Real Estate Information

Jamie Smith Hopkins, in her blog the Real Estate Wonk, wrote an interesting story on Hidden Gems last Month. Click Here for the full story. 

Neighborhoods: The cheek-and-jowl Loch Raven Village and Knettishall

Location: Mostly in Towson (Baltimore County)

Average sales price: $219,000 (January through June)

Notable features: Loch Raven Village and Knettishall have 1940s and '50s brick townhouses with more personality than most of the newer stuff. The yards are large enough for flower gardens, as you can see above, and Interstate 695 is less than a mile away. (Why "mostly in Towson"? Because the eastern half of Loch Raven Village is in Parkville.)

You've got all the locational benefits of Towson here -- malls, colleges, recreation -- without the usual Towson price. The 380-acre Cromwell Valley Park, which has a demonstration farm illustrating "sustainable" and organic practices, is a short drive from the neighborhood.

Of course, this is all true of fellow gem Lake Walker, a short drive to the south and just over the city line. So why pick Lake Walker and these twin Towson neighborhoods if they're so close together? Simple:

Because some people want to live in the city and some don't. The property tax rate is a common point of contention -- it's a little more than twice as much in the city as it is in the county.

So, to each his own. Loch Raven Village and Knettishall don't have the variety of housing types you can find in Lake Walker, but they're well-kept and wear their neighborhood pride on their sleeve, or rather their utility poles:

Here's an example of the architecture in Loch Raven Village, which the neighbors describe as "Georgian colonial":

Patriotic front yards:

And depending on the time of year, you might just happen across a farm stand on Putty Hill Avenue:

Wonk reader bryanintimonium nominated Loch Raven Village and Knettishall without comment, so I went hunting for details that could confirm or deny their hidden-gem status. I drove past both for years without realizing they existed, so that seemed a good start.

Marney Kirk, a real estate agent with Keller Williams Excellence in Timonium, said she's been selling homes in the neighborhoods for 11 years and considers them gems.

"People love living there," Kirk said. "It's definitely a good area."

It reminds Kirk of Rodgers Forge, except less pricey. You'll also spend less than you would have before the housing slump ate away at home values. Homes in Loch Raven Village and Knettishall were going for more than $250,000 a few years ago, she said.

The two neighborhoods have a similar feel, but the Loch Raven Village homes are generally larger and the styles are a bit different. Ralph Simmers Jr., who built Knettishall with his father, based his design on the English townhouses he saw while in the Air Force during World War II. Knettishall is named after the village where he was stationed.

Leslie Jackson-Vallade, a mother of two who's lived in Loch Raven Village for 10 years, says lots of families live in the neighborhood because the townhouses are big enough to accommodate the space-eating needs of kids. Her home has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a "huge" attic and a finished basement.

"We're a very close-knit group," added Jackson-Vallade, treasurer of the Loch Raven Village Community Association. "It's really conducive to young families."

Other residents have deep roots. Janice Krach grew up in Loch Raven Village, went away to college and came back. Since 1975 she's lived in Knettishall.

"It's a nice location," she said. "It's so easy to get to all the places in the Baltimore metro area."

Have personal experience with Loch Raven Village or Knettishall? Do share.

Nick Gioia | www.ngrealtygroup.com   

The view from a downtown Baltimore rooftop was worth $14 million two years ago, when Gov. Martin O’Malley proclaimed an end to the loophole exempting some investors from paying taxes on their real estate purchases.

The vista from Annapolis these days is worth considerably less: just $325,000.

That is how much the state has collected this year in transfer taxes from those kinds of deals, involving the sale of limited liability corporations created exclusively to own or sell large commercial properties, according to the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation.

That’s 97 percent less than the $14 million Annapolis had hoped to collect from those transactions a year after closing the loophole. The drop in LLC sales has shorted the state millions of dollars in a recession that has already forced the governor to furlough workers, reduce state aid to higher education and slash stem-cell research funding. And it’s also hurting the coffers of local governments as well, both because the state has less money to dole out to them and because they, too, are collecting less money from real estate deals.

Now, the state is planning to lower its projections for this year, said Robert Young, associate director with the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation. Young said overall, fewer deals of any type are getting done because of the recession.

But LLC sales in particular have fallen well short of expectations, and he said he believes the state shouldn’t anticipate collecting more than $450,000 in transfer taxes from them this year.

Real estate experts say the frozen credit markets and bleak economy have done more to stifle real estate sales than the closing of the loophole. But once the market recovers, they say, it is unlikely the state will come anywhere close to collecting $14 million a year in LLC-tied property sales.

The main reason many properties changed hands through LLC sales was to avoid transfer and recordation taxes. The state levies a 0.5 percent transfer tax, on top of what local governments collect. Baltimore City, for example, charges another 1.5 percent transfer tax and a 1 percent recordation tax.

Now that there’s no financial advantage to an LLC sale, many buyers are opting to buy property through straight deed transfers the way residential properties change hands, said Y. Jeffrey Spatz, a real estate lawyer with Gordon, Feinblatt, Rothman, Hoffberger & Hollander LLC.

Spatz said closing the LLC loophole has not had a significant impact on real estate deals. But he said there have been a few potential deals that were scrapped because of the added cost of transfer and recordation taxes.

The sale that spurred the change came in 2006 when America’s Capital Partners of Miami bought that Alex. Brown building at 1 South St. for $120 million. It acquired the 30-story building through its purchase of the controlling interest in ABB South Street Associates LLC. The loophole allowed America’s Capital Partners to avoid what would have been $2.4 million in city and state transfer taxes.

A year later, O’Malley staged a news conference on a rooftop overlooking the Alex. Brown building. There he announced his plans to tax LLC sales to bridge what was then a $1.7 billion shortfall in the state’s budget.

Since then, the pace of real estate deals have fallen considerably. On average, about $500 million in office properties and an equal amount of industrial properties change hands annually, said Robert T. “Bo” Cashman, an investment sales broker at CB Richard Ellis in Baltimore. This year, just $35 million in industrial properties have sold and $118 million in office properties have changed hands.

Nick Gioia | www.NGRealtyGroup.com

The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday released a plan to speed up and encourage Short Sales as a means to help families avoid foreclosure. Real estate special interest groups have been offering Short Sale proposals to public officials for over a year, and although the new guidelines aren't everything we were hoping for, they do represent a significant improvement over the current situation.

Short Sales have been difficult to close, and these new measures are a huge step in the right direction. One major highlight: A lender must give a yes or no answer to an offer within 10 days. Also included: a moving allowance, incentives for sellers and lenders, commission rules, and a stipulation that releases sellers from debt liabilities.

Here's an initial Reuters news story outlining the new policies.

As we've said throughout 2009, the key is to become experts in the process. We expect a tremendous increase in Short Sales during the coming year, and it's vital that the NG Realty Group with RE/MAX Sails continue to lead the industry in Distressed Property skills and training.

Our staff is quickly developing resources to help you understand the new Short Sale guidelines and explain them to both buyers and sellers. We have also put consumer information links on www.NGRealtyGroup.com and will be communicating ongoing developments via Facebook and Twitter.

FHA has announced new clarified guidelines (Mortgagee Letters 46A & 46B) for condominium project approval and recertification, and has provided a transition strategy that will help keep the condominium market moving for another year. Here’s what you need to know:

• All currently approved condo projects will remain on the FHA approved list.
• Projects approved prior to October 1, 2008 will require recertification by December 7, 2010.
• Projects approved after October 1, 2008 will require recertification 2 years from the initial approval date.

HOWEVER, this life raft has a few holes:

• Spot loans are eliminated on case numbers on or after February 1, 2010.
• Lenders must certify on every loan file that currently approved projects continue to comply with the following or the project is ineligible for FHA lending.
• Investor Ownership: One investor may own no more than 10% of units.
• Delinquent HOA Dues: No more than 15 % of total units can be in arrears (more than 30 days past due) of their condominium association fee payment.
• Owner-Occupied Ratios: At least 50% of the units must be owner-occupied.
• FHA Concentration: 50% of units may be FHA financed with allowance to 100% (except for new construction and conversions) when:
  o Previous 3 criteria above are met.
  o Project completed > one year and all units are sold.
  o HOA is controlled by owners
  o Project budget shows 10% capital reserves.

Nick Gioia | www.ngrealtygroup.com

Jay Hancock of the Baltimore Sun wrote a very informative piece on Million-dollar Homes last week that I though was worth sharing. In his blog, he stated that most clients don't realize that the toughest job in today's real estate market is selling monster luxury homes, many of which were built only because of the financing bubble and people scoring mortgages they didn't deserve to buy houses they couldn't afford. Many million-dollar homes are in bankers' inventories, having been foreclosed upon. They're big white elephants -- expensive to keep up and in saleable condition, but difficult to sell.

But the latest Baltimore City and Baltimore County sales numbers show that million-dollar homes are participating in the jump in activity that the rest of the market is seeing. Sixteen metro-Baltimore homes priced $1 million or more sold in October, according to MRIS. Seven sold in September, 22 in August and 13 in July. There were 695 million-dollar-plus houses for sale in metro Baltimore last month. That's down from 786 in May and the lowest level since January, when fewer people are trying to sell houses, anyway.

Few if any people buying these things qualify for the first-time home buyer tax credit. (Only people with relatively modest incomes qualify.) But Baltimore Sun Reporter and author of the Real Estate Wonk, Jamie Smith Hopkins, says there could be a tax-credit knock-on effect boosting the luxury market. The credit probably helped some trade-up buyers sell their modest ranchers or Colonials so they could move into their dream mansions.

Nick Gioia | www.ngrealtygroup.com

Baltimore County, with a population of close to one million, is located in the northern portion of the state of Maryland. It does not actually include the city of Baltimore, which gained its independence in 1851. Both the county and city attract new residents to Baltimore real estate every year. There are several popular neighborhoods in Baltimore County to call home.

The list of Baltimore County attractions is long and wide-ranging. Old world charm abounds in the antique rows of Reisterstown and Cockeysville, while the historic milltown of Oella is always a draw. Outdoor enthusiasts will appreciate the county’s 175 miles of shoreline, 60 marinas, and 10,000 acres of park land in addition to the North Central Railroad Trail, a converted hiking and biking trail that runs to Pennsylvania. Almost 150 thoroughbred horse farms are located in the county, which plays host to the notoriously difficult Maryland Hunt Cup each April. Other events range from the Maryland State Fair in Timonium and the Towson town Spring Festival to visiting the Fire Museum of Maryland and touring Boordy Vineyards, Maryland’s oldest winery. The county is served by the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and is within easy driving distance of several other major cities and the sandy beaches of Ocean City, MD.

Nick Gioia | www.ngrealtygroup.com

History. Convenience. Opportunity. Community. All this and so much more is what you´ll find in the region that is Baltimore, Maryland. With over 250 neighborhoods, the Baltimore City Homes and Real Estate has something to suit your lifestyle and meet all of your real estate needs. With the best of city living alongside a strong sense of community and a rich history, you will find yourself at home in Baltimore City, whether you are a young professional embarking on a new journey in life, or you're retired and ready to relax and enjoy a friendly and social atmosphere.

Baltimore City's convenient location near major highways such as Interstates 95 and 40 combined with its Amtrak, Light Rail and the Baltimore-Washington International Airport, make Baltimore City a great place to live, work and play. Ideally positioned in the heart of the Mid-Atlantic region Baltimore City's residents have easy access within just a few hours to several other major Mid-Atlantic cities including Washington D.C., Richmond, Philadelphia and New York.

As the most recognized destination point in Baltimore City, the Inner Harbor waterfront located in downtown Baltimore City is home to some of the areas best shopping, restaurants and exciting visitor attractions. A vibrant arts and entertainment scene, historic and cultural landmarks, excellent recreational amenities and parks, and world renowned universities and medical centers have all contributed to the distinctive character that makes Baltimore City stand out. From the Inner Harbor neighborhoods of Federal Hill, Fells Point, Harbor East, Locust Point and Canton to the surrounding areas of Towson, Pikesville, Lutherville and Catonsville, there is something for everyone.

Nick Gioia | www.ngrealtygroup.com

You may ask yourself, "Why should I move to Anne Arundel County?" Well here are a few reasons why you should consider Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

Anne Arundel County is known as the “land of pleasant living.” Nearly 500,000 residents call Anne Arundel County home. Our superior quality of life on the Chesapeake Bay, our rich heritage, and proximity to Baltimore and Washington, D.C. make the County a great place to live, work and raise a family.

With more than 534 miles of coastline, the County is naturally known for boating and water sports, fishing, crabbing, water skiing, sailing and swimming. But that’s just the beginning. For nature lovers, there are 2 state parks, over 70 county parks, and several nature preserves. We also have numerous greenways, including the 13-mile Baltimore and Annapolis Trail where walkers, runners, bicyclists and equestrians pass sunny mornings and afternoons. Birdwatchers can spot everything from geese to swans to heron, egrets and eagles. And there’s a wide variety of recreational programs for all ages; from dance to gymnastics to fine arts to fitness and fun camps, not to mention wilderness challenge camps for youth and teens. With Ravens football and Orioles baseball home games a short drive away, you can be sure to be part of the action when these championship teams compete.  And on the first Sunday in May you can participate in the annual Bay Bridge Walk, where thousands of residents participate in a 4-mile hike across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

Anne Arundel County has one of the strongest economies in the State, ranked as one of the top counties in Maryland job growth. In 2002, Anne Arundel County generated nearly 1,200 jobs, and our unemployment rate is consistently below the national average.

It’s no wonder that Anne Arundel County is such a desirable place to live.

Nick Gioia | www.ngrealtygroup.com

The branch, at 300 N. Charles Street, will close Feb. 15, 2010 said Renee Anderson, a bank spokeswoman.

Anderson said the decision to close the branch came after a routine review of whether the branch was meeting the bank’s goals.

Customers have already been notified of the upcoming closure, she said.

Anderson did not have information about the number of employees who work at the Charles Street branch. The bank’s policy is to try to find jobs for affected employees elsewhere in the bank, she said.

First Mariner, which is part of First Mariner Bancorp. (NASDAQ: FMAR), is the largest independent bank headquartered in Baltimore City. It has 24 branches throughout the area.

Nick Gioia | www.NGRealtyGroup.com

The number of homes sold across Greater Baltimore spiked 36 percent in October as housing prices continued their downward spiral.

Home prices across the region fell to $235,000 for the month, down nearly 7.1 percent from October 2008, according to Rockville research firm Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. Conversely, the number of homes sold increased to 2,219, up from 1,631 a year earlier. The number of days a house spent on the market fell 6.4 percent to 117 days, down from 125 days in October 2008

The situation is playing out uniformly across Greater Baltimore, as the surrounding counties each saw an increase in homes sold — potentially linked to a credit for first time home buyers — and a decrease in sale prices.

Across the region:

• In Anne Arundel County, the median sold price fell nearly 11 percent to $285,000, while the number of homes sold increased 44.25 percent;

• In Baltimore City, 443 homes sold, an increase of 21 percent, but the median sold price fell 9.4 percent to $135,000;

• In Baltimore County, the median sold price fell 6.8 percent to $218,000, and the number of homes sold rose nearly 38 percent to 620;

• In Carroll County, 132 homes sold, an increase of 61 percent, but the median sold price fell nearly 15 percent to $264,000

• In Harford County, the number of homes sold increased 31 percent to 255 homes, and the median sold price dropped 7.3 percent to $229,999;

• And in Howard County, the median sold price fell 8.4 percent to $325,000, while the number of homes sold increased nearly 40 percent to 267 homes.

In a separate study Tuesday, the National Association of Realtors says existing home sales nationally rose 11 percent in the third quarter. Maryland sales rose 12.6 percent from the second quarter to the third quarter, and 8.7 percent in Virginia, according to the NAR.

“We can’t underestimate just how powerful a catalyst the first-time home buyer tax credit has been for the housing sector,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun. “The buying conditions this year are the most favorable on record dating back to 1970, but the tax credit is allowing buyers to set aside any reservations about waiting for a better deal.”

Congress passed an extension until April for the $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit which now also includes a credit of as much as $6,500 for buyers who are not buying their first home.

The trade group says nationally, median prices for existing homes in the third quarter fell 11 percent from a year ago.

The extension was signed by President Barack Obama on Nov. 6.

Nick Gioia | www.NGRealtyGroup.com