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The First Time Buyer Credit is Extended and includes current owners!

Great News!  The $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit has been signed into law a few moments ago!  Instead of expiring on December 1st, 2009, it has been changed to June 30th, 2010!  You need to have a ratified contract in place by April 30th, 2010, and you have up to 60 days to close the transaction.

It’s also been expanded!  People who currently own a home are eligible to get up to $6,500 to “move up”!  Here’s a short video from Tom Kunz, President and CEO of Century 21, explaining the extension:

 

In order to qualify for the $6,500, here’s a quick explanation of the guidelines for current homeowners (info on first timers can be found here):

  • The credit is available for homes that go under contract by April 30, 2010 and close by June 30th, 2010.
  • Current homeowners can claim a $6,500 credit as long as the property they are vacating has been their primary residence for at least five consecutive years out of the last eight years.
  • Income limits: $125,000 a year for individuals, $225,000 a year for married couples. (these are higher limits than before)
  • Homes that cost more than $800,000 aren’t eligible for the credit.
  • $6500 tax credit is not retroactive.  (from the language of the bill: “shall apply to residences purchased after the date of the enactment of this Act.”

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call or email me!

~Jonathan Benya- Realtor
Century 21 New Millennium
9405-A Chesapeake St
La Plata, MD 20646
301-609-9000 – office
301-653-8116 – cell

Charles County Real Estate Blog
SOMD Home Search
Southern Maryland Custom Homes & Land

Charles County Unemployment is less than 6%!!!!

Cash So when is the economy going to recover?  According to the Washington Post, it looks like it may already be happening here in Charles County!  In an article written this weekend in the Washington Post (Economic Rebound Seen for Charles County), Signs are good that the evidence of an improving economy is being seen already in our neck of the woods!

According to the article, the U.S.
unemployment rate is 9.8 percent; Maryland’s is 7.2 percent; and Charles’s
is 5.9 percent!!!  In addition to this news, rising homes sales, and a continuing influx of new jobs, Charles County is becoming a much more popular place to be!  Also, if you’re thinking of buying or selling a home in the area, I know a FANTASTIC Realtor, LOL!!!   ;-)

~Jonathan Benya- Realtor
Century 21 New Millennium
9405-A Chesapeake St
La Plata, MD 20646
301-609-9000 – office
301-653-8116 – cell

Charles County Real Estate Blog
SOMD Home Search
Southern Maryland Custom Homes & Land


Why don’t banks disclose the mold problem?

Are Realtors obligated to disclose mold problems in a foreclosure? The short answer is yes, but unfortunately things aren’t always done as they “should” be.

Why Should It Be Disclosed?

Mold A mold problem in a home falls into the category of “Material Defect”.  In the state of Maryland, any Material Defects that are known by the seller or listing agent must be disclosed, regardless of the Annotated Code of Maryland, Real Property Article, Section 10-702. The catch is that the seller must have knowledge of the defect.

Banks Don’t Disclose

Banks typically avoid making any sort of disclosure, and rather sign a disclaimer stating they have know knowledge of the property and it’s potential defects.  Since the bank has probably never actually visited the property, how can they know there is a mold issue?

Banks Should Disclose

It stands to reason, however, that someone involved in selling the property (such as the Realtor who lists the property) has seen and is aware of a possible mold problem.  If there is a latent defect such as this, and it is known, then it is the responsibility of the listing agent and the owner (The Bank) to disclose such problems.  What should happen, and what does happen, however, can be two entirely different things.

Cnrmld Are they Trying to Hide It?

With the massive mold growths I’ve seen in so many foreclosures, it’s impossible to hide the fact in many cases.  the concern that I, as a Realtor, have is that there is a potential health risk involved in showing these properties.  It’s a weekly occurence now:  I go out, show a dozen or so moldy foreclosures, and go home with a splitting headache and nausea.  At it’s core, this is a health risk, for both me and my clients.

The concern many banks have is that mold stigmatizes a property (DUH!) and reduces it’s value.  Their risk of exposure to a lawsuit is minimal (You gotta prove they knew the home had mold), and so the less they say, the better, at least in their mind.  In the mean time, myself and my clients get to deal with the headaches, nausea, dizziness, and shortness of breath that goes along with heavy mold exposure.  Lucky Us.

~Jonathan Benya- Realtor
Century 21 New Millennium
9405-A Chesapeake St
La Plata, MD 20646
301-609-9000 – office
301-653-8116 – cell

Charles County Real Estate Blog
SOMD Home Search
Southern Maryland Custom Homes & Land

Bad Marketing Tips

Someone recently sent me a photo of a FSBO (For Sale By Owner) sign that I had to share.  I understand that you can’t always choose your neighbors, but when it comes to selling your home because you hate your neighbors, there is good news!

Fortunately, bad neighbors are not what you would call a “material defect” in your home (Regardless of how defective you think they may be).  If you hate your neighbors, odds are that other people may hate them as well.  My advice would be to keep the commentary about the obnoxious neighbors to yourself, and let the next owner find out in their own sweet time.  Enjoy the photo!Neighbor-is-an-asshole

~Jonathan Benya- Realtor

Century 21 New Millennium
301-653-8116

Charles County Real Estate Blog
SOMD Home Search
Southern Maryland Custom Homes & Land


Close to DC and Andrews Air Force Base, A gorgeous home for only $275,000!

Looking for a Gorgeous, move-in ready home in Waldorf that isn’t a foreclosure dog or an impossible-to-close short sale?  This is it!

This Beautiful home with loads of upgrades is located right in
Waldorf! Large kitchen, and gorgeous family room! It’s Located in White Oak Village subdivision and move in ready! The
Open floor plan makes this home feel large and inviting. Beautiful
private deck with Large fenced back yard. and playset for the kids!
Don’t miss your chance to see this fantastic property!

~Jonathan Benya- Realtor
301-653-8116

Charles County Real Estate Blog
SOMD Home Search
Southern Maryland Custom Homes & Land

The Pushy Real Estate Agent

Some Realtors will do anything to get a home sold, LOL!

~Jonathan Benya- Realtor
301-653-8116

Charles County Real Estate Blog
SOMD Home Search
Southern Maryland Custom Homes & Land

Choosing a Realtor in Southern Maryland: What’s The Difference?

When it comes to marketing for home sellers in Southern Maryland, there are as many options as there are real estate agents.  By contract, the only marketing an agent is REQUIRED to do is list the home on MLS and wait for a buyer to show up.

Unfortunately, that sort of approach makes it difficult for your home to been seen by potential buyers.  The more marketing you agent does, the better chance it has of selling, right?  Every bit of exposure is one step closer to finding the buyer for your home!11525_Manorstone_Lane_MLS_HID169273_ROOMFront

Here’s an example of some of the things we do to get our homes sold quickly:

Professional photography
No point-and-shoot cameras, we hire professionals to take gorgeous hi-res HD shots of our homes!  Better photos increase the chance of people taking a closer look at your home when they see it online!

Online Video Marketing
“virtual tours” are dead.  People want to see something more engaging, and video is it!  We take video tours, combine them with high resolution photos, and add text descriptions to generate buzz and give people more incentive to call their agent and make an appointment to see your home!  Here’s an Example:

Search-engine-marketing Listing Syndication and Featured Advertising
Most Realtors don’t “Get It” when it comes to online marketing. the MLS isn’t enough!  We syndicate our listings to over 45+ websites and pay for tons of Featured ads to get you seen first!  If there are 50 homes comparable to yours on the market, our job is to make sure that your home is on the top of their list when people are searching the internet.

Aggressive Direct Marketing
This includes open houses, direct mailers, flyers, signs, trade shows, home book advertisments, fairs, blogging, direct email marketing and more all designed to get YOUR HOUSE sold!  Direct Marketing has long been the staple of real estate advertising.  It still gets business done, but not as efficently as it once did.

If you’re thinking about putting your house on the market, give us a call for a free Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) and a demonstration of how our marketing strategy will get your home sold quickly!

~Jonathan Benya- Realtor
301-653-8116

Charles County Real Estate Blog
SOMD Home Search
Southern Maryland Custom Homes & Land


The Real Estate Market in Waldorf, Maryland is turning around!

Overpriced_home Is the Real Estate Market in Charles County and Waldorf finally turning around?

It’s been a long time since we saw good news in the real estate market.  In the last few years we’ve seen that home values have dropped, sales slowed to a near standstill, and foreclosure rates skyrocketed.  The good news is that national sales trends have picked up recently, and it looks like we may have finally hit the bottom of the real estate market downturn.  According to a report released on August 26th, 2009, new home sales are up 9.6% in July, and up 30% from the beginning of the year.  All of that is fine and well, but what about the local market?

The best way to look at sales trends is at the local level! If we take a look at current sales in Carrington, we can see that as of August 26th, there are 60 homes currently for sale.  of those 60, 21 are under contract!!  The national average for inventory volume is between 5-6 months, but the inventory volume for Carrington is just under 3 months!  This is excellent news for homeowners in the neighborhood!

It’s great to see sales up, but what about prices? Unfortunately, you’re not going to find that prices have risen back to the levels we saw 5 years ago.  Listing prices for homes that are UNDER CONTRACT range from a high of $299,900 to a low of $139,999.

Homes that are currently active on the market range in price from $299,995 to $145,900.  A quick look at recent sales shows a range in value from $279,000 to $126,500.  Want to know how your home compares?  Give me a call at (301)-653-8116 and request a free Market Analysis for your home!

~Jonathan Benya- Realtor
Century 21 New Millennium
9405-A Chesapeake St
La Plata, MD 20646
301-609-9000 – office
301-653-8116 – cell

Charles County Real Estate Blog
SOMD Home Search
Southern Maryland Custom Homes & Land

Washington Mutual Accidentally Forecloses on the wrong house!

Lenderforeclosure Here’s a lawsuit about to happen….  A woman in Homestead, Florida named Anna Ramirez came home last week to find all of her possessions thrown out on the street and a man demanding she get out of the house he had just purchased for $87,000.  Nevermind that Ramirez wasn’t facing foreclosure, and that she had purchased the home a few years back for $260,000.

Nope, for some reason, an error was made in the Miami-Dade Clerk’s Office that left her homeless.  The sale was reversed by a judge within a few days, but not before the police forcibly evicted her family and had all of their belongings thrown out of the house.

I feel truly sympathetic towards Mrs. Ramirez and her family.  I couldn’t imagine something like this happenning to me or my family, and I hope that somebody is stepping up to the plate to re-imburse her for the damage this may have caused.

Link to Article

~Jonathan Benya- Realtor
301-653-8116

Charles County Real Estate Blog
SOMD Home Search
Southern Maryland Custom Homes & Land

How the wrong Realtor will cost you $20,000!!!

The PG County “Down Payment on Your Dream” program, also known as the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) or Down Payment Closing Cost Assistance Program (DPCCA) is proving to be wildly popular.

MoneyfireI get multiple calls each and every day regarding the program, and unfortunately not everybody found out about the program in time. I get at least one call per day from somebody who has just purchased a foreclosure in PG County and didn’t find out about the program until after settlement. Inevitably, the conversation goes something like this:

New Home Owner:    I didn’t find out about the program until after I closed on the house, can I still take advantage of the program?

Me:    Unfortunately, I don’t believe that’s possible.

New Home Owner:    Well, Why not?  I qualify for it!

Me:    Part of the qualification is that you use a participating lender for the transaction, and you also need a certificate of completion of the 8 hour HUD home ownership education class.

New Home Owner:    Well, I didn’t know about it, my lender didn’t tell me about the program!

Me:    Well, if your lender is not participating in the program, they don’t have any obligation to tell you about a competing lender’s possible options, so I would assume they would rather keep your business instead of giving it to a competing loan officer.

New Home Owner:    Shouldn’t my Realtor have known about this program?

Me:    That’s not a question I can answer.  All I can say is that I am telling all of my PG County clients about the program.  My best suggestion would be to call your Realtor directly and ask them.

Unfortunately, I don’t know of any way to take advantage of the program if you’ve already purchased, but I know plenty of people who would like to!  This situation (unfortunately) teaches a very important lesson when it comes to real estate.  Not all agents are equal, and choosing the wrong agent is costing people up to $20,000 in PG County!!!

~Jonathan Benya- Realtor
Century 21 New Millennium
9405-A Chesapeake St
La Plata, MD 20646
301-609-9000 – office
301-653-8116 – cell

Charles County Real Estate Blog
SOMD Home Search
Southern Maryland Custom Homes & Land