home ownership tagged posts

Everyone loves Thanksgiving dinner, all the games on tv and a long weekend, but there are some interesting facts that you might not know about this holiday. Check out this month’s Item of Value and read the full story about Thanksgiving and its traditions we all love. Football, balloon animals and Pilgrims are a part of the holiday, but how did all of the customs that we take for granted get started?

Click here to get the full e-report.

If you are interested in buying or selling a home, contact Gigi today!
Oh by the way, I’m never too busy for any of your referrals.

Home mortgage rates

Thanks to Mark Hines of Fidelity Bank for this episode of Tips from the Pros about mortgages.

As most of you know FHLB (Federal Home Loan Bank) grant program ran out of funds in early October. The date funds will be available again for us to use is January 14, 2019. Fidelity Bank Mortgage again has $1,000,000 to use for its borrowers/buyers. Currently Baltimore County SELP still has funds and certainly MMP or the Maryland Mortgage Program.

More buyers are electing to build a new home as the inventory of existing homes is low. Fidelity Bank offers a 1 time close construction loan as well as the HomeStyle and FHA 203k renovation loans.

We are seeing less seller help on contracts and usually multiple offers resulting in a big win for sellers.

As always feel free to u...

Thanks to Tom Benisch of State Farm for this episode of Tips from the Pros on creating an evacuation plan.

Getting out and making sure everyone is safe: That’s the crux of a fire evacuation plan. It doesn’t have to be complicated; in fact, simpler is better — and fast is key. Create your own plan and follow these practice reminders so you can act immediately if there’s a fire in your home.

Make a plan

1. Sketch a map of your house.
2. Draw two escape routes from each room — one out a door, one out a window.
3. Designate and “star” a meeting spot a safe distance from the house (for example, the mailbox across the street).
4. Hang the plan where everyone can see it regularly.

Practice fire evacuation — exactly as you’d do it in real time

1. Sound the smoke alarm.
2. Leave everything ...

Thanks to Clean Sweep for this episode of Tips from the Pros about proactive chimney sweeping.

See what clients are saying

Meet Katie and Chris Peitsch

What do you love most about your new home?

All the extra space! Moving from a townhouse to a single family home, basically doubled the square footage of our house. The large master suite is a nice perk too.

If you could sum up your experience in one word what would that be?  Why?

Fast. We only toured two houses before making an offer. The online tools Gigi gave us helped us to narrow down our search as we already knew the area we wanted to live in. Selling our townhouse was also surprisingly fast, we had an offer within a week. Again, the tools and suggestions Gigi and her team gave us about getting our house ready to sell made the process easier...

The kitchen is part of a home where people spend a lot of quality time. It’s very special, more so than most of the other rooms.

How can you make your kitchen stand out from other kitchens people might see when shopping for a home? Staging!

Staging is when you decorate a room to be more appealing to home buyers. It’s important to keep your personal items out and put in things that appeal to a larger group of people. Personal touches are perfect when it’s your home, but you are trying now to entice someone else to make it their home.

In this month’s Item of Value, get tips on how to stage your kitchen. Click here to read the full report.

October Calendar of Events

Lots of activities are happening in October around Baltimore. There is still a little time to celebrate outdoors. These activities include Fleet Week, theater, art and other cultural events.

Image: Maryland Fleet Week & Air Show.

Maryland Fleet Week and Air Show on October 3-9 in the Inner Harbor, Baltimore.

Image: Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

She Stoops to Conquer at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company through October 21, 2018.

Image: John Waters. Divine in Ecstasy. 1992. Collection of Amy and Zachary Lehman. © John Waters, Courtesy Marianne Boesky Gallery.

John Waters – Indecent Exposure through January 6, 2019. Retrospective organized by the BMA examines John Waters’s influential career.

Image: Baltimore Running Festival

Baltimore Marathon will be dow...

Thanks to Mark Hines of Fidelity Bank for this episode of Tips from the Pros about mortgages.

As expected the Feds raised interest rates 25 bps to 5.25% on Wednesday, noting that job growth has been “strong” and inflation has been close to their 2.0% target.  In addition, a larger majority of members (12 up from 8 last meeting) now expect an additional 25 bps hike by year-end and three more hikes in 2019.

The Prime rate is for short term lending like revolving charge accounts and HELOC’s (Home Equity Line Of Credit). This also affects the construction loans that rely on the prime rate as their benchmark.

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