I keep an eye on what is going on with Frederick County short sales and foreclosures, so I can see how they are possibly having an effect on the prices of regular sales.  Luckily, both Frederick County and Washington County have a relatively low number of foreclosures.   The lowered interest rates and more affordable prices are enticing some buyers out, and fewer foreclosures are driving more of them to traditional sales. The bank mediated numbers shown in the first chart includes both short sales and foreclosures.  The chart after that shows you how the bank mediated sales breakdown into short sales vs. foreclosures.

There is still a nice price gap between regular sales and bank mediated sales.  We have a swing of almost $80,000 between the two.