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.

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®

The average sale price of a home in 2010 was $158,893, just 0.6 percent lower than the average price of homes sold in 2009. However, the average price of homes sold in 2009 was 2.4 percent lower than 2008 which was 5.1 percent lower than 2007.

“Our market saw average sale price increases for eight of the 12 months of 2010,” says CBR’s 2011 President Rick Benjamin. “As we’ve experienced annual decreases in our average sale price since 2005, we see ending the year just half a point lower than 2009 as a positive for central Ohio homeowners.”

The 1,460 homes sold in December 2010 is just 0.3 percent lower than the number of homes sold in December of 2009. Annual 2010 home sales (19,676) finished 2.8 percent behind 2009 (20,235).

“There’s no question the home buyer tax credits had a significant affect on last year’s home sales,” adds Benjamin. “Providing home buyers with a substantial monetary incentive really helped to energize the market in the first half of 2010.”

“Homes in contract (which are expected to close in January or February) are up slightly from the previous year suggesting that home sales in the first of the year could be strong.”

Homes spent an average of 90 days on the market, a reduction of seven days from the average time to sell a home in 2009.

In December 2010, the month’s supply of homes was down to 9.93, the lowest since last June. Month’s supply is the ratio of inventory to sales which takes into account both supply and demand. A healthy market has a 6.5 to 7-month supply of homes, meaning if no new homes were added to the market, it would take about 6.5 or 7 months to sell all the available homes.

The Columbus Board of REALTORS® Multiple Listing Service (MLS) serves all of Franklin, Delaware, Fayette, Madison, Morrow, Pickaway and Union Counties and parts of Champaign, Clark, Fairfield, Hocking, Knox, Licking, Logan, Marion, Muskingham, Perry and Ross Counties.

FIVE Ohio Cities made the list of the top 15 Under Valued Cities in the Country — Akron and Cleveland came in at #’s 2 and 3 respectively while slots 9, 13, and 15 belonged to Dayton, Columbus and Cincinnati.

Columbus, which they list with a median house price of $186,228, came in at 16% undervalued-technically tied for 7th place on the list behind Memphis Tennessee and in front of Detroit.

The most over-valued housing market in America? Nassau-Suffolk, N.Y., at 26% overvalued followed by Los Angeles and Portland.

Are looking for a good deal in Columbus? Let us know.

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.

Robert Hahn wrote an article that appeared on Inman News recently that was ripe with 2010 predictions regarding the state of Real Estate in the country. It is a good read and I liked his take on many of the subjects.  Aside from mentioning the Jets not going to the Super Bowl, Hahn predicted that 2010 will actually see a worse housing market than 2009.

I get tired of reading rosey, pollyanna housing news from NAR and other sources and found Hahn’s prediction to be smart and potentially right on.  Of course all real estate is local and just the other day I posted a 2010 Columbus area market prediction of around a 12-15% increase over this year through April, but this is what Hahn had to say…

“A number of experts believe that the housing market will recover in 2010. Lawrence Yun, chief economist of NAR, recently said that the real estate market will rebound in the spring and summer of 2010. Strong sales numbers in the third and fourth quarters of 2009 have a lot of real estate people thinking that we have hit bottom, and that the market will rebound in 2010.

I don’t believe it. Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel recently presented at a meeting of Lucky Strikes Social Media Club, and suggested that the strong third-quarter numbers were the result of time-shifting of second-quarter demand, spurred on mostly by the first-time homebuyer tax credit program.

Add to that notion the fact that unemployment still remains high, with no sign of recovery on that front, at least from a private sector that is bracing for higher taxes, more regulation, a national health care plan, and the possibility of carbon tax. The extension of the homebuyer tax credit is surely a positive for the housing market, but unless the employment picture improves I can’t see the market rebounding in a real way.

And some knowledgeable folks (including the aforementioned Miller) believe that there are some 2 million-plus housing units in foreclosure that have simply not been released to the market yet for a variety of reasons such as moratoriums, overwhelmed staff at banks, and reluctance to write down the asset value. Maybe not all of that inventory will hit in 2010, but banks can’t keep deluding themselves and us.

So I’m predicting that 2010 will be actually worse than 2009 was. Call me a pessimist, and hope that I’m wrong.”

First time buyers could buy this 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath home in Old Towne East for around $250K

This afternoon President Obama signed the bill into law that will extend the $8,000 homebuyer tax credit to contracts signed by April 30 and closed by June 30.

I’m surprised that they left the two month window but I think it’s very smart. Still, even if it were this week, I would not try to buy a short sale property or a foreclosure that doesn’t have the deed in the bank’s name even with the 7.5 month leeway.

Here’s the best part–a tax credit for SELLERS. The bill creates a $6,500 credit for those who buy a home after living in their current house at least five years. That will apply to contracts signed by April 30 and closed by June 30. The current credit defines a first-time homebuyer as someone who has not owned a residence within the past three years.

The credit will be available only for the purchase of principal residences priced at $800,000 or less.

This is huge. If you have owned your Columbus area home for at least five years–and I believe you must have lived in the home for at least five of the last eight years–you too can receive a credit. I can’t envision a scenario where you could claim both sides of the tax credits unless it was something along the lines of you selling your home and then turning around and buying the next home in your new spouse or girl/boyfriend’s name who has not owned a home.

The bill will raise the adjusted gross income cap to $125,000 for single filers and $225,000 for joint filers. The amount of the credit currently begins to phase out for taxpayers whose adjusted gross income is more than $75,000, or $150,000 for joint filers.

This is important. It opens the tax credit up to a whole new set of first time buyers who were not previously eligible and who could, conceivably, purchase a home with a little higher price tag that this year’s crop of first time home buyers weren’t even looking at.

Clintonville

Greater Short North including Harrison West, Italian Village and Victorian Village

German Village and Brewery District

Schumacher Place and Merion Village

Greater Olde Towne East

Grandview Hieghts and Marblecliff

I've always loved the stone pillars flanking this Bexley Home

Instant Equity. Two words anyone buying real estate in Clintonville, Bexley, Grandview, Downtown, Short North, Berwick, Westgate or anywhere else in Central Ohio love to hear.

The problem is, I’ve heard those two words too often lately. The problem is the context and the definition of instant equity.  In my opinion, anyone buying a home that has instant equity is anyone buying a home at a substantial discount to the Market Value of the  home. That range from selling price to market value equals instant equity (though the bank might not think so).

What I’ve heard a lot lately is something along these lines, “…and this Seller paid $338,500 for it just a few years ago and is selling it for only $299,900. That’s a lot of instant equity for your buyer!”

Hold on a minute Buster, who cares what the Seller paid for it! In today’s market, if the home the Seller paid $338,500 for in 2006 is only worth $290,000 then there is NO instant equity. It’s simply priced at or around market value. Market value simply means whatever the market (all you buyers out there in Columbus thinking of buying a home) is willing to pay for it.

Hold on though, because it works both ways…..I always tell Buyers that what the  Seller paid for the home has no bearing on what the home is worth.  That means if the Seller bought the Columbus home via foreclosure, at auction or even on the market with Instant Equity….ie-if the Seller got a deal…you can’t punish them when buying the house. They are the one who got the deal, they deserve to make a profit and the Buyer should anticipate paying market value for the home. Just because the Seller got a deal on the home doesn’t mean she has any obligation to pass that deal on to the Buyer.