Another Baltimore City Home Under Contract With Margaret Rome.

                                              

Another Baltimore City Home Under Contract With Margaret Rome.

 2804 Woodland Ave 21215 is under contract.

This single family home in Baltimore is ideal for hospital personnel... within walking distance of  Sinai Hospital where I was a former RN.

2804 Woodland Ave Baltimore, MD 21215  is located in the Cylburn area of Baltimore City.

Here was your chance to own a Single Family cape cod with two bedrooms on the first level and a large finished attic (29" x13") that could be a third bedroom, recreation room, studio or office.

Off street parking... the driveway leads to the back  concrete parking pad with room for a carport or garage.

Convenient location minutes from I-83, Light Rail, bus and just a few short blocks from Sinai Hospital.

                                      

 Please call  me at 410-530-2400 for more information. This was the perfect starter home or investment property.

                  

2804 Woodland Ave 21215 is under contract.

Another Baltimore City Home Under Contract With Margaret Rome.

              

                                       

Getting High...Not Just Lunch!

Driving downtown to the Baltimore Inner Harbor, I realized that I never tire of the views of the buildings, the water, the wide streets and all the people. I was heading for 100 East Pratt Street for a NAWBO sponsored Facebook seminar. I was early because I wanted to be able to get parked and set up with my computer. This was a "Lunch and Learn," and what a good idea. It saves time, gets you fed, and you get some learning at the same time.

We met at the office of law firm Tydings & Rosenberg, hosted by Content McLaughlin, the NAWBO chapter president. Our presenter was Leah Messina of Sinuate Media, and we had 19 people around a wonderful large conference table, each having brought a laptop so we could follow along with Leah.

This session generated a lot of interest and filled quickly –There are so many wanting to understand Facebook and how it can be used for business.

Leah covered a lot in just an hour and a half. At one point she took a picture of the room with her camera phone, sent it from her phone directly to Facebook, and within seconds there we were on her page. ( I would show you that photo but it is to small for this post.)

How neat to be able to do that?! Leah will be back for two more lunching and learning sessions, one on Twitter and one on blogging. This series was a first for NAWBO, and a great idea.

And now, for my all "spare time," I have a gazillion new Facebook connections to eventually answer or friend or whatever you do with them!

The one problem I had during the session.... getting distracted. The conference room had glass walls, and just beyond were the wide windows of the 26th floor and Baltimore's harbor below. Plus, I had my new camera, a Panasonic Lumix with a 28mm wide angle plus a 10x optical zoom. How could I not try it out?

Look at the two boats on the shimmering water to the right of our National Aquarium with its triangular roof line. Beneath that roof is a rain forest!

And can you see the smoke stack in the distance? Over there are Ravens Stadium and Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

And look at the mirrored building with roof top reflections; I do think it might be the Sheraton. From another window I could see the skyline with its interesting shapes.

Then I had to see that steeple up close...yep, the zoom works.

When the session was over it was off to another busy day – a listing appointment and another chance to use my new camera. And then back to Active Rain to share my day.

Singles are Buying in Baltimore

Jody Landers knows the Baltimore market better than anyone. As Executive Vice President of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors, he has the stats and the lowdown on what's happening in Central Maryland real estate.

We talked the other day when we both guests on the radio show, All About Real Estate. The GBBR works with the National Association of Realtors® on surveys of buyers and sellers, and Baltimore stood out on several counts.

First, we learned that overall the Baltimore market is doing very well, and even though sales volume has gone down since last year, prices are holding up. In 2006, the average price of a home in Central Maryland was $316,000, and in 2007 it is $312,000 – a drop of only 1%. That's great news for sellers, even though houses are staying longer on the market.

For buyers, the affordability of houses is very good compared to our nearby neighbors in the Washington, DC metropolitan and Northern Virginia area. The average home in DC is selling at $528,000, and in Northern Virginia it's even higher at $549,000. Compare those to two properties I have listed right now that are in walking distance to the Light Rail, and are priced in the $200,000 range.

Jody had some interesting news about who is buying in our area. We learned that young, single people – especially young women – are seeing the benefits of living in Baltimore, and are buying homes at twice the national average. Last year, 40% of Baltimore homes were sold to single females and 16% to single males. Overall, we are seeing many people under 35 buying homes in Baltimore City where they can find an affordable price and the lifestyle they enjoy. In 2006, 55% of buyers in Baltimore City were single people of all ages.

City living can mean finding an older home that needs some work. Jody told us about Healthy Neighborhoods (www.healthyneighborhoods.org) that focuses on older areas with special financing available for both buying and rehabbing homes in those neighborhoods. Some of these areas have marvelous large homes that need work, like the ones pictured here, but as he pointed out, that's how a buyer can build equity and long-term value.

What's ahead for the Baltimore market? We don't know yet the full effect of the BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) changes, but clearly it will bring new jobs and new demand for housing to the Baltimore area, from Ft. Meade to Aberdeen. In the meantime, the sellers in Baltimore are seeing their prices hold up, and buyers have many options throughout the metro area.