I figure that It’s about time I go into some detail on foreclosures in Columbus. I do quite a bit of BPO work in Columbus, in fact I was there yesterday doing work off of Lockbourne & Frebis. I really , really love driving all over Columbus doing foreclosure work.

So here are statistics about Columbus Foreclosures (All franklin County) :

There are a total of 1078 ACTIVE foreclosures in Columbus, the average listing price is $83,321.

There are a total of 484 UNDER CONTRACT Foreclosures in Columbus, the average listing price is $92,000.

Foreclosures make up a TOTAL of 10.35% of total listings in Columbus. While they represent a total of 22.89% of all the properties under contract.  This is high on a historical scale, it is about HALF of what it is compared to agents I’ve talked to in areas of Florida and California.

Interestingly enough, the average property under contract in Columbus is $162,500 as compared to the average foreclosure of $92,000.

Right now  there are a ton of deals on properties in Columbus and Ohio in general.

If you would like a sample of the foreclosures for sale in Columbus, send me an email : Brandon.Schlichter@RealLiving.com

This REALLY , REALLY , REALLY bugs me, and I always have complaints from other agents about this.

Normally when a home is listed, it’s put on a MLS service ,which is just a computer network available to real estate agents in a geographic region. In my area, 99% of everyone uses the Columbus Board of realtors, which spans about a 60 mile radius from Columbus on out, practicly every single company in my area is a member, and this is the resource we have to find properties for our clients.

I was doing some research today, and figured that I would look at another region’s MLS service to see if by chance someone had a listing in my area. When they do this, it means that most if not all of the real estate agents (And their clients) do not know about these properties. The less agents know about properties, the lower the resale is, less competetion and overall hurts the market place.

From my search, I found out that HUD has picked a out-of-region broker to list atleast part of their inventory, this means that anyone that wants to buy a HUD property almost has to drive around and look for properties with the winterization stickers. It makes buying a HUD FHA foreclosure MUCH harder for the consumer, as well as the agents. In the mean time, I found foreclosures by other banks that have been listed and are not marketed properly.

Here’s a list of what I found.

Laurelville :

Circleville :

• List Price: $169,850.00
  

  City:	Circleville
  State:	OH
  Zip:	43113
  Style:	Ranch
  Bedrooms:	3
  Baths:	2
  Year Built:	1987
  School:	Logan Elm
  Acres Approx:	7.5

List Price: $164,900.00

List Price: $160,000.00

List Price: $154,900.00

List Price: $114,900.00

List Price: $84,900.00

List Price: $32,000.00

Now, many of you know , most of these properties are priced under market price, and good reason , they’re hidden from real estate agents, and for the most part the public too.

As of the moment, I have a CITI Bank short sale under contract for a client of mine. It’s located adjacent to the deer creek golf course by Mount Sterling Ohio, absolutely wonderful house.

Anyways, According to the listing agent, she has been in the process of getting the short sale aproved by Citi Bank, FOR 6 MONTHS! They’ve finally escalated the case to management and now it’s being taken care of.

I want to pass on a small tidbit of information with short sales if you wait a long time with no response (And it happens all the time) DO YOUR BEST to escalate it to management level if it hasn’t been approved within 3 weeks. The last Short Sale I had with HSBC Bank had to be escalated to a manager, and it was closed within 2 weeks of doing that after a month of deadlock.

As always, if you have tips on short sales, post a comment or email me about it and i’ll incorporate it to the blog.

If you would like help with a short sale, or want to buy a short sale, contact me : Brandon.Schlichter@RealLiving.com

I wanted to point out a little known fact about Pickaway county, and some differences and figures from the Pickaway County Home Grant Program and the differences between it and other first time homebuyer grants.

I received a letter from the City of Circleville Grant Department Homebuyer Workshop today. They will be having another workshop July 14th and 15th, although this does YOU no good because it’s already past the date.

Even though it’s too late to enter the program, it’s a really great idea to plan this program in to your schedule. As you may of watched on a late night infomercial or two about programs to get government grants to buy a home (I bought one of the books too). It seems like government grants are hard to get or such, the simple fact is they’re not too awfully hard to get, but for Pickaway  county, they’re not only relatively easy to get, but they’re the best in the entire state of Ohio.

Columbus Ohio has several first time home buyer grant programs, which allow a buyer to attend classes to learn about home ownership and in return receive a reduction of interest or a sum of money to go towards the purchase of a property. Ohio Financing agency (OHFA) also has a bond program that helps first time buyers get a discounted rate and/or help with the down payment. OHFA also has a great program called “Ohio Heroes” which gives a discount to emergency workers and teachers in Ohio over the standard program.

I will list the 3 programs that I’ve done research on, and the greatest thing is, that the OHFA bond program may be able to be used with the Pickaway County program.

Columbus Housing Partnership (CHP) Down Payment Assistance Program -

• Eligible homebuyers can receive up to 3% or $4,000, which ever is less, for down payment
• assistance and up to $2,000 for assistance with closing costs. The assistance may not be
• combined with other programs.

Requirements of Eligibility -

• The homebuyer must have debt ratios of no more than 31% (housing) and 43% (totaldebt).
• The interest rate on the first mortgage must be a fixed rate loan and may not exceed the current market rate by more than 2%.
• Non-Conforming loan programs are ineligible.
• The homebuyer must have a minimum of $500 towards the application fee, down payment and/or closing costs.
• The homebuyer may not have more than $3,000 in liquid assets (excluding 401K andpension funds).
• This loan is to be subordinate to the first mortgage on the property being purchased.

The are also ineligible tax districts and a maximum income allowance. You can find out more information at http://www.chpcolumbus.org/FranklinCountyGuideline.pdf

OHFA Bond Program - (Current rates are from Brett Rigney at Real Living Mortgage, 614-273-7919 and are only valid for a while)

• 30-year fixed rate FHA/VA/RHS-RD/conventional loans are eligible
• 2-1 buy downs are permitted, please check Underwriting Guidelines for specific product

 

• 1% origination fee
• $150 transfer fee to master servicer (US Bank fee)
• $79 tax service fee (US Bank fee)
• .25% Adverse market fee (Fannie Mae fee conventional loans only)

There are also income qualifications and property qualifications, I’ve had several clients go through this program without a issue.

And my favorite , Pickaway(And Circleville) County Grant Program -

• Up to $20,000 in down payment assistance per household
• Up to $5,000 to update/repair property.
• 2 Night Classes must be completed
• May take up to 8 weeks to complete paperwork with the grant
• Grant is forgiven at a set % per year of occupancy.

I’ve known a dozen or so people to go through the Pickaway county grant program and it’s wonderful. With the median price in Pickaway county being around $140,000 , this program can get you close to the 20% down goal of many homeowners and help get the interest rate down. If you’re interested in this program, you can call me and I’ll put you in contact with the right people.

I decided that I would post a current list of what my team has for sale. If you’re further interested in homes for sale in Circleville and Pickaway county, visit my website for more information : www.RealEstateCircleville.com

1274 N. Court Street, Circleville, oh | 740-571-1606 | brandon@realestatecircleville.com listings | about me | visit my website <!– –> Use any of the filters below to narrow your search results Metro area Any Columbus, OH Property Type Any Condo Townhouse Single family house Multi-family Co-op Bedrooms Any Studio 1+ 2+ 3+ 4+ 5+   Bathrooms   Any 1+ 2+ 3+ 4+ Price range $ to $ Keyword . . enter a single term or phrase that describes the city, description or features Order By Most Recent BedroomsBathroomsPrice Asc Price Desc     Featured: 3BD/2BA Single Family House Circleville, OH $1,300,000 < prev   1 2   next > 1 - 10 of 17 5521 W Us Highway 22 Single Family House 3 bedrooms 2 full/0 partial baths $1,300,000 3,228 sqft Circleville, OH 9342 Swamp Road Single Family House 3 bedrooms 2 full/0 partial baths $185,000 1,636 sqft Hebron, OH 23450 Chillicothe Pike Single Family House 1 bedrooms 1 full/0 partial baths $19,900 378 sqft Williamsport, OH 22362 alkire road Single Family House 5 bedrooms 2 full/1 partial baths $259,900 2,760 sqft Circleville, OH 141 W High Multi-Family, 2 units 6 bedrooms 2 full/0 partial baths $79,900 2,028 sqft Circleville, OH 6497 E SR 56 Single Family House 3 bedrooms 1 full/0 partial baths $123,900 1,176 sqft Circleville, OH 5008 Lee Rd Single Family House 3 bedrooms 2 full/0 partial baths $138,400 1,352 sqft Ashville, OH 30 long street Retail/Commercial, 2 units Studio 0 full/0 partial baths $144,900 1,000 sqft Ashville, OH 7924 E Rt 188 Single Family House 3 bedrooms 1 full/0 partial baths $139,900 1,800 sqft Circleville, OH 741 E. Fourth Street Single Family House 3 bedrooms 1 full/1 partial baths $87,900 1,248 sqft Chillicothe, OH < prev   1 2   next > 1 - 10 of 17

I’ve been keeping track of the total numbers of real estate agents that have been leaving the industry as well as how many are entering.

There has been a MASSIVE drop in new agents in the Columbus board of Realtors, compared to last year, the numbers could easily be HALF of what they were last year, which was a drop from 2006. Now, the numbers do not include people who have left from the licensed years, as they are still “On the books” when it comes to Columbus Board of Realtors membership. It also doesn’t take into factor those that will join the board even after being licensed for years and then joining.

Total Number of Applicants - Year

1179 - 2004

1131 - 2005

888 - 2006

620 - 2007

110 - 2008

If you take the daily rate of membership (0.733) and multiply it by total days in the year, you get a total estimate of about 269 agents to join the board. This is a pretty good drop from 2006 , which was then a great drop from 2005.

I for one am not upset by the reduction of agents entering the field. Sure, it means more money for me as long as the market doesn’t crash, which I do not expect it to do at all.

This year I’ve been greatly saddened by the total LACK of knowledge from full time and part time agents in the field. Agents need to really up their game, there are more than just agents competing against our business. Large websites are starting to take some of our business, and this needs to be addressed.

Total breakdown of market activity over the past 30 days….

• 71 new listings
• 17 Back On Market
• 11 Contingent on Financing
• 50 Price reductions
• 40 sold
• 25 Under Contract
• 15 Withdrawn

If we take the numbers of New + Back on Market, and Subtract them from the total number of Under contract + Contingent + Expired + Withdrawn.

We end up with a total volume surplus of 18 homes. This number isn’t too bad at all.

I figured that I would post this little bit of information to the people who don’t know it’s out there.

Pacific pride , located on West Mound street here in Circleville as of my last visit, had e85 (15% Gasoline + 85% Ethanol) For $2.75 per gallon.

With gas prices getting to be as high as they are, I’ve been really trying to figure a way to lower my fuel costs. While none of my vehicles is designed for flex-fuel , my truck seems to run great on a E40 blend, and even this, greatly reduces my overall cost, while SLIGHTLY decreasing my gas miles (Something around 10% or so over normal gasoline).

Well, I figured that I would post what I deem a nearly complete list of every single REO and BPO company out there, this is much more complete than one of my more previous posts.

I’m near certain this is going to be quite close to those lists on ebay and such that offer complete lists, if any of these links do not work, email or post a comment and I will remove/moderate them.

Harbor Asset Management
harborams.com

M.D. Webb & Associates, Inc.
www.mdwebbinc.com

MGIC
www.mgic.com

Evaluation Solution
Evalonline.com

REO Corporation
www.remusa.com

Trinity Valuation
www.trinityvaluation.com

Evaluate USA
evaluateusa.com

GO BPO
www.gobpo.com

Premier Asset Services
www.access.pasreo.com

Land America 
www.ladsvalues.landam.com

Corporate Valuation Services Inc.
www.provalu.com

Pro Teck
wwww.pro-teck.com

Acranet
www.acranet.com

REO World
www.reoworld.com

Nationwide BPO’s
www.reonationwide.com

BPO’s online 
www.bposonline.com

Goodman Dean Corporate Real Estate Services
goodmandean.com

i Mortgage Services
imortgageservices.com

REO Network
www.reonetwork.com

AVM Asset Valuation & Marketing
www.assetval.com

REO Illinois
www.reoillionois.com

AVM Asset Valuation & Marketing
AVM’s real estate / mortgage
assetval.com

e Mortgage logic
www.emortgagelogic.com

HomEq Servicing
homeq.com

Rels
www.evalueit.com

W-M Realty Services
www.w-mgroup.com

Clear Capital
www.ClearCapital.com

REO 4 U
Default, Pre-Foreclosure, Foreclosure, & Disposition of Non-Performing Assets.
www.reo4u.com

Corporate Realty Services
Real Estate Services
stlreo.com

Single Source Property Solutions
www.singlesourceproperty.com

BPO Direct
www.bpodirect.com

Finiti
brokerweb.finiti.info

Light House Real Estate Solutions
www.irescorp.com

Centurion Asset Management
www.centurionam.com

MCB
www.mcbreo.com

Fiserv Lending Solutions
fiservlendingsolutions.com

America’s info Mart
quickbpo.com

National Asset Management Group
www.namg.com

Premiere Real Estate Services
www.premierebpo.com

Integrated Asset Services
www.iasreo.com

Financial Asset Services, Inc.
www.fasinc.com

Valuation Edge
valuationedge.com

Advantage Valutation
www.advantagevaluation.com

Safeguard Properties
bpo.safeguardassetmanagement.com

REM Corporation
www.remusa.com

First American Residential Value
farvv.com

Appraisal Bank
www.appraisalbank.org