Terra-cotta warriors vs the Heuirich museum

For my birthday last week, my wonderful wife scored tickets to go see the Chinese Terracotta Warriors at the National Geographic Society. I was pretty excited about this, (You just have to know what excites me.) We rode the Metro down on the blessed day and chilly day and the exhibit was excellent. However, Nat Geo in an effort to squeeze some coin out of the deal over sold the tickets and the dang show was just too crowded to really enjoy. Plus they really did not manage the flow of people too well, contributing to the problem. But, I got to see the warriors (well, a few of them) and I think that it was a pretty nice deal-large crowd or not.

As a filler, she took me over for a tour of the Christian Heurich Mansion, which is located just a few blocks away. Unlike the warrior exhibit, the two of us and another lone single woman were the only souls on the tour. Our guide who happened to be the director of the museum was only too glad to give us special treatment and was more than willing to talk of the mansion that is his personal love. We had a blast looking at one of the most unique private homes ever built in Washington. Looking for an afternoon treat? Take some time off in the middle of the week and go visit the Heurich home. This is the time of year to see is as you are likely to have the whole place to yourselves. However, be careful and do not lean on the walls. They frown on that....

Tax credit extension until April 2010

Below you will find information about the extension of the housing tax credit. The credit now last until April of 2010 and can be very helpful not only for first time home buyers but move up buyers as well. The tax credit has been a devisive issue in congress and there are many who think that it is not such a great idea. As for me, I don't have much of an opinion. As a Realtor it is obvious that it will generate some business for me and that is a good thing. However, I am worried that it will only serve to increase the growing national debt and encourage some to purchase homes who really have no business doing so. I am a big believer in home ownership and think that it is the best path for most Americans to financial security. However, events in the sub prime mortgage market in the past few years clearly demonstrate that that there are a lot of people who really should "not" buy homes.



$8,000 First-time Home Buyer Tax Credit at a Glance

The $8,000 tax credit is for first-time home buyers only. For the tax credit program, the IRS defines a first-time home buyer as someone who has not owned a principal residence during the three-year period prior to the purchase.

The tax credit does not have to be repaid unless the home is sold or ceases to be used as the buyer’s principal residence within three years after the initial purchase.

The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the home’s purchase price up to a maximum of $8,000.

The tax credit applies only to homes priced at $800,000 or less.

The tax credit now applies to sales occurring on or after January 1, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010. However, in cases where a binding sales contract is signed by April 30, 2010, a home purchase completed by June 30, 2010 will qualify.

For homes purchased on or after January 1, 2009 and on or before November 6, 2009, the income limits are $75,000 for single taxpayers and $150,000 for married couples filing jointly.
For homes purchased after November 6, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010, single taxpayers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples with incomes up to $225,000 qualify for the full tax credit.

The $6,500 Move-Up / Repeat Home Buyer Tax Credit at a Glance

To be eligible to claim the tax credit, buyers must have owned and lived in their previous home for five consecutive years out of the last eight years.

The tax credit does not have to be repaid unless the home is sold or ceases to be used as the buyer’s principal residence within three years after the initial purchase.

The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the home’s purchase price up to a maximum of $6,500.
The tax credit applies only to homes priced at $800,000 or less.

The credit is available for homes purchased after November 6, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010. However, in cases where a binding sales contract is signed by April 30, 2010, the home purchase qualifies provided it is completed by June 30, 2010.

Single taxpayers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples with incomes up to $225,000 qualify for the full tax credit.

Silver Spring Thanksgiving Parade

Just a short plug for the annual Thanksgiving parade to be held in downtown Silver Spring later this month. It is kind of a fun deal especially for young kids. The parade will be on November 21st this year, and take place between 9:30 am and 12 noon. Go on and have a good time. The cool air will help you work up an appetite.

My razor

It is getting hard for me to find replacement blades for my Trac II razor. I have had the thing for about two decades now and it is admittedly looking pretty funky. Problem is the only alternative to my double blades is to buy cheap disposable razors or some of the new "four" track razors. These things look like ugly Japanese sports cars and have names like Quattro or MPower. The Trac II razor must have been introduced in the mid 1970s. I know that because my wife and I recently rented some of the classic Saturday Night Live shows from that period. In one show there is a "spoof" ad touting a triple track razor. It was amazing to watch the fake ad 35 years later. The end line went something like. "The Track III, because you are just stupid enough to buy one." Now I think of this SNL ad every time I go to the store and am faced with a wall of track three and four razors. God, are we really that stupid?

New Rockville Town Center

I spent an afternoon walking the newly redone Rockville Town Center this past week. I have to say that it is pretty nice. I am not sure if I like it when they build new buildings to look like old buildings. (Funny thing is, that 30 years ago they went through Rockville like a bunch of Huns and tore down all the old buildings. My how things change.) Now faux old buildings are trendy and they have done that in Rockville, and while pleasing to the eye, it just feels a little cheesy to me. Just my opinion. The stores are OK as well as the places to dine. Biggest problem to me is they once again have filled the place up with franchise eateries. This is starting to bug me as any redeveloped town center seems to have the same trendy places serving up the same bland high fat crap. There is a Lebanese Taverna, but that family owned chain is starting to get a little predictable and bland. Food is good there (LT) as always but the place does not have the charm of their downtown location.

Best thing is that instead of putting yet another bloated and overpriced Borders in the town center, the planners wisely choose to build a magnificent new library right on the town square. It is a two level library and one of the nicest I have seen. Just stunning really. This should be the blueprint for all high density areas.

Now for my major bitch. I like what they have done for downtown Silver Spring but it is obvious that Rockville got a heck of a lot more than SS ever did or will. We got a few blocks of renovation in the big Silver while the county obviously threw scads of money at Rockville. Looks like we are the red headed stepchild again. I know we are supposed to get a new library in SS but whenever the East County is considered the money seems to trickle down to us in smaller bits. I wonder if our new libary will match the quality of the Rockville one. Was all this because Rockville has its own city government or do the people who make the money decisions in our county just favor the west side of the county. I have got my opinion. You will have to decide for yourselves.

God bless Rose Howard, wherever she is......

You got to be on the watch for scams if you use Craigslist. Lots of them out there. As a Realtor, I get to see more than my fair share. But if you are advertising a local or vacation rental then you must be ready. Usually, you will get a email from an interested person from overseas who is looking to rent right away. The will try to send you a check for more than the amount you need and get you to wire money back to them for the difference. Well, the check is going to bounce at your local bank and you are going to come up with nothing. Be very wary if you get an out of town inquiry. I got one note from a Rose Howard which seems to be a very popular name with scammers. I looked up her name and address and there actually is a Rose Howard who lives in Michigan. How she got to be the poster child for scam artists I do not know, but a google search on "Rose Howard and scams" brought up a whole list of them.

Another favorite scam is for the scammers to take a rental listing that is in the local MLS and put it up on Craigslist (using the Realtor's own photos and descriptions) for about 2/3 rds of the market price. They will then agree to meet the mark at the property but come up with an excuse as to why they are unable to gain access to the home (lost key, seller out of town). Then they will try to get any upfront deposit from the victim to hold the property. I am amazed at the number of people who fall for this.

So beware. If it sound too good to be true then the chances are that it is not true but a scam.

Queen of Soul comes to the Big Silver

Montgomery College/Takoma Park campus has a brand new performing arts center and the great Aretha Franklin will open the place for business on September 11th. This center will only add to the luster of our community and provide a much needed venue for arts patrons who live in and around Silver Spring. Go here for ticket information.

With the coming of the coming of the planned Filmore "Live Nation" concert hall to the downtown area and the events currently going on at Strathmore, Montgomery County is no longer the "red headed stepchild" when it comes to great music and entertainment.

FHA loans getting tougher

Over the past decade the time period it has taken to get a loan processed had dropped significantly. In the recent heady days of the real estate boom a good lender could process a loan in about two weeks or less.

Well, those days are over for two reasons. One is that most loans processed these days in the Silver Spring market are FHA, government loans. Traditionally these loans have taken a little longer than the conventional loans that we mostly saw during the recent boom. The other reason is that all loans are taking longer due to more restrictive guidelines and tougher appraisals.

Investors took a big hit from bad loans in the past few year and are watching loan applications more carefully. The FHA loan pipeline is clogging up a bit as a result. If you are selling or buying a home where an FHA insured loan is part of the contract then it is better if you plan on the loan taking up to six week to get approved. A lot of Realtors are still putting 30 days to settle in the contract that they are writing but I think this is overly optimistic these days. I am advising my clients to expect at least 45 days from ratification to closing.

Those of you who have been around long enough will remember a terrible period back in the late 1980s where it was taking FHA loans up to 120 days to close. We were caught in another boom market and the appraisal pipeline was so backed up that you just could not get one scheduled for at least 90 days. It is unlikely that we will experience that sort of delay this time around but do expect your loan to take a little longer to close.

Why I hate haircuts.

I can really drag my feet when it comes time to get a haircut. I don't generally like the experience and tend to let my hair grow way too long between cuts. I never really liked going to the barber and hated the idea of ever going to any place that calls itself a salon. Part of the problem is that I never like the way my hair looks after a cut. But that is not all. Most of the problem stems from the brutal treatment handed out to boys by barbers when I was a kid.

As a kid, my brother and I were dutifully dispatched off to the Wheaton Barber shop located on Georgia Ave next to the Baskin Robbins store. I think cuts were about $1.5o back then. No more than two bucks anyways. There was pretty much only one of two styles for a kid to choose from in those days. One, the "buzz" cut was reserved for Wheaton's core group of "greasers" who generally chose that style to compliment their black leather jackets and green "Max" work pants, or for those who were about to enter the army. For those of us kids who did not aspire to a career in Vietnam or as an auto mechanic, the only other choice for a haircut was the "regular boys" style which consisted of essentially a near buzz cut with a small tuft of hair left in the front for appearance sake. The custom was for the barber to generously lube up this surviving tuft with Vitalis hair ointment and them set it up in a nice, natty little flip. After allowing about ten minutes for the Vitalis to dry, depending on the humidity and wind conditions, you would have a perfect rock hard flip which was good until the next time your parents made you wash your hair. After that, it was bangs of some sort until your next date with the barber. The barbers of that era were not too gentle to kids. I remember the heavy hands on the top of my head to ensure that my pate was in just the right angle for the barber to remove the maximum amount of hair. It was a time when kids did not complain and if any adult figured that a stiff adjustment in head position was called for, there was little support from the public for our basic human rights. The authorities were not called in and the offending barber faced no jail time or public humiliation by having his name put on some sort of intenet list. No sir, you went to the barber, sat in the chair when called, got the cut the barber felt like given you, held still and kept you mouth shut and took it like a kid should. I do remember that all the barbers at the Wheaton shop were Italian but I only remember one name, Enzo, only because my brother and I found that name to be particularly hilarious. Otherwise they were all the same in that there was not going to be any deviation from the traditional "regular boys" cut or the rough treatment dealt out. Any of the three or four available barbers would do as apparently any sort of artistic expression in hairstyling was frowned upon in those days. After all, these were not liberal times. We all were afraid of the H bomb and there were commies everywhere. It was no time for barbers (a conservative lot anyways) to be fooling around with the heads of the nations kids. Any deviation from the norm might just earn them the "pink" label and get them blackballed from cutting hair in any decent establishment. Anyhow, the effect on me was mostly negative and this might explain why I care little for getting my haircut these days.

There was one bright moment. Call it sort of our own personal "Prague Spring" where for a brief moment in time there was light in our lives. We endured the tried and true ritual of the Wheaton shop until my brother Kinne came up with one of his most brilliant childhood schemes. He discovered through the kid grapevine that in Wheaton at this time there was a barber school where for only 60 cents you could go and get a haircut. The only drawback was that your hair was going to be cut by a barber trainee who depending on the stage of their training, might or might not be too good. However, it was well worth the risk as in those days parents did not accompany 11 year old boys to the barber shop. At least my dad did not. He decided when our hair was getting two long and then gave us the appropriate buck and a half and sent us off to walk to Wheaton with instructions to return home with less hair. Apparenlty he was not too concerned about any disrespect that might be shown to us by the barbers. Other than that we were left to our own devices. It was our good fortune that our dad did not know of the barber school. Being the sort of dad that he was, if he knew, he would have naturally opted to send us to the cheapest place he could. However with him ignorant to our recent discovery, we would collect the money from him for a full price haircut and then go to the barber school for the discount hair cut and pocket the difference. That is to say we pocketed it for about as long as it took us to get from the barber school to the "Wheaton News Stand" where we would blow it all on candy and comic books. Those were heady days when when a box of candy or candy bar cost about a nickle and comic books were no more than 20 cents. We were rolling in dough. Fifty cents was our standard weekly allowance so you can well imagine how this extra barber money suited us.

Of course it had to end. Somehow my father got wind of our scam and put a stop to it. He was a fair man and probably admired our entrepreneurial spirit, so there were no serious repercussions for our brief foray into fraud. However, once he became aware of the barber school, (Who told him? I blame my brother but the evidence is slim at best.) he just adjusted the amount of money that we got for our cuts to the discount rate and life went on. After all to an adult, a bad regular boys cut was really not too different looking from one of the higher quality. It certainly did not bother my dad too much to look at us.

So there you have it. For about a year or so in my sweet boyhood I actually looked forward to getting a haircut but not because I thought any higher of the barbers and the experience. It is just that the extra money made that particular medicine go down easier. Before and after that, it pretty much has been pure hell.

Sligo Creek Golf Course

For decades the small but nice nine hole golf course in Sligo Creek Park has been home to hackers and whackers of all calibers. Montgomery County has a very fine system of public golf courses but has limited facilities in close in locations. The Sligo course is really the only option for those in Silver Spring who want to get in a quick round. I grew up playing on county courses and spent a lot of time learning to play at Sligo. Nowdays, I don't play golf anymore so I don't know why I care so much that the county has chosen to close the little course in Sligo. Yet it bothers me and I don't want to see it happen.

After all, it is not much of a course. It is not very challenging and only nine holes when the norm is eighteen or more. The county says that the real issue is money. The course just does not pay for itself and they are faced with serious money problems these days. Of course they neglect to mention that all of the public courses in the county along with virtually all of the many other recreational facilities lose money. To me the issue is bigger than this one little second rate course. Most of the other courses in the county are in the outlying suburbs where there is more wealth. The little course at Sligo unique in that it has been an attraction for minority golfer and newbies. It is not considered a challenging course and thus not usually frequented by the serious hard core golfers. It is a great course for a new player who can go there and stink up the links without drawing the ire of his fellow golfers. It has been said that over the years the Sligo course has been more welcoming to women as well but I can't really comment on this.

The real issue to me is that I think it is another "dis" in the long series of "disses" to the folks who reside in the East County by our government. I am getting pretty pissed about this and it is beginning to stick in my craw. It seems like when there is money to be saved, it is the East County that takes on the burden and the golf course is just another example of this. I am tired of my portion of the county getting the "red headed stepchild" treatment and perhaps the planned closing of the Sligo Creek Golf Course is the place for us to draw the line. It is a good time to voice your opinion about this to your county leaders.

Doves and weddings

Recently, we have had two visitors in our Hillandale neighborhood. For about two weeks now two lovely snow white pigeons had taken up residence on our street. One of them is very fancy with small flanged wings on his feet. They mostly hang out together around our neighbor's bird feeder. Watching them got me interested and my wife did a little research on them.

Apparently, it has gotten to be a big summer wedding experience to release white doves (pigeons) during the ceremony. It is a big time business and can cost quite a lot of money. But of course, weddings are supposed to be silly and extravagant so why not release some birds and piss some more money away. There are legitimate companies that use white pigeons that are trained to "home" back to their roost and I suppose that this is not too bad of an idea but not all of them make it back. Also, there are a lot of fly-by-night operations that actually release white doves (not able to home) and don't care where they go afterwards because they charge enough up front to write off the bird. Then you have your really cheap yahoos who go out and buy doves to release at the wedding on their own.

The problem with white doves and pigeons (who are not smart enough to make it home) is that they are not equipped to survive in the wild. First and foremost is the white color which is just about the worst thing that an animal in the wild can be wearing. It is like a soldier in Iraq wearing day glow orange. Even the occasional white wild animals do not last long in the wild as predators can spot them too easy. (Darwin knew of what he spoke.) Aside from the lack of camouflage, domestically raised doves and pigeons do not have the built in survival skills. They don't fly very well and have no "street" sense. Once on their own they are bound to become table fare for hawks, dogs, cats and anything else in the mind for a slow, pretty meal.

So, in short, don't do this. If you are getting married why not just skip the dove thing altogether. Use the money you save to buy some more of those silver and white almonds wrapped up in ribbons and mesh that everybody throws in the trash afterwards and spare the doves....

Lebanese Taverna

Twenty eight years ago, my wife to be and I rented a small house in Arlington. A friend told us about the excellent Lebanese Taverna , a family run restaurant on Washington Blvd. and we went to check it out. We fell in love with the food and the wonderful family that ran the place. I can't tell how many times we have enjoyed their food over the years. Well, the little family restaurant has grown into a mini corporation with numerous restaurants and cafes all over the DC Metro area. They also run a grocery store. Has success been a good thing? Well, yes and no. For decades the Arlington restaurant was our favorite place and the place to go to meet and greet the family that ran the business. However, they have expanded the place and remodeled it in recent years. The last time we went with friends, our lovely intimate little restaurant has grown into a monster. The food was still excellent but the place was so popular and crowded that we could barely move around. Worse yet, remodeling affected the acoustics so that the place now sounded like a noisy disco and we were unable to carry on any sort of conversation. We have never gone back to our beloved Arlington location. Nowdays the best location to go to is the DC restaurant in Woodley Gardens on Connecticut Ave. I think the best cooks work there and that place has the most extensive menu. When we want to celebrate a special event, it is the DC location that we head to.

The Silver Spring location is more of a Cafe and has a much more limited menu. The decor is modern and strikes us as only so-so but on nice days you can eat outside, and the party around the fountain is always a treat. When we want Lebanese, we go to that location most of the time as it is close to home and easy to use. Although we miss some of the items to be found at the DC location, the limited menu is still good and offer up plenty of good (and fairly healthy) Middle Eastern food. I highly recommend the food there as it is much better than the usual franchise pap that is offered up in the other eateries found in downtown Silver Spring. The best deal is one of the two sampler platters that they offer up. The more expensive has some meat dishes but we find that the cheaper of the two which is mostly vegetarian is a much better deal and offers better variety.

My only regret is that we never see any of the original family members in any of the locations. I suspect that they have just gotten too successful and wealthy over the years. Anyhow, writing this has made me hungry. Might just have to head on down there this evening for some flat bread and hummus.

More Silver Docs

Ok, my wife and I made it to our first Silver Docs film for the year. We went to see "Crude" which was shown last night. It is an important film by a well know director (Joe Berlinger) and we expected a treat. However, the film did not really do it for us. It was a bit long and tedious and frankly, disorganized. The film does cover the human interest portion of the Texaco oil disaster in Ecuador, but really does not cover a whole lot more. There is very little background or historical information about the issue. Texaco is made to be the bad boy but the truth is that there must have been plenty of bad boys involved to make such a mess of things. Very little information is given on the successive Ecuadorian governments that were willing participants in the scheme to exploit the rain forest for oil or the state's relationship with the Indians who lived on the land before and after the disaster. Much time is wasted on redundancy and the filmed needed to be streamlined and better organized. There is a long piece about the singer Sting's wife and her visit and support. It is all nice but really did not deserve the time wasted and was not that material to the subject of the documentary.

All of this, plus the jerky, in your face, hand filming that sort of made me seasick made the film less than a stellar experience.

I appreciate Berlinger's effort as this is a critical story that needs to be out in the public eye.

There are many more juicy selections on the Silver Docs film festival. If you got some time this week you should check it out.

Duckpin Bowling in White Oak

Ok, so it may be lowbrow entertainment, but it is still fun as hell. I am talking about the duckpin lanes located in the White Oak Shopping Center on New Hampshire Ave. Duckpins have always been a regional sport and the little brother to tenpins which people seem to always prefer. However, duckpins is cool! And, much harder than tenpin bowling. There are not many duckpin lanes left in the area. One of the few left around is the White Oak Lanes, a real old school bowling ally where you still have to keep score with a pencil. Sited down in the lower bowels of the shopping center the place feels like you are back in the 1960s. Go check it out. The little bowling balls feel great and are small enough for any kid to hurl down the lane. If you score over 100 then you have had a decent game.

Ice cream in Silver Spring

Serious topic today. I don't mess around when the subject matter is ice cream. 24 years ago my wife and I lived in North Woodside. We loved the neighborhood because we could walk to the various stores in the area and to downtown SS (had a Hecht's and J. C. Penny back in those days) for shopping. It was for us a big treat when York Castle opened up in the little stip mall on Georgia Ave. right before 16th street peels off of it. This was not your mama's ice cream store. The owner came from Jamica and the store featured an outstanding assortment of tropical fruit ice cream-not to be found anywhere else. We loved to walk there with our dog Hero on summer evenings to try out new flavors. Well, York Castle is still there serving up tropical delights that you have never heard of, and after 24 year we still drop in for ice cream. There is an whole array of tropical flavors to try. My favorite flavor over the years has been the fresh coconut and when peaches are in season, the fresh peach ice cream is to die for. But you have to try them all at least once. If you have never been to York Castle then you just don't know where the best ice cream is in the DC area.

Jennifer Cutting and the Ocean Orchestra to play downtown

This great local Celtic and progressive band will perform free of charge on June 18th at 7:00 p.m. The concert will be outdoors on the Silver Plaza (Ellwort Dr. near Georgia Ave.-look for the fountain) The event is part of the Silver Spring Swings summer concert series, sponsored by the Silver Spring Regional Center. Last March, we went to Strathmore to see the wonderful Irish band "Danu" and the Ocean Orchestra was there as the opening act. It was the first time I have seen Jennifer and her band preform and we enjoyed the show. I especially loved the talented and electric looking (blue hair) fiddle player. I am not sure if she is a regular member of the group though. Go see it. It's free.

Energy Star appliances

Did you know that a refrigerator made today is about 40% more efficient than one manufactured just two years ago. That translates into serious savings for you.

When buying an appliance, remember that it has two price tags: what you pay to take it home and what you pay for the energy and water it uses. ENERGY STAR qualified appliances incorporate advanced technologies that use 10–50% less energy and water than standard models. The money you save on your utility bills can more than make up for the cost of a more expensive but more efficient ENERGY STAR model.

The cost of electricity is going up and if you live in Silver Spring about 57% of your electrical power comes from not too "clean coal." You can cut back on your electrical consumption, save money and save a few mountain tops from being leveled in the process of getting your "clean coal."

If you are replacing appliances, look for the energy star symbol.

Silver Docs starts on June 15th

Don't miss this excellent documentary film festival featuring over 100 documentary films shown over 8 days. We discovered this festival a few years back and have been going every year since. It features excellent documentaries to suit any taste and takes place in the heart of Silver Spring at the Silver Theater. Go to www.silverdocs.com for information and ticket sales.

Dare to do something different this summer.

Maryland Homestead Exemption

Just a reminder that even though you may already hold this exemption on your property, you must reapply for the exemption when you receive your most current tax assesment. Most of you already have for this year. Included with your assesment this year was the application. If you have not reapplied and do not have the application, you can call 1-866-650-8783 and request a duplicate. Better take care of this. Faliure to do so could mean a big increase in your property taxes.

Slumdog Millionaire

Caught the movie the other night at the AFI Silver. Really is a best picture candidate. "Milk" is a powerful film with an incredible job done by Penn but Slumdog is just enthralling. Best is that you get to see it in the Silver's main theater. Lets face it, even a crappy movie looks pretty good when you are seeing it in the "big house".

New tax credit for first time buyers

If you are a first time homebuyer then the new stimulus bill has a great little gem for you. In cluded in the bill is a provision for an $8,000 tax credit for 1st time homebuyers (defined as not owning a home the last three years just like the current provision) but it is a pure credit. There is language about possible repayment in first three years if sold. This bill has yet to be signed by the president but it is expected that he will do so shortly.

As far as I can tell this is a real tax credit, so you can in effect knock you taxes down by this figure in the year that you purchase your home. As always, you should check with your accountant to make sure how this provision will apply to you.

New FDA building

In December of this past year the Food and Drug Administration dedicated the newly refurbished Building One at the new FDA Campus in White Oak. This was a big step in the decade long transformation of this site from the old Naval Surface Warfare Institute into the FDA’s main campus. Presently about 3500 employees are located there and as the campus grows it is expected that over 8,000 FDA workers will be moved to the campus from outlying FDA locations. This is big news for the surrounding communities as it is hoped that the growth of FDA will help with home sales in a area that has been hit hard by the recent housing slump.

Building One is the cool old “decoish” main building that reminds me of some of the building I used to see on the old Superman TV show back when I was a kid. We can count ourselves fortunate that the FDA saw to preserve this old beauty.

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01930.html

Going green in Silver Spring (hey that rhymes)

Montgomery County homeowners should be aware of the new Energy Efficiency Disclosure law that went into effect on January 1, 2009. With a few exceptions all home sellers are required to comply with this new law. It applies to all sales contracts signed after that date. Even if your home was listed for sale prior to January 1, 2009, you will still have to comply with the law.

The bill as passed specifies that “before” signing a contract for a single family home the seller must provide the buyer with:

1. General educational information on energy-efficiency improvements and energy audits approved by the Department of Environmental Protection.
2. Copies of the electric, gas, and heating oil bills OR cost and usage history for the single family home for the immediate prior 12 months.

Although a bit of a nuisance and a little vague, I think the law is a good idea. As the seller of a home you are required to provide information about the utility costs and any energy efficient upgrades that have been done to your home. As a Realtor, I can tell you that more of my clients are concerned about the efficiency of the homes in which they have taken an interest..

Take note! This law is a reflection of a growing trend in real estate. You can expect the demand for energy efficiency in homes to grow in the coming years. It was a close call, but the bill that was just passed almost had a provision calling for energy audits to take place with each transaction involving a single family home. Somebody would have had to pay for this audit. In this current buyer’s market the burden for costs such as this are falling on the seller.

Although energy audits are not required at this date, you can expect to see purchasers requesting such an audit as part of the home inspection contingency portion of their purchase bids. This only makes sense as the gas and electric bills constitute a major portion of any homeowner’s monthly expenses and homebuyers want to know what they are getting into.

What does this mean for you? If your home has an older heating or cooling system, poor insulation, or older windows that have not been updated, there is a good chance that these factors will affect the value of your home. More important, a home with low energy efficiency might not attract any offers at all considering the large number of competing homes currently on the market. If you think you will be a home seller in the next few years, perhaps now is the time to have an energy audit done on your property. This way you will know in advance what the energy weak points are with your home and can lay out a plan for gradual improvements before you place your home on the market. Of course, making improvements now will allow you to gain the benefits of the lower utility costs while you are still living in your home.