Thanks Brian. The closing went well and I'm thrilled to be in my new digs in Georgetown. Your help and advice was priceless. My new number is..  
Lucy F.-Georgetown, Washington, D.C.

Get Loans Real Estate News

  • Mailbox: Condo Coercions, Short Shrift on Short Sales and Testing the Bath
    June 28, 2008

    My mailbox has been full of comments on recent columns about life in homeowners associations, uncertainty with short sales and deciding how much money to invest in a bathroom.


  • Freshening an Old Listing, and Other Tips for Worried Sellers
    June 27, 2008

    "W e live in Baltimore and are trying to sell our house," writes a reader. "My agent tells me that my listing has to be withdrawn from the local multiple listing service for at least six months, otherwise the number of days on market will carry forward from my old listing to a new listing. Our ho...


  • Storied Historic Homes Suddenly In Dire Straits
    June 27, 2008

    HARTFORD, Conn. -- Mark Twain, Edith Wharton and other famous dead people have something in common with many living Americans: Their homes are in jeopardy.


  • A Garden Haven With a Storied Past
    June 27, 2008

    Situated on 32 carefully landscaped acres just off Wisconsin Avenue NW in busy Tenleytown, the McLean Gardens condominium complex is lovely all year, but certain seasons highlight its best qualities.


  • When Condo Wars Heat Up, Common Sense Can Evaporate
    June 21, 2008

    Let me tell you a story about a game of hardball played over a hot, summery weekend. It happened not at Nationals Park but in a well-kept condominium complex in Reston just a few weeks ago.


  • Chat Plus
    June 21, 2008

    Real estate editor Maryann Haggerty and columnist Elizabeth Razzi respond to a question adapted from a recent online chat.


  • Lessons of Arlington's Urban Development Needn't Be Just History
    June 20, 2008

    The phenomenal metamorphosis of Arlington County's Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, among the region's most dramatic real estate transformations, teaches a timely lesson: Successful urban revitalization requires long-range planning and long-range public investment that sparks private investment.


  • Out-of-Whack Appraisals Lead to a Dispute Over the Deposit
    June 20, 2008

    Q. I recently entered into a contract to buy a house, but the deal went bad because the house did not appraise for the negotiated price.


  • Gardener's Paradise Built for Growing Families
    June 20, 2008

    Karen Cepko remembers the day the cows invaded. "One afternoon I had three cows in my back yard, eating my grass," Cepko said. They had wandered in from the farm next door through a hole in the fence. That was shortly after Cepko had moved to Howard County's Holiday Hills subdivision in 1962. Bac...


  • FHA Calls for an End To Seller-Funded Down-Payment Charities
    June 20, 2008

    What's wrong with down-payment "gift" programs in which all or most of a home buyer's equity stake comes from the seller, funneled through a third party? And why is the federal government determined to ban them?