The brief
01Every property here has been researched before it is shown. Where an answer is on record, it is here. Where it requires a recorded plat, a septic file, or a call to the listing agent, that is stated plainly rather than guessed.
Against your six requirements
02Not a ranking of houses. A rubric — scored the way you’d score them yourself, with unknowns shown as unknowns rather than quietly counted as passes. The same six tests as your previous file. A tick under four-sided brick means Bright records Construction Materials as plain Brick with no “brick front” qualifier and no siding beside it. Two houses in this band earn that tick; one of them has the three-car garage to go with it. A question mark under offices means the room list does not settle it — every house here has at least one bedroom or lower-level room you could convert, which you told us is acceptable.
| Property | Inside 30 min of BWI | 5,000+ sf living space |
Two dedicated offices | Four-sided brick | Guest parking beyond garage | Established community |
|---|
The land, drawn to scale
03Every parcel below is rendered at the same scale, so the lots can be compared by eye rather than by adjective. Hatching marks land that is documented as non-buildable. A dashed outline marks a lot whose usable portion has not yet been established from the plat — which is not the same as a lot that is fully usable.
Comparison
04Above-grade square footage is listed separately from finished lower level, because a 6,280 sf house with 3,792 sf above grade does not meet this brief.
| Property | Price | Drive to BWI | Days on mkt | Above grade | Fin. lower | Total fin. | Lot | Garage | Masonry | Read |
|---|
Property files
05Each question is answered or openly assigned. Click any question to open it.
Comparable sales
06What an appraiser will actually use: closed sales from the last eighteen months in the same submarket, matched on size, lot and age. Every ratio is price divided by above-grade finished area from the assessor, which is the basis an appraisal is written on. List price is an opinion. Closed comparables are evidence.
Ruled out, so you don’t spend a day on them
07Forty-five listings came back in your band. These are the ones that looked qualified on a search result and are not, each removed for a specific, checkable reason — including every new build.
Communities under watch
08The right house may not be listed today. These enclaves are monitored directly — including for owners who have not yet decided to sell.
Diligence protocol
09Run before every showing above $1.5M. Nothing is presented that has not been through it.
- MLS listing and confidential agent remarks
- Tax record — acreage, year built, above-grade square footage
- Recorded subdivision plat
- Aerial imagery, current and historical
- Topography and contour intervals across the building envelope
- Property boundaries and corner locations
- All recorded easements — conservation, utility, access, drainage
- Well and septic status, including approved bedroom count
- Builder and construction history
- Permit history for additions and structural work
- HOA documents and recorded covenants
- Sales history and prior marketing
- Adjoining parcels — ownership, zoning, development rights
- Above-grade and below-grade square footage, reconciled against tax record
- Acreage and usable acreage after setbacks and reserves
- Roof, HVAC and major system ages
- Five closed comparable sales within six months
- Call the listing agent with everything still unanswered
- Arrive knowing three strongest attributes and three likeliest objections
“This is 1.01 acres — but more importantly, I pulled the plat, because I wanted to know how much of the lot is actually usable.”
“I don’t want to give you an approximate answer on that. I want the recorded plat, and I’ll verify it.”
“I found nine possibilities. I eliminated six after reviewing the lots, plats and construction. These three are worth your time.”
On record means the figure comes from public listing data, county records or published builder material. It has not yet been confirmed against the recorded document itself — that happens at plat review and the site walk.
Document needed means the answer exists but must be pulled: plat, survey, septic file, well completion report, recorded covenants.
Ask agent means a person has to answer it — the listing agent, the builder, or Howard County.
Prices and availability move. Every figure is re-confirmed against live Bright MLS before a showing is scheduled.