Perrysburg Blog

I admit it has been hard — for there are 2 markets in my world right now.

There is the Toledo Residential Market.   You know the one.  Lot’s of downward price pressure.   Some serious real estate problems that a lot of serious people are doing their best to fix.   That’s one market.

Then there is, at least in the scope of this blog, the Perrysburg market.   Fewer houses than normal on the market.   Less price pressure.   But still the buyers who are buying are not dumb.   They look over the Maumee River or back to whatever market they are moving here from . . . and they want a deal.   Even in little old Perrysburg.

They want the house to be in perfect condition.

With everything working perfectly.

And they want to move in right now.

Both markets are functioning but they are functioning differently.

Perrysburg buyers need to be very careful with the pricing strategy they are using and very sure of not only their financing options but also the ceiling they want to be at in any competitive bid situation (especially for REO houses in Pburg . . . ).

More and more loans are getting rejected.   Appraisals are a problem even in Perrysburg.   The old “throw ‘em an offer and see if it sticks / hood of the car pricing approach” does not work out very well in these times.

So – how do I read the market?

It’s really the same as it ever was!

The best homes in the best condition sell for the best price at the best timing possible.

If your house is on the market and no one is looking – it’s probably a pricing problem and not a marketing problem.

My guess is that the buyers are already aware of your house – they have just rejected it before getting inside of it.

Which I do from time to time.

Especially when it’s a rare rural offering.

3 beds.  2 stories.  1 long, long driveway.

6+ acres with a private wood lot.

And it’s a newer 1700 sq. foot Forrester/Wherle built house.  With a basement.

Price?

$149,900.

So you will have to act very fast.   Feel free to call or email if you want to get away the City and live in the Township.

(Hint: It’s the house smack dab in the center . . . in the middle of the farm fields, and the house includes all of the woods.

Never before have little things made such a difference if you are selling in Perrysburg.

Don’t think that price is the only dimension in the market today.  It’s the most important dimension, but not the only one.

Several clients that I have just started working with on the sell side really impressed me recently.

They did EVERYTHING to get their home ready.  No stone was left unturned.  No blemish was left unpainted.  Everything that could be fixed, cleaned, regrouted, painted, and spiffed up was.

Houses in this condition do impress the buyer that looks at them.   They sell faster.  They sell for more money.  They raise the bar in the neighborhood to a new, higher level.

If you are going to sell you want to be the house that the buyers remember favorably.

If you show enough homes you can remember the ones that were really, really bad.   “Wear a mask” bad.   You don’t want to be remembered for something bad, but for being exceptional.

Some ideas:

1. Professional carpet cleaning.

2. Grout and tile and showers and baths – make them perfect.

3. Paint.  No blemishes.  No wild colors.

4. Screw everything back in place that the wind/snow/rain has changed.

5. Put all the extra stuff away.  In the garage or basement or storage locker.

6. Lighten and brighten all the rooms.   It works.

7. I am not a big landscape fan – buyers know how easy landscape can be change/fixed.  But some mulch and some flowers from Andersons or Mosers or Black Diamond?  Easy to add.  Cheap to buy.

Just don’t let the kids help without supervision . . .

I recently sent an email out about a new listing.  I used the hook “everybody asks me when are going to hit the bottom of the market”?

I don’t know.

2012?  2011?  2021?

No one does.

We are in need of a new model now.

A new model of buyer behavior.  Lender response to buyer default.  And seller behavior.   The old models are no longer working.  The chart has flaws.  Case-Shiller numbers are the best we have, but still flawed.  The new model of tactical defaults, bank “unforeclosures” to get TARP rebates, buyers who are REO’d or BK’d and have huge monthly incomes – they are all helping to rewrite the rule book.

It is that wonderful time of year.

The biennual collection of real estate taxes.   You live in Perrysburg, you pay in Bowling Green.

It’s part of the deal of “owning” real estate (and I use the quotes to point out that there is a school of thought extant that says you really can never “own” real property if you have to always pay money to own it . . . but I digress!).

Now, unless I am mistaken, the State of Ohio budget under our new governor John Kasich is actually LARGER than the 2 year budget that preceeded it.  And unless I am mistaken Wood County and Perrysburg City and Perrysburg Township are not cutting their budgets. 

One may wonder . . . where is all this money coming from?

Not from all of the new jobs in Northwest Ohio . . . .

No – one of the primary sources of tax revenue is real estate taxes.

And while the local market has experienced the greatest decline in real property values since the Great Depression, you would think that your tax bill would go down.

But . . . that is not happening.

So, if you want to “fight truth with power” on your Wood County tax bill, here are some ideas and links:

1. Get your property’s current tax value.  You can do this by looking up the parcel on the Wood County Auditor site.   Go to the “Valuation” tab.  It is the sum of the land value and the improvements value.  They quite helpfully do the math for you.  That’s the basis of what you are being taxed on.

2. Know that you cannot fight the millage – the rate – the tax formula.   You and I only get to fight that at the voting booth.  (HINT:  stop voting “YES” to save the zoos, the rivers, the sky, the farms, etc).

3. Get some “special help”.  In my experience if you want to have your property value reduced you will need an attorney and a full professional appraisal.  This is absolutely necessary if you are trying to get commercial or income property revalued down.

4. Get some education.  I suggest you read and review the following:

A. 7 Ways to Lower Your Property Taxes.

B. Go to the National Tax Payers Union.  They sell a little $9 book on fighting your tax valuation.

C. Read this – ALL of it.

D. Plan your plan.  You will need help (see above).  You will need to personally attend the Board of Revision hearing.  You will need to gather data and numbers before you get there.  You will need a cogent argument (see help, above – i.e. bring your attorney).   You will need to be nice and calm.

Sadly . . . you may lose.

You may also win.  And even though it may feel like a pyrrhic victory you still will save yourself from even HIGHER tax bills.

In my opinion the local constabulary should be using today’s sale prices, including distress values and valuations.   Because that’s what property is worth.  It might mean that local budgets will fall.  It might mean that revenues would fall.  That would be only fair, because if we don’t change what is happening soon, the monthly tax escrow may someday be as large as the mortgage payment.

Of note, at least to me, are the following:

May of 2009 – 352 houses for sale.   May of 2011?  310.  Down 12%   Buyers have fewer houses to choose from . . .

May of 2009 – 30 houses “sale pending”.  May of 2011?  51.  Up 70%  Buyers are buying more houses . . .

May of 2009  – 24 houses closed.  May of 2011?  36 closed.  Up 50% Buyers did buy more houses . . .

Prices?

This is what is interesting . . .

May of 2009 – Median “For Sale Price” – $212,450.  May of 2011?  $219,000.   About the same.

May of 2009 – Median “Closed Price” – $187,200.  May of 2011?   $188,500.  About the same.

May of 2009 – Median “Under Contract Price” – $227,500.   Last month?  $175,000.  Down a whopping $52,000 and 23%.

What is going on? More houses selling.  Fewer houses on the market.  And a blood bath, apparently, in what buyers are buying.

They are INCREDIBLY price sensitive right now.

Now – these are monthly numbers in a restricted sample.  So they dance around a lot.  But the volatility is not in the asking price.  Or even the closed price.  It’s in the price of the homes that buyers are putting under contract.    April and May are normally big months for houses in Perrysburg going pending – and right now if the price is right it can be sold.

Price it wrong . . . and it will sit.

More stats:  we are down to 5 months supply of inventory right now – a recent low.  And the average house takes about 4 months to sell/close.

Pretty data pictures:

Why?

Did you collapse the real estate market?

Did you underwrite your mortgage?

Did you approve your mortgage?

Did you design, price, and sell the tranche your mortgage sold in on the international financial market?

Did you appraise your house?

Did you review and approve the appraisers work?

Did you do any of that?

Did you just foreclose on your neighbors $350,000 house and dump it on the market for a $150,000 loss instantly destroying everyone on your streets’ current market value?

Did you put together the current FDIC rules that actually – and I have a hard time writing this – actually ENCOURAGE the banks to sit on bad loans and NOT mark them to market, clear the market, repair or rehab, or even work them out . . . but pays them 80% of their loss IF they hold it for 3 or 4 or 5 years?   Did you write that rule?

No.

You didn’t.

You most likely borrowed money.  Made your payments.  Tried to get the alphabet soup of Federal and State “foreclosure relief” programs to do something to help.  And when the money was gone . . . you made a wise tactical and wise financial decision to follow the terms of the note and mortgage and give the security interest (the house) back to the creditor (the bank).

There is really, in my opinion, nothing to be ashamed of in this.

It’s happening in Perrysburg EVERY DAY.

True story:

The woman I talked with today cried as we talked about the disaster of her Perrysburg foreclosure.   And I told her what I just wrote – that there is absolutely nothing to be ashamed about.

In fact, your tax dollars and my tax dollars have bailed out the banks, and the government backed mortgage providers.  Our money!

My advice – make wise financial decisions starting today.  Don’t worry about hurting feelings.   Don’t try to prop up the entire financial mortgage market with your salary/home/family/savings.

It’s a house.

There will be another one!