Perrysburg Blog

I am a Fannie Mae direct broker.   And a HUD listing broker. They send me a lot of business.  And I sell a lot of homes for them.   

My team and I also represent a lot of buyers who buy REO listings from Fannie and HUD and Freddie that OTHER brokers have listed.

So I see the velocity and behavior of the local market from both sides.

Some thoughts for you if you want to be a buyer of the “great REO wave”:

1. Know what you want to pay – for a particular house – and no matter what happens or who says what, stick with that price/offer/valuation.

2. Be prepared to be disappointed.   The best houses in REO Land get multiple offers.   Some of my best assets get 3 or 5 or even 7 offers.   One family is happy.   The others are crestfallen.   Be prepared to be disappointed.

3. Know in advance the newest tactic that banks are using.  It’s simply called “highest and best offer”.   You are told there are multiple offers.   You are given a deadline.   You have one chance to put in your offer, your “highest and best” offer.   Why do the banks do this?   It gets them higher sales prices, obviously.   And paradoxically it flushes investors out of the pipleline.

4. Investors beware. Fannie, Freddie, and HUD all actively discriminate against . . . investors.  It’s the only type of legal housing discrimination that I know of.   It’s designed to penalize investors who often just “flip” a house after making cosmetic changes or rent out a nice house and often contribute to a decline in housing values in a specific area.

5.  Beware that some banks are artificially, and on purpose . . . deliberately underpricing some assets. By many thousands of dollars.   That helps the banks often get many thousands of dollars more than their list price.  And that’s why you and your agent (hopefully me and my team!) have done our homework up front.   Because it may be wise and financially smart to spend $5k MORE on a house than list price (if, for example, it was underpriced by $30k as I have just seen . . . ).

The rules are different in REO Land.

But the results and the home you can buy . . . they can be spectacular!

The owner lost his job.

The mortgage went unpaid.

Everything started being delayed – repairs, etc.

The bank foreclosed.

The house went for sale.

I sold it.

A local family bought it  . . . because they cared about the street/neighborhood/city.

They have repaired and renovated it . . .

Here is the “before and after” shot . . .

Do you think that the neighbors are happy?

And I don’t mean the weather outside.

I mean the part of the local real estate market that is out of balance in a “good” way.

It’s the apartment/rental part.

Fewer vacancies.  If you do a quick craigslist scan you will find only about 60 ads for “Perrysburg” in the content in rentals.

There are normally a lot more.    And some of those listed are “wanted” postings.

Signs on the streets?  Fewer than normal, according to my Mark 1 Eyeball.

I am, as usual, getting LOTS of calls but all of my managed properties are full.   My own condos/apartments?  Fully rented.

And if you drive around you will see a couple of new apartment complexes being built.  They represent millions of dollars of new construction that has replaced the single family construction contraction.

Which mirrors what the WSJ says here.

Implications? Perrysburg is hot – if you are a landlord. You can be picky.  You can finally raise your rental amounts.   SFR houses are a good play if you want to diversify into real estate and hold (and rent) in Perrysburg.   Duplexes and apartment building in the 43551?  VERY hard to find for sale right now.

Buyer/Renter?   Look hard.  Look often.  Signs/The Blade/Sentinel Trib/Craigslist and Google search for available properties.   Be prepared to pay more for a nice house to lease.   They are scarce right now (at least compared to a year ago!).

Why buy?

Why buy in Perrysburg?

Realtors were taught to say that houses were/are/will be “investments”.

There was the “Perrysburg Premium” you paid to live here.

And the guaranteed 2 to 3% annual house appreciation in the 43551.

The guaranteed appreciation is gone.  The near “risk free” nature of Perrysburg property is gone.

You want real estate that is an investment?  We need to examine/measure the actual cash flow.

You want real estate that is guaranteed to go up every year?  I can’t help you.

This just ran in the WSJ:

At the risk of heaping more misery on the struggling residential property market, an analysis of home-price and ownership data for the last 30 years in California—the Golden State with notoriously golden property prices—indicates that the average single family house has never been a particularly stellar investment.

In a society increasingly concerned with providing for retirement security and housing affordability, this finding has large implications. It means that we have put excessive emphasis on owner-occupied housing for social objectives, mistakenly relied on homebuilding for economic stimulus, and fostered misconceptions about homeownership and financial independence. We’ve diverted capital from more productive investments and misallocated scarce public resources.

Between 1980 and 2010, the value of a median-price, single-family house in California rose by an average of 3.6% per year—to $296,820 from $99,550, according to data from the California Association of Realtors, Freddie Mac and the U.S. Census. Even if that house was sold at the most recent market peak in 2007, the average annual price growth was just 6.61%.

So a dollar used to purchase a median-price, single-family California home in 1980 would have grown to $5.63 in 2007, and to $2.98 in 2010. The same dollar invested in the Dow Jones Industrial Index would have been worth $14.41 in 2007, and $11.49 in 2010.

A good question – and one that really matters to sellers/owners in Perrysburg.

Lot’s of people (for example the National Association of REALTORS . . . who charges a lot for the info).

But my observations for June/July 2011 in Perrysburg are as follows:

1. People who are moving here.   Transferees.   Lots of them.

2. People who live around here and want to be closer to jobs and get the excellent Perrysburg Schools.

3. People who live here and have sold their house but want lower taxes than where they were (Ottawa Hills and Sylvania).

4. People who live here and are buying houses for their kids.  Seriously.   Doing a lot of this right now.

5. People who were renting here and want to buy into our market.

I am certain there are lots of buyers and buyer stories.

Many people buying in Perrysburg are first time buyers.  They are going to use FHA financing.  They are going to want the seller to help.  So you mentally have to be ready to “help”.    Investors?  Many are prowling in Perrysburg right now.  They often pay cash.  And they don’t care what it “was worth” or what it “sold for before”.  They are buying strictly for cash flow.

These are the predominate ones that my team and I are helping right now.

You want to sell?   You need to think about who is buying and make sure your home/real estate fits the bill.

Which I do from time to time.

Like today.   I just listed 3 homes in Toledo.   1 in Elmore.  1 in Oak Harbour.  And 2 in Perrysburg.

One in Perrysburg is on Eckel Junction – just down the road from where I used to own a house.  So . . . I know the neighborhood quite well.

You can walk over to Rivercrest Park – with or without the kids.  With or without the dog – but he ALWAYS wanted to go because there are always a lot of little and big dogs to sniff and or wag your tail at.    There are ball games going on.   The Y is right down the street.   And, of course, your kids can walk or ride to Ft. Meigs Elementary.

So it’s a pretty nice area to live in.

This house?  One owner.  Center-hall floor plan.  3 car garage.  And these are all very good features.   It feels “big” and has 2 laundry rooms – one up and one down.  The basement is finished too.

$280′s.   With a, did I mention it already . . . 3 car garage.

It is in true mint condition.