Preapproval First; Home Search Second I receive a lead call. The couple wants to see a home that is in their neighborhood, the neighborhood where they grew up and have lived their entire lives. I meet them and we go to take a look at the house of interest. The house is beautiful, it will meet their needs, and it is even at a good price. They want to buy it. I talk to them a little bit about their financial situation.  They seem to have plenty sufficient income and strong long term employment.  Their debt does not seem to be too high.  They do not have much money saved and would rather not use it.  They could possibly get gift money.  They are not sure where their credit score stands, although they have spoken to an online lender who told them that they would need to increase their score... 10/21/2019

Belmont Homes For Sale | Nottingham, MD - August 2019This is a snapshot of recent sales in the Belmont neighborhood of Nottingham, MD. Real estate market data and analysis is provided by Peggy Yee, Realtor. Click here to sign up for my free monthly real estate market update.Highest and Lowest Sold Belmont Home ValuesIn the past 6 months, 6 properties have sold in Belmont ranging from a 3-bed, 2-bath Townhouse for $126,000 to a 3-bed, 1.5-bath Townhouse for $183,000.ATTENTION Belmont Home Owners - Sell Your Home The Easy Way!Get the inside secrets from the best Belmont real estate agent Peggy Yee on the exact strategies she uses to sell homes for top dollar. Get all your questions answered today. Find out how you can Sell Your Home for Top Dollar, in 7 Days or Less at FULL MARKET VALUE!B... 09/11/2019

Castlemill Homes For Sale | Nottingham, MD - August 2019This is a snapshot of recent sales in the Castlemill neighborhood of Nottingham, MD. Real estate market data and analysis is provided by Peggy Yee, Realtor. Click here to sign up for my free monthly real estate market update.Highest and Lowest Sold Castlemill Home ValuesIn the past 6 months, 8 properties have sold in Castlemill ranging from a 3-bed, 1.5-bath Townhouse for $183,150 to a 3-bed, 3.5-bath Townhouse for $239,900.ATTENTION Castlemill Home Owners - Sell Your Home The Easy Way!Get the inside secrets from the best Castlemill real estate agent Peggy Yee on the exact strategies she uses to sell homes for top dollar. Get all your questions answered today. Find out how you can Sell Your Home for Top Dollar, in 7 Days or Less at... 09/11/2019

Oakhurst Homes For Sale | Nottingham, MD - August 2019This is a snapshot of recent sales in the Oakhurst neighborhood of Nottingham, MD. Real estate market data and analysis is provided by Peggy Yee, Realtor. Click here to sign up for my free monthly real estate market update.Highest and Lowest Sold Oakhurst Home ValuesIn the past 6 months, 30 properties have sold in Oakhurst ranging from a 3-bed, 1.5-bath Townhouse for $170,000 to a 5-bed, 3.5-bath Detached for $440,000.ATTENTION Oakhurst Home Owners - Sell Your Home The Easy Way!Get the inside secrets from the best Oakhurst real estate agent Peggy Yee on the exact strategies she uses to sell homes for top dollar. Get all your questions answered today. Find out how you can Sell Your Home for Top Dollar, in 7 Days or Less at FULL MARKET... 09/11/2019

Pinedale Woods Homes For Sale | Nottingham, MD - August 2019This is a snapshot of recent sales in the Pinedale Woods neighborhood of Nottingham, MD. Real estate market data and analysis is provided by Peggy Yee, Realtor. Click here to sign up for my free monthly real estate market update.Highest and Lowest Sold Pinedale Woods Home ValuesIn the past 6 months, 11 properties have sold in Pinedale Woods ranging from a 3-bed, 2-bath Townhouse for $216,050 to a 5-bed, 2.5-bath Detached for $355,000.ATTENTION Pinedale Woods Home Owners - Sell Your Home The Easy Way!Get the inside secrets from the best Pinedale Woods real estate agent Peggy Yee on the exact strategies she uses to sell homes for top dollar. Get all your questions answered today. Find out how you can Sell Your Home for Top Dollar... 09/11/2019

Ridgelys Choice Homes For Sale | Nottingham, MD - August 2019This is a snapshot of recent sales in the Ridgelys Choice neighborhood of Nottingham, MD. Real estate market data and analysis is provided by Peggy Yee, Realtor. Click here to sign up for my free monthly real estate market update.Highest and Lowest Sold Ridgelys Choice Home ValuesIn the past 6 months, 6 properties have sold in Ridgelys Choice ranging from a 3-bed, 2-bath Townhouse for $212,000 to a 3-bed, 2-bath, and 2-half bath Detached for $355,000.ATTENTION Ridgelys Choice Home Owners - Sell Your Home The Easy Way!Get the inside secrets from the best Ridgelys Choice real estate agent Peggy Yee on the exact strategies she uses to sell homes for top dollar. Get all your questions answered today. Find out how you can Sell Your... 09/11/2019

Silver Ridge Homes For Sale | Nottingham, MD - August 2019This is a snapshot of recent sales in the Silver Ridge neighborhood of Nottingham, MD. Real estate market data and analysis is provided by Peggy Yee, Realtor. Click here to sign up for my free monthly real estate market update.Highest and Lowest Sold Silver Ridge Home ValuesIn the past 6 months, 7 properties have sold in Silver Ridge ranging from a 2-bed, 2-bath Condo for $143,000 to a 3-bed, 2-bath Condo for $197,000.ATTENTION Silver Ridge Home Owners - Sell Your Home The Easy Way!Get the inside secrets from the best Silver Ridge real estate agent Peggy Yee on the exact strategies she uses to sell homes for top dollar. Get all your questions answered today. Find out how you can Sell Your Home for Top Dollar, in 7 Days or Less at... 09/11/2019

Soothing Soaking Tub or Spa-Inspired Shower or . . . ? The question was posed: When designing your dream bathroom, would you prefer the soothing soaking tub or spa-inspired shower? Both are hot right now! #HomeTrends   I decided to add an option.  What do you think of this idea?   A locker room sized shower. You could send the kids in all at once and quickly squirt them down. The same could be done with the family pets. The lovey grownups could all take their showers together. Those less able could wheel themselves right in and have lots of room to get around. If it were designed with a tropical forest type of shower head, it would be incredible. Make it big enough and you could even run the cars through it. Now that would be HOT!     07/25/2019

Sellers Should Take Advantage of a Sellers' Market Basically speaking, a sellers' market is when there are more buyers than there are sellers and a buyer's market is when there are more sellers than there are buyers. In a sellers' market, the prices tend to go up, because the buyers have fewer homes from which to choose, so in order for any buyer's offer to be accepted among several offers that a seller receives, the buyer raises the price, which makes that buyer's offer more favorable to the seller. In a buyer's market, the prices tend to go down, because the sellers have fewer buyers who may wish to choose their home, so sellers lower the price of their homes to entice more buyers to make offers. Although there are other factors involved, this is the basis of the theory of supply and ... 07/20/2019

Lighting Your Pathway in the Night Hours There are numerous ways to light your pathway in the night time hours. Here are a few ways to light a pathway: Wait for a moonlit evening sky; Live in a far northern region where the nights only last for an hour or two in the summer; Place a few lamp posts along the path, which are powered by electric coming from your house; Insert solar powered sidewalk lights aling the pathway; Fire up pisa torches which burn a paraffin or citronella oil; Light up some tiki torches and help keep the bugs away, or, use a new technology, which is still in its infancy such as: Glow Paths. This is a tecnology developed in Poland, which is still in a testing phase.  It is made from a synthetic material that can give out light for up to ten hours at a time once charg... 07/11/2019

Impact of the Light from a Television I am not talking about light as in enlightenment coming from the television, but simply the light itself that is emitted from the television screen. If you stand in a room outside of the room where the television is playing, you will see the brightness of the room constantly changing from dim to bright, from very dim to very bright, and so on. When the television is playing in the evening hours, then it can become a light of sorts for that room. Now think about your eyes.  When there is more light available, the opening of your pupils will tend to get smaller and when there is less light available, the opening of your pupils will tend to get larger. Imagine your eyes in a television environment in the evening. Because it is evening, there is less li... 07/09/2019

Indoor Plants Are a Chore  Plants are a great way to add color, texture, and life to your home, but despite their seeming lack of a need for attention, they actually require care just like your pet pooch or kitten. The signals that plants give us when they need attention are not as obvious as other living creatures such as pet dogs. A dog will come over to you with its leash in its mouth when it wants to go for a walk, or just stand by the door and bark when it needs to go out and relieve itself, or pant when it is hot and thirsty, but a plant just sits there. Where is this there that the plant just sits? Perhaps it is in a dark corner where it gets very little sunlight, or in front of the window where it gets too much sunlight and heat. Plants can be watered, but it is not always recog... 07/08/2019

He Wore His Best Suit to Settlement Real estate agents go to settlements on a frequent basis, or, at least, they try to get there as often as they can. It is very routine to the real estate agent. Some agents actually feel like their job is done once they make it this far.  Or, I should say that their actions make it seem that way.  Some agents are talking or texting on their phones, while some are just blabbing away with trivial comments. Of course, their job is not yet over.  They are there to represent their clients all the way through settlement. The buyer and seller are signing document after document and while the settlement officer explains these documents, it can be overwhelming.  The agent should be paying attention enough to see if their client shows any confusion such that th... 06/25/2019

E-Signing Contracts: Click, Click, Click; I'm Done Indeed, it is as easy as click, click, click and the contract or offer has been signed, but something may be missing. What is missing? The agents take the time to carefully select the correct prewritten forms from a list of forms, then fill in the blanks for things such as price, settlement date, type of financing, inclusions, inspections, and a few more things and send these proposed contracts to their clients. When the client receives this document, or set of documents, everything is completed except for the signatures, or initials.  The program is conveniently set up to jump from one place needing a signature to the next place that needs a signature. Jump is the correct word to use, because the program does not slowly scroll through ... 06/12/2019

Showing Declined.  Why? Scheduling an appointment to show a house can quite frequently be done online.  This is relatively quick and convenient. However, some times the appointment is declined.  Unfortunately, the process of declining the appointment is just as impersonal as the process of making the appointment.  Notification of the declination to show is given via text, email, or automated voice mail. The problem with the notification is that it usually does not get specific about why the appointment was declined.  For instance, if an appointment is attempted to be made for Monday between 5:00 pm and 6:00 pm and it is declined, the reason is not given. The reason for the denial could be any of all sorts of things. For example, it could be that nobody is home from work yet, or nobody i... 06/09/2019

No One Showed Any Interest No one showed any interest. I posted a house that was priced from $50,000 to $100,000 below market value. It was a detached home in Nottingham, MD which was priced at $207,000. No one showed any interest. I posted about a program that the State of Maryland offers that allows for one to eliminate up to $40,000 in student debt and, at the same time, purchase a house. No one showed any interest. Wake up people! 05/16/2019

Buy a House and Eliminate Your Student Debt Student debt has been holding people back from purchasing homes. The State of Maryland has designed a mortgage program to deal with this issue. By using this program, one can receive a mortgage to purchase a home and have a significant portion of their student debt relieved. The borrower must have, at least, $1,000 of student debt to be eligible. The student debt relief can go up to 15% of the purchase price of the property, but the Program has a limit of $40,000. The student debt relief portion is a second loan, not a mortgage, which is a 5 year forgivable promissory note. To use the program, any student debt which exceeds that which is covered by the program, must, also be paid.  So if the student debt exceeds 15% of the purchase price or th... 05/09/2019

I Walked into a 1950s Television Show Several years ago, like in the 1950s, television shows were broadcast in black and white.  The colors such as red, blue, green, and yellow were nowhere to be found. I went to view a house the other day and I felt like I was entering one of those old time television shows.  Everything was in shades of white, black, and gray. It actually took me a few moments for my eyes to adjust so that I could see the minute contrast of the very similar colors.  It was almost like being in a white-out condition caused by a strong blizzard, where one loses all sense of direction. Recently, it has become very popular to paint walls a neutral gray color.  Personally, I think that gray walls clash with brown wood floors, but that was not a problem in this house, becaus... 05/08/2019

Many People in My Neighborhood Do Not Like Section 8 In some counties in Maryland, a landlord can not rule out a renter because the renter would be using section 8.  They can rule them out for other reasons such as a bad criminal background or extremely bad credit, but not for section 8 by itself. However, there are some counties that do not have this law for landlords.  Baltimore County is one of the counties where a landlord can still reject a renter simply because they are using a section 8 voucher.  In fact, the Baltimore County legislature voted 5 to 1 against stating that landlords could not reject a renter for using a section 8 voucher. One legislator stated that section 8 simply relocates poverty from one neighborhood to another.  He is wrong.  Section 8 allows for people to get... 04/13/2019

Who Gets the Savings, You or the Investor? You are thinking about selling your house and then you receive a letter, or postcard in the mail from an investor who would like to buy your house. Let's assume that your house is worth $200,000. You give the investor a call thinking that selling your house might be very easy since there is already someone who wants it. The investor offers you $186,000. (Actually, there is not a chance that the investor will offer that much.  The investor's offer will be lower because the investor will state that the house is being purchased in its as is condition, will state that the house has several things that need to be addressed, and that the offer is cash.) But, this first reduction from the home's actual value down to the offer of $186,000, will be beca... 04/10/2019