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"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

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Columbus Neighborhoods You Need to Know: Olde Oaks

August 25th, 2008 categories: For Home Buyers, Olde Towne East

Severed from Olde Towne East years ago by Interstate I-70, Olde Oaks has the historic housing stock that can stand toe to toe with any neighborhood in Columbus. The entire community is an historic district within Columbus and the beautiful, big homes are affordable, reasonable, and located just a few minutes from Downtown Columbus and Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

For example, Look at this gorgeous 2380 sq ft brick center hall with 4 beds and 2 baths on a double lot for only $139,00! Old Oaks is the most intact of Columbus’ turn-of-the-century streetcar era neighborhoods that show the homes of the middle and upper classes. Architecture styles include American Four-Squares in Mission and Neoclassical Revival styles, as well as Modified Queen Annes.

The neighborhood is bounded on the West by the homes on Ohio Avenue, on the East by the homes on Kimball Place, on the North by Mooberry Street, and on the South by Livingston Avenue.

Olde Oaks Civic Association meeting are the 2^nd Monday of the month at Holy Rosary St. John Community -640 South Ohio Avenue at 6:30 p.m.

History of the area.

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What is selling in Downtown Columbus? Clintonville? Bexley? Grandview? Olde Towne East?

August 19th, 2008 categories: Bexley, Downtown, For Home Buyers, For Home Sellers, German Village, Grandview, Market Updates, Olde Towne East, Short North

742 Oak Street - Come See It! I have a listing in Olde Towne East, nearly downtown, at 742 Oak Street. It is a fabulous 1710 sq foot brick home. 2 Bedrooms, an office, a fantastic master bath, half bath, great yard, walk to a million places, priced at $199,900. It is priced right. In fact, it’s a screaming good deal because it is absolutely move-in ready. I consider the main competition for the home all of Olde Towne East and every downtown Condo because the price points and location are so similar. Of course the Oak Street home doesn’t have any condo fees.

Tonight I’m talking to the owner about why we haven’t had too many showings and no offers. I’ll tell him that in the 109 days the home has been on the market, only TEN homes OR condos have sold between $150–250,000 on the entire Near East Side AND Downtown. Nine of those were, in fact, downtown condos and the other was a bank owned foreclosure steal of a deal on Bryden Road. Only 6 others are in contract currently, five of which are Downtown Columbus condos and one of which is a much bigger home on Franklin Avenue in Olde Towne East on the market for 575 days. Talk about Quiet.

Above that price point, it gets a little bit better, but not much. 12 condos downtown have been listed as sold in the MLS (remember, that doesn’t include a few key projects like North Bank) and 3 Near East Homes, all very nice with huge square feet have sold since early May but that’s it.

In the same time period, Greater Clintonville had roughly just over 100 homes sell between $150–250,000. It’s been a brisk summer there for that price point, with an average days on market of 84.

While these inner-ring suburb markets don’t generally conjure ideas of homes under $250,000, take a look at these markets since May 10 in this same price range:

Grandview and MarbleCliff – 21 Homes
Upper Arlington – 65 homes
Bexley – 29 Homes
Worthington – 49 homes

The Short North and German Village are slow too but somewhat more stable markets with most homes priced above $250,000.

German Village/Schumacher Place had 10 homes sell since May 10 in that 150–$250,000 price range but 7 of them were likely already in contract in early May.

Greater Short North/Italian Village/Harrison West saw 32 homes sell since early May, most of which were condos or fixer uppers. As I looked through the lists from all over town, I realized that I had been in and seen many of them first hand. So, if you’re looking in that price range inside I-270, I’m your guy.

In the meantime, Come on Columbus, rediscover the housing stock and location of Columbus’ Near East side. Come visit 742 Oak St.

Of Possible Interest: Just in time for City Hop - April and May ‘08 Downtown Columbus Condo Sales

Franklin Park Conservatory - Even More Beautiful?

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Franklin Park Conservatory - Even More Beautiful?

August 12th, 2008 categories: About Me?, Olde Towne East

Franklin Park is one of Olde Town East and Woodland Park's biggest selling points. Internationally renowned award-winning artist James Turrell followed a city council representative and a Franklin County Commissioners representative and Franklin Park Director Bruce Harkey, to the podium and gave a short speech while behind him the first ever illumination of the Conservatory’s 112 year-old historic glass Palm House glowed colorfully. This permanent installation will perform each evening beginning at dusk and can be viewed from the Grand Mallway west of the Palm House or as you crane your neck driving down East Broad Street.

Franklin Park is one of Olde Town East and Woodland Park's biggest selling points. This was a fantastic event with, I’d guess, maybe 1,000 people coming out and viewing the illumination and checking out the Conservatory’s newly opened rooftop decks, bridal garden and event space. I’m impressed with the event and with Franklin Park’s $20 Million Dollar Growth by Design expansion and renovation plans.

This park really is a jewel of a park and a great selling point for homes on Columbus’ near East side in neighborhoods like Olde Towne East and Woodland Park.

Franklin Park is one of Olde Town East and Woodland Park's biggest selling points. I’d like to see the City showcase it better than it has in the past. How about running the proposed East Broad Street Boulevard all the way to Nelson Road? Have you ever tried walking down Broad Street from I-71 to Franklin Park? I do it all the time and I can tell you that the sidewalks aren’t nearly wide enough and the entire trip is simply not pedestrian friendly—let alone crossing the Broad Street Bridge over I-71 into or out of downtown by foot. What about installing an East/West streetcar line so everyone downtown can quickly and easily get to the Park and enjoy it?

While we’re all waiting for that to happen, meet you at the Thursday rooftop Happy Hours from 5:30 -1 10 PM beginning on August 14^th. Dubbed Cocktails at the Conservatory and running May through October, the happy hour will also feature appetizers by Cameron Mitchell Catering which runs the Conservatory’s cafe.

Here is my shaky 2.5 minute YouTube video of the event.

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Are Homeowners-Alarmed by Gas Prices- Increasingly Looking to Urban Areas?

August 8th, 2008 categories: Clintonville, Downtown, For Home Buyers, German Village, Grandview, Olde Towne East, Short North

If you're interested in moving to an urban area, CALL OR EMAIL ME!! According to a recent Coldwell Banker survey, yes.

…. the primary reasons for this interest in urban living are related to work commute and energy-efficient modes of transportation:

81 percent cite minimizing a reduced work commute as a reason for the interest in urban living
54 percent agree that access to public transportation is appealing
75 percent agree that the ability to walk to more places is a positive

“Over the past several years we have seen a boom in downtown living all over the country and this is not just reserved to major cities,” said Jim Gillespie, president and chief executive officer of Coldwell Banker Real Estate.

Also interesting in this same survey was that, “…sales associates also reported they have seen an 84 percent spike in interest for properties with a home office, as compared to five years ago, indicating a trend towards telecommuting.

While the study also found that 64 percent of surveyed sales associates report their clients increasingly look for homes with “green” amenities that could save on heating, cooling and electricity costs, only 42 percent surveyed believe saving on energy costs are a reason for their client’s interest in urban living.”

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New Listing - 742 Oak Street - Historic-Move in Ready-1710 SqFt

May 5th, 2008 categories: Downtown, For Home Buyers, Olde Towne East

Rooting Out the Rotten Tomatoes

By CLAIRE SUDDATH

Workers separate tomatoes at the sprawling Central de Abastos market in Mexico City on June 10

Gregory Bull / AP

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So how much damage can a few rotten tomatoes really do? The tomato-linked salmonella outbreak announced by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on June 3 has claimed 228 victims in 23 states over 58 days (and counting). It has put 25 people in the hospital and may have had a role in hastening the death of a cancer patient. And then there’s the flurry of panic as many of the tomatoes that American consumers take for granted every day suddenly disappear — from McDonald’s hamburgers; from the salsa at Chipotle Mexican Grill; from Burger King, Taco Bell and Sonic; and from the grocery shelves at Kroger, Wal-Mart and Target. Didn’t we just go through this with bagged spinach? With peanut butter? With pet food?

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Because the FDA’s tomato-recall recommendation is so specific — including only three types, grown in certain regions during a certain time — and because many national chains pulled their tomato stock within days of the announcement, most of the infected samples have likely been removed. But the outbreak remains ongoing; its source has not yet been determined, and the government is investigating new cases every day. It may be a few more weeks before the delicious staple fruit is given the all-clear.

Taking tomatoes off shelves and menus may contain the outbreak, but it doesn’t explain it. On May 22, the New Mexico Health Department notified the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that it knew of seven people recently infected with Salmonella Saintpaul, an unusual strand of the bacteria that accounted for only 400 of the 1.4 million cases of salmonella infection reported last year. And it was precisely because occurrences of the Saintpaul strand are so rare that the report caught the CDC’s attention. When Texas and a few other states reported cases of people being infected by bacteria with the same “genetic fingerprint,” a multistate search for Salmonella Saintpaul was launched. While the CDC tracked reported illnesses, the FDA interviewed victims to find out what they had eaten (and where). The common answer was tomatoes.

There have been 13 outbreaks of salmonella in tomatoes since 1990, which puts the fruit on the list of high-risk foods that are prone to infection. But unlike the bagged spinach from the 2006 E. Coli scare, the tomatoes don’t come with a traceable bar code. “When you’re dealing with tomatoes, it is much, much more complex,” explains Dr. David Acheson, the FDA’s associate commissioner for foods. The FDA’s great tomato hunt has an ever-expanding list of suspects. A salmonella victim can point to the supermarket (or restaurant) that sold the offending fruit, but that store probably sources its tomatoes from several suppliers, each of which uses several distributors — and distributors buy from any number of growers.

“Each set of questions just multiplies into a fan of information that has to be sorted through to understand where the links cross over,” says Acheson. Although the FDA has managed to rule out some regions — northern Florida is safe because its tomatoes weren’t ready for harvest at the time of the outbreak — it will be some time until the true source is found. “We’re not quite there yet,” says Acheson, “but we’re getting very close.” But Dr. Ian Williams, chief of the CDC’s OutbreakNet team, warns that the source may never be found due to the fruit’s short shelf life. “You don’t expect to find an infected tomato sitting on someone’s counter 10 days after the outbreak,” says Williams.

Still, the lag time between the initial outbreak and the government’s reaction is startling: the first Salmonella Saintpaul victim fell ill on April 16, but the FDA didn’t announce the tomato link until June 3. Williams says part of the problem identifying salmonella outbreaks is that a lot of victims don’t see the symptoms — diarrhea, fever, vomiting — as sufficiently severe to warrant a visit to the doctor, and so they go undiagnosed. “There may be a delay in reporting outbreaks because people do not have a stool specimen tested,” he says. Officials have not yet identified an infected tomato, and because of the fruit’s short shelf life, they probably never will.

The FDA unveiled a tomato-safety initiative in 2007 that sought to identify causes of salmonella infection, but Acheson admits that studying preventive techniques doesn’t help the FDA deal with outbreaks. The FDA has no plans to change the initiative in the face of the recent outbreak.

Even if the FDA can pinpoint the source of the outbreak, it’s hard for consumers to know where their tomatoes are grown. Certain imported foods are required to carry country-of-origin labels, but that doesn’t apply to domestic produce. “I’m not aware of any tomato outbreak that was not domestic,” says Acheson. There is no such thing as a mandatory state-of-origin label for food, and federal authorities have yet to create such a law. “Saying ‘product of the U.S.’ isn’t necessarily going to confer safety,” he says. So much for reassurance.

Vi ste jeben.

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Can Save A Lot Save Main Street?

February 27th, 2008 categories: Columbus News, Olde Towne East

Save a lot

A while back, Columbus Compact had announced that Save A Lot, the country’s 5^th largest supermarket, was coming to Main Street. Then, about a year ago, they announced they were not coming to Main Street. In part, that decision was made because Wal Mart opened up in Whitehall on Main Street. Well, it appears Save a Lot is back, in the same location at 1179 E. Main — the old Kroger/Salvation Army site.

Expected to open some time this summer, it’ll be about a 16,000 s.f. store offering standard supermarket fare of fruits, veggies, fish, butcher cut meats, dairy, canned foods, dry
goods, frozen foods, etc. They have high buying power and low prices.

Jon Beard of Columbus Compact has said they expect the store to generate between 2,500 and 3,000
shopping trips a week. I agree with him that those numbers are the type of customer traffic that
helps other retailers to thrive, and could be instrumental in the Near East’s efforts to continue to attract quality retailers and mainstream consumers to E. Main Street. The bottom line, as far as this blog is concerned, is that a new grocery store on Main Street can’t help but raise interest in this part of town and, eventually trickling down, home values and desirability.

But, when you travel down East Main Street from High Street Downtown all the way to Bexley, you can’t help but notice the entire street is for sale or for lease. For about 6 months now I’ve been meaning to write a blog post called something like “Main Street USA, now for sale or lease” because nearly every single property, commercial or residential, is for sale or for lease.

While the upside for Main Street is tremendous, the products of years of neglect are evident all the way from downtown to Bexley. Many who live in Olde Towne East pooh-poohed the Save a Lot idea the first time around because it wasn’t up-scale enough, but failed to notice that there isn’t a grocery store between German Village’s Giant Eagle and the Kroger at Main and Nelson.

I like the Save a Lot concept and while I’ll probably continue to do most of my shopping at the Brewery District Kroger because I’m crazy in love with it, I think the Save a Lot does have some good potential to contribute to the continuation of purchasing and rehabbing of the Near East’s portion of the National Road.

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Finally, I can walk to a coffe shop. King Lincoln Bronzeville Welcomes Urban Spirit

February 21st, 2008 categories: Olde Towne East

That's my neighbor getting a Chi Tea to go! Twelve years ago when I bought my current home, I envisioned ice cream shops, dry cleaners, restaurant, bars, coffee shops, galleries – everything I could ever hope to walk to — going up and down Long Street, Broad, Parsons, Oak, maybe even Hamilton Park.

Well, as of Tuesday, I’ve got a coffee shop. A big welcome to Urban Spirit coffee shop and gallery and to it’s driving force, Charity Martin-Via. The shop is on the corner of 17th and Long Streets, in the gorgeous building that Peter Loscocco bought and painstakingly and lovingly restored.

We need to spend our local money in this local coffee shop because we need to encourage other budding entrepreneurs to try their hand on the near East Side of Columbus. The coffee comes from Crimson Cup, a local coffee roaster whose point-man, Greg Ubert is not only an expert in the field, but a nice guy as well.

I learned this morning that Charity’s sister is planning on putting a new real estate brokerage office right next door as well. While I don’t like a real estate office around the corner from me, I welcome the addition of a new Long Street Business with a storefront and wish her the best.

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More Long Street Corridor Improvement Coming

February 3rd, 2008 categories: Columbus News, Olde Towne East

This recently vacant apartment building at the corner of 17^th and Long just began a major rehab. The building has been owned, for nearly four years now, by the city of Columbus and was part of the city’s land bank program.

Official records haven’t been changed yet to reflect the new ownership but I can tell you they have a big crew working on the tear-out of this building. Move to Bronzeville now, while you still can get in at a great price.

this vacant Long Street apartment building will thrive once again

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Rooting Out the Rotten Tomatoes By CLAIRE SUDDATH

By CLAIRE SUDDATH

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Rooting Out the Rotten Tomatoes

By CLAIRE SUDDATH