Thanksgiving

We here at Central Ohio Real Estate Notes are very thankful this year.
I am thankful for all my clients that I have helped buy or sell a home in central Ohio. I am thankful for their business and their friendship and for the fun we've had along the way to the closing table and beyond.
Recently a young couple I worked with in the Olde Towne East area stopped by with a gift basket full of fun things they had picked out for me -- their way of saying thank you for all my help. I've got to tell you, I was really touched. It was the first time in my entire real estate career that someone gave Me a gift. It's also nice to know that I've been able to make a lot of friends along the way.
I think it's important to retain a business relationship with my clients through closing but so many of the people I've helped this last year as such great people that I now think of them as friends and vice versa. It's a good feeling.
I am thankful for this blog space although not too many folks out there are ever reading it. I am thankful for my soon-to-be-released revamped and made-over website, www.centralohiorealty.com and the entire suite of Columbus area Real Estate Sites that will pop up with it.
Of course, I am very thankful for my beautiful wife and two daughters and my extended family. And, less I seem ungrateful, I am thankful for my affiliation with Coldwell Banker King Thompson who provides me so many tools that I start every interview with potential buyers and sellers with a competitive advantage over any other Realtor.

Competing Offers and Timing

Yesterday I went out with a buyer who is not able to afford a single family home in the area of town he'd most like to live. I had suggested looking at duplexes some time ago and we had seen a few doubles, some of which were interesting.
Yesterday, the first house of the day, we hit it on the head. A Double which is a fantastic opportunity in a great location for an excellent price. We ran back to the office and made an offer.
Not wanting any interference, we gave the seller a deadline of noon today. As fate would have it, the seller received another, much stronger offer at the same time they received our offer.
I can't tell you how often this has happened to me as a buyer's agent. So often you just have no idea of the validity of the phantom "other" offer. There have been many times when I did not honestly believe there was another offer on the table at the moment but was told that there was in order for the buyer to inflate their purchase offer price.
Sometimes the buyers have held their ground and still gotten the house. It isn't always price, there are usually other terms that can be important to the seller and buyers can always negotiate on those. Sometimes, buyers have lost homes at the last minute due to competing offers. It does happen all the time. No matter how long the home has been active (I've seen it happen with homes on the market 100 days or more) in the Columbus Real Estate market, another competing offer seems to come in at the same time my client wants to make an offer.
It's very frustrating but it also underlies the importance of making a good offer. The advantage to being the first offer is that you have time to negotiate and start the offer making process at a lower amount. If the buyer has knowledge that there is another offer on the table, then the only available recourse to insure their offer is the one accepted is to come in at or above list price. It is a brutal marketplace and the best way to negotiate an offer is to put forth a win-win scenario.
It's much better than trying to lowball, losing the property, and always wondering what if....
My buyer may still end up with the home. He probably will if I have any say in the matter and the numbers can work out in his favor.
Timing is everything in this business. It can literally cost or save thousands of dollars. That is why it so important to have a Columbus Real Estate agent like myself who is on top of the area you are interested in and can direct you to a property when it becomes available. A few days later may be too late. And if your agent isn't technology savvy, you may be in for a long home search.

Post Election

Congratulations to Columbus, Ohio for voting to pass a schools levy.
The money will bring a much needed boost to the Columbus Public Schools and help in the restoration of housing stock in the city. Many people flee the city for better school districts but as young and old people begin to return to environs around our downtown, we need reasons to keep them here.
The Zoo received a nice boost and every single city improvement bond issue passed easily.
Shame on you Ohio for voting to amend the state constitution to define marraige. It's my feeling that many Ohians did not read the fine print or the second sentence. Central Ohio's economy will suffer as a result of this blunder. It was not a liberal issue, in fact both Senator DeWine and Senator Voinavich came out against issue 1 - not to mention The Ohio State University, Battelle, Nationwide Insurance and other area employers.
Franklin county government enjoys a slightly liberal edge as 2 of the 3 county commissioners are now democrats.
As for the Big race, well.....
I was very surprised at the outcome after I waited 3 hours to vote and saw the resolve on the faces of the hundreds of others who solemnly waited with me in a heavily urban voting precinct.

ELECTION DAY

Get out there and vote.
The excitement is in the air and despite a steady drizzle in the waning AM hours, lines are long and Central Ohioans are resolute. It's a fantastic sight and a thrill to know that people are actually excited about democracy at work.
Here at www.CentralOhioRealty.com we try to stay away from chosing sides but we wholeheartedly encourage you to go out and vote.