Columbus Economy – Columbus Real Estate Markets don’t Exist in a Bubble

And you don’t buy homes for sale in Columbus in a vacuum.  Just like all real estate is local, regions tend to have their own economies. Just like the Columbus area housing market hasn’t crashed to the tune of the National real estate markets that make all the headlines and take over mindshare, the Columbus economy is vast and varied and weathering the storm better than you may expect.

I recently ran across a conversation that Walker Evans had with Dr. Bill LaFayette, the Vice President of Economic Analysis at the Columbus Chamber of Commerce. They discussed a variety of topics related to the Columbus economy.

This is a great snapshot of the Columbus economy. If you’re moving or relocating to Columbus, Ohio, then  you may be surprised to hear about how important rail is to the region, or tourism.  Here is a small exerpt of this interview that touches on passenger rail…

WE: Being able to see some of these results from the shipping and commercial rail sector, do you think we could see some of the same types economic benefits from passenger rail service? We’re very close to seeing the 3C passenger rail systemstarting. Do you think we will see a similar type of benefit from personal transportation?

BL: Different but important. The benefit would be making it easy to get from Cincinnati to here, from Cleveland to here, which would be a big boost for our tourism market. Again, another sector that we may not give as much credit to as it deserves, we get a lot of tourism here. We have been cited as a travel spot. The Short North specifically has been cited in national and international publications. We have been in The New York Times travel magazine a of couple times, The Los Angeles Times and when SkyBus was flying, just about every city that SkyBus connected Columbus with sent a reporter here to ask the question, “why would in the world would anyone jump on a plane and go to Columbus?” And those articles were absolutely glowing, so we sell ourselves short, we definitely do. There is much more to see and do here than we often think.

WE: We posted links to a lot of those stories as they started to roll in due to Skybus. After they ended up folding, a lot of people were saying it was a total waste of time, waste of money, a waste of everything… but the amount of positive press on a national level that Columbus received out of the whole ordeal might have helped balance the equation in the end.

BL: Oh, it was definitely a positive. It sort of reminded the air travel community that Port Columbus is an available, accessible airport with capacity.

Announcing the Summer of Love !

The first week of Summer, the 40 year anniversary of Woodstock and Comfest weekend…..It can only mean that Delicious Real Estate is declaring this the Summer of Love, Columbus Neighborhood Love!

We’ll be out on the streets, talking to real live Columbus area Natives about their Neighborhoods and why they Love their Columbus Neighborhood.

Want to send in your video or send a link to it? That’ll work too. We’ll roll out at least 3-5 short videos per week. Get excited Columbus and tell the world about why you love your community.

Columbus’ Delicious Real Estate Survives DTV Transfer

In this post-analog age, aren’t you glad your Realtor is a Delicious Realtor ?  Smart, Engaged, Informed, adding value.

(Of course this is all tongue in cheek. The impetus behind this post was to check the laptop cam straight to You Tube option–an incredibly easier option than first recording on the laptop and then trying to upload a gigantic file to the net)

The 2008 Bexly Real Estate Wrap-Up Post

Everything you always wanted to know about homes that sold in Bexley last year.

With 2008 freshly in the books cementing it’s own special place in real estate history, let’s take a look at some numbers – both overly general and more specific.  Know upfront, however, that none of this mean anything now.
It’s January 2009 and there are 84 homes for sale in Bexley, that have been on the market for an average of 154 days. There are 11 home under contract in Bexley. If you’re looking to buy a home in Bexley, those are the numbers that count. Some of these sold Bexley homes will mean something – but only if they compare favorably to the home you’re buying.

In 2008, 175 Homes Sold in Bexley. (Down about 13% from 2007) They averaged:

•  a sales price of $321,005
•  $133/sf (down about 5.5% from ‘07 when more homes and more expensive homes sold)
•  93 days on the market
•  2153 sf
• and sold for about 96% of the list price.

Because all real estate is local, let’s separate South Bexley (Main Street to Livingston for the uninitiated) from the rest of the market since I find it to be a bit of an entry micro-market.

In 2008,in South Bexley, 68 (44% of all Bexley homes that sold last year) homes sold. They averaged

• a sales price of $181,393
• $119/sf
• 83 days on market
• 1495 sq feet
• and sold for about 95% of the list price

The only thing that jumps out at me there is that the average South Bexley home sold for 95% of the list price. South Bexley homes were, for the most part I think, priced better this year than in previous years. I can almost understand the general Bexley market going for only 95% of list because the higher priced homes, especially the highest priced homes, can often go for tens of thousands of dollars less than the last list price, but in South Bexley, that’d be absurd.

Anyway, sure enough, someone made an error when entering the sales price on a South Roosevelt home. The actual Sales price to List price percentage in South Bexley in 2008 was 96% and on homes selling above $160,000, (small homes or homes needing a lot of work command less) it was 97% – exactly where I tell clients that it falls all across town.

Don’t get me wrong, there are many affordable and adorable homes in North Bexley as well but they exist in close proximity to bigger, more expensive move-up homes and multi million dollar estates. That’s why I’m not separating out North Bexley.However, …

Let’s take a look at Central Bexley.  Here is a run down of the 47 Central Bexley (Stopping at Gould going East) homes that sold in 2008.

• $443,831 average sales price
• $153 per square foot
• 115 days on the market
• 2827 square feet
• and sold for about 95% of the list price

I could have even built this out to include only homes from Drexel to Gould or just the boulevard streets, etc, etc, but where do you stop?
Don’t forget two things about Central Bexley — Preston Avenue and Park Dr are not part of Bexley and only homes on the West side of Gould are in Bexley.