Highlights
Selling a house, condo or other real estate ¿ the largest and most complex transaction most Americans will ever make -- remains a huge part of the economy. In 2007, a dismal time for the business, about 6.3 million housing transactions occurred in the United States, according to the Realtor's trade group. But the market has taken a serious body blow in recent years. The National Association of Realtors predicted the sales of existing homes in 2007 would be 10.8 percent below 2006. Sales of new homes were expected to be at the lowest level in a decade. The Internet has made it much easier for a layperson to advertise their property and locate potential buyers. As a result, while about 90 per...
Selling a house, condo or other real estate ¿ the largest and most complex transaction most Americans will ever make -- remains a huge part of the economy. In 2007, a dismal time for the business, about 6.3 million housing transactions occurred in the United States, according to the Realtor's trade group. But the market has taken a serious body blow in recent years. The National Association of Realtors predicted the sales of existing homes in 2007 would be 10.8 percent below 2006. Sales of new homes were expected to be at the lowest level in a decade. The Internet has made it much easier for a layperson to advertise their property and locate potential buyers. As a result, while about 90 percent of transactions involve a real estate agent, the rest were simply buyers and sellers hooking up independently. By-owner sales are popular among many people, in part because it saves on commissions.
But even more people favor using a real estate agent who has the expertise and time to negotiate the complex processes. It may be obvious that no sale in your life will ever be as crucial, but the good news is that it does not have to be as intimidating as you think. The single best piece of advice is not to let the big numbers and the jargon unnerve you. Simple, easy-to-understand step-by-step advice and instructions are available in literally hundreds of books in the library, on-line articles and websites (enter the words "real estate tips" and "selling" or "buying" in any search engine). Most give the exact same information although each may have a bit of a bias such as favoring by-owner or using a Realtor. Other significant advice: have patience; this can often be a long process and time usually is on your side. Trust your instincts; if a deal seems too good to be true, there's often a reason. Believe in options; just like buying a used car, there is always another buyer out there, although you may have to wait for them to appear. Selling a home is essentially a lengthy parade of complex decisions, starting with whether this is the right time to be making a transaction. But the websites and books lay out the specific criteria you can use to make an informed judgment call rather than just making a blind guess. For sellers, the process has several basic steps: finding a real estate agent, setting the price by investigating the market around you, repairing and primping the home to make it more attractive to buyers, effectively advertising your house, negotiating the sale, and closing the sale.
But even more people favor using a real estate agent who has the expertise and time to negotiate the complex processes. It may be obvious that no sale in your life will ever be as crucial, but the good news is that it does not have to be as intimidating as you think. The single best piece of advice is not to let the big numbers and the jargon unnerve you. Simple, easy-to-understand step-by-step advice and instructions are available in literally hundreds of books in the library, on-line articles and websites (enter the words "real estate tips" and "selling" or "buying" in any search engine). Most give the exact same information although each may have a bit of a bias such as favoring by-owner or using a Realtor. Other significant advice: have patience; this can often be a long process and time usually is on your side. Trust your instincts; if a deal seems too good to be true, there's often a reason. Believe in options; just like buying a used car, there is always another buyer out there, although you may have to wait for them to appear. Selling a home is essentially a lengthy parade of complex decisions, starting with whether this is the right time to be making a transaction. But the websites and books lay out the specific criteria you can use to make an informed judgment call rather than just making a blind guess. For sellers, the process has several basic steps: finding a real estate agent, setting the price by investigating the market around you, repairing and primping the home to make it more attractive to buyers, effectively advertising your house, negotiating the sale, and closing the sale.
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Dollars and scents
On the wave of unwanted publicity over unruly youths downtown, owners of businesses around the Inner Harbor were probably none too thrilled to have the smell of dead fish wafting through the air last weekend. Naturally, they brushed it off as having no...
Tags: Seafood, Natural Resources, Food Industry, Wildlife, Foods and Beverages
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Baltimore-area housing market sees bidding wars return as buyers' choices shrink
David D. Igla lost out on three Ellicott City homes in the past few months before he finally beat the competition and had an offer accepted.
What kind of so-called buyer's market is this, he wondered?
Some houses zip off the market —...Tags: Rentals, Mortgages, Real Estate, Property, Real Estate Buyers
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COPT sells two office buildings in Rockville for $48.7 million
Corporate Office Properties Trust said Monday that it had sold two office buildings and land in Rockville for about $48.7 million, part of the Columbia-based real estate investment trust's strategy of selling off non-core assets. COPT, which develops,...Tags: Realty, Investments, Mutual Funds, Corporate Office Properties Trust Inc., Companies and Corporations
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State regulators take over two Maryland banks
State banking regulators closed two Maryland banks Friday, the first two bank failures in the state since 2010. The Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation shut down the Bank of the Eastern Shore in Cambridge and appointed the Federal Deposit...Tags: Cambridge (Dorchester, Maryland), Finance, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Bankruptcy, Gaithersburg (Montgomery, Maryland)
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Baltimore area home prices jump in April thanks to fewer foreclosures
The Baltimore region saw a double-digit jump in average home sale prices in April, the most in six years — but the gain was driven by a shrinking supply of cheap foreclosures rather than a resurgence in value.
Just one in 10 homes sold in the...Tags: Mortgages, Real Estate, Judges, Foreclosures, Timonium
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The Interview John Hauserman, Certified Financial Planner board ambassador
Financial advisers often have an alphabet of professional designations behind their names, but the dominant one remains "CFP," or certified financial planner.
The CFP Board, which sets the national standards for financial planners, has announced in the...Tags: Consumers, Ethics, Standards, Goldman Sachs, Credit and Debt
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Rawlings-Blake backs proposed fine for tax credit scofflaws
As someone who's made a hobby of unmasking tax cheats, Patterson Park activist Matt Gonter told state lawmakers Tuesday that he backs a proposal to fine homeowners caught getting unwarranted homestead credits on their property tax bills. Under the...Tags: Rentals, Samuel I Rosenberg, Real Estate, U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, Patterson Park
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Declining home prices means more sellers have been around for a while
It is a truth universally acknowledged (apologies to Jane Austen) that years of falling home prices have left a lot of folks stuck in place, unable or unwilling to sell. But here's a chart that really underscores how much that has affected shorter-term... -
Baltimore-area home sales, contracts rose in February
Baltimore-area home buyers picked up the pace in February ahead of the important spring selling season, helped along by unseasonably mild weather.
Real estate agents say they're seeing more activity and hope it's a good sign for spring, rather than...Tags: Rentals, Real Estate, Real Estate Buyers, Computing and Information Technology Industry, Crossroads
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Elaine Northrop: Directing her own destiny
Growing up in a Baltimore row house, Elaine Northrop had a happy, if somewhat unconventional, childhood. Her father was a dreamer and a gambler, recalls Northrop, who grew up to build one of the most successful real estate companies in Howard County from...
Tags: Howard County, Ellicott City, Housing Industry
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Quarry Lake development combines homes, stores, offices ... and a lake
Sherrie Becker recalled how she came to live at Quarry Lake, the residential, retail, office complex in Pikesville. Becker bought a home there in 2007, picking out a lot in the single-family residential area before any of the houses had even been built....
Tags: Pikesville, Jones Falls, Florida Rock Industries Incorporated, House Building, Homes
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With fewer foreclosures for sale, home sellers get boost
The sharp and likely temporary drop in the number of foreclosed homes for sale in the Baltimore region is making life easier for owners trying to find a buyer. The number of home sales in the metro area that are not distress deals — neither...Tags: Mortgages, Finance, Real Estate, Real Estate Sales, Real Estate Buyers
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