Greetings of the season!

I haven't posted anything since returning from Vienna, so it's good to be back. Life has hectic with catching up with my listings, teaching my bass students, and playing many concerts with the orchestra. This time of year is particularly busy with holiday concerts, including two performances of the Messiah.

As we look back to what has been a challenging year in real estate, we can look forward to a healthier market. It may take a while, but many of the excesses in lending and pricing are being wrung out of the system and eventually we will return to a more normal and sustainable market. That doesn't mean there won't be pain, but with changes in FHA and lenders more willing to work with homeowners, I expect an improvement. I think the main lesson here is "if it's sounds too good to be true, it's because it isn't. Remember what happen in the stock market just before the tech bubble busted? "It's a new paradigm! PE ratios of 50 or even 90 are okay! The market is different today!" Baloney. "I can own a home with nothing down! Who needs equity in a home?" Well look what happened.. Owning a home is a rite of passage and is something to be worked for. In my opinion the way we went about financing homes was unwise and dangerous. Careless lenders led many buyers to think they could own a home for nothing, and many fell for it. Let's look to the future a bit wiser. Where owning a home can be a good investment, the primary reason for owning a home is to have place to enjoy families and create memories. Don't let the bad press make you think that homeownership is dead. We all need a place to live. People change jobs and have to move. Despite the difficulty in the housing market America will continue forward. As a home owner I still think it was a great move to purchase a house, but one has to think long-term. Take a deep breath and appreciate what you have during this holiday season. With a clear mind we can work this out and look for better times ahead. That's my opinion and I apologize if I've offended anyone. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Tips for sellers: http://blog.realliving.com/public/item/191546

Complete Information about Cleveland

If you are thinking about moving to the Cleveland area, here is a great site to find out about almost anything in Cleveland. Enjoy!

http://clevelandplusbusiness.com/ClevelandPlusBusiness/

Last blog from Vienna with the Cleveland Orchestra!

The last two days in Vienna were filled with wonderful activities. The orchestra had Thursday free until the evening, so some of my collegues and I took a day trip to Baden, a nearby town known for it's mineral baths and casino and frequently visited by famous composers during the summers of the 19th century. (Beethoven wrote a good portion of the 9th symphony there) There is a wonderful park on a hill that leads into the Vienna Woods (the "Wiener Wald") so we had a scenic 3 hour walk among the fall colors and bucolic beauty of the Austrian hills. Thursday night's concert started with Ligeti's "Lontano", a hauntingly beautiful work. The second half of the concert was taken up by Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony. To see pictures of the orchestra playing in Vienna's famous Musikvereinsaal and hear a clip from the end of the first movement of the Bruckner symphony, click below:
http://rogermastroianni.com/multimedia/bruckner9/
The audience loved this Austrian piece conducted by an Austrian conductor and performed by one of America's great orchestras!!
The final concert was on Friday night (November 3rd) with just one piece, Gustav Mahler's monumental 2nd Symphony (the "Resurrection" symphony). The orchestra sounded magnificent, as well as the vocal soloists and Vienna State Opera chorus, and it was a world-class performance in one of the greatest concert halls in the world. For me it was a great experience and a highlight of my musical career. After 29 years with the orchestra it was still a thrill to play this great piece in the Musikvereinsaal!!
The trip home was long but uneventful, even though we had a long layover in Chicago before flying home to Cleveland. Some of the orchestra members took a different flight than the rest of the orchestra and ended up sleeping on the floor of the Boston airport! Aparently the remnants of hurricane Noel forced the closing of the airport and for them the trip took 42 hours!
I'm glad to be back and this week we have the pleasure of performing with Herbert Blomstedt, who is a fine conductor. Of course catching up on my listings will be a challenge and I hope to write 3 listings this coming week, so I'll be busy! I hope you're having a good week and thanks for following my blog! If you would to see reviews of the Cleveland Orchestra tour, go to www.clevelandorchestra.com. Please visit my websites!!
www.scotthaigh.com or www.realtyone.com/scott.haigh

Cleveland Orchestra in Vienna

Last night we performed our first concert in the famous Musikvereinsaal, the home of the Vienna Philharmonic and the site of the famous New Year's Day concert with Walter Cronkite. With it's beautiful decorations, history, and fantastic acoustics, it's always a treat for musicians to play there. Last night's program was Mozart Symphony #28, Debussy's "Iberia", and Beethoven's 7th Seventh symphony. We had curtain after curtain call and the normally reserved Viennese audience was very extroverted! Tonight is Ligeti's "Lontano" ( a very beautiful modern work) and the Bruckner Ninth Symphony. Since both our conductor and Bruckner are Austrian, the Viennese audience should love it. Tonight's concert is also being taped and will be made into a commercial DVD.

Today I rested but tomorrow we have most of the day off so I hope to going hiking in the Vienna woods. Vienna is an incredibly beautiful city with a rich history, great museum, fantastic shopping, and great food. I highly recommend it! I hope you have a nice week! NOW GO SELL HOUSES!!!!

Cleveland Orchestra- Luxembourg & Cologne

We just finished 1 concert in Luxembourg and 2 in Cologne. Luxembourg is a very nice banking city which obviously has lots of wealth. There are large pedestrian malls with beautiful shops. On our free day some of us rented cars to get out of the city and visit some castles. We enjoyed the rebuilt castle at Vianden and the partially-rebuilt castle in La Brouchette. I would highly recommend visiting both if you are in the area. The concert hall in Luxembourg, which we opened two years ago, has excellent acoustics but is a little boomy because of the extremely high ceiling. Nevertheless, the hall has lots of wood in it and has the classic "shoebox" shape, which is so important for a good concert hall. The concerts in Cologne were extremely well received, although the hall is not that great. It's a little dry-sounding and you really have to work to get a great sound. Last night the local presenter treated us to dinner at a restaurant specializing in German cuisine, and it was tasty! The beer was flowing quite freely during dinner and everyone had a great time.

Tonight's performance of the Mahler 2nd symphony was the best so far and the audience loved it...MANY curtain calls and lots of ovations. They seem to like us here so I know we'll be back in 2 years. Tomorrow we fly to Friedrichshafen for a concert at 3pm and them on to Vienna, which is the holy grail for symphony musicians. I write again from there. Have a great weekend!

Visit my sites: www.realtyone.com/scott.haigh http://www.scotthaigh.com/

Cleveland Orchestra on tour part 2

We’ve been on tour for 9 days and everyone is beginning to get into the rhythm of touring. The tour started out in Washington D.C. with a concert at the Kennedy Center and the program was Mozart Symphony #28, John Adams A Guide to Strange Places, and Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony (the “Pathetique). Despite the mediocre acoustics the audience seemed to enjoy it very much. Next was New York City, with 3 concerts at Carnegie Hall. I usually enjoy running around the city to see museums, etc. but I was hit with a nasty cold that kept me confined to the hotel napping while I didn’t have a rehearsal or concert. I even had to cancel a visit to see my family north of the city because of those little germs. The highlight of the New York concerts was the Mahler Symphony #2 (the “Resurrection Symphony), which never fails to elicit standing ovations. The guest chorus, The Westminster Symphonic Choir, was excellent but I’m sure Cleveland Orchestra Chorus members were NOT pleased to not be singing with us in Carnegie Hall. After New York we jumped over the puddle to Birmingham, England. Birmingham has an excellent hall built in 1990. The local orchestra achieved fame under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle, who spent many years there and is now the music director of the Berlin Philharmonic. We did the Mahler again with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Chorus, which was also excellent. Birmingham is a big city with lots of night life next to our hotel (READ PUBS WITH LOTS OF ENEBRIATED YOUNG PEOPE WATCHING THE WORLD RUGBY FINALS, WHICH ENGLAND LOST!!) Cardiff, Wales was next, on last Monday. The famous city castle was right in front of the hotel and there’s a neat pedestrian mall near the hotel. It’s a neat city and well worth the visit. I had dinner there with a bass-playing friend who used to play in the Hong Kong Philharmonic. She’s married to a free-lance trombonist who works in London and they’re expecting their 2nd child. That brings us to Brussels, Belgium, where we played at the Palais des Beaux-Arts last night. The house was packed and we rocked it on Beethoven 7th symphony. Brussels is a beautiful city but we were there such a short time I decided to skip the sight-seeing and rest up before the concert. Pacing is very important on tour, especially as you get older! Some of the younger folks in the orchestra went out partying after the concert last night and got in at 5am. Needless to say they are sleeping on this morning’s bus ride to Luxembourg, and trying to get rid of headaches!
Have a profitable day and I’ll report more in a few days.

Best, Scott Haigh

www.realtyone.com/scott.haigh www.scotthaigh.com

First Concert on Tour-Cleveland Orchestra

We started our tour today in Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center. The program was an early Mozart symphony, a piece by minimalist composer John Adams, called "A Guide to Strange Places" ( It should have been called a "Guide to a Strange Piece!) Anyway, the audience loved it. The concert ended with Tchaikovsky's famous Symphony #6, the "Pathetique) Kennedy Center's acoustics are not the greatest but it was a good concert and the audience was pleased. Tomorrow we head to the holy grail of concert halls, Carnegie Hall in New York, where we have 3 concerts. I'll report on that in a few days. Ohio senator Sherrod Brown arranged a tour for orchestra members of the Capitol Building, which was really interesting. We saw the senate in session, where a bill extending the "No call list" legislation was presented, which of course is of interest to realtors. The rotunda was particularly impressive, where JFK lay in state so long ago. I would highly recommend visiting it. Have a good day tommorow!

Turning over listings for music!

So next week I'm leaving to go on a concert tour with the Cleveland Orchestra, with whom I've played since 1978. I'll be gone for 3 weeks and although I'll have my laptop with me and therefore email, I won't have international cell phone service so I feel like I'll be really out of touch. Why am telling you this? Only this week did the seller of my first listing decide that maybe painting and new carpet is what's needed to sell the house. (It's been on the market since March and the home is tired and needs work) So....I'm going crazy trying to get that arranged before I leave and preparing all my files to turn over to another agent before I leave. Sound familiar? Any sympathy would help but I'm sure I won't get it! In case you are interested in following the Cleveland Orchestra European Tour online, click on www.clevelandorchestra.com, or go my website, www.realtyone.com/scott.haigh
I hope things go well for you this week...

Life as a semi-rookie agent

Well, I started my real estate career one year ago and it's been a heck of a year to start a career in real estate, or so my friends say. I have a positive take on the whole real estate situation. I think this is the best environment to learn our craft right. When it's tough you learn more. I've seen around 125 properties this year and it's such a pleasure to see so many home staged well. I think it's been great for the condition of the housing stock on Cleveland's east side. Of course for sellers prices today are a hard pill to swallow compared to what they were 2 years ago. The flip side of that is that seller's moving on to bigger houses are enjoyind reduced prices, so for them it's a wash. This whole drastic reduction in home prices reminds us of one basic truth-- A house or condo is primarily A PLACE TO MAKE YOUR HOME, and secondarily an investment. Like stocks, the prices of homes go up and down, and they will go back up when the market corrects.

During all this turmoil I've learned a great deal and I've had the great fortune of having very supportive and helpful colleagues at Realty One. The Shaker office is great. I've had a ball learning about properties, people, law, finance, neighborhoods, blogging, and everything else that goes into being a real estate agent. The people are what I enjoy most! Aside from a few uptight rude agents, most of them are very collegial and I'M HAVING FUN!

I hope you weekend was great and stay tuned for more......

Scott

Identity Theft

You may have seen ads on TV where this guy advertises his social security number on a truck for everyone to see. I checked his product out and it looks pretty good! This is cheap insurance against a potential disaster in your economic life! For more information see:

http://www.lifelock.com

Cleveland Heights History

Here's a very interesting short history of Cleveland Heights, courtesy of Cleveland Heights' official website...

http://www.clevelandheights.com/historyarch.asp

RATE CUT AT LAST!!

Today's decision by the Fed to cut the federal funds rate by 50 basis points (1/2 % in laymen's language) is just what real estate needed. Not only will in make new mortgages cheaper but it will help stave off foreclosures among those whose adjustable mortgages will now adjust a little bit less. Hopefully that will enable them to stay in their homes and reduce the inventory pressure on the market. If you would like to talk to me about the real estate situation in Cleveland or you are looking to buy or sell in Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, or University Heights, call my voicemail at 216-348-3075 or visit my websites www.scotthaigh.com and www.realtyone.com/scott.haigh . Have a great week!!

Scott

HELP IS ON THE WAY.....

Some logical clear thinking has finally emerged from the fog of the sub-prime mortgage mess. Though I don't believe we are all the way there, at least some serious thinking has taken place about the cause and the solution of the credit crisis. What was encouraging about this article was the apparent shift in political thinking. Let's see what happens..... Enjoy...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/10/opinion/10mon1.html

Light & Ventilation- I bet you didn't know!

Here's some useful information on how much light and ventilation is required in your home if you are adding on or building a new home. I learned something today!!

http://www.cleveland.com/living/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/living-0/1188377864105410.xml&coll=2

Can't sell your home? Improve it cheaply!

If you need to improve your home in order to make it more saleable or you just want to enjoy it more, here's a way to upgrade your kitchen on the cheap!

http://money.cnn.com/2007/06/21/pf/kitchen_facelifts.moneymag/index.htm

What happens when your lender goes under?

Has your mortgage holder informed you that they are going out of business? Here's an interesting article I found on MSNBC.COM. I hope you find it useful...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20359910/
Enjoy these last few days of summer!!

Foreclosure rescue scams

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday as much as I am. It's a beautiful day here in Cleveland and my family took me out for a birthday lunch at a fine Indian restaurant. Ymm.... Hopefully we'll have a few more dry days here after all the rainstorms-- we're trying to get our house painted!!

I found this really scary article on scams foisted on people who's homes are about to go into foreclosure. Don't fall for them! TALK TO YOUR LENDER INSTEAD!!
Here's the website URL

http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/22/real_estate/foreclosure_rescue_scams/index.htm?postversion=2007082415">

Have a great weekend!!

All about foreclosures

With all the talk about forclosures in the media, I found a great site that tells you all about the foreclosure process, judicial and non-judicial, the average time it takes to foreclose a property, and the right of redemption (EXTREMELY IMPORTANT if you own a property in distress) in each state. (It varies state to state) In Ohio only a judicial proceeding is available in the foreclosure process, which is why foreclosures takes so long. That can affect investors because it can take months before a foreclosed property is available for possession and in the interim a property can deteriorate substantially. Don't believe everything you hear on TV about great cash flow with nothing down. Call a professional realtor!! Here's the link: http://www.foreclosures.com/ Happy reading and enjoy your day!

Cleveland no long foreclosure capitol of the country

Garfield Hts., Ohio, listed recently in the media as having the highest foreclosure rate in the country seems to have been displaced by Stockton, California. Here's an article from Inman News:



Stockton, Calif., scores highest U.S. foreclosure rate
Detroit, Las Vegas also rank high in first half of '07
Inman News
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Foreclosure data provider RealtyTrac today reported that Stockton, Calif., had the highest foreclosure rate among all metro areas in the nation during the first half of 2007, with one foreclosure filing for every 27 households.
The company's Midyear Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report found that Detroit was second on the list, with one foreclosure filing for every 29 households, and Las Vegas was third with one foreclosure filing for every 31 households.
Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif., was fourth on the list with a rate of one foreclosure filing for every 33 households, followed by Sacramento, Calif., with one in 36; Denver-Aurora, Colo., with one in 42; Miami with one in 46; Bakersfield, Calif., with one in 47; Memphis, Tenn., with one in 49; and Cleveland-Lorain-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio, and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with one foreclosure for every 50 households.
The Stockton metro area had a total of 8,169 foreclosure filings on 4,239 properties in the first half of the year, which was more than triple the number reported during the same period in 2006 and more than double the number of properties reported during the second half of 2006.
Six of the metro areas that ranked among the top-20 highest foreclosure rates were in California, and four were in Ohio.
The Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif., metro area reported 41,351 foreclosure filings on 22,291 properties during the first half of 2007, which was the highest number of filings among all metro areas tracked by RealtyTrac. That number nearly tripled compared to the first half of 2006, according to the report.
The Los Angeles metro area reported the second-highest total, with 38,199 foreclosure filings on 20,288 properties during the first half of the year.
And Atlanta's total of 36,502 foreclosure filings on 22,412 properties was the third highest among the 100 top metro areas.
Other cities with foreclosure-filing totals among the 10 highest included Chicago, Detroit, Denver, Dallas, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Sacramento.
The household numbers are based on the U.S. Census Bureau's 2005 estimates of total housing units, RealtyTrac reported.
The report includes counts of properties with at least one foreclosure filing reported against them -- "this new metric only counts a property once, even if there were multiple foreclosure actions filed against the property during the time period covered by the report," RealtyTrac announced.
The company is a foreclosure data supplier to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate and The Wall Street Journal's Real Estate Journal.
Foreclosure Activity for the Nation's 100 Largest MSAs -- Jan to Jun 2007
Rate Rank
MSA
Foreclosure Filings
1 filing for every #HH
Properties with Filings
%? from prev 6 months
%? from First Half 2006
1
STOCKTON, CA
8,169
27
4,239
116
256
2
DETROIT/LIVONIA/DEARBORN, MI
28,705
29
20,231
26
99
3
LAS VEGAS/PARADISE, NV
22,928
31
13,028
72
142
4
RIVERSIDE/SAN BERNARDINO, CA
41,351
33
22,291
80
198
5
SACRAMENTO, CA
20,516
36
10,708
162
241
6
DENVER/AURORA, CO
23,842
42
13,149
14
11
7
MIAMI, FL
20,275
46
10,191
24
74
8
BAKERSFIELD, CA
5,365
47
2,721
85
222
9
MEMPHIS, TN
10,800
49
5,401
12
17
10
CLEVELAND/LORAIN/ELYRIA/MENTOR, OH
18,844
50
13,444
54
106
11
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL
15,720
50
7,162
16
72
12
ATLANTA/SANDY SPRINGS/MARIETTA, GA
36,502
54
22,412
20
17
13
FORT WORTH/ARLINGTON, TX
13,221
57
6,250
7
-10
14
FRESNO, CA
4,867
60
2,679
66
183
15
INDIANAPOLIS, IN
11,677
62
8,093
-3
-6
16
DAYTON, OH
5,966
63
3,881
56
96
17
DALLAS, TX
23,284
65
12,725
-9
-15
18
AKRON, OH
4,378
70
3,686
65
85
19
OAKLAND, CA
13,482
70
7,491
63
152
20
COLUMBUS, OH
10,706
70
7,363
55
85
Source: RealtyTrac
***
Send tips or a Letter to the Editor to glenn@inman.com, or call (510) 658-9252, ext. 137.
Copyright 2007 Inman News

Cleveland Eastern Suburbs Homes for Sale

I specialize in Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, Lyndhurst, South Euclid, Beachwood, Richmond Heights, Pepper Pike, Moreland Hills, Highland Heights, Bentleyville, Orange, and Chagrin Falls. I can help you find the home of your dreams. Call my voicemail at 216-348-3075.

Mortgage Crises, The real story

With all the negative news about the credit and mortgage markets out there, check the following link to give you some perspective. http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/10/real_estate/mortgage_rates/index.htm?postversion=2007081115

For more questions about Cleveland real estate, see my website at www.realtyone.com/scott.haigh

Have a great week and think buy, buy, buy!