Baltimore County Rentals NEED to be Registered

Please be aware that January 1, 2009 is the deadline for all rental homes in Baltimore County to be registered and inspected.

For more information on this process feel free to contact me, jbayne@cbmove.com

State of the Real Estate Market

Baltimore Housing Values Have Climbed

Study Shows Housing Values Have Climbed

News reports have been packed with stories about declining home values, but a recent government report shows that the situation is not nearly so dire as some reports make it sound.Despite big loses in some areas of the country, the majority of markets continue to show growth in home value over the last five years.According to the third-quarter survey released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, out of 292 metropolitan markets, 273 showed positive net home values in the last five years. Only 19 percent were negative. While home values declined 4 percent on average in the last year, values were up nearly 29 percent over the past five years.According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, markets that gained the most over the last five years were:

• Honolulu: up 78.7 percent
• Virginia Beach: 72.6 percent
• Flagstaff, Ariz.: 66.5 percent
• Bellingham, Wash.: 65.6 percent
• Wilmington, N.C.: 62.1 percent
• Baltimore: 60.6 percent

Source: The Washington Post Writers Group, Kenneth R. Harney, (12/06/08)

Housing Shows Signs of Recovery

Housing Showing Signs of Recovery

“With all the turbulence and losses in stocks and bad economic news in the headlines lately,
you can easily lose perspective on what's really going on in the real estate sector.

• Well, remember that there is a huge pent-up demand simmering away out there for
  housing – especially from first-time buyers who want to scoop up low-priced deals.
• Fixed 30 year rates fell from 6.5% to 6.24% during the week. Fifteen year rates broke
  below 6% to 5.9%, down from 6.14%.
• Pending home sales were higher than year-earlier levels for the second straight month
  – 1.6% higher than September 2007.
• Although pending sales contracts were down slightly for the month, in the Western
  states they were up by 3.7%, and now stand at an extraordinary 39.7% higher than
  they were at the same time in 2007.
• Already sales are up significantly in major markets in many parts of the U.S. NAR Chief
  Economist Lawrence Yun specifically mentioned the west coast of Florida, the Phoenix
  area, Virginia, Long Island, N.Y., Kansas City, Minnesota and Idaho.

So here's the key point to keep in mind as you try to make sense of the headlines: The
stock market is NOT the housing market. It's on a whole different set of tracks. And it's been in a highly volatile state for more than a month. Housing, on the other hand, has already endured its painful correction for two and a half years … is now pretty much stabilized … and is slowly moving toward its cyclical recovery.”

-- “Real Estate Outlook: Housing in Recovery,” by Kenneth R. Harney, Realty Times, Nov. 18, 2008.