Category Archives: Powell Ohio

Articles about Powell Ohio

Is the real estate sky falling … or NOT!

Posted on 08/25/2010 by Elaine Reese| Leave a comment

chicken littleBy now, you’ve probably heard the various news media (national & local) reporting on the July housing data as compared to last July. The number of homes sold in July 2010 is down versus what was sold in July 2009. Is anyone really surprised by this? We knew it would happen, because the Tax Credit incentives merely moved sales to the first half of the year as those homes had to close by June 30.

I’ve never been one to just accept the info that is published because I know that there are so many caveats to the data. So I decided to relook the sales in MY service area: the Olentangy and Dublin school districts.

JAN-JUN Sales Comparison 2010 vs 2009

  • Olentangy: 478 homes sold with an average price of $328,996 in 2010. 397 homes sold in 2009 with an average price of $318,040. So for the first half of the year, the number of homes sold was up 20% and the average price was up 3%.
  • Dublin: 369 homes sold with an average price of $313,201 in 2010. 290 homes sold in 2009 with an average price of $313,516. So for the first half of the year, the number of homes sold was up 27% and the average price was flat.

JULY Sales Comparison 2010 vs 2009

  • Olentangy: 83 homes sold with an average price of $340,319 in 2010. 108 homes sold in 2009 with an average price of $313,211. The number of homes sold is down 23% but the average price is up 9%.
  • Dublin: 61 homes sold with an average price of $363,381 in 2010. 87 homes sold in 2009 with an average price of $330,215. The number of homes sold is down 30% and the average price is up 10%.

What does AUGUST look like?

  • Olentangy: As of today, 185 homes have closed or are in-contract. This compares favorably to the 104 homes sold last year in August.
  • Dublin: As of today, 111 homes have closed or are in-contract. This also is favorable to last year when only 56 homes sold.

This shows the danger in putting so much emphasis on just one month’s worth of sales. My fear is that with all the publicity July’s numbers are receiving, that it will influence current buyers to decide to not buy. This would be a mistake because they have much to gain with the extremely low interest rates.

Of course, there may be markets nationwide that aren’t as positive as the news we have here, but at least for now, we’re doing OK.

Copyright © 2010. Elaine Reese, Real Living HER. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

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Posted in Buyers, Central Ohio, Delaware County, Dublin Ohio, Franklin County, Home buying process, Homes, Housing stats, Lewis Center Ohio, Powell Ohio, Sellers

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Do you REALLY know where you live?

Posted on 08/09/2010 by Elaine Reese| Leave a comment

Searching the Internet for homes for sale in Delaware County by zip code can be a mistake. Likewise, trusting any housing stats that show the info by zip can be very misleading. Why? Because the boundaries for the zips in Delaware County have no relevance to municipalities or school districts or general geography.

The first home I purchased was located in Franklin County, in the Worthington School District, with a Dublin phone exchange. The property taxes were based on the city of Columbus with Columbus police, fire, trash and snow removal. My MAILING address was Powell 43065. Essentially, I wasn’t sure where I lived.

At that time, I inquired as to why I had a Powell mailing address since Powell is in Delaware County. I was told that it was due to the mail routes (and zips) being set up when the land was rural. They told me that Worthington wasn’t set up to do mail delivery to farm land properties.

ZipMap
Click map to enlarge

So fast forward to today to see how strange the zip codes are for southern Delaware County. I’m not sure how these zip boundaries were determined but since the area was farms until recent years, I suppose it has something to do with rural carrier routes. Even then, I don’t understand why 43015 (Delaware, orange area) extends all the way down to Powell Rd, west of Rt 23. Why doesn’t 43065 (Powell, lavender area) go straight to the east with Rt 23 as its border?

Another issue is that these zip areas contain multiple school districts. For example, the 43065 Powell zip contains portions of 4 school districts (Olentangy, Dublin, Worthington and Buckeye Valley). Because home sales/prices differ within each of the four school districts, it would be misleading to provide you with the data using only the zip code. A similar problem exists for the Galena zip code (43021, teal area) and the Delaware zip (43015, orange area). These additional areas also have multiple school districts which aren’t aligned with the zip boundaries.The Lewis Center zip code, 43035 is a little “cleaner”.

This “mess” is why I typically report sales by school district. First of all, doing so provides larger geography, making the reports a little easier to understand. Home buyers are “generally” a little more familiar with school district areas, and even if they don’t have children in school, they know that their property taxes will be impacted (high or low) by the levies from the schools.

The next time you see a real estate agent or a newspaper reporting on housing sales or prices, try to determine what they are using for their search, otherwise you’re apt to be misled.

Copyright © 2010. Elaine Reese, Real Living HER. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

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Posted in Buyers, Central Ohio, Delaware County, Delaware Ohio, Galena Ohio, Home buying process, Home prices, Homes, Homes for sale, Housing stats, Lewis Center Ohio, Powell Ohio, Schools

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Why did southern Delaware County grow so fast?

Posted on 08/06/2010 by Elaine Reese| Leave a comment

newspaperA local newspaper reporter called me this morning to discuss the housing growth that has occurred in southern Delaware County this decade. I’m usually nervous about talking with the media for fear of being mis-quoted. I hope he doesn’t do that.

After our conversation was over, I thought more about why the growth has occurred into southern Delaware County. I think there are several events that occurred that set the stage for it.

  • I-270 made it easy to go from one suburb to another. Businesses (jobs) built up around the various interchanges. Suburbs located inside 270 were land-locked with limited room to expand further housing.
  • Suburbs, like Dublin or Powell close to the freeway, had room to expand their borders. They also had easy access to the freeway with major roads such as Rt 315, Sawmill Rd and Rt 33 already in place.
  • Lewis Center’s growth was impacted when Banc One (now Chase) built the huge employment center and the nearby Polaris Mall was added, both outside of I-270. Old State Rd provided access to that employment so many housing subdivisions were built off of that road.
  • Golf Courses have played an important part to the housing growth as well. Dublin already had Jack Nicklaus’ huge Muirfield Village but then Arnie’s Tartan Fields was built north of Muirfield. Powell began with Wedgewood, then added Scioto Reserve and Kinsale (Golf Village). Shamrock and Safari are nearby, but they are not lined with homes the way the other courses are.
  • The southwest part of the county contains both the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers. I’m not a geologist but it seems there is more variance to the terrain between the rivers, providing more opportunity for the wooded, ravine lots that many home buyers like.
  • The southeast part of the county has the big water reservoirs with Alum Creek and Hoover. Both offer boating opportunities, albeit they have different motor restrictions.
  • Dublin and Powell already had groceries and retail, but those types of commercial buildings have expanded to keep pace with the housing. Dublin added Perimeter Mall and Powell added the shopping at Powell Rd and Sawmill Pkwy.
  • Some of the northern most housing developments in the Lewis Center area were several miles from groceries, gas stations, and fast-food eateries, but with the recent addition of some new stores along Rt 23 at Lewis Center Rd, that is changing.
  • Columbus State Community college recently opened along Rt 23 and Ohio Health is at a certain stage of providing convenient health care for the area.
  • More growth along Rt 23 between Powell Rd and Cheshire Rd was on the drawing board but it has been put on hold due to the economic downturn.
  • Southern Delaware County is primarily served with four school districts: Dublin, Olentangy, Westerville and Big Walnut. Olentangy covers the largest geographical part of the southern part of the county.

Like thousands of others, I’ve found the county to be a great place to live and work. If you would like to join us, give me a call and we’ll go house shopping.

Copyright © 2010. Elaine Reese, Real Living HER. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

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Posted in Central Ohio, Delaware County, Dublin Ohio, Franklin County, Golf Village, Kinsale, Golf course communities, Homes, Homes for sale, Lewis Center Ohio, Media, Muirfield, Newspaper, Powell Ohio, Scioto Reserve, Water fun, Wedgewood

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Signs of the Summer in Delaware County

Posted on 07/23/2010 by Elaine Reese| Leave a comment
Road construction signs on Home Rd, Powell OH 43065

Road signs near Home Rd RR construction

The signs of summer are with us. Some of us who live in Delaware County are dealing with road improvements, and while they can slow our journey now, hopefully, the projects will make life easier in the future.

A project that we’re going to have to live with for awhile is the building of an overpass over the Home Rd railroad tracks just north of Powell. Anyone who has been late to work or a meeting waiting for a train to pass will be thankful when this project is complete. According to the Delaware County Engineer’s web site, the project won’t be completed until 2011.

Before construction can begin on the RR overpass, they had to re-route traffic onto a temporary side road that “snakes” its way between Liberty Rd and Sawmill Pkwy. The signs in this photo help redirect traffic onto the temporary road from the road next to the Chase Bank at the corner of Sawmill Pkwy. Yes, it can be confusing the first time through!!!!

East of this area, Liberty Rd is being re-aligned to join the north & south sections of this road. When complete, there will be a stoplight at Home Rd, which will be a welcome addition. It was becoming increasingly difficult to turn onto Home Rd from Liberty Rd without taking some risk. This project is to be complete by the end of 2010. If you go to this link, you can see a map of how the road is to be realigned.

If you want to avoid this area entirely and want to go north-south between Powell & Delaware city, your options are to take Rt 315 (Olentangy River Rd) or Sawmill Pkwy all the way to Hyatts Rd, then east to Liberty Rd. If you need to go east-west, your options are to take Hyatts Rd then south on Section Line Rd or Powell Rd through downtown Powell (allow extra time for this option).

If you live in another part of Delaware County, the Engineer’s Office has a list of all projects on their website. It’s pretty helpful.

big eyesBest advice is to stay cool … control the road rage … keep your eyes open … and don’t drive on the wrong part of the road as I did the first time through!

Copyright © 2010. Elaine Reese, Real Living HER. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

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Posted in Central Ohio, Delaware County, Powell Ohio, Transportation

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Real Living HER for 1-stop shopping in Powell OH

Posted on 07/20/2010 by Elaine Reese| Leave a comment

One of the big advantages of being associated with the #1 brokerage in central Ohio, for both me and my clients, is having important services easily available. I’m very proud of my Powell office for having such qualified, helpful people in it. Therefore, I want to share with you how nice our office is set up for client meetings and to introduce you to the people you may meet when we’re working together.

Two additional points I need to make are:

  • Murphy’s Park has no connection to The Murph, although he might think that would be a good idea.
  • You’ll notice that I wiggle when I walk. Sorry for the camera movement. :-)

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Posted in Central Ohio, Delaware County, Powell Ohio, Real Living HER, Realtors®

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Making an offer on a luxury home in Delaware County?

Posted on 07/18/2010 by Elaine Reese| Leave a comment

A couple days ago, I wrote about whether it was a buyer’s or seller’s real estate market in the Olentangy school district. In that report, I calculated the absorption rate of current inventory by the various price ranges. At the end of the article, I noted that making an initial offer of 85% of list price might not sit well with sellers in the lower price ranges, but might be worth a try in the very high price range where the absorption rate was quite long.

A reader asked whether a seller would agree to the 85% ratio or whether that would just be a starting point on an offer on homes priced over $500,000. Naturally that depends on the seller and whether their home is competitively priced or not.

To better answer that reader’s question, I went to the MLS system to calculate the ratio of sell price vs list price for each of the price ranges. The following chart shows the AVERAGES for single family homes that have sold since January in the Olentangy school district. Of course, I have no way of knowing what the initial offers were. All this tells us is what the seller and buyer finally agreed to for a selling price.

Luxury Homes List-Sell Ratio for Olentangy School District
Price Range Avg List Price Avg Sold Price Avg List/Sell Ratio Avg $ Discounted
$500′s $550,355 $505,957 92% -$44,398
$600′s $649,650 $615,359 95% -$34,291
$700′s $767,200 $715,650 93% -$51,550
$800′s $862,450 $812,500 94% -$49,950
$900′s $992,450 $910,000 92% -$82,450
$1,000′s $1,524,155 $1,274,750 84% -$249,405

As an example, if you’re shopping for a home priced in the $900′s, should you automatically expect a seller to settle at 92% of the list price? NO! These are AVERAGES. Each home will have a unique situation. Your best advisor is your real estate agent. They can check to see how long the home has really been on the market (the DOM resets every time a seller changes agents). They can view how frequently the seller has taken price reductions.* They also can analyze comparatives to determine how they compare to the home under consideration. Armed with all the data, the agent can help the buyer develop a strategy for how their offer should be positioned so BOTH parties feel good about the transaction. And, remember that it’s not always about the price but other terms of the contract are important as well.

* I once saw a home that had been on the market for some time with regular price reductions of a certain amount leading us to wonder “how low will they go and how long did they plan to keep it up?”.

Copyright © 2010. Elaine Reese, Real Living HER. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

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Posted in Buyers, Central Ohio, Delaware County, Galena Ohio, Home buying process, Home prices, Home selling process, Homes, Housing stats, Lewis Center Ohio, Powell Ohio, Sellers

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