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Columbus Real Estate VoiceColumbus Real Estate VoiceColumbus Real Estate blog by Sondra Johnson Articles
You Know You?re A Subprime Loan Candidate When?
2007-07-31 15:55:00 Remember Jeff Foxworthy’s famous line “you know when you’re a Redneck when…?” Well, kudos to Broker Outpost for a compendium of real-life statements of people who really shouldn’t be buying a home. (These guys are part of the problem of the ongoing implosion of subprime lenders…) Here’s a few goodies: The borrower calls in and ... More About: Loan , Subprime , Prime , Rime , Prim
Home Sellers- How Does YOUR Home Look On The Internet?!?
2007-07-29 16:11:00 Selling a home? You’d better check out what your listing Realtor has done with your house on the Internet . A huge pet peeve of mine are homes that are listed for sale and either have no photos, or only 1 photo online. I’m not alone– many buyers I work with tell me they will pass over ... More About: Home , The Internet , Sellers , Look
Columbus Ohio Area Home Sales - The Mid-Year Mark
2007-07-25 16:22:00 How is the Columbus and Central Ohio market REALLY doing? Here’s a look at the different communities and their home sales from January through the end of June- offically half-way through 2007…… For Home s with a Columbus mailing address: 4401 Homes sold in the first six months, with the average List Price being $132,212.00 and the average Sold ... More About: Sales , Mark
MORE Bank-Owned/ Short Sale Home Hurdles- Buyers Beware
2007-07-24 17:56:00 I’ve written before on the many challenges of buying a Bank -Owned home or a Short Sale home (take a look at these links for complete details), but as I’ve worked with other owners trying to get to the finish line of an actual closing, a few more barriers have reared their ugly heads: 1. Some banks are ... More About: Home , Beware
Lock Bumping - Is Your Home Safe?
2007-07-16 18:13:00 Lock bumping is a term home burglars are familiar with…. and you should be, too. According to this YouTube news video (click here), 90% of home locks are vulnerable to this technique, where someone can use a special key to gain entrance to your home. Medeco and Schlage locks are bump-resistant– so go check your locks ... More About: Home , Safe , Ping , Lock
Attention Columbus House Flippers- Fame and Fortune Await!
2007-07-11 16:18:00 OK, all you people who love buying lonely houses and turning them into saleable beauties… The Arts and Entertainment Channel wants to make you famous!! Flip This House , A&E’s #1 rated lifestyle show, has been to Charleston, Atlanta, San Antonio, and New Haven. Will Columbus be next??813 Casting and Departure Films are conducting a nationwide search ... More About: Fortune , Fame
Your Home Is Your Castle?.Until You Sell It
2007-06-27 19:08:00 One great thing about your own personal living space is the fact you can ‘live’ the way you want– kick back, forget the pressures of the world, and relax. When you are selling your home, however, that all changes. For several months now, as I and my husband have personally experienced the joy of selling our home, ... More About: Home , Castle , Sell
Interpreting Sales Appreciation Statistics for Your Home?s Value
2007-06-20 18:15:00 The Columbus Monthly magazine wrote a wonderful, 9 page informative feature article in their June 2007 issue called “Location, Location, Location”– the front cover of the magazine shows roof tops and the title “The Real Estate Market RIGHT NOW– Home Value s for 44 communities”. The writers Alice Hohl and Nancy Richison did their research– interviewing a ... More About: Sales , Statistics , Appreciation
Columbus OH Area Home Sales April 2007 Part TWO
2007-06-05 02:14:00 —-Here’s the last of the Columbus area community home sales for April : For Home s with a Gahanna mailing address: 43 Homes sold in the month of April 2007, with the average List Price being $185,688.00 and the average Sold Price being $182,163.00 or 98% of the List Price. Looking at sales in the same period a year ago, 36 Homes ... More About: Sales , Part
Columbus OH Area Home Sales April 2007 Part A
2007-05-31 16:01:00 —-I’m an impatient soul…. posting these communities one at a time isn’t working… let’s look at groups of sales: For Home s with a Lewis Center mailing address: 28 Homes sold in the month of April 2007, with the average List Price being $273,642.00 and the average Sold Price being $267,173.00 or 97.6% of the List Price. Looking at sales ... More About: Sales , Part , Columbus
Transparency in Real Estate
2007-05-27 19:22:00 The war to transform the real estate market is waging, and the main weapon being used is described by the tech gurus as ‘transparency’. For those new to the battle, here’s a little analogy that will put all the pieces in place: Once upon a time, Real tors were the Toymasters in the playroom. When a Buyer ... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Transparency , Trans
Westerville Ohio Home Sales April 2007 Update
2007-05-27 17:16:00 For Home s with a Westerville mailing address: 92 Homes sold in the month of April 2007, with the average List Price being $241,716.00 and the average Sold Price being $234,284.00 or 97% of the List Price. Looking at sales in the same period a year ago, 112 Homes sold in the month of April 2006, with the average ... More About: Ohio , Sales , Update
Dublin Ohio Home Sales April 2007 Update
2007-05-25 02:56:00 For Home s with a Dublin mailing address: 90 Homes sold in the month of April 2007, with the average List Price being $326,472.00 and the average Sold Price being $313,678.00 or 96% of the List Price. Looking at sales in the same period a year ago, 96 Homes sold in the month of April 2006, with the ... More About: Ohio , Sales
Home Search STEP ONE - TALK To A Lender
2007-05-16 00:11:00 A common question I hear from first-time home buyers is “What do I do to get started on buying a home?” Actually, your FIRST step is one most home buyers don’t think of– Get Thee to a Lender! You’re excited about the idea of owning a home… and you’re thinking what area of town you like, ... More About: Home , Search , Talk , Step , Ender
Getting the Best Price for Your Home
2007-05-10 19:04:00 A buyer recently told me he selected his Realtor based on the Realtor’s comments that she “was very aggressive on pricing to get the lowest price.” Sounds good… doesn’t it? When I told this story to a group of fellow Realtors, most shook their heads. Why? All these Realtors personally know of situations where this thinking had caused a ... More About: Home , Price
Realtor MLS Sales Awards
2007-04-24 05:23:00 This post is directed to Central Ohio Real tor s… for the non-realtor readers, consider this an informative FYI…. If you’re a Realtor reader, I strongly encourage you to forward this on to every fellow realtor you know that has ANY interest in applying for a future Sales Award ….. I joined the Sales Advisory Committee of the Columbus ... More About: Awards
Real Estate Chuckle for Easter?.
2007-04-08 17:35:00 Bookmark this article: More About: Estate , Real Estate , Easter , East , State
The Best Homecoming
2007-04-06 23:13:00 There are times one must sit back and respect the things that REALLY matter in Life? I saw this video this morning on the TODAY show, and I cried. OK, so maybe I?m high on the emotional scale today; but I believe it will touch your heart as well. It?s a father in the military, who ... More About: Home , Best , Ming , Meco
Real Estate Chuckle April 3rd?.
2007-04-03 22:59:00 Bookmark this article: More About: Estate , Real Estate , April , State , Real
How MUCH House in Powell Ohio for $544,000?
2007-04-02 05:52:00 Four bedrooms, three and a half baths, custom renovation throughout in 1995–2001, nearly 3 wooded acres with waterfront view, 2 car garage with HUGE workshop PLUS large storage barn, indoor pool, patio, deck, and extensive landscaping with perennial beds….. and the 5–10 deer browsing in the back yard come at no extra charge! Lots of privacy, ... More About: House , Ohio , Much , Ouse , Powell
Just What Do Realtors DO Anyway??
2007-04-01 15:45:00 “I don’t know why realtors should get paid what they do JUST for opening a door to show a house or putting a sign in the yard.” Sound familiar? I imagine everyone has heard this at least once (if not actually said something similar). For all those who have thought or said this, I’ve found they are ... More About: Realtors , Just , What , Hat , Realtor
Reverse Mortgages? Not As Evil As You Think
2007-03-22 22:36:00 There’s a growing trend of within the 62 year-and-up community of getting a reverse mortgage on their homes, allowing for various cash needs. At one point in time, these were pretty shady loans, and nightmare stories of seniors being bled dry of equity and being evicted from their homes still circulate. Add to that the long-held ... More About: Mortgage , Evil , Mortgages , Think , Ever
The Bitter Battle of Buying A Bank-Owned Home
2007-03-15 03:03:00 Tops on the list of getting a property that is a real ‘bargain’ is to buy a bank-owned home that’s below market value, fix it up and earn instant equity. The actual process of doing this is not for the faint-hearted….. here’s a very recent experience of a couple I’m working with and what they discovered. “Bank -owned” ... More About: Buying , Home , Bitter , Owned
For All Those Open Houses I?ve Done?.
2007-03-09 09:45:05 Bookmark this article: More About: House , Houses , Open , Those , Open House
Columbus New Build Market Feeling The Cold?.
2007-03-01 09:38:02 Any interested home buyer searching the real estate ads in the last several months has noticed a distinct turn-down in the new build activity in Columbus and central Ohio. Build ers are offering huge incentives to buyers and realtors alike to drive in new business. Local builders Dominion and M/I Homes reported large sale decreases in the last quarter of 2006 compared to the same time frame in 2005, and Dominion reported a year-end loss of $34 million for all of 2006. On a national level, new build sales experienced a 17.8 decrease in 2006 compared to 2005. This brought new housing starts to its lowest point in 10 years, despite monthly gains in November and December. It’s a strong buyer’s market to make a great deal on a new build home… Bookmark this article: More About: Market , Cold , Mark
The Challenges of Buying (and Selling) A Short Sale Home
2007-03-01 09:38:02 As buyers look for the ‘best bargain’ in a home, most are curious about three types of bargain-basement properties: the Short Sale , the Bank-Owned, and the HUD Sale. The Short Sale home is basically a pre-foreclosure sale. The owners have financial issues, have missed or been late on mortgage payments, and are looking at a possible future home foreclosure and/or bankruptcy. Their credit rating will then be seriously impaired and there will be a period of time where they won’t be able to own a home. They may have already tried to sell their home, but the price at which they need to sell is higher than the market value, and there have been no offers. At this stage, a realtor often becomes involved who has experience in proposing a short sale to the lender. The owners present a hardship letter along with a packet of information for the bank to consider, asking for time to get the property sold. The lender has said it will consider a price that is lower than the payoff... More About: Buying , Selling , Home , Challenge
Dont? Have Real Estate Commission-Breath
2007-02-22 09:32:01 A couple of years ago a potential seller contacted me for a market analysis. While reviewing similar sold properties, it became obvious that she had purchased well above the fair market rate when she had moved into the area from out-of-state three years before, and she would have a tough time recouping her costs with the sale. She sighed when I told her the news. Her buyer’s agent at the time had not given her comparable sales, and had kept pushing her that this home ‘was a great buy.’ Although she accepted her current situation, her comment about the previous real estate agent stuck in my mind. “I just felt like I was only a paycheck to him- I don’t think he really cared about my needs.” Her feelings are a great example of commission-breath. I love that term, and would love to take credit for it, but the credit goes to Ken Blanchard, the author of The One Minute Manager who used this term in a recent presentation to rea... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Miss , State , Commission
The Rise (and fall?) of the Real Estate MLS- Multiple Listing Service
2007-02-20 21:30:02 Once upon a Time, Realtors had listings and represented only the Sellers. They did not share their listings, and if a Buyer wanted to see the home, he would have to contact the List ing Agent. Over time, other realtors working with Buyers could show the home, but they were still working for the Seller (called Sub Agency). Showing a home was a laborious process. The realtor with the Buyer would have to drive to the Listing Agent’s office, pick up the house key, drive to the home and show it, then drive back to the Listing Agent’s office to return the key. Realtors then decided to share their listings. They created a Multi ple Listing Service that was run from a non-profit group- The Board of Realtors. They printed a book of all the listings so Realtors could know what was available for sale. They put lockboxes on the homes to make them easier to show. Realtors guarded their MLS books carefully- this was their ‘inventory,’ much like... More About: Estate , Real Estate
Westerville Ohio Community Info
2007-02-19 09:29:01 Westerville began as a small settlement in 1809, and has continued to grow and mature into the thriving city of 37,000 residents it is today….. Bookmark this article: More About: Ohio , Community , Muni , Info , West
The Weekend That Real Estate Died in Columbus Ohio
More articles from this author:2007-02-19 09:29:01 If you signed up to get these postings via email, you’re going to be wondering ‘what the %@*^&# I’m doing sending you a boatload of postings’ this weekend in mid-February. Nothing. That’s what I’m doing. After six years of working as a realtor, this is the quietest weekend I’ve had since I started. We had a hefty snowstorm this week, and all is quiet on the real estate front. Buyers have gone AWOL and disappeared. There’s no phone calls, no messages, no internet inquiries, no requests for showings….. nada. I think it was the convergence of snow/ice/snow, bad roads, more snow, temps hovering around 10 degrees, and having a Level 3 Snow Emergency in Delaware County on Wednesday (that means it’s illegal to drive, folks) that tipped everyone over the edge. People may be thinking of trips to the tropics, but they’re NOT thinking of moving. Sooooooooo…. when facing a weekend alone (loving husband is on business ... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Ohio , Hat , Weekend 1, 2, 3, 4 |
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