Is your home on the market for sale? Have you noticed this early sign that fall is around the corner?
Yes, the spiders are busy building their webs. Often they build them in the covered area around the front door. If your home is for sale, you need to pay special attention to keep the webs removed. Buyers tend to stand longer at the front door as the agent removes the key from the lockbox. So, you want to make a good first impression and have the area look as nice as the interior will look.
We’ll talk about fallen leaves in another month. Why did the summer go by so fast!
By 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.
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.
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.
A 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.
Quick … if I were to ask you what the interest rate is now on a 30-yr fixed rate loan, would you know the answer? Do you know what the rate was a year ago?
A year ago the rate was 5.25%. Today it’s 4.5%, depending on the applicant’s credit score and income/expense ratios. That may not seem like much of a difference, but let’s look at how much it changes your monthly payment.
Suppose you want to buy a home in southern Delaware County with a $250,000 mortgage. At last year’s rate, your P&I would have cost $1,382.50. At this year’s rate the P&I would be $1,267.50. So your mortgage payment would be $115 less than it would have been last year. That’s a savings of $1,380 per year … basically the savings of one entire monthly payment.
If you been sitting on the fence regarding selling or buying a home, you should consider how beneficial it would be to do so now from an interest rate perspective. Of course, there are other things to think about such as the equity you now have in your home and the price it might sell for, but if you’re in a good position it is certainly something to think about.
Give me a call and I can help you with comps, plus, I’ll do a Net Equity Estimate for you to see if it is a good time for you to change homes.
I have rabbits living in my yard. Nothing revolutionary about that. They’ve been living here for several years now … ever since I had 5 large spruce trees and 3 viburnums planted.
They lived here during the years Brutus, my last Dobie, was alive. Not being a hunting breed, Brutie left them alone and they soon learned that they didn’t have to scamper away when he was out.
Then THE MURPH came to live here. Here’s what Wikipedia says about dachshunds:
The dachshund is a short-legged, elongated dog breed, of the hound family. The standard size was developed to scent, chase, and flush badgers and other burrow-dwelling animals, while the miniature was developed to hunt smaller prey, like rabbits.
As The Murph grew – and breed instincts kicked in – he would chase the rabbits but, thankfully, was never successful as the rabbits scampered through small holes in the fence. Eventually, Murph gave chase only in a half-hearted way, knowing that it was futile. As this transition took place, the rabbits went back to their life as it was when Brutus left them alone.
Dachshunds are playful, but can be stubborn, and are known for their propensity for chasing small animals, birds, and tennis balls withgreat determination and ferocity.
This Spring, however, the rabbits have changed their attitude. They have taken ownership of the yard, lounging freely in the open grass. While they watch Murph when he goes out, they make no effort to run.
Then it happened. I was outside and after Murph checked to make sure I was watching to see how brave he was, he gave serious chase to the rabbit. All around the yard they went until the rabbit ran under one of the spruces. Murph followed. I could hear a scuffle and feared the worst – that I might have to deal with an injured bunny. Not to worry. Within seconds, Murph began yipping and raced out from under the tree. WTH! The “ferocious rabbit hunter” had been attacked!
Later in the afternoon, I took this video. Not only is The Murph keeping his distance, but the “Attack Rabbit” starts to go after HIM!
Yesterday afternoon, the “Attack Rabbit” hit again. Murph began yipping from the far corner of the yard and kept it up until he was safely through his little screen door.
The dachshund has a deep chest to allow enough lung capacity to keep going when hunting.
He now no longer goes out at bedtime unless I stand outside with him because apparently the “Attack Rabbit” spends nights under the pyracantha which is near the back steps. It’s really quite pathetic.
Helping home sellers & buyers with their real estate in Delaware & Franklin counties, including the suburbs of Powell, Dublin, Lewis Center, Galena, Worthington, Hilliard & Delaware.
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Click photos for more detailsExecutive-style home near Hoover Reservoir on 3 acres. Enchanting contemporary home nestled in trees & overlooking a ravine.SOLD for $542,000!Luxurious patio home in Wedgewood golf community. This custom-built, high quality ranch has a wonderful floor plan designed for convenience and entertaining. 2736 SF of available living space. PRICE JUST REDUCED TO $399,000!Charming, custom built home on 5 ac with woods. Convenient to Powell, Dublin & O'Shaunessy marina.SOLD for $300,000 in 1 day for 100% of list price!
Emerald Ash Borer articles
Click image to read all the articles about my personal saga with the Emerald Ash Borer damage to my tree.
By 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.
