Baltimore Home

Falita Liles marked Thanksgiving eve by inviting some of her best friends to what could be grimly described as a condemnation party. The Upper Fells Point resident hauled possessions out of her tiny historic rowhouse Wednesday, after a city inspector ordered it vacated because an unexplained water flow had undermined the foundation. "You can see I'm not real thrilled right now," she said. Liles' home was one of two condemned in the 200 block of South Madeira St., an alley street of roughly century-old homes near Patterson Park.

For the third month in a row, home values in the Baltimore metro area were up in October, according to estimates released Wednesday by housing market data firm Zillow. Home values in Greater Baltimore were up 2 percent annually last month -- to an average home value of $220,800. That's a 0.5 percent increase over September, Zillow said in a statement. The 2 percent gain was the largest 12-month rise in Baltimore-area home values since January 2007, according to Zillow's estimates.

A man was shot in the leg in the 500 block of W. Franklin Street, according to the Baltimore Police Twitter account. The shooting appeared to have happened in an alley by the Harborside Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in the Seton Hill neighborhood, but no other information about the incident was immediately available. The shooting took place opposite Select Lounge where officers shot and killed a plainclothes policeman last year. A bouncer at the bar said the lounge was not connected to the shooting Thursday.

More than 10,000 homes in the metro Baltimore region -- valued at a total of $3.5 billion -- are at risk for potential storm-surge damage, according to housing market analysis firm  CoreLogic.  "Hurricane-driven storm-surge flooding can cause significant property damage when high winds and low pressure causes water to amass inside the storm, releasing a powerful rush over land when the hurricane moves on shore," said CoreLogic, which made...

Dr. James Roncie Duke, a retired ophthalmologist and Johns Hopkins pathologist who was a collector of F. Scott Fitzgerald's works and lived in what once was the novelist's Baltimore home, died of complications from dementia Oct. 16 in Bolton Hill. He was 88. Born in Tampa, Fla., he was the son of an ophthalmologist. He attended Plant High School in Tampa and was a 1942 graduate of Staunton Military Academy in Virginia. In an autobiographical essay he wrote for a 50th class reunion at Princeton University, he said, "I wanted a change of scene from the South" when he applied to college.

In September, 31 homes in the Greater Baltimore region sold for $1 million or more, according to data  released Monday by an affiliate of the region's multiple-listing service. Here's a complete list of the most expensive homes sold in Baltimore and its surrounding counties -- Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard -- last month, as provided by Rockville-based RealEstate Business Intelligence LLC. Have a real estate news tip or experience to share? Email me at  steve.kilar@baltsun.com .

The number of homes sold in the Baltimore area last month was nearly 10 percent higher than the year-earlier period - but down significantly from August, according to data released Tuesday by an affiliate of the region's multiple-listing service. In September, Baltimore and its five neighboring counties saw 2,055 residences sold, down from 2,405 in August, according to sales figures from Rockville-based RealEstate Business Intelligence LLC. "All property segments posted lower than average sales for the month, which could be an early sign that demand has weakened," the firm said in a statement.

Steve LaPlanche - "Sports Steve" to his friends - says he hasn't missed a professional football game played in Baltimore since 1956. His streak, he says proudly, is 358 games and counting. "I started going when I was 3, and I haven't missed a Baltimore home game since then," said LaPlanche, 59. "Ever since I was born, sports was like a magnet to me. I've lived and slept sports. " But LaPlanche, whose loyalty has lasted through Baltimore's NFL Colts, USFL Stars and CFL Stallions before settling on the Ravens, isn't simply a dedicated fan. He also makes a proud spectacle of himself at every home game with an intricate homemade getup.

The sale price of homes in the Baltimore metro region during August were 1.2 percent higher than a year earlier, according to data released Tuesday by housing market analysis firm CoreLogic. Much of the upward pressure on prices was due to buyers paying higher prices for distressed properties ­ - foreclosures and short sales. Leaving out distressed sales, home prices increased just 0.7 percent in August when compared with August 2011, CoreLogic concluded. The Baltimore region's home price performance in August was weaker than the nation as a whole, the data showed.

The TV audience for the Baltimore Orioles' game Sunday was almost twice as large as the one for last year's home finale, according to Nielsen Media data supplied by the Orioles cable channel. A total of 91,000 viewers watched the Orioles Sunday compared to 47,000 on the last home telecast in 2011; that's an increase of 94 percent. The game's final out was seen by 136,000 viewers. For the season, the Orioles averaged 70,000 viewers a telecast, up from 44,000 the year before -- that's a 59 percent increase.