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Just released statistical data from the Columbus Board of Realtors and the Central Ohio Multiple Listing Service showed a marked increase in Morrow County home sales for the period July, 2010 over the same month July of 2009. The data shows that more homes sold and at a higher price and at a higher list price-to-sale price ratio.
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2009
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2010
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| New Listings YTD |
233 |
299 |
| # Units Under Contract YTD |
89 |
136 |
| # Units Sold |
99 |
131 |
| Avg Selling Price |
$105,219 |
$111,670 |
| % SP/LP |
94.83% |
95.81% |
While Mount Gilead, Cardington, and Marengo home buyers are enjoying historically low 30 year fixed mortgage interest rates, (often as low as 4.5%) along with a plentiful supply of homes to choose from, sellers are finally beginning to realize better sale prices for their homes.
Working with a Realtor in Morrow County, buyers can realize the benefits of being represented throughout the home finding and transaction processes. Buyer representation does not cost the buyer yet adds real value to the overall process.
Once again, the Morrow County Chamber of Commerce will be hosting their annual Sweet Corn Festival this weekend, July 16 & 17.
Join us Friday, July 16, 6 PM to 10 PM in downtown Mt. Gilead for Car Show, Corn Shucking Contest, Queen, Princess, Jr. Princess Contest on the Time Warner Stage sponsored by First-Knox National Bank, Cornerstone Cafe on the Square Pork BBQ, House and the Second Story Band, and Knights of Columbus Beer Garden.
Saturday, June 17, 11 AM to 8 PM, Roger Cooper DJ, Idol Contest by Brad Williams, Entertainment, Sidewalk Sales, Crafters, Corn Hole Tournament sponsored by First Federal Bank of Ohio, Corn Eating Contest, Knights of Columbus Beer Garden and Strongest Contest, and Ricky Gene Hall Band. Visit the Chicken BBQ on the Square and Vendors during the day.
It’ll be a great weekend with good food and an opportunity to meet with your friends. It promises to be great weather, so come on out!
Freddie Mac reports that mortgage rates remained under the 5% mark for the second consecutive week, with the average interest on a 30-year fixed loan coming in at 4.95% from 4.97% a week earlier.
Meanwhile, interest on 15-year fixed loans averaged 4.32% versus 4.33% the previous week. Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages settled at 4.05%, a decline from 4.11% last week.
Source: Lakeland (Fla.) Ledger
Mount Gilead Homeowner Charged $1600 To Get Help Avoiding Foreclosure? Last week I sat down with some very frustrated and discouraged homeowners who are facing foreclosure and possible bankruptcy.
These Mount Gilead homeowners were beside themselves because they had been “working” with their mortgage lender and doing everything they thought was the right thing to do and they were getting nowhere. They were continuing to get harrassing phone calls from their bank and even though they thought they were doing the “right thing”, they were actually getting in deeper and deeper.
When alas, they received a call from someone who told them they could “help” them through the process. All they had to do was give them their VISA card number and allow them to charge $1,600 so that they could begin the process. Although these Mount Gilead homeowners were in no position to pay out $1,600 to anybody, they heard the person on the other end of the phone make promises that he wasn’t going to be able to keep.
People … Listen To Me …. YES, there IS help out there. BUT, you do NOT have to pay for the help!
Here in Ohio, we have www.savethedream.ohio.gov and the help is free. Yes, there will be some work on your part. You will need to have a phone conversation with a HUD counselor and you will need to gather some documentation to give to your HUD counselor.
Follow this link to see and print the SaveTheDreamFlyer If you don’t need the information on this flyer, I’ll bet that you know someone who does. 15% of your neighbors or co-workers are either currently IN the foreclosure process or just days away because they are in default on their mortgage payments (30 days late).
Please don’t allow your Mount Gilead, Cardington, Marengo, or any other Morrow County, Ohio friends, family members or co-workers go through what my clients went through before calling me. Let them know there IS help out there. Have them pick up the phone and call SaveTheDreamOhio at 888-404-4674 or they can call Herb Baldwin at 419-947-4004 and I’ll be glad to talk with them and give them some guidance at no charge.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and spread the news.
But I Just Wanna See The House (why do we need to meet?)
This one comes up a lot. I get a call from a potential buyer and they’ve called on one of my listings and they want to go see the house. My standard response is then to ask them; if they’re working with anybody to help them find a house, and if they have talked with a lender and are they already preapproved. Often the answer is “No, we’re not working with anyone and Yes, we are preapproved.” What a pleasure it is to meet and work with these folks because they’ve learned the value of getting that loan approval letter in hand before looking at homes.
Every so often though, I get a response something like; “Well no, we haven’t talked with a lender, we just wanna see the house.” I get real nervous when I get this response. 
As professionals, we understand the value of qualifying our prospects, both buyers and sellers. Are these “lurkers” just nosey neighbors? Are they burglars wanting to case the joint? Are they drug addicts just wanting to use the bathroom so they can go through the medicine cabinet?
You see for many (selfish) reasons, I want to meet my potential clients before I just run out and show them a home. I want all of us to be safe rather than sorry. (Would you want your Mother or your young daughter running out at the last minute and meeting a total stranger in an empty house?)
But this is only 50% of the rationale. It’s really imperitive for the buyer’s benefit that they meet with the agent prior to visiting the first home. The buyer/agent relationship is going to last for some time, through the viewing and buying process and then hopefully for years to come. By meeting and finding out about each other, they can begin to develop a relationship of mutual respect for each other.
The Realtor can: explain how they run their business (hours and days they work, use of email and v/mail for communications, etc. The agent can go through the entire home buying process, explaining financing options and benefits, talk about the home inspection process along with the repair remedy process. We can talk about multiple offers and how we’ll handle that should it come up.
They buyer can; verbalize what they want in a home and why that’s important to them, they can have the opportunity to see and understand the MLS property reports that their agent will send them, they can go through a sample Settlement Statement so that they can understand what their transaction costs might really be and when they’ll be expected to have these monies, (earnest money, inspection fees, etc.)
For me this whole process, what I call the “Buyer Interview” typically lasts about an hour and it’s pretty straightforward and natural for me. But for the buyer it’s a new experience that I think allows them to leave the appointment with more knowledge. And with more knowledge comes less anxiety and increased confidence in the decisions that they are about to make.
If you’ve been thinking about buying a home, call Herb now at 419-947-4004 to set up your own “Buyer Interview”.
To see what’s available in Morrow County, visit www.herbsells.com
Where to find Morrow County Homes For Rent?
As a local Morrow County Realtor, I get a lot of calls from folks who are looking for homes to rent. It seems that these calls have increased since the decline in the home sale market. It seems as though there may be a lot of folks that have lost their homes for any number of reasons. But they need a place to live – everybody should have a safe, clean place to live.
I own a few rentals but they’re all taken right now. But I stopped at the local Metro Housing Authority office in Mount Gilead this morning and picked up a list of rental properties in Morrow County along with the names and numbers of the landlords. Hopefully this will help those out there hunting for a place to live. Just click MorrowRentalLandlordInfo to see the complete list.
To look for homes available for sale in Morrow County, follow this link: www.herbsells.com
Mount Gilead Home Buyers Ask About HUD Homes. In this current real estate market there are investment opportunities everywhere!
One of those opportunities are the abundance of HUD owned homes on the market. These are homes that the lender has “bought back” at the sheriff sale and because the loan was an FHA (HUD) insured loan, HUD pays the lender the value of the “insurance” and HUD becomes the legal owner. HUD then lists these properties with local Realtors to get the maximum exposure possible and move toward a quick sale. “Quick Sale” are the operative words. 
Buyers can really get a good deal but they must be “READY, WILLING, and ABLE” to move forward with the purchase. After viewing the property with their real estate agent, buyers must be pre-approved with a lender and they must be able to put up between $500 and $1000 in earnest money should they be the successful bidder.
HUD places all their properties on a web site and buyers work with real estate agents to submit their bid electronically. Once notice comes that you are the winning bidder, then a full written bid package must be forwarded to HUD within 24 hours.
Here in Morrow County, my office is the Listing Broker for HUD owned homes. We are also the Listing Broker for HUD homes in Marion, Crawford, and Wyandotte Counties. To see what HUD owned homes are currently available in any of our service areas, go to www.nhmsi.com and click on “Ohio” at the bottom of the page. From there you can search by County, City, or Zip code.
To see ALL homes available (including HUD owned) visit www.morrowcountyhomes.com
Mount Gilead Buyer Asks About Tax Credit I got a call from a buyer today wondering if he could buy a home before the tax credit expires and rent it out? I’m not a tax accountant (disclaimer), but I think you could rent PART of it out, but the purchase needs to be for your PRINCIPAL residence.
You need to be a first-time buyer to get the 10% up to $8000 tax credit. The tax credit has also been expanded to buyers who have owned a home at some period during the last three years and used it as their principal residence for five consecutive years in the last eight. They can receive up to $6,500 – or $3,250 for couples filing as individuals.
For more infomation and FAQ’s on the tax credit, visit this link. To find all homes for sale in Morrow County, Ohio visit www.herbsells.com or www.morrowcountyhomes.com
You’ve heard the term “Distressed” property, but what does that mean?
Distressed properties are generally properties that are at least: “upside down” on the mortgage loan where the homeowner for whatever reason may have stopped making the monthly mortgage payments AND the property can not be sold due to the fact that there is more owed on the mortgage than the property is worth.
The homeowner may have stopped making payments due to; job loss, divorce, medical issues, or any other circumstance that would have been financially devastating to the homeowner.
The property value may be less than what is owed due to the fact that the home was purchased during a “high” market and is now needing to be sold in a “low” market and/or due to the fact that the homeowner (during the “high” market) borrowed additional funds against the equity they had in the home. The equity has since been spent on; college for the kids, medical bills, etc.
So now the homeowner finds themselves in a fast-spinning downward spiral. The spouse has left, the boss has cut back his/her hours, the kid needs another car because he cracked up the one he had (that had no collision insurance on it) and now has no way to get to his $7 per hour job, and Harry Homeowner gets more calls and letters from the lender and now the lender’s attorney saying they are initiating foreclosure action.
As Mr.. or Mrs.. Homeowner decide they need to find another place to live, they often times think “Screw the bank, if I can’t have this house, nobody will” I’ll take everything that I can and to heck if something gets damaged on the way. I’ll show them.”
Here’s a video on what a typical “DISTRESSED” property looks like.
Now the property often sits for a year or so as the banks attorney works the foreclosure process and ultimately the Sheriff’s sale.
Many times the bank buys the home back at the Sheriff’s sale because the bids coming in from John Q Public was not bringing close to the value owed.
The home then becomes bank owned (REO) and they list it with a local real estate agent and sell it at a drastically reduced amount.
This is a lousy way to sell a house.
The preferred way is a “Short Sale” where we (Realtors) will list the property at a competitive market price, get an offer and submit that offer to the seller’s lender. The seller still lives in the house and is maintaining it, even though he or she may not have made payments for months due to their financial hardship.
By having an agent, trained and experienced in Short Sales represent the seller, we can often get the house sold, get the financial shortfall forgiven, save the seller from foreclosure, protect their credit rating, AND keep the house out of the “Distressed” property inventory and get it sold to a new owner.
 Hi-Speed Coming to Morrow Countians Morrow County Gets Stimulus $ For Hi-Speed Internet. Just published in Business First of Columbus, Consolidated Electric Cooperative, one of Morrow County’s residential electricity providers, has applied for and will be receiving nearly $2.4 million in loans and grants to install 166 mile fiberoptic network in Morrow and Delaware Counties.
The installation will take place in 2010 and this will be the availability of high-speed internet access to hundreds, perhaps thousands of Morrow County residents who are currently able to only use the slower “dial-up” internet access.
Hi-Speed internet access is not just for the kids to play games. Many employees are finding that their employer is allowing, even welcoming and encouraging their employess to telecommute. Not only does it save the employee gas money and wear and tear on the family car, but it also allows the employer to pay less rent for valuable office space.
Telecommuting benefits all of us in that it is a “green” initiative with fewer automobile emmissions, less fuel consumed and fewer office building heating and air conditioning plants running.
This new federal stimulus money being infused into the Morrow County infrastructure is exciting. Although many of us will not see the “larger picture” effects of this for some time to come, (in the way of new businesses and increased telecommuting), it’ll most definately bring smiles to the faces of hundreds or even thousands of Morrow County residents who are currently waiting and tapping their nails on the desktop while their requested web page downloads.
To read the entire original article in Business First Columbus, Click Here
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