Fortmeadehomes' Blog: All Categories

You've no doubt noticed all the "55 and better" signs for new construction in Anne Arundel County Maryland.   From Gambrills, toPiney Orchard to Odenton and Severn, they are everywhere.  I was recently speaking with a home buyer who wondered just how our area can support the sheer volume of the new homes being built just for this one segment of the population.  And why, oh why aren't there more new and affordable housing to serve buyers of all ages?   Simply put, we are feeling the pinch of what is affectionately known as the APFO, or Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance which went into effect in our area in 2004.  In our case, the APFO relates solely to schools.  We just do not have capacity for any growth and aren't expected to for quite some time. …

The Fort Meade real estate community is abuzz with BRAC talk.  But, interestingly enough, everyone seems to be a bit confused about numbers of new households versus jobs, when folks will be arriving, where they will be distributed throughout Maryland and most importantly what impact these BRAC newcomers will have on the Fort Meade area and Anne Arundel county housing market.   I've done some digging on the Internet and here's what I've come up with.   These are the latest BRAC figures as outlined on the Anne Arundel County BRAC web site (see link below)  for Fort Meade show an anticipated distribution by county of the nearly 29,000 projected new "households" for Maryland at 6/13/2007

PROJECTED NEW HOUSEHOLDS BY COUNTY FOR MARYLAND BRAC
26%     Harford…

We had a fabulous time at the Fort Meade Destination Maryland event on September 21st.  Lots and lots of military members and families were out and about and we had literally hundreds of visitors and new BRAC movers to our www.FortMeadeHomes.com display which included information on homes for sale and homes for rent near Fort Meade.  We had the whole Fort Meade Homes Team on-site with live MLS access to all the local listings of homes for sale and homes for rent.    Great food and great fun and a wonderful sense of the military community.  This Ft. Meade event was definitely worth the wait. 

Extra special thanks to our Karen Daley and her staff at www.homelandtitleandescrow.com .  Maryland's premier title company that offers special discounts to military…

It’s coming and so are the budget issues.  Below is a summary from a recent Baltimore Sun Article.  See full article at link below.

State and county officials are hoping that the Army will pitch in to assist with infrastructure upgrades needed to keep pace with the anticipated BRAC growth.  However, with a planned office complex to be built on the base, the building will not generate any tax revenue for the surrounding areas.   That’s right, because it’s on the base they will be tax exempt including impact fees.  This 15 building $700 million dollar office complex is expected to have over 2,000,000 s.f. of office space and two golf courses that would accommodate around 10,000 BRAC related defense contractor employees.  This information is according to a…

Workforce development needed to handle BRAC jobs

By JOSHUA STEWART, Staff Writer
CAPITAL NEWSPAPER
Published September 07, 2007

As tens of thousands of high-tech jobs come to Maryland, state and federal officials are trying to ensure that enough local workers will be available to fill the positions. The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process is set to bring an estimated 60,000 new jobs to the state. But Maryland's work force needs to be ready to capitalize on the opportunity, officials said yesterday at the Maryland Military Installation Council meeting in Crownsville.

"The needs and challenges exist from GED to Ph.D.," Tom Perez, state secretary of labor licensing and regulation, told the military council, which included installation…

There are several schools of thought on the issue of how BRAC  will affect Fort Meade area residents, commuters, business owners, and home owners.   Some think that BRAC is the biggest thing to come to Anne Arundel County ever.  Others recognize that with the growth of the intelligence industry we are seeing thousands of new jobs added to our area each year.   They've just come up a little more quietly without the trumpets and press releases.  But, we can certainly feel their arrival during rush hour can't we.   Traffic is not what it was just two short years ago anywhere in the Fort Meade area.  So what is another 14,000 jobs really going to mean to us?  And will it really be 14,000, or 5,000 or 7,000?  Will the impact of BRAC be felt over two years or…