Real Estate News
Source: Wash Post Real Estate
Washington Post's Real Estate section is your source for buying and selling a home and finding open houses in Washington,DC,Maryland and Virginia. DC,Virginia and Maryland. Post Real Estate also includes discussions and blogs on DC metro area real estate issues.
An imposing Georgian manse is brought down to a more human scale
Like many of us, Tom Baltimore knows a good piece of real estate when he sees it. Unlike many, though, he and his wife, Hillary, are well positioned to jump at an opportunity.
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Feng shui techniques can add tranquil quality to gardens
Gardens can relax or energize you, depending on their design. Balance the energy flow in your landscape to ensure it will be comfortable and harmonious. The Chinese have used this method of design for many thousands of years. It is called feng shui, pronounced "fung shway."
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D.C.'s Gessford Court is a little alley oasis
David Weiner moved to Gessford Court 26 years ago and has never been successful at organizing a block party on this mews of about a dozen small alley dwellings.
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Treasury hopes new rules send short sales to the rescue of underwater mortgages
With new Treasury Department rules designed to expedite short sales set to take effect April 5, relief can't come soon enough for some area buyers, sellers and real estate agents who have waded through a long and arduous process to get short sales approved by the bank.
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New round of foreclosures threatens housing market
The housing market is facing swelling ranks of homeowners who are seriously delinquent but have yet to lose their homes, and this is threatening a new wave of foreclosures that could hit just as the real estate market has begun to stabilize.
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Landover Hills: location, affordability still draw first-time buyers
When Mike Walker and his wife, Kathy, found an affordable house in Landover Hills back in 1979, they were looking for an upgrade from their apartment in nearby Bladensburg. The house was advertised as a "fixer-upper," Mike Walker recalled, and cost $39,500.
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Before you buy that castle on the beach, do some digging
My father, channeling both Mark Twain and Will Rogers, used to tell me, "Buy beachfront property -- they're not making any more of it." For generations, that was pretty darn good advice.
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Web sites offer lifestyle-oriented home searches
Home buyers often embark on their home search armed with a vision of their ideal property, a laundry list of features they would love to find or can't live without.
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Some simple fixes made our house more energy efficient
After years of exhorting readers to make their houses more energy efficient, I decided it was time to take a hard look at my own.
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Adjustable-rate mortgage holders vulnerable to sudden rate increase
Many mortgage borrowers with adjustable-rate mortgages on which the rate has adjusted in recent years are currently enjoying extremely low interest rates. This reflects the unusually low levels of the rate indexes used by most ARMs. But these low rates are accompanied by high anxiety, because of...
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Condo board problems? It's more constructive to help out than withhold dues.
I live in a condo community that I bought into in 1989. The association and community were fine for many years, but about five years ago things really started to change. The condo homeowners association board is being way too "frugal" with our money, to the effect of not getting landscaping done....
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HUD taking a closer look at added realty fees
Does it matter whether a real estate agent charges you a flat commission rate -- say 6 percent -- or quotes you a flat rate but adds hundreds of dollars labeled an "admin" or administrative fee?
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Mortgage rates stay below 5 percent mark
Mortgage rates held below the 5 percent threshold for the third straight week as the Federal Reserve prepares to end a program that has kept rates at or near record lows.
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HUD to study housing discrimination against gays
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is launching a national study of discrimination in the sale or rental of housing to people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. "Our goal is to provide information -- to allow the dialogue to focus on facts rather than preconceived notions,"...
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Builder pre-wires homes for charging of electric cars
One of the nation's largest home builders has begun offering to pre-wire homes for electric car charging stations.
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BOUNDARIES: This small Capitol Hill neighborhood is bounded by Independence Avenue to the north, 12th Street SE to the east, C Street SE to the south, and 11th Street SE to the west.
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Gessford Court's alley homes feel like a retreat in the city. F1
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Personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary answers your personal finance questions and discusses other money matters.
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Alexandria proposes nearly 10 percent increase in tax rate
The Alexandria City Council proposed a tax rate of 99.3 cents per $100 of a property's assessed value this weekend, after listening to advocates for affordable housing, transportation and health care ask for more funding.
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Source: Baron Briefs
Real estate news and commentary from RealtyBaron.com
Announcing the RealAnswers WP Plugin: Own the Real Estate Q&A Conversation
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Top REALTORS Featured in Home Search Results
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The World’s First Risk-Free Listing
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Introducing the ListingHedge(TM)
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Tweet Your AgentRank(TM), Realtors
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ReferralAuction Scenario #2: Personal Referral
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ReferralAuction Scenario #1: Client Referral
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Four Reasons for Agents and Brokers to Use ReferralAuctions(TM)
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Introducing the ReferralAuction(TM)
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“My current Realtor raised her commission…
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Source: About Home Buying / Selling
Get the latest headlines from the About.com Home Buying / Selling GuideSite.
When Your Home Doesn't Sell You Still Have Options Friday, March 19, 2010
If you've tried selling your home and it just won't sell, why not consider your home selling options? When you've tried everything under the sun to sell that home, even burying...
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How to Find Out If Your Agent is a Neighborhood Specialist Wednesday, March 17, 2010
With the explosion of real estate websites and blogs over the past few years, it's becoming increasingly hard to figure out who online is a neighborhood specialist, since everybody...
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Tips for Staging the Bathroom Monday, March 15, 2010
If a seller can manage nothing else while staging the bathroom, at least get rid of personal hygiene supplies in the bath or shower. Because one of the main goals to...
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Explanation of Greenwashing and Green Home Advertising Thursday, March 11, 2010
Greenwashing is a term I had not heard before, not until David Syring of Listed Green brought it to my attention. Yet, now that I know what it is, I see...
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Tearing Down a House Tuesday, March 9, 2010
It costs less than you may think for tearing down a house. While it's often sad to witness the demise of a long-standing structure, sometimes tearing down a house is the...
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Why Wachovia Short Sales Are Special Sunday, March 7, 2010
I can't begin to sing the praises loudly enough of a Wachovia short sale. It's not that so many short sale banks are so totally messed up that they can make...
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Writing Off a Home Loss When Turning a Residence Into a Rental Thursday, March 4, 2010
Since so many sellers are taking a financial hit to sell in our soft real estate market, it really adds insult to injury if a seller can't write off that...
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Advertising Words for Home Selling Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Before you place an ad in the newspaper to sell your home or post an online listing, stop to think about the advertising words you choose. Choosing the wrong advertising...
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Dangers of Buying a Foreclosure Flipper Home Sunday, February 28, 2010
There is a huge difference between buying foreclosure flippers and homes that regular owner occupants have remodeled. If your agent hasn't done a little research on the history of the home,...
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Removing Assets From Homes in Foreclosure Thursday, February 25, 2010
A seldom-discussed issue concerning homes that are in foreclosure is the rising practice of removing assets from foreclosures. Many home owners do not understand what constitutes a fixture in the home...
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