The Howard County MD real estate market, especially Ellicott City  homes for sale near Centennial High School, is heating up.

Ellicott City home buyers are operating on two assumptions, both probably true. The first is that Ellicott City home prices have finally hit bottom – so there is no benefit in waiting to buy. Second, mortgage rates (currently as low as 3.88% for 30 year fixed) have also hit bottom, and will likely climb before summer’s end.

(CLICK HERE To Get a LIST of Homes For Sale In Centennial HS Area of Ellicott City)

The combination of these two factors is driving more and more Howard County MD home buyers out on the hunt, and Ellicott City homes for sale, in the Centennial High School area and others as well, are seeing multiple offers for the first time in years.

How To Find Your Ellicott City Home First, Before Others Do

Our unique AccuSearch® system gives you a customized home search exact to your wants and needs, even by specific Howard County Maryland specific school district - finally you can find homes for sale near Centennial High School in Ellicott City, or in the Marriotts Ridge High School or River Hill High School areas, in your exact price range, etc.

CLICK HERE (or on the photo, right) to see homes currently for sale in the Centennial High School area of Ellicott City.

Or, even better, CLICK HERE to set up your own unique AccuSearch® for your Howard County MD or Ellicott City “dream home” – and from today forward you will be the first  to know whenever a matching home, in your favorite Howard County MD school district, hits the market.

While prices and mortgage rates are both low, you need a competitive advantage to be the first to find your Howard County MD home for sale.  Call us at 410-772-5400, or CLICK HERE for more information.  Thanks, John & Angela Toner

Further evidence that home sales in Howard County Maryland have likely “turned
the corner”  is seen in the decreasing number of “short sales” and foreclosures as a percentage of home sales.  This is especially true for home sales near Centennial High School in Ellicott City, where foreclosures and short sales as a percentage of home sales near Centennial High School have greatly decreased.

What’s The Difference Between “Foreclosure” And “Short Sale”?

Foreclosure is where the bank sues to take title to the property, then resells the property as a “foreclosure”.   A “short sale” is where, pre-foreclosure, the bank “consents” to a sale of the property where the sale price, and proceeds, are “short of” full payoff of the mortgage (hence the term “short sale”).

Foreclosure Sales Have Fallen In Howard County

Foreclosures, as a share of Howard County Maryland home sales, peaked in 2010 at 12.3%.  Since then foreclosures as a percentage of home sales fell to 9.0% in 2011.  Current “Pending” home sales awaiting settlement are  6.4% foreclosures, and of “Active” homes for sale right now only 3.2% are foreclosures.  This shows a clear and steady decline – good news for Howard County home owners and sellers.

What About CENTENNIAL Home Sales?

Over the past three years “short sales” and foreclosures  sales as a percentage of home sales near Centennial High School in Ellicott City have been much lower than average.  From 2009 – 2011 distress sales were 19.0% of all home sales county-wide. During the same three year period there were 10 distress sales in the Centennial Lane Elementary area out of 144 sales overall – or just 6.9%.

Individually each distress sale is sad to be sure. But, it is encouraging to know that Howard County’s foreclosure sales were far lower than national averages, and that foreclosure sales near Centennial High School / Centennial Lane Elementary were an even smaller percentage of all home sales near Centennial High School.

BUYING? Click HERE to get a list of homes currently for sale in Centennial School Area and/or ANY OTHER school area of your choice, or call John & Angela, 410-772-5400.  THANKS!

SELLING? CLICK HERE to get an AccuPrice® valuation of your home, and/or HomeSell Consultation – a combined $349 value – yours free.    Or, JUST CALL!  410-772-5400   (Or – if you have a friend thinking of buying or selling, why not tell them to call?!)

John & Angela Toner, Providence Real Estate

One of my 2012 goals is to blog more often – especially to keep folks posted about home sales, and homes for sale, in the Centennial High School and Centennial Lane Elementary School areas of Ellicott City, MD.  In this blog I just want to define my “target area”, and explain why it’s my target area.

Centennial High School Boundary Map - 3 Sub-Areas

The map to the right shows the Centennial High School district for the 2012 school year.  On this map I have drawn boundaries for what I see as three distinct communities: Centennial Lane Elementary School area (“A”); Dunloggin neighborhood (“B”); and East of Route 29, in zip code 21043 (“C”). (To find homes for sale in Centennial High School – Ellicott City, or search by any other school area, visit the AccuSearch® link here).

From years of working as a buyer’s agent in Ellicott City MD, I know that home buyers asking to see homes for sale in the Centennial High School area tend to favor homes for sale in area “A” (Centennial Lane Elementary) first, and area “C” last.  Why?

Because when you buy a home in Howard County, Maryland there is always a risk of being “redistricted” to another school in the future. When you buy a home closer to your target school (e.g. “A” – Centennial Lane Elementary) you reduce the risk of redistricting.  Area “C” is not only the furthest from Centennial High School, it is also cut off by Route 29, the type of natural barrier that could easily put area “C”  on the “chopping block” the next time the school board is looking to change boundaries for Centennial High School. (Howard County, MD School Boundary Maps HERE; Find Homes For Sale By Howard County MD School District HERE).

Do I have “insider knowledge” on future redistricting decisions for Howard County? Nope. But, you really don’t need it for this sort of thing. And, whether or not Centennial High School will be redistricted anytime in the near future isn’t exactly the point.  Buyers searching for Ellicott City homes for sale that feed to Centennial High School assume there’s a risk of redistricting, and will give a higher value for homes in the Centennial Lane Elementary area than they will for, say, homes in area “C”.

I’d also like to acknowledge that the Howard County Public School System is, pretty much in its entirety, a top-drawer school system.  As compared to the rest of the nation there are no “bad” schools in Howard County. But, it’s certainly true that even within a quality district like ours, some schools tend to have higher test scores – and consequently tend to be favored by those buying homes in Ellicott City and Columbia Maryland, than other schools.  And, Centennial High School has for years been at the top of the “preferred” list.

Next Time: Home Sales In Centennial School Area – Big Spring Coming In 2012?   Can’t wait?  Click HERE to get a list of homes currently for sale in Centennial School Area and/or past sales information, or call John & Angela, 410-772-5400.  THANKS!