Going Green

Al Gore recently won the Nobel Peace Prize. Maybe we can all do a little more to help the enviornment.

Easy steps that don't take much effort in the long run can help, not only our pocketbooks, but our resources too!

Levels of pollutants in indoor air can be two to 100 times higher than outdoors, according to the EPA. That indoor pollution is due, in large part, to volatile organic compounds that evaporate from home decorating or cleaning products. By following these green cleaning suggestions, you can breath quality air into your home:

• Use fragrance-free laundry detergents, which don't contain phthalates, which is known to cause cancer.


• Baking soda and vinegar get the green light, as all around cleaning alternatives. They can do anything from deodorizing to cleaining the oven to removing stains on countertops, bathtubs, and toliet bowls.


• Mix your own stain removers. Soak stains in water mixed with borax, lemon juice, hydrogen peroxide, washing soda or white vinegar.


• For sparkling drinking glasses, ocassionally soak them in solution of vinegar and water.


• Use the dishwasher! Handwashing dishes actually wastes more water . Adding one cup of white vinegar to your dishwasher's rince compartment will leave your dishes spot free.


• Skip the antibacterial soaps. The FDA has found that these work no better than good old soap and water.


• Don't throw out your old cleaning products. What's bad for your home is also bad for drains and landfills, so check to see if your community holds toxic and electronic recycling days and discard them there.

You can even GO GREEN at work. My team at Real Living Upper Arlington has reduced its paper by emailing contracts, not printing out emails, and keeping scanned copies of documents by creating electronic customer files instead of paper files.

I might not win a Nobel Peace Prize, but I am doing my part by GOING GREEN!

MLS Photos

The old adage "a picture is worth a 1,000 words" certainly holds true in the real estate business.
Descriptions like: "Updated", "Must See", "New Kitchen", "Completely remodeled", are all great descriptions for a Realtor to use when writing comments about a listing that will be seen by thousands of people looking for a home. But in an age where 80% of all new home buyers search for a home through the internet, photos are just as important, if not more so, than the words a Realtor uses to describe the house.

The MLS allows a Realtor to post 10 pictures with each listing. Invariably, everytime I am searching for homes for a client, I come across 1 or 2 listings that have either 1 or NO photos. My agency, Real Living Inc., allows me to post 25 pictures, and I always make an effort to use all of the spaces available for a number of reasons. First, I owe it to my client to market their home the best way possible - and the internet is quickly becoming that way! Second, websites like Realtor.com, Trulia, and Street Easy pick up those photos, but in no special order, so numerous angles of the Kitchen, Bathrooms, Living Room, Dining Room, and any special rooms like a finished lower level are going to help make my listing stand out.

Although, I haven't had a client buy a home from just the photos alone yet, I have had many clients who passed over homes with zero photos.

What $1,000,000+ gets you!

Recently Forbes Magazine came out with a list of The Most Expensive Homes For Sale. Topping the list was the 75,000 square foot Beverly Hills home that once belonged to publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst listed at a whopping $165,000,000.

Although homes in our area will probably never reach that level we do have 187 homes listed for sale in Franklin County at $1,000,000+. Of those 187 homes 14 of them are In Contract equating to 7% of $1,000,000+ homes on the marketing being in contract.

In comparison, of the 1769 homes in the $225,000 to $275,000 (which is $100,000 greater than the average home price in Central Ohio ) 11%, or 198, are In Contract.

Which goes to show you that Columbus might have a $165 million dollar home, but the homes we do have sell!

Click here to see what a $1,000,000 + buys in Central Ohio!

Arlington Crossing

A few weeks ago, the Upper Arlington office of Real Living held our sales meeting at the Arlington Crossing, the new luxury condo development on Tremont Road. The developer, Bob Long of Long & Wilcox, spoke to our group about the development and his vision for the future of Upper Arlington. If you now Bob, his presentation is very understated and sincere.

After he spoke, I felt compelled to add a few comments, advocating to my real estate colleagues why we needed to support Arlington Crossing and similar developments in our town.

Arlington Crossing represents the future of Upper Arlington, but the community at large is still very unsure about where this future is going.

Personally, I think the new developments along Tremond Road will be aesthetically attractive, adding new beauty, design, and luster to a tired neighborhood where old rental properties once stood.

Secondly, the new devlopments have already added a new thrust to the re-development efforts of Kingsdale Shopping Center.

Finally, when we encourage the succes of these developments with our words, our actions, and our wallets, it will lead to a long needed revitalization of our town center, adding long term value to our community.

Upper Arlington

Superintendant Weaver of the Upper Arlington school disctirct spoke last Wednesday at the Northwest Area Realtors meeting. His topic was the importance of the upcoming school levy. For someone new to the area and the school district, this guy really knows his stuff! Of course, speaking to Realtors about the importance of education is preaching to the choir. We all know how interwoven schools and home values are. Or do we? Upper Arlington would not be the community it is without the excellent standard of education we hold. Nobody likes to see taxes go up, but the educational excellence of our community insures the quality of life we cherish so dearly. Whether you beleive strongly in education or you simply want to insure that home values in Upper Arlington remain strong, the school levy is imperative.

Wax On

I talk to people every single day who have fallen victim to bad real estate advice from agents just looking to make a quick buck. Did you know that 1/3 of the 1.3 million real estate agents in the U.S. performed 0-1 transactions last year? And two-thirds performed less than 5 transactions. In reality, less than 10% of real estate agents do more than 90% of the total volume of transactions. So, here's a question. Would you trust a surgeon who only did one operation a year? Then why would people trust any agent with a license and heart beat to handle the most important financial transaction of their lives?

It's time to raise the bar on our profession. We need to raise the standards, raise the ethics, raise the barriers to entry, raise the educational standards... Should I keep going? Then people will seek out competent real estate counselors for guidance on truly important matters. My soap box for the day!

Columbus Condo Quest

It's a great time to buy a condo in Columbus! If you haven't gotten out to the annual Columbus Condo Quest, there's still time. It runs from September 29 to October 7. There are over 40 different locations showing condos of all price ranges in various parts of greater Columbus.

And let me add two spectacular choices to the list!
- 5172 Vinings Bend. This is a gorgeous virtually new condo in The Vinings at Tuttle Crossing. Three bedrooms and two full baths, with a Florida Room and beautiful maple Kitchen. Priced at $209,900.
- 4598 Sandringham is a beautiful lofted condo in Upper Arlington. Features 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms, plus a loft and finished rec. room. The kitchen was recently updated with all granite and ceramic tile. Priced below market at $199,900.

For more information on Condo Quest, go to www.columbuscondoquest.com. And for more information about Chip Bruss & Associates, visit www.chipbruss.com. Have fun!

Good News Bad News

A lot of my colleagues in the real estate and mortgage business are bashing the media, saying that the media is sensationalizing the mortgage crisis and that the media's portrayal is grimmer than reality. Let's be perfectly clear. The media doesn't make this stuff up. They report what they see and hear and dig up. Of course, bad news always sells better than good news, but that should not be startling. OK, so why all the complaining about the media?

It depends where your economic incentive lies. If you sell houses or make loans for a living, it's a tough market out there. Why? Because people are uncertain about the future and uncertainty breeds fear and fear causes paralysis. In a nut shell, even our best and brightest are scratching their heads, wondering what's going on here.

The bottom line is this--knowledge is power--the more you know about what's going on, the better decisions you will be able to make for yourself and your family. For some reason, we don't want to believe all the news about the real estate market. It's not a matter of believing, it's a matter of facts and figures.

So what should you do? It depends. Some will just weather the storm and others will find the greatest real estate opportunities since the last recession. But whatever you do, get a game plan and don't just bury your head in the sand, because this thing ain't over yet.

Six Degrees of Separation

One of the most amazing things about the Internet age is how connected we all are. If you have kids, and even if you don’t, you know about My Space and Face Book, the popular social networking sites that link people together according to their interests. But recently I got hooked up on Linked In. This is Face Book for grown ups—not so much social networking and more professional networking. So give it a try at www.linkedin.com. It’s fun because it will search your old alma mater, your old employer, and even your Outlook database for worthy networking candidates.

Aside from the media attention about sexual predators and the like, the power of these sites is the speed and breadth of the connections they create. Recently, my son got his first music gig at a local café. In a crafty new age marketing scheme, the owner gives the boys in the band a percentage of every ticket they sell. He’s no dumby. Now the boys are only 15 and 16 years old and very excited to be playing in a public venue. So, how do they get the word out? Face Book, of course. In less time than it takes me to write this blog, my son has sold 71 tickets to the show and everyone is ecstatic. So, if you’re not connected, you better get with the program.

Why Are There So Many Homes For Sale?

Yesterday a friend of mine asked me, "Why are there so many homes for sale?". Now that's a very simple question, but it made me realize that not all simple questions have simple answers. And, asking it some two years after the peak of the housing boom, tells me that perhaps more people out there have similar questions. So, here it is in a nut shell.

The housing boom started in 1995. Homes appreciated significantly for a period of ten years until 2005, when the market peaked and home sales and prices started to decline. Real estate is a market just like any other market, based on supply and demand. The primary reason that homes appreciated so much from 1995-2005 was easy money, meaning interest rates were low and mortgages were easy to get. Normally a boom is associated with some economic growth to support it—-higher wages, better jobs, etc. But this boom was not backed by any economic growth; in fact, it was quite the opposite. It was caused by the Federal Reserve artificially lowering interest rates to keep the economy from falling into decline after the "dot com boom". With interest rates so low and mortgages easy to acquire, people thought they could afford bigger and better houses. This caused the price of homes to sky rocket, as banks gave out cheap mortgages with flexible financing deals, aka the ARM or adjustable rate mortgage. The euphoria lead to speculation, as buyers and sellers thought real estate was the investment panacea.

But what happens when the inflated value exceeds the actual value of any product, whether it’s homes, internet companies, or pork-bellies? People loose confidence in the market and want to sell for fear of loosing their investment. Soon, more and more people want to sell, causing a flood of homes on the market, which in turn causes home prices to decline, as they compete for fewer and fewer buyers. Thus, we have too many homes on the market and not enough buyers. This has caused the median home price to fall 1.3% for the first time in 50 years.

Unlike stocks and bonds however, homes are so much more complex—-we create emotional ties, build memories, and raise families in our homes. As home owners, we don't always pay attention to the laws of supply and demand. But laws they are and obey we must.

What is Marketing anyway?

We all know what marketing is, right? Or do we? We're bombarded with advertising and various forms of marketing everyday. But do we really understand it, or more importantly, what purpose marketing serves?

Peter Drucker, famous business guru, has a great definition of marketing. He says, "The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him or her and sells itself." In other words, the message (and your connection to it) is so compelling that you want to run right out and buy that product or service. This has happened to all of us on some level. Did you really comparison shop MP3 players before buying that Ipod or did you go straight to the Apple store?

So how does that relate to marketing in real estate? I'm sure we've all experienced the over-zealous realtor trying to "sell" us on the features and benefits of his or her latest listing. Peter Drucker would have us believe that if we truly understand our customer's needs and our message really resonates with them, they will be "sold" before they even get to the front door. And isn't that what the Internet is all about? The consumer has the ultimate weapon of choice, but we as real estate professionals have the opportunity (and the obligation) to communicate effectively to our potential customers.

Great Time to Invest

If you didn't see the Larry King show last night on CNN, you missed a good one. As you know, there is a lot of bad news about the mortgage industry affecting the housing market, which is now affecting the stock market and may even have global ramifications. The media is grabbing a hold of this with a vengance, becauase it's the biggest story since the Iraq war. It's full of drama, mystery, emotion and best of all, it affects all of us right here at home and right in our own wallets. So, yesterday, Countrywide, the nation's largest home lender announced their financial troubles. This is really big news, because if the nation's largest lender is having financial difficulties, what does that mean for the rest of the mortgage industry and for all of us who may be trying to buy or sell real estate. Well, Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki had some thoughts about the subject on Larry King last night.

In a nut shell, they both beleive that this is a great time to invest in real estate. Yes, credit may be tightening and rates may be a little higher than they were a year of two ago, but the fact is, the real estate market is experiencing a correction in many markets around the U.S. and now is a good time invest. Kiyosaki said that this is a similar market to the savings and loan crisis of the mid 1980's, prior to the boom. Investors should be looking for good cash flow properties, not flips and rehabs. Flipping property is based on speculation that the property value will increase. Since the market is unstable, now is not a good time to flip property, but a good time to invest in deals at or below market value.

Furthermore, it may even be prudent to sell in this market to avoid further losses. Remember, all real estate is local and every person's situation is unique. Speak to a competent, trustworthy real estate advisor about your unique situation and opporunity.

Taste of UA

I thought the Taste of UA was a lot of fun this year. I know it's pretty much the same event every year, but there were a few new entries this time around. The new fast food mexican place, Qdoba, on Reed Road had a booth. For a buck, you could get a tasty Naked Burrito, which is pretty much a taco in a bowl. I always enjoy seeing friends and familiar faces from around the Upper Arlington community. I usually help out the Leadership UA booth or the Real Living HER booth, but this year I just enjoyed the food with my kids.