The Rathkamps Purchase in Odenton’s Chapel Grove Community

Justin and Mariah Rathkamp and their two sons recently purchased an Odenton, Maryland, home with the help of Jerry Kline, realtor, Keller Williams Flagship of Maryland.

Justin & Mariah Rathkamp and their two sons faced a tight deadline to find a new home after relocating to Maryland for Justin’s job. They turned to Jerry Kline, realtor, with Keller Williams Flagship of Maryland, to help them locate a great property in a convenient, family friendly neighborhood.

This home, located in Odenton’s Chapel Grove community, was recently purchased by clients represented by Jerry Kline, realtor, Keller Williams Flagship of Maryland.

After a short search, the Rathkamps purchased a 3-bedroom, 3.5-bathroom townhome in Odenton’s sought-after Chapel Grove community. The neighborhood features a huge array of recreational amenities and shopping and dining options, and is served by top-rated schools. Best of all, their sons instantly found a large group of new friends to play with.

The living room of 2456 Jostaberry Way in Odenton, Maryland. The home was recently purchased by clients represented by Jerry Kline, realtor, Keller Williams Flagship of Maryland.

Justin & Mariah’s beautiful end-unit townhome features an open floor plan with 2,300 square feet of living space. The main level boasts a family room with fireplace, a half bathroom, a gourmet kitchen with dining area and bump-out flex space leading to an oversized deck. On the upper level, there’s an owner’s suite with vaulted ceilings, a custom closet, and an ensuite bath with walk-in shower, and two other bedrooms for the boys. On the lower level, there’s walk-out access to the backyard, a den/possible fourth bedroom, a full bathroom and another family room.

The master bedroom suite of 2456 Jostaberry Way in Odenton, Maryland. The home was recently purchased by clients represented by Jerry Kline, realtor, Keller Williams Flagship of Maryland.

The family’s transition to Maryland was smooth, quick and successful!

If you or someone you know is looking to buy or sell a home in the greater central Maryland area, contact Jerry Kline (443-924-7418) with Keller Williams today!

Odenton Home Sales Explode In March

Odenton Homes for sale

Sales up 53 Percent, Median Sale Price Up 7.6 Percent Over the Same Period Last Year

Aggressive buyer appetite and a lack of residential properties for sale led Odenton home sales to spike strongly last month, according to year-over-year data released by RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI).

The number of homes sold in Odenton in March (49) rose 53 percent over the same period last year, while the median price of a home sold in Odenton rose 7.6 percent. The average number of days it took to sell an Odenton home dropped 10 percent from March 2015, to 70 days.

RBI statistics show that the months of supply of housing available in Odenton remains critically low at 3.0 months. Months of supply is a good indicator of whether a real estate market is favoring buyers or sellers. Typically, a market with less than 6 months of supply favors sellers, while more than 6 months of supply indicates an excess of homes for sale, favoring buyers.

In Piney Orchard, a particularly popular community for local home buyers, the market for home sellers was even stronger. The months-of-supply figure for Piney Orchard in March was 2.1 months.

The boom in Odenton real estate was not confined to March, however. RBI year-to-date numbers show strong growth in the Odenton housing market since the beginning of the year.

In the Maple Ridge neighborhood, for instance, 13 homes sold in the first three months of 2016, compared to only two homes over the same period last year. That’s an increase of 550 percent. It’s not surprising, then, that the median Maple Ridge home price has jumped 23 percent since the beginning of the year.

The story is much the same in Piney Orchard. Year-to-date sales numbers for the community show an increase in sales of 55 percent over 2015, and the median price of a Piney Orchard home is up 4.2 percent so far this year.

Not every Odenton community has benefitted from the upswing, however. Year-to-date sales numbers for Seven Oaks, for example, show the number of homes sold there dropped 40 percent (from 30 homes to 18 homes) from the same period in 2015 -- although the median home price in that community did rise 2.3 percent). Given that the average number of days needed to sell a Seven Oaks home dropped 48 percent year over year, the drop-off in sales in Seven Oaks this year is probably explained by a lack of available inventory.

Home sales in other Odenton communities, including Chapel Grove, Four Seasons Estates, Kings Ransom and Eden Brook, remained largely flat compared to the same period in 2015. While sales in Lions Gate are up 66 percent so far in 2016, this increase is based on only five total sales this year (compared to three sales over the same period in 2015).

Jerry Kline is a Realtor with the Odenton, Maryland, office of Keller Williams Flagship of Maryland (1216 Annapolis Rd., Odenton, MD 21113.) For more information on the local real estate market, contact him at (443) 924-7418.

Odenton’s Chapel Grove Neighborhood: 2015 Home Sales Steady, Prices Mixed

Homes for sale in Chapel Grove

Townhome Prices Dropped 4.5 Percent Last Year; Single Family Home Prices Rose 1.5 Percent

Year-end home-sales figures for Odenton, Maryland’s, Chapel Grove neighborhood show home sales remained steady in the community in 2015, but townhome prices significantly lagged those of single-family homes, compared to the previous year.

Statistics supplied by Real Estate Business Intelligence (RBI) show that 14 homes sold in Chapel Grove in 2015 – six single-family detached homes and eight townhomes. Average sale prices for detached homes rose 1.5 percent (to $634,638) from 2014, while average sale prices for Chapel Grove townhomes dropped 4.5 percent (to $365,125).

Chapel Grove Home Sales 2012-2015

2015

2014

2013

2012

No. of Homes Sold

14

12

19

12

No. Detached Homes Sold

6

3

10

4

No. Attached Homes Sold

8

9

9

8

Average Price of Detached Homes

$634,638

$624,667

$631,700

$623,750

Average Price of Attached Homes

$365,125

$382,444

$374,308

$362,063

Average No. of Days on Market

83

95

67

101

The sale of townhomes has been remarkably consistent in Chapel Grove over the last four years, with either eight or nine such homes sold in each year from 2012 to 2015. Over the same period, sales of single family homes has varied from a low of three homes in 2014 to a high of 10 homes in 2013.

The average number of “days on market” for Chapel Grove homes sold last year fell from 2014, from 95 days to 83 days. Of the last four years, homes sales were strongest in Chapel Grove in 2013, when 19 homes sold with an average days-on-market of 67 days.

Chapel Grove is comprised of 252 luxury single family homes and 159 townhomes built by Winchester Homes between 2002 and 2009. The homes are located near Fort Meade, Maryland, and are situated on well-planned sites that are surrounded by preserved woodlands and open space for recreation.

For more information on the Fort Meade and Annapolis, Maryland, real estate markets, contact Jerry Kline at (443) 924-7418.

New Listing in Odenton, Maryland - 710 Crawfords Knoll Ct.!

JUST LISTED by Jerry Kline of Keller Williams Flagship of Maryland -- 710 Crawfords Knoll Ct. Odenton, Maryland (MLS#AA8677052 -- $435,000).

This 18-month-old, single-family gem looks new, smells new and feels new!

It's the first re-sale in the new-construction community of Crawfords Knoll, just down the street from Odenton's Piney Orchard and Chapel Grove neighborhoods.

The home features a stone front, 9-foot ceilings, a gourmet kitchen, four large bedrooms and a spacious family room on lower level.

Luxury abounds in the spa-styled super bath in the master suite.

The home also backs to trees and features a good-sized yard for that vegetable garden you wanted.

The home is nestled in an ideal location,  five minutes from Fort Meade/NSA, the MARC commuter rail station in Odenton, and shopping and restaurants at Waugh Chapel Town Center. It's also directly adjacent to walking and biking trails. Best of all, since the home is so young, it includes the remainder of the 10-yr. builder's warranty!

Call me today for a private showing (443) 924-7418!

Odenton, Md., Home Prices, Sales Slumped in November

Number of Homes Sold Dropped 29 Percent; Median Prices Down 8 Percent

November brought a steep drop in temperatures to Odenton and nearby Ft. Meade, Md., and along with the cold weather came a corresponding chill in the local real estate market.

Year-over-year housing numbers show that fewer homes sold in Odenton in November 2014 than in the previous November. Average home prices here dropped and homes took longer to sell.

Median home prices in zip code 21113 dropped 8 percent, from $305,000 to $280,000. The number of homes that were sold fell 29 percent, from 38 to 27. And the average number of days those homes stayed on the market rose 18 percent, from 45 days to 53 days.

Last month also saw a 20 percent jump in the total number of homes listed for sale in Odenton compared to the previous November (147 homes versus 122 homes).

The number of detached single family homes sold in Odenton took the biggest hit, dropping 53 percent, from 15 homes to seven. Similarly, the median sale price of those homes plunged 36 percent from the same time last year.

Attached homes, which include townhomes, condominiums and duplexes, fared a little better by comparison. Average prices of attached homes sold in Odenton dropped 4 percent over the previous year, while the number of attached units sold dropped from 23 to 20.

The housing data was issued by RealEstate Business Intelligence.

Jerry Kline is a Realtor with the Odenton, Md., office of Keller Williams Flagship Realty (1216 Annapolis Rd., Odenton.) For more information on the local real estate market, contact him at (443) 924-7418.

Class-Action Lawsuit Against Creig Northrop Real Estate Team Underscores Consumer Protections for Home Buyers, Home Sellers

A large class-action lawsuit recently certified against Maryland’s Creig Northrop Real Estate Team serves as an excellent reminder of the consumer protections afforded to home buyers and home sellers under the federal Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA).

RESPA, enacted by Congress in 1974, is designed to protect consumers from unscrupulous practices in the real estate industry. Its chief purpose is to help consumers become better shoppers for real estate settlement services and to eliminate kickbacks and referral fees that unnecessarily increase the costs of closing a transaction.

Among other things, the act prohibits kickbacks between lenders and third-party settlement agents in the settlement process.

The lawsuit, filed in 2013, alleges that The Creig Northrop Team P.C. and others received more than $500,000 in illegal kickbacks from Lakeview Title Co. Inc. over a period of years. The class certified by the court in January includes all purchasers who engaged the services of The Creig Northrop Team and a defendant title insurance company from Jan. 1, 2008, until the present.

The number of home buyers and home sellers included in the class of plaintiffs is potentially huge. The Creig Northrop Team P.C. is affiliated with Long & Foster Real Estate Inc., and was ranked second in the country last year and first in 2012 in the amount of real estate transaction volume handled.

Under RESPA, service providers in a real estate transaction must provide a variety of disclosures to their clients. (See http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/housing/rmra/res/respamor#HD) Certain disclosures must be made at the time of loan application, before settlement occurs, at settlement and after settlement.

Also important for home buyers and home sellers is the Affiliated Business Arrangement Disclosure. This disclosure is required whenever a settlement service provider involved in a RESPA-covered transaction refers the client to a provider with whom the referring party has an ownership or other beneficial interest.

The referring party must give this disclosure to the client at or prior to the time of referral. The disclosure must describe the business arrangement that exists between the two providers and give the borrower an estimate of the second provider's charges.

Except in cases where a lender refers a borrower to an attorney, credit reporting agency or real estate appraiser to represent the lender's interest in the transaction, the referring party may not require the consumer to use the particular provider being referred.

For more information on the case (Patrick Baehr et al. v. The Creig Northrop Team P.C. et al.)), see http://www.inman.com/2014/02/25/top-producing-long-foster-team-facing-class-action-respa-suit-over-alleged-kickbacks-to-title-insurance-agency/

Jerry Kline is a Realtor with the Odenton, Md., office of Keller Williams Flagship Realty (1216 Annapolis Rd., Odenton.) For more information on the local real estate market, contact him at (443) 924-7418.

New Disabled Veterans Mortgage Program Offers Big Help to Maryland Vets

Applicants Need to Hurry, Though – Program Ends May 30th

Do you know a disabled military veteran looking to buy a home in this area? The state of Maryland last week announced the creation of a new – and temporary – initiative designed to help such buyers purchase a home using bargain interest rates. Even better, the new mortgage assistance program can be used in conjunction with other state programs that offer down payment and closing cost assistance to veterans. Interest rates for the Maryland Homefront Disabled Veterans Mortgage Program are as low as 3 percent. Up to $5,000 in down payment and closing cost assistance also is available to qualified applicants. Interested homebuyers have to hurry, though. According to information distributed by the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, the program is set to expire in two months – May 30, 2014. Program Eligibility The program is open to honorably discharged disabled veterans. By program definition, a disabled veteran is a veteran with a 30 percent or greater disability. Eligible veterans also must qualify for a Maryland Mortgage Program loan, based on such criteria as credit score, income limitations, etc. Before buying their home, eligible veterans must take approved homebuyer education courses and use an approved mortgage lender. Loans under the program typically are limited to first-time homebuyers. However, this requirement can be waived under certain circumstances. Qualification for a Veterans Administration loan is not required. Under the program, the property purchased must be located in the state of Maryland. Jerry Kline is a Realtor with the Odenton, Md., office of Keller Williams Flagship Realty (1216 Annapolis Rd., Odenton.) For more information on the local real estate market, contact him at (443) 924-7418.

Chapelgate Violence, Traffic & Drugs Fuel Security Efforts

Below is a link to an interesting article in the West County Gazette. In September a 19-month-old child sustained minor injuries in Chapelgate when a still-unidentified suspect sent several shotgun blasts through the family’s living room window. In December, Sharron Charles Mason, 19, was shot to death in the duplex he shared with his grandparents. No arrests have been made in either case.

Chapelgate violence, traffic and drugs fuel Piney Orchard security efforts - : Crofton - West County

Odenton Home Sales, Prices Surged in November

Median Home Prices Jumped 27 Percent, Sales Rose 12 Percent Year Over Year

The Odenton housing market is continuing its climb from the depths of the 2008 housing crisis, with median home prices in the community rising 27 percent last month over the same period the year before.

According to housing statistics published by Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, the median price for homes in zip code 21113 increased from $239,450 in November 2012 to $305,000 last month. The number of homes sold also increased, from 34 in November 2012 to 38 last month.

Also notable in the report was a dramatic drop in the amount of time it takes to sell a home here. In November 2012, the average “days on market” for homes sold in 21113 was 109 days. Last month, that number dropped 59 percent to 45 days.

November also brought a surge in the number of detached homes sold in Odenton, compared to the same period last year. Fifteen detached homes sold in Odenton last month while only six sold in November 2012.

The number of attached homes -- such as condominiums, townhomes and duplexes – sold in Odenton dropped 18 percent last month (28 homes vs. 23 homes) over November 2012.

With the local housing market continuing to emerge from a multi-year slumber, more Odenton homeowners are selling their properties. The number of homes actively on the market in Odenton jumped 37 percent last month to 122 homes, a jump from 89 in November 2012.

Jerry Kline is a Realtor with the Odenton, Md., office of Keller Williams Flagship Realty (1216 Annapolis Rd., Odenton.) For more information on the local real estate market, contact him at (443) 924-7418.

Limited Housing Inventory Prompts Door Knocking by Agents

“In 17 years I've never had to do this," one realtor says. "These are real buyers who can't find homes, so we have two options as agents. We can wait for something to hit and compete against 20 other buyers, or we can get on the phone." I know for a fact that several agents in our Keller Williams Flagship office have adopted this tactic, some with considerable success.

Limited Inventory Prompts Door Knocking