Washington Post Reports:

District streets that border states create jurisdictional confusion

By Karen Tanner Allen

Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, May 29, 2010

Many locals don't know exactly where the District ends and Maryland begins. Even some who live along the border aren't sure.
Several months after he moved into a bungalow on Eastern Avenue in Takoma Park in 1978, Ray Altevogt was surprised to discover that part of his ostensibly Maryland-side sidewalk lies in the District. A gas line serving his house was replaced, and then the sidewalk needed repair, too.

CLICK HERE for full article:

Wall Street Journal Reports: Green, Pre-fab Homes

Prefab Houses Go Green

 SmartMoney Magazine by Alyssa Abkowitz (Author Archive) 

On a remote home-building site outside the small town of Charlestown, R.I., Tom Dieterich is up on a roof, ducking beneath a massive slab of wood and steel that hangs from a crane. The craggy-faced crew foreman from Blu Homes has been riding his workers hard to finish this house, since they’re already so close: The bamboo floors are down, the foam-insulated walls are up, even the energy-efficient kitchen appliances have been installed. Now, with dusk approaching, Dieterich is anxious to fix the final segment of the roof into place. After all, he and his crew—and one of our reporters—are putting up the house in a single day.

Read more: Prefab Houses Go Green - Personal Finance - Real Estate - SmartMoney.com http://www.smartmoney.com/personal-finance/real-estate/prefab-houses-go-green/#ixzz0oxSz3HNW

Should you refinance?

MSNBC  Real Estate offers advice to homeowners considering refinancing
Click here for video report
 If you are considering refinancing your home, here are a list of lenders we use frequently and reccomend to all of our clients, give them a call and ask any questions you may have about refinancing:

Joseph Nalls

CHEVY CHASE BANK

phone: 240 497 8060

fax: 240 497 8099

mobile: 301 529 8611

email: jpnalls@chevychasebank.net

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Deb Levy   (her assistant is Lisa bennett)
Vice President / Mortgage Loan Officer
Bank of America Home Loans
202.416.2898 office
866.574.4817 fax
301.332.7758 mobile
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Michael Murray
First Savings BankMortgage Loan Officer
240-223-1630 Phone
301-346-9660 Cell
703-564-7014 Fax
mmurray@firstsavings.com

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Chad E. Van Zandt
PROSPERITY MORTGAGE CO.
4733 Bethesda Avenue Suite 100 Bethesda, MD 20814
240-497-1716 Direct
301-523-4686 Portable
301-654-4259 Private Fax
Chad.E.VanZandt@WellsFargo.com

Partner: Karen Van Zandt 240-497-1772
Assistant: Brad Katzen 240-497-6154

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Mike Fegan
George Mason Mortgage, LLC
6550 Rock Spring Drive Suite 655
Bethesda, MD 20817
Office - 301.841.1310
Mobile - 301.325.0717
Fax - 703.890.1859
www.gmmllc.com/mfegan

How much home can you get for $725,000

New York Times Monthly Feature: 

Property Values

What You Get for ... $725,000
 By MIKE POWELL

Published: May 18, 2010  Click here for Full Story

 

Want to live in a place where Will Smith shot a movie? You can

MSNBC's Washington DC Blog reports:

Deal of the Week: The "Enemy of the State" Co-op

Open, afforable, and in a Will Smith movie
By MARK WELLBORN URBANTURF

1789 Lanier Place N.W., #21 (map)
* Price: $510,000
* Bedrooms: Two
* Bathrooms: One
* Square Footage: 1,300

Brand New Listing in Rock Creek Forest! First Open Sunday 5/16

Check out Barbara's New Listing:

2702 Colston Drive, Chevy Chase Maryland, 20815

MC7338390

List Price:  $710,000

 First open  Sunday 5/16- 2pm-5pm

Click Here For HD virtual Tour

Washington Business Journal Reports: DC housing prices up

Tuesday, May 11, 2010, 10:49am EDT

D.C.-area housing prices up 4.7%

Washington Business Journal - by Jeff Clabaugh

The latest read on Washington-area housing prices shows strong year-over-year gains, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Its quarterly report says the median price of a single-family home in the Washington region in the first quarter was $292,600, up 4.7 percent from a year ago.

Read more: D.C.-area housing prices up 4.7% - Washington Business Journal:

Click here for full story

FHA to require tighter regulations for mortgage brokers

Mortgage Insurer Turns to Lenders to Police Brokers 
 The Federal Housing Administration, the government agency that insures a bigger and bigger portion of home loans, plans to rely more heavily on lenders to police mortgage brokers.The changes will put more of the onus on lenders to make sure there is no fraud or faulty underwriting in the loans they fund, and less on the FHA. The lenders could be held liable for losses if a loan insured by the FHA goes bad and there are signs of fraud or mistakes in the underwriting.
Wall Street Journal Reports:  Click Here for full article

Washington Post reports: 30 year mortgage rates hit a 6 week low!

30-year mortgage rates hit six-week low

 The average rate for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages was 5 percent this week, down from last week's average of 5.06 percent. A year ago, 30-year, fixed rate mortgages averaged 4.84 percent, Freddie Mac said.
The average rate on a 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 4.36 percent, down from 4.39 percent last week.
Washington Post reports:  Click Here for Full story

How much home can you get for $450,000?

Property Values

What You Get for ...$450,000

New York Times monthly feature on how much home you can afford for $450k in three different locations around the country:  Click here for full story

Bang for your buck! HGTV on maximizing return on renovation investments

Watch episodes online of HGTV's helpful show "Bang For Your Buck"

When considering renovations, a professional opinion is always helpful on what will get the most retrun on your investment!  this HGTV show offers suggestions on all kinds of renovation projects and demonstrates exactly what kind of jobs will get the best bang for your buck!

Forbes Online Reports: How to detect shabby workmanship in home construction

Eight Dream-Home Dupes

New building exploded during the housing boom. So did lazy construction practices.

List: How To Detect And Deal With Problem Homes

In early 2009 homeowners in Florida, Virginia and Louisiana began noticing odd things. Bathroom mirrors and pipes turned black. Computers and televisions stopped functioning, their circuit boards inexplicably fried. A foul smell plagued some houses. They reported health concerns too, from respiratory problems and bloody noses to insomnia....

Click here for full article

Spruce up the exterior of your home, before summer heat

CNN Money's Real Estate section reports:

The best outdoor jobs to tackle now

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Josh Garskof, Money Magazine contributing writerMay 3, 2010:

(Money Magazine) -- You probably know that boosting your home's curb appeal is one of the most important ways to maximize its value. But that doesn't mean you need to take on a pricey job like replacing the windows or installing a blue-stone walk. In fact, you'll probably get a bigger bang for your buck with upkeep that costs a few hundred dollars at most -- like touching up the paint, mulching planting beds, and staining fences and decks. "A lot of buyers expect to invest in big projects to customize the house, but no one wants to deal with deferred maintenance," says Rick Wohlfarth, a realtor in Cundy's Harbor, Maine. 
Click here for full article. 

Bethesda Home With Zero Carbon Footprint

Washington Post reports:  

A Bethesda home with zero carbon footprint

By Elizabeth Festa

Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Architect Marcie Meditch set out to show how a highly energy-efficient home could be built for a typical market price in a dense, suburban neighborhood like Bethesda... Click here for Full Article: