On October 10th President Bush signed The Veterans Benefits Improvement Act which adds some ground breaking improvements for home owners and home buyers who are eligible for a VA loan.   Most notably....
 

• During the housing boom many veteran's purchased homes using conventional financing to make their offers more favorable to sellers or to purchase in a price range that was higher than the current VA loan amount.  Those loans sometimes came with terms that were not as good as they could have received with a VA loan.   Previous to this act refinancing from a conventional loan (or any other type of loan) to a VA loan required that the veteran have at least 10% equity in their home.  So, for example.  If you owned a $400,000 home, VA would only allow…

HR 6694 the FHA Seller-Financed Downpayment Reform and Risk-Based Pricing Authorization Act of 2008 bill was approved by the House Financial Services Committee on September 16th.  This is a great step forward in bringing back a reasonable, balanced and managable solution that will allow Sellers to contribute some or all of the downpayment to a buyer that wants to purchase their home.
This program rasied great controversy and was deemed part of the downfall of the housing market as it incorrectly got pulled into the BCD lending "scandal".  The truth is this is a great program that can make a big difference for families with responsible credit histories that want to step into home ownership.
The revamped program has some very sensible restrictions on… Read Full Post

Everyone in the Fort Meade area knows that BRAC is coming.  Or is it here already?  Did I miss it?   We understand that it will bring new jobs to the area and that it is a good thing for the real estate market and our economy but what is it really?    BRAC stands for Base Realignment and Closure.  In 2005 the Department of Defense recommended that certain facilities across the country be consolidated here at Fort Meade.  As it affects Fort Meade, BRAC is a cost saving measure designed to move jobs that are (1) currently housed in privately leased (and expensive) off-base office buildings; and, (2)  jobs that are housed on bases that are being closed completely, to one government owned facility on the secured base at Fort Meade.  These include… Read Full Post

Temporary VA Home Loan Limit Increase

This is the best news for military home buyers near Fort Meade that we've had for a long time.  And a much  need shot in the arm for a sluggish real estate market with loads of inventory.

Previous to today if you were a home buyer eligible for a VA loan your no down payment loan option capped out at $417,000.  If you purchased a home over $417,000 you had to make a down payment on the portion of the loan that was over $417,000. 

As of today VA has upped the limit for no downpyament  loans to match current FHA limits as shown below.
Anne Arundel County       $560,000
Prince Georges' County  $729,750
Howard County                 $560,000
Baltimore                           $560,000

You can view the new no down…

OK, so the new totals and time line for Fort Meade BRAC are in at about 6,000 jobs here at Fort Meade by 2011.  Way down from the original estimates of over 20,000 - 30,000 that were bantered around in the beginning and were slated to start arriving in 2008.  After the March 16th awarding of the construction contract to build the new  1 million s.f.  Fort Meade facility for DISA, they had the ground breaking ceremony on April 16th.  Estimates show DISA being the biggest contributor of jobs with about 4,300 new positions expected.  Other organizations as well as DOD and civilian support teams are expected to bring that total up but it's anyones guess at this point.

I have heard so many Anne Arundel County real estate owners state that they are going to…