Sigh. You know my affection for modular green construction. Finding a realistic and affordable modular design is difficult–going green is not inexpensive. Clayton Homes has the “i” series, and, I gotta say, it has appeal.
Currently available are two options: the i-house I and i-house II that can be combined with a “flex” module. The flex module is a separate bedroom/studio/office or whatever your needs are space, with a bathroom–roof deck above. Lots of outdoor space involved here, which is awesome, and highly customizable interior space in both i-house models (clayton homes assures).
When i was poking around “building” my i-house II, the proposed cost with shipping and add-ons, including solar panels, was $168,000 and change. Would the cost likely be more when it is all said and done? Of course. But realistically, and this does not include land or site prep, which is site specific, the home cost should be well under $200,000. If you have any familiarity with modular contemporary construction–that is a pretty good number. Make sure when you click on the link below that you check out the i-house 2.0 video. The 2.0 version is more style-defined and incorporates some changes requested by consumers interested in the i-house concept. Really awesome.
Are you or anyone you know looking for a move-in ready 4 bedroom one block off of Main Street in Bexley? Check out 720 S. Roosevelt Ave, 43209. Walk to everything, dining, shopping, park and school. Loaded with charm and updated–great price too!
According to Forbes.com, Columbus is among 10 of the brainiest U.S. cities. The report cites major employer and information center, The Ohio State University, as well as a bustling startup culture as reasons for identification as a brain magnet.
Also, included in the evaluation of cities across America are population — 1.8 million residents — a quickly recovering housing market, alongside the strong tech presence of Battelle Memorial Institute.
Among the other cities identified as America’s Biggest Brain Magnets are:
Open until May 22, the 2011 Decorator Showhouse is a stunning 1928 SpanishRevival style home on 2 acres–and currently on the market for $875,000. Showhouse proceeds (proceeds from the sale of the home go to the seller of course–shucks!) go to the Columbus Museum of Art– SO GO!!!!
It has 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths and some extremely livable spaces! And what an awesome terrace and pool!
Check it out: tickets available at the property, see below.
Foreclosure filings in Franklin County fell during the first quarter of this year, continuing the slide begun last year.
Through the first three months of this year, 2,084 foreclosures were filed in the county, 16 percent fewer than during the same period last year, according to figures released yesterday by the Franklin County clerk’s office.
The drop continues the decline that began in the fall, when large banks halted foreclosures because of questions over paperwork.
Some experts think those paperwork issues and related legal challenges remain the primary reason foreclosures are down, and that once they are resolved, foreclosures will jump back up.
“The only banks foreclosing on homes right now are regional and small banks,” said Matt Beckett, a broker with Realty Executives Decision, a Columbus company that sells homes repossessed by banks. “Everyone’s on hold. I don’t know when the dam’s going to break, but it will.”
Others hope the decline is driven by an improving employment picture and successful mediation and counseling programs.
“I hope it’s a sign that things have leveled off and we’re going to experience an actual decline,” said Bill Faith, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio advocacy group.
That might be the case, because recent data from the Mortgage Bankers Association show that more people are keeping up with their mortgage payments in Ohio and throughout the nation.
In addition, a federal foreclosure-prevention program, called the Hardest Hit Fund, is beginning to take hold and is expected to reduce foreclosures this year.
The program devotes $570million to help keep troubled Ohio homeowners in their homes. More than 2,600 Franklin County residents have applied for assistance through the program since it began in the fall.
To date, more than 400 homeowners statewide have received financial assistance through the program allowing them to avoid foreclosure, and 900 applicants have been approved for assistance, said Arlyne Alston, spokeswoman for the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, which administers the program.
“We expect to help at least 8,000 homeowners statewide avoid foreclosure in 2011,” Alston said.
“It’s a fairly new program, but we’re really excited by the response we’ve seen so far.”
Insulation. Not romantic, certainly not pretty, but remarkably thrilling! Gary Pack of Pack Insulation ( 740-497-1194) came and blew insulation into the wall cavities of our house from the INSIDE . We had installed new siding 4 years ago and coudn’t drill from the outside. What does a girl do who yearns for warmth, quiet and enery efficiency? She gets Gary Pack (via our contractor connection, Justin Collamore of Collamore Built Design and Construction)!
I immediately noticed the rooms were quieter and within a 12 hour period of having our furnace fan running/heat on, noticed a warmer more even whole house temperature. Heating and air companies generally recommend running your furnace fan all year long-don’t rely on “auto”. Keeps energy costs down by keeping a consistent temperature and will help increase the life of your furnace .
Gary drilled approximately one and one-half inch holes along the walls between the studs and, for almost 3 glorious hours, pumped cellulose goodness throughout the interior nooks and crannies of our 194o’s abode. It felt like Christmas. Perhaps a couple of extra gifts this year with our energy savings?!
He then popped in some wooden plugs, did some rudimentary spackling and off he went. With a little shop vac-ing and some additional spackling and sanding we are good to go. Yes, you have to paint but, really, aren’t you looking for a reason to change that color anyway?
This was pretty painless, I am truly blown away. (couldn’t help it….)
In January, Clear Capital Home Data Index (HDI) released its real estate market report in which Columbus is identified, among 10 cities in the nation, poised to see an increase in home values during 2011, reports MSNBC.com.
Alex Villacorta, a senior statistician at Clear Capital says, “overall, we’re seeing prices start to stabilize going into 2011, but unfortunately, some of those markets will stabilize in downward directions where others will see a sustained recovery.”
MSNBC.com reports that there are around 15 metropolitan cities with strong indications of showing a rebound in property values. “For example, in California where Clear Capital reports 2010 price gains in six out of the 15 major cities: Riverside, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Jose, San Francisco and Fresno.”
According to the HDI report, 70 percent of the United State’s major markets dropped in value in 2010 and the 2011 forecast includes a further decline in home prices.
The Home Data Index report features an analysis of the 50 largest U.S. real estate markets, which are categorized in regards to population size of Metropolitan Statistical Area. Using the most recent data available from 2010, “35 out of 50 are expected to further depreciate this year, pulling the average national values down another 3.6 percent by this time next year,” reports MSNBC.com
The upside for Columbus is it sits among the cities identified to experience a “sustained recovery.”
Below is a list of the top 10 cities that Clear Capital expects will rise in property value in 2011, followed by a list of the 10 expected to decline the most.
Filed under: Real Estate — tracee ribar @ 10:10 am
“Does the Flying Santa stay with the house?” was the often asked question at a well-attended open house held at 2074 Yorkshire Rd. in Upper Arlington. This classic home, and gently sloping adjoining lot, are currently on the market. The owners are hopeful that the house will welcome the next “caretaker” soon.
“We have always felt we were caretakers of the house” says Wendy Vaughan, homeowner. “This house helps to define the character that makes Upper Arlington special. We hope the next owners will preserve and care for the house as much as we have. We are ready to pass the torch.”
The 3-story stone home and adjoining lot is hard to miss; due to its prominent location at the corner of Yorkshire and Guilford Rds, the architecture, and it’s majestic stance atop a sweeping hill. It is difficult to pass by and not notice and admire the property.
“We’ve gotten letters from people that have moved away and been back to visit,” recounts Wendy. “Even if they aren’t personally connected to the house, seeing it brings back and defines their memories of growing up in Upper Arlington. It is fun, and sometimes sad, when those memories have been shared with us.”
The home was built in 1923 for, according to tax records, Florence C Covert. It sold in 1927 and has had 5 “caretakers” since. Current homeowners are Roger and Wendy Vaughan, and their three children, Katie, Zach, Sara and their dog Happy.
They purchased the house and side lot in 1989. “The house was in horrible shape. Everything needed to be done to it. It probably qualified to be condemned. We saw what it could be again,” Roger Vaughan remembers. In addition to making remodeling choices in character with the house, the Vaughans have preserved and maintained all of the original features of the home including the woodwork, flooring, doors and built-ins. The exposed stone in the kitchen, sun room and lower-level, echo the exterior, and combined, create an old European feel .
Lars Sandberg of Upper Arlington shared a memory he had about the property. “ About 30 years ago my father was visiting from Sweden and wanted to find a restaurant in town to eat. He wandered around and saw this house with tables along the side yard and on the side porch. This was what restaurants in the French countryside looked like so he went in to get a table!” Lars recalls.
“There are so many stories,” Wendy laughs. “We’ve gotten letters from people around the holidays, thanking us for putting the Santa up across the side yard. And we heard from people when we didn’t have Santa up for a few years! We felt we had an obligation to preserve a lot of memories!”
Santa and his sleigh with reindeer, which was made of plywood and, for years ,spanned across the side lot every holiday season, was inherited by the Vaughans when they moved into the house in 1988. It fell apart a few years ago. The Vaughans decided that it was too much a part of what defined the house to let it go. They had digital images taken of the almost 100 ft. long Santa and co. and had it re-made out of lighter composite metal material.
“Santa’s back!” says Roger. “It’s not that easy to get up there, but it’s worth it. It’s part of the house.”
Filed under: Real Estate — tracee ribar @ 10:44 am
Home sales statistics for central Ohio in 2010 showed marked improvements compared to previous years according to the Columbus Board of REALTORS® (CBR).
The average sale price of a home in 2010 was $158,893, just 0.6 percent lower than the average price of homes sold in 2009. However, the average price of homes sold in 2009 was 2.4 percent lower than 2008 which was 5.1 percent lower than 2007. “Our market saw average sale price increases for eight of the 12 months of 2010,” says CBR’s 2011 President Rick Benjamin. “As we’ve experienced annual decreases in our average sale price since 2005, we see ending the year just half a point lower than 2009 as a positive for central Ohio homeowners.”
The 1,460 homes sold in December 2010 is just 0.3 percent lower than the number of homes sold in December of 2009. Annual 2010 home sales (19,676) finished 2.8 percent behind 2009 (20,235).
“There’s no question the home buyer tax credits had a significant affect on last year’s home sales,” adds Benjamin. “Providing home buyers with a substantial monetary incentive really helped to energize the market in the first half of 2010.”
“Homes in contract (which are expected to close in January or February) are up slightly from the previous year suggesting that home sales in the first of the year could be strong.”
Homes spent an average of 90 days on the market, a reduction of seven days from the average time to sell a home in 2009.
In December 2010, the month’s supply of homes was down to 9.93, the lowest since last June. Month’s supply is the ratio of inventory to sales which takes into account both supply and demand. A healthy market has a 6.5 to 7-month supply of homes, meaning if no new homes were added to the market, it would take about 6.5 or 7 months to sell all the available homes.
info from the cbr newsletter released Jan 20,2011
The Columbus Board of REALTORS® Multiple Listing Service (MLS) serves all of Franklin, Delaware, Fayette, Madison, Morrow,Pickaway and Union Counties and parts of Champaign, Clark, Fairfield, Hocking, Knox, Licking, Logan, Marion, Muskingham, Perryand Ross Counties.
Filed under: Real Estate — tracee ribar @ 10:39 am
Say hello to Frank Lloyd Wright! Or at least be reminded…
Currently on the market is a one-of-a-kind home located at 4398 Dublin Rd. in Columbus.
The residence is being sold by only the second owners who are relocating to New York. They think of this as their “dream home”, are sad to leave, but life has a way of shifting the future so we must shift too right? I think this home was built from a dream and will find it next caretaker who feels the same.
In 1985 Gary Rausch, an architect and VP of Lupton Rausch Architecture and Interior Design, built a house for his family. I can only guess, however, how long the design process was. What is clear is that he built what he wanted to live in. A home of quality and custom details (the dental molding he made himself) and convenient built-ins-staying true to the character of the architecture style.
Rausch designed and had constructed a 2,276 sq. ft mid-century modern stone and stucco ranch that rests on a serene acre plus on a private lane leading to the Scioto River. The location is perfect really. Close to 270, Riverside Dr, shopping in the Mill Run area, minutes to Tuttle Mall. The perfection lies too in the “take a breath” quality of pulling into the crushed stone drive and seeing some open space, possibly some curious deer, and even occasionally some wild turkeys! Unbelievable–right off of Dublin Rd. just north of Cemetery and south of Davidson–the possibiltiy of owning a 365 day vacation home close everything needed for daily convenience. Cool.
place to hang art 