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By Larry Schottenstein on June 7, 2010

I was representing a buyer who was in contract to buy a 1950’s ranch house with an older finished basement, complete with red shag carpet and cheap brown paneling starting to peel off the walls. His plan was to gut the basement and refinish it. During the home inspection we actually saw live termites behind the paneling. [...]

By Larry Schottenstein on May 19, 2010

I thought this article gave an interesting prospective about longer term growth for home owners.
 
By Robert Freedman, senior editor, REALTOR® Magazine
With the housing recovery still fragile, it’s hard to look ahead with anything but caution. However, the long-term prospects for the market are “incredible,” FHA Commissioner David Stevens told REALTORS® yesterday in the opening [...]

By Larry Schottenstein on May 10, 2010

Most people find a real estate agent by one of the following basic approaches. 
By market size. Agents with a large market share become familiar to you by their shear presence. Buyers and especially sellers are more likely to hire someone they are familiar with and market size creates familiarity. These agents will have their names [...]

By Larry Schottenstein on May 10, 2010

This is a common story in real estate. There is a buyer looking in a specific area of town so he selects a  Top Producing agent specializing in the area. There are twelve listing currently in the buyers  price range and the agent has five of them listed.  As a buyer you are looking to have a buyers agent [...]

By MaryAnn S. Edwards on May 2, 2010

Why Don’t Home Buyers Make Offers on Overpriced Listings?
They don’t want to offend the seller. It goes against human nature to offer substantially less than asking price to a seller. It’s insulting to the seller and embarrassing for the buyer.
Buyers erroneously believe that the seller knows the home is overpriced. They believe that if [...]

By Angela Murphy on April 26, 2010

In a recent analysis, the New York Times recommends that the rent ratio – the purchase price of a typical house divided by the annual rent of a similar house – shows that Columbus’ market favors buying a home over renting one.

The rent ratio for Columbus for 2009 is 16.9 and, as the Times states, “a number well below 20 makes a better case for buying.”

By Chris Harpster on April 22, 2010

It appears the market is moving in the right direction. I am interested to see what effect, if any, the expiration of the home-buyer tax credit and rising interest rates will have. I belive the housing market will continue to improve on a slow steady pace.

By Angela Murphy on April 2, 2010

$172 million for Ohio homeowners facing foreclosure
Columbus Board of REALTORS®
On March 29, the Ohio Department of Commerce announced that the state will receive $172 million in federal assistance for Ohio homeowners facing foreclosure. The Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) will receive the funds and will work with Save the Dream Ohio partners and organizations throughout [...]

By Chris Harpster on March 28, 2010

These kind of reports have created a great deal of confusion for Buyers in the Columbus market. It is difficult, if not impossible, to apply appreciation / depreciation using statistics. It would be like claiming the average temperature in the United States in 52 degrees, clearly the temperature in Florida is going to be different than the temperature in Alaska. The same holds true in real estate, each market / school district / subdivision / style of home is unique and should be evaluated on an individual basis.