Real Estate Information

We at Keller Williams Select Realtors of Ellicott City have been blessed in many ways.

On Thursday, May 13th, we have an opportunity to give back to our community by participating in the planned activities for Keller Williams  RED Day, our national day of giving back.

Keller Williams offices in Ellicott City, Columbia, Baltimore City and Baltimore County as well as several Lender offices have teamed up to assist Open Door Baltimore  with their work of empowering individuals & families in the poorest neighborhoods of Baltimore.

Open Door Baltimore provides: food, clothing, counseling, employment training and assistance, as well as many other services by working with other not-for-profit services that also operate in East Baltimore.

Activities for the day will include assisting:

• At an area Elementary School
• At a local food pantry
• At a thrift clothing distribution center,
• Preparing the new expanded Open Door Baltimore (ODB) office space for occupancy,
• Moving ODB office equipment and furniture to the new space,
• Construction of expanded food pantry,
• Setting up of computers,
• Cleaning up around the community,
• Sorting, organizing, and distributing the donated items,
• Work on ODB promotional pieces and website, and MORE!

In addition to the activities on May 13, we have committed to collecting donations of

Food & Hygiene Items
New or Gently Used Work Clothes
School Supplies.

We will have a lot of volunteers, but we can always use more.  What we REALLY need are donations of the items mentioned above.  Keller Williams Select Realtors is located at 3290 N. Ridge Rd. Ellicott City, MD 21043 which is right next to the Wal Mart in Ellicott City. 

We would love for you to make a donation when you are in the area. 

If you have any questions, please email frank@thedavisteam.com. 

Thanks and have a great day!

A short sale is a complex real estate transaction where the lenders agree to allow a homeowner to sell their property for less than the amount owed on the property. In other words, it is like a normal real estate sale, with a buyer and a seller, but in a short sale the contract between the buyer and the seller is subject to the third party approval of the lender(s) or mortgage servicer(s) of the outstanding loan(s). The reason the real estate transaction is subject to the third party approval of the lender is because in a short sale the lender must agree to write off or take a loss on the portion of a mortgage that is higher than the value of the home.

A short sale is a difficult residential real estate transaction to manage and get approved by the lender. It involves almost as much paperwork as it took to obtain the mortgage itself, and generally requires the homeowner to prove a financial hardship as to why the short sale should be approved. Not all lenders will accept short sales or to write off any portion of a mortgage. Often lenders are not satisfied with the payoff in the contract between the buyer and seller so there is much negotiation between the parties. The paperwork involved in a short sale is unique and each lender often has different procedures in place for handling short sales.

I'm often asked if this is a good time to buy a home. Some clients are concerned that home prices may fall further than they have already. They are assuming that the best course of action is to wait for the bottom in the market and then buy. The problem with this approach is that you don't know where the bottom is until you see it in the rear view mirror, meaning until you've missed it!

Home prices are one factor in determining your cost of ownership, but so are interest rates and financing availability. Even though interest rates have gone up in the last six months, they are still near historic lows. Since your monthly mortgage payment is a combination of paying down your principal and paying the interest owed, if home prices come down a little further but interest rates go up, it could cost you even more to service a mortgage on an identical home!

While a home is a major investment, it is also the center of your personal life. It's important to live in a home that reflects your taste and values, yet is within your financial "comfort zone." To that end, it may be more important to lock in today's relatively low interest rates and low home prices, rather than to hope for a further break in prices in the future.

Please give me a call if I can be of any assistance in determining how much home you can afford in today's market.

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 was just signed by President Bush with some amazing benefits for first time homebuyers. Call everyone you know who wants to buy their first home (or who hasn't owned one in three years), this is too good to miss - it's a $7,500 tax CREDIT (not deduction but a credit).

If you have not owned a home in three years, you qualify as a first time home buyer. If you buy a home after April 9, 2008 and before July 1, 2009, you qualify for this credit. Call your friends who just bought a home since April 9th and tell them they may take $7,500 off their tax bill if they qualify. It has to be your principal residence, so rentals do not count.

The tax credit is 10% of the cost of the home, up to a maximum of $7,500. This is not an additional deduction that lowers the amount of income to be taxed, it is a tax credit. In other words, you take $7,500 off your tax bill. But there is a catch; the credit you receive now is actually an interest-free loan that must be repaid.

The loan has no interest, and will be paid back over 15 years. You get the credit on your 2008 taxes, but you start paying it back on your 2010 taxes that are due in 2011, so you get at least two years without a payment. You pay back 6.67% of the credit each year, so for a $7,500 credit the payment is $502.50 per year. If you stay put for 15 years, you pay it off with no interest.

What happens if you sell the house? You pay the balance back at the closing. So, you get $7,500 now, and pay the rest of it back if you make money on the sale of your house. What happens if you do not make enough money when you sell your house? They forgive the rest of the debt.

Other restrictions stipulate that you have to buy your first house in three years before July 1, 2009, not have super high income, not use bond financing and buy anywhere in the US.

If you'd like to learn more about this program, please call me!