Time to buy!

The facts are out and it is indeed a great time to buy a home in central Ohio. The Columbus Board of Realtors recently started their "Grass is Greener" campaign and it is not agenda driven, just facts! Central Ohio's housing market remains one of the stronger ones in the state. If you are in it for the long haul your money will buy you a great home and you will maximize your profits in the long run!

What could happen in the coming months can and will affect you if you don't act.

1)There are areas that are seeing increase sales (even multiple offer situations).

2)Waiting until the market "bottoms out" will likely catch you with prices going up!

So go ahead take the leap, and buy the home you want and deserve while the market is ripe for the picking!

Why staging your home, will sell your home!

Do you remember as a kid visiting your favorite Aunt with your parents? Do you recall what you were thinking? I do! At the time I thought it was hilarious to slide on the plastic covered couch and how I really didn't know what the colors of the walls were because of the lifetime of pictures covering them.

Buyers for the most part can't get beyond your collection of pictures or trinkets from your travels; the fact is they shouldn't have to. Statistically speaking your home has a better than 50% chance of selling in a minimal amount of time if you stage your home.

Recognizing the emotional detachment of buyers to your personal effects is step one. Secondly is coming to grips with the realization that your realtor is your ally in the sale of your home! What do I mean? Don't kill the messenger for the message. Your Realtors professionalism is tried and true. We know what works and what doesn't. This comes from years of listening to other agent's feedback on their listings as well as training.

So what can you do before your listing appointment? De-clutter, neutralize, clean.
Yes these all seem basic, but it will help you during a stressful time to understand what your realtor's is telling you. It will also break up his suggestions. By having that head start (De-clutter, neutralize, clean)it will make your realtor's comments much more palatable. If you need additional advice on staging give me a call!

State of Real Estate (According to President Bush)

Our industry has suffered in the last year, as the President reiterated in last nights State of the Union. However the reasons for this malaise have been brought by lack of responsibility on many fronts.

In order for us to move beyond what we are seeing we must educate our buyers to the realities of home ownership and all it entails. This is by no means the end of the road for our industry, which boast professionals who have knowledge and care for their clients. The industry itself is resilient and will maintain its strength through time. What this means is that we will possibly see a longer correction period. This will also weed out people who did not take their oath as a professional seriously. We will see better days and our industry will be the better for it!

Save the Robins!

Many of you have probably heard that because of our mild Winters of late, the robin population has been dropping. What has happened is that the robins are in a state of confusion. We can clearly see the trees in our yards budding and several types of plants have started their growth. The robins have started their return earlier than usual and many are dying from malnutrition. Robin's unlike many of our fine feathered friends do not feed off of feeders. They are ground feeders of mostly fruits and berries and insects found in the wild. Many areas of Columbus have found many of these birds in a state of delirium, causing many to be hit by cars or falling prey to cats and other wildlife.

What we can do to help is to get some of your partially eaten fruits and discard them in close proximity to your regular feeders. This will entice those that remain in the state through the harshness of winter, to eat and at least maintain energy levels to make it through Spring.

There is no better site in your yard than when the robins come and begin their search for food; the buds start to slowly wake from their dormant state... a clear sign that Spring is here!

State of the Market in comparison to the rest of the country!

Ohio saw a smaller drop in existing home sales than the rest of the country! That is good news for those sellers as well as buyers in Central Ohio. According to the Columbus Board of Realtors there was an increase of 1.6% in the average price of homes. This is a drop from the previous year's figure of 2.6%. Overall the market remain resilient and as we gradually come out of the tragic sub prime debacle we should see sunny days ahead!

Motivation in a Down Market

Motivation takes many shapes and forms in a down market, and we as agents sometimes are in need of a shot in the arm!

The start of our business day should be to knock down our negative thoughts as soon as they crawl into our heads. After all lets take a look at everything we have to be grateful for, we woke up this morning...that's a great start to any day. We are able to discuss our own situations and those around us with professionals like us who are trained to listen. We can and should be the advocates for our business and what its realities are...not some reporter taking sound bites from an "expert" and running to their computer to write their "gospel" on the state of the market.

Lastly I'd like to say that if we take a look at our communities and what makes them great, there should be no problem with our respective markets. There is inventory, rates are great, and we all got up for one more day!

Winter Blahs! What to do?

The weather outside remains on the frigid side. But with every passing ray of sun that has fallen upon us in the last couple of days it makes us long for more of it.

Here are few tips that help with the frigid temperatures and lack of light!

1) Watch some shows on HGTV, especially those that center on gardening and landscaping.

2) Realize that we are slowly but surely gaining that sunlight with every passing day (approximately one minute and six seconds per day).

3) Start to order your seeds for your garden and landscaping projects.

4) Sketch the layout of your garden. Even though it looks bad right now, you can start to visualize what it will look like mid-summer!

5) Involve your family in what should go in the garden this year. This will help all members with their cabin fever.

6) Plan for an herb garden and a vegetable garden...kids love to know they can actually eat what they grow in their yard.

6) Make your own list of to-do "when it gets warm."

I get excited seeing the return of several of the birds and ducks as they eat out of the feeders! The sounds of Sugar Run creek gets me even more excited as I realize the beauty of the neighborhood we are fortunate enough to live in! Soon we will once again hear the voices of the kids riding their bikes and playing outside.

Folks it is right around the corner...I realize winter in Ohio differs from most of the Midwest with its ever changing climate. Don't let winter dampen your days enjoy these beautiful frigid mornings and beautiful rays of sun we have been blessed with today!

The Fed cutting the rate and what it means to you!

The fed took action this morning by cutting the rate (albeit short term rates) 3/4 of a point. What it means to current mortgage holders is very little unless you have an ARM. In this case if your time is up to readjust it will help you somewhat.

What we are seeing is not the end of the road, its not time to fold and lay your cards on the line. In fact, it is a great time to buy. Real estate continues to be the best long term investment (coming from the financial guru's on the tube...who are partially responsible for the good but mostly bad picture of the real estate market, that should be worth something!) and rates on a 30 year mortgage is still a competitive 5.25%!

Overall I say don't fall into the news fray,...step away from the television and go buy a house!

Hey you...yeah you, why don't you buy a house?

If you haven't noticed the mortgage rates are at 5.25%. So why is it so hard to get clients out to look at their next home? I believe it to be an innate fear of the unknown. This is where as Realtors, we can help clients see the light. For the most part, the unknown to many of our buyers are things that are essentially out of their control; such as the upcoming elections as well as the sub-prime catastrophe. If we point out that the county auditor is standing by his comments to our own board that property prices have still increased in a "down" year, this is a perfect example of what a great investment home ownership still is.



Ring the church bells, put out your ads, get in the car and sell or buy a house today!