Sarah Toppins's (stoppins) Blog

Every election cycle, potential home sellers ask me whether they should hurry and get their houses on the market to meet the housing needs of the new employees coming in to work for the new administration.  And every four years, I tell my clients anecdotal tales about how I've never seen an uptic...

The Greater Capitol Area Association of Realtors has released the October housing statistics for DC and Montgomery County and they tell a tale of two "cities". Inventory in Montgomery County is way down while it's up in Washington.  Sales in both jurisdictions is down to varying degrees.  In Mont...

I get really irritated every time I read or hear an industry "leader" say that they had no idea that a mortgage crisis might be in the offing.  This morning it was a quote in the Washington Post by Fannie Mae's chairman. Why not?  I did.  I could see it in the buyers coming to buy the listings my...

Maryland Realtors will be amassing in Annapolis today to protest a number of proposed taxes being considered in this special session that affect real estate.  Because Gov. O'Malley's tax package is so broad, there's been little news coverage on these taxes, but you should know about the proposals...

In this changing market, many sellers who are unable to sell their properties are deciding to rent them if they must make a move and are unable to sell the property. In Montgomery County, MD, the odds are better that a property will rent faster than sell, although there are more rentals coming o...

The recently released housing statistics for August show that listings for both Washington, DC single family homes and condos are up significantly from August while sales are down slightly.   There are some significant differences in the single family and condo markets.  Inventory was at a yearly...

I was at a real estate conference Wednesday put on by Howard Brinton’s Starpower group (www.GoStarPower.com) with a lot of top agents from around the country in places that have been experiencing a changing or “correcting” market for a lot longer than we have in the Washington, DC area.   They a...

    The Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors (GCAAR) has just released its September housing stats showing that both Montgomery County, MD condo and single family home inventories were slightly up over August, but that contracts continue to decline.  September inventory was at its highest...