My New Blog

It may be possible that I have seen it all now! Can you even imagine a world where you wash your hands in the toilet? This idea must have been thought up by a six year old boy, who was caught washing his hands in the back of the toilet!

Now when you are done laughing, ponder this idea for a minute: this is genius! You wash your hands and the water goes into the toilet and you use that for flushing! Genius! I am not sure the dog, who uses the toilet as his personal water fountain, will like it but it is a good way to save water! And because the water in the bowl that is left behind is semi-used, it will prompt me to keep the lid closed.

But why stop there? Why can't we funnel the shower water to a tank in the basement and use that to water the lawn? And run the gutters into the water supply and use that for taking a shower? Or simply move the shower onto the deck and use rainwater captured by the sky to take a shower and then the water can be used to wash the car and then water the yard? Brilliant!

Tonight at happy hour I bet I can (with the help of a few friends) dream up all sort of uses for recycling things!

Interesting year and interesting stats! 43232 is composed of parts of east and southeast Columbus, with most homes serviced by the Columbus schools but some parts are in the Groveport Madison school district. Here is what I found:

In 2009 this area reported 372 sold houses involving real estate agents. While that is not all the solds, it generally gives us good data to work with. This compares with 2008 when there were 409 total sold homes. In 2009, the average home that sold was 3 bedrooms, 1 full bath, and about 1388 square feet of living space, which is almost the same as 2008.

The average sold price in 2009 was $68,665 and it took 80 days to sell. The average homeowner negotiated 4.1% of his asking price. In 2008, the average home sold for $77,423 and took 89 days to sell and home sellers negotiated 5.8% off their asking prices.

In this zip code the average home sold for 11.3% less in 2009 than in 2008, but sold faster and there was less negotiating. My thoughts are that the REO and foreclosures have lowered the overall sales prices for this area.

For 2010? There are still a lot of bank owned homes to be sold and until that clears up there will still be pressure for lower prices, although I feel that the prices will climb a bit in 2010 and that this area has hit bottom. The tax credit will provide a large stimulus for this area as this zip code traditionally has a lot of first time buyers, and the overall low prices will encourage many to buy as it will be less than renting.

If you are thinking of selling, you need to make your home look its best. If a buyer needs to do work on your home if they buy it, they will just buy a bank-owned home and get a much lower price. Make sure your home is freshly painted with no work needed when it hits the market.

OK, we are all guilty of it. Putting things "away" that we think we will use later, store for a friend, or cant bear to let go...but have you noticed that those items seem to just collect dust in their current place of storage?? Well, whether you notice or not Buyers looking at your home notice. They notice things you may never think of! The old books stored in a closet, the pans you have not cooked with in ten years but "may use again" even though the handle fell off. Buyers are turned off by these things even though they won't be there when you leave.

Sellers nationwide are noticing that they are selling their home quicker and for more money when they de-clutter and clean out their homes of any un-needed items.  But what do buyers consider clutter and what items can you live with out? Let's go through it room by room and you can see how simple it is and once you're done what a difference you will see in your home!

First, let's start in the most important room in the house, the Kitchen! When de-cluttering your space you need to look at every item and ask your self "do I use this everyday?" and if the answer is no, or if you only use it once in a while then store it! If you have enough silverware to seat twenty plus people lets get rid of it! You only need enough to feed each member of your family so leave a set of 4 or 6 of each utensil in the drawer. The same rule applies for all your plates, bowls, cups, and saucers. You don't need a plate of every color and style in the cabinet, we need things to look clean and organized, pick one set that matches and put the others away. Now, lets move on to pots and pans. We all store that one pan that has no handle and that we have had since college but now is not the time to show that off! Anything that is not part of a set or that you have two or more of, pack! The less pans the more space it looks like you have in your cabinet. We only want buyers to see what can fit there- not how many can fit there. Let's apply the same rule to the Tupperware, the pantry and that drawer we all consider the "junk" drawer. Once you have made your way through every cabinet you should see a huge difference!!

Look at all that space! You went from a clutter filled kitchen to a nice open and organized space where buyers can imagine their own items and see the room they have to grow into!

Next Room, the bathroom!

This post was courtesy of my licensed assistant, Rachael Collins, and I thank her for this great information and sales tips.

Sales data is in for Pickerington, Ohio for 2009 and it shows some interesting information!

The average home that sold in Pickerington for 2009 was a 3 bedroom 2 bath home that was 2,305 square feet. The average home sold for $184,365 in 102 days and was listed at a starting price of $ 191,000. This translates that the average home seller negotiated 3.5% from their original listing price.

How does that compare to the previous year? Well, the average home in 2008 was also a 3 bedroom 2 bath home of about the same size. It was listed for $199,300 and sold for $191,597 in about 108 days.

So, to sum this up, the average Pickerington home sold for 3.8% less in 2009 than in 2008, but it sold in less days and the list prices held their value better. That means the market has probably reached the bottom as the price decrease seems to be lessening, homes are selling quicker, and commanding more price stability for sellers.

2010 should be strong, especially this spring, when the first time homebuyer tax credit is available and also other primary buyers who have been in their home for more than 5 years are also provided an incentive to buy a home. My advice? I would target February 1 as the date to have your home ready to market to take advantage of the market, the tax credit, and the breaks in the weather. Got 2 weeks, so let's go! 

2009 sales stats for Reynoldsburg, Ohio have been calculated, and there was some surprising stats to report. I compared all the homes that sold with a real estate agent for 2009 and compared them with 2008 and there was some interesting statistics that you can use.

In 2009 there were a total of 322 sold homes (not including condos) in Reynoldsburg school district, as compared with 356 solds in 2008-a slight decrease but not bad. The average sold price in 2009 was $ 126,585-down from $137,190 in 2008. This means that the average home in Reynoldburg actually declined in value 7.7% from 2008.

In 2009 it took an average of 85 days to sell a home in Reynoldsburg, which is shorter than 2008 when it took 97 days. The average home seller in 2009 negotiated 3.5% off their asking price, which was slightly higher that the 3.2% they took in 2008. The average home sold for approx. $ 73 per square foot in 2009.

So , to sum all this up, the average home seller in Reynoldsburg in 2009 sold their home faster, for less money, and negotiated a bit more as compared to 2008.

What does my crystal ball say for 2010? I predict, based on experience and trends, that we will have a hot market for the first 4 months of this year during the tax credit period then the market will cool a bit over the hot months, and heat up again in the fall as people start to get back to work. I think we will see a slight increase in prices in the lower end of the market among the first time buyers and a leveling of prices in the upper end as we have hit pretty close to the bottom already.

If you have been holding off buying a home waiting for the prices to go lower, I think you have seen the bottom. If you are thinking of selling, I think right now would be a good time to sell during the tax credit period as we are seeing an increase in buyer activity. So, either buying or selling-2010 may be the best year we have seen for a few years!

Did you know that you can attend college classes at Columbus State Community College for as low as $79 per credit hour for Ohio Residents? Did you know that if your are over 65 you can attend for FREE?

Why mess around with paying high fees at other places of learning when you can get 11 weeks of learning in pretty much any subject you can think about for around $237.00, free if you are over 65? Whether you want to learn a new language, learn computer skills, maybe learn photography-its all available. The instructors are normally experts in their fields, and the price is dirt cheap! In addition to main campus they have classes online and regionally in many suburbs. Most classes transfer towards a degree at most 4 year schools.

Real estate agents: get a degree in real estate! Like history or art-they have that! They own a golf course, so they have golf! Music-got it! Computer classes-you name it, they have it! Accounting? Got it! Law classes? Yep. Automotive, electrical, welding, dental assistant? Yes to all!

Most classes are hands on, most meet once a week for 11 weeks, most cost $237, most count towards a degree! I challenge you to find a better value! Find out more at www.cscc.edu

I have a class that starts Tuesday in Real Estate Investing, so if you have thought of buying an investment property or foreclosed home, enroll today and we will see you Tuesday evening!