Owner: Columbus Homes Blog URL:http://www.columbushomesblog.com Join Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2007 12:54:43 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Everything you would ever want to know about the Columbus Real Estate Market that is relevant to you as a buyer or seller of real estate in Columbus, Clintonville, Bexley, German Village, the Short North, Italian Village, Grandview or Olde Towne East, Eas Site statistics:Click here
Clintonville Market Update — June so far 2007-06-22 11:13:23 There’s been a lot of talk about how dead the market is all over town and, for the most part, things are relatively stagnant on many fronts. Things are a clickin’ in Clintonville though:
64 properties in contract contingent on something
averaging about $141.40/sq ft and 1492 sq ft, 82 days on market and $210,000
20 Properties firmly in contract and pending a sale
averaging about $128.98/sq ft and 1505 sq ft, 101 days on market and $194,110
31 Properties sold so far this month
averaging about $138.72/sq ft and 1401 sq ft, and averaging a sales price of $194,342 and about 97% of list price.
Zip code Break down over the last 4 weeks of solds
43202 - – $134/sq ft, 1373 sq ft and there were 17 sold ranging from $123,000 on East Weber to $248,000 on Walhalla Ravine
43214 – – $145.91 sq ft, 1,478 sq ft and there were 40 sold in the last four weeks averaging $215,661 ranging from a 768 sq ft 2 bed home on W Kanawha at $102,000 to a 3000 sq ft home on Glencoe at $383,000.
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, Update
“Gourmet Kitchen!” — uhm, really, do you think so?? 2007-06-21 12:24:01 The term “Gourmet Kitchen
” is dead. I’m making the pronouncement right now, Time of Death: 12:37 PM Thursday June 21, 2007. (Happy Summer!)
I remember the days when it used to mean something to have a gourmet kitchen. Now, every Tom, Dick and Harry has a gourmet kitchen to go along with their shag and dark wood paneling.
A quick search of the Columbus MLS active listings shows that it’d take us almost two straight months of looking at 8 gourmet kitchens a day to see all of the 459 Greater Columbus gourmet kitchens (61.5% of which reside in Franklin County). So far this year, you’ve already missed out on 184 gourmet kitchens.
Don’t fret though, there are still 85 Chef’s Kitchens still out there on the market waiting for a homeless chef to snap them up. Here’s one now. It was described as a, “Chef’s dream kitchen w/lots of cabinets.” And a pantry!
I realize these other agents are only doing their best to sell their clients homes and that, in some parts of Read more:think
Is the 2007 Columbus Real Estate Market Doomed? 2007-06-19 16:09:28 Or is it primed to make a comeback? Well, maybe somewhere in between lies the best guess. The first and last thing to always remember when we’re talking about real estate is that IT’S ALL LOCAL.
Who cares if the sky is falling across the country. So what if USA Today, WSJ and the nightly news talk doom and gloom. The saying goes all politics are local and while that may be true, so are real estate markets and Columbus
is no exception.
2005 was the biggest year in real estate history in Columbus, Ohio. 2006 was third. 2007 is on track to be the 4th best real estate market in history. That’s not shabby, really.
Also, Ohio does NOT have the highest foreclosure rate in the nation, Colorado does. Ohio is number 8. At the same time, we here in Ohio did experience a 20% increase in foreclosures last year over the previous year. Fact: The foreclosure rate for Ohio stands at 1.7% of all mortgages.
Speaking of almo Read more:Estate
, Market
The Downtown Neighborhood Launch 2007-06-18 13:26:58 Historic, yet contemporary. Classic, yet hip. We’ve heard about this coming for some time now but today at 3:00 is the official ground breaking at the corner of 4th of Gay. Developer Jeff Edwards’ 9 block neighborhood covering mostly surface parking lots between fourth and sixth and between Long and Gay streets.
Early on it seemed favorable to compare the project to Chicago’s Lincoln Park or parts of New York, Philadelphia and other big cities. Everyone seems to forget the area East of the Deaf School Park which is currently Downtown
’s only real residential area, i.e. with single family homes. They have a relatively strong neighborhood group too along with the Kelton House and the Davis Discovery Center.
The Goal of this project is to make it look and feel as though it’s always been there. I love their site (cool intro, and walking tour) and the aesthetic they have going on there and I love the project and anticipate Read more:Launch
, Neighborhood
Columbus also not one of the Top 25 Greenest U.S. Cities 2007-06-15 15:48:17 With Green being at least as hot a topic/buzzword as anything else in the local housing markets, you’d think Columbus
might be close to being America’s greenest city. I think most of the buzz from City Hall is lip service, ditto the bigger developers, though some are putting their green-backs into going green.
I couldn’t help but notice Ann Arbor came in at number 11 for crying out loud. That should be all it takes to get Columbus in to the top 10.
So, without further ado, Country Home magazine, with help from Sperling’s Best Places, examined all 379 major metropolitan areas in the country, ranking them according to how green they were.
Qualifications for top ranking included air and watershed quality, miles of mass transit, power usage, farmers’ markets, organic producers, and the number of green-certified buildings.
Here are the magazine’s picks for the 25 greenest cities in America:
1. Burlington-South Burlington, Vt. 2. Ithaca, N.Y.3 Read more:Cities
Driving in Columbus - the 106th Safest City to Drive In 2007-06-15 15:31:22 I know you should never end a sentence with a preposition but when I worded it differently, it just didn’t sound right. Allstate Insurance just released their annual list of safest drivers in the United States. This year Columbus
is down almost 10% from the National Average and ranks 106 in the country. Not pretty Columbus.
Drivers in Columbus can expect to be involved in an accident about once every 9.1 years. Not so bad, really, when you think about it but still well off the best city in the U.S., Cedar Rapids Iowa, where you can expect to collide about once every 15 years. Of course, they still drive horses and mules in Iowa, don’t they?
Dayton came in at number 15 and every other Ohio City also did better but Columbus is a better place to drive than Chicago, San Fancisco, New York, Detroit and Austin, among others. Washington D. C. was the worst.
Crashes Happen
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrati Read more:Driving
100 Posts in 100 days of Summer 2007-06-12 10:00:03 Actually, if you include today, there are about 104 days left until September 23, the first day of Fall. I went to Arts Festival over the weekend, my kids are home on summer vacation and my wife, a school nurse, is home as well so it must be summer.
As a Realtor, Spring and Summer
are obviously my busiest times of the year. I think Summer in Columbus can be great fun if you’re able to take advantage of all our metro parks, State Parks, free outdoor activities, festivals and farmers markets.
I’m putting it on the record that, starting today, I’ll post at least 100 posts between now and the end of the Summer. Everything from Home Buying and Selling tips to market updates in all my favorite communities and neighborhood news and events. Thanks for stopping by. I hope your Summer is great and I hope to bump in to you over the next few months.
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CHB receives a little kudos 2007-06-08 13:50:32
This week Columbus Homes Blog was poshd. What does that mean? Their site says,
“Ever visit other Real Estate websites for inspiration? Ever notice how many of them are VERY similar? We support those of you trying to break the mold and make the real estate sites on the web a better experience for everyone. We’re here to promote you and your fine work, but we also hope that up-and-coming site developers will be able to use Posh’d as a place for inspiration. We want to raise the bar for all Realtors and their sites.”
I’m glad I can help raise the bar for all Realtors. We’re a motley bunch.
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, little
Obsessed with finding that unusual building you know you could turn into a ________? 2007-06-06 15:50:13 I relish the opportunity to help a buyer find that oddball property. Something not quite a house that can be a home or a work solution or both. How about a commercial building on Spring Street downtown? 5000 square feet, 12 foot ceilings, service elevator, loading dock and 10 parking spaces for only $550ish. It took little time for that to go into contract.
Better yet, why not a beautiful old church in a prime location? How about a 2 story, 4000 square foot church just off high street for only $290,000. I know, I know, too good to be true and yet it’s been on the market for over a week and it isn’t in contract yet.
From Antique Malls to Garages, from 23,000 sq ft downtown warehouses to German Village residential/storefront spots and every weird live/work possibility in-between, Columbus has the solution on the market if you think outside the residential box and look for the rare and the unique.
A friend of mine’s mind rarely wanders from
COTA’s Smart Communte Program Helps Columbus Home Buyers 2007-06-29 15:49:44 Those looking to purchase Columbus
Real Estate within 1/4 mile of a bus stop (and, let’s face it, probably darn near half of Columbus Real Estate within I-270 is within 1/4 mile of COTA Bus stop) can receive:
• Down payment assistance• Property tax incentives in specified Columbus neighborhoods• Special financing for specified new homes
Oh, and free Bus Passes For A Year!
The idea is that you can save on commuting expenses and have more disposable income to pay your housing expenses. Sounds good on paper, right? This program has been around for a long time and I think I’ve blogged about it before but it’s worth mentioning every couple years.
Mortgages under the Smart
Commute Plus Initiative offer:
Low down payment – Many borrowers will need only $500 of their own money to purchase the home of their dreams.
Flexible qualifying guidelines – Include features to help teachers, police and firefighters buy a home.
Savings allowance &n Read more:Buyers
, Program
Local Mortgage Fraud schemers indicted 2007-06-29 15:35:00 I heard about this in the morning and the Dispatch article bared it out. The version I heard consisted of police rounding up something like 70 people all around Central Ohio and I thought there could even be some Realtors caught up in this round.
Mortgage
Fraud has been prevalent all over Columbus for the last few years with suspicious dealings going down quite often. Most of those go relatively unnoticed but I recall a week last December when an associate of mine discovered that the Dispatch’s top five real estate transactions were ALL sold for amounts well over the list price which was raised only days before closing. We’re not just talking about mortgage fraud in the inner city where dilapidated 4,000 square foot houses selling for $500,000 look fine on paper to California banks, we’re talking about the suburbs too.
It’s bad for area comps, Realtors, home owners and home buyers. I would look for more arrests as time go Read more:indicted
, Local
Is the downtown Columbus Condo market just too expensive? 2007-06-28 13:46:52 In the wake of a hugely successful City-Hop, One must still ask the question: Is the notion of first time buyers and young professionals snatching up all those groovy urban digs just a media-induced smoke and mirror trick?
Yes, it is, for the most part. Baby Boomers and Empty Nesters have been the bulk of the buyers in the Downtown ColumbusCondo
market so far and they probably will be for the foreseeable future.
Last week, the Other Paper’s Sara Smith asked this question. The article featured yours truly as the “in-the-know” Realtor for the downtown Columbus Condo market. It’s a good article that begins to look under the surface of what’s happening in Downtown Columbus.
Related Must Reads:
The Downtown Market Update
What’s Up Downtown?
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Olde Towne East Market Update - June 2007 2007-07-05 15:56:54 Today there are 189 single family homes on the market in the greater Olde Towne East market (Defined by Area 14 in the Columbus MLS – I-670 to I-70 and I-71 to Nelson Road) averaging $147,243 and a List Price / SqFt of $ 74.89. Together, they all average 126 days on the market and 1,966 sq feet.
In June, 18 Homes Sold in the greater area but only about 8 were closer to Olde Towne East. The average home sold was $172,437, reflecting a sales to list price of 96.5%.
In June, the average Olde Towne East home for sale was on the market for 247 days and had 2,485 square feet. The average Olde Towne East home for sale sold for about $69.39/sq ft last month.
The least expensive home that sold in area 14 last month was at 1275 Fulton, a boarded up 3 bedroom shell of a foreclosure property with 1748 sq ft that sold for $16,000 in two days.
The most expensive home sold in Olde Towne East was 43 North Winner, Read more:Market
, Update
Bexley Market Update - June 2007 2007-07-05 15:30:11 Today there are 116 single family homes on the market in Bexley averaging $408,523 and a List Price / SqFt of $ 172.30. Together, they all average 78 days on the market.
In June, 24 Homes Sold in Bexley. The average home sold was $329,095, reflecting a sales to list price of 97%.
In June, the average Bexley home for sale was on the market for 65 days and had 2,203 square feet. The average Bexley home for sale sold for about $149.38/sq ft last month.
The least expensive home that sold in Bexley last month was on Chelsea, a two bedroom with 742 sq ft that sold for $127,500 in less than a month.
The most expensive home was 276 Ashbourne Place, a five bedroom, 4,122 sq ft 2 story that sold for $1,025,000 in just over 2 weeks. This surprised me a little since the home is only 15 years old and lacks, in my opinion, that certain Je ne sais quoi that highly sought after Bexley homes have.
Much nicer was 161 Ashbourne (road) a 6 bed, 5300 sq ft 2.5 story with charm and character that Read more:Market
, Update
Let’s Go Columbus - Modeling for the Masses 2007-07-05 15:05:46 Let’s Go Modeling
is the theme for the Thursday night open houses at downtown Columbus
condo models open to the public from 5-8. Columbus is slowly getting used to the idea that Thursday is Columbus Real Estate Day with Open Houses all over town on the Third Thursday of each month and now the Modeling. So, waddle to your model and then call me to help you find the right downtownish Columbus Condo for you.
Many of these condos are also open Sundays 12–4 when there isn’t a darn thing going on downtown.
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Make Doo Dah - Not War 2007-07-02 14:58:48
Stupid wars and stupid regimes got you down?
Theocrats knocking on your bedroom door?
Are gas prices keeping you from finding a job?
Are all your twenty-something blonde role models in jail or rehab?
Strippers got too many clothes on and dancing too far away???
Have you finally had enough!!!
Then it’s time to put your worst foot forward, wake up your friends, put your funniest Doo Dah float together and drag yourself over to the Doo Dah Parade, to send it all up and put some lunacy back into the …well…lunacy.
Join the celebration on Wednesday July 4, 2007, at Park Street and Buttles Avenue, for line-up at Noon.
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June Market Snapshot - Franklin County 2007-07-02 14:44:42
Active - 11451 Properties
Square Feet
Days on Market
List Price
Min
316
1
$1
Avg
1695
109
$198,320
Max
17771
2118
$8,950,000
Contingent - 1124 Properties
Square Feet
Days on Market
List Price
Min
562
1
$21,900
Avg
1714
91
$193,476
Max
7150
977
$1,595,000
CTG Escape - 67 Properties
Square Feet
Days on Market
List Price
Min
858
1
$32,000
Avg
1858
121
$220,836
Max
4570
492
$675,553
Under Contract - 1282 Properties
Square Feet
Days on Market
List Price
Min
526
1
$7,500
Avg
1607
118
$168,345
Max
8691
1147
$2,195,000
Sold - 1474 Properties
Square Feet
Days on Market
List Price
Sale Price
Min
515
1
$7,500
$6,000
A Read more:County
, Franklin
Pulling the Trigger 2007-07-06 13:34:27 When it comes to making an offer on the home you like, it’s just not worth it to wait.
You can come up with a thousand different reasons in your mind about why it’s a good idea to:
wait and see what else comes on the market (in the meantime, someone else will buy your house)
think it over some more (after you’ve already mulled it over for days)
make a low-ball offer, just to see what happens (what’ll happen is someone else will make a better offer based on real comps, even if the house has been on the market for a year!)
wait out the sellers on the issue of price, maybe it’ll come down (Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. Don’t wait, negotiate on price through the purchase offer.)
Time Tested, sage advice is to make a legitimate offer when you know it’s the right house at the right time. Trust me, you’ll know.
Chances are very good that I will also know and I’ll try to help push you along and hold your hand b
Gordon Gee to return as OSU President? 2007-07-11 12:37:46 This just in — E. Gordon
Gee will be the next president of Ohio State University.
Sources say Gee has agreed to return as Ohio State’s president and informed the Vanderbilt University board of trustees of his decision this morning.
From OSU, to Brown to Vanderbilt and back . . . all in 10 years
Some Fun Gordon Gee Facts:
He has held more university presidencies than any other American.
He is the son of an oil company employee and a school teacher, both Mormon.
Gee is an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.
He revealed in February 2007 that he and his wife plan to divorce.
Gee clerked for Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger for one year.
According to a 2003 article by The Chronicle of Higher Education, Gee was the second highest paid university chief executive in the country with a purported total compensation package of greater than $1.3 million.
Dispatch story: E. Gordon Gee returns as OSU President
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America remains optimistic about home prices 2007-07-11 11:31:32 This, despite the constant media onslaught of negativity regarding the “housing market”.
According to a nationwide telephone survey of 1,007 adult America
ns conducted by Boston Consulting Group May 31-June 3, 2007, Americans are confident their homes are retaining, even gaining value. Here are a few stats from the survey’s findings:
55% say their home would sell for more money now than it would have a year ago
74% say they’re confident they could sell their home within the next six months at a price they think it’s worth
85% believe their house will be worth more five years from now
27% say they’re likely to purchase a better home over the next five years
So, 15% of Americans don’t believe their home will be worth more in five years? Where do they live?
One of the 27% that’s ready to sell now? Call me
Related:
June Market Snapshot - Franklin County
Is the 2007 Columbus Real Estate Market Doomed?
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Read more:optimistic
Olde Towne East Includes —- 2007-07-10 13:33:07 This Olde Towne East Section of my blog also includes Bronzeville, Woodland Park, Franklin Park, Olde Oaks, Ides Place and South of Main too. While I certainly realize it’s not fair or accurate to lump them all together, the homes are old and they’re in town, and they’re East.
Grandview includes Marble Cliff, Clintonville includes Beechwold and sometimes Chaseland or Glen Echo too. German Village includes Schumcher Place and Short North inlcludes Italian Village, Dennison Place, Victorian Village, etc, etc, etc,…..
There you have it. It sometimes gets tricky when I recap the market but I break it down for you when I can. I know I have some technical difficulty too with the Bexley blog posts taking over the Olde Towne East Posts, but I’m working on fixing that.
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What’s an Acre, and Can I Get one in Columbus? 2007-07-10 12:28:24 An acre is defined by 43,560 square feet. That’s one of those things you pick up in Realtor school if you didn’t know it. (and why would you, really?) It’s also about 4,840 square yards. This is what it looks like in Football Field terms since so many people understand and speak that language.
For bigger parcels, my measuring stick is the deaf school topiary park in downtown Columbus
. It’s 10 acres and I have a solid feel for what that means. My house lot, in Olde Towne East, is about 50 X 175 Square Feet or 8,750 square feet. Divide that by the number of square feet in an acre and my city lot is about .2 Acres. Not a bad slice of the urban pie.
Some parts of town, even some streets in certain neighborhoods, have bigger lots than others. There are currently 61 Active Listings in the City of Columbus with at least 1 acre of land. Most of those are fringe Columbus — some bunched around that Karl/Maize/Cook Rd
Doo Dah Rain Date 2007-07-09 16:40:19 In case you missed the Doo Dah parade on July 4, the rain date is July 3.
It was another good parade, especially if you saw it early, before the horrendous storm set in.
We watched the parade, went to the playground and made it to Max & Ermas on Nationwide for lunch before it began raining.
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Baseball, Hot Dogs, & Fireworks 2007-07-09 16:37:00 I enjoy baseball. You might say I’m a bit of an enthusiast. As such, I enjoy going to Columbus Clipper baseball games. If you’re considering a move to Columbus, I think it’s important to know that we do have professional sporting events to attend. I’ve been going to Clippers games for years.
Going to a game is a fun time. Period. You can’t have a bad time at a Clippers Game. Last Monday was Dime-A-Dog night at Cooper Stadium. Our family and 12,500 other folks turned out to watch the game. It was the perfect storm for the Clippers — the beginning of a holiday week, a gorgeous summer day, fireworks after the show, and 10 cent hot dogs. Free T-shirts too, if you purchased at least reserve seats.
While I can’t say that I’ve seen the place that crowded in a long, long, time, it was nice to see so many people turn out to enjoy the baseball scene in Columbus.
“We are payi Read more:Fireworks
Bexley Schools Remain “Excellent” 2007-07-18 11:29:12 The city of Bexley has always had a reputation for student achievement at Bexley Schools
. Continually rated among the best Schools in Central Ohio, Bexley Schools continue to excel.
Excerpts from the This Week Bexley Article
For the seventh consecutive year, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) has rated the Bexley City School District excellent, administrators said.
The rating is determined by various measures, including a district’s performance on achievement tests for third- to eighth-graders and the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT).
“I’m really proud of the staff and hard work that everybody did,” Superintendent Mike Johnson said.
Last year, the district was rated excellent, Johnson said, but labeled “at risk” because two of its student subgroups — African-Americans and students in special education — did not meet AYP. They did this year.
The district also saw considerable improvement on its fifth-grade math scores. In the 2005-0
34 Homes in Contract in mid July 2007-07-17 16:01:40 At the moment, there are 34 homes in contract in Bexley. Two of them have home sale contingencies. They range in price from $109,000 to $1,450,000.
While the market has been relatively unfettered, some homes have been overpriced and lingered while others have gone off the shelf quickly.
Last July, 17 homes sold in Bexley, the most for $670,000 – a five bedroom on South Drexel. So far this month, 8 homes have sold.
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