Your real estate connection for Anne Arundel County, Maryland - Home of Fort George G. Meade, Northrop Grumman, BWI and the U.S. Naval Academy
So you have orders in hand for Fort Meade! Let me be one of the first to welcome you to Maryland.
I'm sure you have already checked out the website for Fort Meade, so I won't attempt to tell you about the base or its services. Instead, let me tell you about the surrounding area and five critical steps for Fort Meade-area home buyers.
You will find Fort Meade conveniently located between Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., about a half hour west of Annapolis in Anne Arundel County and just minutes from Howard and Prince George's Counties.
As a D.C. native, I am very familiar with all of these areas, and can answer your questions about schools, homes, shopping and commuting for any of them. Besides living on base, you have many options for a place to live, your spouse to get a job, and a good public school system for your children...
"TO-DO" LIST:
1. Request a FREE Maryland Travel Kit from the Maryland Office of Tourism. This is first on the list because it will take a while to receive this information by mail, after you make the request, and you may find the Maryland map and other material helpful in getting to know the area.
2. Plan your house-hunting trip. If you're traveling by air, be sure to choose BWI as you destination airport. It's less than a half hour from Fort Meade, and its arguably a user-friendly for a large metropolitan area airport.
When you arrive in Maryland to look for a home, you may be able to stay at Abrams Hall, the guest house at Fort Meade. Call (410) 674-7700 ext. 7278 or (301) 677-5660 for more information and reservations. Unless they've changed the rules recently, however, your pets are not welcome there.
3. Gather together your personal financial records, as suggested in Stop - Don't Pack to Move Without Setting Aside These Important Papers!
4. Verify your BAH, basic pay, and any allowances for which you may be eligible, based on your own rate or rank.
5. Obtain your VA Certificate of Eligibility if you plan to use a VA Mortgage to buy a home. Whether you plan to have your lender handle this or you plan to request it yourself, you will need the same documentation. You may be eligible again with either full or partial eligibility, even if you have used VA to finance a home in the past.
6. Obtain pre-approval from a local mortgage lender. While there is no shortage of lenders online, I highly recommend a local lender for many reasons. Here are a few lenders that my clients have worked with recently:
It is important to do this up-front, so you are realistic about price range in your home search. There's no point in spending your limited time looking at homes you can't buy, and then suffering the disappointment of learning that after you fall in love with a home.
7. Check out homes and communities in the Annapolis area with a free subscription to weekly or daily reports on new and revised home listings, based on search criteria you specify. Or take a look at homes in these communities near Annapolis, keeping in mind that prices often range from the $200's to well over a million dollars for waterfront estates. 'Odds are that you'll be somewhere between those extremes.
Of course, it goes without saying that you need to choose a local real estate agent who really knows the area, understands military pay, and knows military life!
I've walked in your shoes, as a military spouse, and gone to new duty stations with only a day or two to make a housing decision. I had a baby while my husband was deployed, and I've struggled with all the decisions a military spouse makes without any family around to help out. Add that experience to my years as a Realtor, helping military families... Who could be better qualified to help you relocate to the Fort Meade area?
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Find a Home online and learn about Real Estate Market Conditions in Crofton and Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Check out Today's Rates, use the free Mortgage Calculator, and watch a brief video about the Power of RE/MAX. These consumer-friendly real estate tools are provided by Margaret Woda for you to use at your own pace.
When you're ready to go from "just browsing" to "let's get serious", contact Margaret online or call her at RE/MAX Vision in Crofton Maryland. 410-451-1900
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Margaret~ I love the end of your post when you tell the readers that you have walked in their shoes as a military spouse. I would call you in a heartbeat if I were moving with the military!