National Harbor looks for buyers

In an email that our Presentation Editor received this morning, National Harbor offered him an “exciting opportunity”: an invitation to schedule a sales appointment.

Developers of the project, on the banks of the Potomac River in Oxon Hill, claim to have 9,500 people interested in “all that National Harbor has to offer.”

In today’s real estate market? Must be nice.

According to a Daily Record cover story about the construction of the mixed-use Mecca, “National Harbor will include (PDF) the Gaylord resort, five other hotels, 2,500 residential units, 1.5 million square feet of commercial space, four piers and two marinas.”

That’s a lot of space, even with 9,500 people on a waiting list. No wonder they’re applauding Todd Zimmerman’s “longtime interest in National Harbor.”

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Home prices: Everything is relative

I've written several posts on this blog about real estate, especially in Montgomery and Howard counties, where many homes are high-ticket items.

One of my morning email alerts pointed me to Housing Tracker, a site that estimates the inventory of homes available in major cities. It also breaks down median sales prices and shows the prices in the 25th and 75th percentile.

According to the site, there are 11,994 homes available in Baltimore (everywhere from Aberdeen to Arbutus to Ellicott City) at the moment, for a median price of $249,900. The 25th percentile is $159,999; the 75th is $359,997.

In Washington, the inventory's similar (12,805) but the 25th percentile is significantly higher - $300,000. The median jumps to $399,950, and the 75th percentile is $569,000. That means a quarter of homes in the Washington region cost more than $570,000.

If you don't believe me, check it out for yourself.

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

New York Times upsets Bill Struever

Bill Struever was a little riled up Thursday morning as he addressed folks who were about to take the Baltimore Development Corp.’s 2007 Baltimore City Real Estate Tour.

What had the founder of Struever Bros. Eccles and Rouse upset was a New York Times story that appeared Thursday that suggested – OK it said – that Baltimore’s revival was being slowed by the “turmoil in the national economy.”

Actually, to me, the story didn’t put Baltimore in that bad a light. And it certainly laid the fault on the national economy – not on anything that was or wasn’t done locally. But I’m not a developer with tens of millions of dollars on the line.

Anyway, at the beginning of a 10-minute welcome at the impressive Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park, Struever – dressed much more casually (jeans and a plaid button-down shirt) than any of the other 200 or so attendees -- said he wasn’t happy.

“If you give me that reporter and let me drive him around town for two hours, I’ll straighten him out,” Struever said.

He mentioned the article twice more in the welcome.

Did you see the article? Was the reporter correct about Baltimore? Do you think Struever had reason to be upset?

-ED WALDMAN, Managing Editor, Business

Got $1.13M?

WaPo published a piece designed to shock the metropolitan masses yesterday with news of median new-home prices in Montgomery Co. "rocketing" to more than $1.1M.

The article quotes Karl Moritz, a research chief at Moco Planning Board:

"What we see when we look at the data, though, is not so much that all the houses are becoming more expensive, but that in the current market, builders stopped building middle-of-the-market houses. What they continued to build was the most expensive."

It doesn't seem that we're comparing apples to apples here. Moritz says what's at the root of the upswing is larger, affluent homes cost more money, and since the wealthy are the only folks who can afford new homes right now, builders are playing to that market.

The rich keep getting richer? You don't say.

Heck, just last week we reported that Forbes' list of the 400 richest people had a $1B minimum for the first time (look for #204 and #220 - John and Richard Marriott, of the Montgomery County-based hotel chain).

A few months ago, the AP reported that CEO compensation had also risen exponentially: half make more than $8.3M each year.

Really, is anyone surprised by this latest, closer-to-home development?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Uncontrollable growth?

The immigrant population in the Baltimore area grew by almost 40 percent between 2000 and 2006, the Baltimore Sun and the Census Bureau reported Wednesday.

In those same six years, the immigrant population in Howard County alone increased by a whopping 59 percent.

With all the talk of development due to BRAC, has the state been preparing for the infastructure changes that this increase in population demands?

Is the state of Maryland really prepared to handle this massive influx of new residents?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

The Eastern Shore: going once, going twice...

Four more Eastern Shore residences will be on the block this Friday, according to a release from an auction company today.

As our reporters have covered in recent weeks, auctions have become an increasingly popular way to unload homes in areas like Somerset County's Smith Island and Trappe, in Talbot County (subscriber-only links).

From the release:

The properties in Crisfield include one three-bedroom home that was built in 2005, one three bedroom restored Victorian with a wrap-around porch, two fish ponds and excellent ‘fixer-upper’ potential, and one four-bedroom cape cod that was built in 2006 and has never been occupied. The mixed-use property is currently a three bedroom home. However, it is zoned for commercial use which increases the potential for this property. ... A charming and upscale two-bedroom waterfront rancher is also being offered in Cambridge.

The most amusing part of the release comes at the end, however. After noting that the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy predicts 160,000 new residents will call the Eastern Shore home in the next 25 years (... whoa), Express Auction quotes Ed McGuirk, broker of record for Shore Realty of Maryland: "Crisfield is a diamond in the rough."

Any takers for these gems?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Daily Record Multimedia Editor

Watch our original video from our reporter's trip to Smith Island.

Growing bald

I live in a condo in downtown Bethesda, one of the most urban areas in Maryland. The building I live in is relatively new, with all the cushy amenities we’ve come to view as standard (and a swimming pool, to boot). Theoretically, I’m pro-development.

Or at least I was.

Earlier this week, during a drive through my hometown of Ellicott City, I was heading south on Old Annapolis Road about to turn right onto Columbia Road when I lost track of where I was.

The intersection once boasted shaded trees on all four sides, a church and a few modest homes. Sure, the Dorsey Search Village Center was nestled behind the trees on the far left, but you had to squint through the brush to glimpse a light or parked car.

The area now looks like the bald patch on a once-thick head of hair.

In retrospect, I’d noticed the preceding advertisement for new “luxury” townhouses perched on the corner. It didn’t click that in order to add, they had to subtract.

I guess it couldn't be one of the best places to live without people wanting to move there.

The view’ll never be the same.

-JACKIE SAUTER, Daily Record Multimedia Editor