Project Access - building ramps for Frederick County Residents

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It has been a little busy around here lately. I have taken on quite a few extra task/projects lately. I have been recently accepted to the Maryland Association of REALTORS® Leadership Academy while also attending the Long & Foster REALTORS® Management Training Academy. Of course these items are more for self development. I am a firm believer that you should be learning something everyday, no matter what it is. Fortunately, the real estate market slows down during the winter months to afford me the time to do all of these other projects.

A couple other places that I volunteer my time are with the American Cancer Society for the Frederick Relay for Life in May and with various committees at the Frederick County Association of REALTORS®.

One of the bigger tasks that is now in the works; Project Access. I first introduced it to you back in January. A small group of us (Beto Benetiz, Kenny Meeks, Jan Reynolds and Judy Thompson) have been working together on ideas and procedures to get the job done. The whole process has been a learning experience for all of us. At first we didn’t know where to find a qualified candidate for us to build a ramp. The time line we created had ended and then we receive a late entry from the Frederick County ARC House.

Jimmy King sporting his new wheels

They put us in touch with the Darr family of Brunswick. They have been taking care of their eight year old grandson that has been diagnosised with Duchennes Muscular Dystropy. This bright eyed boy is a pleasure to be around and it is even more evident when you talk to his grandparents. Until recently, they would carry Jimmy up and down steps to get him to school. Mr. Darr would carry Jimmy’s 120 lb body up the steps while Mrs. Darr would carry the wheel chair into the house. Fortunately, they received a new motorized wheel chair so he is able to function a little easier with all of his friends at school and home. However, this still doesn’t solve the problem at getting Jimmy in the house from street level. They have been using a gracious neighbors back yard to wheel Jimmy down to the house from the alley. Soon to be an impossible task as the weather gets worse. Mr. Darr recognized this early on and has been slowly and painfully removing the steep steps in front of the house for a new Lift. There is not enough room for just a ramp into the house.

Grandparents waiting for Jimmy to get off bus

We have met with them and brought out a very capable contractor, Larry Schaffert, to assist us in the project. He drew up a set of plans that might cost us $15,000 to adapt the front yard for an ADA access to the Darr residents. (on edit: the Darrs opted for a much less expensive approach for their access.) With that said, this is where I need your help. We need to raise money and we need to raise it now. Bad weather is lurking in front of us. Vendors won’t move forward until they have a portion of the estimate to get started. Please donate what you can. You have two ways to contribute. On-Line via the widget on the right side of this page or you can mail it in to our office; FCAR - Project Access, 529 West South Street, Frederick, MD 21701. If you have questions, you can call me or our office at 301-663-0757.

Donate to Project Access

Disclaimer: FCAR is a “Not For Profit” Organization. Your wonderful donations are not tax deductible, but will go directly to the installation of Jimmy King’s Lift by Laurel Medical Supplies until completed.

October 7, 2008 · Filed Under Frederick Events, Frederick MD Real Estate, Fundraiser

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Surrounding County Market Updates

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac get bailed out along with some other major companies, while we are fighting paycheck to paycheck here on ground level with all the other economic woes. Maybe the government will bail out our deficit too. OK, that’s not going to happen. We will only reap some of the benefits as these giants get back on track. But in the mean time we still have to deal with the reality of the market around us.

Today I will show you not only Frederick County numbers on what is going on here but a look at adjoining counties. Remember this is a snap shot in time and can change moments and days from now. The true test of numbers will be to see what direction they are going six months from now. I am positive that most of the inventory will drop between now and the New Year, only because it does every year. More and more people tend to take their property off the market and wait until spring again.

Also included will be the number of Foreclosures and bank owned properties. With the latest LIBOR rates adjustment, I am sure we will see some impact to the Short Sales and foreclosure list.

County Housing Market

	Cont <7 days	New	Condos	Town Home	SFH	Total	Sold 30 days	Pre	Auction	Bank Owned
Frederick	40	23	171	505	1376	2134	165	253	80	140
Washington	20	9	39	157	995	1347	60	123	24	160
Allegany	9	5	1	7	405	458	41	26	5	25
Franklin, PA	14	15	9	142	1007	1299	89	4	1	0

I am surprised to see the activity just across the line in Pennsylvania. I haven’t watch much of that market lately. So this little exercise was eye opening for me also. It seems they haven’t been plagued by the large number of foreclosures as we have in our area. It also appears that Allegany county is holding their own also with almost 10% of their inventory selling in the last 30 days. The inventory in Frederick county is starting to show signs of the season. The total number of homes is down almost 10% from 2320 from the beginning of the month. We should probably see this trend continue through the end of the year. My guess is that we will see our inventory somewhere in the 1800s. Check back in December to see if I am close.

The lending practices have definitely changed and will only lend money to qualified buyers this time. Interest rates have been stable (for now) and housing prices have been pretty competitive. There have been plenty of indicators that the worse is behind us, but we truly won’t know. You might already be looking in the rear view mirror at the best Buyer’s Market in a very long time.

If you think you are ready, my phone is always on.

Have a great day.

September 23, 2008 · Filed Under Frederick MD Real Estate, Frederick Market Conditions, Market Condition

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It is Frederick Fair time

One of the biggest event of the area starts today, The Great Frederick Fair. I, of course, love it for the food. But I think it’s also fun to run in to old friends. I have been here in the Frederick area for eight years and haven’t missed one yet. Here are some photos from last year. This year I should have some better shots. The Burnswick Photographers Guild will be on covering just about every square inch of this place. You will be able to track our photos on our Flickr Group created just for the fair or in the Guilds main page.

If you stopped by looking for the Frederick Fair events. You will need to stop by their home page. The Great Frederick Fair.

The best Gyros around (and he's also from Pittsburgh!)

Smother me in ketchup and vinegar and old bay and

Powdered sugar and maybe strawberries

Oh yeah they have a lot cute farm animals too

Have a great weekend and see you at the Fair!!!

September 12, 2008 · Filed Under Frederick Events

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What has been going under contract in Frederick County

In order to sell your home, you need to understand what is selling. Sometimes reality sucks, but it is the only thing that can help you sell your home. I constantly watch the trends of what is happening with contracts for the past week. It helps me, help sellers. It helps me, help buyers as well. In the scheme of things a seller can ask anything they want for their home and a buyer can offer anything they want, realistically it has to be what the market will bear. The contracts on they list below, first tells me what area is currently active, what price range is popular and what type of home is moving. Now mind you this is only a gauge at this point. The true tell is when these homes go to closing and finally settle. The closing price and seller consessions will tell me a different story. But here is list of homes that have went under contract…this is the first step at understanding on how to price your home. (It has be attractive enough to get buyer to look at it.)

Click to see entire document

Click on the document to open up a PDF of the past seven days of homes that went under contract. It is sorted by price range. Look for an area close to your home and see how you stack up to the homes listed. If you want more information about your neighborhood, give me a call and we can talk about the activity there. The average home is around $280,000 and averages 4 bedrooms. They also averaged 164 days before going under contract.

There were 171 homes sold in the month of July in Frederick County. August’s report will be out shortly and I suspect it will be about the same. The question you need to ask yourself, Do you want to be one of those homes next month? In case you are wondering, there are currently 2351 homes on the market right now. That’s a lot of competition.

Have a great week.

September 8, 2008 · Filed Under Frederick MD Real Estate

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