Bob's Blog

Frederick County Real Estate as of 1/28/12

2012-01-30T12:09:00.000-08:00

For Frederick County Real Estate, of the 28^th of January, the numbers are still split relative to SOLD and Pending Sales vs. December. SOLD units are running well behind December at 91 (10F, 31S) units vs. 141 as of Dec 28, although there is a chance of equaling January of 2011. Pending Sales are running well AHEAD of December’s number by 208 (15F, 86S) compared to only 164 as of December 28. Pending Sales have already exceeded December’s TOTAL by 8% and are only 1 unit shy of equaling Last January’s number with a couple of days left in the month. There have been 205 New Listings (11F, 44S) so far in January 2012. Final numbers for January will be released around Feb 10.

As of 1/28 As of 12/28 Current numbers vs. previous month (total) and vs. last year, same month (total)

Sold 91* 141 *Approx 53% of the way to beat Dec 11 (172) and 66% of the way to beat Jan 11 (138)

Pending 208# 164 #Approx 8% ABOVE Dec 11 (193) and 99.5% of the way to beat Jan 11 (209)

In addition to the normal chart, below is a chart showing Total units, Active, and Under Contract. For Frederick County the number of units Under Contract vs the Total is 37.71% (UP 1.04% from last week). Four of the five counties ROSE this week. Howard ROSE the most. Montgomery still maintains the highest percentage while Frederick remains in second place.

Percent of Homes Under Contract vs. Total

Current Active vs. Contract Snapshot
	Total	Active	Contract	% Contr	% Chg vs LW
Carroll	1058	856	202	19.09%	-0.48%
Frederick	1400	872	528	37.71%	1.04%
Howard	1534	1077	457	29.79%	1.46%
Montgomery	4127	2369	1758	42.60%	0.91%
Washington	854	643	211	24.71%	0.97%
1/30/2012

* Distressed Property Activity - Frederick County:

Of the 872 "Active" properties, 172 (23 Foreclosure, 149 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (20%)

Of the 528 "Under Contract" properties, 311 (35 Foreclosure, 276 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (59%)

NOTE: This past week, the Active properties percentage was stable at 20% while the Under Contract percentage dropped by 1% to 59%. Frederick’s current Active Inventory count is down to 872 units, another DECREASE, this time of 24 units from last week. This is the 16^th week out of the last 17 weeks that the Active Inventory count has decreased. The only increase was 10 weeks ago, and it was only an increase of 3 units over the previous week.

Frederick County Maryland Real Estate as of 8/14/11

2011-08-16T10:43:00.000-07:00

Frederick County’s August SOLD units are continuing to run well as of the 14^th of the month. SOLD units are at 74, 18 ahead of the July 14^th number. Eleven of these are indicated as Foreclosures and 13 as Short Sales. Pending Sales are at 112 as of the 14^th of the month, 10 units behind the 122 recorded as the 14^th of July. Ten of these are indicated as Foreclosures and 36 as Short Sales. So far there have been 158 New Listings for the month, 9 indicated as Foreclosures and 28 as Short Sales.

As of 8/14 As of 7/14 Current numbers vs. previous month (total) and vs. last year, same month (total)

Sold 74* 57 *Approx 34% of the way to beat July 11 (221) and 33% of the way to beat Aug 10 (227)

Pending 112# 122 #Approx 42% of the way to beat July 11 (270) and 51% of the way to beat Aug 10 (221)

In addition to the normal chart, below is a chart showing Total units, Active, and under Contract. For Frederick County the number of units under contract vs the total is 30.67% (down 0.62% from last week). This week’s numbers were split with three counties' percentages RISING this week and two falling. Washington rose the most. Montgomery still maintains the highest percentage while Frederick maintains second place.

Percent of Homes Under Contract vs. Total

Current Active vs. Contract Snapshot
	Total	Active	Contract	% Contr	% Chg vs LW
Carroll	1412	1129	283	20.04%	-0.01%
Frederick	1816	1259	557	30.67%	-0.62%
Howard	2036	1494	542	26.62%	0.06%
Montgomery	5419	3348	2071	38.22%	0.04%
Washington	1127	866	261	23.16%	0.20%
8/16/2011

* Distressed Property Activity - Frederick County:

Of the 1259 "Active" properties, 293 (41 Foreclosure, 252 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (23%)

Of the 557 "Under Contract" properties, 297 (40 Foreclosure, 257 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (53%)

NOTE: This past week, both the Active properties percentage and Under Contract percentage were stable at 23% and 53%, respectively. Frederick’s current Active Inventory count is 1259 units, an increase of 16 units from last week. Frederick’s inventory level remains quite low by comparison to other counties.

http://www.bobsawchuck.com/ or scan the code below from your smartphone:

Thus ends my post. See you next time.

Bob

Frederick County Maryland Real Estate July Final/Aug 7

2011-08-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

The SOLD and Pending Sale numbers for Frederick County for July have ended as they have tracked all month, running slightly behind June’s numbers. The SOLD number was 221 units, 14% shy of the June Total but 1% ABOVE the total from July 2010. The Pending Sales number for July was 270 units, 12% shy of June’s number but 13% ABOVE July of 2010. Of the 221 SOLD units, 26 were indicated as Foreclosures and 34 as Short Sales. Of the 270 Pending Sales, 21 were indicated as Foreclosures and 70 as Short Sales.

The Total Volume Sold for Frederick County in July was $57,685,121 vs. $63,787,389 for June, a decrease of just under 10% and also, slightly down from 2010 (by 6%). The Average Sold Price of $261,019 was 6% ABOVE the $247,238 for June. The Median Sold Price was $235,000 vs. $220,000 for June which was nearly 7% higher than the June number. While the Sold total unit count and therefore, total Dollar Volume show declines from June, July is typically a bit slower than June so there is not a major concern for the decline. The positive note is the prices seem to be stable to rising while inventory continues to be steady to falling. This is another indication of stability in the market. Regarding Days on Market, for June, Frederick County’s July Average was 111 days vs. an average of 101 days in June, a slight decline, however, not a major issue.

August has started out well for Frederick County. SOLD units are at 35, 15 ahead of July’s number as of the 7^th of the month. Seven of these are indicated as Foreclosures and 5 as Short Sales. Pending Sales are at 56 as of the 7^th of the month compared to 55 as the 7^th of July. Three of these are indicated as Foreclosures and 20 as Short Sales. So far there have been 80 New Listings for the month, 5 indicated as Foreclosures and 14 as Short Sales.

Final Current numbers vs. previous month (total) and vs. last year, same month (total)

Sold 221 *Approx 86%, 14% shy of June 11 (258) and 1% ABOVE Jul 10 (220)

Pending 270 #Approx 88%, 12% shy of June 11 (306) and 13% ABOVE Jul 10 (239)

As of 8/7 As of 7/7 Current numbers vs. previous month (total) and vs. last year, same month (total)

Sold 35* 20 *Approx 16% of the way to beat July 11 (221) and 15% of the way to beat Aug 10 (227)

Pending 56# 55 #Approx 21% of the way to beat July 11 (270) and 25% of the way to beat Aug 10 (221)

In addition to the normal chart, below is a chart showing Total units, Active, and under Contract. For Frederick County the number of units under contract vs the total is 31.29% (UP 0.7% from last week). All five counties' percentages ROSE this week with Washington rising the least. Montgomery still maintains the highest percentage while Frederick maintains second place.

Percent of Homes Under Contract vs. Total

Current Active vs. Contract Snapshot
	Total	Active	Contract	% Contr	% Chg vs LW
Carroll	1411	1128	283	20.06%	0.65%
Frederick	1809	1243	566	31.29%	0.07%
Howard	2037	1496	541	26.56%	0.64%
Montgomery	5417	3349	2068	38.18%	0.72%
Washington	1141	879	262	22.96%	1.74%
8/9/2011

* Distressed Property Activity - Frederick County:

Of the 1243 "Active" properties, 292 (40 Foreclosure, 252 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (23%)

Of the 566 "Under Contract" properties, 300 (39 Foreclosure, 261 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (53%)

NOTE: This past week, the Active properties percentage was again stable at 23% while the Under Contract property percentage dropped by 2% to 53%. Frederick’s current Active Inventory count is 1243 units, a DECREASE of 13 units from last week. Frederick’s inventory level remains quite low by comparison to other counties.

http://www.bobsawchuck.com/ or scan the code below from your smartphone:

Thus ends my post. See you next time.

Bob

Frederick County Maryland Real Estate as of 7/28/11

2011-07-31T09:19:00.000-07:00

The SOLD and Pending Sale numbers for Frederick County for July continue to lag behind June’s number. The holiday at the beginning of the month caused the unit counts to start the month in a bit of a hole, however throughout the month, activity has been stable and in fact, showing activity has picked up in the latter part of the month. This indicates that the numbers are behind simply because of the “lost” first week of the month and shows that buyers are out there. Many are looking to find a home before the end of summer. Of the 169 SOLD units as of the 28^th, 20 are identified as Foreclosures, with 25 being identified as Short Sales. The 169 SOLD count is 16 units behind June’s number as of the 28^th. As far as Pending Sales, 27 of the 224 recorded thus far in July are indicated as Foreclosures and 67 as Short Sales. The July total Pending Sales of 224 is 35 units behind June’s number of 259 as of this point in the month. New Listing totals for July as of the 28^th are 295, 17 indicated as Foreclosures and 63 as Short Sales. As of July 30, the Current Active Inventory is only 1256 units.

As of 7/28 As of 6/28 Current numbers vs. previous month (total) and vs. last year, same month (total)

Sold 169* 185 *Approx 66% of the way to beat June 11 (258) and 77% of the way to beat Jul 10 (220)

Pending 224# 259 #Approx 73% of the way to beat June 11 (306) and 94% of the way to beat Jul 10 (239)

In addition to the normal chart, below is a chart showing Total units, Active, and under Contract. For Frederick County the number of units under contract vs the total is 31.22% (Down 0.45% from last week). All five counties' percentages dropped this week with Frederick and Carroll dropping the least. Montgomery still maintains the highest percentage while Frederick maintains second place.

Percent of Homes Under Contract vs. Total

Current Active vs. Contract Snapshot
	Total	Active	Contract	% Contr	% Chg vs LW
Carroll	1417	1142	275	19.41%	-0.45%
Frederick	1826	1256	570	31.22%	-0.45%
Howard	2033	1506	527	25.92%	-0.93%
Montgomery	5510	3446	2064	37.46%	-1.21%
Washington	1150	906	244	21.22%	-1.33%
7/30/2011

* Distressed Property Activity - Frederick County:

Of the 1256 "Active" properties, 286 (42 Foreclosure, 244 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (23%)

Of the 570 "Under Contract" properties, 316 (47 Foreclosure, 269 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (55%)

NOTE: This past week, the Active properties percentage was again stable at 23% while the Under Contract property percentage rose by 2% to 55%. The rise in Under Contract percentage is not unexpected at this time of the month. The change reflects two factors, the decline in the number of Under Contract units, mostly due to settlements, (from 594 last week to 570 this week) coupled with the stability of the distressed properties under contract (317 last week vs. 316 this week.) The fact that many distressed properties take longer to sell keeps the Under Contract property count high since these typically take many months to reach settlement. Frederick’s current Active Inventory count is 1256 units, a DECREASE of 26 units from last week. Frederick’s inventory level remains quite low by comparison to other counties.

Visit my website for more information and to sign up for County Reports in a graph format. In addition to Frederick County, I cover Carroll, Howard, Montgomery, and Washington Counties in Maryland. Click on the County Reports Button on the left side of my Home Page.

http://www.bobsawchuck.com/ or scan the code below from your smartphone:

Thus ends my post. See you next time.

Bob

Frederick County Maryland Real Estate as of 7/21/11

2011-07-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

The SOLD and Pending Sale numbers for Frederick County numbers for July continue to lag behind June’s number. The real estate activity started out the month slowly, with the holiday on the 4th, and while the activity is stable, the numbers have continued to run behind since that time. Of the 106 SOLD units as of the 21^st, 15 are identified as Foreclosures, with 17 being identified as Short Sales. The 106 SOLD count is 8 units behind June’s number as of the 21^st. As far as Pending Sales, 22 of the 173 recorded thus far in July are indicated as Foreclosures and 51 as Short Sales. The July total Pending Sales of 173 is 33 units behind June’s number of 206 as of this point in the month. New Listing totals for July as of the 21^st are 177, 14 indicated as Foreclosures and 52 as Short Sales. As of July 16, the Current Active Inventory is only 1282 units.

As of 7/21 As of 6/21 Current numbers vs. previous month (total) and vs. last year, same month (total)

Sold 106* 114 *Approx 41% of the way to beat June 11 (258) and 48% of the way to beat Jul 10 (220)

Pending 173# 206 #Approx 57% of the way to beat June 11 (306) and 72% of the way to beat Jul 10 (239)

In addition to the normal chart, below is a chart showing Total units, Active, and under Contract. For Frederick County the number of units under contract vs the total is 31.66% (Down 0.71% from last week). Three of five counties' percentages rose this week with Carroll rising the most. Montgomery still maintains the highest percentage while Frederick maintains second place.

Percent of Homes Under Contract vs. Total

Current Active vs. Contract Snapshot
	Total	Active	Contract	% Contr	% Chg vs LW
Carroll	1440	1154	286	19.86%	0.56%
Frederick	1876	1282	594	31.66%	-0.71%
Howard	2078	1520	558	26.85%	0.29%
Montgomery	5669	3477	2192	38.67%	0.02%
Washington	1171	907	264	22.54%	-0.02%
7/23/2011

* Distressed Property Activity - Frederick County:

Of the 1282 "Active" properties, 292 (42 Foreclosure, 250 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (23%)

Of the 594 "Under Contract" properties, 317 (49 Foreclosure, 268 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (53%)

NOTE: This past week, the Active properties percentage was again stable at 23% while the Under Contract property percentage rose by 1% to 53%. Frederick’s current Active Inventory count is 1282 units, an increase of 16 units from last week. Frederick’s inventory level remains quite low by comparison to other counties.

http://www.bobsawchuck.com/ or scan the code below from your smartphone:

Thus ends my post. See you next time.

Bob

Frederick County Maryland Real Estate as of July 14

2011-07-19T14:52:00.000-07:00

So far for the month of July, the SOLD and Pending Sale numbers are below June’s number, however, with the holiday weekend falling in that period, those numbers are not surprising. Of the 57 SOLD units in July, 7 are identified as Foreclosures, with 7 being identified as Short Sales. As far as Pending Sales, 19 of the 122 are indicated as Foreclosures and 28 as Short Sales. New Listing totals for July as of the 14^th are 158, 8 indicated as Foreclosures and 36 as Short Sales. As of July 16, the Current Active Inventory is only 1266 units. Showing activity seems to have picked back up after the holiday week. There is hope that the July numbers will catch up and surpass June’s and continue the strong showing for the area.

As of 7/14 As of 6/14 Current numbers vs. previous month (total) and vs. last year, same month (total)

Sold 57* 66 *Approx 22% of the way to beat June 11 (258) and 26% of the way to beat Jul 10 (220)

Pending 122# 139 #Approx 40% of the way to beat June 11 (306) and 57% of the way to beat Jul 10 (239)

In addition to the normal chart, below is a chart showing Total units, Active, and under Contract. For Frederick County the number of units under contract vs the total is 32.37% (Down 0.11% from last week). Three of five counties' percentages rose this week with Washington rising the most. Montgomery still maintains the highest percentage while Frederick maintains second place.

Percent of Homes Under Contract vs. Total

Current Active vs. Contract Snapshot
	Total	Active	Contract	% Contr	% Chg vs LW
Carroll	1440	1162	278	19.31%	0.13%
Frederick	1872	1266	606	32.37%	-0.11%
Howard	2097	1540	557	26.56%	-1.04%
Montgomery	5750	3528	2222	38.64%	0.45%
Washington	1161	899	262	22.57%	1.31%
7/16/2011

* Distressed Property Activity - Frederick County:

Of the 1276 "Active" properties, 284 (49 Foreclosure, 235 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (23%)

Of the 601 "Under Contract" properties, 314 (50 Foreclosure, 264 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (5221%)

NOTE: This past week, both the Active and Under Contract properties percentage was stable at 23% and 52%, respectively. Frederick’s current Active Inventory count is 1266 units, an increase of 17 units from last week. Frederick’s inventory level remains quite low by comparison to other counties.

http://www.bobsawchuck.com/ or scan the code below from your smartphone:

Thus ends my post. See you next time.

Bob

Catch up BLOG - Frederick County Real Estate - June Final-Jul 7

2011-07-19T14:49:00.000-07:00

The June Final Real Estate Market numbers for Frederick County were again showing stability. Sold units exceeded May of 2011 by 10% while falling short of June 2010 by 9%. Again, this is not a surprise since the Federal Tax Credit initial ending date was in June of 2010. Pending Sales for June were only 3% below May, while being well above June of 2010 by 44%. This data shows a healthy and stable market. Of the 258 SOLD units, 46 were identified as Foreclosures and 34 as Short Sales, approx 31% of the total Sales. Of the Pending Sales, 36 of the 306 were identified as Foreclosures and 77 as Short Sales, a total of 113, approx 37%.

The Total Volume Sold for Frederick County in June was $63,787,389, an increase of just over 11% above May’s total of $57,399,608 and as expected, down from 2010 (by 17%). The Average Sold Price of $247,238 was nearly 1.25% higher than the $244,254 for May. The Median Sold Price was $220,000 which was approx 1% higher than the $218,000, for May. These are all good numbers and another good number is the Average Days on Market. For June, Frederick County’s Average was 101 days vs. an average of 107 days in May, good for an improvement of approx 5%.

So far for the month of July, the SOLD and Pending Sale numbers are below June’s number, however, with the holiday weekend falling in that period, those numbers are not surprising. One of the 20 SOLD units in July is identified as a Foreclosure, with 4 being identified as Short Sales. As far as Pending Sales, 8 of the 73 are indicated as Foreclosures and 13 as Short Sales. New Listing totals for July as of the 7^th are 70, 5 indicated as Foreclosures and 15 as Short Sales. As of July 10, the Current Active Inventory is only 1249 units.

June Final Current numbers vs. previous month (total) and vs. last year, same month (total)

Sold 258* *Approx 10% ABOVE May 11 (235) and 9% below Jun 10 (283)

Pending 306# #Approx 3% below May 11 (278) and 44% ABOVE Jun 10 (212)

As of 7/7 As of 6/7 Current numbers vs. previous month (total) and vs. last year, same month (total)

Sold 20* 27 *Approx 8% of the way to beat June 11 (258) and 9% of the way to beat Jul 10 (220)

Pending 55# 73 #Approx 18% of the way to beat June 11 (306) and 23% of the way to beat Jul 10 (239)

In addition to the normal chart, below is a chart showing Total units, Active, and under Contract. For Frederick County the number of units under contract vs the total is 32.49% (Down 0.46% from last week). Four of five counties' percentages fell this week with Howard, again, falling the most. Washington County rose by 1.26%. Montgomery still maintains the highest percentage while Frederick maintains second place.

Percent of Homes Under Contract vs. Total

Current Active vs. Contract Snapshot
	Total	Active	Contract	% Contr	% Chg vs LW
Carroll	1408	1138	270	19.18%	-0.57%
Frederick	1850	1249	601	32.49%	-0.46%
Howard	2094	1516	578	27.60%	-0.83%
Montgomery	5723	3537	2186	38.20%	-0.78%
Washington	1143	900	243	21.26%	1.26%
7/10/2011

* Distressed Property Activity - Frederick County:

Of the 1276 "Active" properties, 284 (49 Foreclosure, 235 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (23%)

Of the 601 "Under Contract" properties, 314 (50 Foreclosure, 264 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (5221%)

NOTE: This past week, the Active properties percentage was stable at 23% while the Under Contract percentage rose by 1% to 52%. This increase is likely due to the larger number of settlements at the end of the month dropping the under contract count, while the Under Contract distressed properties continue to wait for bank approval. Frederick’s current Active Inventory count is 1249 units, a DECREASE of 27 units from last week. Some of the decrease may be due to listings that expired on June 30. Regardless, Frederick’s inventory level remains quite low by comparison to other counties.

http://www.bobsawchuck.com/ or scan the code below from your smartphone:

Thus ends my post. See you next time.

Bob

Strong buy recommendation for Washington DC Metro Area

2011-07-09T09:20:00.000-07:00

If this isn't the best recommendation to BUY NOW in the Washington DC, Maryland, northern Virginia, and eastern West Virginia areas, I don't know what is. In an article on Yahoo Real Estate, from Bloomberg, This area ranked number 1 in the Real Estate market. In fact, prices have RISEN by 4.4% on average in the first six months of the year and are expected to RISE another 2.8% on average over the rest of the year!

No. 1: Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.V.
Forecast price change, July to December 2011: 2.8%
Observed January to June 2011: 4.4%

You can see the entire article by clicking here:

http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-5-best-performing-housing-markets.html

You can visit my website by clicking on the link below:

http://www.bobsawchuck.com/ or scan the code below from your smartphone:

Thus ends my post. See you next time.

Bob

Frederick County Maryland Real Estate as of 6/28/11

2011-06-30T14:46:00.000-07:00

The Real Estate Market numbers trending so far for Frederick County for June have flipped. Previously this month, the Sold numbers were running slightly behind and the Pending Sales numbers slightly ahead of last month. Currently, that has reversed with the Sold number now running ahead and the Pending Sale number running behind last month. As of the 28^th of June the SOLD number is 185 units, 12 units AHEAD of the 173 units SOLD as of May 28^th. Of those SOLD units, 38 units were Foreclosed homes and 24 were Short Sales. There were 259 New Pending Contracts as of June 28^th, 27 of which were on Foreclosed properties and 69 on Short Sales. The 259 Pending Sales units puts Frederick County 19 Pending Sale units behind the number as of the 28^th of May. There have been 344 New Listings thus far in June, 31 of them were identified as Foreclosures and 57 as Short Sales. One interesting note is that all five counties are showing the same trend, Sold units are running ahead and Pending Sales are running behind last month.

As of 6/28 As of 5/28 Current numbers vs. previous month (total) and vs. last year, same month (total)

Sold 185* 173 *Approx 77% of the way to beat May 11 (235) and 65% of the way to beat Jun 10 (283)

Pending 259# 278 #Approx 82% of the way to beat May 11 (278) and 22% ABOVE Jun 10 (212)

In addition to the normal chart, below is a chart showing Total units, Active, and under Contract. For Frederick County the number of units under contract vs the total is 32.95% (Down 1.12% from last week). All five counties' percentages fell this week with Howard falling the most. Montgomery still maintains the highest percentage while Frederick maintains second place.

Percent of Homes Under Contract vs. Total

Current Active vs. Contract Snapshot
	Total	Active	Contract	% Contr	% Chg vs LW
Carroll	1418	1138	280	19.75%	-1.94%
Frederick	1903	1276	627	32.95%	-1.12%
Howard	2100	1503	597	28.43%	-2.21%
Montgomery	5816	3549	2267	38.98%	-0.67%
Washington	1170	936	234	20.00%	-2.20%
6/30/2011

* Distressed Property Activity - Frederick County:

Of the 1276 "Active" properties, 289 (53 Foreclosure, 236 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (23%)

Of the 627 "Under Contract" properties, 321 (51 Foreclosure, 270 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (51%)

NOTE: This past week, the Active properties percentage was stable at 23% while the Under Contract percentage rose by 2% to 51%. This increase is likely due to the larger number of settlements at the end of the month dropping the under contract count, while the Under Contract distressed properties continue to wait for bank approval. Frederick’s current Active Inventory count is 1276 units, a DECREASE of 9 units from last week.

http://www.bobsawchuck.com/ or scan the code below from your smartphone:

Thus ends my post. See you next time.

Bob

Frederick County Maryland Real Estate as of 6/21/11

2011-06-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

The Real Estate Market numbers so far in June for Frederick County continue to be stable and have varied only minimally from the May numbers. The SOLD number, as of the 21^st, is 114 units, 6 units behind the 120 units SOLD as of May 21^st. Of those SOLD units, 21 units were Foreclosed homes and 16 were Short Sales. There were 206 new Pending Contracts as of June 21^st, 20 of which were on Foreclosed properties and 54 on Short Sales. The 139 Pending Sales puts Frederick County 9 Pending Sale units AHEAD of the number as of the 21^st of May. There have been 271 New Listings thus far in June, 26 of them were identified as Foreclosures and 41 as Short Sales.

As of 6/21 As of 5/21 Current numbers vs. previous month (total) and vs. last year, same month (total)

Sold 114* 120 *Approx 49% of the way to beat May 11 (235) and 40% of the way to beat Jun 10 (283)

Pending 206# 197 #Approx 65% of the way to beat May 11 (278) and 97% of the way to beat Jun 10 (212)

In addition to the normal chart, below is a chart showing Total units, Active, and under Contract. For Frederick County the number of units under contract vs the total is 34.07% (UP 0.24% from last week). Three of the five counties' percentages rose this week with Howard rising the most. Montgomery still maintains the highest percentage while Frederick maintains second place.

Percent of Homes Under Contract vs. Total

Current Active vs. Contract Snapshot
	Total	Active	Contract	% Contr	% Chg vs LW
Carroll	1448	1134	314	21.69%	0.05%
Frederick	1949	1285	664	34.07%	0.24%
Howard	2151	1492	659	30.64%	0.46%
Montgomery	5929	3578	2351	39.65%	-0.35%
Washington	1171	911	260	22.20%	-0.08%
6/23/2011

* Distressed Property Activity - Frederick County:

Of the 1285 "Active" properties, 295 (58 Foreclosure, 237 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (23%)

Of the 664 "Under Contract" properties, 327 (58 Foreclosure, 269 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (49%)

NOTE: This past week, both the Active properties and Under Contract percentages were stable at 23% and 49% respectively. Frederick’s Active Inventory count was 1285 units, an increase of only 2 units from last week. As a comparison, Frederick’s Active Inventory count on Dec 30, 2010 was 1291.

http://www.bobsawchuck.com/ or scan the code below from your smartphone:

Thus ends my post. See you next time.

Bob

Frederick County Maryland Real Estate as of 6/14/11

2011-06-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

The Real Estate Market numbers so far in June for Frederick County are relatively stable vs. the same period in May. The SOLD number, as of the 14^th, is 66 units, 7 units behind the 73 units SOLD as of May 14^th. Of those SOLD units, 11 units were Foreclosed homes and 11 were Short Sales. There were 139 New Pending Contracts as of June 14^th, 11 of which were on Foreclosed properties and 35 on Short Sales. The 139 Pending Sales puts Frederick County 5 Pending Sale units ahead of the number as of the 14^th of May. There have been 189 New Listings thus far in June, 20 of them were identified as Foreclosures and 31 as Short Sales.

As of 6/14 As of 5/14 Current numbers vs. previous month (total) and vs. last year, same month (total)

Sold 66* 73 *Approx 28% of the way to beat May 11 (235) and 23% of the way to beat Jun 10 (283)

Pending 139# 134 #Approx 44% of the way to beat May 11 (278) and 66% of the way to beat Jun 10 (212)

Below is a chart showing Total units, Active, and under Contract. For Frederick County the number of units under contract vs the total is 33.83% (UP 0.10% from last week). Three of the five counties' percentages rose this week with Carroll rising the most. Montgomery still maintains the highest percentage while Frederick maintains second place.

Percent of Homes Under Contract vs. Total

Current Active vs. Contract Snapshot
	Total	Active	Contract	% Contr	% Chg vs LW
Carroll	1456	1141	315	21.63%	0.56%
Frederick	1939	1283	656	33.83%	0.10%
Howard	2157	1506	651	30.18%	0.51%
Montgomery	6000	3600	2400	40.00%	-0.08%
Washington	1176	914	262	22.28%	-0.71%
6/16/2011

* Distressed Property Activity - Frederick County:

Of the 1283 "Active" properties, 293 (56 Foreclosure, 237 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (23%)

Of the 656 "Under Contract" properties, 324 (61 Foreclosure, 263 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (49%)

NOTE: This past week, the Active properties percentage was stable at 23% while the Under Contract percentage dropped 2% to 49%. This is the first time the Under Contract percentage has been under 50% since I started looking at the data over a year ago. The number had been as high as 64% at one point. Frederick’s Active Inventory Count was 1283 units, an increase of only 6 units from last week.

Visit my website for more information and to sign up for County Reports in a graph format.

http://www.bobsawchuck.com/ or scan the code below from your smartphone:

Thus ends my post. See you next time.

Bob

Frederick County Maryland Real Estate

2011-06-11T14:24:00.000-07:00

Frederick County’s May Real Estate numbers continue the solid run it has maintained for the past several months. SOLD units were 235, 9% ABOVE April of 2011. While that number is 20% below April of 2010, it comes as no surprise since April 2010 was the first month after the end of the government Tax Credit and its SOLD numbers were artificially high. Continuing the good news was the Pending Sales number. Frederick County posted 315 new Pending Sales in May, a 6% increase over April of 2011 and a 61% increase over April 2010. While it was to be expected that Pending Sales would be higher than April 2010, again because of the end of the Tax Credit, the over 60% increase is a very good sign of the strength of the current market activity.

The Total Volume Sold for Frederick County in May was $57,399,608, an increase of nearly 11 ½% over April which was $51,499,689 and as expected, down from 2010 (by 25%). The Average Sold Price of $244,254 was nearly 2% higher than the $239,533 for April. The Median Sold Price was $218,000, which was approx 4% higher than the $210,000 for April. These are all good numbers and another good number is the Average Days on Market. For May, Frederick County’s Average was 107 days vs. an average of 125 days in April, good for an improvement of approx 14%.

May FINAL Current numbers vs. previous month (total) and vs. last year, same month (total)

Sold 235* *Approx 9% ABOVE Apr 11 (215) but 20% below May 10 (293)

Pending 278# #Approx 6% ABOVE Apr 11 (298) and 61% ABOVE May 10 (196)

So far in June, the SOLD number, as of the 7^th, is 27 units vs. 31 units as of May 7th. Five of those sales were of Foreclosed homes and five were short sales. There were 73 New Pending Contracts as of June 7^th, 8 of which were on Foreclosed properties and 18 on Short Sales. The 73 Pending Sales puts Frederick County 8 Pending Sale units ahead of the number as of the 7^th of May. There have been 105 New Listings thus far in June, 18 of them were identified as Foreclosures and 20 as Short Sales.

As of 6/7 As of 5/7 Current numbers vs. previous month (total) and vs. last year, same month (total)

Sold 27* 31 *Approx 12% of the way to beat May 11 (235) and 10% of the way to beat Jun 10 (283)

Pending 73# 65 #Approx 23% of the way to beat May 11 (278) and 34% of the way to beat Jun 10 (212)

In addition to the normal chart, below is a chart showing Total units, Active, and under Contract. For Frederick County the number of units under contract vs the total is 33.73% (down 0.33% from last week). Four of the five counties' percentages fell this week. Carroll was the only county to in the positives as it rose by .79%. Montgomery still maintains the highest percentage while Frederick maintains second place.

Percent of Homes Under Contract vs. Total

Current Active vs. Contract Snapshot
	Total	Active	Contract	% Contr	% Chg vs LW
Carroll	1447	1142	305	21.08%	0.79%
Frederick	1927	1277	650	33.73%	-0.33%
Howard	2150	1512	638	29.67%	-0.29%
Montgomery	5983	3585	2398	40.08%	-1.01%
Washington	1170	901	269	22.99%	-0.67%
6/9/2011

* Distressed Property Activity - Frederick County:

Of the 1277 "Active" properties, 300 (60 Foreclosure, 240 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (23%)

Of the 650 "Under Contract" properties, 332 (67 Foreclosure, 265 Short Sale) are "Distressed" properties (51%)

NOTE: This past week, the Active properties percentage was stable at 23% while the Under Contract percentage dropped 1% to 51%. Frederick’s Active Inventory Count was 1277 units, an increase of only 1 unit from last week.

Don't forget to visit my website http://www.bobsawchuck.com/.

Thus ends this post. See you next time..

Bob

The US Real Estate Market, in General

2011-06-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

Much has been said over the past week about the weakness in the US Real Estate Market. The Case-Schiller Report indicates that home prices are down in 19 of 20 metro areas in the country. While this news is not encouraging, it is not the end. With all these reports coming out every month, the media is treating the housing market like the stock market. Most people don't plan to live in Google, Linkedin, (or whatever the latest belle of Wall Street is) for the next seven years. If you are looking at the housing market like a stock investment that you are going to jump into and out of, these reports may be helpful. But most home buyers do not intend to do that. If you are planning to buy a home to live in for the next 7 - 10 years or more, there really may never be a better time to buy a house than now. If you are planning to buy and flip the house in a year, you may still have a few hurdles. In that case, keep watching the reports closely.

One positive in the Case-Schiller Report was the Washington, DC metro area. I can say myself that I have seen improvement in the local real estate market. For example Frederick County Maryland's Active Inventory is right around 1275 units at this time with a healthy sales volume. By comparison, the worst inventory level in the last five years was around 2500 Active Listings with a very slow burn rate. That would equate to about a 16 month inventory. Currently the inventory turn rate is around 4 months, a pretty good level.

This area is fortunate since it is located near the nation's capital. There are some changes in government every two years and potentially a change in administration every four years. Companies that wish to have access to the government want to locate here and lobbyists are also in and out of the area, as well, so this area, while not immune from recession, certainly is a little better insulated from them than other areas of the country.

Thus ends this post. See you next time..

Bob

Grocery Stores - Good News/Bad News

2011-06-07T14:48:00.000-07:00

Today's topic is about the comings and goings of grocery stores in Frederick County. The bad news (and sorry the news is a little old but I wanted to comment) is the Superfresh stores in Frederick and Brunswick, and everywhere else in Maryland except Ocean City will be closing. While I can certainly understand a company consolidating and even closing poor performing locations, what I cannot understand is how, for example, the one in Brunswick could be poor performing since it is the only grocery store in the town. In addition, if the trucks are going to travel the length of Maryland to get to the shore at Ocean City, I don't see whay they couldn't have kept a couple of additional stores open along the way.

Meanwhile, the Wegmans store is open in Frederick. I visited the store today and have to say it is an amazing experience. In addition to shopping for your groceries, you can eat there in the market area. They have a wide variety of foods from salad, sushi, pizza, subs, ribs, Asian food, ice cream, and more. You could live there. And the prices are competitive, as well. It is worth the trip.

Thus ends this post. See you next time..

Bob

Funny Square Codes

2011-06-06T09:50:00.000-07:00

Well, this is my first blog post. In this blog I plan to talk about Real Estate, particularly in Maryland, as well as other thoughts that come into my mind. I can be very opinionated at times.

In any case, the first topic for my blog is about those strange square codes we are now seeing everywhere. They are called QR (Quick Response) Codes and I have found them to be very helpful. The first one I noticed was at a Ledos Pizza shop in Ocean City, Maryland. Since I knew they could be read on smartphones, while I was there, I downloaded an ap called Quickmark Reader. Viola! I scanned the code and up popped the Ledo Pizza website. How great is that!!

Seems like a great idea when you would like to get info quickly. I found a website where I created my own QR Code and now have a link directly to my Real Estate website. (Try it out) I have also created others for accessing special reports that I publish and for companies with whom I am affiliated.

Scan this to visit my website.

Thus ends my first post. See you next time...

Bob