hibanism

Artie’s Icecream in Clarksville Closes

Artie’s Ice Cream a Clarksville, Maryland monument of over 2 decades has decided to close “due to lease expiration”. Not sure if that means that the owner sold the building, which has been for sale for over a year or if it just simply means they used the expiration of their lease to move to a new location. The building behind Artie’s , the former Zepp Plaza recently changed hands from it’s owner, Howard Bank to a new owner who paid 3.7 million for the property. A large sign in the front boasts a new martial arts studio “coming Soon”.

Howard County Housing Statistics for July 2010

Howard County Board of Realtors released the statistics for July 2010.

Inventory continued to rise closing in on 1400 homes for sale. The total number of active listings is a large 18% higher than this time last year. Year to date contacts are up by 4%.

Although the total number of settlements this month sank by 26% over last month the total settlements year to date are up by a sweeping 16%.

It appears the stimulus definitely jump started things and the momentum is still being felt. If we can even continue at the current pace 2010 will be a definite improvement over 2009. It will be fun to watch the fall market in hopes of this continued smooth sailing improvement.

Stanford Grill in Columbia gets 5 Stars for Ambiance

My wife and I visited Stanford Grill this weekend based on a recommendation from a good friend.

He told me is was perfect in every way. He was right. It reminded me of Huston’s or Houlihan’s. A casual atmosphere with better than average food selection.

The owners, Blue Ridge Restaurant Group paid a clean 2.1 Million for the building and land to the former owners of the old Lone Star Steakhouse and have obviously spent a ton more on new improvements inside and out!!! . These guys or gals own 5 Copper Canyon restaurants and are testing out a new menu here.

Just like it’s neighbors, Nottingham’s , the place is a bear to find, but once you find it it’s a destination you’ll want to return to. Without the return customer it will most likely suffer from the same fate that Lone Star did before it. It’s got to be a purposeful destination as Nottingham’s has been.My wife and her best friend Gina loved sitting out on the patio and looking out at  their second home, Target .

The food was great. The service was great and the ambiance was better than great. We waited for our table outside on the patio on some couches that surrounded an outdoor fireplace. It reminded me of the patio at the Phoenician Resort in Arizona. It appears there are heaters on the ceilings outside so this delightful patio could be open during multiple seasons. Their was an outdoor bar in addition to the indoor bar and the bartender jumped right on us as we sat down and got us cold drinks. Our waiter was very attentive, but I have to admit he accidently switched the specials in his mind and brought me trout when I thought I was getting tuna. He made up for it by over apologizing and comping the entree for me.  I’ll definitely be back.

Zillow Ranks Baltimore’s Best Real Estate Blogs

Zillow.com recently named it’s 2010 Best Real Estate Blog finalists.  The 10 finalists were chosen by zillow for traffic and content. If you appreciate our candid and timely material or just want to be a nice friend, please click this box to vote for HIBANISM!!!

June 2010 Market Statistics-Howard County Maryland

June Statistics show a 25% drop in sales contracts compared to 2009 but an increase compared to last month. Actual settlements continued to pour in at the tune of a 16% increase from May. Active housing inventory kicked up a solid 15%. Nothing will compare with the surge in April of this year but June’s sales would compare most to October’s of 2009. For full details see the Howard County Association of Realtors website.

Extreme Home Makeover Comes to Baltimore City

Ty Pennington and the Extreme Team at ABC’s Extreme Home Makeover came to Baltimore this week to build an 11, 120 square foot home at 3800 Fleetwood Avenue.

Crowds gathered to see Ty let the girls know that while they are in California the crew will be building them a new home. This is Extreme Home Makeovers second trip to Maryland.

Here’s some news coverage.

June 2010 This Month in Real Estate-Short Sales Up-Foreclosures Down

In June 2010, the amount of short sales increased and the amount of foreclosures decreased leading to the conclusion that more banks are attempting to settle for a short sale first and more buyers are open to waiting the time it takes.

New Maryland Real Estate Statistics show Howard, Anne Arundel and Baltimore Counties UP and Caroline and Garrett Counties DOWN

The Maryland State Association of Realtors released it’s May 2010 statistics today.

Prince Georges County showed the most significant increase in sales with a 61.7 % increase in pending units sold. P.G. County home sales surged from 494 last May to 799 this year.

Howard, Baltimore and Anne Arundel Counties all showed decent gains in units sold.

Garrett County, home to Deep Creek Lake showed a nasty 32% drop in home sales showing that the 2nd home buyer is slipping away in a cash strapped economy.

Average sales prices continued to decline:

5% Drop May 2009 -May 2010

11.8% Drop May 2009-May 2008

5.5% Drop May 2008 -May 2007

In May 2007 the average sale price was $366,072 compared to this May’s average sales price of $289,900

Big Question is  will 2011 show an increase or a continued decline?

Please weigh in!!!!……

REI to open in Columbia Crossing

REI announced recently that it will finally open a Columbia Maryland location!! This will be REI’s 4th Maryland store.

I love REI. I have used REI adventures twice to plan my hikes through Slovenia and Kilimanjaro and have always bought my camping and hiking gear through them. Matter of fact , my daughter and I were at the college park store just last week and I was miffed that the supposed Columbia location never opened off of 175 and 108 as was rumored several years ago. The space next to Best Buy remained empty for a long time giving hope that they may still come to town. Now it appears it is being subdivided and REI has committed to new space in Columbia Crossing.

May 2010 Howard County Housings Stats-Pending Sales Plummet while Settlements and Inventory Soar!

With the homebuyer tax credit expiring at the end of April the number of sales in the Howard County Real Estate market dropped 25.7 percent. the number of listings put on the market new increased with the spring season to a 13 month high at almost 1,300 homes for sale. Compare that to January’s 850 home inventory and you wonder if people even watched the news about the tax credit before strategically deciding when to sell their home.

Settlements spiked almost 40%!!!! This of course is due to the June 30th settlement deadline for the tax credit. You will see a good month next month with regards to settlements as well and then a significant drop in July.

Condo sales suffered a major drop to it’s lowest amount in a long time including the Holiday months of year end. You would have had better luck selling your condo at Christmas and Hannakuh time than you would have in May!!!

For more detail read Howard County Board of Realtors full report.