Fortmeadehomes' Blog: Severn Real Estate

If you are planning to take advantage of the first time Homebuyer or move up buyer tax credit this year there are some new rules that are in place regarding the documentation you will need to submit with your tax return.  Apparently there has been "widespread fraud" with individuals taking advantage of the tax credit without actually purchasing a home.  The following documentation must now be sumbitted with your tax return to prove eligibility for the credit.

•  A fully executed IRS Form 5405 available at www.irs.gov
• A fully signed copy of your HUD1 showing the details of your sale 

Both of these forms are easily completed/obtained on a legitimate sale.  If you have any questions contact your tax professional.  Your Realtor or Title company…

Being in the military or government service has it's unique rewards and challenges.  One of them being the need to move every 2 - 5 years.  So what happens when you invest in Fort Meade real estate and then are transferred (sometimes with very short notice) to another duty station via PCS orders and are caught with a home value that is less than when you purchased?

We're seeing many home owners in the area opting to rent their homes and ride out current market conditions with the hopes that they can break even or make a profit in a few years.   In addition to renting, we have been seeing a lot more short sale activity in the Anne Arundel county real estate market (more on that in another blog), but now it appears that we have a third option open to Fort…

We're holding steady on number of sales in the Severn real estate market for the month of September and it looks like the average sales price is also stabilizing with an overall year over year decrease of just 8% as compared to several double digit decreases in previous months.

The high sale this month was $650,000 for a new construction home in Glen Gary Farms a 3 home subdivision.  

The low sale for the month was $142,000 for an end unit townhome located in Spring Meadows.

There were 4 foreclosure properties sold and two short sale properties sold in Severn this month.

Of those bank foreclosed properties the most notable was a single family home with pool located in Colonial Park that last sold for $697,000 in 2006 and recently sold for…

Looking for a great home close to Fort Meade?  We've just listed a fabulous new property less than 5 minutes from the base.  Features include vinyl siding, new windows & front door, remodeled kitchen and more.

You can view this home on-line for additional photos and information!

Severn saw the first big increase in home sales in several months with a total of 26 homes sold.  While the statistics look grim on sale price which is down 31% that is misleading.  There were simply more large, luxury style homes sold in August 2008 and a much larger number of modest townhomes sold in 2009.  So while prices have gone down substantially it is not an overall 31% decrease over the previous year. 

Severn real estate remains a popular choice for Fort Meade area home buyers.  And with prices becoming more reasonable and great interest rates still holding strong we've seen a healthy upsurge in the amount of homes sold.  This could be a sign of overall stabilization but it's a bit too early to tell. 

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Looking for a great home close to Fort Meade?  We've just listed a fabulous new property less than 5 minutes from the base.  Features include a heated inground pool, beautifully remodeled kitchen & baths, screened porch addition, covered patio, fireplace and much more.  

You can view this home on-line for additional photos and information!

Just took a look at the final sales states for Anne Arundel County in July and they are a bit surprising.  Based on the volume of sales we are seeing on our family team I would have guessed we had another record month for Fort Meade real estate.  While the county as a whole was up 17% the areas immediately surrounding Fort Meade saw a decline in volume and home values.  Bring on the BRAC!

I pull these reports manually from the MLS sold data.  I've compared them to the monthly reports provided by MLS and there are very slight differences in  our data which I'm assuming relate to the entry date or update of the listing.   Not sure why that is, but I'm recording only units sold between the 1st and the last day of the month. 

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Fort Meade BRAC is undoubtedly the hottest topic affecting Anne Arundel County real estate in 2009.  Despite all the buzz it is very difficult to find one source that provides the answers to the most asked questions which are:

(1)    How may people/jobs will be coming to Fort Meade as a result of BRAC?

The answer is 5,400 which includes 4,300 DISA military, civilian, and contractor personnel.  While I've seen huge numbers bantered about on other real estate web sites and BLOGs (up to 30,000) that larger number takes into account all Maryland BRAC transfers...the bulk of which are going to points north of us including Aberdeen Proving Grounds.   

(2)   When will the new employees be arriving?

DISA which makes up the bulk of this transfer at about…