Both the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and the National Associtation of Home Builders (NAHB) report substantial numbers of sales being thwarted by lower than expected appraisals. 

Overall, you must remember that an appraisal is basically one person’s interpretation or opinion on what your home is worth.  The appraisals are (sometimes arguably) done by experienced professionals who base their opinions upon the current local market for similar homes.  When that pool of properties (referred to as comps or comparables) includes mostly foreclosed or distressed homes, it can be tricky to assess a home’s true value.  Sure, your home may be worth $400,000 based on what you paid and the upgrades you did, but when the same house with the same upgrades sells for $329,000 down the street as a foreclosure, buyers are less likely to shell out the extra money for yours.

Back to Market Basics

It’s all a long, drawn out way of saying. “it’s elementary, my dear Watson.”  When two retailers have the same item you want, you buy the item at whichever retailer is selling it cheaper.  Appraisers are simply doing their best in a market they’ve never seen before. 

If you are looking to sell and you have questions or concerns about what the true market value of your home is in the current market, contact me today!   

~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

What Is a Property Tax Assessment?

In short, a tax assessment is the approximate value of your home, according to the government, used for taxation purposes.  It is NOT an appraisal, nor is it an estimate of the sales value of your home.  Homes are assessed every three years by the government, and then annual adjustments are made based on average value changes each year.

How it Works:

When you look at your property tax bill, the amount of tax you pay is based off of this assessed value.  For homes that were just re-assessed, the last assessment was in 2006, so almost all of these homes have been taxed at an assessed value that was higher than the home was actually worth.  In Charles County, just over 18,000 homes were re-assessed, and all but 6 of them had a decrease in value!

The county tax rate for residential property is $1.026 per $100 of assessed value.  This means that for a home valued at $300,000, the tax bill should be $3,780.  The average value drop on this round of assessments for Charles County was 28.2%.  That means that if a home was previously assessed at $300,000, the new assessment would, on average, place it near a value of $215,400.  The tax bill would then drop from $3,780 to $2,714, a savings of $1,066 on the annual tax bill!

Not All Good News

While the benefit of saving $1,000 or more on your tax bill is obvious, this isn’t exactly a rosy picture for residents.  You see, all that money collected from property taxes is used by the government to keep the state running.  In total, Maryland is losing $1.7 billion dollars in tax revenues from this current re-assessment, and we as residents are going to feel it as everything from school budgets to local outreach programs are scaled back or eliminated to cope with the loss of revenue.

Keep your eyes out for a post later this week about the Homestead Tax Credit, which allows owners to cap the annual value increase on their tax assessments at a maximum of 7%!

Link:  Maryland Independent Article: Property Assessments Plummet

~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

Give me a call to set up your appointment, and feel free to look over the property details below!

Link:  Listing on Realtor.com

~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

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:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it-i_pbt1os]

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

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 Should It Be Disclosed?

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.

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

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9pDkekZ6E4]

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

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!

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:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtNPLcwBaho]

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