Home Prices Are Falling...? (Bethesda, Frederick: sale, real estate, foreclosures)

[Jaded]

Okay, well, this will hopefully assist me in getting, again, information on different counties in the DC Metro area.

Are home prices falling more so in certain counties? Forbes Worst Housing Market - I'm asking residents...we are interested in living in Maryland but will need to commute to DC.

Are builders offering incentives on new homes? If so, what kinds are being offered? It's hard to get this information online from builders and I don't want to call because then they will hound me!!

Are there many foreclosures in clusters? Investor related or ARMs and Interest Only, No Docs, related?

I'm hoping that many of you have seen commercials or read in the local papers of any and all real estate deals that are occuring now.

Thanks!

PS - feel free to private message me if you want.

[vanyali]

Of course prices are falling faster in the furthest-out, least convenient, worst-buy counties. That doesn't mean they're suddenly "good buys". Chasing discounts is ridiculous -- when you're in a store, the stuff on the sale rack is the stuff that no one else wanted. Same with builder "discounts". Why not look at what you can spend, and find what's around that can meet your budget and your needs rather than go by the biggest price declines?

[doubbltunman]

Furthest out are the best buy counties! No one wants to live near the district. If you can afford the gas, The further out you go the better. There are deals going on but the bottom isn't here yet. We've got 3 more years of sub-primes collapsing, that is when I'm buying. I'm expecting to get a $500k+ home yesterday with 10 acres in beautiful Anne Arundel co. for less than 300k or if it's not more than 3-5 years old that same house foreclosed with perfect credit and a bank quick sell ??150k??????Wooooooweeeeeeeee! I'll keep renting til then! I sold my house at the peak of the market and have been renting since with the rest in Public storage! Best decision i ever made. I knew this thing was going to turn ugly. So go out further and demand the lowest price you can get, with only a few real estate agents doing anything they'll bend over backwards!!!Take full advantage of the mess they made, the banks, 1977 fair loan act, and the federal reserve with their bad decisions and printing money out of thin air making your dollar in your wallet 33% less valuable than it is today-Gotta love a entity that goes against the U.S. constitution in the first place. They are all getting rich! The defense dept., congressman who invest in defense contracts, contractors, speculators driving oil up. Investors, wall street, banks and the federal reserve have been giving it to the american people for so long and gotten away with it, they are just doing it out in the open nowLOL! And people still are not waking up yet. So with everone else at the top being crooks, go get your house for a steal!

[RFMD]

Originally Posted by vanyali

Of course prices are falling faster in the furthest-out, least convenient, worst-buy counties. That doesn't mean they're suddenly "good buys". Chasing discounts is ridiculous -- when you're in a store, the stuff on the sale rack is the stuff that no one else wanted. Same with builder "discounts". Why not look at what you can spend, and find what's around that can meet your budget and your needs rather than go by the biggest price declines?

Agree fully with your assessment. Counties with long commutes will obviously be a negative when you look at the cost of gas and the lack of amenities.
All across the country people are moving inwards closer to the economic hub within the various metropolitan regions.

A friend of mine purchased a home out in one of the counties along the eastern shore because it was cheaper. Now she is looking to move back in closer to the DC Metropolitan area. She indicated she spends five hundred dollars monthly on gas for her commute to and from work.

[trying2moveup]

RFMD beat me to it while I was logging in --

the farther out you go, the less amenities you will have and the more time you will be stuck in traffic, which is horrible in the DC/Metro area. To me it is not worth paying even hundreds of thousands of dollars less for a house when you spend 2+ hours on the road each way to work, never mind the cost of gas and the aggravation that comes with/never seeing your families at decent hours during the week/etc, etc. And that's with decent weather and no accidents!!!

[Jaded]

Originally Posted by RFMD

Agree fully with your assessment. Counties with long commutes will obviously be a negative when you look at the cost of gas and the lack of amenities.
All across the country people are moving inwards closer to the economic hub within the various metropolitan regions.

A friend of mine purchased a home out in one of the counties along the eastern shore because it was cheaper. Now she is looking to move back in closer to the DC Metropolitan area. She indicated she spends five hundred dollars monthly on gas for her commute to and from work.

Originally Posted by trying2moveup

RFMD beat me to it while I was logging in --

the farther out you go, the less amenities you will have and the more time you will be stuck in traffic, which is horrible in the DC/Metro area. To me it is not worth paying even hundreds of thousands of dollars less for a house when you spend 2+ hours on the road each way to work, never mind the cost of gas and the aggravation that comes with/never seeing your families at decent hours during the week/etc, etc. And that's with decent weather and no accidents!!!

Okay, now let me add this...how far out are you two talking about? I'm talking no more than 15, maybe 20 miles from DC. Also, I'm talking about driving to a metro station...so do you still believe that living outside of the actual district is a bad move?

Aren't there suburbs that are developed??

[trying2moveup]

Alright, that post will let me be more educated in my reply. When speaking about "farther out" around here, to a "native" such as myself - we are talking about 50+ miles out from the core of DC. That would put you in lower Frederick County, MD, to the north, northern VA to the south, WV to the west, and PG County to the east. All of these counties are quite expensive. . . because so many people have moved from the urban areas, particularly Montgomery County which borders DC to the north, outward because housing prices were completely insane over the last several years.

So "farther out" from this perspective means. . . buying a house in Washington County or father out in WVA and commuting in via the MARC train or on Rt. 70 to 270S. . . buying in Anne Arundel county and commuting in on Rt. 50, etc. . . in other words more than 50 to 75 miles from the center of DC.

If you want to be 15 to 20 miles from the DC line, you are talking Bethesda, ChevyChase, Potomac, lower ROckville to the north. . . McLean, Arlington, (I'm not too familiar with Virginia locales) to the southwest - SPringfield, Alexandria VA to the south. . . PG County, Mitchellville. . . Anne arundel county (don't know specific cities) to the east.

ALL of these areas are very expensive, given their proximity to DC and urban conveniences. Even in this market, they are not cheap. These suburbs are very developed and you will pay a pretty penny for that. And that's great if you can afford it.

Get on Google and get some real estate websites and start researching foreclosures and REOs, get with an agent and get more specific MLS information, pick up the Washington Post on any Saturday and real the real estate section - you'll see exactly what incentives the builders are offering - at least what they are currently willing to disclose. The only other way to get THAT info is to go in with a buyer's agent and start negoiating, just like with an existing home sale. You need to be more specific on the different counties in the DC area that you mentioned in your opening post if you want more specific replies on this forum.

[doubbltunman]

Wherever you move do not move to P.G.county! PERIOD! It is worth the gas to pass through. I know I do it everyday. The further out is worth the gas compared to what is lurking in P.G. and closer to the district. Not a place to raise your kids or their horrible schools with low curriculum, test scores and below average Sat's.

[trying2moveup]

Originally Posted by doubbltunman

Wherever you move do not move to P.G.county! PERIOD! It is worth the gas to pass through. I know I do it everyday. The further out is worth the gas compared to what is lurking in P.G. and closer to the district. Not a place to raise your kids or their horrible schools with low curriculum, test scores and below average Sat's.

I agree in terms of schools - as I said before you have to be very careful with the different clusters in the county and where they feed in terms of middle and high schools. . .

On the flip side, what about lower Mont. Co - Langley Park, University Blvd, Adelphi. . . I remember the Hot Shoppes at University Blvd and New Hampshire Avenue, the Woodies (or was it Hechts?) that was there. . .and now when I drive through there (rarely as I'm now in Frederick), I feel like I'm in a third world country. Even though it's MCPS school system (of which I am now a part), you have some really needy schools there too. It is all about locale. . . as they say in real estate, location, location, location.

[Jaded]

Originally Posted by doubbltunman

Wherever you move do not move to P.G.county! PERIOD! It is worth the gas to pass through. I know I do it everyday. The further out is worth the gas compared to what is lurking in P.G. and closer to the district. Not a place to raise your kids or their horrible schools with low curriculum, test scores and below average Sat's.

Originally Posted by trying2moveup

I agree in terms of schools - as I said before you have to be very careful with the different clusters in the county and where they feed in terms of middle and high schools. . .

On the flip side, what about lower Mont. Co - Langley Park, University Blvd, Adelphi. . . I remember the Hot Shoppes at University Blvd and New Hampshire Avenue, the Woodies (or was it Hechts?) that was there. . .and now when I drive through there (rarely as I'm now in Frederick), I feel like I'm in a third world country. Even though it's MCPS school system (of which I am now a part), you have some really needy schools there too. It is all about locale. . . as they say in real estate, location, location, location.

Well, we don't have kids yet. But I like the idea of looking at the Washington Post...which I can do online until we visit the area.

I've Googled a lot of areas, but what you see online doesn't compare to "real life." Also, I have a map of the DC Metro. This has helped.

I'm honestly leaning towards looking only in Maryland. I've read that VA is nice, but Arlingon is too expensive for what we would want. And, NOVA has problems with MS-13 gangs...which my husband does not, will not and cannot be around. Well, actually, no one probably really wants to be around gangs. But I digress.

PG County has areas that appeal to me "online" - Mitchellville, Woodmore, Upper Marlboro, Bowie, Brandywine, and now I've discovered Ft. Washington, Clinton and Accokeek. But when I read about on the forums, the entire county is bashed for some of its cities crime rates.

I lived in LA County for years, so I understand how this can be done, but usually there are areas in any county that are good and bad...I'm assuming that is the case with PG too.