Crofton Townhouses for Sale

Written by your Local Anne Arundel County Realtor

A cooling housing market gives buyers, especially first-time buyers, more opportunities to snatch up a good deal. But just because there are good deals, doesn’t always mean buyers are ready to make the leap.These six tips will help prospective buyers find out if they are ready for homeownership.

1. Take a first-time home buyer class. It will make repairing a credit score and shopping for a loan less stressful.

2. Be conservative. Borrowing too much can mean stretching and even sacrificing — to the point that it’s hard to even keep a six-pack of beer in the fridge.

3. Organize documents. First-time buyers should keep a pay stub, W-2, and bank and retirement account statements on hand to expedite the loan application process.

4. Get pre-approved. Before starting the homebuying process, consumers should get pre-approved by at least one lender. Being pre-approved won’t lock buyers in to a loan but it may save them the heartache of falling in love with a home they really can’t afford.

5. Play house. Every month, prospective buyers should bank the amount that they’d have to pay if they owned a home. It’s good practice so they’ll be ready for the real thing.

6. Consider all the costs. It’s not just a mortgage payment they have to worry about. Repairs, assessments, and other costs of homeownership can add up quickly.

Source: Star-Tribune, Kara McGuire (02/02/07)

Written by your Local Anne Arundel County Realtor

To keep up with the market I walk around and drive around the various Crofton Townhouse neighborhoods a few times each week.

I can’t help but notice that there seems to be several more townhouses on the market and staying on the market each and every month.

I just got finished analyzing the real estate transactions for all Crofton Townhouse sales over the last 6 months (December 2005 to May 2006). A few things to notice:

First, the sheer volume of townhouses coming on the market every month continues to be high. An average of 48 townhouses a month are listed for sale. But the number of townhouses being bought and going to settlement continues to hold at around 20 per month. So we obviously have a market that is over-supplied.

Secondly, of the townhouses that do sell, the average time on the market is about 34 days. So we’re still seeing market conditions where it is taking longers for sellers to get their homes sold. Looking through the data, this 24 days is actually being brought down by some unusually quick sales. I think it would be safe to say that the average time on the market for a townhouse in Crofton should be around 40 days.

Third, list prices continue to climb at a pace that is equal to about 20% per year every month. So, even though we have more supply than demand, each month townhouse prices continue to climb. Now, while I look at averages for the entire town of Crofton - the same statistic holds true for individual neighborhoods.

For instance, when I look at similar unites in Nantucket Mews, I can see that list prices increased 2.3% per month for the last six months. The Knolls increased an average of 1.2% per month. Similar townhouses in the Walden neighborhoods increased an average of 1.4% per month.

These increases aren’t absolute. In fact all of the above neighborhoods had some listings that were actually listed for less than comparable properties that had been listed the month before. And in some neighboorhoods (e.g. Wellfleet Mews at Crofton Village, Sycamore Mews and Stonehaven) housing prices have flattened out, or have actually gone down a small percentage for similar styled properties.

One last thing, looking at these numbers it is clear that pricing a property is important to a quick sale and settlement. How much of a price difference are we talking about?

Well, looking at similar townhouses in the same neighborhoods it looks like the difference between a property that is sold in under 40 days and one on the market for many more days after that can be anywhere from $8000 to $18000 diffence in sales price.

If you have any questions about this article, or you’re interested in your own Crofton Townhouse and how you an price and sell it quickly - please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Written by your Local Anne Arundel County Realtor

Now that the first quater of 2006 is over we can rundown some numbers to see how this year compares to the 1st Quarter of the last three years:1st Quarter 2003
Total Townhouses Sold: 72
Average Days on the Market: 12.8
Average List Price: $177,228.49
Average Sales Price: $177,199.14
Difference: ($ 29.35)
Average Seller Subsidy $687.63

1st Quarter 2004
Total Townhouses Sold: 67
Average Days on the Market: 17.9
Average List Price: $208,006.70
Average Sales Price: $207,927.04
Difference: ($ 76.66)
Average Seller Subsidy $637.16
Percentage increase in Crofton Townhouse value: 17%

1st Quater 2005
Total Townhouses Sold: 84
Average Days on the Market: 17.4
Average List Price: $259,893.90
Average Sales Price: $259,493.20
Difference: ($400.70)
Average Seller Subsidy $976.64
Percentage increase in Crofton Townhouse value: 25%

1st Quarter 2006
Total Townhouses Sold: 77
Average Days on the Market: 43.0
Average List Price: $309,456.86
Average Sales Price: $308,036.45
Difference: ($1,420.40)
Average Seller Subsidy $2,176.36
Percentage increase in Crofton Townhouse value: 19%

So, what do these numbers tell us?

First of all despite rumors to the contrary, not everyone was paying more than the listing price over the last three years. The difference between listing price and contract price has been neglible when taken as a whole. This is the market at work.

Second, even though Sellers might have to give up a little more closing cost (Seller Subsidy) and might have to wait a little longer (an average of 43 days from listing to contract) - they are still going to be getting a substantial increase in the value of their Townhouse (19% over last years numbers).

Please keep in mind, these numbers are all averages for all townhouses within Crofton.

I’ll be doing more detailed numbers for every individual townhouse neighborhood in the Crofton area in the days to come.

If you would like more personalized info or if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 410-721-5606 or you can e-mail me at vinny@annearundelagent.com