Real Estate Information Archive

Clarksburg Community Association Meets

The CCA will meet on April 26 at the Hyattstown Fire Department.

The event will kick off at 6:30 pm with the fire department hosting a behind-the-scenes station tour, and activities for families and kids.

Later, at 7:00 p.m., the CCA will meet to discuss proposed staffing changes at the Hyattstown Fire Department, as well as emergency medical services, updates on development in Clarksburg, and other business.

A new hospital and medical campus for Clarksburg, MD is planned by Adventist Healthcare.

The plans call for a one-hundred-bed hospital, medical office buildings for physicians and out-patient medical services, a nursing home, and day-care facilities located on a sixty-acre site near Route 121 and Interstate 270.

Adventist Healthcare has worked for six years with Montgomery County planners and others to complete the various stages of the land-use process.

For more information, log onto http://www.adventisthealthcare.com/AHC/about/news/2008/new-clarksburg-hospital.aspx

You still have time to RSVP for the annual Clarksburg Town Center holiday cocktail party, which is scheduled for Saturday, December 6 from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.

The party will feature an open bar, DJ, dancing, and catered cocktail fare.  The RSVP date is December 1.

Additional details are available on http://www.ClarksburgConnects.com

Please mark your calendars for Monday, November 3.  That's when Mad Science, an interactive science show for children arrives in Clarksburg.

The show will be held from 10 to 11 a.m. at the Clarksburg Town Center resident's club and includes experiments that kids can take home.

To sign up for the show and get additional details, go to www.ClarksburgConnects.com

A gas station, two restaurants, a hotel, and a convenience store are in the planning stages for the Cabin Branch neighborhood of Clarksburg.

The developer met with the Planning Commitee of the Clarksburg Civic Association last week and said they are hopeful that construction on several of the businesses can begin within the next eighteen months.

Another development consisting of both commercial and residential properties is slated for the old Comcast site on the east side of I-270.

If you love fresh, locally-grown food, you definitely should visit the Clarksburg farmers market.

The market is open every Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and is located at the intersection of Public House Road and Ebenezer Chapel Road in Clarksburg Town Center.

It started this June as a way for local farmers to connect with consumers and will be open each Sunday until November.

Log onto their website at www.ClarksburgFarmersMarket.org for more information.

Work on a portion of Skylark Road in Clarksburg is set to begin in four to six weeks, and will mean re-routing of traffic in the neighborhood.

The work will take place on Skylark Road between Piedmont Road and the entrance of the Ovid Hazen Wells ball fields near Cherry Branch Road.  Artery Development of Bethesda will begin work once the utilities companies have moved their utility poles and powerlines to permit construction, and a section of the road will be closed for six weeks.

Artery has pledged to post detour signs in advance to that we'll be forewarned of the new traffic pattern.

On Saturday, the U.S. Senate passed a bill that is designed to reduce the number of foreclosures by permitting homeowners to refinance into government-backed loans.  The House of Representatives passed the bill last week and it now heads to the President for his signature, which is anticipated.

The new program will be available to an estimated 400,000 home owners and would be administered by the FHA.  It would insure up to $300 billion in refinanced thirty-year fixed-rate loans.

For mortgages that currently exceed the value of the home, the lender would be expected to voluntarily reduce the principal to the qualifying level.

That's the key: the success of the program will depend on the willingness of banks to write down a portion of the loan.

As you may have guessed, I keep a very close watch on the Clarksburg real estate market.  One statistic that is of particular interest is "Days on the Market."

This lets us know whether  the pace of home sales in the community is increasing or decreasing, which is of great interest to prospective buyers and sellers.

For May 2008 the average time on the market was 178 days, versus 195 days in May 2007.  This is not a huge difference, but it does indicate a slight increase in how quickly homes are selling in our neighborhood.  It is too early to know if this a the beginning of a trend, or merely a statistical fluke, but you can be assured that I'll be tracking it closely in the coming months.

The developer of Clarksburg Town Center has submitted a new site plan to the Montgomery County Planning Board.

The developer, Newland Communities, envisions upgrades to the retail core, community landscaping, and the Residents' Club.  These revisions arose because of the need to correct a multitude of plan violations uncovered in 2005.  Now the developer has until September to iron out the details with county planners and the Clarksburg Town Center Advisory Committee.

The Town Center retail center is intended to occupy 265,000 square feet, and is to include a grocery store and up to 42 other business tenants.

The new plan will cost the developer and the five builders approximately $15 million.