• Help me get my home ready to sell 
• Step One Curb Appeal
• I can now see the house

A prospective seller called me to preview his home and give him suggestions on how to get his house ready to sell.

When I arrived at the prospective seller’s home I felt that the large overgrown bushes almost 20 years worth of growth did an injustice to the home, it was hard to get a good photo. I suggested that all the overgrown bushes be removed so that a buyer could see the house. The seller took my advice; all the overgrown bushes were removed at an economical price.

The buyer’s first impression of a home is from the curb; it’s called curb appeal! In central Ohio improving your curb appeal depends on the time of year that your home is listed. If there is snow on the ground then the curb appeal improvement will have to wait until there are a few warmer days. If your bushes can’t be trimmed and are overgrown then remove them. Improve your landscaping beds with new bushes and new mulch. Giving the exterior of your home a new fresh look is like giving your home a face-lift; it makes your home look newer. When the threat of frost is gone add a splash of color with flowers such as vining petunias. Make sure your house numbers are visible; it’s important that buyers can identify your home so they can feel confident that they are at the correct address.

Next week I will discuss more important exterior improvements that will give the buyer the impression that your home has been well maintained

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Galena Ohio 43021 is a quiet little village nestled between the Big and Little Walnut Creeks with close proximity to Hoover and Alum Creek Reservoirs. Galena was established in 1809 under the name of Zoar. The creeks created a water power source for a sawmill. When the residents applied for a Post Office in 1834 the name of Zoar was disqualified due to the existence of another community with that name. There is no history as to how the town’s name of Galena was derived. The village green is still visible today with a few vintage buildings from the past. Most of the old buildings were destroyed by fire or demolished to make way for Hoover Reservoir which was constructed in 1950

One sunny spring day I took a walk around the village green. I stopped in to see what was cooking at Jule’s Java & Grill. Such a cute place, they were busy, the bacon and eggs sure did smell good. Jule’s is open Monday thru Friday 6:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and Friday nights 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Now the coolest building that I walked thru was the post office. The interior of the post office was a walk back in time, such beautiful woodwork and all those old fashion post boxes. The postal clerk gave me permission to take the photo that is visible in this post.
A World War II Tribute is the focal point of the village green. I walked over the bridge to view the Big and Little Walnut Creeks; the morning was just beautiful, the sun was shimmering on the creeks and there were a few fellows in the water fishing.

The Galena zip code 43021 includes home sites in both rural and newly developed communities with a short commute to either the Hoover or Alum Creek Reservoirs and Parklands. Community residents that love to boat, fish and hike don’t have far to go to enjoy those outdoor activities.

Listed below are most of the communities located within the Galena zip code 43021. The homes and condos in these communities are within either the Olentangy or Big Walnut schools district boundary area. In future posts I will highlight the communities listed below. The map and slideshow will give you a snapshot of the communities located within the Galena Ohio zip code.  Arbors at Cheshire, Cheshire Woods, Crystal Valley, Galena Pointe, Retreat at Grand Oaks, Harbor Pointe, Heathermere, Hickory Woods, Hidden Creek Estates, Hoover Woods, Keller Pines Estates, Lake of the Woods, Mansard Estates, Meadows at Cheshire, Retreat at Grand Oak, Sage Creek, Sheffield Park, Sherman Lakes, Stone’s Throw, Summerwood, Walnut Creek, Walnut Grove, Walnut Woods, Vinmar Farms, Windale Farms, Woodhaven Estates.

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So many prospective buyers now have the internet on their cell phones; they have iPhones, BlackBerrys, Treos & more.

Real Living HER being a very tech savvy real estate company has just introduced a new tech tool; all Real Living HER listings are issued a designated URL.

What is a URL anyway; from an internet search for a definition this is what I found: a URL stands for Universal Resource Locator. An Internet World Wide Web Address.

Each Real Living HER listing is assigned a special URL address so when a buyer is driving past a listing they are now able to pull up the listing URL on their cell phone, now how cool is that…

This is an example of a Real Living HER - URL for my listing located at 5757 Cali Glen Lane - 5757CaliGlenLn.RealLiving.com

So if you fall in love with a listed home with a designated URL you can now easily view that listing on your cell phone to share with your family and friends.

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There were plenty of spectators “wearin’ the green” at the Dublin Ohio St. Patrick’s Day parade that took place on Saturday March 15, 2008. The founders of Dublin Ohio, the Sells brothers, would be proud of all the St. Patrick’s Day 2008 festivities. The Sells brothers in 1802 purchased the land which is now known as the historic Old Dublin Ohio.  When the Sells brothers began to survey the land for the development of a new town they requested an Irish gentleman John Shields who was working with them to name the town. The beauty of the land reminded John Shields of his birthplace, Dublin, Ireland, thus the new town was called Dublin Ohio.

For the past 25 years there have been many St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Dublin Ohio.

The 2008 celebration was kicked off with a Lion’s Club Pancake Breakfast at Sells Middle School.

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade started at 11:00 a.m. at the Metro Center then proceeded down S.R. 161 and through Historic Old Dublin Ohio.

It was a foggy damp morning, thank goodness no rain or snow. A Dublin Washington Township fire truck led the parade and then followed a float with the Grand Leprechaun who was Lois Dixon, a long time Dublin Ohio resident whose late husband served on the Dublin City council for many years.
(Dublin Coffman Band, Dublin Jerome Band and Dublin Scioto Band,) was fabulous, the Aladdin Shrine Clowns were such a hoot, of course there were Irish step dancers and bagpipe music and if you look at the slide show below you will get a good idea of all the fun had by all. After the parade many Dublin area businesses offered fun events throughout the day. Life Time Fitness sponsored a 4-Mile Run, The Yankee Celtic Consort performed before and after the parade, the Sisters Sweet Shoppe offered chocolate cake snacks, and the Cap City Pipes and Drums performed at the Brazenhead.Please stop by my blog, I will have more to report about the internationally acclaimed Dublin Irish Festival which will be held August 1 thru 3, 2008; wonder who will win the reddest hair and greenest eyes contests? Mark you calendars; if you attend the Dublin Irish Festival you will enjoy good food, entertainment and more. Yes Dublin Ohio residents do love their fair city and so do visitors too.

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I was fortunate to attend the Home and Garden show on the morning of the last day of the show which was Sunday March 2, 2008. As I approached the ticket counter I was pleasantly greeted by a wonderfully fragrant aroma of spring flowers, ah such a treat.                                                                           
 Anyone who gets depressed by dreary winter weather, the Home and Garden show is a must see to lift your spirits. It’s been a challenging winter season in Central Ohio…snow that turns into rain then back into snow; everyone has been home bound. The day I attended the show was actually a beautiful day; a spring like day-60 degrees-how fitting. The Home and Garden show is always at the Ohio Expo Center which is also known as the Ohio State Fairgrounds. The show started on February 23 and ended on March 2, 2008; it’s quite a large show which encompasses two buildings.  Everyone’s tour begins in the first building which enabled spectators to ramble thru spectacular storybook gardens including large evergreens, flowering trees, footbridges, babbling brooks and oodles of beautiful flowers. 
This years gardens were designed around storybook themes: Including Aladdin, Noah’s Ark, Brock the Balloonist, The Chronicles of Narnia, Swiss Family Robinson, Jungle Book, Hansel and Gretel, Jack in the Beanstalk, Sleeping Beauty, Alice in Wonderland, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Wizard of Oz, Three Little Pigs and Winnie the Pooh. The Storybook gardens were designed and created by members of the Columbus Landscape Association; 6 months of planning went into these gardens. All the gardens were beautiful and some made me stay a tad longer than others. There was a huge15’ tall giraffe topiary at the Noah’s Ark garden display.

 An outdoor room was incorporated into the Three Little Pigs storybook garden; there was a pizza oven and a concrete counter top, a small sink and a barbecue mounted in the kitchen area of the storybook garden display. The Winnie Pooh storybook garden had a projector aimed into the water area of the Pooh garden. The flowering trees at the Brock the Balloonist storybook garden were really dramatic; the Queen of Hearts ruled in the Alice in Wonderland storybook garden with its breathtaking sea of red tulips. The Wizard of Oz garden evoked my favorite childhood memories.

As I finished the garden tour I browsed thru many outdoor improvements and remodeling displays; I came across these interesting discoveries. A plasma TV made specially to be installed outdoors, a huge hot tub that was 15’ long 8’ wide and 4 ft deep; now that’s a very large hot tub. Beautiful fire pits with seating areas give elegance to outdoor living spaces which are becoming so popular in bringing the indoors to the outside. Being a person who loves being outdoors I spent so much time wandering thru the gardens that I had to rush thru the second building at the show; it contained many new innovations that you could use in all your remodeling projects. A water faucet especially intrigued me with a light at the tip of the faucet. How pretty the water looked as it flowed out of the faucet. Then there was a display of how an ordinary small basement window could be reconstructed into an egress window, great for those that want to add a bedroom in the finished basement. Oh my, what they have done to windows.  Anderson Windows has a new Low-E4 window that cleans itself.  Another window company had a display of fiberglass windows, a great insulator which will not rot like wood windows. There were many displays of kitchen cabinets, ceramic tiles, tankless hot water heaters, gutters and so much more that it’s hard to mention it all.

I also learned that when remodeling you should make sure the remodeling professional is a member of NARI (National Association of the Remodeling Industry). NARI ensures that its members are full-time professionals. To be a member the association puts the professional thru a extensive screening process and there are strict membership requirements including a code of ethics. For help locating a NARI professional in Central Ohio you can visit www.trustnari.org or call 614-895-3080.

There is something for everyone at the show, a special day for seniors and kids; Dr E. Gordon Gee, president of The Ohio State University read from storybooks to the kids on their special day; there were demonstrations from celebrity chefs, gardeners and decorators. There was even a first time homebuyer seminar conducted by Tom Walker of the Ohio Finance Agency. I have just scratched the surface; you need to go see, feel and have fun. If you live in Central Ohio or are from out of town, mark your calendar to see the 2009 Central Ohio Home and Garden Show…you will not be disappointed.

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A few months ago I helped various buyers purchase distressed properties, one with 10 mechanic liens filed against it, a listed HUD house (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) and a house listed by the FHLC (Federal Home Loan Corporation). Each one of these houses had challenges that a buyer should be aware of when thinking about purchasing a distressed property.

One such home was a new build not completely finished which had more than 10 mechanic liens filed against it at the courthouse. The recorders and county auditor’s websites offered good information about this property. A title company staff person that completes all the property searches at the county courthouse provided the best source of up-to-date information for the buyer to review. The search notes were full of good information that enabled the buyer to write a good offer that would protect their future ownership after the transaction was closed. After the buyer reviewed the search notes from the courthouse, which included all the lien information, and all the terms of the offer were acceptable to both the buyer and seller, the buyer proceeded to do a home inspection and this transaction was set to close. At the closing table the title company completed one last title search to insure that no last minute liens were filed at the courthouse against the property as the seller was signing all the paperwork to transfer the ownership to the buyer. I highly recommend that all buyers have legal representation at all real estate closings especially when purchasing distressed properties. This buyers attorney did a tremendous amount of investigation work to ensure that the buyer had protection to obtain proper ownership.

The buyer that purchased the listed HUD house purchased the house through an electronic bidding process which needed to be completed by a licensed real estate agent. This buyer’s bid price was the highest therefore HUD designated these buyers as winning the bid and they were able to purchase the HUD house. There are very specific guidelines and extensive contract paperwork that needs to be completed when purchasing a HUD house. The buyer purchases the house in as is condition; the HUD contract does provide the buyer with a home inspection contingency which enables the buyer to call the contract null and void. HUD will not make any repairs that might be found through the home inspection; the buyer purchases the house in it’s as is condition or calls the contract null and void if the condition of the property is not satisfactory to the buyer. In Central Ohio it is local custom that the seller, at the seller expense, provide the buyer with title insurance. HUD does not provide title insurance so it would be wise at the closing that the buyer pay the additional money to purchase title insurance to protect their ownership of the property that is going to be purchased.

The buyer that purchased the house thru the Federal Home Loan Corporation had to wait 5 days to receive an answer to their initial offer. The FHLC did accept the buyers offer but on the condition that the buyer review and accept all the terms and conditions of numerous FHLC addendums. The addendums informed the buyer that the house was being sold in as is condition. The buyer was able to do a home inspection but the FHLC would not make any repairs; buyer could call the contract null and void if the inspection was unacceptable to the buyer. The FHLC did pay for the buyer’s title insurance but not the county transfer fee which is a Central Ohio local custom to be paid for by the seller. There was a last minute glitch; the FHLC was not able to obtain clear title to the property so the closing was delayed for 2 weeks to enable the FHLC to resolve the cloud on the title.

Buyers are able to take advantage of many currently listed distressed properties that are great deals. My advice to buyers is to be patient; it could take longer to get answers from those who are in ownership of the distressed properties. Not all local custom fees are being paid so your closing costs might be more than you expected. Always seek legal counsel to ensure you are not being taken advantage of. An experienced real estate agent will help you thru the process of purchasing a distressed property; it can be stressful but the end result can be quite profitable in the future because most distressed properties are purchased at greatly reduced prices.

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