Yowell Team Blog

According to RealtyTrac, one of the nation's most comprehensive sources of information regarding foreclosures, there are nearly 900 properties in Southern MD that have recently been foreclosed on or are in pre-foreclosure(St. Mary's: 131, Calvert: 296, Charles: 453).  In our personal business, we've started to notice an increasing number of bank-owned properties and sellers attempting short sales (selling home for less than is owed to the bank).  Unfortunately, we believe this trend will continue at least until the end of 2008.  The silver lining is that there are now some great deals out there for buyers.  Still, the problem is catching the attention of lawmakers...

From the Headline News section on www.somd.com:

Posted on January 21, 2008
By LAURA SCHWARTZMAN, Capital News Service

"ANNAPOLIS (Jan. 21, 2008) - A dramatic rise in foreclosures and related scams is expected in Maryland in the coming year, prompting the governor and the General Assembly to roll out several initiatives intended to help people keep their homes and avoid mortgage fraud.

Gov. Martin O'Malley this week proposed a set of emergency regulatory reforms and bills to target predatory lending and mortgage fraud, more efficiently inform homeowners about foreclosures and create stricter licensing regulations. In addition, there are at least five more foreclosure-related bills that have originated in the legislature this year.

Maryland had 6,969 foreclosures in October and November 2007 alone, said Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation Secretary Thomas Perez, in a briefing this week before the House Economic Matters Committee. The foreclosure rate statewide increased by 639 percent between the third quarter of 2006 and the third quarter of 2007, he said."

For full article, visit: http://somd.com/news/headlines/2008/7049.shtml 

From the Headline News section on www.somd.com:

"LEONARDTOWN, Md. (Jan. 9, 2008) - In a recent Newsweek article, St. Mary's County Public Schools' three high schools ranked in the top 4% of the 27,000 public high schools nationwide. The results for 2007 place Leonardtown High School in the top 1.26 percent of all high schools nationwide, Great Mills High School in the top 2.25 percent, and Chopticon High School in the top 3.67 percent.

In the Newsweek article, writer Jay Mathews, of The Washington Post, ranks public high schools based on the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school divided by the number of graduating seniors. The result is Mathews' list of the top 5 percent or 1,300 Top High Schools in the country. "

For full article, visit: http://somd.com/news/headlines/2008/6989.shtml