Fort Meade BRAC - Base Realignment and Closure News

While everyone in the Fort Meade area is counting all the blessings that the BRAC move could bring our way, we've been a bit short sighted on the pitfalls of what will happen to our already over crowded roads. Estimates state that as many as 65% of DISA employees that are currently housed in Virginia will be commuting rather than relocating. And while this will shift naturally, over time as some commuters decide to make Fort Meade their home and others retire and are replaced with new hires f... Read Full Post

Hard to believe but the announced 2005 BRAC move of DISA to Fort Meade really is under way now. A recent article in the Baltimore Business Journal states that beginning in Mid-January we will be seeing 200 workers a week shifting in to the area. We've already worked with DISA folks to both buy and rent homes in the area and are hearing more buzz throughout the real estate industry that these folks are here. Anne Arundel County welcomes you with open arms! Read Full Post

Lt. Governor Anthony Brown announced last week that the state has allocated $4 million in funding for improvements to roads near Fort Meade including Route 175. In addition, there is now an agreement with the Army for improvements to the base transportation infrastructure including the addition of 65 acres of land currently owned by Fort Meade to be used to widen 175 from the BW Parkway to Route 170. The agreement also calls for the State Highway Administration to make $10 million in improvem... Read Full Post

The stats are in for the Fort Meade area real estate market and Anne Arundel County MD with mixed reviews on results. The number of sales was down dramatically (by 20%) over 2009 but the average sales price climbed by 1% for the fourth consecutive month. This number is trending downwards which is somewhat expected seasonally from 6% in June to 12% in July to 3% in August. Anne Arundel County Sales Statists - Maryland September 2010 Read Full Post

Oh no, the first time homebuyer tax credit is over and you missed it, right? Well, if you are a member of the Armed Forces, Foreign Service, Federal Government or the "intelligence community" and you were serving over seas for a period of 90 days or more during the period of January 1, 2009 and May 1, 2010 you may still qualify for the credit! Information and details are available at the IRS Website. Obviously this is great news for the Fort Meade real estate market in Maryland and other mark... Read Full Post

A recent article in the Baltimore business journal indicates that the US Cyber Command; which is "tasked with safeguarding the nation's critical networks as well as coordinating all offensive cyber attacks", is moving full steam ahead. On May 21, 2010 General Keith Alexander, Director, National Security Agency/Central Security Service was sworn in as the head of the new unit. It is estimated that this new command, housed at Fort Meade MD, will bring about 1,000 new positions to our area. Most... Read Full Post

Military moving "season" is right around the corner and the big news in the Fort Meade real estate market is a shortage of rental homes. While in years past we've had an ample supply of homes to show relocating customers, this year the inventory is unusually low. Rental homes that are properly prepared and priced are receiving multiple applications in days. This inventory trend, along with record low prices and interest rates, may provide incentive for more military and DOD families to use th... Read Full Post

As someone who relies on the Internet for most of my news and information I have been increasingly frustrated with the lack of updates on the Fort Meade BRAC relocation of DISA employees. I've watched the BRAC cam show good progress on the construction and I've heard the buzz on the street that touts the DISA move as the shot in the arm that we need to turn the Anne Arundel county real estate market around and start an upward movement in the quantity of homes sold and an increase in home valu... Read Full Post

Being in the military or government service has it's unique rewards and challenges. One of them being the need to move every 2 - 5 years. So what happens when you invest in Fort Meade real estate and then are transferred (sometimes with very short notice) to another duty station via PCS orders and are caught with a home value that is less than when you purchased? We're seeing many home owners in the area opting to rent their homes and ride out current market conditions with the hopes that the... Read Full Post

Just took a look at the final sales states for Anne Arundel County in July and they are a bit surprising. Based on the volume of sales we are seeing on our family team I would have guessed we had another record month for Fort Meade real estate. While the county as a whole was up 17% the areas immediately surrounding Fort Meade saw a decline in volume and home values. Bring on the BRAC! I pull these reports manually from the MLS sold data. I've compared them to the monthly reports provided by ... Read Full Post