Great Places for Kids

I was fortunate as a child to have a family that was invested in culture and the arts. Though we never had a lot of money, I was able to attend a great deal of concerts, plays, museums and arts camps, all of which helped to enrich my development and stimulate my creativity. I was similarly fortunate to have grown up in the DC area, as it is full of theatres and other art centers. It is easy to find places that are devoted to encouraging creativity and cultural awareness in young people regardless of their financial means, which is important in today’s uncertain economy.

Summer is drawing to a close, but there is still plenty of time to introduce the younger members of your family to something new and exciting. Here are a few places you can check out without having to drive too far.

Imagination Stage in Bethesda is one place I wish I’d known about as a kid. This theater company not only has a full and active, year-round play season; they also offer after-school programs, seasonal camps, and classes for kids from 12 months old up to grade 12. Their Early Childhood program is particularly impressive, focusing on each age group’s developing skills. It is Imagination Stage’s goal to be accessible to everyone, regardless of what difficulties they might face: for example, they offer scholarships based on financial need, and there are ASL interpreters for specific performances of each play they produce. August 14 is the last performance of their highly-praised adaptation of The Wind in the Willows. Their next play, Aladdin’s Luck, runs September 23 – October 30, and promises to be a wonderful lesson for kids about the value of being yourself. Check out their great website here.

As the nation’s capital city, DC is renowned for its collection of museums. The Smithsonian Institution is unrivaled for the comprehensiveness of its collections, spanning topics from American History to taxidermy. The area is also home to a number of smaller niche museums, less impressive in their collection sizes but fascinating in their focus. The most unique museum I have encountered so far is the National Pinball Museum. Located in The Shops at Georgetown Park, the building hosts about 300 machines, displayed in rotating featured exhibits that highlight iconic artists and eras of the game’s history. If you have older kids, the museum offers classes in pinball machine restoration, designing machine art, woodworking, and pinball electronics. These classes are only available to kids 15 and up, but the museum is a great place for parents to share their childhood memories with kids of any age. The Pinball Museum is being relocated soon, but you can take advantage of their lowered prices at their current location through September 5. Visit their website here.

The Children’s Science Center is a place to keep your eye on for the future. It has not yet opened, but planning for construction is underway, they already have a well-established internet presence, and they have booths at local events to engage the community. Their website allows and encourages community participation, so you and your kids can contribute ideas for what kinds of exhibits you would like to see. The museum is already listing exhibits they would like to include, such as an Outer Space area, a Chesapeake Bay exhibit, Environmental Science, and a Surgery Simulator. You can also get involved by having your family participate in Operation Firefly, observing and tracking local firefly populations. Their website is here.

Bethany Fuller
The Mike Webb Team, LLC

Mortgage Limits

The housing market is struggling, and it does not look as if it will be getting better any time soon. The few improvements that have been seen over the last couple years have been artificial boosts, inspired by temporary measures such as last year’s federal housing tax credit. Left again to its own devices, the market is floundering, suggesting that real improvements will require lasting legislative changes, rather than brief incentives that only serve to superficially caffeinate the market.

Unfortunately, the lasting changes made so far may not have the kind of impact we have been hoping for.

In an effort to limit government involvement in lending and to regulate risk taking in the loan industry, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Both the name of the bill and the underlying intention of this legislation sound positive. However, the measures being taken to reduce the risk of default will have massive repercussions. Down payments for the proposed Qualified Residential Mortgages are jumping from the current 3.5% to as much as a staggering 20% – payments that will only be affordable to people already in the more affluent community and therefore less likely to default on their payments. Non-QRM loans will have lower down payments but much higher interest rates.

What this means for the market is that, in the long run, home prices are likely to drop to accommodate what buyers can afford, meaning owners will make far less off the sale of their homes. This means equities will decrease as well.

Another change we must prepare for is that on October 1, government-backed loan limits will decrease from $729,750 to $625,500. According to the Washington Post, the government had temporarily raised the limit to lower borrowing costs, and this is a return to prior practice. Allowing the cap increase to expire is part of the effort to limit government involvement in the market and to “lure the private sector back to the lending arena.”

Unfortunately, the increased cap has not lasted long enough to see the market stabilize. Builders have been taking advantage of the higher limits and constructing more expensive houses. This will put added pressure on pricier areas, where owners are already having a hard time selling their homes.

With these two factors combined, it appears that both sides of the market will be negatively affected. Homeowners will be forced to sell for far less than they had hoped, or risk not being able to find a buyer at all. Most buyers will either have to save an average of nine to fourteen years to afford their down payments, or resort to suffering high interest rates on non-qualified loans.