Marcie Sandalow's Blog

Chevy Chase Housing Statistics for 2009 It's time to crunch some numbers.  How is Chevy Chase real estate faring?  Better than the rest of the D.C. region.  Prices are down from last year, roughly 12% regionally and 4.5% within Chevy Chase (specifically within Chevy Chase Elementary School bounda...

Chevy Chase Real Estate Wrap-Up for 2009  It's time for my annual number crunching.  How is Chevy Chase real estate faring?  Better than the rest of the region.  Prices are down from last year, roughly 12% regionally and 4.5% within Chevy Chase (specifically within Chevy Chase Elementary School b...

DC Area Housing Trends Year-End 2009 The MRIS (Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, Inc.), a leading real estate technology company, just issued some statistics that highlight market performance for the end of 2009: Prices:  They're up!  4th quarter prices are up from the same quarter 2008...

Sellers:  Settlement Day "Must Haves" I've written a bunch of articles recently entitled: Your offer has been accepted... So, now what?   In it I detail what buyers should bring to the settlement table.  However, I've yet to spell it out for Sellers, so here goes: Keys.  Sounds silly, but I've at...

Bethesda Post office Mural   I like going to the "little" post office in Bethesda.  The one on Wisconsin Avenue dwarfed by the Hyatt Hotel and right next to the Madonna of the Trail statue.  It's a handsome stone building.  Has a few parking spaces in the back.  The same people have been working ...

East Bethesda:  CVS Minute Clinic Located on the corner of Cheltenham and Wisconsin Avenue one will find CVS.  It's open 24-hours a day, 7-days a week!  So the place is bound to come in handy for you one of these days.  One of my favorite things about CVS is the Minute Clinic.  If you are a dope ...

East Bethesda:  World Market Every neighborhood has an anchor store.  For East Bethesda, it would be World Market... otherwise known as Vart's place, located on the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Maple.  They've been in business for a long time... at least since I moved into the neighborhood, alm...

Your offer has been accepted... So, now what? (10-second summary) I've been spending a lot of time recently putting together a series of articles for buyers describing what happens after an offer has been accepted.  Even I was surprised at how much there was to share.  So far there are 11 section...

Your offer has been accepted... So, now what? Part XI (Appraisal Contingencies) If you've included a financing contingency in your offer, chances are it also includes an appraisal contingency.  So, what does this mean?  Well, the bank wants to protect itself.  Therefore, they will be sending some...

Your offer has been accepted... So, now what? Part X (Good Faith Deposit) As you'll recall, when you placed an offer on your future home, it was accompanied by a "good faith deposit" check.  Essentially, a good faith deposit serves as a monetary promise that you will move forward with your purcha...