July 2006 Archives

1-Story Living: Take The Stairs Out Of Your Life!

Posted by Mike Parsons
July 28, 2006 at 02:02 AM

We have seen much more demand in the last year for 1-story living. This trend is being powered by the baby boomers and their parents as they search for a lower maintenance lifestyle. As empty nesters, they usually first look to take the stairs out of their lives. We have seen a better than average rise in values for ranches (one story homes) in the established suburbs that these buyers are coming from, as well as for newer ranch style condos and patio homes. I don't expect this trend to slow as the baby boomers grow older, and their bank accounts grow bigger. Much of this demographic no longer supports children so they are also investigating ranches, condos, and patio homes in the Columbus School District where they are finding thousands of dollars in tax savings per year.

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The Auditor’s Website is Great For Spying on Your Boss

Posted by Mike Parsons
at 01:57 AM

Living in Central Ohio we are very lucky to have auditors that know their way around computers. The Franklin County Auditor as well as the Delaware County Auditor are a great source for real estate knowledge and info. You can search for a particular property by parcel number, owners name, or address. Many people are surprised that you can see not only a picture of your co-workers home but also how much they paid for it, and when.

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Home Price Appreciation in Columbus

Posted by Mike Parsons
at 01:53 AM

Home appreciation in Columbus tends to be governed by 3 factors. There are always exceptions but these are good guidelines to follow when evaluating the investment of your purchase. If you’re prospective home has one of these qualities you are in pretty good shape, if it has all three you will be in one of the highest appreciating areas in the city.

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Downtown Living

Posted by Mike Parsons
at 01:16 AM

Columbus has really made a push to promote downtown living in the last few years. City officials have offered tax abatements to businesses and homeowners. Their goals are to build 10,000 new downtown homes within the next 10 years, develop a riverfront park system, and add jobs to stabilize the office market and accommodate the growing population. The website DowntownColumbus.com does a great job of framing the city’s goals as well as shows off some of the new and existing downtown loft, and apartment developments. The tax abatement on many of these projects allows potential homeowners to afford more home while forgiving the majority of the homeowners taxes for a specific period of time, often 10 years. You can search many of these properties on our MLS Home Search by choosing: Condo/Townhome and Zip Code: 43125.

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HUD Foreclosures

Posted by Mike Parsons
July 24, 2006 at 11:12 AM

The Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), guarantees no/low down payment loans for banks. Meaning if an FHA loan is foreclosed upon, HUD protects the bank by buying the foreclosed property and taking the loss the bank would have incurred.

I like HUD’s better than most foreclosures because you tend to see a better profit margin between the asking price and the potential fixed-up value. I have purchased a few HUD’s over the years for myself and with clients. Sometimes the newer properties don’t need that much work, other times homes need 10’s of thousands of dollars put into them. One of the reasons you can find a better deal with HUD’s is that they give preference for the first 10 days the property is listed, to owner-occupant buyers (buyers that will live in the home for at least 1 year). This allows the savvy buyer to avoid the competition of the investors that buy 90% of all foreclosures.

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Columbus Real Estate Market June 2006

Posted by Mike Parsons
July 10, 2006 at 06:34 PM

The Central Ohio area has seen record levels of homes for sale in 2006. Inventory levels during the first six months of 2006 have been anywhere from 25 to 40 higher than last year. There were 18,641 residential homes for sale at the end of June, 25.7% more than were listed for sale in June of 2005.

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