Perrysburg Blog

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 . . .