Maryland Housing Info

Trends in Housing Report - Washington Area

2007-11-05T08:47:00.000-05:00

Hi! I've been reading the MRIS Q3 2007 Trends Report which was just released. Here are some of the highlights for the Washington area. I'll cover the Baltimore area tomorrow, followed by trends analyses for Houses for Sale and the Condo Market and a summary for the area.

Overall, the Washington area economy continues to expand, but at a slower pace.

Job Growth:

With 3.0 million payroll employment jobs, the Washington metro area has the fourth largest job base among metro areas, behind New York, the LA Basin and Chicago.

Over the 12 months ending August 2007, 47,600 new payroll positions were added to the Washington metro area – 5.8% above the 15-year annual average of 45,000.
Northern Virginia created 41% of all new payroll positions in the Washington metro area in the last 12 months. Suburban Maryland created 37% and the District of Columbia created 22%.

Unemployment Rate:

The Washington area unemployment rate was 3.0% in August 2007, down from 3.3% one year ago. The current rate is the lowest in the nation among major metro areas and compares favorably to the national rate of 4.6%.

Washington Area Outlook:

We expect the Washington metro area economy to end 2007 on solid footing. Although growth has slowed compared to the past three years, we predict conditions will improve over the next two years, compared to 2007.

The Professional and Business Services sector should continue to lead job growth, as government contractors and law firms spur growth in this sector. The shift in Congress to Democratic control should not reduce procurement spending, as the 2008 election is near. However, how the spending is delegated in the near-term could transfer some of the spending from Northern Virginia’s defense contractors to Suburban Maryland’s health contractors.

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda...

2007-11-01T06:47:00.001-04:00

Hi - hope you had a happy Halloween! We had fun taking my 9 month old grandson, Tommy to visit our new granddaughter, Maddison. She is 3 weeks old and unimpressed with Halloween, but Tommy made a cute angel. :)

Our youngest son, Matt also had a great concert at Glenwood Middle School on the 30th. They pulled together an awesome concert with an eclectic mixture of songs from the Andrews Sisters to Gnarls Barkley and topped off with a Tribute to Queen and Ode To Joy by Beethoven in English and German! Way to go Cobras!

Today's title refers to an ad a friend of mine wrote recently. She said something to the effect of "Avoid the Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda - Why aren't you buying now? Interest rates are great and sellers are selling at reduced prices with loads of concessions." Just what I've been saying, too! With interest rates down again, just think what you could do with a new house for your Christmas or Hanukkah present to yourself! :)

Have a great week! I'll be in Annapolis and Richmond for conferences, so I won't be writing tomorrow. See you Monday!

Fed Lowers Interest Rate Again!

2007-10-31T16:58:00.000-04:00

Well, the Fed has reduced the interest rate again:

From WBALTV.com:
"The Federal Reserve, confronted with surging oil prices and a slumping housing market, on Wednesday cut a key interest rate by a quarter-point, the second rate reduction this year.

"The central bank lowered the federal funds rate to 4.5 percent in an effort to stimulate economic activity and keep the country from dipping into a recession. The move will make it cheaper for consumers and businesses to borrow money."

Look for this to help out with mortgage rates! Keep your credit rating strong and you won't have any problems with loans in any case. I have a great list of excellent lenders. Email me or call for more information!

And as always, I would love to work with you or any of your friends and family who are thinking of moving!

Letter from State Del. Warren Miller

2007-10-30T20:38:00.000-04:00

Here is - in it's entirety - a letter from my State Delegate, Warren Miller. I've spent many hours recently calling elected officials to let them know I don't want Gov. O'Malley's tax plan to go through. I hope you will do the same.

Once again I need help connecting the dots to make sense of the new O'Malley tax plan. Having looked at this piecemeal proposal several times, many things just don't make good sense. Before I get into the questions, I must commend the administration for orchestrating this whole traveling road show with laser precision. First the Governor endears himself to the community over a casual kitchen table conversation with an average Joe family. Then he proceeds to the rural areas of the state, styling himself as the hero of the Maryland agricultural community. Both were brilliant marketing moves in my opinion.

But now the message revolves around "doomsday". How do we go from the kitchen table or the cornfield to doomsday? Well, with Governor O'Malley the path is simple. If the General Assembly doesn't pass his tax increase bills, then we will spiral downward and never see daylight again. He has finally stooped to an all time low and unfortunately, I wish I could believe that he will not outdo himself in the future. He is resorting to tactics of terror, similar to the work of those who choose to push their agenda by taking our citizens hostage and sending us pictures of them in compromising positions. O'Malley has become a terrorist of sorts. He is sending his message of fright to college students and single moms without regard for them at all. He paints pictures of people being thrown out into the streets due to program cuts and college students leaving college prematurely due to a lack of state funding. Fear is not the motivator that caused this country to rise to the top of the food chain. Fear paralyzes people, families and economies. This paralysis is just the formula for government intervention (another word for interference) in your daily life. If you can't function without their help, then you will do anything to preserve them, including paying tax rates that would make a loan shark blush.

Now time to connect the dots. The proposed tobacco tax is said to be two-fold; first, it will fund some health care projects and bail out some hospitals from bad debt. (By the way, most of this debt is caused by illegal immigrants using the emergency room as their primary care facility.) And secondly, this tax is supposed to act as a deterrent and reduce the number of smokers in Maryland. Trust me when I tell you that I do not support smoking or tobacco use. It is a proven killer, however, it is a legal activity and those who participate in it do it willingly. The addictive chemical make up of cigarettes causes the user to become a slave to the chemical and many users would like to quit but they simply can't. So this tax will possibly be the straw that breaks the camel's back and they will quit. I certainly hope something short of cancer causes them to stop. Nevertheless, the main health benefit to this new tax is that many people will quit smoking.

With that said, let's look at another facet of this new tax plan. My health club membership is now going to be taxed. I am not sure why. I see empirical evidence proving that good health is achieved through physical exercise and healthy people cost less to care for overall. So here is my dilemma: If I buy into the notion that the tobacco tax will cause many smokers to become non-smokers (a good thing), what can I expect to happen to the health club members following the same logic? If health club members stop going to the health clubs and they become obese or unhealthy, what fiscal impact can be expected?

The bare bones truth is simple: this is not about health; it is about wealth. Yes, Governor O'Malley wants to play Robin Hood and take from the hard-working and give more to the hardly working. He also wants to make sure that the government continues to grow and gain market share in the affairs of your life. Remember, the goal is for big government to become invaluable to you so that you will gladly pay for them to stay around to help. It has been said over and over, but it bears repeating. We do not have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. Containing costs has not been considered, nor will it be. The only time we hear about containing costs is in reference to single moms losing job training or college students leaving school to work at McDonalds because they could not afford college tuition. And that brings me to my final dot that needs to be connected.

Last year the Governor (yes, this same Martin O'Malley) wanted to give illegal immigrants tuition breaks amounting to about $14,000 per year per student. This ill-fated plan would have cost Marylanders untold millions of dollars. He made the arguments ranging from "we owe it to ourselves to have an educated illegal population" to "an education will keep them from stealing from us in the long run". Now I hear Governor O'Malley stating that if we do not pass this budget, all the state schools will loose millions of dollars and students will go without, or tuition will be raised to ungodly levels. How much worse would it have been if his plan had not been stopped last year? I think that makes little to no sense, but then again, that's par for this course.

I simply don't believe the Governor has a plan. He is piecing together a tapestry one square at a time and hoping he covers all his bases. Unfortunately, this tapestry is just the wet blanket our state's economy needs to put out the fire caused by several years of strong growth. Thanks Governor O'Malley.

It's Still A Great Time to Buy A Home

2007-10-29T06:48:00.000-04:00

Here in Maryland, the market has slowed down from what we saw a couple of years ago. That's not to say that it's a bad time to buy a home, though. In fact, 2007 has proven to be a good time to be a buyer! Sellers are offering concessions to buyers so they can get moving and interest rates are still some of the best we have seen in the past several years.

According to Yahoo.com's article of Oct 25th, "Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.33 percent this week, down from 6.40 percent last week. It was the lowest level since 30-year mortgages dipped to 6.31 percent on Sept. 13, which had been the lowest point since last May."

6.33 percent is an awesome rate for a 30 year fixed mortgage!

From the September 2007 statistics from Howard County Association of Realtors, of which I am on the Board of Directors, 2007 has brought 1658 active listings, a 13.3% increase over 2006's 1464 active listings, and a 13.3% decrease in the number of houses under contract (2239 in 2007 as compared to 2006's 2582.) Settlements are the telling number, however, 2007 has had 2214 year-to-date compared to September 2006's 2531, down by 12.5%.

What does that mean for a consumer? It means that there are more listings to choose from and better deals to be had because less homes are selling than last year!

The other thing to remember is that over 34% of the homes that have sold this year are in the $300,000-$399,999 range and another 18.9% in the $400,000 to $499,999 section. In looking at the $300-$399,999 range actives just now I found 2 bedroom condos in Clarksville and 3 bedroom ranchers or split levels in Columbia and there are 477 active listings in that price range. The largest home in that price range was a 1930 single family home in Marriottsville with 6 bedrooms and 2 baths on nearly 1/2 acre. There are plenty of great deals out there.

The last figure I'm going to give you is the average sales price - the 2006 average sales price was $494,941 - average for 2007 has not gone down, it's $499,731. It just hasn't taken the huge yearly jumps we've been seeing for the past few years. Because of our location between Baltimore and Washington DC, I believe that we are not going to see the widespread losses on house values that some parts of the U.S. have seen. Buying a house here today is not as scary as it would be in some areas.

Because about 70% of my business is done in Howard County, I've posted those figures but if you'd like information about other areas in the Baltimore-Washington DC area, just ask - I'll be happy to look up the information for you.

As always, Judi Stull & Associates - and me especially - value your business. We want you to be happy with our service and the work we do for you so you will refer us to your friends and family who are looking for homes. They don't even need to live in Maryland - we can find them a great Realtor anywhere in the world. It doesn't matter if you are moving to Egypt or Australia or California, I know great Realtors all over the world and will be happy to refer you to them.

Have an awesome week!
Judi

Sales Holding, Prices Falling

2006-09-28T17:54:00.000-04:00

Hi! I'm Judi Stull, team leader of Judi Stull & Associates at RE/MAX Advantage Realty in Columbia, Maryland. In order to help our clients and the community learn more about the market (since I am asked about the market wherever and whenever I happen to wear my nametag - my personal favorite being the line in the Ladies Room!) I thought this would be an excellent way to tell people about the market conditions!

According to the NAR report "Home Prices Expected to Fall for Remainder of 2006" published on September 13th, after five years of continuous growth, we are looking at a more balanced market now. The fall of prices is expected to continue to have "a limited fall throughout 2006."

House prices are still having a national appreciation of less than 1%, instead of the double-digit increases of the past few years, according to Thomas M. Stevens, NAR President. Here in Howard County, we're seeing a little bit different story. Our Howard County Association of Realtors' Market Report for August shows an Average Sales Price in August 2005 of $475,082 which rose to an Average Sales Price for August 2006 of $496,244 or a 4.45% increase, a good jump over the National Average. However, this follows a 2005 increase of 16.82% and an 18.67% increase in 2004, so it just doesn't seem all that great.

Another area of note is the Absorption Rate increase from past years. In Howard County, Maryland, we have been averaging about 2 months supply of houses listed as active on the market for the past few years. The National Average for August showed 7.5 months worth of inventory available. This past month for Howard County, in August, we had 5.68 months worth of inventory. That means that if not one other house was put onto the market after the end of August, we could still sell houses at the current rate for nearly six months without running out. Of course, that's the simplified version, but you can see how that would cause re-thinking of how to price new listings!!

The good news is that according to NAR's statistics, 2006 is still on track to become "the third highest sales year on record" - houses are still selling, they just aren't appreciating at the rate we've become used to seeing. The definition of a Balanced Market is when there is a 6 month absorption rate, so we're right at that mark here in Maryland. According to the NAR report entitled "Existing-Home Sales Holding at a Sustainable Pace", Single-Family home sales "held at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.51 million in August, unchanged from July, but were 12.3 percent lower than the 6.28 million-unit pace in August, 2005." Regionally, however, in the Northeast area, sales "rose 1.9 percent to a pace of 1.07 million in August, but were 11.6 percent below August 2005."

So, all in all, our area here in Maryland is staying just above the National Average in terms of Sales Prices and units sold. Our inventory isn't as high as the National Average and our days on market days are shorter than many areas. It is a different market than we are used to and we will need some to time to adjust - marketing will be different, days on market will be a bit longer. Our team absolutely relies on referrals from past clients and our A+ Client Group and I can see that this will become an even more integral part of our marketing effort in this next year. If you or if you know of anyone who would like this type of information about the area, give us a call or send us an email - we'll be happy to include you and them in our Client Appreciation Program where you can receive this type of information and service regularly.

If you would like copies of any of this information or the reports quoted, please feel free to contact me at blog@judistull.com or at our office (410) 740-1200 x 1111.

It's a Good Life! - Judi

House Prices Still High

2004-06-14T10:19:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,
Just an update on the market here in Maryland. In looking at the MRIS data for May, 2004, prices are still up about 35% of what they were last year. Average list price for Howard County last May was $270,874 - this May it was $367,831. Lower priced houses are still selling generally above asking price. Anything under about $350,000 is flying off the market with multiple offers. Houses $350,000 and up are staying on the market a little longer and selling at about 99% of asking price. There were 661 new listings for May and 530 houses marked Under Contract, so we still don't have a lot of inventory. If you are thinking of moving, just give us a call or email us - we can help you with buying or selling a home - not just in Maryland, but anywhere in the world!

Wow! Our Own Blog!

2004-05-29T09:05:00.000-04:00

Wow! This is something new. Our real estate team has been trying to stay on the Cutting Edge of Technology, but I didn't know much about blogging. Today I read an article in Inman Times about Realtors using Blogs as a way of teaching their clients about their particular market, so I decided to try it. I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as we will enjoy writing it!

Our team consists of three Realtors: I take care of the listings and land sales, Denise and Michele take care of the Buyers; and two support staff: Jay is our Lot and Land Coordinator and is trying to find us land, and Lisa runs our office and keeps me organized. It was a really big jump to have a team after working on my own for not quite three years, but I'm loving it so far. It's been a transition of thoughts and ways of doing business, but a great learning experience. And I believe it's the best way for us to meet our clients' needs.

Our market in Maryland is an incredible Sellers market right now and has been for several years. Houses under $400,000 are selling in a couple of days and if priced right at the beginning, are selling for thousands of dollars over asking price (a recent 3 bdrm townhouse we sold was listed at $210,000 and sold for $235,000 - no contingencies - in three days!) many times without home inspections or with the buyers offering to pay cash above the appraised value. Houses over $400,000 are selling too, but not quite as quickly as those below, and generally without the huge offerings above asking price.

Well, I'm off to meet more clients. Have a great Memorial Day weekend!