PG County Real Estate

Prince Georges County has long been the place where aspiring bio-tech professionals get their education and bio-tech companies get their start before moving on.  Currently, the county is home to the state’s second largest concentration of federal agencies plus the research powerhouse of the University of Maryland, but only 2% of Maryland’s bio-space companies and 5% of wet lab space.  Graduates leave for jobs elsewhere.  The county is still smarting because three prominent firms – Digene Corp., Martek Biosciences Corp., and NovaScreen Biosciences Corp – moved to surrounding counties and became multimillion dollar companies.

Recent planning efforts in the county are scoping out publicly owned lots near the University of Maryland and the College Park Metro station, near the Konterra business campus, and Prince Georges Plaza Metro station as sites for new facilities with staying power.  In a tough economy where labs in nearby counties have vacancies, some critics wonder whether the timing is right for the county to gamble on the venture.  Even the developers maintain that the project cannot go ahead unless tenants where in site.  At this point 240,000 square feet of the proposed 1.5 million square feet has been built.

For Prince Georges County, the stakes are high, as the project could be lucrative to the county and a source of new jobs.  The center could open 700 to 1,900 new jobs and produce $1.6 – 4.4 million in revenue, depending on the location.  The Plaza Metro site would cost five times as much to purchase but yield the highest revenuers, as compared to the M Square site.

Want to be in position for one of the new jobs?  Buy a home now.  Express Realty Service can match you up with an affordable home you love.  Aside from our featured listings, we have a special stock of renovated, refurbished, or remodeled homes from our sister company Express Homebuyers.  Check out the many affordable home values we have to offer, as well as programs to benefit those who live and work in Prince Georges County.

Brisk home sales in November 2009 are great news for both buyers and sellers in the greater DC area. Compared to a year ago, homes are on the market for less time and yield a price closer to the asking price.  Since prices are generally lower than a year ago, buyers are finding great deals and benefiting from tax credits.

In Prince Georges County, the median sale price was $205,000, compared to $246,000 in November 2008.  The average sales price was 90.24% of the asking price, compared to an average price representing only 86.35% last year.  632 homes sold in November compared to just 333 in the same period last year, while the average days on the market (DOM) fell from 141 days in 2008 to 119 days this year.

Keep those numbers up!  Buy a home now.  Express Realty Service can match you up with an affordable home you love.  Aside from our featured listings, we have a special stock of renovated, refurbished, or remodeled homes from our sister company Express Homebuyers.  Check out the many affordable-home values we have to offer.

The quality of area schools is a prime consideration for house-hunting parents, as well as for anyone concerned with the resale value of their property.

Schools in Prince Georges County (PGC), the second-largest school system in Maryland, are facing budget cuts. Yet, they recently implemented an innovative test program of incentive pay for teachers and administrators.  The program is funded through a $17 million federal TIF grant

Two-hundred-seventy-nine volunteers agreed to tie bonuses to classroom performance.  The bonuses are modest (up to $10,000 for teachers, $11,500 for assistant principals, and $12,000 for principals) and the participants include only a fraction of the district’s 17,000 employees but the program is unique because it is backed by the PGC Educator’s Association.  Experiments with merit pay are usually opposed by the unions, but since the program is voluntary for teachers, there was little opposition from that camp.

The program ties half the bonus money to scores on state tests.  Rewards of up to $2,500 are given when the school meets test-score targets, and as much as $2,500 when a given class’s scores improve. Rewards are given for teaching in hard-to-staff subjects ($1,500), excelling in evaluation of classroom skills (as much as $1,500), and participating in professional development and activities outside the classroom (as much as $2,000).  Not every participant is eligible to receive the whole award; typical teacher bonuses ranged from $4,300 to $5,700.

The FIRST Program (Financial Incentives Rewards for Supervisors and Teachers) is aimed at poor schools, where teacher retention often becomes a problem.  To date, no figures have been released about how the schools are performing, but early indications are that the bonus has encouraged teachers to stay.

Looking to buy a home in innovative Prince Georges County?  Express Realty Service can match you up with an affordable home you love.  Aside from our featured listings, we have a special stock of renovated, refurbished, or remodeled homes from our sister company Express Homebuyers.  Check out the many affordable-home values we have to offer.