A White House Ornament Discovered through ActiveRain - 11/29/09 09:04 PM

You just never know who's reading your Activerain blog posts. 
Last year, I lamented in You Snooze, You Lose - No More 2008 White House Ornaments that ornaments from the White House Historical Society had sold out before I got around to ordering.  Within 24 hours, I received an Activerain contact message from Peter Gacicia, President/CEO of Friends of the White House, telling me about a brand new series of White House ornaments from his organization.
A few days later, the inaugural ornament of this series arrived at my home - probably one of the most stunning ornaments I've ever … (17 comments)

Campus Housing Shortage Creates Opportunity for Real Estate Investors - 11/24/09 07:54 AM

About 35% of the 3300 sophomores now living on campus at University of Maryland will be forced to move off campus next fall, according to an article in today's campus newspaper, The Diamondback.
What a GREAT opportunity this is for real estate investors, especially given the lower prices and record-low interest rates we're seeing today.  There are 118 homes for sale in College Park right now under $600,000 (not to mention those in nearby Adelphi, Hyattsville, and Riverdale).  Click on this link to view all residential real estate for sale in the 20740 zipcode, including address, price and features.

… (11 comments)

Bowie Maryland Homes Selling in Half the Time - October 2009 - 11/23/09 09:18 AM
Good news for Bowie homesellers:  Days on Market in the 20715 zipcode were down in October more than 52% from the same month last year.  Homes that sold in Bowie last month were on the market less than two months compared to four months in October 2008.
There's more good news... The number of homes sold is up 10% from last year.
The best news, however, is the fact that new listings and new non-contingent contracts are gaining balance in Bowie.  If we also consider the contingent contracts, the total number of new homebuyers last month in the 20715 zipcode was … (9 comments)

Just Trying Out My New Real Estate Camera - 11/22/09 06:55 PM
This past week I had an opportunity to try out my new camera - a Canon Power Shot SX200 IS.
The Olympus 820 my children gave me for Christmas 2 years ago takes really great photos, is very light and easy to carry, and it has a large LCD screen.  It disappointed me only when I took real estate photos of home interiors.  On those occasions, I wished for a wide angle lens and/or an auxiliary flash attachment. 
Yes, I know the logical move-up for me is an SLR camera, but I just don't see myself carrying around anything that bulky … (26 comments)

Real Estate Activity Picked Up in Davidsonville MD during October 2009 - 11/18/09 09:12 AM
The first-time homebuyer credit had no direct impact on real estate sales during October in Davidsonville, Maryland, since prices in this zipcode typically exceed the first-time buyer price range.  Yet activity did increase last month over October of 2007 and 2008.
Other good news for Davidsonville home owners is that both the average and median prices increased over the same month last year and the days on market were nearly down to 2006 numbers.  Unfortunately, the percentage of sold price to list price is still under 90% - although it went up 2% from the same month last year.

As you can … (7 comments)

Crofton Resident Featured in Wall Street Journal Today - 11/17/09 06:16 AM

Want to learn more about Crofton resident Kristen Becker?  Just pick up a copy of today's Wall Street Journal and turn to the Life & Style section.
Or you can click on the link to When Mr. Clean meets Ms. Messy to read the article online.  You'll learn Kristen's age, how many children she has, who lives in her home besides her husband and kids, and which spouse is the neatnik (and which is the slob). 
Kristen, we'll be interested in learning how columnist Elizabeth Bernstein "discovered" you and your husband.
Kristen has been a member of Crofton Village Garden Club since September and she's … (5 comments)

How Does a Home Office Impact Your Property Value? - 11/16/09 09:52 AM
Don't believe everything you read about which upgrades do or do not increase your property value.  All real estate is local, even hyper-local, and some general statements about real estate just don't apply in Crofton Maryland and other communities in the Baltimore-Washington area.
According to Allegra Muzillo, in a blog post earlier this month on Real Simple, it will de-value your home to convert a bedroom into a home office.  Just to add validity to her point, she cites a Manhattan real estate expert who agrees, and says doing this will give you one less bedroom to advertise.
In fact, I've never seen an agent in … (16 comments)

Crofton Maryland Home Prices on the Rise - 11/13/09 07:41 AM
The first-time home buyer tax credit is probably responsible for the decline in average and median home prices in Crofton Maryland since August, because first time homebuyers generally purchase at the low end of the market.  Overall for the year, however, the trend in prices has been upward with the average sold price at $268,400 in January and $319,137 in October, and the median sold price increasing from $250,000 in January to $308,000 in October.

 
At the same time, that tax credit may be the reason more homes sold in September and October of this year than in 2008 … (19 comments)

What's the Best Way to Honor Veterans in Crofton Maryland Today? - 11/11/09 06:35 AM

May I suggest you spend this evening in the company of your neighbors, as members of Baldwin Methodist Church, St. Steven’s Episcopal Church, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Parish perform Howard Goodall’s Requiem to honor our fallen service members.
This memorial service will be held at 7:30 p.m. tonight at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, 1800 Seton Drive in Crofton, off Rt. 424 near Crofton Middle School.  It will be the premier of this music East of the Mississippi and the National premier of the arrangement created especially for parish performance. 
Participants in this extravaganza have been rehearsing for many weeks, and they … (8 comments)

Top Five Reasons You Should Not List Your Own Home - 11/10/09 06:08 AM

My clients fell in love with a beautiful home a few weeks ago, and they were very bummed when it sold out from under them.  That's not supposed to happen in this market!
Undeterred, we wrote a back-up contract and crossed our fingers that this contract would self-destruct for some reason.  After all, a previous contract on the property had fallen through weeks earlier, so maybe this one would do the same.  And that's exactly what happened in just a matter of days.  My clients could not have been happier.
BUT...
The seller was a FSBO with a real estate … (103 comments)

Crofton Maryland Gardeners Honor Wounded Soldiers - 11/05/09 09:07 PM
It's a November tradition for the Crofton Village Garden Club to make patriotic-themed floral arrangements for wounded soldiers and other patients. Each member makes two or three of them so we'll be sure to have enough for all 120 patients at the VA Rehab and Extended Care Facility in Baltimore, Maryland. This is a very easy and inexpensive activity that your garden club, scout troop, office or other organization could easily duplicate, following the steps in this brief video. With 40 participants, it can be accomplished in an hour or less. Please join us in thanking our wounded veterans in November … (13 comments)

Will This Maryland Wetland Soon Become Concrete? - Part II - 11/02/09 11:20 PM
Why is it that the Maryland Department of Natural Resources went to great lengths to drain the pond on private property west of Route 3 in Crofton a few years ago when a Northern Snakehead fish was discovered there?  (National Geographic News)
The answer depends somewhat on who you ask, but one common denominator in any conversation about this is the pond's proximity to the Little Patuxent River, just 75 feet from the pond.  Officials and biologists were worried that this "air-breathing, land-crawling, voracious predator" would invade the state's river system and even reach the Chesapeake Bay, causing irreparable harm.
 
… (9 comments)

Re-Pupose Your Halloween Decorations and Candy - 11/02/09 02:01 PM
Recycle all things Halloween.  Yes, even your perishables!
I wrote a post for the Crofton Village Garden Club website about this time last year that was a brief "how-to" for re-purposing one's Halloween pumpkin.  I was reminded of that today in a conversation with a colleague about this very topic.
So before you throw away or put away all things Halloween, let me share this with you:
 
PUMPKIN:
Turn your pumpkin into a decorative container for a fall flower arrangement:
Cut the top off your pumpkin and set it aside. Scoop out the inside of your pumpkin and discard it … (6 comments)

 
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Margaret Woda, Maryland Real Estate & Military Relocation Services

Margaret Woda

Crofton, MD

More about me…

Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc., Crofton, MD 21114

Address: 2191 Defense Hwy., #120, Crofton, Bowie, and Davidsonville, MD, 21114

Office Phone: (410) 721-1500

Cell Phone: (301) 346-2923

Email Me

Real Estate and community information for home buyers and sellers, military transferees, and rookie agents in the greater Crofton area, including Bowie, Davidsonville, Fort Meade, Gambrills, Odenton, and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.

EHO



Margaret Woda




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