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My Solution for Political Ads

This really has nothing to do with real estate but I only have one blog...and it does prove that I'm a problem solver, which is what you really want in a Realtor, right?

Is anyone else as excited as me to not see political ads for another year or two?! I mean, does anyone really listen to these? And if they do, should they really have the right to vote in the first place?? The fact that _____(insert politician here)_____ voted a certain way on a bill does not mean that he is going to maime your toddler...or that your 112 year old grandmother is going to be abducted by aliens. The ads are ridiculous and have nothing to do with what the candidates have planned to help us but what the other candidate may or may not have done "wrong". How is that supposed to inspire a nation, state, or city? Without getting into politics directly, I'll get to the point. I have a thought and want someone (a politician, of course) to try it. I don't care who it is but I will vote for them.

Instead of spending their money on these goofy ads to bash others, give the money to charity. It would stop annoying everybody and their mother and more importantly, it would actually put their campaign funds to good use.

So, in my political utopia, here's an example of how we would make a decision for a politician:

And now, we get to make an educated decision based on what the candidate believes IN giving their hard earned money to...AND they're benefiting society instead of annoying it. I think more people might actually vote that way.

Let's face it. Most people don't even watch commercials anymore so the money spent is pretty wasteful. So why not try it? A lot of people aren't up to speed on the issues that they're voting on and if each candidate just put together a website and send out mailers directing us to look at them, maybe we would. America is online, after all.

If you agree, click the little button below to re-tweet, re-post, or forward to your friends via e-mail. Let's make a stand, damnit!!

Top 5 Reasons to use the Franklin County Auditor website

I recently took a class where the Franklin County auditor and his staff spoke about all of the cool tools that Franklin County residents have at their disposal. I thought I'd share a few of my faves (5 to be exact)!

1-Current Levy Info
It's elections season and as tired of the horrible campaign ads we all are, you might actually be interested in what the passage of a levy would mean to your pocket book. The auditor's got you covered! Checkout the "current levy info" tab (after looking up your property)

2-The "Me & My Pal Drawing Contest (Dog Licensing)
A cool initiative to promote dog licensing (also done through the auditor) and is taking place at all schools in Franklin county. Maybe you and your child(ren) can work on a picture together. Any time spent with your children is time well spent, right? But if your children ARE your dogs and you need to license them with the county, click here to find out how.

3-Board of Revision-Sure we all think our property taxes are too high! But some property values really have decreased significantly compared to their assessed value. First, lookup the assessed value of your home . If you think there's a significant difference in value, either contact me to lookup comps, hire an independent appraisal to assess the value for you (~$300-500), or checkout option #5. If there is a significant difference, then go to the auditors site, then go to the "Your property" tab and click on Board of Revision. There is a TON of information to get you on the road to contesting your taxes. It's a lengthy process but worth it if your assessed value is signicantly higher than the homes value. You can file to amend your taxes with the BOR from Jan 1-Mar 31st of any given year.

4-Tax Estimator
If you're thinking of Buying a NEW home and need to figure out if you can afford those pesky taxes in the new area, checkout the tax estimator tool

5-Area Sales Activity
Referring back to #3. You can run a search of comparable sales in the area to give you a good idea of what your neighbors homes are selling for. It will give you square footage and a sold date but you'll have to look elsewhere for more detail.

Trying to keep the list short but you can also:
-Pay your taxes online
-Find out about the Homestead Exemption (a nice tax reduction for the 65 and up & the permanantly disabled)
-Translate your search into 50 different languages
-search for unclaimed funds

September Home Sales Statistics for Columbus

Home values continue to rise which is good news for central Ohio. The average sale price for the first nine months of the year is $161,204 up 7.4 percent from the beginning of 2010 according to the Columbus Board of REALTORS®.

There were fewer homes listed for sale last month than is customary for September. Over the last five years, there was an average of 3,710 homes added to the market during the month of September. However, last month only 2,997 residential homes were added to the already elevated inventory in central Ohio.

Although slightly lower than August, the total residential listings in September (16,728) was still higher than it’s been since August of 2008 when the inventory level rose to 16,975.

“Inventory levels had come down over the last year and a half – which is what we were working towards,” said Sue Lusk-Gleich, President of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. “When inventory levels are too high, the increased competition forces some homeowners to sell at prices that are too low which in turn often affects the values of other neighboring homes.”

“In order to re-balance the market, we either need the inventory to decrease or the number of buyers to increase. And since the tax credit incentives brought many buyers into the market earlier than we would have seen otherwise, we have a smaller pool of potential home buyers to absorb the inventory now.”

“When comparing sales figures to the previous year, we need to remember that home sales have been elevated since April of 2008 due to the tax credits,” adds Lusk-Gleich. “Even so, sales are still up four percent year to date.”

Home sales across Ohio were down 20.3 percent in September but are still up 1.5 percent for the first nine months of the year. The average sale price in Ohio last month was $129,572, down 3.5 percent from last September. Year to date (January through September), the average sale price was $134,318 which is down four percent compared to the first three quarters of 2009.

Nationwide, existing home sales - which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops- were down 19 percent. Distressed homes accounted for 35 percent of sales in September compared with 34 percent in August; they were 29 percent in September 2009.

The median sale price nationwide for all housing types in September was $171,700, down 2.4 percent from one year ago.

According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage fell to a record low 4.35 percent in September from 4.43 percent in August; the rate was 5.06 percent in September 2009.

Housing affordability is near an all-time record. Mortgage interest rates are almost half of what they were ten years ago and they’re about one-and-a-half points lower than the peak of the housing boom in 2005. At the same time, home prices are running about 22 percent less than five years ago when they were bid up by the biggest housing rush on record.

Click here for Ohio home sales statistics
Click here for the national home sales release

The Columbus Board of REALTORS® Multiple Listing Service (MLS) serves all of Franklin, Delaware, Fayette, Madison, Morrow, Pickaway and Union Counties and parts of Champagne, Clark, Hocking, Licking, Fairfield, Knox, Logan, Marion, and Ross Counties.

Source: Columbus Board of Realtors