press release, and develop a following of buyers who yo

If you've done this before, please share your success stories!

Keep the REAL spooks out of your children's Halloween night by taking these precautions.

1.  Accompany children when they go trick-or-treating - If they're a little older, stand back so you're not "lurking", but don't let a pedophile take advantage of this great opportunity to troll for vulnerable kids.  Adolescents are not too old to be at risk on Halloween or at any other time. (You might want to check the Maryland Sex Offender Registry, and avoid those residences when you take your children trick-or-treating.)  

2.  Encourage children to go trick-or-treating in small groups.  If the group is too large, you might lose count if one is missing.  My grandkids love it that their parents dress up in costume, too, but other kids may wish the adults to be less visible.  Make this decision in advance, to avoid last minute hassle and controversy as you leave to go Trick-or-treating.

3.  Make sure that your children's masks don't restrict their vision.  You don't want them to trip and fall, bump into things, or be oblivious to what is around them.

4.  Dress your children in costumes that will be visible in the dark.  Black costumes may be Halloween-spooky, but they put children at risk, crossing the street.  Even when children are safely on the sidewalk, you want them to be visible to someone backing out of their driveway.

5.  Enforce a strict rule of "No testing the treats ‘til you get home" so you have an opportunity to look them over for obvious tampering.  Frankly, when my kids were small and less aware of every treat they received, I trashed everything they collected after they went to sleep and replaced it with candy I provided. (Reading this will probably be the first time they know that.)  By the way, if you give your kids a big dinner before they go out Trick-or-treating, they're less likely to eat candy before they get home.

Continue reading for Hints on Halloween Hosting...

A 6% sales or service tax, for example, would turn each $1000 paid by consumers for commissions or fees into $1060.  

Why should you care if this is an issue in Maryland?  Very simple.   If it passes here, YOUR Governor and Legislature will be emboldened to propose and pass it in YOUR state.

On November 1, Maryland Realtors will rally at the state capitol in Annapolis to demonstrate opposition to a tax on real estate commissions and fees for property management.  This bill is generally considered a "trial balloon" for a far-reaching tax-on-services bill, ultimately taxing ALL real estate commissions and fees paid by consumers.  Maryland's Governor O'Malley called a special session of the State Legislature in order to shortcut this tax and others into effect, without regard for the normal time-frames required for committee discussions/votes and public hearings during the regular legislative session, January-April of each year.

According to a press release by Maryland Association of Realtors, over 20 different housing-related taxes and add-on fees have already been increased or imposed by Maryland state and local governments in the past five years.  These include property taxes, transfer taxes, recordation taxes, capital gains taxes, excise taxes, and impact fees - contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to state and local budgets.   

Of course, real estate licensees and property managers already pay income and self-employment taxes on these same fees now.  So, if this bill passes, the people who pay the fees will be taxed AND the people who receive them will be taxed.

The Maryland Association of Realtors has initiated a media campaign to educate consumers on this issue, warning that this proposed tax will impact the following people:

• Renters in the 7th most expensive rental market in the country
• Property owners who pay homeowner association and condo fees
• Seniors in managed age-restricted housing and
• Small business owners who lease retail, office or warehouse space.

If this bill passes, experts predict that home sellers and buyers will soon be paying this new tax on commissions for selling or buying a home.  The governor is focusing solely on the real estate industry, for now, but taxes on other services could soon follow - accountants, attorneys, doctors, dentists, decorators, home improvement contractors, home inspectors, stagers, maintenance/cleaning servces, barbers and hairdressers...  Where are people in these industries, and why aren't they helping to fight this because service fees are a whole new untapped source of revenue for greedy state and local governments.  Could the Feds follow?

How many ways can we say NO!

If you live in Maryland, CLICK HERE to contact the Governor and your Legislators.  To learn more about the rally in Annapolis on November 1, CLICK HERE.  If you live in a state that already has this in effect, I would be interested in hearing how it impacts your business.

Copyright 2007.  All rights reserved.  Margaret Woda.

FOLLOW-UP:  Over 300 Realtors from around the state showed up in Annapolis for the MAR-organized rally on Nov. 1, and then visited their local legislators. 

Today marks a special memory in my life, one that always makes me smile.  "10-24" was the code word for skipping school, in my high school days, because October 24 was the first time I ever did anything like that.

I went to a Catholic Girls High School outside Washington, D.C., where there was serious accountability and discipline by black-robed, halo-wearing nuns with rulers in their deep pockets (for slapping students on the knuckles or head, if they got out of line).  It would be fair to say that I was one of those good little girls who always toed the line and never got in trouble.  (After all, my mother went to the same school, and I was raised with certain values.)  That's what makes this adventure so extraordinary!

On October 24, a beautiful fall day during my sophomore year, my best friend drove to school in her very old green Buick (if I remember correctly - long time ago!).  During home room, we decided on impulse to go out the back door to her car during change of class and make our own "great escape".

It was, indeed, an amazing adventure!  We headed towards Northern Virginia to avoid risk of encountering a parent, having never driven through D.C. traffic.  (I know, this dates us, but Rt. 495, the Beltway, wasn't built yet - that was finished when I was in college.)  We toured the U.S. Capitol Building, drove on the newly constructed George-Washington Parkway along the Virginia side of the Potomac River and marvelled at the beautiful fall leaves, saw where the new CIA Headquarters Building was located, bought new shoes at a Northern Virginia strip shopping center for a high school dance that night, and made it back to school in time to blend in with everyone after school.

It went so smoothly, that we decided to "10-24" several more times.  We usually visited a national monument, which D.C. area natives usually take for granted.  We never told a soul.  And we were smart enough to pull the plug during senior year before getting caught.  (My son wasn't so lucky, when he skipped school a generation later!)

So, join me today in toasting good times, adventure, a little naughtiness, and another beautiful fall day in D.C.!  One small detail, it's overcast and rainy - but who cares?

(Oh, you want a real estate blog?  Let me just say that 10-24 was probably when I discovered my entreprenurial drive.  Who knew it would lead to a real estate career!) 

Over the weekend, I had occasion to meet with clients who have a beautiful home listed for sale in Crownsville, Maryland.  The purpose was to review any market changes since the property was listed, less than a month ago. 

Digesting raw numbers can be boring, so I created the following charts that may interest other consumers in the Crownsville area:

Average Sold Prices, April-September, 2006 and 2007:

 Real Estate Activity, April-September, 2007:

Days on Market, April-September, 2006 and 2007:

Units Sold, April-September, 2006 and 2007:

If you're interested in more information about the Crownsville real estate market, I would be happy to review these charts with you and provide you with copies of listings for current and recently sold homes.

This information is included in the Online Anne Arundel County Relocation Package for Fort George G. Meade, NSA, Northrop Grumman, BWI, the the U.S. Naval Academy

Looking for a Maryland waterfront home?  Look no further than Anne Arundel County, with over 500 miles of shoreline along the many inlets, coves, bays and creeks that are tributaries to the Chesapeake Bay and several rivers.   Many waterfront properties have Riparian Rights, and others are located in communities with a marina or community pier.

According to the Metropolitan Regional Information System, Inc. (MRIS), there are about 400 waterfront properties for sale in Anne Arundel County at this time (10/21/07) ranging from $195,000 for a two-bedroom rancher on Marley Creek in Glen Burnie to $16 million estate in Annapolis that features twelve bedrooms, ten full and two half baths, and a quarter-mile of waterfront on Whitehall Creek.

Following is a breakdown of places in Anne Arundel County where you can find a waterfront home:

1. Annapolis (137)
2. Arnold (30)
3. Churchton (9)
4. Crownsville (15)
5. Curtis Bay (13)
6. Deale (14)
7. Edgewater (30)
8. Galesville (1)
9. Gibson Island (5)
10. Glen Burie (18)
11. Harwood (2)
12. Lake Shore (4)
13. North Beach (5)
14. Orchard Beach (3)
15. Pasadena (68)
16. Riva (8)
17. Severna Park (24)
18. Shady Side (13)
19. Tracey's Landing (1)
20. West River (6)

There are many ways that I can refine the search besides city and price.  For example, I can search according to body of water, water depth, and whether or not the property has a dock.  It is possible, also, to search for properties that may not be waterfront, but perhaps have a waterview, or homes that are located in communities with water access.

While I don't pretend to be a "waterfront expert", I am a REAL ESTATE expert with over thirty years of experience in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.  If you're interested in waterfront property and have a WATER or BOATING question I can't answer, I will get you the answer.  Please let me know how I can help you.

Source:  Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, Inc. (MRIS), 10/21/07

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Relocating to the Baltimore-Washington area?  Check out Your Relocation Package for Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

Find a Home and learn about Real Estate Market Conditions in Odenton and Anne Arundel County, Maryland.  Check out Today's Rates, use the free Mortgage Calculator, and watch a brief video about the Power of RE/MAX.  These consumer-friendly real estate tools are provided by Margaret Woda for you to use at your own pace. 

When you're ready to go from "just browsing" to "let's get serious", contact Margaret online or call her at RE/MAX Vision in Crofton Maryland. 410-451-1900 

Posted to Localism.com and FocusonCrofton.com.

If you are new to Maryland, and not familiar with the Wye Oak, perhaps I should start by telling you what this is all about.

About the species - In 1941, Maryland designated the White Oak (Quercus Alba) as the State Tree. 

The white oak is a handsome and sturdy tree, named for its whitish bark and grey twigs.  The trees are large, long-lived, and slow-growing - reaching heights of 60 to 150 feet, with diameters between three to four feet.  They have glossy bright green leaves with five to seven rounded lobes on each leaf. 

A white oak begins to produce acorns when it is about fifty years old - as many as 10,000 annually.  The acorns, crowned with shallow caps that are smooth underneath, sprout soon after falling from the tree.  They are sweet to the taste, and provide nourishment to more than eighty different Maryland birds and mammals. 

Some history -The 450 year old Wye Oak, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, was the oldest and largest white oak in the world at ninety-six feet tall and thirty-one feet around, with an average crown spread of 119 feet, when it succumbed to high winds in June 2002. 

For four centuries, travelers along the road from Oxford, Maryland, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, reportedly rested in the shade of the massive tree and tied their horses at its base, perhaps causing the gnarled roots and so-called "knees" at the base of the Wye Oak. 

In 1919, the tree gained notoriety when it was featured in an article by H. S. Clopper, appearing in the American Forester magazine.   The State of Maryland purchased a few acres around the tree from private owners in 1939 to create the Wye Oak State Park.  Then, in 1941, when the white oak was designated as the Maryland State Tree, the Wye Oak became the honorary state tree.

Why Plant a Wye Oak? 

1.  The White Oak is Maryland's state tree.
2.  The Wye Oak is a piece of Maryland history.
3.  Three-year old seedlings, approximately fifteen inches tall and certified descendants of the Wye Oak, are available now for $35 from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.  (Limited quantity, on a first come-first serve basis.) 

A better question might be "Why NOT plant a Wye Oak?".   I don't have an answer for that one!   Click here to order your Wye Oak seedling for $35 plus shipping and sales tax.

By the way, leaves of the fallen Wye Oak were carefully collected, preserved and stored, and now they are available to purchase - covered in copper and finished with a greenish-blue or brown patina:

• A piece of jewelry - a unique pin for a coat or jacket lapel ($36-$76) or earrings ($36)
• Mounted on a slate tile for use in your home ($64)
• An ornament. ($28-$38)

Adopting a leaf will help support the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.  Click here to place an order.

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Relocating to the Baltimore-Washington area?  Check out Your Relocation Package for Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

Find a Home and learn about Real Estate Market Conditions in Odenton and Anne Arundel County, Maryland.  Check out Today's Rates, use the free Mortgage Calculator, and watch a brief video about the Power of RE/MAX.  These consumer-friendly real estate tools are provided by Margaret Woda for you to use at your own pace. 

When you're ready to go from "just browsing" to "let's get serious", contact Margaret online or call her at RE/MAX Vision in Crofton Maryland. 410-451-1900 

EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1, 2007 FOR PROPERTY TRANSFERS AFTER DECEMBER 31, 2007

Let's start by answering your question, "What is the Maryland Homestead Tax Credit?" 

The Homestead Credit helps homeowners deal with large assessment increases by limiting the increase in taxable assessments.  You can check this Listing of Homestead Caps for Each Local Government, to find out the fixed amount where the property is located. 

The Homestead Credit is calculated on any property tax assessment increase exceeding 10% (or the lower cap enacted by local governments - 2% in Anne Arundel County, for example) from one year to the next. The credit is calculated based on the 10% limit for purposes of the State property tax, and 10% or less (as determined by local governments) for purposes of local taxation. In other words, the homeowner pays no property tax on the market value increase which is above the limit.  With record-breaking increases in the market value of homes in recent years, many homeowners now enjoy the benefit of this credit.

However, newly transferred properties are no longer eligible for this tax credit, so home buyers cannot rely upon the property tax amount in the MLS listing, which is usually the amount paid by the current home owner.

The Homestead Credit applies only when the following conditions  are met during the previous tax year:

• The property was not transferred to new ownership.
• There was no change in the zoning classification requested by the homeowner resulting in an increase value of the property.
• A substantial change did not occur in the use of the property.
• The previous assessment was not clearly erroneous.

A further condition is that the dwelling must be the owner's principal residence and the owner must have lived in it for at least six months of the year, including July 1 of the year for which the credit is applicable, unless the owner was temporarily unable to do so by reason of illness or need of special care. An owner can receive a credit only on one property - the principal residence.  Residential rental properties are not eligible for the Homestead Credit.

Current property owners:  Check your tax assessment notice to find out if you receive a Homestead Credit:

1.  Does the box at the top of the assessment notice page show that the property is the principal residence?
2.  Do boxes 8, 9 and 10 show annual increases of more than 10% (or the lower cap enacted by the local governments) over the prior year?
3.  Are boxes 1, 2 or 3 lower than box 8?

If you currently own and occupy your home, and you do not receive the tax credit, you can appeal to your local Tax Assessment office.

While the MLS listing may accurately reflect the tax amount in effect at the time of the listing, it may include the Homestead Credit that you will not be eligible to receive initially.  Home buyers should check with the local tax assessment office to determine the property tax you will pay for the property, if it settles after December 31, 2007.

A community announcement for Crofton, MD, posted to Localism.com and FocusOnCrofton.com.

Flu shots seem to be widely available this year, and I have found three locations in Crofton where you can conveniently get yours:  Giant, CVS, and Rite-Aid.

Mark your calendar for November 3.  That's the next time you will be able to get your annual flu shot at the Giant in Crofton.  (For a complete listing of Giant grocery stores where you can get flu shots, click here.)

Two local drugstores are offering flu shots, as well:  The CVS website indicates that flu shots are available daily at the Crofton location, 2003 Davidsonville Road;  RiteAid, at 2203 Defense Highway, will offer flu shots today and tomorrow (October 17 and 18).

Additionally, both shots and the nasal spray vaccines will be available at the Anne Arundel County Health Services Building on Truman Parkway on Oct. 17, Nov. 13 and Dec. 11.

According to the Anne Arundel County Department of Health, the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends vaccination for anyone who wants to prevent the flu, as well as certain priority groups. Priority groups include: persons 50 years of age and older; individuals with chronic medical conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, cancer and HIV/AIDS; children 6-59 months old; pregnant women; health care personnel who provide direct patient care; and household contacts and out-of-home care givers of children less than 5 years old.

If you are aware of any additional Crofton locations for flu shots, please be sure to post the locations and dates in the comments to this post.  Thanks!

To receive timely notices about new posts to FocusOnCrofton.com, SUBSCRIBE NOW.

Yes, listing agents desperately want feedback and, in my market, more agents do provide feedback than don't.  It's a professional courtesy.  However, I see this practice evolving as quality feedback becomes another technology-driven sacrificial lamb in our profession.

Services such as www.showings.com make it so easy to provide prompt feedback after showings, there's almost no excuse for failing to do it! 

Well, that's true, but many agents are giving sellers direct access to feedback - and I did it myself, when the option first became available.  However, it appears this may be sabotaging the process because Sellers want testimonials, not candid feedback!

• The home is beautiful! My buyers and I love the colors!
• The home is so clean!  The sellers are great housekeepers!
• The home is priced just right!  Do you think we should offer more?
• The addition makes this house the best in the neighborhood!
• The buyers LOVE this house!  Everything about it is perfect!

When sellers read anything less glowing, they tend to take it VERY personally.  That's why I think it is still important for feedback to be agent-to-agent communication.  The listing agent may choose to disregard feedback from a dubious source, such as an out-of-area agent who criticizes the price, or at least add that editorial comment when forwarding the feedback; or the listing agent may choose to pass on several comments about the property condition with a specific recommendation or a suggestion about getting together to talk about how to address these concerns. 

Using agent feedback to tweak our marketing and make recommendations to sellers is a valuable tool in our business.  But here is what can happen when agents don't review the feedback and don't go over it personally with their sellers:

Sellers sometimes become irate after they and their homes have been insulted (only in their mind) by five different agents, and they've had enough!  So now they provide feedback on the feedback.

More and more sellers are contacting showing agents to express outrage about their feedback, now that hey have the name, email address and phone number on feedback reports.  "My sellers were disappointed in the property condition" then turns into "The house was downright filthy... what are you complaining about, I was very diplomatic."  Then there is feedback on the feedback to the feedback.

Seller:  "I worked on this house for a month, getting it ready.  Didn't you see I just painted the half-bath off the hallway?"  Then comes the phone call to the office manager banning anyone in that office from ever stepping foot into that house.  Etc., Etc. Etc.  It's enough to make a showing agent think twice about giving feedback when asked next time.  The script may change, if the feedback topic is pricing or something else, but you get the idea. 

This, my friends, is changing the face of feedback - slowly but surely.  It is the reason that listing agents are receiving more meaningless feedback today than they ever before, at least in my market.  Technology - or more specifically, seller's access through technology to constructive feedback and their emotional reaction to it - has changed the way some agents give feedback. 

When you ask for feedback, don't be surprised to receive "Nice house, good price, my clients are still looking at homes and haven't made a decision." - Nothing that will cause a seller to feel insulted, and nothing that will help listing agents tweak their efforts. 

Frankly, I'm mourning the loss of meanngful feedback in my market, and this seems like a solution that could bring it back to life:

Let's do feedback the old fashioned way...  agent-to-agent, as a professional courtesy.  We don't have to give sellers direct access to online feedback (at least with showings.com) - that's an option we may be better off not using.  By simply forwarding the feedback, instead of providing drect access, listng agents  have the option to add their 2 cents to any comment and put the feedback into perspective.  Doing this also increases the listing agent's visibility with sellers, reassuring them that their listing agent is working constantly for them. 

As I said at the top of this, listing agents desperately want feedback.  Make that "constructive feedback".