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By admin, May 28, 2009 1:09 pm

Here’s a pretty neat little map I found over at Mint.com. Now I realize showing the decline in home prices isn’t exactly cool or fun, but I do like graphs and anything of the sort. This one shows some statistics that make you just go wow. For instance if you look at the Fort Myers, Florida home prices it sort of has that effect. Ok, jokes aside it is a pretty humbling map but if you’re curious about where the countries real estate market is right now, this might be the best description of what’s going on.

Check out the article here.

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By admin, May 27, 2009 1:37 pm

Just got an email from a builder representative I have been talking to at Lifestyle Communities. I haven’t sold a lot of these condo’s but the ones I have been in show a good build quality. Also included in the email was a listing of their current promotions as well as a link to a listing of their communities. Soooo with that said I thought I’d include a quick overview of what they are offering:

1. 4.5% APR.
2. They’ll pay your prepaids and closing costs.
3. Also offer a program to pay all condo fees for 3 years and offer a 2 year extended warranty.
4. Offering the OHFA MCC program with potential to earn money back on tax you pay towards the mortgage.

They have also just started selling their downtown location. Brand new community. The city was also offering a seven year tax abatement if you bought within the downtown area and this could also possibly fall within that catagory as well. One more little food for thought is the current $8,000 tax credit, the gorvernment is potentiall making this avaible as a down payment as well.

Here’s a link to their communities.

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By admin, May 26, 2009 10:33 am

I know this isn’t the fun news we need to hear but seriously, prices are still falling? I always check out CNBC.com first thing in the morning and see what interesting stories pop up. I always look for real estate related material but I was hoping for something other than news about foreclosures or dropping home price. Either way this is what I found.

They are calling this the worst housing crisis since the great depression. Prices, just last month, dropped 18.7 percent. That was sort of eye popping as that was just a difference from March of last year to March of this year. The article seemed to point part of the blame on home buyers waiting to make a purchase. Their waiting on the market to hit rock bottom isn’t helping the situation.  Obviously no one knows when we are going to start the up swing on home prices but sooner rather than later would be good. I guess we should start a new ad slogan “Buy a home and help stop the foreclosure mess.”

Check out the article here.

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By admin, May 20, 2009 3:32 pm

Foreclosure turn around? I know that is sort of an odd statement in itself but it looks as though we are getting some interesting numbers showing just that thing. First off, home sales are up. News reports all over the country are showing signs of life in the real estate business. In my opinion it’s only in the foreclosure market but again that is what it is, my opinion. I am showing almost all short sales, foreclosures, bank properties, but not many just regular old listings.

Also it seems banks are moving faster with sales. I can remember just six months ago when putting an offer in on a short sale and waiting for MONTHS to even get a response. Not anymore. I have made offers on a few short sales recently and I am getting a response within a day or two. WOW…

Looks like these people over at CNBC.com agree

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By admin,

Lately I have been thinking about the future of my business, and I guess in a way, the business of real estate in an everchanging world of technology. One of the main reasons is where to take my company, Realty Ohio Inc., in this ever changing and demanding world of the internet.

A little background for you. First off I am a self proclaimed geek as I love technology as a whole (Do I think it’s all useful? That is a totally different subject) but there becomes a problem of management. I am a blackberry user (addict might be a better descriptive term) and usually answer client emails within an hour of receiving them. I am also an avid internet surfer. I can find anything at anytime if i really want to. So basically I am a child who grew up on the internet, watched it grow, and see’s all the potential that is out there for real estate.

So here is my problem. The internet is huge, massive, gargantuan, infinite, and with that being said, where in the world does someone in my line of work get the time to harness it all? From Facebook, Myspace, Twitter to Google Base, Trulia, Zillow… it’s never ending to say the least. I want to, no I need to, provide interested buyers with all the information I possibly can. This can also be said for sellers. I need to provide as much information about their home as I can.

I believe that giving the user, or buyer/client, the most information we can is the one who wins. Not only the sale but the respect of the general public. I think part of my goal as a manger at Realty Ohio Inc.  is to push my company into the 21st century and beyond.

I love services like Twitter, sometimes. I am not picking on, but rather pointing out, that it can be a huge waste of time. I follow somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 users. I login to the service and within 5 mintues there are 25 updates. How am I suppose to keep up?

I guess my real point is this, how in the world am I suppose to get my face out there, or company logo, when there are hundreds or even thousnads of others doing the same thing? I just sit here wondering how these internet blogging gods still practice their origial profession? I assume they don’t but doesn’t that defeat the point of reading posts from an insightful person when they aren’t even in the trenches giving insight on the true day-to-day workings?

For what it’s worth I am trying to solve all of these problems by using our company as the guru of the internet. I have 50 some ideas of things we can do to provide more content and I know we can put it together for the agent to better serve their business. I want the brokerage to be the advertising guru and let the agents do what the do best, sell homes!

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By admin, May 14, 2009 1:01 pm

You read that right. The HUD secretary is planning to announce new rules on the $8,000 tax stimulus. Currently the credit is applied for, and received, as a tax credit on the purchaser’s taxes at the end of the year. This program aims to help owners with the biggest expense in the purchase process, the down payment. Donovan Tuesday, the HUD secretary, plans to unveil this plan within the next few days and the hope is that the program will entice even more purchasers to jump in and buy a home.

Check out the article $8,000 tax credit to be used as down payment.

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By admin, April 3, 2009 2:24 pm

A recent study, which was released today, revealed that local arts do help the economy. I’m sort of dumb founded that in order to figure this out a study had to be done. The advocacy group Ohio Citizens for the Arts commissioned the study and actually found some pretty interesting numbers.

All the arts combined, making themselves the creative industry, contribute $25 billion each year to the state’s economy. I thought that was pretty interesting. They also employ around 230,000 citizens and pay about $1.1 billion in taxes every year. Those are some pretty substantial numbers if you ask me. I wonder why the state and even the federal government doesn’t put more money into the arts.

Click HERE for the article.

Side note… my almamater submitted works to be judged by the Ohio Education Theater Association. We didn’t win but I’m glad they tried. We had a great drama and music program while I was at Westerville North.

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By admin, April 2, 2009 12:52 pm

I’ve lately been looking for a good online resource that explains the new tax credit for first time home buyers. I hadn’t really found anything and to tell you the truth felt a little inept. I knew some of the basics of the credit but I also knew some things had chnaged and I wasn’t totally sure what so I just took off to Google and did a search.

What I found was the National Association of Realtors website. It not only gave a brief overview of what the program was all bout, but some great PDF files. The way the NAR laid out the information is really easy to understand but in those Adobe PDF files I talked about are some FAQ’s and a table for explaining the revised version of the tax credit.

If you click HERE you can see the NAR’s actually website devoted to the tax credit.

Or if you click HERE you can see the PDF file laying out some more details. A lot of great information.

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By admin, February 16, 2009 4:59 pm

Here’s a great home in the Hilliard Ohio area. If you’re looking to move to Hilliard this property is a great deal.  The property is valued around $200,000 and even HUD had it originally listed at $160,000. The current asking price is $144,000. That’s a pretty big chunk of change from $200,000 to $144,000.

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By admin,

Here’s a nice property in a great neighborhood. Walnut Hill Golf Course is a beautiful piece of Columbus Ohio, The homes that line the courses 18 holes look amazing and this HUD home is no exception.