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To sell, or not to sell?  Right now, that’s a tough decision.  You bought your house before the boom and now that prices seem to have stabilized, you’re thinking now’s the time. Great! Let’s call our agent and see what we can get.  I’m sure we’ll get _____ (you fill in the blank, you know you’ve been thinking about it).  But that agent you trust is sitting there with a great big smile because you’ll at least walk away with something – and that’s good news.  But it’s not what you’d hoped you would get, your house is not worth what you thought (or hoped) it’d be. Sigh. Now you’re depressed.  I get that.  It’s no fun to hear your ideas shot down by the cold hard facts of this new reality.  We thought we could sell and get enough money to pay cash for our next home….or….. take a trip around the world… or…. move to warmer weather…..  It’s not what we thought it would be.

Sadly, it’s not, but it’s not all bad and here are some things to ponder.  This has been your home for a while so you’ve gotten tax benefits and intrinsic value, you may have raised your family here and you’ve certainly created wonderful memories – some are reduced to film, others to digital images, some kept closely in your heart.  But, you say, this home should have created a lovely little nest egg all the while my life was happening.

I won’t dispute that, because if you’ve had your home for 15 or 20 years, then it HAS created a little nest egg.  (I know, I know, eggs are a lot more expensive these days than 20 years ago, but hear me out.)  Real estate is a long term investment and, in a normal market sees maybe between a 4-6% return, sometimes a little higher, sometimes a little lower, but over time, it evens out.  Well, even that bubble – that dramatic inflation and then that plunging decline -- is merely an anomaly that has somehow corrected itself.  If you look at the graph, the line is still higher than it was fifteen, twenty, thirty years ago.    The problem is that we’ve all gotten used to fast and furious increases and we just can’t fathom where our equity has gone.  Well now we have to evaluate a little more.

IF you had hoped to pay cash for your next home, but find you have to take out a loan, with interest rates so low, it won’t hurt as much AND while your home value is deflated, so is that next home you’re hoping to get – you could find yourself in a place where now you’re buying low.  Who doesn’t want that?

But let’s say you are one of the multitude whose money is not working for them in a home at the moment – it’s hindering your plans by not cooperating. What would you do with money you had in a stock that wasn’t performing – or worse, kept costing you money? You’d probably sell and put your money someplace else.  Perhaps now is the time to pull your money out of your home and put it into something else.  If you wait until your value goes up, then so will the price of that home.  And if you really want to see what you’ve made on your home, then figure your return on investment based on the money you put down on it and some of that principal you’ve paid down, not what you paid for it, because what you paid for it does not include the mortgage you took out – that’s someone else’s money.  I’ll bet you’ll find it’s made a better return than you’d thought. 

But ultimately only you know what you need to do. There could not be a better time to buy. Move up. Move on. But move – it’s the only way to get unstuck.

Housing Wanted: Condominium-style with a minimum of 8 apartments, preferably 12, approximately 10-20 feel off the ground with balconies, porches and rails.   Open spaces a must, nearby water source preferred, in secure neighborhood with dedicated landlord offering protection from sparrows, starlings, fish crows, owls, snakes and cats.  In return will provide insect free environment, hours of lovely song, aerial feats and general enjoyment from late March to mid-August.  Scouts arriving from Brazil on March 27.  Others arrive 4-6 weeks later.  All unoccupied, clean houses, meeting above requirements will be investigated and considered.  Occupants en route and unavailable for contact at this time.  Erect housing.  Will contact.

Designated the Purple Martin Capital of Maryland by the 1995 General Assembly, the Purple Martin is also considered the Calvert County Bird.  Many of our beach communities look to martins to assist with insect and mosquito control, thus avoiding spraying.  If you want to learn more about Purple Martins, you can contact our local birding groups, the Battle Creek Cypress Swamp Nature Center, or go to www.purplemartin.org.

I love this time of year in the Mid-Atlantic Region because it means the return of many migratory birds. Flowers are beginning to bloom and very soon, if you wear something red, a hummingbird may just fly up and look right at you for a brief second.  They zip in quick and will stop only briefly to see if you contain nectar.  I have a wonderful red canvas “sky chair” that hangs on my porch.  They buzz me often.  That’s when I remember to get out my hummingbird feeder.  It seems hummingbirds often return to where they knew there was a reliable source of nectar last year.

Hummingbirds love red – we’ve all heard that for years – because their favorite food is produced by red flowers and they need a lot of that energizing sugar water.  Interestingly, they catch tiny spiders to feed their young, but the adults need the sugar water for themselves.

A hummingbird feeder is very inexpensive and a great way to be entertained during the summer days.  The nectar can be ready to mix, ready to pour, or home made.  If you make your own you do not need to add the food coloring that comes in the commercial packages.  The red on the feeder is sufficient to bring them in.  The home made recipe is 4 parts water to 1 part sugar.  Boil the water, add the sugar, letting it completely dissolve.  Only fill the feeder part way to start with because the nectar ferments quickly and can cause harm to the hummingbirds.  I only fill mine all the way if I know I have a lot of birds feeding.  You should change the solution every 2-3 days depending on how much exposure to the sun your feeder gets.  Many of the male hummingbirds are very territorial and won’t let another bird feed from his feeder.  You can put out several small feeders in a row or scattered around the yard to offer more food to more birds, although I HAVE seen birds sharing a feeder in the past.

To keep ants and bees off the feeder, you may want to invest in an ant trap (which is a cup device from which you hang the feeder and fill with water – ants won’t cross the water).  Bees can be a bit more of a challenge, but some feeders come with bee guards.  The best bee proof feeders have a reservoir where the hummingbird has to insert its beak.  Bees can’t get to that nectar, but they can to dripping nectar.  For more information, go to your local garden or wild bird store and get their advice.  Hang your feeders and be ready to wind down.  It’ll take your mind off all your problems for a few moments – or longer if you’ll let it.

1.  Commune with Nature at Kings Landing Park

2.  Shop Farmers Markets for Local Produce and Handmade Goods

3.  Stroll the boardwalks at Chesapeake Beach, North Beach, Solomons or Battle Creek Cypress Swamp

4.  Learn about life in the Bay at the Chesapeake Biological  Laboratory in Solomons

5.  Picnic on the water's edge

6.  Trace the history of railroads at the Chesapeake Beach Railway Museum

7.  Hunt for fossils along the Chesapeake Bay

8.  Visit a one-room schoolhouse

9.  Paddle the Chesapeake Bay or the Patuxent River

10.  Study over 100 species of birds in their natural habitat

11.  Visit the Arthur Storer Planetarium

12.  Tour a historic church

13.  Watch sailboat races from the Solomons Riverwalk on Thursday nights throughout the summer

14.  Spend an afternoon fishing or crabbing

15.  Explore the sites on the Star-Spangled Banner Trail

16.  Hike 15 miles of trails at American Chestnut Land Trust

17.  Trace early history at the the Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum, an archaeological and environmental preserve

18.  Wander through antique shops and unique boutiques

19.  Experience the outdoors at our many parks and recreation areas

20.  Bike along rolling hills or one of many paved paths