Here are the median sales prices for homes and condos for the July and August of 2008 per the Hamilton County Auditor’s website.  For more specific information on sales in your zip code or on your street please contact me for your complimentary zip code report.

Fall is the ideal time for weatherization projects. Use this checklist to create and maintain an energy-efficient home without a lot of impact on your wallet. If you need assistance finding reputable and licensed contractors to help you with your projects, let us know and we will give you recommendations!

Check all insulation levels: Check the amount and condition of all visible insulation. This includes the attic, underfloor, kneewalls, skylight shafts and ductwork. A call to your local utility company will tell you what levels are considered optimum for your area, and if repairs are needed and you don’t want to undertake them yourself, they can also recommend qualified insulation and weatherization contractors.

Check and seal heating ducts: Crawling around in the attic or crawlspace isn’t anyone’s idea of a fun afternoon, but
it’s the only way to examine and repair your heating ducts. Check for gaps between ducts and fittings, and seal them with a quality metallic tape–not regular duct tape, which doesn’t last. Also, check to be sure that all of the ducts are up off the ground and adequately supported.

Check weatherstripping: Closely examine each exterior door and window to see that the weatherstripping is doing its job. There should be no visible gaps, the weatherstripping should be clean and undamaged, and windows and doors should operate smoothly and close completely. If any repairs are necessary, you can find everything you need at your local hardware store or home center, or contact a qualified weatherization contractor or handyman.

Seal exterior penetrations: Weatherstripping is not the only culprit when it comes to air leaks. Spend a day working
your way around the outside of the house with a caulking gun and a couple of tubes of high-quality, flexible caulking, and seal any gaps around window and door trim, plumbing and electrical penetrations, flashings and other openings.

Add outlet gaskets: Shut the power, remove switch and outlet plates, and add precut foam outlet gaskets, which are
available from home centers, hardware stores and other retailers.

Upgrade your thermostat: An older thermostat that’s a couple of degrees off can result in a lot of wasted energy,
and so can forgetting to set the thermostat down at night. You can take care of both of those problems with an upgrade to a programmable thermostat.

Clean and service fireplaces and wood stoves: Make sure that your gas, wood, and pellet-burning fireplaces and stoves are clean and operating correctly. If you’re not sure what to look for or how to do any cleaning or repairs, check with a qualified, licensed fireplace shop or chimney sweep.

Install a carbon monoxide detector: If you have any gas appliances in your home, there is always the possibility of
carbon monoxide poisoning should any of them ever malfunction. This is a very real danger, especially as we close our homes up for the winter. These lifesavers are inexpensive and easy to install.

Check smoke detectors: Check to see that your smoke detectors are operating correctly, install fresh batteries, and
make sure that you have at least one detector on each floor of the house.

–Paul Bianchina, Inman News

You can understand real estate markets by way of a few metrics, and one of them is new home building permits. More permits means more new homes. The Cincinnati Business Courier has an article detailing the steady growth in number of building permit request on the West Side of the city.

Colerain Township has fared especially well – permits climbed to 51 (including condos) from 45 in the same period in 2007, 38 in 2006. Colerain has been successful in attracting young families – its Groesbeck neighborhood recently was named a “Best Place to Raise Kids” by BusinessWeek magazine. 

As the economy begins to pick back up in the next 12 - 18 months look to the West Side as a place for substantial new home development in Hamilton County.

Local Realtors sold 1,854 homes in July, and 11,371 the first seven months of the year. July sales represented the second best month of the year, relative to last year sales.

Nationwide, July home sales seasonally adjusted were up 3.1% from June, but off 13.2% from a year ago. With the new $7,500 housing tax credit in place for first-time buyers, that should stimulate sales during the remainder of the year.

Inventory of homes for sales locally stands at 16,689, which represents 9 months of inventory. That’s down from last July’s 17,880, which is improving news for sellers. A balanced market – equally good for buyers and sellers – is 5-6 months.

The average selling price in Greater Cincinnati last month – at $181,259 – dipped 3.84% from a year ago. Mortgage rates remain favorable locally, as they have all year. A conventional, fixed rate loan in July averaged 6.60%. That compares to 6.56% the same period one year earlier. It’s now 6.68%

“While sales are off somewhat in the area, it’s a whole lot better than some parts of the nation,” said Karen Schlosser, president of the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors.“For the year, we’re off 16.9%. Sales in parts of Florida, Nevada and California are off over 30%.”

Schlosser said the current housing market is excellent for buyers, due to a good inventory of homes to choose from, favorable prices, and attractive mortgage rates.

If you are planning to sell your home in the near future, here is some information that might be of interest. The National Association of Realtors has found that the top ten preferences that buyers are most interested in when searching for a home are:

• Central Air Conditioning
  
• Garage (2 or more spaces)
  
• Walk-in closet in master bedroom
  
• Backyard/play area
  
• Cable/Satellite TV-ready
  
• High-speed Internet Access
  
• Separate shower enclosure in master/main bath
  
• Patio
  
• Fencing
  
• Home less than 10 years old

How well do you know your neighbors? Home buyers often ask about the people that live in the neighborhood. Since that information is subjective, here is a tool that might help you to learn factual information about the criminal history of homeowners in the neighborhood. Click here for a direct link to the site. Every place you see a red balloon or thumb tact is the home of a convicted felon.

Type in your address and your neighborhood map will pop up. Just hover your mouse over an icon and not only will the name come up, but also the crime they were convicted of.

A recent report on Realtor.com speaks to the increasing number of ‘pending’ home sales nationwide. A sale is ‘Pending’ when it is under contract and waiting to close. The report shows that the pending sales index In the Midwest rose 1.3 percent in June to 79.6 but is 13.3 percent below a year ago. The index is measured against the volume of ‘Pending Sales’ in 2001.

Nationwide the numbers are on the upswing. In the Midwest, particularly in Cincinnati, a number of factors are contributing to the market improvements. The $7,500 first time home buyer tax credit, the market correction, and proper home pricing are all contributing factors. In addition there are fewer units on the market helping those that are on the market sell faster.

A recent New York Times Article discusses the fact that some granite counter tops have been found to emit radon gas. The article was prompted by an incident that occurred in New Jersey where a family’s summer home was found to have high levels of radon gas in a routine home inspection. Radon Gas is the second most frequent cause of lung cancer, after cigarette smoking, and radon-induced lung cancer is thought to be the 6th leading cause of cancer death overall.

Allegations that granite countertops may emit dangerous levels of radon and radiation have been raised periodically over the past decade, mostly by makers and distributors of competing countertop materials. The Marble Institute of America has said such claims are “ludicrous” because although granite is known to contain uranium and other radioactive materials like thorium and potassium, the amounts in countertops are not enough to pose a health threat.

The Environmental Protection Agency has received many calls from concerned homeowners and radon inspectors looking for guidance on this issue. The end result is that there are over 900 different types of granite available in the United States from around the world.  While it is still unknown what levels of radon exposure cause cancer, the EPA standard since 20034 pCi/L in indoor air.

Some clients in Cincinnati have recently approached me about their hesitation to purchase real estate in the resort markets for fear of making a bad investment. If you turn on the evening news it seems that these days all you see is negative press about the stock market, gas prices, the lending industry, and the plunging housing market. Many people are concerned about where to put their money to keep it safe.  Alot of investors are seizing the opportunity to capitalize on the high inventory of properties that are on the market right now. One of those types of properties are resort properties: condominiums and timeshares on the beach or in the mountains.

If you are thinking about investing in a timeshare, here are some things to consider:

1) Are you buying specific weeks or do the weeks vary each year?

2) Who manages the property and do they have other properties that you could trade your weeks in to go to if you want to vacation in another location?

3) If you sell the property, is there a specific agency that you must use? (many times you are bound by one company, so watch out for this one)

4) Is there a board that oversees the management and how they make decisions for the property?

5) What are the amenities that the timeshare offers and how do they compare to other properties (condominiums, timeshares) in the area. This is important because if you need to unload the property you want to be sure that your property is a commodity that will be easily sold for at least what you paid for it.

6) If you are unable to use your weeks in a particular year what are the rules and fees involved with renting them? Can you rent them yourself or do you have to pay a fee to the management company to rent them for you?

7) Are there annual fees for owners of the timeshare or service fees when you stay at the timeshare?

Comey and Shepherd recently launched the new ‘Price Me Now’ game that uses Cincinnati area real estate in an exciting and entertaining real estate challenge. We wrote about this new real estate technology a few months ago and are glad to see it come to our local market. Price Me Now  asks you what the sale price of local real estate should be. The system compares your estimates with those of other players and the actual List and Sale price. You earn points depending on how closely your estimates are to the rest of the players. The closer you are to the community average the more points you earn.

Price Me Now is the first real estate prediction market game that gives you an IQ - the Realius IQ - which is a measure of how well you know the market. If you are buying, selling or just watching the market, Price Me Now is the only place where you can test your market knowledge and get a real time read on what people are thinking about real estate prices.

Click here to sign up and join in the fun!