Real Estate Information

The appealing planned community of St. Charles, Md., lies approximately 23 miles southeast of downtown Washington, D.C. near the attractive small city of Waldorf, Md.

This scenic region, home to more than 67,000 people, gets even more attractive, lovely and charming every year during the Sunset Concert Festival and Farmers’ Market. These tasty and harmonious events take place on Fridays from May through August.

The Farmers’ Market is held at O’Donnell Lake and opens for business on Fridays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., and at 8 a.m. Saturdays. Concerts take place in the O’Donnell Lake Restaurant Park (located adjacent to the Hilton Garden Inn in St. Charles). In anticipation of the setting sun and all of its attendant kaleidoscopic natural beauty, the performers typically take the stage at about 7 p.m.

According to the community of St. Charles’ city website, the Farmers’ Market is expanding to include Wednesday afternoons. Additionally, the Farmers’ Market that used to take place at the Festival in Waldorf site is relocating to a spot near St. Patrick’s and Smallwood Drive.

Friday, May 11, 2012, kicked off the outdoor music festival’s fourth consecutive year, serving up live performances from a wide variety of regional bands, playing an equally wide variety of musical genres.  

This summer’s roster of performers pops up when you click here and surf over to the St. Charles community’s website, or you can just peruse the list right here (excluding the May 11^th show):

• May 18 – U.S. Navy Band
• May 25 – BI Richardson & the Black Coffee Experience
• June 1 – Jennifer Cooper & GrooveSpan
• June 8 – USAF Rock Band – Max Impact
• June 15 – Lynn Hollyfield Band
• June 22 – Steve Cavanaugh Band
• June 29 – US Navy – Cruisers
• July 6 – John OLoughlin and the Blarney Stones Band
• July 13 – Jennifer Cutting and OCEAN Celtic Band
• July 20 – Higher Hands
• July 27 – Kajun Kelley Band
• Aug. 3 – Singer-Songwriter Showcase with Matt Silkworth
• Aug. 10 – Deanna Dove
• Aug. 17 – Anthony Swampdog Clark
• Aug. 24 – Karen Collins and the Backroads Band
• Aug. 31 – Eric Scott Band

The state of Maryland has entered into a landmark legal settlement with the nation’s largest mortgage lenders to provide relief to homeowners who were victims of mortgage fraud.  In what is being billed as the largest-ever deal, the settlement could help over a million struggling homeowners in the United States and expects to bring in $1 billion in aid to Maryland.

The mortgage deal settles state and federal findings that the nation’s largest mortgage providers routinely signed Foreclosure documents or “robo-signed” without the presence of a notary or knowing if the facts of the documents were correct.

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler told the Baltimore Sun the settlement was the “biggest thing to happen” since Maryland and other states settled with tobacco companies in 1998 over questionable marketing tactics. He also praised the mortgage settlement and said it is the right move for struggling Maryland homeowners. In exchange for the settlement, Gansler and other state attorneys general will relinquish civil liability claims.

The $25 billion settlement with Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Ally Financial was reached with 49 states and will bring much needed assistance to over 40,000 Maryland homeowners who lost their homes to Foreclosure or are still at risk of foreclosure. The deal will mainly focus on partial loan forgiveness but offers up to $2,000 to homeowners who were foreclosed upon during the mortgage crisis. The mortgage settlement sets up four areas of assistance for Maryland homeowners with the exact amounts still being worked out:

• Around $800 million to reduce the principal for homeowners at risk of Foreclosure
• $60 million to reduce interest rates for borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth
• $60 million for the Maryland Attorney General’s office for housing related projects including 10% of that total for paying housing counselors and offering legal assistance to homeowners
• An estimated $25 million to write checks for $1,800 to $2,000 to Maryland homeowners who lost their homes to Foreclosure

As mentioned above, in exchange for the settlement, Gansler and other states attorneys general will give up civil liability claims against banks; however, homeowners who receive a payout from the settlement will still retain the right to sue banks for engaging in inappropriate Foreclosure processes. Federal officials have noted the settlement will not prevent them from investigating the housing bust further.

For more information on the mortgage settlement, contact Contact Maryland HOPE at 877-462-7555 or click on http://www.nationalmortgagesettlement.com/

Parents and politicians across the country have been concerned about the status of our schools and the quality of the teachers educating our children. This spurred the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and focused attention on teacher certification. The most respected form of certification is provided by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. (NBPTS) This non-profit, non-partisan organization has been applying their rigorous testing standards to teachers nationwide since 1987.

The state of Maryland is ranked in the top ten states having teachers certified by NBPTS. In February, two teachers from the Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) joined the 2,124 Maryland teachers who have achieved this prestigious certification.

Charles County teachers Cary Smith of North Point High School and Marcie Jett of Piccowaxen Middle School achieved certification after a difficult yearlong performance evaluation. The NBPTS standards are high yet both CCPS teachers were able to rise to the challenge to join the 31 of district teachers who have already met the rigorous NBPTS criteria.

Cary Smith teaches English at North Point High School and achieved her certification in language arts. Her certification was aimed at adolescence and young adulthood. Smith was first hired by CCPS as a language arts instructor at Mattawoman Middle School in 2003. She moved to North Point when the school first opened its doors in 2005.

Marcie Jett, a special education instructor at Piccowaxen Middle School, achieved her certification in working with special needs students. The certification covered children from early childhood through young adulthood. Smith originally joined the CCPS as a special-ed instructor at Dr. Thomas L Higdon Elementary School in 2001 before moving to Piccowaxen in 2007.

Both Charles County teachers Cary Smith and Marcie Jett started on their road to certification in 2010 as did the other 6,200 educators nationwide who would later be certified by the NPPTS in 2011. The yearlong certification process revolves around a teacher achieving the standard of the Five Core Propositions:

• Teachers are committed to students and their learning
• Teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to students
• Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning
• Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience
• Teachers are members of learning communities

The propositions are tested throughout the one-year assessment phase through many different methods including student work samples, reviewers observing the instructor in class or by video, and analysis of their student’s achievements and challenges. How the instructor interacts with their students and presents their material is rigorously scrutinized before a series of written exams. These exams rate the instructor’s knowledge in their field and how they are able to communicate this information successfully to their students.

There are many advantages of NBPTS certification for Charles County teachers and the school district. The certification is good for 10 years and leads to career advancement and higher salaries. It also allows teachers to move between states more easily as many states waive having to take state certification test if the teacher is NBPTS certified. The school districts benefit as studies have shown that NBPTS certified teachers have proven to produce students with higher grades and fewer in-school problems. The certification also helps a school and their district meet many of the Federal standards of the No Child Left Behind Act.

As demand for energy resources increases, officials in Southern Maryland have been looking for renewable and greener sources of energy. One option for renewable energy in Southern Maryland recently cleared a hurdle when the Charles County Board of Appeals granted a special exception for SMECO Solar to build the area’s first solar farm on land zoned for agricultural conservation.

Plans are in the works for a 5.5 megawatt solar farm to be built near Hughsville, Maryland by the Southern Maryland Electrical Cooperative. SMECO officials say the 48.5-acre farm will generate enough energy to power 1,200 homes or enough energy to run the St. Charles Towne Center Mall.

Co-op spokesman Tom Dennison told the Washington Post the solar farm will be owned and operated by SMECO and meets state requirements for renewable energy and customer demands. The state’s utilities are currently required by The Maryland Public Service Commission to use solar power for 0.1 percent of its energy output. This level will increase to 2 percent by 2022. State law requires 3 percent of utilities’ energy output to come from renewable energies. Dennison says SMECO currently meets these requirements through energy credits, biofuels and other natural resources.

The decision to build the solar farm has the support of local landowners and government officials and is expected to cost around $20 million to build. Federal grants and loans through the Department of Agriculture will help pay for the project. The cost-effective project will eventually pay for itself as SMECO owns the land the solar farm will be built on and the utility can generate solar credits.

Ten percent of the energy produced at the Hughesville location will be used for a new operation center near the solar farm and the rest will go to customers in Charles County.

The solar panels will be mounted on the ground and face away from traffic on nearby Route 5 to prevent glare that would distract drivers. A protective wetland zone on the south end of the property will stay protected and will not be affected by construction of the solar farm.  

The decision to build the first solar farm in Southern Maryland was made by SMECO in October of last year as new sites for renewable resources were sought.

Development plans still need to be approved by county officials but Dennison says they expect to break ground this summer and have the solar farm up and running by late 2012 or early 2013.

Thinking of short selling your home? 2012 is the year to do it because beginning in 2013, the Federal Government will require homeowners to pay income taxes on their short sold home. Make the difficult decision now: What to do with your underwater home?

A short sale home is the sale of a home in which the value of the property is less than the balance of the mortgage or liens owed against the property.  The lender agrees to the terms of the deal, and releases the property to the buyer. For buyers it is a good deal and for the sellers it helps them avoid bankruptcy or Foreclosure. But the rules governing income tax for homeowners short selling their homes are about to change.

The Mortgage Debt Relief Act, which is set to change in 2013, was passed by Congress five years ago when the national housing market went bust. The IRS has allowed income tax to be excluded from the short sale on a home up until 2013. After December 31^st, the rules change and homeowners who have not closed their short sale deals will face paying income tax on the sale.

The law breaks down like this:

A house sold for $50,000 less than what is owed on the mortgage means the selling homeowner will owe federal income taxes on that sale. Typically a homeowner would pay $12,500 if they are in the 25 percent income bracket or $7,500 if they are in the 15 percent income bracket.

The IRS will forgive up to $2 million this year and $1 million if one is married and filing separately.

If the lender has not formally forgiven the debt before December 31^st, the homeowner is still on the hook to pay income tax. The bank must officially sign off on the deal before the end of year.  Lenders have been “gearing up” for the process as it often times takes up to 6 months or even a year for a short sale home to close. 

Homeowners declaring bankruptcy may avoid having to pay income tax on a short sale as bankruptcy tends to trump everything. Federal guidelines also allow a homeowner to not pay income tax if their debts exceed the value of their assets.

Now is the time for homeowners considering listing their homes as short sales to take action and start the process because beginning in 2013, the amount a lender forgives on short sale or Foreclosure will be subjected to federal income tax.

Parents along with local, state and the federal government have been looking at what our children are being taught in public schools for quite some time. From the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 to the current debate on charter schools and school vouchers, there is concern about ensuring that students are learning. However, many schools are stepping up to the challenge of teaching in a new way through the use of technology.

The students in Charles County Schools have access to some of this new technology due to a partnership between Charles County Public Schools and the Community Bank of the Tri-County. Jim DiMisa of the CBTC recognized the need for students to have a solid grounding in financial training due to the dangers of credit card debt, uncertainty in the economy and the need to save for retirement.

At no cost to the school, the CBTC works to help create a program of online financial training using the Financial Literacy Platform for High Schools or EverFi™ system. This program is an online tutorial where the students learn in an interactive, visual format. It uses examples taken from real life using a format modeled in part on the popular and recognizable SimCity games. By using this format, the program walks the student through the training in which their financial decisions directly impact their online avatar’s life. These direct impacts bring home the lesson in a way traditional lecture and books simply cannot match.

The students using the program reap the benefits using a format which the United States Air Force found beneficial in its own training. By fashioning the lesson in the form of a familiar game, students learn the program faster so they have more time for learning rather than spending time digesting how to operate the program itself. The familiarity increases retention of the lessons and students enjoy the lesson as well.

The EverFi system trains students on a number of important financial concepts:

• Use and risk of Credit Cards
• Budgeting and Managing Debt
• Savings and Retirement Planning
• Different Loan types and College financing
• Home ownership versus renting
• How the U.S. financial system works
• Stock trading and how the Stock Exchange works

The overall reaction to the program has been very positive. Teachers enjoy being able to track their students’ progress through the program and they can provide one-on-one lessons as needed. Teachers also found students using the program were more knowledgeable and asked better questions in class. To everyone involved the program has been a win for the Charles County schools, the teachers, students and the community in general.

Charles County’s property values have encountered some tough sledding. The melt-down of the housing bubble, the fallout from the robo-signing scandal and an explosion of foreclosures have caused property values to drop all across the country. The housing market is still struggling to correct from the over-inflated boom era vales. Charles County, Maryland has been hit hard in this environment and seen median property values drop for the fourth year in a row. What does this mean for someone interested in moving to the area?  What affect does this steady decline have?

The Good and Bad of Declining Property Values

The key to looking at declining property values is to see that it’s not necessarily negative. Certainly those who whose home values were inflated are facing losing a lot of money. However, when one buys a home, there is always the risk the value will go down instead of up. In the volatile housing market of the last decade, many home buyers bought homes under the faulty idea that home values would always go up.

So now we are seeing a correction to where the market is returning to realistic home property values. To use one example, this presents an opportunity for buyers to buy a home which once sold for $450,000 for as low as $350,000 and to have confidence that this value will hold.

The bad, of course, is felt acutely if one happens to be the owner of a $450,000 mortgage on a home which now has a value of only $350,000. Another negative accrues to Charles County because it must make do with tax receipts on a home that has dropped $100,000 in value. This has led to tight budgets not only in Charles County but for counties across the nation. However, the current problems obscure the fact that Charles County remains an excellent place to live.

The Ground Truth

While property values have dropped for the fourth time in as many years, one has to remind oneself why they were high to begin with. The answer is simply that it was worth paying $450,000 to live in Charles County. Why? There are many reasons ranging from the scenic beauty of the area, to the excellent schools and colleges, to the availability of work in the Washington D.C. metro area. None of these factors have changed. So, in the short term there will be budget issues for city and county politicians to deal with, but the fact remains that Charles County is an attractive place to live.

Viewed from this standpoint, Charles County property values declining means prospective buyers are well positioned to be able to purchase a home and reap the rewards of a buyer’s market.

In March, 2009 the federal government initiated the Home Affordable Refinance Program (what is now called HARP 1.0) in order to help struggling homeowners in cases where the value of their mortgage exceeded the value of their home. The larger goal was to help move the housing market towards stability. To many observers, HARP 1.0 failed to achieve its objectives. In response, the government has launched an updated version of the program, now called HARP 2.0. The hope for “underwater” or “upside-down” homeowners is that, this time, relief will materialize. Let’s look at how the new edition of HARP works.

The original version of HARP required that participants have a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio less than 125% but many homeowners’ LTV fell below this level so HARP was unavailable to them. Now, under HARP 2.0, homeowners must simply have homes valued less than their mortgage (and the loan must be owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac). It also requires that the loan be in good standing with 12 months history of good payments.

Next, the original HARP was mainly designed for the five largest banks (Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Ally Financial and JPMorgan Chase), but HARP 2.0 includes mortgage companies across the nation. These loan servicers are able to qualify people for a loan even where the borrower previously had loan insurance attached – a problem with the first version of HARP.

Here are some additional changes in HARP 2.0:

• It limits lender’s liability if loans default. Fannie and Freddie will not force lenders to buy back a problem loan. In short, this will increase HARP’s reach. Lenders will be more interested in participating so homeowners will face an easier time obtaining a loan modification.
• Fees charged by Fannie and Freddie to lenders for high LTV loans have been removed so loans will be cheaper for homeowners.
• Credit and income requirements have been eased. Provided that one’s new HARP monthly payment is not more than 20% more than the current payment, specific credit and income guidelines do not apply. This means that low credit scores or high debt-to-income ratios don’t automatically disqualify applicants.

There are a number of additional changes in HARP 2.0, all of which are designed to benefit homeowners in difficult situations. To read more visit here and here.

For more information about the HARP 2.0 program and all of your real estate needs contact DeHanas Real Estate Services at (301) 870-1717. We're here to help!

I have long been associated with some of the top real estate professionals in the industry from all across the country through a network called Star Power Systems, and my fellow Certified Distressed Property Experts.  I had the surprise of turning on the news a few days ago to see one of my mentors, Alex Charfen, as a guest on FOX and Friends.  Alex has an insight and a delivery of information that is next to know one I know.  Here is the clip:

Great information on how a short sale works.