In 2004, Elissa Crouch was looking to buy her first house in Queen Anne’s County, but the Kent Island native was shocked by the local real estate market. “I was surprised that I couldn’t live in Queen Anne’s County for what I had to spend on a house,” she says. “Rarely could I find anything in my price range; I never thought I wouldn’t be able to live where I grew up.”

So instead, Crouch looked down the road in Cambridge. The houses in that area were more affordable—“by a range of $40,000 to $440,000,” she says—and the town was centrally located to her job. She purchased a two-story home in the historic district with a fenced-in yard—and was able to stay within her budget. Although she does miss her hometown, Crouch says she’s very happy in Cambridge and feels she got a good deal—proof that you can still find a nice property, if you’re willing to compromise.

A Softening Market?

Ask anyone if you can get a great deal on real estate anywhere within the Chesapeake Bay region and most folks scoff, with good reason. According to the Maryland Association of Realtors (MAR), Maryland’s average home price in 2005 rose 19 percent over the previous year, up to $333,637. A quick look at average sale prices in the waterfront counties, and the outlook is astounding. In 2000, the average home price in Anne Arundel County was $208,014. In 2004, it was $348,574. In Talbot County, the average home price rose from $355,744 in 2000 to $624,636 in 2004. The MAR credits the state’s low rate of unemploy-ment and high rate of personal income growth for bullying up the area’s real estate values.

While the state’s healthy economy will still allow real estate prices to rise, there is a softening afoot that indicates rates will rise at a slightly less astronomical level than the last few years. The MAR estimates that price rises in 2006 will be at a rate comparable to income growth—between 5 and 7 percent. And that could be good news to buyers.

“Things are leveling off,” says Betsy Stettinius, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker who works in Anne Arundel, Talbot, and Queen Anne’s counties. “I think Katrina put a real pall on the economy. Plus, values can only go so far. They were going up 20 to 24 percent in the last few years. Even last year, you could slap a number on a house and it would go out the door in ten days.” Now Stettinius sees buyers who are more realistic, as rising interest rates have started to trigger a switch from a seller’s to a buyer’s market.

With that switch, there is more inventory on the market. Cheryl Krebeck is the president of the Mid-Shore Board of the Maryland Association of Realtors and an associate broker with Champion Realty in Cambridge. According to Krebeck, at the end of 2005, there were 987 homes on the market, compared to 654 at the same time the previous year. More houses for sale for a longer period of time can mean more room for price negotiation.

“My gut feeling is that there are still deals available,” she says, noting, however, that it isn’t easy to find them. “You don’t find a bargain by driving around or looking in the newspaper. You need to find a realtor you can depend on who will hear of things that are coming available.”

Krebeck says that areas like Talbot County have always been more expensive because of the large number of waterfront estates. Instead, she steers bargain hunters to areas where there are high projections for growth—places such as Denton, Cambridge, and Trappe. A quick look at local real estate listings reveals that a three bedroom, two-bathroom house in Trappe can be had for $316,900. While prices in Dorchester County rose 48 percent between the years 2003 and 2004 alone, new homes to be built in Cambridge—with four bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths—are still attainable for the reasonable price of $269,900.

“The word ‘affordable’ is different to each person,” says Bonnie Baldus Grier of Baldus Realty in Waldorf and LaPlata. “It used to be that $300,000 didn’t buy you too much. Right now there might be a handful of things available in that range that wouldn’t have been there a year ago, and if they were, they were selling very quickly.” Grier recommends that deal seekers try to get in on the ground floor at new developments, where builders might offer pre-construction prices or where prices might be low until occupancy levels rise. Builder’s spec houses are often a good deal as well, if you can find one.

Small Towns and Outta Town

When Greg Harris started his search for a second home in 2004, he bypassed the pricey downtown areas of St. Michaels and bought a cottage with a water view in the tiny remote town of Neavitt, at least twenty winding minutes out of town. “It was one of those situations where houses were moving fast, so if you found a place you liked you had to move on it,” he recalls. The owner was upgrading to another second home, so they were willing to make a good deal to offload the old one. By purchasing in a small town that was, at that point, undervalued, Harris was able to buy the home for less than he’d put aside. The sellers even threw in some of the furnishings.

“The house exceeded my expect-ations,” says Harris. “It was easy to maintain, it was in a good location close to the water, and very convenient to stores and the downtown area of St. Michaels.” Harris sold the house sixteen months later, at a profit; he was even able to roll the extra cash into a waterfront property a few miles away. Although more expensive than the first, this house, too, was a good deal because the bulkhead needed repair and the home, a 1920s Cape Cod, needed cosmetic changes.

Others being priced out by discovered spots in Talbot County—Easton and St. Michaels—may take solace in Snow Hill. “The general area of Snow Hill in central Worcester County and the southern area still have good values,” says Jeff Chapman, an agent with Long & Foster in Salisbury. Currently there are about fifty properties—homes and lots—for sale in the Snow Hill area. Chapman says that planned development in the vicinity, such as the more than 2,100 units of Summerfield that was just okayed, will bring new interest and housing volume to the Snow Hill zip code. “It’s going to make the area a little more attractive to some people because of the services it will bring to the area,” he explains.

There are still a few deals in the area for those seeking quaint, historic living; check out the smaller homes available in the Hanson Street area of Easton. “I think that whole area is very sweet, and there’s definitely some good stuff to be had there,” says Stettinius.

She continues that the area of Odenton used to be a great place for less expensive buys, but with Fort Meade at its center, the area has boomed and pushed out many deal seekers. However, it may still be worth a look: Local listings offer a 1,078 square-foot condominium with cathedral ceilings in a development for $275,900 and a cute little colonial (circa 1925), with four bedrooms and one-and-a-half baths, for $299,900.

Finding a good deal in Southern Maryland, which includes the two fastest growing counties in the state (Charles and Calvert), is about striking a balance. While properties on the western shore, within commuting distance of Washington, D.C., and waterfront properties will still sell for a premium, the area in between can still hold promise. Grier’s recommendations include St. Mary’s County and the lower section of Charles County, near the areas of Newburg and Cobb Island.

“[St. Mary’s] is far enough away from D.C. that the prices haven’t gone as crazy as parts of Charles County,” Grier explains. In Cobb Island, she says the interior properties are a good bet for a deal but, “actually,” she adds, “the Cobb Island waterfront is still very affordable.” She currently has a waterfront home with a two-car garage, an apartment, and a pier with a boatlift listed for just under $600,000.

Another quaint community with village-like appeal is Ridgely in Caroline County. Unlike some areas, Ridgely has flown low on the real estate radar screen—charming Victorians can still be had for a reasonable price. One listing has a circa 1890 Victorian listed for under $250,000. Most people ride right on by Annapolis: Betsy Stettinius sees three- to four-bedroom single-family houses in the Annapolis market selling for $600,000 to $750,000, with townhouses going for over $300,000. She feels that the most wiggle room anyone can expect on price these days is about $50,000, and it’s unlikely a house will sell for less than its appraised value.

To get a better deal, the easy answer is to get further away from City Dock. “Gambrills and other rural outlying areas have some deals,” she explains. “Waterfront property in Queen Anne’s is catching up with the rest of the region, but if you get away from the water, Queen Anne’s may offer more bang for your buck.” As an example, Stettinius points to a property she sold in the community of Southwinds in Chester. She explains that a comparable house in Annapolis would have come with a half-million-dollar-plus price tag.

For Bargain Beach Real Estate: Go West

For those willing to sacrifice the tank of gas, the real deals may be “down the ocean, hon’.” “I don’t want to use the word affordable, but you can still buy a townhouse for $250,000 and a single-family home for $300,000 to $350,000 in the West Ocean City area,” explains Karin Silver, the division manager of the Eastern Shore region for the Texas-based developer Centex Homes. Silver says Centex still sees a strong market in the Ocean City area, despite talk of a real estate bubble. The company has projects in Ocean City and Berlin and five new projects in the pipeline for 2006. “We’re pushing forward in this market because of the baby boomers and the second-home buyers.”

While the tales of a homebuyer stumbling onto a waterfront gem and picking it up for a song may be becoming the stuff of urban legend, with a little patience and flexibility, there are still properties available for a reasonable deal. Says Bonnie Baldus Grier, “To me, if you get a house in an area you like with most of the things you want without giving up too much, you got a good deal because you are happy.”

Freelancer Christianna McCausland writes from Baltimore County.