Affordable Detached Homes in Baltimore County, Where to look? October 23, 2007
Posted by Patti Shawgo in First Time Home Buyers, Interesting Stuff, Local News, Real Estate.Tags: Maryland real estate, Baltimore County, parkville, First Time Home Buyers
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Since I work with a lot of first time home buyers, I thought I would start a series hightlighting different areas that are popular among first time home buyers. The areas I’m going to highlight are especially appealing to first time home buyers in that they are affordable, close to shopping, close to social activities, and jobs are a commutable distance.
Parkville, MD 21237:
Parkville is almost entirely made up of detached homes, and most are in the “affordable” range for first time home buyers. There are currently 322 houses on the market in Parkville, with only 40 of those being over $350,000. 227 of those 322 are detached, single family homes.
Parkville is close to 95 and is in between shopping hot-beds Towson and White Marsh. It’s also close to a number of colleges, like Towson University, Morgan State, and Goucher. So if after a few years you decide you want to move up and rent out your first home, there’s a strong rental market in the area.
Parkville is in the areas that are targeted Baltimore County’s new down payment & closing cost assitance program, that I talked about in this post: http://mdrealestate.wordpress.com/2007/10/16/new-baltimore-county-program-get-up-to-35000-in-forgivable-grants/
The most common type of house in Parkville is the Cape Cod, pictured below, and were built in the 50’s and 60’s. Cape Cods have 2 floors, technically a story and a half, but the top story has slanted ceilings that hug the roofline.
Home Buying Myth: Realtor Commissions October 22, 2007
Posted by Patti Shawgo in First Time Home Buyers, Interesting Stuff, Real Estate.Tags: first time buyer, home ownership, Maryland, Real Estate, realtor commission
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Home buyers don’t pay realtor commissions. If you are a first time home buyer, there is no reason you should not be working with a Realtor. They are there to represent and negotiate for your interests.
Maybe this is no news to you, but I have found that lots of home buyers don’t know this fact. And if you are out there every day buying houses, why would you really know? When someone decides to sell their house and list it with a realtor, they are paying the commission for both the listing agent and for your buyers agents. PLUS many “for sale by owner” sellers are willing to pay a commission to an agent for bringing a seller to them (that’s partly because it’s so rare for “for sale by owner” sellers to actually sell their home on their own).
The home buying process really only starts when you identify a property, and your realtor will be there for you every step of the way. As a first time home buyer, there are so many things that are going on between contract and settlement, and your realtor and (if you are lucky enough to have a great loan officer like me) your loan officer are there to handle the myriad of transactional details you will encounter.
If you are a first time home buyer especially, you are at great risk to being taken advantage of in some way, such as: being talked out of a home inspection/termite inspection, not getting serious items addressed that come up on the home inspection, paying more than your fair share of closing costs, paying too much for a property, being intimidated into doing things that aren’t in your best interest, not getting compensated for a rent back….I could go on and on.
Who is a buyer’s agent? It is NOT the person who has the home that you want to buy as their listing. If you meet someone in this way and then want to buy a different property, they might be an excellent choice, but if you want to buy a listing of particular agent and deal with only that agent, you are the customer. They are representing the seller and the seller’s best interest. In Maryland and in Pennsylvania, you will sign an agency disclosure, which tells you whether or not the agent is representing you. Ask questions about this form if you are unsure, but know that you want the agent to be representing you as a buyer’s agent.
Don’t have an agent? I work with many people all over the Baltimore area, DC suburbs (incl MD & No. Virginia), and York County Pennsylvania, and would be more than happy to direct you to a professional realtor that has expertise in the area you are looking. First, get pre-qualified, then find an agent, and then have a happy transaction, feeling good that you have someone representing your interests.
New Baltimore County program, get up to $35,000 in FORGIVABLE grants October 16, 2007
Posted by Patti Shawgo in First Time Home Buyers, Interesting Stuff, Local News, Mortgage News, Real Estate.Tags: Baltimore County, cda, down payment assistance, dselp, mortgages, Real Estate
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Baltimore County has a brand new program to encourage home ownership in certain areas of the county, and luckily, I work for one of the banks that can offer this pilot program.
Yes, there are guidelines which you must meet in order to qualify, but if you do qualify, man oh man is this a spectacular deal. You can use this program in conjunction with a CDA & More House 4 Less loan or other loans if you prefer.
You must be buying in certain areas, but the areas are all over the county: Rosedale, Essex, Randallstown, Pikesville, Parkville, Gwynn Oak, Loch Raven Village, and more.
The limiting factor of this program is the income: You must make 80% of the area’s median income or below. Which for Baltimore County is currently the following:
| Household Size |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
| Income Limit | $40,800 | $46,600 | $52,450 | $58,250 | $62,900 | $67,550 | $72,150 | $76,800 |
Interested in finding out more? Call me at 443-802-6864 or email patriciacshawgo@gmail.com
Home Sales in September, what happened?? October 15, 2007
Posted by Patti Shawgo in First Time Home Buyers, Interesting Stuff, Local News, Real Estate.Tags: baltimore real estate, base realignment, brac, maryland home sales, real estate statistics
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So, the Metropolitan Regional Information Service, which is the local multiple listing service, just released home resale statistics for September 07. In these stats they compare Sept 07 to Sept 06, home sales are down a whopping 30% in Baltimore and surrounding counties.
My first reaction is “Egads! That’s insane! I better get my resume together!” Then I take a moment to think about things, and put my knee-jerk reaction in check. Here’s the Baltimore Sun article that caused my panic: http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/realestate/bal-te.bz.homesales11oct11,0,394704.story I will summarize it for you: Homes sales down average of 30%, somehow the average sales price is slightly up from this time last year, the future outlook is stinky, stinky, stinky.
Now, I haven’t mentioned this on here before, but I heard someone talking about this yesterday, and it is so true. The media says the market is bad, people stop buying, the media reports how sales are down and no one is buying, more people stop buying. Three years, it was the same thing but opposite, home prices are soaring, get in now!, etc, etc. I’m not saying there aren’t actually less buyers, there are.
Let’s look at why there are less buyers (cont. on next page):
Save a tree and your sanity! Stop the endless stream of credit offers in your mailbox October 12, 2007
Posted by Patti Shawgo in Credit, Interesting Stuff, Mortgage Stuff, Optimizing Your Credit.Tags: credit reports, Maryland real estate, mortgages
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Here’s the website you want to visit: www.optoutprescreen.com. Everyone, go there once you’re done reading this.
Did you know that when you apply for a mortgage the credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax, TransUnion, sell your name and information? Oh yeah, there are thirsty, thirsty mortgage brokers out there just licking their chops waiting to find out that you just applied for a mortgage, and pay big bucks for that information. If you are not on the Federal “do not call” list, just forget about picking up your phone. People like this are looked on as bottom feeders in the mortgage industry, and if they use these kind of tactics to find out who you are, don’t you think they are going to tell you anything to get you to use them as well?
Or…do you open your mail and have a flood of credit card offers, personal loans, refinance offers, etc, that you have not one iota of interest in. How do you think these companies know you can be approved for all these different credit accounts? That’s right, your same friendly credit bureaus, who determine what your credit score is, will gladly, for a price, give up much of your personal information.
The good news? You can stop it. While it may not be as well known as the Federal Do Not Call list, there is a similar service for your credit. At www.optoutprescreen.com you have a legal right to opt-out of pre-screened credit offers. Save yourself some aggravation, and some trees from all that junk mail, opt-out today!
Understanding Your Credit Week Continues! Useful Government Links October 11, 2007
Posted by Patti Shawgo in Credit, Interesting Stuff.Tags: , credit scores, dispute credit report, increase credit score, maryland mortgages, Maryland real estate
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No! You didn’t read that incorrectly! “Useful” and “Government” in the same sentance. The FTC has a great area of their website pertaining to your credit report.
Of course, it is the government, so it can be a little confusing to navigate, so I’m helping you out with this article. I’ve read through their site and found the following to be some of the more useful/interesting stuff:
1. Here’s a super article about how to improve your credit score, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, including how to dispute incorrect items on your credit report, a sample dispute letter, and where to mail those letters to. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre03.shtm
2. Be aware of credit repair scams and how they work. You’ve heard it before, if something is too good to be true, it probably is. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/repair.shtm
3. Understanding how credit cards work: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/choose.shtm
4. Going through divorce? Know how it affects your credit: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/divorce.
Credit Myth: Closing Unused Credit Cards will Help my Credit Score October 10, 2007
Posted by Patti Shawgo in Credit, Interesting Stuff, Optimizing Your Credit.Tags: credit scoring, Maryland real estate, mortgages, optimizing your credit score
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I have heard this a few times, and I just want to make sure people understand why closing unused credit accounts can hurt your credit score.
The second most important factor in your credit score is your ratio of debt used (this is your credit card balances) compared to the amount of debt available. So if you have two credit cards with a $500 total balance and a $1000 in total limits, you have a 50% ratio. If you close one of the cards that has a $500 credit limit, you now have a 100% ratio and your score just dropped A BUNCH!
Now….I am not saying that if you have 15 different store cards that you can’t keep track of that it might not make sense to close some of them eventually. But if you are thinking about buying a house or a car, don’t close any credit cards. If you aren’t going to be tempted to use those cards, there is absolutely no harm in keeping the accounts open.
If your debt is spread around on a lot of different cards the best thing that you can do for yourself is to consolidate the balances onto a card with the lowest interest and then keep the rest of the cards open with a zero balance. If you have been making payments on time on your cards, that card that you want to transfer the balances to is likely to increase your credit limit to accomodate for the balance transfer.
Want to increase your score a little more? Call up the credit cards that you just transferred the balances off of and ask to raise the credit limit, this will further create distance between your carried debt compared to your credit limits. Now be VERY careful with this, the last thing you want to then do is go run up more debt.
That’s all for today for Credit Week, if you have any questions about credit please email me or post in the comments.
Your Credit and Getting a Mortgage in the New Reality October 9, 2007
Posted by Patti Shawgo in Credit, First Time Home Buyers, Interesting Stuff, Mortgage Stuff.Tags: credit scores, Maryland real estate, mortgages
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I saw this article in the Washington Post called Your Credit Score Has to be Good Not Great. Take a moment and read it if you have the time. While I agree with most of what the author says, I want to take some time to talk about how your credit score affects what type of mortgage you can qualify for.
Granted, the higher your credit score is the easier it will be for you to get a mortgage. However, as I’ve mentioned a bunch on this blog, FHA-insured mortgages are making a HUGE comeback, and these mortgages are not credit score driven. They still offer low rates to consumers, and sometimes even make sense for higher credit borrowers. Borrowers do need some money out of their own pocket, generally 3% of the sales price (though grant programs can help with this money).
What has gotten difficult if you have a lower score are the following:
- investor loans, below 680 without a lot down? Forget it. 720 or better is where you really need to be
- stated income loans, I think we’ve all heard about this #2 fall guy of foreclosure problems (subprime being #1). Stated income was made for a legitimate reason, self-employed persons with hard to verify income, but boy was this taken to a wrong extreme, and even those who it was meant for are now paying the price. Stated-income is not impossible for those with excellent credit, but just don’t expect it to be the piece of cake it once was
- Stated income and investor, we got our work cut out for us! It can be done, but you better have some equity and at least a 680 score, 720 if you don’t want to a decent rate
- Jumbo Loans: Want a loan for more than $417,000? FHA can’t help you and rates have sky-rocketed for even great credit borrowers, I suggest skip the Jumbo and get a first and second mortgage, it’s cheaper.
Yes, guidelines have gotten stricter, but at the end of the day, it’s better for EVERYONE. Investors of real estate backed investments can breathe easier, buyers know they really qualify and are asking better questions of their lenders. Crooks are getting out of the business on all sides.
Bottom line, you will have a much easier time getting a mortgage the higher your credit score (duh!), but if you are in the 620-680 range, don’t worry too much, there’s still options available.
Understanding Your Credit Week! Know Your Report October 8, 2007
Posted by Patti Shawgo in Credit, Interesting Stuff.Tags: credit rescoring, credit scores, home buying, Maryland, mortgages
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I have decided to devote this week on my blog to providing you with information on your credit report from understanding how your score is put together to how to rescore your own report. I frequently run first time home buyer seminars and it seems like I could spend the whole seminar just on credit, as I find, even for a lot people with great credit, don’t quite understand how it’s all put together.
First of all, you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report from each of the three credit bureaus. These credit bureaus are: Equifax, Transunion, Experian. Each of these bureaus give you a credit score, when apply for a mortgage, we look at all three reports and take the middle of the three scores.
If you have not seen a copy of your credit report in the last year, go order your free copies right now! You can’t improve your reports until you know what you are dealing with. You should order your report from all three bureaus, and know that you won’t get your credit score unless you pay.
Why is it important to get your credit report from all three repositories? Because your credit report is going to be slightly different on all three, especially if you have ever had any late payments, collections, or judgements. When you pay off a collection for instance, it may be picked up by 2 of the 3 bureaus, and that 3rd bureau doesn’t have it as paid and makes your credit score lower with that bureau.
If you are already pretty familiar with your credit report, you may not want to order all three at the same time. You can just order one from a different credit repository every 4 months and be able to keep an eye on your report 3 times a year. If you are not familiar with your credit report or are not the kind of person who’s going to remember to request a different report every four months, GET ALL THREE REPORTS this first time.
Where should you order your reports from? Directly from the bureaus is usually best, there are a number of other companies that will give you a free copy of your credit report, but they are generally trying to rope you into buying some other credit related service from them (ie credit monitoring, credit repair).
The three credit bureaus have set up a website where you can order your report, or a phone number where you can call and request them. The website is: www.annualcreditreport.com and the phone number is: 877-322-8228. You used to have to call each one individually, but this has really streamlined the process.
Why am I ordering my report? Knowledge is power, until you know what is in your credit report, you are blind out there in the credit world. This goes for buying house to buying a car, student loans, credit cards, and more. In future articles we are going to discuss the things you should look for in your report and how to maximize your score, not matter your current situation.
