Yesterday morning I had a wake-up call that scared the bejeezus out of me. Murph’s shrill warning bark actually woke me up, then I heard someone knocking loudly on my door. I peeked out the blinds to see two police cars with lights flashing, sitting in front of my home and could see a portion of a police uniform at my door.
Since police are seldom in my neighborhood, especially at that hour, I didn’t know what to expect. Would guns be drawn????
The officer asked if I had called 911. I hadn’t. He then asked if my phone number was xxx-xxx-xxxx. It was an old land line number that I had canceled 3-4 years ago when I went with my cell phone exclusively. He told me to call the phone company to report it because sometimes these unused lines transmit noise that calls 911. When the 911 operator doesn’t receive a response, they notify the police.
A Facebook friend, who is a retired telecommunications engineer, gave this info. ”Water shorts or static on a land line can look like the old-fashioned dial pulses used on the old dial phones and the pulses can sometimes look like the digits 911 ( 9 pulses, 1 pulse, 1 pulse)….. not that uncommon.
Trying to call Verizon was no small feat because none of their automated options dealt with this problem. Finally, today I was able to speak with a “real” person who had heard of this happening. She took all my info and will report it. I’m not sure what will be done, but I’ll keep you posted. As more people cancel their land line phones, this problem may become better known.
Let this be a warning to all of you who have also canceled land lines … WEAR PJ’S! You never know when the police will knock on your door. BTW, I told the officer that he might want to stick around since my adrenalin was so high that I might just have a heart attack and really need their help.
Wondering how home prices are holding up for your area? I just finished updating two data pieces to reflect Jan-Jun 2011 home sales. One chart shows sales by school district; the other shows sales by key subdivision within various suburbs. Click the links below to visit those pages.
If you read this blog with any frequency, you know that I like animals; that I enjoy feeding the birds; that I have an issue (or rather The Murph does) with the Attack Rabbits; and that I enjoy landscaping to attract the birds. The landscape makeover that was recently done seems to have changed the dynamics of the animals that visit.
Various quantity of chipmunks began visiting several years ago. The most I’ve seen at one time is 4. They scamper up the shepherd hook feeder poles to get a cheek-full of oilers, then they bury the seeds. I have sunflowers sprouting all over the place.
Since doing the landscape makeover, 3 squirrels have appeared at the oiler feeder. You can see the tail of one of the squirrels in the photo. They make a mess, but the rabbits, chipmunks and birds help clean it up.
The rabbits have been here for years. I often see 3-4 along with babies sometimes. They have no fear. They lounge on their side with legs outstretched, soaking up the warm sun. AND they chew select plants. The small plants (Gaillardia) in the photo are half the size they were when I bought them for butterflies. I gave up trying to have liriope. They chewed it as if it were lettuce.
I recently planted 3 coneflowers for butterflies and this photo shows what the rabbits did to 2 of the plants. The deer-rabbit repellant seems to have protected the 3rd plant so far. It smells so bad that it would repel most anything with a nose. The odor does dissipate in a couple of days.
I also now have 4 crows coming to the front lawn. Not sure why. The expression on Murph’s face was pretty funny when he first saw these over-sized birds.
Last AND least, I noticed a tiny toad living near the back steps. He’s a keeper.
One of the best valued fix-ups a homeowner can do to their home is their landscaping. If the home doesn’t have any when you buy it, then plant some as soon as you can … even before you add a deck. That way the plants can be growing – and increasing in value – as you enjoy living in the home. Then when you’re ready to sell, buyers will love the privacy you’ve built into the yard.
When I moved into my home 14 years ago, the only landscaping was the typical junipers under the front windows, a little sand cherry shrub at the corner, and a sapling maple in the front. In the years since, I have worked on doing a section at a time, so many of the plants are maturing and giving a nice privacy screen from the neighbor’s lawns. I try to select plants that provide food, cover and nesting for the birds that I feed. Some of the plants are also providing cover for the chipmunks and Attack Rabbits that have taken up residence in my lawn. I may have carried this nature thing a little too far.
They came … they saw … they stayed!
Last week, it was time to undo the builder’s plants in the front, plus, I had other plants that needed divided and moved to other locations. I use Outdoor Makeovers to do my work, so I called Bruce – the Sales Manager - to tell him I was ready to get rid of the front junipers and the sand cherry that was now a full-grown scrubby tree. We met, I gave him my ideas & budget, then he created a plan based on that. They did all the work last week, so I took before-after photos. I think everything we’ve done over the years is shaping up nicely.
Want to investigate different types of plants? Visit Monrovia‘s website for a great way to search for plants based on growing zones, light, water, etc.
Yesterday I posted a graph showing the average prices of homes sold the past 10 years. Today I’ve prepared a graph showing the NUMBER OF HOMES SOLD in that same time period. This chart illustrates why there is so much concern about the real estate market and the need to improve the sales because the real estate industry supports jobs for many related industries.
Click to enlarge, then click again
You’ve probably heard Realtors® say that there are fewer buyers than there were in the early part of the 2000 decade. This chart certainly illustrates that. The bump-up in 2010 was due to the $8000 Gov’t tax credit for 1st time home buyers. Buyers had to be in-contract by the end of April to take advantage of that tax credit. Some of those contracts would have closed in May, thus driving up the sales for the Jan-May period.
Prices and interest rates have been declining in recent years, which should drive up the demand, but that’s not happening. The financial institutions began eliminating 100% financing and established tougher criteria for buyers to meet when seeking mortgages. Buyers had to begin having some down payment money and better credit scores. You can see this effect with the declines after 2007. This financing change impacted 1st time buyers the most and that’s likely why Hilliard and Westerville sales have declined so visibly as both suburbs are popular with 1st time buyers due to the average price of the homes. (See yesterday’s chart)
What should your take-away be from this chart’s info?
Buyers: If you have the funds, it REALLY IS a good time to buy.
Sellers: Competition is stiff so your home needs to be priced right and in top condition to appeal to the few buyers that are shopping.
Many national organizations quote trends in real estate prices. There is a real problem in paying attention to those numbers and “assuming” those trends apply to our local central Ohio area. Each market is different and within each market there are differences. We often don’t know whether the data is for single-family homes only, or whether they include condos. Perhaps someone has quoted sales by zip code, which here in central Ohio, can include 2-3 different school districts, giving a meaningless number. I prefer to only gather sales data for single-family homes by school district since that is the way most buyers shop for homes.
I just completed updating the 10-Year Averages of the price homes sold for from January thru May by school district.
Click to enlarge chart, then click again
You can’t view that chart and make a blanket statement that “prices are up” or “prices are down“, yet the EXPERTS do that all the time. The one take-away conclusion we CAN make is that the local real estate market has not recovered from the highs in 2006-2007. Many listing agents will tell sellers that if they bought their home in 2004 or after, they will not be able to sell for what they paid for the home.
Helping home sellers & buyers with their real estate in Delaware & Franklin counties, including the suburbs of Powell, Dublin, Lewis Center, Galena, Worthington, Hilliard & Delaware.
MY FEATURED LISTING
Click photo for more detailsGREAT FINISHED LOWER LEVEL You'll enjoy living in this charming 4BR home with total finished living space of 2855 sq ft. Convenient to Polaris, Powell or Dublin. ONLY$199,900!
CANNON BROTHERS CELEBRATE AMERICA
Marysville's own folk group from the 60's, The Cannon Brothers, is doing a benefit performance for the Wounded Warriors Project.They'll be performing their original folk music plus their newly recorded "Stand Up America". Only 100 seats are available.WHEN: Sat. July 7thWHERE: Timberview Golf Club, 1107 London Av (Rt 38), MarysvilleTIME: 2:00pm - Doors open, cash barFREE FOOD: 3:00pm - Free finger food while it lastsPERFORMANCE: 3:30pm - the Cannon Brothers show filmed "live"Click to RESERVE SEATS:DONATIONS ACCEPTED FOR THE WOUNDED WARRIORS PROJECT
Eat Your Veggies
Emerald Ash Borer articles
Click image to read all the articles about my personal saga with the Emerald Ash Borer damage to my tree.
Will your land line decide to call 911?
Since police are seldom in my neighborhood, especially at that hour, I didn’t know what to expect. Would guns be drawn????
The officer asked if I had called 911. I hadn’t. He then asked if my phone number was xxx-xxx-xxxx. It was an old land line number that I had canceled 3-4 years ago when I went with my cell phone exclusively. He told me to call the phone company to report it because sometimes these unused lines transmit noise that calls 911. When the 911 operator doesn’t receive a response, they notify the police.
Trying to call Verizon was no small feat because none of their automated options dealt with this problem. Finally, today I was able to speak with a “real” person who had heard of this happening. She took all my info and will report it. I’m not sure what will be
done, but I’ll keep you posted. As more people cancel their land line phones, this problem may become better known.
Let this be a warning to all of you who have also canceled land lines … WEAR PJ’S! You never know when the police will knock on your door. BTW, I told the officer that he might want to stick around since my adrenalin was so high that I might just have a heart attack and really need their help.
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Posted in Central Ohio, Commentary, Delaware County, Delaware Ohio
Tagged 911 errors, central ohio real estate market news