"You scored a lot of points with us when you answered my specific questions straight up without any BS. I think other Realtors would have told us what they thought we wanted to hear." - Brad Rosser
"As a first-time homebuyer, I was nervous about the entire process. Step by step, Joe made it easy and fun. His expertise in the Columbus real estate market is a tremendous asset. He is highly recommended!" - Nicolette Horan
"I wanted to say thank you again, so much, for all your hard work. I know that you really put a lot of time into this transaction and I really, really appreciate it. I'm so happy I got the house and it all worked out and I just wanted to say thanks again, you did a great job and i really appreciate it. I will put that on the survey when they send it to me.
If there is ever anything I can do for you, please don't hesitate to give me a call. I will refer every single person I know to you. I'm going to go get my dog and we're going to sit on the floor of our new house and have a glass of champaign.
Thanks a lot Joe" -- Michael Mamp
The original 1st time home buyer tax credit was set to expire on November 30, 2009. During the week of November 23-30, 2009, 1st time home buyers in Columbus and surrounding communities racked up 577 Central Ohio Homes Sales. That’s up 41% from same week last year.
Was the original 1st time home buyer tax credit a resounding success in terms of getting buyers into homes? I think that 41% increase says yes. You’d have to look beyond the face of it though. How many of those buyers would have bought a home anyway?
Interest rates these last two quarters have been hovering around historic lows–that should be enough of an incentive to get most buyers off the fence. Most of the first time buyers I worked with this year would have bought anyway and were maybe just a little more motivated by the tax credit which was seen as icing on the cake of homeownership.
Also, how many of those Columbus area homes purchased by 1st time buyers were Columbus short sales or Columbus foreclosures? I don’t think Central Ohio has seen the anticipated cause and effect relationship the tax credit was supposed to begin–namely, noticeable increases in 2nd time buyers moving up into more expensive homes and so on. The tax credit buyers were supposed to start a domino effect of trickle-up housing economics and while there did seem to be a plethora of first time buyers out there in Columbus, higher end housing-let’s say $400,000 and up-hasn’t felt the anticipated repercussions of that boon.
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on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 10:27 am and is filed under Real Estate News.
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