Perrysburg Blog

I do get phone calls.

“I have a couple of questions about . . . ”

And I try my best to answer them.

I also have a couple of questions about Perrysburg Real Estate:

1. What is the future of home values in Perrysburg?  Will we ever see an “automatic 3%” increase every year like we did for many years?

2. What is the impact on the continued meltdown in Toledo home values going to do to our prices/values in Perrysburg residential real estate?

3. How much/many new taxes and property tax levies can the citizens of Perrysburg keep passing and paying until the stigma of “too many taxes” hits the top of mind thinking of buyers and they discriminate AGAINST Perrysburg listings/houses?  Will the City ever STOP spending more each year?

4. Who is going to rent/lease in Levis Commons?

5. What is the “BEST” subdivision in Perrysburg?  The one that people, irrespective of price point, love the most?

6. What can Perrysburg do to better leverage one of the greatest downtown districts in Ohio?  More car shows?  More parades?  Getting more people to a bigger/better Thursday Farmers’ Market?

7. How many homeowners are “underwater” in Perrysburg today?  Right now?  And how does that realization change their spending?  Change their planning?  Change their involvement with the community?  Change their desire to stay/work here?

I do not have the answers . . . . not on these.  I’m just asking . . .

Which I try to rarely do . . .

But this one is COOL.

Formerly remodeled by a prior owner.

Then lost, cruelly, to the bank.

Which has instructed me to find a new family for it.

HUGE.

New addition.

Perrysburg Schools.

Oh, did I mention that it is on East River Road?

In Perrysburg?

With a newer kitchen?  Period woodwork?  Lots of doors and hidden closets and other cool features?

$450,000?

$350,000?

$250,000?

No – that is the old market.

Now, in the new market, we only want $169,900.

Go to www.GoToledoHomes.com and set up your own search.

And call me FAST if you want to see this one!

Is this one from Forbes . . . about the WORST real estate markets in America right now.

Toledo is on this trajectory:  lost jobs, out of control State government, public school meltdown, and out of control local government.

You can just look north . . . to DTW . . . to see what the potential future holds if some serious changes are not made in Northwest Ohio.

With interest rates rising,  taxes increasing, and a steady grab of diminishing income from private citizens being answered with decreasing city services, things are not on a good path right now.

Toledo does not need this kind of publicity.

This blog is about PERRYSBURG real estate.

And . . . I sometimes have made tongue in cheek comments about Perrysburg gaining at Toledo’s expense . . .

But I do not want to see Toledo drained dry.

I don’t know anyone who does.

It’s the Greater Toledo Metro Area . . . and we are all interdependent economically.

Let’s hope they make some wise decisions up there!

Here are the comments and the list from Forbes:

1. Milwaukee, WI: Some cities’ housing crisis stemmed from rampant overbuilding. Others can blame the decline of the manufacturing industry. Milwaukee has felt both. The worst-selling housing market saw a 47% increase in unsold homes between 2008 and 2009, thanks both to underlying economic problems and overzealous development during the housing bubble.
2. Denver, CO: Denver doesn’t come to mind as a housing-crisis hot spot, but the city that once looked like it would escape the housing bust unscathed now shows signs of strain. More than 42,000 homes are on the market in the metro, 27% more than last year.
3. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles has yet to recover from the blows it took when the housing bubble burst. Home sales fell by 5% in the metro between 2008 and 2009, while they rose, if only modestly, in most other large metros. Home sale prices peaked in late 2006, and it looks like the remnants of overbuilding will continue to clog the housing supply.
4. St. Louis, MO: The city has shed jobs and seen housing prices plummet. Inventory in the metro is up 36%, in part as a result of its 11% unemployment rate. Manufacturing jobs no longer drive the city’s economy, and slow sales are just one symptom of its economic maladies.
5. San Francisco, CA: Unemployment has reached 11% here, and home prices fell by 6% between 2008 and 2009. The area’s poor-home-sale performance shows that California’s housing woes spared no city.
6. New York, NY: New York likely made the list in part because the condominium market, which drives much of Manhattan real estate, wasn’t included in the analysis. Still, not everything’s rosy in the Big Apple: Sale prices were down 13% between 2008 and 2009, and inventory has seen a 13% rise.
7. Cincinnati, OH: Like Cleveland and other Rust Belt cities, Cincinnati suffers from a lack of jobs–the city is 11% unemployed–which has cut sales dramatically and left a glut of unsold houses behind. Inventory in the city rose 48% between 2008 and 2009.
8. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland was suffering before the housing crisis hit, but the bursting of the bubble surely didn’t help. Unemployment is at 10% in the metro, which has hemorrhaged manufacturing jobs. That means families don’t have the means to buy, and homes remain unsold.
9. Atlanta, GA: Inventory was up 6% in 2009 from the previous year. That may not sound like much, but together with flat quarter-over-quarter single-family home sale prices and sluggish sales rates, the overbuilt city shows significant signs of strain.
10. San Diego, CA: Scores of new condominiums were constructed before the market peaked in the first quarter of 2006, driving up prices and spurring overbuilding. Many units were built for speculative buyers, but today the brand-new luxury buildings sit empty.

Some random thoughts on the Perrysburg real estate market:

• It’s encouraging to see a lot of buyer activity.  Just had one house get NINE simultaneous offers.  Nine.  Never have seen that before . . . not in 22 years of selling here.
• It’s sad to see Toledo continue to implode.   Good job there Mayor Bell!  The people leaving Toledo are heading for . . . . Perrysburg.
• It will be fascinating to see what happens to our market when the $8,000 First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit expires. Buyers must be “under contract” by April 30^th and close by June 30^th to get the credit.
• The upfront FHA mortgage insurance premium will rise from 1.75% to 2.25% on April 5^th. This will result in an extra $1,000 of buyer closing costs on a $200,000 loan.
• Not a very smart move by Perrysburg Schools to get rid of music, sports, etc.  In case you have never heard this before – but one BIG reason people move to Perrysburg and pay the “Perrysburg Premium” is the draw of the schools.   Mess with that at your peril.  Property values will go down.  Then your tax base will pay you less.   You might want to rethink that plan.
• It’s positive to see people buying homes for the right reason (to live in them!) instead of speculating on them and using them as their personal ATM.  It didn’t take long for people to learn and entire mindscapes to change.
• The foreclosure wave continues unabated.  No matter what you read.
• Static analysis of big political decisions is not working.  Case in point – the new health care bill.  It’s actually causing big employers to push thousands of people into government paid drug plans eliminating the supposed tax revenue from one little codicil in the big bill – and that little change was supposed to raise money for Uncle Sam.  Now . . . imagine if we pass a law that allows people to not pay their mortgage or to renegotiate their loan balance?  Think they just might be some unexpected consequences?  Some dynamic market-driven financial human responses?
• Finally:  This is why banks should endeavor to do “cash for keys” or short sales.   A little picture from one of the three houses I had to go and secure for 3 different banks today:

Since I posted about “jobs, jobs, jobs” being the determinate factor for the hoped for future recovery of real estate values and velocity in Perrysburg some have asked me for a solution.

“Well, what would you do!?” . . . .

First, I would do anything I can to stay out of politics, out of the academy, and out of other peoples business.

But, having just gone through the “college application game” with one of our children, my formerly little boy Matthew, who has now been accepted into UM College of Engineering, Rensselaer, Carnegie Mellon, and Rose-Hulman College . . . I have had some eye opening experiences about the state of the modern US university system.

And what it “takes” to get into a good university to set yourself up to get a good internship to set yourself up to get a great job in 4 or 5 years.

My thoughts?

Jobs will come back when local and national leaders stop terrorizing business.  And when they erect some barriers to predatory trade from overseas slave labor and environmental terror labor.

And . . . when our current generation of children learn that it is not a big, happy “we are the world” stage that they are competing on.

I strongly recommend that you invest six minutes and watch this clip about “Two Million Minutes”.

I despair when I compare the current state of primary and secondary education to what happened in and around Toledo just 40 or so years ago.

I am depressed when I compare the teenage bedrooms of houses that I am selling for first generation immigrant families from countries like India and China and Vietnam with the typical bedroom accoutrements of the typical American teenager.

Games.  Computer games.  Video games.  Sports gone wild.

All found in “American” teens lives.

The teenagers from China?  India?  Pakistan?  Japan?

You have got to be kidding.

They and their parents are focused like a laser on the educational excellence and dedication needed to get into the best college and get the best credential to get the best job and the best income to provide the best for their families.

The typical “American” boy or girl is busy getting piercings, tattoos, and shopping after playing sports and going to Florida for Spring Break.

We want jobs to come back?  In Northwest Ohio?

We better get smarter kids.

Or learn to speak Mandarin.

A empty shell.

Crabs like them.

But they are terrible for helping homeowners to pay their mortgage.

And if you drive along Alt20 – aka Illinois Ave. in Maumee, you will see a lot of empty shells.

And “FOR LEASE” signs.

And vacant factories, offices, and businesses.

It’s a vivid reminder of what has happened and what has helped residential real estate to collapse in value.

The collateral damage from this one street’s empty and shuttered businesses and factories is felt in every subdivision in Perrysburg.  I know clients that have lost jobs in Crandenbrook and other Perrysburg neighborhoods who used to work on this street.

But now their jobs are gone.

You want reports of the economy getting better?  You want to know when the residential market is better?  You better go for a drive . . .

A joke?

A cry for help?

The owners of the “D.C. Ranch” who actually live in Perrysburg Township are advertising a new use for their defunct building.

(By the way  . . . what is the problem with people who actually LIVE IN Perrysburg and try to put these smut shops here?  In the SAME town you live in?  Shop in?  Have a few friends who live here?  Usually the mob from Cicero is the group that brings in the hookers and smut and crime and shady lawyers.  But people who live here have recently been smitten with this business model.  Amazing.)

Wow.

Right across the street from Levis Commons.

That’s being a real nice neighbor.

Study after study shows that such porn shops help lower everyone’s property values and help to increase crime.

Maybe Perrysburg needs more rape and divorce.  This will help!

You can call the mayor or the township trustees or the other officials whose job it is to protect the citizens of Perrysburg with a modicum of zoning.

Most people know that Perrysburg prices have dropped (a few Realtors surprisingly have not gotten that memo – but I don’t want to be snarky . . .)

But what of taxes?

Property taxes should be coming down too, n’est pas?

I do not believe that the County automatically adjusts taxes down.   They must have missed that memo too!

So what can I do to find out the history of taxes.  Not that hard if you have a record of old MLS comparable sales . . . and here is what we find:

We find that property taxes in Perrysburg have relentlessly increased.

The 3 bed, 1.5 bath house in the Southwood Park subdivision of Perrysburg would cost you $393 in 1/2 year taxes back in 1984.

In 1994 that same house would cost the owner $557.

In 2004 your 1/2 tax bill would have been $1076.

Today?  You are may be looking at almost $1400 per 1/2 year for a 3 bed, 1.5 bath in Southwood Park (Edgewood, Southwood, etc. by the big blue city water tower for those who do not think in terms of subdivisions like I do!) (Caveat: Not everyone pays the same tax amount for the same home – it depends when you were last assessed/appraised by the County, how accurate your assessment is, and if you have recently filed for a reappraisal).

$393 to $1400.   I think that is an increase.

But – property values have declined in 2006, 2007, 2008 and this year.

I wonder if property taxes have gone down since 2007?

What is your experience?

Enjoy your tea!

Why?

The casino is coming . . . details here.

Why is that bad news?

Inevitably, after a 2 year latency period, the incidence of crime against people and crime against property increases.

Every time.

Everywhere a casino is built.

You can count on it.

Build one in Wood County?  Along the Maumee.  Or in the “Golden Triangle”.  And there will be negative, deleterious effects on the values of Perrysburg homes.

You can “BET” on it.

The scholarly  paper on this is interesting reading.  And sobering reading.

Here is the paper by Earl Grinols and David Mustard.

The casino lobby will never stop.  They will try and try and try – stopping only when they have fooled enough people.

Things will be great.  For a couple of years.

Then the neighborhoods closest to the “Crossroads Casino” will start to be negatively effected.

That negative trend will then metastisize and spread.   From Starbright to Belmont to Three Meadows and beyond.

Theory?  Supposition?  Hardly.  Read the literature.  (page 14 shows how MILLIONS in lost property values is the result of the “jobs creating casino”.

Bring on a casino I say.

But build it RIGHT NEXT to the Toledo Correctional Institution on East Central.

Crimes against people.

Crimes against property.

Visitor crimes.

Criminal gambling.

Costs of addiction to gambling.

Increased rapes.

Increased police costs.

We neither need nor want these things in Wood County.

The day they get their way is the day we start to pay.

You are out showing houses – hard work?

Not really.

However the best part is often “showing off” the town to the out-of-towners who I am able to meet with and that I and my real estate team work with.

How many little cities can boast of a tiny little cafe that serves a European style breakfast on Saturday, complete with real brewed tea?

How many towns our size can offer the car show that you could have enjoyed this past weekend?

Row after row of perfectly polished dream machines and the local flavor that makes living here so wonderful.

And everyone stopped and stood at attention when the national anthem was played.

That’s my Perrysburg.

Not a bad place to live and not to hard of a town to convince a family to move to . . .