Before you buy or rent a house, it’s always a good idea to do some research on the neighborhood. Nowadays, many people surf the Internet for all kinds of information, and the Washington Post provides an online Neighborhood Guide so you can learn more about various locations in Maryland.

Let’s use this Neighborhood Guide to take a look at Dunkirk real estate. In the Overview page, you will find relevant information on Dunkirk demographics, real estate, transportation, and nearby neighborhoods. According to the data, the average home sold price in Dunkirk is $297,064 and the average monthly rent for a 1-Bed, 1-bath home is $1,330. In the Real Estate section, you will find that 94 percent of Dunkirk homes are occupied by owners, and the annual residential turnover rate is 10 percent. The population of Dunkirk is 2,645, and the population change is 10 percent since 2000. Other helpful statistics include median annual household income ($120,584), median age of residents (43), average commute time (38.7 minutes), and distance to nearest airport (22 miles). In the Neighborhood Guide, you will also have access to information about schools, crime, homes, and places nearby. It’s very easy to use these pages because they have Google Maps that allow you to see the location and address of various places. For instance, you can do some research on libraries, museums, grocery and drug stores, restaurants, places of worship, movie theaters, and hospitals in the Places Nearby page.

Perhaps, you have been thinking about owning your own home, and you have started to look at some property listings around the area, trying to find the perfect property. Certainly, the hunt can be quite exciting, especially for first-time home owners but without the right focus, you may be wasting time and money. Before anything else, it’s important to know how much home is affordable to you. Here’s a very simple way to make the calculations.

Almost all home owners buy their property by acquiring mortgages, and the loan amount is determined by income, debt, expenses, among other factors. Obviously, the higher your income, the more home you can afford. In the Ginnie Mae Affordability Calculator, simply enter your gross income and monthly debt information to find out how much real estate you can buy. Then, you will get estimated figures for FHA Regular, VA Regular, and Conventional loans. You can also use the worksheet to get a more detailed explanation about income, savings, debt, and monthly expenses. Always remember that home ownership is a big responsibility, and your expenses will be higher in the long run. Some of these additional expenses include mortgage payments, home maintenance cost, and property tax so it’s best to cut yourself some slack. 

If you are interested in Anne Arundel real estate and you need some professional assistance, you can contact John Day, one of the best REALTORS in Maryland.

An About.com article by real estate writer Elizabeth Weintraub mentions an error that people can make as they get ready to buy Maryland real estate. The prospect of getting a new home is very exciting and some people make major purchases either for the new home or to accommodate the new lifestyle that goes with the home. Unfortunately, prospective homeowners don’t stop to think about how a major purchase can change their credit rating.

Weintraub notes that people who are close to owning may not realize the impact of “altering their financial picture prior to closing.” She tells of how she had no problem qualifying for her first home because she did not have a car payment or revolving debt…but then she bought a new car one week before closing and almost derailed her home purchase. She did this because she was unaware that “slight alterations to your credit ratios could cause an underwriter to throw out your loan and deny it.”

This means that if you are getting ready to finalize the purchase of a home, you should hold off on using a credit card or any other line of credit to buy large appliances, a car or new furniture.  You do not want these kinds of purchases to get in the way of getting the house. The time to outfit your home or get that new lawnmower for the yard is after the closing and not before.