Baltimore bill aims to regulate small rental properties
A bill that supporters argue improves the quality of affordable housing in the city is set for a Baltimore City Council committee hearing on Tuesday.
Baltimore city council to mull strict limits on Airbnb-type rentals
The Baltimore City Council is set to take up a bill, imposing strict rules on short-term rentals made through Airbnb and other sites.
Baltimore ripe for rental investment
The combined Baltimore-Towson metro area is rated one of the top markets in the country in terms of return on investment on rental property. But that's not necessarily a good thing.
Court reverses Deep Creek boat rental decision
CUMBERLAND — A Garrett County judge is throwing cold water on expanded boat rentals at Deep Creek Lake. The Cumberland Times-News reported in its Friday edition that the court voided a boat-rental permit the county issued last June to the owner of the Lakeside Creamery. The permit allowed the ice-cream shop to offer personal watercraft […]
Top court takes on foreclosure rules in unrelated cases
In two separate opinions published Monday, the Maryland Court of Appeals interpreted recent foreclosure laws that were enacted to protect defaulting borrowers and people who rent from them.
Some video stores stay alive as technology changes
HAGERSTOWN — It’s no secret that the number of video stores in the United States is diminishing. The culprit? The World Wide Web. The big shot players of video streaming like Netflix, YouTube and Hulu are the top spot holders when it comes to viewing movies and TV episodes online. In 1992, there were about […]
Realities of Real Estate: Is a housing shortage just around the corner?
Exactly one year ago, we speculated that there may be a housing shortage in the not too distant future. Last June we wrote: What most people fail to recognize is that our population is constantly growing. Right now, the United States has about 310 million people. We’re the third largest population in the world, behind […]
Consumer prices up because of higher gas costs
WASHINGTON — A sharp jump in gasoline prices drove a measure of U.S. consumer costs up in February. But outside higher pump prices, inflation stayed mild. The Labor Department said Friday that the consumer price index rose 0.4 percent in February, the largest increase in 10 months. Gas prices rose 6 percent to account for […]
U.S. government converts 1st foreclosure to rental
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government has started selling off its stock of homes in foreclosure. The Federal Housing Finance Agency said Monday that a group of investors purchased the first of 2,500 homes being sold as part of a foreclosure-to-rental program. The government has control over roughly 250,000 foreclosed homes owned by Fannie Mae, 1 […]
Robert Nusgart: It could be the best time ever to buy a house
So the question is: Rent or buy? That question would have been scoffed at back in the mid-2000s. Buy, of course. With 100 percent financing easily available, a menu of reduced documentation programs at hand and liberal credit score requirements in place, the American Dream was easily attainable. You bought even if you couldn’t truly […]
Real Estate Weekly – 9/30/11: Choice’s Cambria Suites spreads out
Choice’s Cambria Suites spreads out Choice Hotels International Inc. of Silver Spring, announced plans for new Cambria Suites hotels in White Plains, N.Y.; Washington, D.C.; and Houston. Meyer Jabara Hotels, a Danbury, Conn.-based hospitality company, is building a 130-room Cambria Suites in White Plains as part of a $47 million mixed-use development. In Washington, Concord […]
Realities of Real Estate: Marketing in Real Estate
Back in 2006, housing demand reached such a fever pitch that an agent’s contribution to marketing didn’t need to go much beyond putting your house in the Multiple List System. Today, things are a little bit different. A few pictures and platitudes about the yard, or a nice kitchen just isn’t enough. In the current […]