With a surge in the number of foreclosed properties in Maryland, particularly Prince George’s County, the local government and a federally approved housing counseling agency have created a crisis center to assist residents on the brink of losing their homes.

The nonprofit agency, known as SEED, or Sowing Empowerment & Economic Development, opened the crisis center last month during its annual housing fair, which in past years has focused mostly on helping renters become homeowners. This year, about 10 people, with loan documents in hand, stopped at a booth in the Sports and Learning Complex in Landover to receive counseling and information aimed at preventing banks from taking their homes.

Where I live in Prince George’s County, new homes are popping up all over the place. Some are luxury digs with home theaters, designer bathrooms and gourmet kitchens. And they are selling fast. Forget that old American dream of two cars in every garage and a chicken in every pot. Some of my neighbors own three or four cars and have freezers full of steaks.

But signs abound that success is an illusion in many cases. Just look at the proliferation of placards on utility poles, even around my house in relatively affluent Fort Washington: “Behind in your mortgage payments?” “Need fast cash?” “Get out of debt now.”

Building a pool can mean taking a plunge in more ways than one.

“Swimming pools are very impulsive. When the weather gets warm, the phones pick up,” said Bob Spero, co-owner of Maryland Pools, a pool and spa builder with offices in Columbia and Fairfax. He said his company will sell about 400 pools this year.

Buying a condominium? A house in a neighborhood run by a homeowners association? You had better stay on top of your e-mail.

A very large and extremely important document could be coming your way. Its arrival starts the clock ticking on a short period during which you can cancel the deal, should you desire to back out of your purchase contract.

Q: There’s a house that I am interested in purchasing in Silver Spring, but when I did a little neighborhood background check I realized that Metro’s proposed Purple Line would probably go through the back yard — or worse, the entire street would be taken over for the project. How does one find out what the plans are for this project? How do you protect yourself and your house from development such as this?

A: Barrett L. Kime, a real estate lawyer with DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy: Because of the government’s power of eminent domain (the right to take private property by condemnation), you will have little opportunity to stop or even alter the construction of a project as big as a Metro line. Some people who have the stomach for it may try to purchase in an area slated for such development in the hope of later extracting a high price from the government, which must pay for private property that is taken. For most people, though, it is best to just weigh the impact the project will have on the use and enjoyment of the property and to look elsewhere if the overall impact is negative.

How are baby boomers who are still carrying hefty first and second mortgages going to pay them off?

Millions of homeowners refinanced during the “refi boom” of 2003 and 2004 and took out new loans with 15- or 30-year terms. Many in their late 50s and early 60s now have big mortgages with terms running for another quarter-century.

The gateway to Port Royal doesn’t do justice to the community within.

As it crosses the Rappahannock River into Caroline County, Route 301 is flanked by a hodgepodge of deserted buildings, run-down businesses and one of the few yellow-roofed, 1960s-style Horne’s roadside restaurants remaining anywhere.

Q: A year and a half ago when the market was hot, we purchased a home in Virginia that we thought would be ours for a long time. However, I have been transferred to the West Coast, and we are now facing a loss when we sell our home. Fortunately we do not think we will have to come up with cash to sell it because we made a large down payment.

If we had made profit on the house, I understand, the IRS would allow us some partial exclusion of that gain, even if we had not owned the house for a full two years. Can we deduct all or even a part of our loss?

Jorge Zamorano whipped out a copy of the Cumberland Times-News from behind the bar at the Starfish Cafe, one of two restaurants he owns on Capitol Hill.

The newspaper trumpeted a 17 percent increase in housing prices in the Western Maryland town over the past year. Zamorano, a Cuban-born artist and restaurateur, was pleased at his prescience.

Borrowers who don’t know how to deal with mortgage brokers waste their time and that of the brokers. Such borrower ignorance also encourages brokers to be hustlers rather than professionals.

In general, borrowers should view brokers as providers of professional services for which they are paid a fee. That fee is the only price brokers control, and it is the only price that borrowers using brokers should use while shopping.