neohiorealtor.com Blog

As you may have read or seen on the news (or seen the new tv ad), Howard Hanna Real Estate Services recently purchased Realty One. I’m excited about the change! Howard Hanna now has nearly 40% of the market share in Northeast Ohio, nearly 10 times our closest competitor! WOW!

Please excuse any broken links from old blogs you may come across. There’s lots of adjustments I still need to make and it’s going to take some time, so pardon my dust!

If you have any real estate or home staging concerns or questions, please let me know! I’m happy to help! Make sure you check out the revamped N.E.O. Team website with its new logos and color scheme! Thanks for stopping by!

Welcome to my September 2008 report on the state of the real estate market for Geauga County. Please feel free to refer to last month’s posting to watch for changes.

As a service to all potential buyers and sellers, I would be happy to provide you with statistics on your county, your town, your price range, etc. so you can get a clear picture of how many homes are selling and how long they take to sell. To give you an overall picture of Geauga County as a whole, I’ve included a few statistics for your review!

The current trend (as of September, 2008) is a healthy decrease in the number of homes for sale. In September of 2007 there were 942 homes on the market, of which 73 sold. In September of 2008, there were 848 homes on the market (a drop in inventory of nearly 100 homes from last year to this year!), of which 52 sold. In September of 2007, for those homes that did sell, they were on the market an average of 96 days. For those homes that sold in September of 2008, the average days on market were 101, representing an increase of 5 days from one year to the next. Note also that last month there were 900 homes on the market, of which 55 sold, compared to 848 homes this month and 52 sales – the number of homes on the market is dropping but the number of sales isn’t dropping at the same rate (and that’s a good thing!). So, the number of homes on the market has reduced and the number of homes sold has reduced as well, but there does seem to be some improvement occurring. Refer to the chart below for a visual representation:

What does this mean if you’re thinking of selling and you want to be amongst the SOLDs? It’s simple!

Welcome to my August 2008 report on the state of the real estate market for Geauga County. Please feel free to refer to last month’s posting to watch for changes.

As a service to all potential buyers and sellers, I would be happy to provide you with statistics on your county, your town, your price range, etc. so you can get a clear picture of how many homes are selling and how long they take to sell. To give you an overall picture of Geauga County as a whole, I’ve included a few statistics for your review!

The current trend (as of August, 2008) is a healthy decrease in the number of homes for sale. In August of 2007 there were 1002 homes on the market, of which 101 sold. In August of 2008, there were 900 homes on the market, of which 54 sold. In August of 2007, for those homes that did sell, they were on the market an average of 100 days. For those homes that sold in August of 2008, the average days on market were 77, representing a solid decrease of 23 days from one year to the next. So, the number of homes on the market has reduced and the number of homes sold has reduced as well, but there does seem to be some improvement occuring. Refer to the chart below for a visual representation:

What does this mean if you’re thinking of selling and you want to be amongst the SOLDs? It’s simple!

Well, it’s likely no secret for those of us living in the Cleveland area, but if you’re thinking about re-locating and want a place that’s affordable - here’s your chance. Check out the following article then give us a call - we’re here to help you find a great new home!

Daily Real Estate News | September 26, 2008
Most Affordable Cities for Owning a Home

The cost of buying and maintaining a home is pretty reasonable if you live in certain Midwestern or Southern cities, according to Forbes magazine’s new report.

To determine America’s least expensive places to own a home, Forbes used data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2008 American Community Survey, released Tuesday.

The survey reported the 2007 median monthly housing costs in the country’s metro areas with a population over 65,000. Housing costs include monthly mortgage payments, real estate taxes, various insurances, utilities, fuels, mobile home costs and condominium fees.

Here are the top-10 cheapest cities to own a home (for more details on each location, watch the Forbes slideshow):

Cleveland: $978 a month
Columbus, Ohio: $1,060 a month
Pittsburgh: $1,187 a month
San Antonio, Texas: $1,216 a month
Indianapolis: $1,232 a month
Nashville: $1,256 a month
New Orleans: $1,296 a month
St. Louis: $1,299 a month
Charlotte, N.C.: $1,336 a month
Cincinnati: $1,353 a month

Source: Forbes, Lauren Sherman (09/23/2008)

Welcome to my July 2008 report on the state of the real estate market for Geauga County. Please feel free to refer to last month’s posting to watch for changes.

As a service to all potential buyers and sellers, I would be happy to provide you with statistics on your county, your town, your price range, etc. so you can get a clear picture of how many homes are selling and how long they take to sell. To give you an overall picture of Geauga County as a whole, I’ve included a few statistics for your review!

The current trend (as of July, 2008) is a healthy decrease in the number of homes for sale. In July of 2007 there were 989 homes on the market, of which 83 sold. In July of 2008, there were 924 homes on the market, of which 67 sold. In July of 2007, for those homes that did sell, they were on the market an average of only 83 days. For those homes that sold in July of 2008, the average days on market were 66, representing a solid decrease of 17 days from one year to the next. So, the number of homes on the market has reduced and the number of homes sold has reduced as well, but there does seem to be some improvement occuring. Refer to the chart below for a visual representation:

What does this mean if you’re thinking of selling and you want to be amongst the SOLDs? It’s simple!

I just came across this short article with some basics about inheriting property and wanted to pass it on!

Daily Real Estate News | August 28, 2008
What to Know About Inheriting Property

Inheriting property can be exceedingly confusing for the heirs, particularly if they plan to sell the property. While getting expert legal advice is the best approach for the person who has inherited property, here is some basic information that can help a real estate professional better understand the situation.
• Every state has a legal process that allows the person who was willed property to transfer ownership of it from the previous owner’s name to the new owner’s name. The attorney assisting with the probate of the will can help fill out the forms. If there is no lawyer involved, sometimes someone in the clerk of courts office can guide the person inheriting property through the transfer process.
• Generally, there is little or no transfer tax or other cost involved because the person who is inheriting the property didn’t pay anything for it.
• When a person dies and title is transferred to a spouse or a child, the due-on-sale clause in a mortgage contract doesn’t apply. Otherwise, while a lender could call the loan, in the current economic climate it is unlikely if the person inheriting the property makes regular payments.

Source: Real Estate Matters Syndicate, Ilyce Glink (08/24/2008)

Welcome to my June 2008 report on the state of the real estate market for Geauga County. I’ve been doing these reports on another blog site for months now and figured it was time to post them here as well! If you would be interested in seeing market reports for additional counties in NE Ohio, please let me know and I’ll be happy to start posting them as well!

As a service to all potential buyers and sellers, I would be happy to provide you with statistics on your county, your town, your price range, etc. so you can get a clear picture of how many homes are selling and how long they take to sell. To give you an overall picture of Geauga County as a whole, I’ve included a few statistics for your review!

The current trend (as of June, 2008) is a healthy decrease in the number of homes for sale. In June of 2007 there were 995 homes on the market, of which 96 sold. In June of 2008, there were 892 homes on the market, of which 60 sold. In June of 2007, for those homes that did sell, they were on the market an average of only 94 days. For those homes that sold in June of 2008, the average days on market were 100, representing a slight increase of only 6 days from one year to the next. So, the number of homes on the market has reduced and the number of homes sold has reduced as well. Refer to the chart below for a visual representation:

What does this mean if you’re thinking of selling and you want to be amongst the SOLDs? It’s simple!

I’d just like to say, Yeah Geauga!

The News Herald just published an article that says Forbes Magazine ranked Geauga County as “the nation’s fourth-best county in which to raise a family.” That’s great news, but perhaps not surprising to those of us that currently call Geauga County home.

Why did we rank so high on the list?

“A whopping 86 percent of homes are owner-occupied” - that’s phenomenal! Isn’t the national average running around 70% (and perhaps declining in the wake of so many foreclosures nationwide)?

The article also talks about the rankings being high for Geauga because of “clean air, low crime and a high level of community investment”. I can tell you personally, I like Geauga county because the home prices were good, I had room to stretch out and didn’t feel like I was always on top of my next door neighbor, the people are friendly and it’s easy to get to anything I need, but I’m still in a place that feels like the country. What more could anyone ask for?

If you’re thinking about making a move out to Geauga county and would like to learn more, please let me know. I’ll be happy to help in any way I can! Yeah Geauga!

With so much negative media attention on the real estate market around the country this year, it’s nice to see some positive attention for a change. The Plain Dealer published an article on June 25th titled “Cleveland housing prices up”. The article talked about the release of Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home-price index and how the Cleveland market stacked up amongst 20 major markets listed (we ranked #7 out of the 20 markets, by the way!). I was also reading an economic report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) put out by our Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun, that also put a smile on my face. His report shows that (in general) “home sales have stabilized over the last seven months and are expected to increase measurably in the rest of 2008″. According to Yun, we should expect to see the clearing up of the subprime lending problems through the rest of this year, but we should also be seeing improvements in both sales and prices in the coming year. As many people are already aware, real estate markets are very local. The Cleveland area did not have the huge bubbles that areas such as California or Florida had, so we haven’t faced the same kinds of problems they are facing. That’s a big part of why we are one of the first markets set to rise up! Now is the time to buy!

With so many great homes to choose from and excellent mortgage rates available, why wouldn’t you want to take the plunge into home ownership?

Let me guess: you’re worried that homes are going to continue to lose value and you’re waiting for the bottom to drop out, right?

According to Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the NAR, the Cleveland market is one of the first markets that is crawling its way up out of the ‘real estate slump’. We are expecting improvements to begin over the spring and summer and we should be more stabilized by early 2009.

So what are you waiting for? Contact me today and I’ll be happy to provide you with several reputable lenders to get you a pre-approval and let’s go look at houses! If you don’t have one already, I’ll set you up with an email-based search of properties that may interest you to get you started looking. Whatever your real estate needs are in Geauga, Lake, Cuyahoga and surrounding areas, I’m ready to help.

It’s time to get off the fence and buy!