Long overdue Demolition of a Vacant Columbus Home on Long Street in Jan. 2012

The fact of the matter is that no one know what to do with our city’s vacant structures, Columbus has torn down 139 of them so far but you can’t demolish your way out of this problem.

The other day Columbus City Council met with area residents to discuss the issue and while it’s my opinion we need more action and less talk, solutions need to be brainstormed before they can be implemented.

One interesting idea came from City Attorney Richard Pfeiffer who suggested a ‘restoration partnership’ outlined in the Columbus Dispatch article from yesterday and excerpted here:

Vacant houses swamping city

Official suggests neighborhood leaders help find new owners
By Mark Ferenchik
The Columbus Dispatch

Friday January 6, 2012 7:38 AM

The message that Columbus officials gave last night on the crisis of vacant and abandoned homes plaguing city neighborhoods was clear: We don’t have enough money to solve this mess ourselves.

So they’re asking neighborhoods for help.

During the Columbus City Council hearing on how to deal with the spreading problem, City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer Jr. made a suggestion.

Area commissions and civic groups could help identify residents who would be interested in buying and fixing up tax-delinquent properties. The city then would acquire those homes through foreclosures and deed the properties to those people for the cost of the foreclosure process.

If those people didn’t follow through, the city would take back the property.

He called it a “restoration partnership.” The city alone can’t bring back neighborhoods, Pfeiffer said.

The city has been using about $50 million in federal neighborhood-stabilization money to deal with the foreclosure crisis in its hardest-hit neighborhoods: Franklinton, the Near East Side, the Hilltop, Linden and the South Side.

It has acquired homes with that money — it now has 900 properties in its land bank — and partnered with nonprofits to redevelop homes.

The city is using more than $3 million of that federal money to demolish homes. So far, it has torn down 139.

“When that money dries up, what are we going to do?” Pfeiffer asked.

There are now more than….click here to go to the Columbus Dispatch story and read the rest.

Here is what the Board had to say about last month’s numbers. Note the bold orange quote from the Board President about contract failures…

“Home sales in central Ohio home have exceeded 2010 for the last four months according to the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. The 1,543 homes sold in October marks an 8.6 percent increase over the 1,421 homes sold in October of 2010. Home sales in September were up 16.6 percent compared to the year before.

Year-to-date, home sales (January through October 2011) are only 2.1 percent behind 2010 and closing the gap.  Homes put in contract last month (1,379) were up 46 percent from a year ago making October the sixth straight month of increased contracts.

“The number of homes put into contract have been up for the last several months,” said Rick Benjamin,2011 President of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®.  “However, contract failures – cancellations caused largely by declined mortgage applications or failures in loan underwriting from appraised values coming in below the negotiated price continue to be a problem for central Ohio buyers.”

Total housing inventory at the end of October fell 23.3 percent to 13,827 existing homes available for sale, which represents an 8.1-month supply at the current sales pace, up from an 8.7-month supply in September.

The average sale price for single family homes and condominiums year to date is $157,327, down 2.4 percent from homes sold January through October 2010.

“Affordability conditions this year have been the most favorable on record since 1970,” said Benjamin. “As mortgage interest rates continue to remain low, more first time home buyers, investors and move up buyers are being drawn into the housing market.”

Click here to view the October sortable housing market report by area.”

Click here to view the entire central Ohio Local Market Update.

The Columbus Board of REALTORS® Multiple Listing Service (MLS) serves all of Franklin, Delaware,

Fayette, Licking, Madison, Morrow, Pickaway and Union Counties and parts of Athens, Champaign,

Clark, Clinton, Fairfield, Hocking, Knox, Logan, Marion, Muskingum, Perry and Ross Counties.

This beautiful church at the end of my street could be yours for $450,000. It comes with a 3,500+ sf annex. SO many possibilities, So unique.

If a Columbus area property has been grandfathered due to zoning issues, it may not be a big deal and it may seem good in some cases for the Buyer BUT Fannie/Freddie could certainly have a problem with this sort of situation.

Let’s say, for instance, that you’ve found the perfect property for your needs — maybe 787 East Broad Street, a gorgeous Church dating from 1903 that also happens to have a 3300 sf+ building that goes with it.

This is great, you can run your business out of the building and rehab the church into one of the most beautiful and unique homes in Central Ohio and still be easy walking distance to Broad and High. Wow, what a deal at $450,000. (No, Really, How can you pass this up!?)

Is it impossible to buy a property like this if the current zoning is different from the intended use zoning? No, but in case the property burns down or is partially destroyed, your lender may need proof from the city that they will allow it to be rebuilt as the current non-conforming use or the new non-conforming use.  That is the difficult part.

In addition, Eight other Italian Village homes for sale will be open this afternoon. Stop by and look at all of them.  Aside from 659 Kerr, be sure to look at 141 E. Third Ave–a two bedroom warehouse loft home unique to Columbus.

Open House Flyer – Spring Fling (1)

Click Above for a list and description of all of today’s Italian Village Open Houses.

WASHINGTON – April 7, 2011 – The federal government may or may not shut down after Friday. Lawmakers have drawn a line in the sand and, as of today, it appears they won’t reach agreement by the current deadline of budgeting. However, that could change. Or lawmakers could agree to extend the budget by only another week or two to give themselves more time to negotiate. Or lawmakers could surprisingly pull out a budget agreement at the last minute.

If the government does shut down, it won’t impact all federal programs equally. A specific impact depends on whether the agency is privately funded, semi-separate from the government, and other factors. Even insiders aren’t sure what will happen if the government shuts down.

However, the National Association of Realtors issued a list of likely scenarios on how Realtors may be impacted if the federal budget fails to pass:

Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
FHA cannot offer endorsements for any new loans in the Single Family Program and cannot make commitments in the Multi-family Program in the event of a shutdown. FHA will maintain operational activities including paying claims and collecting premiums. Management and marketing contractors managing the REO portfolio can continue to operate.

VA Loan Guaranty Program
Lenders may continue to process and guarantee mortgages through the Loan Guaranty program.

Flood Insurance
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) confirmed that the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) would not be impacted by a government shutdown.

Rural Housing Programs
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s field staff is not considered essential personnel, and only essential personnel continue to work during a government shutdown. As a result, the people who typically issue conditional mortgage commitments, loan note guarantees, and modification approvals will not be able to do so, and lenders will not receive approvals during the shutdown.

However, a lender that already received a conditional commitment from the Rural Development office may proceed to close those loans during the shutdown. A conditional commitment, good for 90 days, is given to a lender once a USDA underwriter approves the loan. If a commitment was issued, funds were set aside at that time, and the lender may still close the loan at its leisure.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
The Government Sponsored Enterprises will continue operating normally, as will their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac back over half of all mortgages originated in the U.S.

Treasury
No official word as of yet, but the Making Home Affordable program, including HAMP and HAFA, may not be affected since the program is funded through the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, which is mandatory spending and not discretionary.

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
Should the federal government shut down, the IRS cannot process federal income tax returns or issue refunds. If a buyer expects a refund and hopes to use it toward a downpayment, the closing may have to wait.

© 2011 Florida Realtors®

What’s more important, the house or the community the house is in?

Sarah just closed on her home and she has some great advice for would-be home owners. The bottom line, it’s up to you. In a perfect world, you get both the perfect house and it is in the perfect neighborhood and it’s perfectly placed in that neighborhood.

The Real Estate Search isn’t a perfect arena though; sometimes something has to give.  That doesn’t mean you have to ’settle’ for less than what you want, it just means you may have to rearrange your expectations.

You’ll do fine, don’t worry.  If you’re looking for homes for sale in Bexley, Worthington, Grandview or Groveport, listen to Sarah, she just wrapped up her home search and she is wise.

This would seem to bode well for this fresh attempt to create an image for Columbus that combines some pretty heavy hitters locally. Frankly, I’m embarrassed by some of the items sold in the Columbus Airport souvenir shops.

What’s your idea for branding Columbus?

Take care of your old home and it will take care of you.

I love homes with character. They don’t have to be built in 1886, like my own home, but they have to have something that says love, attention, detail and thought went into the building or rehab of the home.

Since I often work inside the Outerbelt, in Columbus’ older neighborhoods and first-ring suburbs, most of my buyers purchase old homes -be it in German Village, the Short North, Bexley, Olde Towne East, Grandview or Worthington-each home has it’s own issues and every older home has a set of items to look out for.

My Friend Richard Taylor, Principle of Richard Taylor Architects in Dublin, Ohio, posted about an experience he had with a new owner of an older home and her concern over her door sticking and subsequent floor settling.

He noted that, “Problems in older homes are often well hidden. More often than not, serious damage doesn’t show any symptoms until the damage is significant and expensive. There are clues, but even trained eyes sometimes have difficulty telling normal wear and tear from the signs of serious underlying problems.

 Most old-home problems, however, have predictable causes and if you know where to look you can find hints that might lead you to discover concealed damage. Find the problems early enough and you might be able to fix them relatively easily, or keep yourself from buying into unexpected expensive repairs.”

Read the rest of Richard’s post here and learn the cause of that sticky door as well as a few things to look out for when purchasing your next home.

That’s when I point Buyers to one resource or another where they can find the information they’re looking for. As a data-loving map geek, I’ve always been very fond of ESRI and geographic information systems in general.

Recently they launched this zip code look-up tool which gives an attractive stash of information regarding the people who live in the zip code you’re querying.  Readers of this blog know that I can’t stand using zip codes when talking about the Columbus Real Estate market because they’re too broad and generally have no direct correlation to Columbus Neighborhoods–especially when trying to derive meaning from housing sales, days on market, active listings, etc.

Still, it’s pretty neat and I believe it’s based on 2010 census data or at least the last available data for Columbus. Try it below. Better yet, though, is a similar tool from ESRI that

Esri Zip Code Look-Up

is for your iphone.  The free version of their Business Analyst Online for iOS (download it here) provides a wealth of information regarding your immediate surroundings. You’re limited to a 1 mile radius or 1 minute drive time from your location but the info isn’t just a couple pretty graphs, it’s relatively detailed – though still just a sample of their data-rich paid subscription service.

It's been quite a ride for Downtown Columbus Condos over the years and in 2010 it's been more of a carousel than a roller coaster.

About 29 months ago I wrote a post talking about the downtown Columbus condo market and how I ‘finally’ saw all the units at 8 on The Square. I waxed poetic about how much I liked those units, and had some pictures of a few of the to-die-for Columbus views.

Today, at the corner of Broad and High, there still sits that rare Downtown Columbus Condo find-a 2500+sf 3 bedroom condo. Now, it’s $799,000 which represents a $200,000 discount over the day I saw it in 2008. 8 on the Square is still a good project, still 100% tax abated, and the views aren’t going anywhere. You can still get a 1 bedroom for $199,000 with 946 sq ft. Maybe Governor elect Kasich has a few new-hires in mind that’d like that space…..

As for the current health of the Downtown Columbus condo market, well, we have 7 units in contract as of this afternoon–2 of those in the aforementioned 8 On the Square at 8 East Broad Street. Two others are one bedroom flats at Neighborhood Launch on Gay street. You may be surprised to find that the average condo fee of those two units is only about $65.50/month.

So far in 2010, of the units listed for sale in the Columbus MLS, 43 downtown Columbus properties have sold. That’s what, about 3.5 or just over 4 per month if you figure the 7 in contract will close by end-of-year? Those 43 units have been spread out all over the downtown geography proving that there is something for everyone, from Buggyworks to Rich Street Walk and Waterford Tower to Sixty Spring.  Two bedroom units made a great showing this year too after years of hearing how only 1 bedroom units sell downtown, only 16 of those 43 properties were one bedrooms.

The average condo that sold, to date, in downtown Columbus in 2010 had

• about 1,337 square feet and
• sold for around $267,264 or
• about $192/sqft.

Removed from those averages was the single largest sale of a downtown condo so far this year, a whopping 4,663 square foot 3 bed, 3.5 bath 15th floor combined 2-unit at North Bank which sold in late July for $1,350,000. Yeah, it has some darn nice South/East views.

Historically for the year:

• 2009 51 units $200.45/sf
• 2008 63 units $210.73/sf
• 2007 111 units $218.92
• 2006 112 units $196.96/sf
• 2005 55 units $209.75

As for the 130 active Downtown Columbus condominiums on the market this afternoon, they average

• 1454 square feet and
• have an average list price of around $319,629 or
• about $214.11/sqt

What’s the least amount of money you could spend to get a little piece of downtown? There are 47 units under $200,000 and 13 units under $150,000 ranging from 585 square feet at The Hartman building to a 1168 square foot  foreclosure in the Rich Street Lofts on the 3rd floor for a mere $122,096.

The top four most expensive units on the market currently all have at least 3000 sf and reside at Miranova, followed by the three remaining 3 bedrooms (which, if memory serves me right I believe are closer to 2 bedrooms with a den that could be a bedroom) at 8 on the Square. Did I mention how the elevator opens right into your unit?

Remember-not all properties that sold in downtown Columbus were listed in the Columbus MLS (only re-sale units in North Bank, for example) and that supply and demand have sort of switched places over the last five years.

Should you buy a downtown Columbus condo? What does 2011 hold for the downtown condo market? Should you flat out avoid some locations? Are there some serious bargains to be had in the downtown condo market? All this and more to come in the next few months.