ilovedeepcreeklakerealestate – Page 85

>On the line

>AEGIS EDITORIAL

July 12, 2011 | 2:44 p.m.

Harford County recently announced it received two Achievement Awards from the National Association of Counties for initiatives undertaken in the last year. It’s kind of like the board game Risk, wherein players roll dice and move armies as they vie with fellow players to take over the world, territory by territory.

It’s the decennial election district reapportionment process, which began in Harford County with an unusual political skirmish. In the past, the county council district lines were drawn, as per usual based on new numbers from the latest U.S. Census, by a commission consisting of political appointees, Republicans and Democrats.

This time, however, in part because the local Democratic Party’s leadership was asleep at the switch, Democratic voter participation in the most recent council election was such that no Democrat is on the commission. That fight, at this juncture, is in the background, however, as the county’s three-member redistricting commission put forth five versions of county council district maps, narrowed from 20 initially devised. The idea in drawing these district maps is to bunch together voting precincts in such a way that each of six geographic areas is represented by as close to the exact same number of people as is possible, thus preserving the principle of one vote, one person.

The fights arise because certain precincts are reliably Republican, and others dependably Democratic, and the parties have an interest in diluting the opposition’s stronghold precincts while maximizing the influence of their own. Thus we encounter districts that look like salamanders and are named for this acrobatic creature, as well as the politician from the early days of the Republic, Elbridge Gerry.

Such slithering districts are said to be gerrymandered. They’re easy to spot on a map. They’re the districts that slither across vast territories for no apparent geographical reason – not unlike Maryland’s Sixth Congressional District that
stretches from Garrett County through the northern half of Harford County.

More here.

If you or someone you know is considering buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues! As member of the Garrett County Board of Realtors, I can assist you with ANY listed property, regardless of the listing broker.

877-563-5350 Questions about ANY listed property? I can help! Call me!

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>Reward to find goshawk killer grows

>The Maryland Ornithological Society has started a reward fund for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who shot and killed a northern groshawk, believed to be part of the state’s only breeding pair, and left three chicks to die near Savage River State Forest.

The birders have $800 in hand and MOS official Dave Webb says the amount is expected to increase as clubs send out their newsletters.

The Maryland Legislative Sportsmen’s Foundation also has offered a $1,000 reward.

Natural Resources Police is still investigating the death of the bird.

Maryland’s northern goshawks were driven to extinction in the 1900s by the logging industry’s harvesting of Appalachian Plateau forests. In 1991 and 1997, the federal government rejected calls to list the bird on the endangered species list. Many states, including Maryland, responded by placing the goshawk on their own lists.

In North America, the goshawk is federally protected under an amendment to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

>Price drop! 1511 Marsh Hill Rd – GA7555622

1511 MARSH HILL RD
MC HENRY, MD 21541

This traditional lakefront home has it all! Enjoy the unique charm and layout of a renovated chalet featuring 5 bedrooms, native stone fireplace, level waterfront area, lakeside garage w/ storage and fridge, Type A dock, overflow parking and much more! Incredible setting near ski slopes and offers deep water, big views. Well maintained, private, nostalgic yet modern feel! Owner financing available

Contact Jay Ferguson @ 301-501-0420 or DeepCreekLaker@Gmail.com for more information or to setup a private showing for this property.

Listing # GA7555622
$698,000

877-563-5350 Questions about ANY listed property? I can help! Call me!

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>Unemployed FHA borrowers to get year of forbearance

>Obama administration intends for changes to become industry standard
By Inman News
Inman News™

Share ThisLoan servicers collecting payments on FHA-backed loans will be required to allow qualified borrowers who lose their jobs to miss up to 12 months of mortgage payments before initiating foreclosure proceedings against them, the Obama administration announced today.

The FHA’s current three to four months of required unemployment forbearance is “inadequate for the majority of unemployed borrowers,” Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan said in announcing the change.

“Today, 60 percent of the unemployed have been out of work for more than three months and 45 percent have been out of work for more than six,” Donovan said. “Providing the option for a year of forbearance will give struggling homeowners a substantially greater chance of finding employment before they lose their home.”

Although not all borrowers will qualify for the special forbearance program, the administration said it’s removing upfront hurdles to qualification. Servicers must provide any borrowers who are denied forbearance with the reason for denial, and allow the borrower at least seven calendar days to submit additional information that may impact the servicer’s evaluation.

More here.

877-563-5350 Questions about ANY listed property? I can help! Call me!

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>10 Best-Performing Major Housing Markets

>Jay’s note: Considering that a large part of our 2nd home market is fueled by Washington DC & the northern VA area, this is GREAT news

Ten of the highest performing major market metros are expected to improve their performance over the first half of the year, with five of the top 10 even expected to see modest gains, reports Clear Capital in its latest monthly Home Data Index.

While housing prices in the first half of the year were mostly negative among the metro areas, Clear Capital says the market is showing signs of stabilizing.

Top Performers
The following are the highest performing major markets based on first half 2011 data (January through June) and second half forecast, according to Clear Capital.

1. Washington, D.C.-Arlington, Va.
2. New York-Long Island, N.Y.-No. New Jersey, N.J.
3. Orlando
4. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas
5. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif.
6. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.
7. Honolulu
8. San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, Calif.
9. Rochester, N.Y.
10. Memphis, Tenn.

Yet, only five of these markets are expected to boast home price gains in the second half of 2011: Washington, D.C., New York, Orlando, Dallas, and San Francisco, according to Clear Capital.

More here.

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>Foreclosure sales dip for second straight month

>Monday, July 11th, 2011, 10:10 am

Mortgage servicers completed 68,000 foreclosure sales on the courthouse steps in May, down 7% from the previous month and the second straight month of declines, according to the Hope Now alliance of insurers, counselors and lenders.

Foreclosure sales dropped 14% in April. However, servicers started 176,000 foreclosures in May, up 8% from the previous month. Roughly 2.67 million mortgages remained in 60-day delinquency, up 1% from the previous month.

Modifications remained flat at roughly 85,000 through private initiatives and the Home Affordable Modification Program.

Private modifications dipped to 53,000 in May, a 7% decrease. In April, the drop on private workouts was 26%, allowing HAMP to take a larger share of completed modifications. Servicers completed 32,398 permanent HAMP modifications in May, up 12%

More here.

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>June 2011 Market Update – Lot & Land Sales

13 lot/land sales in Garrett County in June 2011.

There are currently 610 lot/land listings in Garrett County. There have been 44 sales so far as of today, so we are a little over 7 sales on average per month.

Here’s a quick look at the June sales:

As of our sales meeting this morning, all of the developer lots that we had listed in Moss Creek subdivision have now gone under contract or sold. The stream ‘Deep Creek’ has its start in the middle of this community – and lots were selling for $5k an acre, some better.

23 Cedar Ln – building lot in Yough Mountain Resort sold for $10,000

2.5 acre building lot in Serenity Estates in Grantsville sold for $39,000

3 lots at Roman Nose Spa with a tear-down house sold for $40,500 (estate sale)

1 acre building lot in Maple Del (Mayhew Inn Rd near Deep Creek Lake) sold for $25,000

Someone got a great deal on lake access lot with dock off Glendale Rd @ Sand Stones on the Lake $125,000

26.52 acres (steel building improvement) on Brobst Rd in Accident sold for $159,000

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>June 2011 Market Update – Homes – Residential

>25 homes sold in the month of June 2011 at Deep Creek Lake & Garrett County. Compared to last June, we were 7 sales short. A big part of this was the federal tax incentives to purchase & close on a home by June 30, 2010. All in all, the numbers this month are still very strong by comparison. The average sales price of homes last month was $495,235 – the highest it’s been in quite some time & over $250,000 HIGHER than last month! Is that the end-all stat of the year? No – but it’s still good news.

Let’s take a look at the rest of the stats:

There are 56 homes under contract right now (53 last month).

The average list vs. ORIGINAL sales price was 81.77%, down from last month (82.43%).

The ADJUSTED list vs sale price was 88.28%, same as last month (88.28%).

The current # of active/for sale listings in MRIS (minus timeshares) is 780, up from last months 764. We have a 31 month supply of homes available (minus timeshares) based solely on the June sales numbers. This number is up from last month’s 28 month supply.

Random observations:

•3 ‘newer’ homes sold in June (5 years old or less)

•It appears that 13 or so of these sales were vacation homes

•13 homes sold under $300,000 (last month was 21)

•14 homes sold under $400,000

•5 homes sold over $ 1 million (5 homes @ $1mil is a HUGE part of that $495k+ average sales price)

•2 homes sold for higher than full price or at full price (last month was 2)

•One house sold for 18.31% of asking price – 123 Center St W (this really skews the numbers but I left it in – the sellers sold to a family member for a tremendous discount – not an arms length transaction, but it’s a sale)

•The oldest home that sold was 97 yrs old

•The average age of the homes that sold was 23 years (33 last month)

•1 condo/townhouse properties sold (3 last month) Watch this stat, as FHA just released new lending guidelines requiring, among other things, at least 50% owner occupied units in condo/townhouse projects – coupled with stricter lending limits on condo-hotels like Will o the Wisp, Wisp Hotel, & Silver Tree Suites. I am not aware of any condo communities at Deep Creek Lake that have 50% owner occupancy – maybe Laurelbrook?

Here are the statistical breakdowns:

Average Sale Price: $495,235 (last month $236,087)

Average Days on Market: 185/246 (last month 200/260) (days on market with current broker/total days on market)

Here’s a little something extra – more in depth stats by price range, from our friends at RBIntel. These stats are updated daily, not monthly and include timeshares. So, our numbers will differ slightly.

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>Local Accident Victim Says, "Wear Your Bike Helmet — Every Time!"

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Jul. 7, 2011

Editor’s note: The writer of the following is a local young man who was the victim of a bicycle accident, and offers advice to all who enjoy bike riding.

by Zack Hanline

My name is Zack Hanline and I am 14 years old. On the evening of June 6, 2011, I jumped on my new bike (Note: It was a bicycle, not a 4-wheeler or dirt bike) to take a quick ride around my yard before dinner. I did not put my helmet on because I was only taking a short ride. What a huge mistake. I had no idea what a nightmare I would be living for the next week.

I do not really remember the wreck that well, but I think my foot slipped off the pedal and in between the bars. Then the bike slammed me to the ground, and my head hit the road really hard.

My parents looked out the window of the house, and saw me lying on the ground by my bike. I did not respond when they yelled for me, because I was unconscious. They ran out to get me, and I started to wake up. My head was killing me, I was burning up, and really tired, dizzy and weak.

I could not remember anything about the wreck, or about that day. I could not even remember being in school that day. Soon I was really sick to my stomach, so my parents knew I had a concussion. They loaded me in the car (I could not even walk by myself), and took me to the emergency room.

I was given a CT scan. My parents and I waited for the doctor to come back and tell us that I had a concussion, and that I needed to go home and take it easy – but he had much worse news. He walked in with an image from my CT scan, and said I needed to be taken to another hospital because I had a subdural hematoma (bleeding on my brain).

From there, it all happened so fast. The next thing I knew, I was being strapped onto a stretcher, from head to toe, which was very uncomfortable, especially since I was still throwing up.

When we arrived at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown late that night, I was admitted into the pediatric intensive care unit, for observation of the hematoma. If it did not grow, I could go home, and take it easy.

I had CT scans every 12 hours to measure it. Wednesday morning I got the next piece of bad news: It was still bleeding, and beginning to put pressure on my brain stem and temporal lobe. This was very dangerous, and the doctors decided surgery was necessary to drain the blood.

My bleed site was too big to just have some holes drilled for drainage. I had to have a craniotomy. They had to make a 5-inch incision, remove a part of my skull, remove the blood, replace the skull bone, and put 22 staples in the incision. I also had to have a drain put in my head to get rid of the blood from the surgery.

The day after surgery was the worst day of my life. I literally felt like I was going to die. Everything hurt. I had IVs in both arms, and bands around my legs that inflated to keep me from getting blood clots in my legs. I had spots of hair shaved from the incision, and from the “GPS” things that they put on my head to show them where to operate. I was miserable.

The next morning was bad too. It hurt so bad when they pulled out my drainage tube. Slowly, though, I started to feel better, but I still ask myself every day, “Why didn’t I just put on my helmet?”

Because of this accident, I had to miss my last four days of middle school, the last school dance of the year, and worst of all, half of baseball season. I have to be very careful about everything I do for the rest of the summer instead of just enjoying myself. I battle headaches every day. All because I did not take one minute to put on my bike helmet.

>A Return to Normal in Housing Markets?

Today’s Wall Street Journal Front Page shows a chart by Bob Shiller which illustrates, as Mr. Miller has already opined, that we’re finally seeing a statistical return to “normalcy” in the housing markets. This means, per Shiller, that housing values will grow “at the same pace with the inflation rate” (or course barring extraneous market influences like a big spike in rates, changes in the mortgage interest deduction, etc.)

More here.

877-563-5350 Questions about ANY listed property? I can help! Call me!

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Author: ilovedeepcreeklakerealestate

>On the line

>Reward to find goshawk killer grows

>Price drop! 1511 Marsh Hill Rd – GA7555622

>Unemployed FHA borrowers to get year of forbearance

>10 Best-Performing Major Housing Markets

>Foreclosure sales dip for second straight month

>June 2011 Market Update – Lot & Land Sales

>June 2011 Market Update – Homes – Residential

>Local Accident Victim Says, "Wear Your Bike Helmet — Every Time!"

>A Return to Normal in Housing Markets?

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