There are a lot of legendary sales stories making the rounds in Baltimore real estate offices this summer. Names and addresses are scarce for the stories -- but they are backed up by some sizzling sales trends in the area's oldest, most elegant neighborhoods.
There's the story about the couple who have bid on houses five times. They've lost out every time -- but they're not giving up on finding a place to live in Roland Park or Homeland.
There's the one about the Homeland house that sold in three hours -- for more than the asking price.
And then there's the story about an open house where 60 people showed up and two contracts were offered for the property within 24 hours of the first showing.
Properties in Guilford, Homeland, Roland Park and Ruxton are so hot, say local real estate agents, that it has become common for buyers to offer contracts promising to pay $5,000 or $10,000 or even $20,000 over any other offer -- protecting themselves against a later, better offer by someone even more eager. "In this market, when a nice property comes on, there's going to be a line of people waiting to get in," said Jake Boone, a real estate agent with Hill & Co. "You have to be prepared to move fast. You've really got to beef up that offer."
"It's hot everywhere," agreed Brandon Gaines of O'Conor, Piper & Flynn-ERA's newly acquired W.H.C. Wilson & Co. in Roland Park.
The four hottest neighborhoods have much in common. Guilford, Homeland, Roland Park and Ruxton are undeniably well-established and well-to-do. Most of the houses are priced between $250,000 and $1 million -- hardly a "must buy now" price range.
But a strong stock market, a muscular national economy, confident consumers and a desire to trade a commute for a neighborhood have combined to energize buyers and create a brisk, competitive market in four of the Baltimore area's best neighborhoods. "Open house" showings of properties in those areas have become crowded, vibrant events. The momentum has spilled over to contracts, which are sometimes being offered by eager buyers within hours of a property's first showing.
"You're seeing a significant number [of properties] with either zero days on the market or less than five days, which often means the same thing," said Arthur "Otts" Davis, president of Chase Fitzgerald & Co. Inc., a Roland Park-based realty company. Very often, he said, a property may be listed on a Thursday, shown on Sunday and sold on Monday -- which is officially recorded as a five-day sale period but is in reality only a 24-hour one.
Start of trend
Most real estate agents say the four neighborhoods began to heat up about a year ago, and the market has strengthened steadily since the beginning of the year.
Buyers still looking weren't talking about the search. But one new resident of Homeland was happy to share his story. Not only did he catch the wave early, buying a house in January -- but the house has shown a dramatic rise in value since he bought it.
"I didn't consider it a steal when we bought it," said Ted Jenkin, who with his wife, Gena, paid $265,000 for a four-bedroom home on St. Albans Way that was listed for $279,900. "But then [our Realtor] called us back about a month later and said, 'You would not believe what is going on inside of Homeland and Roland Park. You have probably have made $15,000 to $20,000 on your property.
"I said, 'No, you've got to be kidding me.'
"He said, 'You cannot find a house now in Homeland or Roland Park. You could probably resell that thing right now.' " Jenkin, a vice president who was transferred from Bethesda by American Express Financial Advisors to open a Towson office, first looked in Baltimore County -- Ruxton and Lutherville -- but the charm and the value of the older homes in the city caught his attention.
"That whole Homeland, Roland Park, Guilford area is just going like wildfire. I've seen it all along St. Albans Way and in that area and around the lakes it just seems like every time a home is listed it's just gone. I think afterward the guy was kicking himself a little bit for not holding out a little longer," Jenkin said.
"It's a cycle -- the city is hot, and then it's not," Boone said. "It's hard to gauge when the opportunity is going to be there, but it's certainly there now. Buyers have had to get creative in this market."
And they have, Boone said, pointing to the newly popular contract-with-an-addendum.
"If there's concern on a buyer's part that there's a lot of competition, they will add an addendum which said they will offer 'X' number of dollars over any other higher offer up to a certain cap," Boone said. In the last year, he said, he has seen that addendum turn $450,000 houses into $500,000 ones.
"There would be no need for it if there weren't such a strong market," he said.
Boone, Davis and others also said "broker's opens" -- a gathering on Wednesdays geared for agents to get their first peek at houses coming on the market -- have become crowded, lively events. At a July 15 showing of a Ruxton house listed for $695,000 which four days later was under contract, real estate agents streamed steadily through the door.
They drifted from room to room in the three-story brick Colonial house, inspecting staircases, bookcases and moldings with a practiced eye. They circled through the kitchen, picking up free sandwich and a cookie from an elaborate platter, before dashing off to other open houses.
"This is the only way we get anything to eat -- I can't remember the last time I sat down to dinner with my wife," joked Ed Barnik of O'Conor Piper & Flynn-ERA in Reisterstown.
Also casting a sharp eye over the property was would-be buyer Janet Stamas of Baltimore.
She and her husband are expecting their first child soon, and she's been looking for the right house for more than a year. "I love old Roland Park charm -- but then no kitchen," she said. So far, they have not put an offer on any house.
Such particular and precise preferences are typical of the buyers moving into Roland Park, Guilford, Homeland and Ruxton, said Davis.
The analytical, focused approach of buyers has helped temper their eagerness to move into the neighborhoods, Davis said.
"The buyers who are out there, despite the quick action, are well-informed," he said. "You cannot drastically overprice a house and have it sell."
By the numbers
The Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc., the multiple-listing system that tracks real estate sales in the city, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties, supports agents' assertions that, in general, houses in the four popular neighborhoods are moving at an accelerated pace and fetching more money than last year.
The number of homes sold in Homeland in the first six months of this year was 26, twice the 13 sold last year for the same period, according to MRIS. The average list and sale prices dipped slightly, but the average number of days on the market dropped significantly: 100 days on the market in 1998, compared to 119 in 1997.
Equally significant, agents say, is the changing relationship between the list price and the actual sale price. In the first half of 1997, none of the 13 homes sold in Homeland met or exceeded the asking price. In 1998, 14 of the 26 homes that changed hands sold at or above the listed price.
In Roland Park, the shift was equally noticeable. The average sale price rose significantly in the first half of 1998 to $311,944, compared with $235,475 for the same period a year ago. In 1997, five homes met or exceeded the list price. The total number of homes sold also rose for the six-month period: In 1997, 10 homes were sold, compared with 17 in 1998.
In Ruxton, the number of homes sold dropped slightly: 11 were sold between January and June of this year, compared with 12 for the same period a year ago. The average sale price dropped significantly this year -- to $246,627 this year from $486,208 in 1997. One house sold in the first half of this year exceeded the asking price; none in the first half of 1997. The average number of days a property stayed on the market dropped significantly, however: to 74 this year from 97 for the period last year.
In Guilford, the number of homes sold for the period rose to 16 this year from 14 last year. Other indicators stayed almost the same, however. No house met or exceeded the asking price for either period. The average sale price declined slightly to $280,218 for the first half of this year from $289,321 in the first half of 1997. The number of days on the market rose slightly, to 111 in the first half of 1998 from 109 in the first half of 1997
Theories vary among real estate agents for why the market in these four areas is so appealing. The sales seem to follow a reported national trend of increased sales of existing housing stock. Most agents agreed that the combination of a strong stock market paired with a thriving economy has made consumers more confident about taking on a substantial mortgage.
"The reason we're seeing it move in the $250,000-and-up range is, those are the people who are feeling relatively confident bTC financially," said Davis of Chase Fitzgerald.
Seeking neighborhoods
In Baltimore's old and elegant neighborhoods, however, there may be something else that is helping the trend.
"People want to return to a neighborhood," Davis said. "The appeal of being able to walk to Eddie's Supermarket, the pharmacy, the post office -- the idea of a real little neighborhood has strong appeal."
Baltimore's lovely older neighborhoods offer something that the suburbs have always lacked and that the newest planned towns and developments, such as Disney's Celebration, Fla., can only copy, he said: a real community.
Buyers want to live in a real neighborhood, he said. "They'll say, 'Where are the sidewalks? Where am I going to push the baby carriage?' "
People are starting to realize that a city or near-city neighborhood offers another important asset as well. "If there is one thing we have all been robbed of, it's time," Davis said. "People really want to carve out time, and the only way to get it is to stop commuting. What's really driving this market is the desire to have the time back instead of spending it as a chauffeur. People really want to get time they can spend as a family."
Pub Date: 7/26/98