BACK FROM EUROPE! CONCERTS & REAL ESTATE!

Well, after returning from Europe a week and a half ago I finally had the chance to catch up on my sleep, pay the bills, and visit with my daughter who was home on break from college. We returned a week ago Wednesday but only had two days off before a rehearsal on Saturday for a program of music by John Williams (Star Wars, E.T., 1941, etc.). Of course the house was packed and the audience loved it. Sunday I taught all day at Oberlin and last Tuesday rehearsals started for this past weekend of concerts, which included Brahms' Tragic Overture, John Adams "Dr. Atomic" Symphony, and the Brahms' 2nd piano concerto. Nice concert!



REAL ESTATE: Had a low-ball offer on one of my listings and negotiations are at that eerily quiet stage (are we losing momentum?) Have a look: http://2505meadowbrookblvd.howardhanna.com/



Another agent threatened to make an offer.. Where is it?? Two other agents showed it this weekend, so maybe we'll get a sale.. Another listing that hasn't gone into the MLS yet should go on this week.



TAX CREDIT- The extension and expansion of the tax credit for home buyers until next spring is a welcome development that hopefully will help get the real estate market back on its feet. Please note: THE TAX CREDIT HAS BEEN EXPANDED TO SECOND-TIME BUYERS AND THE INCOME CAP HAS BEEN RAISED. CALL ME IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS!!



Have a great week and please visit my sites at http://www.scotthaigh.com/ and http://www.scotthaigh.howardhanna.com/

Off to Europe!!

In a few days I will leave real estate behind for a few weeks as I travel to Europe with the Cleveland Orchestra. We start in Toronto and then go on to Paris, Luxembourg, Amsterdam, Linz, and Vienna. I am looking forward to the trip and I rest easy knowing my listings are covered by one of my fellow agents. Last week one of short sale listings transferred, so that was another sale under my belt. I will blog more from Europe. Happy Halloween!

Cleveland Heights Home Sales Rise during last 90 days

Sales of Cleveland Heights have risen in the last three month compared with the previous three months. Of those single family homes that sold in the last three months, all of them were $55,000 or less, so this may reflect bank-owned homes, foreclosure, distressed properties, or homes whose owners just had to lower the price to get them sold. In any case 131 homes were sold or pending in the last 90 days compared to 121 sold or pending for the previous three months. The down side of this is that there were 410 homes for sale during the last 90 days and only 89 for sale the previous 90 days. This may reflect people taking homes off the market for the Christmas holiday. So, more homes were sold but more came on the market the last three months, so the absorption rate has dropped for single family homes, from 45% to 11%. The same goes for condomiums. We had more sales in the last three months- 9 units compared to 3 the previous 3 months, but there were 67 for sale the last 90 days compared to 12 the previous three months. Thus the absorption rate dropped from 8% to 4%

The figures:

Last 90 days:

Single Family Homes

410 for sale
131 sold or pending (43.67/month)
Monthly Absorption Rate = 11%

Condominiums

67 for sale
9 sold or pending (3/month)
Monthly Absorption Rate = 4%

Previous 90 days (previous 4-6 months)

89 for sale
121 sold or pending (40.33/month)
Monthly Absorption Rate = 45%

Condominiums

12 for sale
3 sold or pending (1/month)
Monthly Absorption Rate = 8%

It seems that the net effect is that we did not really increase the rate at which homes are selling, so we're not out of the woods yet, but we are gradually working through the inventory. Let's see what the spring market of 2009 brings us!

Teaming up with business partner

As the weather has improved and the real estate market has begun to inch forward things have gotten pretty interesting for me in the last month. The most important thing is that I teamed up with fellow agent Tom Gron to handle listings together. It will be interesting to see how our strengths and weaknesses complement each other. It's sure nice having two people working on projects instead of one and it seems there is a synergy there. We wrote two new listings in the last few weeks so things are picking up. I had the chance to write "on the spot" offers on two bank-owned properties and that was a learning experience! Actually in retrospect they seem fairly easy since they are "as is" and there are almost no contingencies.

Things with the Cleveland Orchestra are still quite busy as we wind down the season with a performance of Dvorak's opera "Rusalka". We're taking it to the Salzburg Festival in August for 10 days, then on to the Lucerne Festival for a few days and then on to Milan and Turin. I look forward to this long tour but I don't look forward to being away from my family for so long.

My teaching at Oberlin College is done for the year so I'm finally getting a chance to unwind and get caught up on things.

Today is barbecue day and honor our soldiers and vets day. I hope you have a good holiday!

Check our sites: http://www.tomgron.com/ http://www.scotthaigh.com/ www.realtyone.com/scott.haigh
www.realtyone.com/tom.gron