The Goldilocks Quotient – How big of a Columbus home is ‘Just Right’ for you?

How small is the smallest home you could live in daily and still be comfortable? Is bigger always better? Is left over money at the end of the month a big enough incentive to simplify your housing needs? I like the idea of these tiny 100 square foot homes like the one in the video for places like that plot of land in Hocking Hills you just bought with a big pond and great views. While a tiny home may not always be practical, I hope that when you are contemplating the size of your next home that you stop to think about that ‘just right’ size. I’ll call it the Goldilocks Quotient. There, I just coined a new phrase.

Conventional wisdom around the country is that Buyers care less these days about getting the biggest house they can buy with their money and more about getting a house that’s just right and suits their needs.  It’s been said that Buyers are looking for greener options and homes that are more economically friendly to heat and live in on a daily basis. It’s not a new phenomena and I’ve written about it before.

Over the last Sixty Days in Columbus, the average square feet of  the 761 homes that sold was 1,550 and the median was 1,410 square feet. In the same time frame Ten years ago, the 1,419 homes that sold (!wow, nearly twice as many homes in the same period!) averaged 1447 square feet.  So maybe the average Columbus home that has sold on the market has gone down by about 100 square feet over the last ten years. It’s Columbus so many of the homes are in older established neighborhoods and the amount of room inside those homes is what was when they were built 20, 40 80 years ago. Ditto with inner ring suburbs like Bexley, Grandview and Worthington. These communities aren’t building tons of new homes which would be an interesting way to track Columbus Homebuyer requirements but they obviously offer bigger and smaller homes. A more detailed look into Columbus Home Buyers’ preferences over the years may tell us more than this cursory information but this post is more to get you thinking than it is stocked with data.

Clintonville Charmer! and the Lack of Originality in Columbus MLS Remarks

The Original Clintonville Charmer. 79 Acton sold in 1996 for $145,545

You’d be amazed how often I read the remarks on a new listing, check out the history of the listing in the Columbus MLS, and find the EXACT same remarks the previous agent used. It’s uncanny. Sometimes the remarks are in the entirety, sometimes it’s most of the old remarks with a few fresh ones thrown in or maybe it’s simply an obviously borrowed phrase from a past listing.

The whole idea simply proves my point about how unoriginal and lazy many real estate agents are — and I’m not even talking about maximizing views of the home in front of potential home buyer’s eyeballs (i.e. marketing).

Every once in a while you find a phrase that sticks through the years. “Clintonville Charmer” is one in particular. It was in the description of a home that came on the market today in the 500 block of Acton and it got me thinking about how over-used some descriptive phrases are in the Columbus MLS, “Charmer” being one of them.

The phrase Clintonville Charmer has been used to describe a home for sale in Clintonville 145 times since the inception of the modern Columbus multiple listing service. Most recently today. The earliest recorded use of the phrase seems to be on another Acton house -79 Acton Pictured Above- on the market 13 days in May and June of 1996 before selling for $145,545.

Anatomy of a Clintonville Charmer:

4 Active Clintonville Charmers averaging 1,728 sf listed at an avg of $154.25/sf

117 all time Sold Clintonville Charmers averaging 58 days on market and 1,455 sf

2 Clintonville Charmers that are in contract currently for $148/sf on average and both, coicidentally, on East Pacemont

I look at listings all day long and see some doozies. What descriptions of Columbus homes for sale have caught your eye over the years?

How to Turn your $8,000 Columbus Home Buyer tax credit into $9,000….. or more

It's all part of constructing a better Real Estate Brokerage Model

If there is anyone out there in Central Ohio still considering the purchase of their first home, now is the time. I am not a cheerleader type, especially for the same sort of party line that all real estate agents are eschewing right now.

That said, the truth is, there’s never been a better time to buy your first home. Interest rates are at historically low levels and thought to be increasing soon. Housing stock, even at this time of year, is plentitful and growing and less expensive than it may have been a couple years ago.

And, oh yeah, there is an $8,000 tax credit for first time Buyers and a $6,500 tax credit for Sellers. There’s never been a better time to buy your first home. Until now.

Delicious Real Estate is rebating cash back to all buyers.

• $1,000 to Buyers of homes $135,000 and over
• $2,000 to Buyers of homes $235,000 and over
• $3,000 to Buyers of homes $335,000 and over

Just like the tax credit, this offer only extends to any buyer who is in contract on a home by April 30, 2010.  Unlike the tax credit, this offer is not limited to first time buyers, rather it is open to any buyer.

*Buyers must be pre-approved by lender of choice.

*Homes must be in Franklin or contiguous Counties.

*The rebate will mentioned in the purchase contract for the home and listed on the settlement statement as required by state law.

*You must know the secret password which means you read to at least the middle of the post. The secret password is “Go Clippers!”

*Call, email or stop by for more information

Why am I doing this?

1. I’m driven to prove that a better buying and selling experience is possible for less.
2. I want to get the Delicious Real Estate name out in the world more than I have in the first year of the Firm’s existence.
3. I’m concerned Read the rest of this entry »

Are Columbus Mortgage Rates on the UP?

Which way are Columbus Mortgage rates going?

It’s hard to imagine that mid December of 2009 wasn’t a potential bottom point for Columbus Mortgage rates. Today, the best rates are somewhere around 5.125% and as the economy improves (or at least as we’re told it is improving) the rates will rise.

If you plan to buy this year, I would do it sooner rather than later. I’m reading a lot of predictions about year-end 2010 rates in the 6’s.

Don’t just take my word for it….From Reuters the the other day….”The U.S. Federal Reserve will have to raise interest rates as the economy improves or risk losing the public’s confidence in its commitment to keeping inflation low and stable, a top Federal Reserve policy maker said on Tuesday.

Charles Plosser, president of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, said expectations for future inflation are currently “well-anchored,” but warned that there is “considerable uncertainty” clouding the outlook for price pressures over the next two to five years.” more.