Well I'm back in Miami with the Cleveland Orchestra for a one week concert tour and it's very nice to get out of Cleveland's weather for a few days! I'm happy to say that one of my listings went under contract just before coming down here and I just put a beautifully staged University Heights home on the market a week before leaving, so things are slowly improving. I even managed to get my taxes done before the tour!
We're playing this week with Costa Rican conductor Giancarlo Guerrero, who is a very affable and happy person so it's a pleasure to make music with him. He substituted for Lorin Maazel last year, conducting Maazel's Ring Without Words (an arrangement of Wagner's greatest hits from the Ring operas) and did a fine job. For this tour we are offering Fandangos, by Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra (which audiences are loving), the Tchaikovsky violin concerto with Midori as soloist, and Moussourgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.
We started the tour in St. Petersburg (Florida, not Russia!!) and the rest of the concerts are in Miami at the new Knight concert hall. On Saturday the orchestra will have a joint rehearsal with members of the New World Symphony on Strauss' Ein Heldenleben. The New World Symphony is a professional training orchestra that is top-notch, so the rehearsal should be good and that means I have to practice my part or the students may give me a hard time! It should be a lot of fun. Before coming home this weekend we will make a stop in Columbus, Georgia where we will perform in the River Center for the Performing Arts.
I'm planning to see some properties in South Beach later today, so I'll keep you posted on what I find out. I hope the weather has improved in Cleveland and I promise to file an end-of-tour report.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Cleveland Dreary Winter goes on and on....
Today's huge snow storm only added insult to injury to our dreary winter. Between the storm, the bad economy, and geopolitical events, I wonder if I should have stayed in bed today. After all, I couldn't really go anywhere today and the Cleveland Orchestra cancelled it's concert tonight (the first time I can remember that happening after playing in the orchestra for almost 30 years!), and on top of everything else, I had water damage to the walls in my house due to ice dams! In case you are wondering how they form and what you can do to prevent them, click here: http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/housingandclothing/DK1068.html
Other than that I'm excited about a property in University Heights that I'll be putting on the market sometime towards the end of next week. I am fixing up and staging the home and it's going to turn out beautifully. It's a typical 3 bedroom, one and a half bath home with new counter tops in the kitchen and a huge family room that can serve as an office, media room, music room, family room, or anything else the buyer wants. It connected to the kitchen so the layout is excellent. Be on the lookout for this one.
Despite the weather, the market seems to be slowly picking up and the raise in FHA limits should be a major boost to the real estate market. Since my last post I spent two weeks in Miami with the Cleveland Orchestra and had a great time. It was so nice to enjoy some warmer weather and sunshine and I even had a chance to go snorkling in Key Largo with some rather mean looking barracudas! The orchestra returns to Miami for a week of concerts at the end of this month. Hopefully by then Cleveland's winter will have abated.
If you are thinking about buying a home, this is probably one of the best times in recent history to buy. Rates are low, there are plenty of nice homes to buy, and seller are eager to sell. Make sure to get pre-approved for a loan first, since many realtors are reluctant to drive people around to look at homes who haven't showed they are really serious about buying by getting a pre-approval. With the cost of gasoline it's hard for agents to take people around who are just "sight-seeing". Pre-approval also puts the buyer in a much stronger negotiating position, since the seller knows that the sale won't be contingent on financing.
If you are thinking of selling, it's a great time to start fixing up your home for sale. March, April, and May are the best months to put your home up for sale.
I hope you weathered the storm well.....
Other than that I'm excited about a property in University Heights that I'll be putting on the market sometime towards the end of next week. I am fixing up and staging the home and it's going to turn out beautifully. It's a typical 3 bedroom, one and a half bath home with new counter tops in the kitchen and a huge family room that can serve as an office, media room, music room, family room, or anything else the buyer wants. It connected to the kitchen so the layout is excellent. Be on the lookout for this one.
Despite the weather, the market seems to be slowly picking up and the raise in FHA limits should be a major boost to the real estate market. Since my last post I spent two weeks in Miami with the Cleveland Orchestra and had a great time. It was so nice to enjoy some warmer weather and sunshine and I even had a chance to go snorkling in Key Largo with some rather mean looking barracudas! The orchestra returns to Miami for a week of concerts at the end of this month. Hopefully by then Cleveland's winter will have abated.
If you are thinking about buying a home, this is probably one of the best times in recent history to buy. Rates are low, there are plenty of nice homes to buy, and seller are eager to sell. Make sure to get pre-approved for a loan first, since many realtors are reluctant to drive people around to look at homes who haven't showed they are really serious about buying by getting a pre-approval. With the cost of gasoline it's hard for agents to take people around who are just "sight-seeing". Pre-approval also puts the buyer in a much stronger negotiating position, since the seller knows that the sale won't be contingent on financing.
If you are thinking of selling, it's a great time to start fixing up your home for sale. March, April, and May are the best months to put your home up for sale.
I hope you weathered the storm well.....
Friday, January 4, 2008
Predatory Lending
With all the news about the sub-prime mortgage problems and predatory lending I thought this might be of interest. Go to: http://www.realtor.org/rmomag.NSF/pages/Excerpt200801?OpenDocument
It details some of the things to look out for in predatory lending. Don't fall for it!
It details some of the things to look out for in predatory lending. Don't fall for it!
Cleveland Library
If you have occasion to be in Cleveland Heights I highly recommend a visit to Cleveland Heights new library on Lee Road. It's a wonderful community resource with state-of-the-art check-out facilities linked to your email, great DVD's and CD's, teen rooms, conference rooms, special community exhibits, and more. Go to http://www.heightslibrary.org/index.php for more information!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
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
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
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
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/
http://clevelandplusbusiness.com/ClevelandPlusBusiness/
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
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
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
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