Real Estate – Baltimore Sun https://www.baltimoresun.com Baltimore Sun: Your source for Baltimore breaking news, sports, business, entertainment, weather and traffic Mon, 28 Jul 2025 00:54:33 +0000 en-US hourly 30 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 https://www.baltimoresun.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/baltimore-sun-favicon.png?w=32 Real Estate – Baltimore Sun https://www.baltimoresun.com 32 32 208788401 Time limiting Section 8: Will it help or hurt Maryland renters? https://www.baltimoresun.com/2025/07/28/will-trump-admin-proposed-housing-program-cap-help-or-hinder-md-rental-market/ Mon, 28 Jul 2025 10:00:16 +0000 https://www.baltimoresun.com/?p=11571899 Those who study the housing market are giving mixed reactions to the Trump administration’s proposal to restrict federal rental assistance to two years for able-bodied adults.

One side says the move will put low-income people at risk of losing their housing in an already tough market. While another says capping the program will actually improve the rental market for everyone, incentivizing landlords to lower rent.

Carol Ott is the tenant advocacy director of the Economic Action Maryland Fund, a nonprofit organization that advocates for economic and housing justice for lower-income communities. She predicted this policy would be “disastrous” for their clients, around 10% of whom receive some kind of housing assistance. In her opinion, cost-cutting measures weren’t the point of this new policy, she said.

“It’s not about saving money; it’s not about taxpayer dollars — none of that,” she said. “It’s about being cruel.”

But Norbert Michel, vice president and director for the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, which is part of the Libertarian think tank Cato Institute, said the proposed limit would help decrease the cost of rent overall.

“If the government says, ‘Hey, don’t worry about it, we’ll pay for all of your housing,’ and it always does that, then that’s taking a big chunk of market incentives out, and it becomes less affordable in the end,” he said.

More than 50,000 Maryland households utilize the federal housing voucher program, also known as Section 8. The program, funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, provides rental subsidies to people with disabilities or low incomes. Participants pay at least 30% of their adjusted monthly income, and the housing agency covers the difference.

The cap is part of President Donald Trump’s 2026 fiscal year budget, which has not been voted upon yet by Congress, and is still being worked on in committee. If passed, the cap, as part of the budget, will go into effect Oct. 1, the start of the fiscal year.

Housing prices in Maryland, while less costly than in states like New York, California or Florida, hasn’t been static. In Maryland, the average rental price rose 20.5% between 2019 to 2024, according to a Sun analysis of the Apartment List rent estimates monthly report.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development responded to a request for comment by The Baltimore Sun by sending links to previous X posts from Sec. Scott Turner and a recent New York Times opinion essay.

“Compassionate common sense says those who are able to work, should work,” wrote Sec. Turner in a post. “Allowing generations of able-bodied Americans to remain on welfare is not compassionate to them, nor is it fair to the American taxpayer.”

“We can’t disincentivize work and allow able-bodied Americans to settle for welfare benefits,” read one post. “One Big Beautiful Bill work requirements that lift Americans out of dependency and toward a life of self-sustainability,” read another.

Pros and cons of housing vouchers

The majority of those eligible for these services are already unable to receive help because there isn’t enough funding on the federal level, said Daniel Teles, a principal research associate in the housing and communities division at the nonpartisan Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.,-based think tank that conducts social and economic policy research.

Only one in every four low-income households eligible for federal housing services actually gets benefits because the demand is larger than the supply, according to a 2021 report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington, D.C. -based nonpartisan research and policy institute.

Yet a 2015 study published in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy found that there wasn’t any significant effect on market rents after the last voucher expansion in the early 2000s.

Still, Teles said he saw some pros and cons to the proposed time limit. On one hand, it would allow housing agencies to cycle through their years-long waitlists more quickly and provide momentary relief in the short term for more individuals, he said.

However, those exiting the voucher program would still not be able to afford their current rental because their income would not be able to match the unsubsidized price, he said.

Landlords must meet the long list of eligibility criteria before they receive tenants, but the benefit they can receive is the guaranteed payments from the housing authority. With the time limits, they could experience higher turnover costs and missed payments from tenants that can discourage them from renting to voucher holders in the future, Teles said.

The time limit could help improve the nation’s rental market, said Cato Institute’s Michel, as landlords enjoying the subsidies will now have to compete with the rest of the market. These landlords would have to lower the prices to attract tenants, dropping rental prices overall, he said.

When the government steps in to cover the rent, it takes away the competitive pressure that landlords would feel to lower prices, Michel said, and as a result, these subsidies artificially inflate rental costs.

“If somebody had rental assistance and now they don’t have rental assistance, that is going to make it more difficult for them,” Michel said. “But the flip side is that the landlord can’t charge as much anymore, so you have to take your pick.”

Bottom line, he said: “If you want to make housing more affordable, you can’t keep subsidizing.”

Daraius Irani is the chief economist for the Regional Economic Studies Institute at Towson University. While he agreed that the federal housing subsidies do lead to higher rents, he said that the housing supply shortage in Maryland plays a larger role within the state. Ultimately, he said, he believes that the vouchers do more good than harm.

“Many individuals who are in these programs are working adults, but the housing costs in some places mean that if they didn’t have Section 8, they’d have to pay fifty percent or more of their income towards housing,” Irani said.

More administrative burdens for housing agencies

In Maryland, the cap could have a significant impact on the population, some of the state’s housing experts said.

The Howard County Housing Commission reopened its waitlist for its federal voucher program after 12 years in 2023 for a month, said its Executive Director Peter Engel. But of the 16,000 applications received, only 3,500 randomly selected received vouchers, he said, before they had to close the waitlist.

“It makes me feel extremely sad for the thousands of people in our county, much less millions of people in the country, who will be hurt by this,” Engel said. “It makes me feel a little hopeless for the future of the country, because we know that that sort of instability hurts kids, makes them do worse in school, makes their prospects for the future worse, and therefore hurts us all as a country going forward.”

In Prince George’s and Howard counties, officials said the voucher time limits will create a burden on the administrative level for housing agencies around the state.

The Housing Authority of Prince George’s County would have increased costs and logistical challenges in enforcing rental time limits and identifying new eligible homes to rent on the program, said Alexis Revis-Yeoman, public information officer for the Prince George’s Department of Housing and Community Development.

The time limit also could force evictions for households that could still be financially struggling — which could have a major impact on the budget resources of all county services, Revis-Yeoman said.

Several of Maryland’s elected leaders spoke out against the two-year cap, urging the Trump administration to rethink its decision, citing rising rental costs and an uncertain economy.

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, a Democrat, called the cap an example of the White House’s lack of connection with the middle class.

“It is clear this Administration does not care about working class Americans and is more focused on giving tax breaks to billionaires,” Alsobrooks said in a statement provided to The Sun.

“Now is not the time to impose arbitrary restrictions on critical resources that help families afford their homes,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat, in a statement to The Sun. “Instead, we should work to increase access to affordable housing and good-paying jobs in order to help more Americans achieve financial stability.”

Have a news tip? Email Stella Canino-Quinones at scanino-quinones@baltsun.com

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11571899 2025-07-28T06:00:16+00:00 2025-07-27T17:06:03+00:00
Church sales ‘booming’ in Baltimore, nationally, as religious affiliation fades https://www.baltimoresun.com/2025/07/26/church-sales-booming-in-baltimore-nationally-as-religious-affiliation-fades/ Sat, 26 Jul 2025 10:00:12 +0000 https://www.baltimoresun.com/?p=11569587

When the Archdiocese of Baltimore sold two buildings that belonged to one of its parishes in April, the move didn’t just signal a new chapter in the church’s plan to realign its operations in the city. It reflected an emerging trend in real estate that shows no signs of abating.

America’s oldest Catholic diocese sold one administration and one school building at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Bolton Hill to a charter school in April. It marked the first time the archdiocese had sold properties as part of Seek the City to Come, the consolidation plan by which it slashed the number of parishes in, and near, the city from 61 to 23 last year.

With commitment to organized religion still in decline in the United States, the transaction was no rarity.

About 4,500 of the country’s 350,000 Christian congregations close every year, while roughly  3,000 open, according to Lifeway Research, a nonprofit that tracks patterns in the church. An estimated 100,000 are expected to be shuttered within a generation. The trend is making countless religious buildings obsolete. And faith leaders are increasingly faced with the question of what to do with them.

Thousands have already been sold and converted to other uses in the U.S. and beyond. Buyers enamored of such unique design elements as vaulted ceilings, stained-glass windows and historic charm are turning former houses of worship into community centers, condominium complexes, restaurants, and private homes.

An hour’s drive around Baltimore alone yields glimpses of a 19th-Century Presbyterian church building that became a vintage clothing store (Hunting Ground in Hampden, now closed); an Evangelical Lutheran church erected in 1906 that is now a boutique apartment community (The Hamlet Lofts, Highlandtown); a Catholic church dating to 1889 that is now a yoga studio (Sanctuary Body, Fells Point), and perhaps most famously, a former Catholic church that developers turned into a brewpub and restaurant (the Ministry of Brewing, Upper Fells Point).

“I don’t believe God is going away or leaving us, or even that people don’t want spiritual depth,” said the Rev. Mark Elsdon, the editor of “Gone for Good? Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition,” a book on the phenomenon published last year. “But they don’t do it by showing up in large numbers on Sunday and putting money in the plate like they did in the 1950s. It’s a time of change in Americans’ spiritual lives, and it’s showing up as a significant sector of the real estate market.”

The Ministry of Brewing, the former site of St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, is a family-style brewpub that opened in Jan. 2020. Areas where the Stations of the Cross were once displayed are along the walls. Part of the brew house is where the side altar once stood. (Kim Hairston/Staff)
The Ministry of Brewing, the former site of St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, is a family-style brewpub that opened in Jan. 2020. Areas where the Stations of the Cross were once displayed are along the walls. Part of the brew house is where the side altar once stood. (Kim Hairston/Staff)

A significant moment

A few faith traditions can claim to be growing in the U.S. Muslims, Orthodox Jews and conservative Christian denominations such as the Presbyterian Church of America and the Anglican Church in North America are experiencing gains.

But the overall arrow still points downward. The number of Americans who identify as Christians fell from 72% to 66% over the past ten years, a loss of about 15 million adults. As of 2020, more than 100 million Americans said they had no religious affiliation, a 97% plunge since 2010.

And even Americans who call themselves religious are worshipping in churches and synagogues less often. The trend away from physical buildings spiked during the Covid-19 pandemic, when bans on public gatherings prompted faith leaders to create remote services.

About 27% of religious Americans were still attending church online remotely as of 2023, according to Pew Research Center.

That and other factors, including soaring maintenance costs, are forcing faith leaders to confront a crucial question: how importantare the buildings where we once worshipped?

“More and more people are coming to the conclusion, ‘a church is not a building; it’s the people in the congregation,'” said Stephen Ferrandi, co-owner of PraiseBuildings Religious Property Brokerage, one of the most active firms in the mid-Atlantic for religious real estate transactions.

Elsdon is the co-founder of RootedGood, a Wisconsin nonprofit that supports faith-based leaders who are interested in developing properties for broad community use.

“I think it’s a very significant social moment,” Elsdon said. “If we don’t realize it and act now, we’re going to wake up 20 years from now and say, ‘Where are the community centers? Where’s the affordable housing? We had them. They were called churches.”

The Ministry of Brewing, the former site of St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, is a family-style brewpub that opened in Jan. 2020. Areas where the Stations of the Cross were once displayed are along the walls. (Kim Hairston/Staff)
The Ministry of Brewing, the former site of St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, is a family-style brewpub that opened in Jan. 2020. Areas where the Stations of the Cross were once displayed are along the walls. (Kim Hairston/Staff)

Where the market is

Ferrandi saw a movement taking shape years ago. He was with a commercial firm in the 1990s when he says he began meeting religious leaders in search of land for new churches.

He soon began mastering the peculiarities of the niche houses-of-worship market — owners who are sad to sell, zoning and landmark issues, parking-lot possibilities, the question of how to adapt church-shaped structures to new uses.

In 2015, he and a partner, Barbara Brindon, established Praise Buildings, one of several subsidiaries of the EA Commercial Real Estate, the firm they run in Ellicott City.

Praise Buildings has brokered 78 religious property transactions in the region in 10 years, a number Ferrandi calls “jaw-dropping.” Sixteen were valued at more than $900,000. (The priciest was the sale of Rainbow Hall, a former residence of General Douglas MacArthur and a onetime Baptist home, to Bais Medrash, an Owings Mills synagogue, for $4.2 million.)

“The last three or four years, the church brokerage accounts for about 75 percent of our revenue,” Ferrandi said. “It’s unheard of, but that’s where the market is. The church market is exploding.”

And that’s not only in Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., the jurisdictions EA Commercial serves.

LoopNet, an online marketplace for commercial real estate, currently shows more than 1,200 churches or religious facility properties for sale in 48 states, with 365 listed at $1 million or more. CityFeet.com, another online marketplace, lists 35 such properties for sale in Maryland. LoopNet lists 15 in Baltimore.

The costliest in the state — a 130,000-square-foot building in Silver Spring that once housed a seminary — is listed at $28,000,000; the most affordable is a former Evangelical Lutheran church in Sharpsburg that was built in 1942 and renovated in 2020 ($325,000).

The realtors for both suggest they’re ideal for business purposes.

Exterior of The Hamlet Lofts, a "boutique apartment community" at 3127 E. Baltimore Street in Highlandtown. (Kim Hairston/Staff)
Exterior of The Hamlet Lofts, a "boutique apartment community" at 3127 E. Baltimore Street in Highlandtown. (Kim Hairston/Staff)

Sanctuary

It’s hard to know whether any single denomination has been selling more than others, but Ferrandi says he has represented Episcopalians, United Methodists, Catholics and more in roughly equal measure, with mainline Protestant denominations generally in the lead.

Perhaps because it has clear canonical regulations around the dispensation of buildings, the Catholic Church keeps better records than most.

The Baltimore archdiocese has closed 30 churches over the past 90 years, according to its website. Twelve that became churches in other denominations are still in use.

But with attendance still declining across traditions, Elsdon says the trend of churches buying churches is becoming less feasible. That has proven the case in Baltimore, where more former houses of worship are being turned to commercial or private use.

Hampden Presbyterian Church, a sturdy granite structure built on Falls Road in the 1870s, housed a congregation whose membership foundered a century later. New owners bought the place in 2011, returned it to its original footprint, and reopened it as the Hunting Ground boutique. It closed in 2024 after 13 years.

St. Stanislaus Kostka Roman Catholic Church on South Ann Street, established in the 1880s, served as the religious and social hub of the Polish community in Fells Point for more than a century. After it was closed in 2000, new owners renovated the Romanesque brick building, preserving its interior arches, much of its stained glass, and paintings of saints. The details enhance the zenlike, light-filled decor of Sanctuary Body, which opened to fitness enthusiasts in 2013.

Ernst Valery and his business partner, David Wendell, had a similar plan in mind when they bought the former St. Michael the Archangel Roman Catholic Church in 2011.

Built in the 1850s to serve the city’s German population, St. Michael’s included a rectory, two school buildings, a convent, and a brothers’ residence in its complex at Lombard and Wolfe streets in Butchers Hill.

Valery, a real estate developer who specializes in adaptive reuse, lived nearby at the time. He remembers lamenting the absence of a space where families could gather.

He and Wendell bought the property in part because it had served just such a purpose for generations. They retained its most striking church-specific elements to help preserve its profile as a sanctuary, if a nonreligious one.

Some have questioned their pairing of sacred and secular, Valery says — the former altar itself holds steel vats for beer production — but its previous owner, the fathers of the Redemptorist order, decided the plan was in keeping with their charism, which involves reaching out to those who feel alienated from the church and society.

That made it an acceptable “profane,” or secular, use of the property, not the “sordid” use barred by canon law.

To Valery, the Ministry of Brewing is a place where people can connect, play board games, and enjoy each other’s company in an unhurried environment.

“It’s a place where community is built, which is the original intent of the church,” the self-described lapsed Catholic said. “We think of it as the neighborhood den.”

The Ministry of Brewing, the former site of St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, is a family-style 250-seat brewpub that opened in Jan. 2020. Many of the elements from the church have been retained. (Kim Hairston/Staff)
The Ministry of Brewing, the former site of St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, is a family-style 250-seat brewpub that opened in Jan. 2020. Many of the elements from the church have been retained. (Kim Hairston/Staff)

Properties for sale

The Archdiocese of Baltimore consulted with parishioners, held town halls and worked with consultants to determine how best to shrink its footprint in Baltimore as part of Seek the City. The final version, released in March 2024, called for eliminating 38 parishes.

Most ceased offering Sunday mass in December and remain open only for special sacraments.

Archdiocese spokesman Christian Kendzierski said church leaders will decide the buildings’ fates over time. Proceeds from all sales will go to the newly formed parish to which each belongs.

The sale of the Corpus Christi buildings, which netted $1.93 million, is the only one completed so far, but the archdiocese says five parishes and another building are on the market. Each one listed is valued at more than $1.3 million. LoopNet lists a seventh at $438,000.

With Seek the City’s final phase under way, Kendzierski said, the archdiocese is “negotiating sales with interested parties.” Potential buyers include religious organizations and charter schools. And that’s in keeping with what most religious sellers hope.

“These properties have been beneficial for the surrounding communities,” he said. “We want them to stay that way.”

Have a news tip? Contact Jonathan M. Pitts at jonpitts@baltsun.com.

Archdiocese of Baltimore properties currently on the market

  • Shrine of the Little Flower, 3500 Belair Road, Belair-Edison. List price: $1.75 million.
  • St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, 3803 4th Street, Brooklyn. List price: $1.39 million.
  • St. Elizabeth of Hungary Roman Catholic Church, 2700 E. Baltimore Street, Patterson Park. Price not listed.
  • St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 3700 Roland Ave., Hampden. Price not listed.
  • Most Precious Blood, 5010 Bowleys Lane,  Northeast Baltimore. Price not listed.
  • St. Francis Xavier Dismas Center, 1427 North Caroline Street, East Baltimore Midway. List price: $1.4 million.
  • St. Gregory the Great, 1542 North Gilmor Street, Sandtown-Winchester. List price: $438,000.
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11569587 2025-07-26T06:00:12+00:00 2025-07-26T08:35:44+00:00
Average long-term US mortgage rate eases to 6.74%, keeping home loan borrowing costs elevated https://www.baltimoresun.com/2025/07/24/mortgage-rates-borrowing-costs-still-elevated/ Thu, 24 Jul 2025 16:28:00 +0000 https://www.baltimoresun.com/?p=11576307&preview=true&preview_id=11576307 By ALEX VEIGA

The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage eased this week, offering little relief for prospective homebuyers facing record-high home prices.

The long-term rate slipped to 6.74% from 6.75% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.78%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also eased. The average rate dropped to 5.87% from 5.92% last week. A year ago, it was 6.07%, Freddie Mac said.

Elevated mortgage rates have been weighing on the U.S. housing market, which has been in a sales slump going back to 2022, when rates started to climb from the rock-bottom lows they reached during the pandemic.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes, which sank to their lowest level in nearly 30 years in 2024, have remained sluggish this year as rising home prices and stubbornly high mortgage rates have made homeownership financially untenable for many Americans.

Elevated mortgage rates are also discouraging many homeowners from selling because they locked in mortgage rates when they were much lower.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation.

The main barometer is the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans. The yield was at 4.41% at midday Thursday, down from 4.40% late Wednesday, following the latest signals that the U.S. economy seems to be holding up OK despite all the pressures on it from tariffs and elsewhere.

Yields have moved higher for most of this month as traders bet that the Fed will hold its key short-term interest rate steady at its upcoming meeting next week, despite President Donald Trump demanding that the Fed to lower rates.

A less independent Fed could mean lower short-term rates, which influence the interest consumers pay on credit cards and auto loans, but it could have the opposite effect on the longer-term bond yields that influence the rates on home loans.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage has remained relatively close to its high so far this year of just above 7%, set in mid-January. The 30-year rate’s low point this year was in early April when it briefly dipped to 6.62%.

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11576307 2025-07-24T12:28:00+00:00 2025-07-27T20:53:03+00:00
Hot Property: The Jenkins House, 1840s Mount Vernon mansion lists for $1.95M https://www.baltimoresun.com/2025/07/24/hot-property-the-jenkins-house-1840s-mount-vernon-mansion-for-1-95m/ Thu, 24 Jul 2025 14:00:37 +0000 https://www.baltimoresun.com/?p=11566319 Address: 106 E. Chase St., Baltimore

List price: $1,950,000

Year built: 1849

Real estate agent: Nick Piscatelli, Maryland Commercial Ventures, LLC

Last sold price/date: $500,000 on April 26, 2005

Property size: 5,368-square-foot lot

Unique features: In 1849, Baltimore was a booming port city of nearly 170,000 people, including the residents of a stately new three-story brick home at 106 E. Chase St., in Mount Vernon. Nearly two centuries later, having dodged a wrecking ball in the 1960s, the mansion bears a dignified elegance akin to that of its past. The hand-painted plaster ceilings, decorative Roman murals and stained and beveled glass windows hark back to a time of hoop skirts, top hats and grandeur for the well-to-do.

Each of the 15 rooms has a cachet of its own; no two are remotely alike. There are black chestnut sliding doors and marble bathroom floors; cherry kitchen cabinets and finely carved mantels atop the nine fireplaces. The dining room is paneled in Honduran mahogany and gold leaf. The back courtyard has a stylish cast iron fountain.

Among others, the home has belonged to George Carrell Jenkins, a wealthy financier, philanthropist and Civil War veteran who lived there from 1880 until he died in 1930. Jenkins and his wife, who was kin to Francis Scott Key, founded Bon Secours Hospital and funded the construction of two buildings (one of them Jenkins Hall) on the campus of Loyola University Maryland. Jenkins’ country estate, in Baltimore County, became the site of Villa Julie College (now Stevenson University).

Have a news tip? Contact Mike Klingaman at jklingaman@baltsun.com and 410-332-6456.

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11566319 2025-07-24T10:00:37+00:00 2025-07-22T01:26:23+00:00
US home sales fade in June as prices soar to record levels https://www.baltimoresun.com/2025/07/23/us-home-sales-june-slump/ Wed, 23 Jul 2025 14:12:01 +0000 https://www.baltimoresun.com/?p=11573705&preview=true&preview_id=11573705 By ALEX VEIGA, Associated Press Business Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slid in June to the slowest pace since last September as mortgage rates remained elevated and national median sales prices hit unprecedented levels.

Existing home sales fell 2.7% last month from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.93 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.

Sales were flat compared with June last year. The latest home sales fell short of the 4.01 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.

Home prices increased on an annual basis for the 24th consecutive month. The national median sales price rose 2% in June from a year earlier to $435,300, an all-time high.

The U.S. housing market has been in a slump since early 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Home sales fell last year to their lowest level in nearly 30 years.

Sluggish home sales led to a lackluster spring homebuying season, traditionally the busiest period of the year for the housing market.

Stubbornly high mortgage rates and rising prices have intensified the hardships for would-be homebuyers who had already been pummeled by a real estate market that overheated during the pandemic. And while the number of homes on the market has increased sharply from a year ago, it remains well below normal levels, meaning prices continue to rise even as sales slow.

“The second half of the year really depends on what happens with mortgage rates,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.

High mortgage rates can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, limiting their purchasing power. So far this year, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage has remained relatively close to 7%, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac.

Homes purchased last month likely went under contract in May and June, when the average rate on a 30-year mortgage ranged from 6.76% to 6.89%.

Yun estimates that if the average rate on a 30-year mortgage were to fall to 6% that would lead to an additional roughly half-million more homes sold.

“If the mortgage rate remains stuck at this level, we are essentially looking at very small changes in our home sales and home price condition, but if the mortgage rate was to drop, we know there will be a more meaningful increase in sales,” he said.

The housing market’s affordability crunch is keeping many aspiring first-time homebuyers on the sidelines. They accounted for 30% of homes sales last month, unchanged from May, NAR said. Historically, they made up 40% of home sales.

Home shoppers who can afford to buy at current mortgage rates or pay in cash are benefiting from more properties on the market.

There were 1.53 million unsold homes at the end of last month, down 0.6% from May, but up nearly 16% from June last year, NAR said. That’s still well below the roughly 2 million homes for sale that was typical before the pandemic, however.

June’s month-end inventory translates to a 4.7-month supply at the current sales pace, up from a 4.6-month pace at the end of May and 4 months in June last year. Traditionally, a 5- to 6-month supply is considered a balanced market between buyers and sellers.

Homes for sale are staying on the market longer as sales remain in the doldrums. Properties typically remained on the market for 27 days last month before selling, up from 22 days in June last year, NAR said.

The housing market slowdown isn’t all bad, if you’re a home shopper who can afford to buy. In June, some 20.7% of homes listed for sale had their price reduced, the highest share for the month of June going back to at least 2016, according to Realtor.com.

Increasingly, however, many sellers are opting to pull their home off the market rather than lower prices. The number of properties taken off the market without having sold jumped 47% in May from a year earlier, according to Realtor.com.

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11573705 2025-07-23T10:12:01+00:00 2025-07-27T20:54:33+00:00
Ocean City voters reject ban on short-term rentals https://www.baltimoresun.com/2025/07/23/ocean-city-short-term-rentals-2/ Wed, 23 Jul 2025 12:43:38 +0000 https://www.baltimoresun.com/?p=11573503 Ocean City homeowners will retain the right to offer short-term rentals after voters narrowly rejected a proposed law that aimed to restrict the practice in certain residential areas.

In a closely watched referendum held Tuesday, residents voted 834 to 800 against Ordinance 2025-04, which would have imposed new limitations on rentals in the town’s R-1 and MH zoning districts.

The R-1 zoning classification includes low-density, single-family residential neighborhoods, while MH zones regulate mobile home parks and subdivisions. Together, these areas account for about 3% to 4% of Ocean City’s estimated 10,000 rental properties — affecting roughly 300 to 350 units, according to City Manager Terry McGean.

Terry Miller, president of OCMD Property Rights, a group formed to fight the proposal, celebrated the victory, calling it a win for homeowners and the local economy.

“It was quite a fight,” Miller said. “I do feel good about it. I was hoping it wasn’t going to be quite so close. I thought we would have a bigger margin, but the opposition really pulled out all stops at the end, and I thought they were able to sway some people.”

The ordinance proposed a five-night-minimum stay in those districts starting this year, with a more stringent 31-night minimum taking effect in 2027. Bookings made before March 3, 2025, would have been exempt.

The referendum was triggered by a successful petition effort led by OCMD Property Rights. In May, the group submitted 1,090 verified signatures — exceeding the 990 required to put the measure on the ballot.

Supporters of the ordinance argued the restrictions would protect neighborhood quality of life, citing issues such as noise, trash and overcrowding associated with short-term rentals. Opponents countered that the measure threatened Ocean City’s tourism-driven economy and infringed upon property owners’ rights.

“From the beginning, we all acknowledged there are a few problems, but you don’t steal people’s property rights over a few problems,” Miller said. “You fix the problems or take away the rights of people who are causing the problems.”

In a statement, the city pointed out that more than 9,000 short-term rental licenses remain outside the affected areas, as well as 11,000 hotel rooms and more than 20,000 condos, townhouses and homes that remain unrestricted, “including the entire ocean block.”

Palmer Gillis relocated to Ocean City from Salisbury in 2000 and was an early supporter of the ban on short-term rentals in R-1 zones, which was later expanded by the mayor and City Council to include MH zones.

Gillis previously served on the Salisbury City Council, representing the city on the Salisbury-Wicomico Planning and Zoning Commission. He said his experience in local government gave him a firsthand understanding of how short-term rentals, much like student rentals, can significantly alter the character of residential neighborhoods.

“I think the folks who opposed this — and it might be two years, and it might be 10 years — will actually regret this because I believe what our community will see is an erosion of neighborhoods,” Gillis said. “There has to be a place for year-round residents to live and act as if they’re in a neighborhood.”

Despite the narrow margin, the vote signals strong community interest on both sides of the issue — and leaves Ocean City’s short-term rental market largely unchanged, at least for now.

Rob Bouse, co-owner of a real estate agency in the city, said he was “glad” voters overturned the ordinance  He said it’s right for the homeowner who pays taxes to decide how they want to rent or not rent their property.

“I’m curious to see how the City Council responds and see if they try to draw up another referendum,” Bouse said.

Have a news tip? Contact Todd Karpovich at tkarpovich@baltsun.com or on X as @ToddKarpovich.

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11573503 2025-07-23T08:43:38+00:00 2025-07-23T15:03:23+00:00
Richard Mark Alter, real estate executive and former lacrosse standout, dies https://www.baltimoresun.com/2025/07/23/richard-mark-alter-obituary/ Wed, 23 Jul 2025 09:00:53 +0000 https://www.baltimoresun.com/?p=11570345 Richard Mark Alter, president and CEO of Manekin, a real estate investment, management and operating company, who was a standout lacrosse player, died of cardio-renal failure July 17 at Gilchrist Care Towson. The Harbor East resident was 81.

Born in Baltimore, he was the son of Irving Alter, an attorney who owned the Whitelock Realty Co., and his wife, Lucille. He was a 1962 Baltimore City College graduate and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Brown University, where he excelled as a lacrosse goalie.

BALTIMORE, DC -- 6/6/06 -- HO MANEKIN B ASSAF -- Richard Alter, president and CEO of Manekin LLC, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. He has worked at the Columbia company since 1971.Photo by Christopher T. Assaf/Baltimore Sun Staff #0003
Richard Mark Alter

Mr. Alter served in the Air Force as a medic and assisted in delivering babies at Andrews Air Force Base. He was a 1970 graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law.

He joined the Manekin firm in 1971 and oversaw corporate operations, including the development of more than 20 million square feet of industrial property in Hampton, Virginia, Annapolis and Howard and Frederick counties.

“My father worked until the day he died,” said his son, Zach Alter. “He had his own style. He was kind and cool. He always said that people never worked for him. They worked with him.”

Thomas Bozzuto, a fellow developer and close friend, said: “He always brought a new idea, a thought you hadn’t considered. He brought it with a twinkle in his eye. Yet a twinkle that you knew could be trusted. Richard was a first-class real estate developer. But far more than that, he was a good and iconic man.”

Donald Manekin, a former Manekin Corp. partner, said Mr. Alter shared a vision with James Rouse about Columbia’s commercial real estate potential.

Mr. Manekin also said, “Richard also brought a 21st century understanding for financing by creating relations with institutions like Copley Real Estate Advisors in Boston and Mercantile in Baltimore to our firm.”

Mr. Alter worked extensively in Columbia along Gateway Drive and in Upper Marlboro in Prince George’s County at the National Capital Business Park.

He served on the boards of the Johns Hopkins Heart Institute Initiative Advisory Council, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Camp Shoresh, Beth Tfiloh Congregation, the Baltimore City Housing Partnership, Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital, the Maryland Heart Association and the Elijah Cummings Youth Program in Israel.

Mr. Alter was a member of Beth Tfiloh Congregation and a past president of the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School.

A statement on the Brown University Athletic Hall of Fame says Mr. Alter “is considered the premier goalie in Brown lacrosse history.” He was named All-American, All-Ivy and All-New England. He was also named the outstanding lacrosse player of the year in 1966 by the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association.

Survivors include his wife of 49 years, Rosalie Kershman Alter, a Beth Tfiloh Congregation volunteer; a son, J. Zachariah Alter, of Baltimore; two daughters, Jamie Deutsch, of New Rochelle, New York, and Kelly Alter, of Vail, Colorado; two sisters, Mary Malinow, of Pikesville and Kathy Gottschalk, of Atlanta; and eight grandchildren.

Services were Friday at Sol Levinson & Brothers.

Have a news tip? Contact Jacques Kelly at jacques.kelly@baltsun.com and 410-332-6570.

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11570345 2025-07-23T05:00:53+00:00 2025-07-23T09:06:04+00:00
Chasen Cos. bankruptcy: Executives made roughly $10K a week amid collapse https://www.baltimoresun.com/2025/07/22/brandon-chasen-companies-bankruptcy/ Tue, 22 Jul 2025 17:57:38 +0000 https://www.baltimoresun.com/?p=11572061 As Brandon Chasen’s real estate empire began to collapse, the construction wing of his Baltimore development company paid him a salary of over $21,000 every other week, according to financial disclosures recently filed in its bankruptcy case.

The payments, equating to an annual salary of over $500,000, lasted until mid-November, after multiple contractors had asked for courts to enter over a million dollars worth of judgments for unpaid labor and materials, according to court filings.

Those were only the beginning of the claims from suppliers and contractors that brought Chasen Companies to its financial collapse. Bankruptcy filings show that Chasen’s construction wing is now in millions of dollars of debt, while its development projects are being abandoned and real estate being auctioned off. Though the company listed its debts in its financial disclosures, creditors have noted concerns about the firm’s private jet and demanded that company representatives show up to testify under oath. They’re also pushing for a court to order Chasen himself, in addition to his companies, into bankruptcy.

The court filing surrounding Chasen’s financial affairs provides the clearest glimpse yet into the unraveling of Chasen’s real estate empire, which plunged into bankruptcy as contractors demanded payment for work and materials used in ambitious development projects. Last year, a bank filed to foreclose on One Calvert Plaza, the 16-story downtown building that Chasen was working to renovate. But the disclosures show that top executives continued to make ample salaries: Chasen’s business partner made a salary of over $9,600 per week, while the firm’s chief operating officer made over $6,700.

Rusted rebar, spray paint cans and other abandoned construction equipment line the sidewalk of the 1400 block of Aliceanna Street, a building owned by a Chasen Companies entity that attempted to declare bankruptcy earlier this year. Creditors are now seeking to force the real estate developer's founder and CEO, Brandon Chasen, to pay them back nearly $30 million.
Rusted rebar, spray paint cans and other deserted construction equipment line the sidewalk of the 1400 block of Aliceanna Street, the site of an abandoned Chasen Companies development. (Dan Belson/Staff)

The construction wing of Chasen Cos. was forced into involuntary bankruptcy in April, and now, more Chasen properties are set to be auctioned off. Chasen and his company’s attorney did not return requests for comment.

The financial disclosure schedules do not mention a private jet previously registered to the company that creditors said might have improperly been sold or placed into a trust amid the firm’s financial woes.

The firm’s creditors include Sandy Spring Bank, which says Chasen owes it over $28 million in unsecured debt, and other contractors claiming other unpaid debts. They have pushed for Chasen to explain why his firm transferred ownership of the company’s $5 million jet in March to TVPX Aircraft Solutions, a trust that offers “privacy enhancement” for plane titles. The transfer was not mentioned in Chasen Construction’s bankruptcy filing, though it listed a $200,000 debt to an aviation business in Easton.

The creditors suggested in court filings that Chasen was either trying to sell the plane and abscond with the proceeds, or keep it out of reach from the bankruptcy case.

Federal Aviation Administration records list no plane under the jet’s old registration number, though a plane with the same model and serial number as Chasen Construction’s old jet is listed as being registered to TVPX. That jet flew 1,950 miles, from Texas to Maine, on Tuesday.

The transfer of the private jet, and executive compensation, “are things that the U.S. Trustee will definitely ask about” at a meeting of creditors scheduled for August, said Steven Berman, a Florida-based bankruptcy attorney with the business law firm Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick.

The financial statement filed in that case lists biweekly salary payments dating back to only May 2024. At that point, the earliest cases demanding debts had been filed in state courts. The document’s contents, which detail the company’s current finances as well as transfers in the months leading up to the bankruptcy case, will likely be at the center of the upcoming meeting of creditors. The company missed the first scheduled date for that meeting, where a representative for the construction company is required to answer questions under oath, and it’s now rescheduled for late August.

At those meetings, also known as 341 meetings, the U.S. trustee will ask “generally” about the company’s assets, liabilities, operations and what led to the bankruptcy, said Berman — “Were they in negotiations for financing that fell through? Did they have environmental problems in the development process? Was there some major external event that affected the business’s viability?”

Though usually those meetings are focused on getting to the heart of a company’s financial problems, “you can get a lot of interesting questions that may be outside the scope of what’s intended,” said David G. Sommer, an attorney with Baltimore-based law firm Gallagher Evelius & Jones.

There will likely be questions about how the principals have been running the business. Chasen’s compensation will likely be looked at by creditors and the bankruptcy court, especially if it’s seen as excessive, Berman said. What counts as excessive, he said, comes down to the facts and circumstances.

While over $10,000 per week might not be excessive “for an executive running a nationwide business,” it’d be more inappropriate for a failing firm, depending on its size and the scope of the executives’ responsibilities, Berman said.

“If [the salaries] are extremely outside the market, that would raise some yellow flags,” Sommer said. “Particularly if they were taking those salaries, you know, even while the debtor was really struggling financially to meet its other obligations.”

The financial schedules say that the construction firm has over $39.5 million in liabilities and $0 in assets. Its bank account has been left with a negative balance due to being garnished. In 2023, the firm had over $77 million in gross revenue; the next year, it had just over a third of that. And in 2025, it reported $0 in revenue.

“It’s disappointing that these projects didn’t succeed,” said Sommer, who noted that the fall of Chasen has left “some conspicuous unfinished projects in an important part of Baltimore.”

He said he’d be interested in seeing if resolving the bankruptcies can turn some of the abandoned projects “into lemonade.”

Have a news tip? Contact Dan Belson at dbelson@baltsun.com,  on X as @DanBelson_ or on Signal as @danbels.62.

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11572061 2025-07-22T13:57:38+00:00 2025-07-24T18:37:28+00:00
Baltimore councilwoman’s bill would help city acquire more vacant properties https://www.baltimoresun.com/2025/07/21/baltimore-councilwomans-bill-would-help-city-acquire-more-vacant-properties/ Mon, 21 Jul 2025 22:52:52 +0000 https://www.baltimoresun.com/?p=11570666 Baltimore City Councilwoman Odette Ramos introduced a bill Monday that would make it easier for the city to acquire vacant properties that have fallen into financial ruin.

Bill 25-0080, which Ramos dubbed “In Rem 2,” would allow the city to foreclose on a vacant property or lot when its unpaid liens are below the property’s value and fall behind by at least six months. In rem is Latin for “against the thing,” as opposed to “in personam,” which translates to “against the person” in legal proceedings.

“Based on the analysis conducted by my office, we believe with the full complement of the In Rem tools, the City could acquire 65% or more of the privately owned vacant and abandoned properties and lots in our city ensuring they get to the hands of partners who will get the job done,” Ramos said.

According to Ramos, the city would have to “pay the difference between the appraised value and the liens to the last known owner to avoid a taking and violation of the recent Tyler v. Hennepin decision,” a 2023 Supreme Court case that found a Minnesota county had violated the Fifth Amendment’s takings clause by auctioning off the home of a 94-year-old woman who did not pay property taxes for years.

The move follows Baltimore’s implementation of “In Rem 1” in 2022, a legal avenue the city has used to foreclose on vacant and abandoned lots when unpaid liens exceed a property’s assessed value, meaning the vacant lot has no value at all. Ramos said an expansion of this strategy — which has led to 413 vacant property acquisitions since November 2022 — would speed up the process of acquiring and rehabilitating some of the 12,500-plus properties that are sitting empty and have hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid liens.

“No one was purchasing these in tax sale, and no one would approach owners to purchase these vacant properties with such high liens,” Ramos said. “They were stuck as vacant forever … owned by mostly deceased people, families who have moved away, forfeited LLCs, absent landlords, and the like,” Ramos said.

Ramos’ effort follows a renewed push by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore to clean up vacant properties in Baltimore. Earlier this month, Moore announced $50 million in grant funds through the Baltimore Vacants Reinvestment Initiative, of which $30 million will be spread across 16 community development organizations partnering with the city.

Co-sponsored by Council President Zeke Cohen and council members John Bullock, Paris Gray, Jermaine Jones and Mark Parker, Ramos’ bill was referred to the Housing & Economic Development Committee after her introduction. The measure will next receive a hearing before this committee, which is chaired by Councilman James Torrence.

Social Security resolution

The council also adopted Jones’ resolution calling on the federal and Maryland state governments to stand against any Social Security cuts by President Donald Trump’s administration. Jones said the Baltimore-based Social Security Administration has been “the best mechanism to help eliminate poverty” among older adults in its 90-year history.

“Social Security is needed now more than ever. If you hear about what’s going on in the [Trump] administration, there’s plans to cut Social Security,” Jones said. “I think we’re in a time in our city where people rely on these services more than ever, and I think it’s important for us as a council to send a statement and to urge not only the federal level, but also the state level to take action.”

Cohen, who has slammed Trump as an adversary to working people, thanked Jones for introducing the resolution and called for stronger support of Social Security.

“People invest their entire life into a system, it should work for them [until] the end of their life,” Cohen said.

Have a news tip? Contact Carson Swick at cswick@baltsun.com.

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11570666 2025-07-21T18:52:52+00:00 2025-07-21T19:03:30+00:00
Average long-term US mortgage rate rises to 6.75%, second straight uptick https://www.baltimoresun.com/2025/07/17/mortgage-rates-july-17/ Thu, 17 Jul 2025 16:10:02 +0000 https://www.baltimoresun.com/?p=11564116&preview=true&preview_id=11564116 By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage rose for the second week in a row, another setback for the U.S. housing market, which is mired in a sales slump as affordability constraints shut out prospective homebuyers.

The long-term rate ticked up to 6.75% from 6.72% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.77%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also rose. The average rate increased to 5.92% from 5.86% last week. A year ago, it was 6.05%, Freddie Mac said.

When mortgage rates rise they can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers and reduce their purchasing power. That’s helped keep the U.S. housing market in a sales slump that dates back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from the rock-bottom lows they reached during the pandemic.

Last year, sales of previously occupied U.S. homes sank to their lowest level in nearly 30 years. They’ve remained sluggish so far this year, as many prospective homebuyers have been discouraged by elevated mortgage rates and home prices that have continued to climb, albeit more slowly.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation.

The main barometer is the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans. The yield was at 4.45% at midday Thursday, down from 4.46% late Wednesday.

Yields have largely moved higher this month as traders bet that a better-than-expected June jobs report could keep the Fed on hold when it comes to interest rates.

Bond investors briefly drove longer-term yields higher Wednesday, after President Donald Trump said he had discussed the “concept” of firing the chair of the Federal Reserve but was unlikely to do so.

The president has been calling for Powell to cut interest rates. A less independent Fed could mean lower short-term rates, but it could have the opposite effect on the longer-term bond yields that influence the rates on home loans.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage has remained relatively close to its high so far this year of just above 7%, set in mid-January. The 30-year rate’s low point this year was in early April when it briefly dipped to 6.62%.

The rise in mortgage rates appears to have discouraged some home shoppers. Mortgage applications fell 10% last week from a week earlier as higher rates and economic uncertainty dampened demand, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Economists generally expect mortgage rates to stay relatively stable in the coming months, with forecasts calling for the average rate on a 30-year mortgage to remain in a range between 6% and 7% this year.

While that would be roughly in line with the historical average rate on a 30-year mortgage, it’s little comfort to many would-be homebuyers after years of soaring home prices.

Consider, the U.S. median household annual income is about $80,000. But with a mortgage rate of 6.75%, a homebuyer would need an annual income of nearly $130,000 to be able to qualify for a loan to buy a median-priced U.S. home, notes Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS.

Elevated mortgage rates are also discouraging many homeowners who locked in mortgage rates well below where they are now from selling.

The trends point to the U.S. housing market remaining in the doldrums this year.

“What does this mean for the housing market in the second half of 2025? It is likely going to continue to be a slow market,” Sturtevant said.

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11564116 2025-07-17T12:10:02+00:00 2025-07-17T13:14:44+00:00