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!