According to the Laurel Leader, the Mall in Laurel Maryland is getting new developers.

To many of us who live here in Laurel Md., this is welcome news.  After several years of nothing happening, many of us wondered if the Laurel Mall was ever going to be renovated.  Currently the mall has only a few stores in it and looks like an abandoned building. 

What is surprising is that many other businesses in Laurel look great and appear to be doing quite well.  Its hard to believe the Laurel Mall is within walking distance to Best Buy, Loews, numerous restaurants and the newly opened strip mall Contee Road and Baltimore Ave.

Lets hope these new developers can pump some new life into this project and get it off the ground.  All of us here in Laurel Md are eager to see things get started.

If you are considering buying or selling Laurel real estate,  click Maryland home sales.

Maryland real estate

No real big surprises in Prince Georges County Maryland home sales in a comparision of December 2010 to December 2009.

Both the average sales price and the median sales price for sold homes dropped below $200,000.   The average sales price decreased from about $214,000 to about $193,00.  And the medium sold price dropped from $200,000 to about $170,000!  That is a decrease of over nine percent and fifteen percent respectively.

Of course, good things occur with lower prices.

Lower prices led to more sales this December in Prince Georges County Maryland.  Twenty more homes sold in December 2010 than in December 2009.  Homes sold faster.   The average days on the market dropped over 20 percent.  Homes sold within 90 days on average.

A couple other significant points.   While attached homes (town homes…) sold about the same number of units as December 2009, detached homes increased in number of sold units.  Most buyers prefer detached homes and now they are becoming more affordable.  

Also, the list price to sales price ratio was even.   This could be and indication that prices in Maryland are stabilizing.

For more information about Maryland home sales visit Maryland real estate

I recently wrote a contract on some beautiful Laurel real estate.  The property was a beautiful five bedroom townhome in Laurel’s Stone Lake community.   The home had a large Master Bedroom on the first floor, complete with a washer and dryer in the Super Bath.  The Stone Lake community in Laurel, Maryland is a beautiful development that is a gated community.   Stone Lake has a large lake that use to be a stone quarry.  The lake offers fantastic views. 

My clients fell in love with the neighborhood and the home.  My buyers offer was accepted and everything was fine up to the day of settlement.

The buyers did not apply for home owners insurance until the day of settlement.   What their insurer told them, shocked them.   The property had over $21,000 worth of water damage to it less than two years ago.

The seller did not disclose this.

My buyers were flabbergasted!   They have had issues with water in the basement  before and it wasn’t pretty.   Whats worse, is the seller not disclosing the previous damage.  The buyers felt the seller purposefully deceived them. 

My buyers decided not to buy the home.  I was able to get them out of the contract and their deposit back. 

If my buyers had applied for home owners insurance shortly after we were ratified, they would never have wasted so much time and money on this home.

It pays to do things in a timely manner.

For more information on Maryland real estate, visit Maryland home sales.

For those buyers wishing to buy Maryland real estate or in any other state, lenders are much more strict. 

I have a buyer interested in purchasing Laurel real estate.  He and his wife have written a contract on a beautiful home in the Laurel Md community of Stone Lake.   Stone Lake is a gated community of luxury town homes and detached homes.   The subdivision was built around a former quarry that is filled in with water.  This former quarry makes a beautiful lake.

The buyers are well qualified to buy the home they have a contract on.    They have great credit scores, plenty of cash reserves and enough income.  Loan application was made, home inspection and appraisal done.   Everything was moving along smoothly on the purchase of their new Laurel real estate.

In a normal market, we would be able to settle on time with few troubles. 

But this is not a normal market.

The lender began asking for additional paperwork.   Even paperwork that seemed to not be necessary for a loan.   The buyer sent in bank statements, but did not include the back pages of the bank statement.   Often the back pages of bank statements contain nothing but filler-still they are required to get your loan.

Needless to say the buyers became upset and all this additional paperwork and questions.  I say, “don’t get upset”,  this is the market we are in.  If you buy a home in this market, and there are many good reasons to do just that, be prepared to be supplying your lender with information almost up to the day of settlement.  Don’t get upset, just do it.  This is only a temporary discomfort, well worth the price.

Of course, make sure you have a great Maryland realtor like me to help make the process as painless as possible.

If you or someone you know are considering buying a Maryland home, visit Maryland real estate to get started.