Category Archives: Delaware Ohio

Articles about Delaware Ohio

A Decade of Home Sales in Central Ohio

The end of the year means it’s time to look back to see how we did in our local real estate market. Average prices of single-family homes “seem” to have turned the corner in most school districts – some moreso than others.

2002-2011 Avg Prices homes sold for Jan-Dec in central Ohio

Click graph to enlarge, then click again

The discouraging news is the severe downfall in the number of homes sold since 2009. The data for the years 2010 and 2011 includes only “normal” sales and does not include homes sold as a short-sale or REO-owned.

2002-2011 No Homes Sold Jan Dec in central Ohio

Click to enlarge, then click again

Having the real estate industry get back on its feet is critical to improving the employment rate since the NAR has calculated that one job is created for every 2-3 homes sold. Additionally, people need full-time jobs and decent paying jobs in order to afford a home. Gov Kasich has been laser focused to keep companies in Ohio or bring new businesses here. As such, the state’s unemployment rate has declined since he took office and that may be reflected in the uptick of the number of homes sold in 2011. Hopefully, we’ll continue to see number of homes sold continue to increase for 2012.

Happy Thanksgiving to your family

thanksgivingThis is Thanksgiving Week AND it’s OSU-Mich week. If you’re in to shopping, it’s also Black Friday week. Since I’m one of those people who hate shopping, there is NO WAY I would ever go to a store on Friday.

My family has reached the point where we must coordinate Thanksgiving dinners around other grandmas, other in-laws and other “might-be-in-laws-someday”. Bottom line, this year dinner is at my house on Saturday – the day of THE GAME.

This week will be spent getting everything ready … cleaning and planning groceries. My cupboards and fridge are mostly empty throughout the year because I nuke my food. That means I must buy fresh stuff like flour, brown sugar and spices. My girls always check the expiration date because they know I don’t cook or bake anymore.

We don’t do turkey, but prefer a ham from City BBQ. They are so good, we inhale the whole thing. I am also charged with fixing scalloped oysters for my sons-in-law and myself. One of my sons-in-law is a great baker of pies (as well as a great BBQ cook) so his job is to fix a pecan pie or two. My daughters will be fixing the salads, candied yams, and of course, green bean casserole. Naturally there will be other snacks and goodies as well. Hasn’t it been estimated that at the typical Thanksgiving dinner,  people eat between 3,000-5,000 calories?

I’m sure this year the Thanksgiving prayer will include thankfulness that we have jobs, have roofs over our heads, food on the table and that we’re all healthy. Yes, like others, we have recent college grads that aren’t working in their profession and we have others that are working two jobs to pay all the bills, but so far we’re OK, and I’m thankful for that. The main thing is that we have each other. I hope your family can enjoy the holiday.

Post election info. Read it and weep???

Business First published an article on the 2011 School District Rankings as released by the Ohio Department of Education. Their website includes a searchable database for readers to look up their specific district or compare it to other districts.

Local Schools Rank Within the State

2011 Ohio School District Rankings
Rank District Students Index $/Student
40 Dublin 13,614 106.94 $13,013
41 Olentangy 16,263 106.93 $9,465
49 New Albany 4,191 106.63 $12,249
124 Hilliard 14,945 103.53 $11,398
138 Worthington 9,098 103.15 $13,305
168 Big Walnut 2,797 102.35 $9,261
175 Marysville 5,345 102.16 $9,467
190 Westerville 14,105 101.92 $10,890
226 Bckye Valley 2,344 101.10 $9,938
266 Delaware 4,942 100.34 $10,009

Salaries of Some School Positions

You can also search by school for the salaries that are paid by district. The highly controversial SB5 (Issue 2) was about helping local governments decide how to best spend their budgets rather than having the public sector unions dictate salaries, benefits and pensions. The voters repealed the bill and now with many school levies having failed, schools and local governments are looking for ways to cut expenses to meet their budgets.

Out of curiosity, I checked the Business First database for salaries for the school district I live in – Delaware. Delaware was a district whose hefty levy passed. My findings:

  • 2 Superintendents: one earning $121,290; one earning $112,019
  • 1 Assistant Superintendent earning $109,535
  • 8 Principals with salaries between $109,535 to $77,411
  • 6 Assistant Principals with salaries between $78,584 to $69,673
  • 2 Directors earning $105,165 and $98,920
  • 3 Supervisors earning between $101,106 to $65,784
  • 12 Remedial Specialists with 5 earning in the $70,000′s.
  • 11 Counselors earning between $78,887 to $51,044
  • 291 Teachers with 66 earning in the $70,000′s; 66 in the $60,000′s; 57 in the $50,000′s; 53 in the $40,000′s; 39 in the $30,000′s; and 19 below $30,000
  • 30 Clerical workers earning between $60,377 to $20,106

You might want to check YOUR district before the next election asking for more money from the voters.

Copyright © 2011. 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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Another Gift for The Murph

I’m being upstaged by The Murph. Guess it should be expected since he’s cuter.

A year after I started this real estate blog, a reader made a special sculpture for him … a doxie on a peanut butter cup. I use it here next to my name to the right.

The following year, he received a dog pillow with a Reese’s logo. He sleeps on it daily since it’s located under my desk.

Murphy the dachshund, Delaware Ohio 43015He just received his latest gift … a little pillow toy with a doxie print. The owner of Home Source Interiors had it specially made for him after seeing the fabric in one of her vendor books.

When he was critically ill recently, he got LOTS of well wishes on Twitter and Facebook (he’s fine now). Murphy’s YouTube channel and videos get far more views than my real estate channel. One of his early videos has received over 68,000 hits.

Like a lot of doxies, he already has a huge case of “little man syndrome” and thinks he’s TOP DOG. Some say he’s really, really spoiled (my kids say that). So this extra attention isn’t helping matters any … but he’s so darn cute!

Central Ohio YTD Homes Sold By Schools or Suburbs

I’ve been busy updating the Jan-Sep YTD Homes Sold data on my website and here on my blog. Check out the results for your favorite area:

If you want to buy or sell a home in one of these areas, give me a call for assistance.

Are You Going To Challenge Your Property Tax Re-Evaluation?

Have you received your county’s Property Tax Re-Evaluation? Delaware County has been sending them out the past week. I believe Franklin County sent theirs a little earlier. Most values are expected to decline based on the housing market declines the past three years. I received my letter yesterday which had a “tentative” decline.

So how do you feel about the new valuation?

Since I’m not planning to sell, I don’t care about the value so much and am willing to hopefully lower my property taxes. I also know that the floor plan being used by the Auditor understates the sq ft because it doesn’t reflect two 2-ft bump-outs along the side and entire back of the home. I’ve refi’d once and am in the process of doing so again, so I have the more correct measurement from those appraisers that I can use if/when I sell. The appraisal that was done for my current refi was on target and 6% higher than the Auditor’s new assessed value.

Market Value Really Reflects Assessed Value

What bothers me most is that Auditors tend to use the term “market value”. When we’ve had meetings with Auditors at the Columbus Board, we challenged them on the use of that term because it has no bearing on what a buyer would pay for the home. It’s merely a value used to assess taxes. Let’s face it, two homes can look very similar from the outside and be entirely different on the inside for condition and amenities offered.

When You Might Want A Lowered Value

There is a possibility that a homeowner might want their value to be even lower. Auditors do not use short sales or foreclosures when calculating the reassessed values. Some newer subdivisions have been hit hard with these type of sales because those new-build buyers often paid top dollar with little money down. Having too many of those sales can bring down the selling price of “regular” homes. It’s possible that the Auditor’s value might need to be reduced further to reflect the short sales/foreclosures if there have been a lot of them.

Hire An Appraiser Or Realtor® For Help

If you need to gather specific housing stats to challenge your assessment, you can hire an appraiser or ask your favorite Realtor®. Both have access to the MLS and can identify which homes were “arms length” transactions and which were short sales or foreclosures. Plus, the MLS data allows you to compare the inside of the homes, assuming the listing agent took interior photos.

Schools Can Challenge Your Value

Did you know school districts can challenge your lower value? The lower home values may result in fewer tax revenues for the schools. Schools are allowed to challenge the value, although I’m told they “tend” to do that more so for commercial property rather than residential because homeowners are voters.

So, will you be challenging your new assessed value?

Copyright © 2011. 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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Don't click on Google AdsANY GOOGLE-TYPE ADS SHOWN ON THIS BLOG ARE NOT SUPPORTED BY THIS BLOG. DO NOT CLICK ON THEM.
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