Contact MargaretArchive for the 'Random Topics' Category
Cockers for Crofton Kids
May 3rd, 2008 Categories: Random Topics
Crofton families can finally get that cocker spaniel they’ve been wanting on Sunday, May 4. A Cocker Spaniel Rescue Adoption Day will be held tomorrow from 12–3 at Petsmart, located at 2601 Housley Road in Annapolis, Maryland.
My daughter rescued a 5–year old female cocker spaniel from a puppy breeder several years ago, just in time to get life-saving surgery for her. That expense was unexpected, but Susan does love that dog!
The cockers available on Sunday have all been spayed or neutered and they have received all their shots.
For more information, visit the OBG Cocker Spaniel Rescue website or call (703)533–2373.
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Real Estate Blogs Around the Country
May 2nd, 2008 Categories: Random Topics
Crofton, you may enjoy reading these real estate blog posts on ActiveRain that were written recently by some of my friends. I’ve selected a dozen for you on a variety of topics addressed by lenders, stagers, and home inspectors, as well as real estate agents around the country.
1. Family Under-values Mom’s Castle of 46 Years was posted by Gary White of FlexIt Realty in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This is a real-life tale about a family that nearly made an expensive mistake. Crofton residents faced with selling their parents’ home should read this before selling it to a relative. Gary’s post inspired me to assemble this “Reader’s Digest” version of ActiveRain for you.
2. An 8-ft Tall Child, Dog or Cat? is a great post from California home inspector Joseph Lang. You can count on him to share something nearly daily that includes a photo and explanation of some discrepancy discovered during a recent home inspection.
3. Is This “Magic” Staging Furniture? is a question asked by Portland, Oregon, staging expert Maureen Bray using before and after pictures to make her point. In today’s market, Crofton home sellers should consider staging – and these photo show why. Speaking of staging…
4. Not All Bananas in the Bunch are Ripe and Ready is a recent post by Illinois staging professional Craig Schiller, with a suggestion of how to select a stager for your home. My suggestion: browse through his blog posts because you’ll probably find several posts you’ll want to read. Craig’s is one of those blogs I visit regularly – informative, creative and important.
5. Don’t Just Call the Name On the Sign is Lisa Heindel’s recommendation for home buyers in New Orleans, LA. It’s good advice for Maryland home buyers, too, if you just change the names and places.
6. It’s Not What You Have… It’s WHAT YOU DO WITH WHAT YOU HAVE That Makes the Difference – That’s what “Mike in Tucson” says about this roadrunner. Lender Mike Jones takes great local photos and finds a way to relate them to real estate in brief and interesting posts. Other recent examples include a hummingbird, a cactus, an owl, sheep and goats.
7. One Dead Goose and Another Loan Goes Belly Up: How Declining Value Restrictions Hurt Property Values – California lender Janet Guilbault describes a 20% down loan for a borrower with a 720 credit score which was NOT approved due to the designation “declining value” for an entire zipcode. For more on this topic, read Ken Harney’s column in The Washington Post, Zip Code “Redlining”: A Sweeping View of Risk. Wondering why homes aren’t selling as well as they did two years ago? This is one of the reasons.
8. Living History is a preview of a 1793 house just listed in Washington, D.C. by Patricia Kennedy, followed by Rosedale Cottage - A Historic And Romantic Flirt! with more information and professional photos. Patricia’s listings all seem to have an interesting story, including this Mushroom House in Bethesda.
9. The End is Near quotes some media prognostications on the real estate market that you could find interesting – especially when you see the sources and dates. This was posted by Lancaster Realtor Jeff Geoghan. Speaking of the media…
10. CBS Wanted Us To Do An Interview – But There Was A Problem verifies what you suspected all along: The media is more interested in their story than the truth. Nestor & Katerina Gasset are more expert than anyone else I know, when it comes to selling real estate in a short sale situation, so they were a “natural” for CBS to contact – too bad their local CBS station rejected accurate reporting about real estate in Wellington, Florida.
11. Abbreviations & Acronyms: The New Language of Real Estate is a post you should save if you’re thinking of buying or selling a home any time soon. Northern Virginia’s Brian Block, Realtor AND Attorney, put together a list of frequently-used acronyms you’ll probably need during the course of your real estate transaction (if you want to understand the Realtors, lenders and attorneys who use them routinely).
12. How to Avoid a Short Sale or Foreclosure in Maryland is my contribution to this list. Not all Crofton homeowners are insulated from foreclosure or a short sale with lots of equity built by living in their homes “forever” – some families purchased their Crofton home during the bubble years and now face the same issues that other homeowners across the country are encountering. Fortunately, our state government is doing something to 
help people in this situation. Read all about it.
My blog-searching doggy Bloggy contributed to this post, and now he’s resting.
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Can You Solve this Puzzle?
April 30th, 2008 Categories: Random Topics
Have you ever seen the The Washington Post feature called PAGE THREE / Homework Headaches? There was a homework headache last week titled ”a puzzling encounter with 5th grade math.” Here it is… give it a try…
The instructions: “Write operation signs in the following number sequences to make every equation true. The first problem is done for you.”
It turns out the solution is easier than you imagined – a matter of spacing, and not a complicated math formula. In fact, it’s kind of a “life lesson” – many of the things we labor over are really not as complicated as we make them. The answer appears below. 
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Crofton Blog Directory
April 16th, 2008 Categories: Random Topics
Focus On Crofton is not the only blog for and about (or written by) people in Crofton and Anne Arundel County, Maryland. My trusty blog-search dog, Bloggy, has found a few others right here in our own back yard, while sniffing around on the Internet for blogs about communities across the country.
Blog Arundel Check out Bloggy’s first report:
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9% of Maryland Millionaires in Anne Arundel County
April 9th, 2008 Categories: Random Topics
Anne Arundel County is home to nearly one in ten of the those who will pay a new “Maryland Millionaire’s Tax” passed in this year’s legislative session.
Millionaires can afford to live anywhere they want, of course, and this tax could be just the motivator for some of them to move away from Maryland and take all their personal and business tax revenue and spending with them. (20% of California’s millionaires moved out of state in response to a similar bill.) If just two or three Maryland’s millionaires decide to pack their households, companies and employees to relocate, could it cost Maryland more than any projected income from this new tax?
I thought it might be interesting to conduct an informal study tracking the higher-priced listings In Anne Arundel County, over the next year, to see if more of our resident millionaires seem to be relocating. Of course, we could only speculate whether their motive is the “Maryland Millionaire’s Tax.” The two highest-priced homes in Anne Arundel County today are:
ANNAPOLIS:
The highest priced property in Anne Arundel County right now is a Tudor-style mansion, with 435 feet of waterfront along Crab Creek, on the market for $13,900,000:
Old world elegance with the finest attention to detail and historic accuracy to the times of Old England. The manor home features a library, grand theater, fitness & billiard rooms, and eight fireplaces. There is a storybook guest home with two bedrooms, lovely kitchen & bath, a tennis court, pool, docks with deep water slips, boat house, horse barn, 3-car garage/artist studio, 9+ acres, gorgeous views. (Source: MRIS)
EDGEWATER:
A 4–year old home with 1700 feet of Brewer Creek waterfront, on the market for just three months, has been reduced from the original list price of $11,900,000 to $9,500,000. It’s described as:
One-of-a-kind 8–acre waterfront estate masterpiece is available with every amenity one could want. Over 10,000 sq. ft. of living space with features that include a theatre room, wine cellar, massive gourmet Kitchen, a 3–stop elevator, and a bar room that will leave nothing to your imagination. (Source: MRIS)
Five more Anne Arundel County homes are on the market now for more than $5,000,000. Another 26 are priced in the $3–5,000,000 price range, and there are 63 homes listed between $2–3,000,000.
Crofton real estate probably won’t experience a glut of new listings, as a result of this tax, since home prices suggest Crofton is not home to a lot of millionaires. The top list price right now in Crofton is $899,900 for a home in Braddock Farms, off Rt. 424 near Crofton Middle School. Most homes for sale in Crofton are priced below $650,000.
As soon as figures are released by MRIS for March, I’ll update you on real estate trends in Crofton. It should be this week.
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