Homeowners

Gov. Martin O'Malley last week signed a law extending the deadline for homeowners to apply for the Homestead Tax Credit. Homeowners now have until Dec. 30, 2013, to submit an application. The credit is intended to keep property taxes on homeowner-occupied residences from increasing more than 10 percent (or less, depending on the jurisdiction) each year. Some owners of vacation and rental properties have been receiving the homestead credit improperly. In order to reduce the number of taxpayers receiving the credit on ineligible properties, more than five years ago the legislature instituted a one-time application requirement.

“Would you like to buy a carbon offset with your purchase today?” That's a question you hear more often when you rent a car or buy groceries at MOM'S Organic Markets. Now, you also have that option when you buy natural gas to heat your home. Here's the lowdown on carbon offsets, and two “green natural gas” suppliers that offer to conveniently reduce your carbon footprint.   What is a carbon offset? A carbon offset is when you pay for greenhouse gas reductions elsewhere equal to the amount of those gases you're generating from a particular activity or purchase.  Greenhouse gases (chiefly carbon dioxide and methane)

How many people spend more than half their income on housing costs? More than you might think. In the Baltimore area, one in five households with workers pulling down middle-income or lower-income wages fell into that pinched group in 2010, according to a new report by the Center for Housing Policy . That's nearly 85,000 households "severely burdened by their housing costs. " But it's not quite as bad as the nation overall, with nearly one in four of what the center dubs "working households" falling into that category.

In addition to an extension of the Homestead Tax Credit application deadline, several other pieces of legislation relevant to homeowners passed both chambers of the General Assembly during the most recent session, which ended earlier this month. Gov. Martin O'Malley is expected to sign them -- provided they pass a constitutional review, according to spokeswoman Raquel Guillory. Among the 2013 session housing legislation that is likely to become law: House Bill 235, introduced by Harford County Republican Del. Susan K. McComas, would require the Department of Assessments and Taxation to add five fields of information to the publicly available online database of property tax assessment information.

Homeowners who are in trouble on their mortgages or worried that they will get behind in the future can get a free legal consultation at a Jan. 10 foreclosure solutions workshop. The event, sponsored by nonprofits and staffed by attorneys, is scheduled from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 5700 Park Heights Ave. in Baltimore. Homeowners should pre-register by Jan. 6 by calling 410-466-1990, x0. - Jamie Smith Hopkins | The Baltimore Sun

The state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation took action Thursday against three groups of companies and individuals it said defrauded Maryland homeowners. The agency said it suspended the licenses of Rockville-based ATT Mortgage Co. and Shawpin Jong, also known as Steve Chung, and accused the firm of getting at least 11 mortgages for borrowers by submitting false employment information about them. The state also suspended the license of Nicholas Elko, who worked with Baltimore-based Equitable Trust Mortgage Corp.

The recent letter critical of the foreclosure settlement ("Settlement leaves out responsible homeowners," Feb. 15) made me sad. Does the writer really think that just because he acted responsibly - paid his taxes, never refinanced, and was current on his mortgage and association fees - that he should be rewarded with a onetime tax deduction? Isn't that just what one would be expected to do? What are we coming to when we think that it is extraordinary to do the right thing? There will be some who will receive settlement money that they don't deserve, but that happens in an imperfect world.

I am concerned as a taxpayer and homeowner about the multi-state settlement in regard to foreclosures and mortgages. I have sympathy toward their plight, but homeowners who had little equity in their homes and thus little to lose have been walking away from them in droves, some with their credit ratings intact as banks have been overwhelmed and unable to complete foreclosure proceedings. Some have lived rent and mortgage free for months and years in houses on which they no longer pay taxes.

More than 90 attorneys were trained Friday to provide help to first-time home buyers and refinancing homeowners through a Maryland mortgage-fraud prevention effort. Civil Justice, the nonprofit coordinating the project, wants the attorneys to provide free legal assistance to qualified buyers and homeowners — checking out their loan documents and other paperwork to make sure the deals are in their best interest. The training was held at the Baltimore branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, which plans to study the pilot program's effectiveness and spread the word.

A Southern Maryland legislator urged state lawmakers Tuesday to help homeowners on the eroding Calvert County cliffs overlooking Chesapeake Bay contend with an endangered beetle there that is hampering their efforts to save their homes from erosion of the bluffs. "We haven't lost any homes yet but ... it's just a matter of time," said Democratic Sen. Roy P. Dyson. The Senate Education Health and Environmental Affairs Committee heard two bills he had introduced. One would require the state under certain circumstances to let property owners destroy some Puritan tiger beetles living in the cliffs if need be to try to shore up their homes.

Gov. Martin O'Malley last week signed a law extending the deadline for homeowners to apply for the Homestead Tax Credit. Homeowners now have until Dec. 30, 2013, to submit an application. The credit is intended to keep property taxes on homeowner-occupied residences from increasing more than 10 percent (or less, depending on the jurisdiction) each year. Some owners of vacation and rental properties have been receiving the homestead credit improperly. In order to reduce the number of taxpayers receiving the credit on ineligible properties, more than five years ago the legislature instituted a one-time application requirement.

When it came time for Stephanie Blatchley and her husband, Tyler, to buy their first house, the young couple knew exactly what they wanted. Having grown up in western Howard County, she was most comfortable in a country setting. Both of them wanted to be near family and friends. And the idea of easy access to major thoroughfares was appealing. They also knew what they did not want: a formal dining room. "We lived in an apartment for two years, and although we enjoyed that lifestyle, we wanted to buy a house of our own," Blatchley explained.

Baltimore County homeowners would pay a fee between $18 and $36 a year for stormwater management under a plan to meet new state requirements designed to reduce pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. Legislation to impose the fee was introduced Monday, with a County Council vote scheduled April 15. The fee structure, proposed by the administration of County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, is an attempt to comply with a law the General Assembly passed last...

Jill Sorensen's basement flooded after a winter storm knocked out her power, then again in 2011 during Hurricane Irene. What stopped another encore performance during last year's derecho? She'd installed a sump pump that uses her home's water pressure to kick in when the power conks out. Knock on wood, she hasn't had a flood since. That purchase — about $800 — is one of several moves she's made to prepare her home for bad weather. "We've taken the inevitability of storms more seriously," said Sorensen, who lives in North Baltimore.

With every new news article about the new Symphony Woods plan a little more information leaks out. It is incomprehensible that CA has performed almost no outreach to its residents about the new plan. The only chance to date for public input on the plan was at a recent CA Board meeting after the plan hit the newspapers, and at that meeting only the proposed "trust," not the plan itself, was on the agenda. Last week's meeting on the plan itself at...

In the six months that have passed since Margaret Fulcher received her most recent homeowners insurance policy, she has moved on from being shocked to simply incensed. The premium to fully insure her Baltimore rowhouse increased fourfold last year — to a sum she can ill afford and one that she thinks does not accurately represent the cost of replacing her home. "This is a case of homeowners insurance underwater," said Fulcher, comparing her premium to a mortgage that is worth more than the home to which it is attached.

Maryland's housing department said Monday that it had managed to commit all the nearly $57 million it had for emergency loans to homeowners facing foreclosure, money that had to be used up by last Friday or returned to the federal government. Staffers at the state Department of Housing and Community Development worked until midnight that day to process the final batch of loans, which can repay amounts past due on mortgages and help borrowers with their monthly payments for up to two years.

Beautiful interior spaces are products of time, thought and variety. Time, to acquire the right pieces and pull it all together, and thought, to determine what a space can be, how it should look, the mood it should evoke. Variety, though, is tough to get right. Warm, inviting, interesting décor often balances a mix of styles, colors, patterns, and textures to create those lived-in yet stylish spaces where all the elements "go with" each other but don't necessarily "match." Variety run amuck results in a mish-mash of elements that clash, which is why most homeowners not teamed-up with an interior designer turn to "room collections" presented by home furnishings catalogs and retailers.

White marble has stood as a Baltimore icon for decades, primarily as rowhouse steps, the preferred gathering place for residents in many neighborhoods. The marble also served as the street-level façade for a number of downtown buildings, greeting thousands of Baltimoreans on their daily rush to work. But amid decades of renovation and redevelopment, cheaper replacements relegated countless tons of once-gleaming stone to the dump. That's where Stuart B. Foard found inspiration for a heavyweight home project.

Dawn Wooldridge of Keller Williams American Premier Realty in Bel Air has earned the prestigious Certified Distressed Property Expert designation, having completed extensive training in foreclosure avoidance, with a particular emphasis on short sales. At a time when millions of homeowners are struggling with the possibility of foreclosure, the skills and education amassed by Wooldridge will help benefit Harford County-area residents and communities. Short sales allow the distressed homeowner to repay the mortgage at the price that the home sells for, even if it is lower than what is owed on the property.