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Short North Real Estate and Homes for Sale - What?s been up in the Short No
2008-06-09 23:08:00
There are currently 144 properties for sale in the Greater Short North area.  As I type, there are 27 properties under contract.  To recap 2008, During the first three months of this year, 31 properties sold in the Short North.  Yes, this means Italian Village too and Victorian Village and Harrison West.  From King Avenue ...
More About: For Sale , Estate , Real Estate , Sale

77 Downtown Columbus Apartments coming on the market soon - Columbus? Senec
2008-06-02 22:17:00
I was just wondering about the Seneca apartments when I snapped this picture the other day as we walked by them on the way to the Main Library.  I’ve always been in love with this building.  You may recall it came very close to becoming another parking lot/parking garage a few back. With the consolidation ...
More About: Market , Apartments , Downtown , Columbus

Get off the Fence Columbus Real Estate Buyers, some Markets are HOT!
2008-05-31 07:29:00
I have two clients looking for their first home in Clintonville.  I like the clients very much, we’re having fun looking and they’re finding homes they like in their under $200,000 price range. The trouble is, they keep going in contract either just before our second showing or as we’re ready to write an offer.  The ...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Markets , Real , Columbus

Buying a home in Columbus? Why Wait? Rates are Great. Really? Are they rea
2008-05-29 19:47:00
You’ve seen the sign on homes for sale all over Columbus : Why Wait, Rates are Great !  Are they great? You know what? They are.  In the last 6 days, however, they’ve creeped up about a .5%.  Last Friday we were around 5.875%, they went up to 6% earlier this week and held steady but today we ...
More About: Buying , Home

What?s an Extra $20,000 get you in Columbus?
2008-05-25 00:19:00
That’s a good question and it’s a question that many of my buyer clients consistently wonder.  What will an extra 10,20 or 30 thousand get you in a house?  The grass is always greener . . . .  First and foremost, know that it’ll cost you about $60/month for every ten thousand dollars you go up.  In South ...
More About: Columbus , Extra

Are you considering buying a home in a Delining Columbus Area?
2008-05-23 20:19:00
The term ‘Declining Area ’ has been a big buzzword in mortgage circles in 2008.  If you are considering purchasing a home this year and you’re considering a conventional mortgage, as opposed to maybe FHA which I would suggest to you, then you need to know about declining areas. If the home you like is in a ...
More About: Buying , Home , Columbus

What is FIRPTA? The Foreign Investment Real Property Tax Act
2008-05-16 19:01:00
Another in a series of legal and title information articles by Jonathan Holfinger of Arrow Title….What is FIRPTA? This is an act of the Internal Revenue Code, Section 1445, called the “Foreign Investment Real Property Tax Act”.  This Act applies to real estate transfers for property located in the U.S. and Virgin Islands, where the ...
More About: Foreign Investment

Putting the Community in Clintonville?s new Whetstone Park Community Center
2008-05-14 20:49:00
Thinking of moving to Clintonville ? People often ask me, “What’s so special about Clintonville?” I always have a half written blog post with that title rolling around in my head talking about the housing stock, the location, the Park of Roses, the bike path, the high street retail, and the sense of community.  Especially the ...
More About: Community , Putting , Center

Is Your Columbus Home Inspector Licensed? The Answer is No
2008-05-13 21:44:00
In the State of Ohio, there are no regulations requiring the licensing of Home Inspector s.  Some are certified by the American Society of Home Inspectors or have a bunch of designations after their name.  Many others continually update their knowledge and education regarding home inspecting.  Then there is the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors. ...
More About: Answer , Columbus

Government Rebate Check? Stimulate your Economy - Buy a House
2008-05-09 22:15:00
Sounds Silly right?  You can’t buy a home for a couple thousand dollars.  Or can you?  Let’s assume you’re a two parent, three child family.  You’ll get something like $2100 in your rebate check ($600 for each adult and $300 for each kid).  Maybe you’ve talked to OHFA about purchasing a home and they’ll help ...
More About: Economy , House , Government , Check , A House

New Listing - 742 Oak Street - Historic-Move in Ready-1710 SqFt
2008-05-05 20:07:00
Offered at $207,000 or $121/sqft Exceptional 1,710 square foot historic brick home for sale at the edge of Downtown Columbus and Olde Towne East. This beautiful 2 story is ideally situated minutes from German Village and the Short North with easy access to Interstate 71, 315, 670 and 270. A former tour home, 742 Oak ...
More About: Street , Historic , Listing , Move , Ready

Why a Racing Facility at Cooper Stadium would Kill Downtown Neighborhood Ho
2008-05-02 21:15:00
On last night’s news and on page one of today’s Dispatch, there is news about turning the Cooper Stadium site on the near South-West side into a half-mile track facility for cars and possibly a seperate track for drag racing.  We’ve all heard of similar plans since the Clippers announced they were moving to a ...
More About: Racing , Downtown , Kill

Patrolling Columbus Streets is a Balancing Act
2008-04-29 22:15:00
The other day, when I was in Downtown Columbus , I spotted a police officer on a Segway.  Who knew?  Maybe only parking meter patrols use them because that’s a bunch of blank tickets in his back pocket.  I’ve seen our mounted police in and around downtown Columbus and other city neighborhoods but never on a Segway. There is one gentleman I see going to work downtown coming from the Short North and headed South from time to time who rides a Segway and I’ve seen them here and there when driving through historic Columbus Neighborhoods showing houses, but I’ve always wondered why they haven’t caught on.  Any thoughts? Of Interest: Neighs in the Neighborhood Is this Columbus Neighborhood Safe? - finally, a convenient answer for home buyers Driving in Columbus - the 106th Safest City to Drive In Ride a Bike to Your Favorite Columbus Summer Festival   Share This
More About: Streets

Daily Mortgage Updates & Tips
2008-04-25 18:00:00
Today’s Rate:  6.000% 30 years or 15 years at 5.625%* When it comes to buying a Columbus homes, I find many people are very uncertain about the mortgage end of the process.  Not just first time buyers either, but move-up buyers and experienced sellers.  For good reason too, getting a mortgage isn’t too terribly difficult of a process, ...
More About: Daily , Finance , Tips , Updates , Mortgage

The Greening of Columbus
2008-04-22 18:45:00
Happy Earth day, or in the case of our fair city, Happy Earth Week.  It seems like forever ago that no one really talked about earth friendly choices and going green outside of a possible discussion about recycling or Columbus ’ trash burning power plant that never got going.  These days, you can’t get away from ...
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How and Where will Columbus and Central Ohio Grow?
2008-04-21 22:06:00
When you hear the term Central Ohio , we’re talking about a 12 county region that, in 20 years, is expected to grow to about 2 million people—an increase of about 440,000 in the next dozen years.  Make no mistake, Franklin County and Columbus are at the heart of that 12 county Central Ohio Region, but ...
More About: Grow

100s of H.U.D. Homes will Soon Hit the Columbus Real Estate Market
2008-04-21 21:52:00
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is in charge of disposing of Foreclosed Homes in Columbus.  Over the last 18 months or so, they have used 3 different middle man companies and are about to embark on the fourth.  Over the last 6 weeks or so, no new HUD homes have come on ...
More About: Finance , Estate , Real Estate , Real Estate Market , Market

German Village Homes 1st Qtr 2008 Sales Numbers
2008-04-18 18:51:00
Including Schumacher Place, 22 German Village homes sold in the first quarter of 2008. On the market anywhere from 1 to 552 days, these German Village homes averaged 1,866 square feet and $290,101 ($155/sq ft) while bringing in about 94.1% of the last list price.  The average days on market was 113 days which is quite good ...
More About: Sales , Homes , Numbers

OUCH
2008-04-16 23:10:00
    Did you know that Realtors tend to be on the road quite a bit?  Houses don’t exist at the office.  Aside from the mountains of paperwork, and blogging of course, you’ve gotta to be out of the office to be doing business.  I’m really thinking about a much more fuel efficient vehicle.  Since I can’t ...
More About: Ouch

Olde Towne East homes 1st Quarter Sales
2008-04-11 21:06:00
It’s been a little while since I’ve updated the midtown Columbus statistics.  I’ve been waiting for more sales, for the new MLS and now I’m still experiencing growing pains as I try to make the new MLS work for me the way I want it to. There is a bit of a learning curve, but I’m getting there. In the meantime, here is a pretty map with all the locations of homes that sold in Olde Towne East , Woodland Park, Bronzeville, Franklin Park and Eastgate in the first quarter of 2008. I’m looking through these listings and I’m getting rid of the bank owned properties, the gutted fixer-uppers and I’m looking to see what homes have been selling for between Main and Mt Vernon, 670 and Nelson Road.  I’m working on tweaking the MLS to perform my map based searches with my definitions of Olde Towne East , the Short North and German Village.  It can be done now, which is very exciting, but it’s taking me a while to get it dow...
More About: Sales , Homes , Quarter

Spring has sprung in the Columbus Ohio Real Estate Market
2008-04-09 22:39:00
            Four warm days in a row, the Spring Selling Season is upon us.  Since April 1, 2008, 1,768 properties in Central Ohio have gone in contract while 1,366 new ones have emerged. Despite this weekend’s forecast for snow, it’s time to get your home on the market if you’re selling and to call me if you’re ...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Real Estate Market , Market

Bexley Home Owners? Property Taxes help fund Highly Visible Bexley Police F
2008-04-08 09:18:00
I work in Bexley, on Main Street.  I find it uncanny how often I see a Bexley Police cruiser out and about while I am also out and about in Bexley.  Whether I’m showing homes, on my way to or from work or home or the kid’s school, I swear to you I see a ...
More About: Taxes , Property , Home , Fund

Is it Possible to Sell an Overly Customized Home in Columbus?
2008-04-07 17:47:00
Let’s say that a while back you found your perfect home. You painstakingly made it your own. I mean Really, Really made it your own.  Maybe you painted the living room ceiling to resemble a Big Top Circus Tent and you used Really Bright Circus colors all over the home because, well, you’ve got a thing ...
More About: Home , Sell , Columbus

Homes for Heroes - a Columbus Area First Time Home Buyer Program
2008-04-01 21:59:00
You already know about the Bat Cave & the Fortress of Solitude, but do you know there is a program out there for Ohio’s so called heroes where, if you qualify, you can get some pretty nice rates? Ohio Heroes work hard every day in critical jobs to make a difference in our lives. The Ohio Housing Finance ...
More About: Time , Home , Buyer , Homes

Columbus & Franklin County Property Taxes - Deadline to Appeal yours is Soo
2008-03-30 19:08:00
Over the last week or so several people have emailed or called about the process for appealing your Columbus property taxes and asking for comps of similar properties in their Columbus Area Neighborhood.  At this late date, the important thing to know is that tomorrow is the deadline to appeal your Franklin County Property Taxes ...
More About: Deadline

Pre-Approved? Think Again, You May Not Be. A Cautionary Tale
2008-03-28 19:38:00
Everything in the mortgage industry is changing on a daily basis.  Each week, each day, these changes are effecting the Columbus Real Estate Market in very real ways.  If you were pre-approved by your lender more than a week ago and you are about to call and begin seriously looking at homes for sale in the Columbus area, call that lender again before you call me and make sure that nothing has changed. I have a fantastic couple from Houston that have moved to Columbus to take advantage of a great new job.  The problem was that they have to sell the home they have in Texas before they could buy the long-term home of their dreams in Central Ohio.  Despite a hefty student loan payment, they wanted to purchase something so as not to throw money away renting while their Texas home was on the market. They would buy something “good enough” for now, get to know the area better, and fix up the purchased home over the course of a couple years.&nbs...
More About: Tale

Bexley Real Estate Update - Sold so far this year - check out the hybrid ma
2008-03-25 21:31:00
Mostly, I’m just showing off this cool aerial view with the homes marked on the map and I used Bexley because it’s such a small municipality.  These homes averaged $438,000 and 129 days on the market.  There are currently 76 active listings in the Bexley School District. 23 Homes have sold in Bexley so far this year.  Ranging from $80,000 to $2,750,000, (and those two (#s 1 and 15) were probably within about 1/3 mile of each other) these 23 homes were relatively evenly spread out between Central Bexley, South Bexley and North Bexley.    Share This
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Hybrid , Check , Update

The New Columbus Multiple Listing Service (MLS) Goes Live Tomorrow
2008-03-24 21:45:00
I’m very excited that the new Central Ohio MLS from the Columbus Board of Realtors goes live tomorrow.  We Realtors have been toying with it for weeks now, trying to get used to a new look and feel.  The test driving that I’ve been doing has been flawed by too many features that weren’t yet ...
More About: Service , Live , Listing , Tomorrow

Hi, this is a test to?
2008-03-23 02:36:00
Hi, this is a test to see where my Jotts are going. I think that my Jotts might be going to my first ever broke ridge Blog but they maybe going to my just my Blog blot(?) Blog. listen Powered by Jott Share This
More About: Test

It?s Back - Downtown Columbus is your Runway
2008-03-22 02:33:00
Let’s go Modeling. The local chapter of the Building Industry Association is back with the Let’s Go Modeling campaign in an effort to jumpstart the sleeping downtown Columbus Condo market.  You may know the BIA from Condo Quest, the Parade of Homes or the Showcase of Remodeled Homes. Go Modeling is a collaborative effort to make finding ...
More About: Runway , Downtown , Back