Middletown Housing Market and the Glenbrook community

It has been a while since I have taken a close look at the Middletown market and posted it here.  I have had some recent inquiries in this area.  That’s a good sign…inquiries that is.  Activities have started to pick up all over the county.  With the latest stimulus package offering $8,000 tax credit to first time home owners, it should help a few people get off the fence.  In my opinion, there still needs to be some hard work done to keep home owners in their house.  I have written plenty of articles about Short Sales and foreclosures in the area…what I have learned about them over the last few years, the banks don’t know how to make a decision quickly.  Once they are foreclosed, they are able to make quick decisions.  The main reason is that they turn them over to third party asset managers. They should consider this for short sales as well.  I think they would make more money or at least minimize their loss.

So why am I talking about short sales in Middletown?  Because they have their share of them.  Just looking at the Glenbrook Community, there are five out of twelve homes listed are either short sales (“subject to third party approval”) or bank owned already.   Here’s the most recent activity in Glenbrook.

No matter how nice the community, today’s economy has an impact on everyone.   Below you will see some numbers of the whole Middletown area.  You will see some major price drops over last year and also much longer market times.  (you can click here for last years update)

Market Conditions in Middletown MD 2/23/09

If you would like to see the list of homes that make up this report you can check that out here.  This will give you an idea of the homes in zip code 21769.  If you would like a more personalize report specific to your home and neighborhood, feel free to contact me.

Have a great day.

Let’s take a closer look at Middletown Real Estate

To me Middletown has been a wonderful bedroom community to Frederick, Rockville and the Washington DC area. Since there isn’t any major businesses in this community of approximately 3,000 residents, most residents work elsewhere. The schools have claims of Blue Ribbon awards for their excellence in education. The town has excellent proprietors and community driven downtown businesses. (My favorites are The Main Cup and The Middletown Sportsland)

This tight knit community shows it’s pride in their preservation of history, community programs and complete support of local sports (Go Knights). They just recently had elections for their township board. Here’s the results from the Middletown Elections on April 7, 2008.

Burgess:
John D. Miller –610
Phyllis G. Thompson –209

Commissioner:
Dixie L. Eichelberger – 251
Vincent A. O’Reilly – 456
Anthony M. Ventre – 472
Bill Williams – 334

The town and it’s citizens have recently been battling the future presence of Dominion Gas in the Middletown Valley. You can read the press releases on the official Middletown Website. They are facing the construction of a gas pumping station off Marker Road. The concern is the impact on the historic value of the area, along with normal industrial noise and traffic. A grass roots citizens actions committee has been created to combines community efforts for the dispute this projects current placement. Their efforts have been documented on their website; Citizens for the Preservation of Middletown Valley.

As with any community, a poorly place industrial facility can negatively impact the surrounding community(s).

Middletown has wonderful developments like the Glenbrook Golf Community, North Pointe, Fountaindale South, Foxfield, Colebrook and a few of the more exclusive neighborhoods like The Vistas at Springdale and The Legends.

The housing numbers haven’t been too enlightening for this area as the mortgage market has taken it’s toll on homeowners. According to RealtyTrac, there are seven homes in Pre-Foreclosure status, nine with proceedings already taking place for foreclosure and three bank owned homes.

Below is the most recent market activity in Middletown.

Market Conditions in Middletown MD 4/9/08

So what does that tell me? The prices have dropped almost 11% over last year or less than 1% a month. Middletown has been a desirable area but has not been immune to the price depreciation that the rest of the county is experiencing. The absorption rate for this area is 13 months, which is a little higher than the county average. With interest rates still at an all time low, it is a great time to buy, just a tough time to sell if you have either purchased your home in the last few years or if you pulled the equity out of your home.

This chart and others can be found on the Area Prices Page.


If you would like to know what your home is worth, please contact me for a personalized market analysis of your home.

Starbucks Coming to Middletown

While perusing through my google reader, I came across a post by Tracy at Bargainchaser.com. – Starbucks Coming to Middletown

I think its a great idea since I am an avid coffee drinker. She mentioned the idea about competing with The Main Cup in downtown Middletown. Anytime an icon in the industry opens up a store, the little mom and pops feels a little pinch (sometimes a big pinch.) The only thing I think is going to hurt the main cup is the hours, but that has been hurting them for a while in my opinion. They have a great atmosphere, the food selection is quite diverse and now they have a bar in the back.

The mornings that I drive one of my children to school, I have to make left on Alt route 40. If you haven’t seen the morning and evening rush hour on Alt 40, it almost…almost rivals I-270. I can only imagine that most of those drivers either have a cup of coffee or would be looking for a cup of coffee prior to hitting the morning grind (no pun intended.) I know at this time of morning, the Main Cup is not open. They have made adjustments to their hours since they have opened back in the spring. Even if they did open that early, I am not sure the parking arrangements are conducive to meeting the demands of a morning commuter…in and out.

All in All, I believe the community will welcome Starbucks, but the Main Cup will do quite well. For just opening up this year, I think they are doing great. I am sure that Starbucks won’t impact their daily business…I just can’t see myself sitting down and enjoying a cup of coffee in the confines of Safeway. Atmosphere has a lot to do with an enjoyable cup of coffee. The true impact will be have to be measured next year.

Thanks Tracy for bring this to our attention.

The Main Cup

14 West Main Street, Middletown, MD 21769

(301) 371-4433

Monday thru Saturday 8:00 am to 9:00 pm

Closed Sunday