Do put some thought into your mortgage...You'll be glad you did later on

I have a feeling this is something that many buyers constantly wonder about but rarely verbalize.  Aside from short and long term costs of the loan, there is more to both than meets the eye.

Take, for instance, the possibility of a big promotion in another city only two years after you moved in to your new Columbus home. If you put down 10- 20% on your conforming loan, you’re in a better position to sell and move. Dan Green explains the basic long and short term costs from his Mortgage Reports blog….

FHA And Conforming Mortgages : Key Differences

People tend to assume that a 30-year fixed is a 30-year fixed is a 30-year fixed.  The market doesn’t work that way.  It’s like saying a car is a car is a car. There are traits that make each product unique.

Yes, both the FHA and Fannie/Freddie back a product called the “30-year fixed rate mortgage”, but beyond their identical, 30-year amortization schedules, the products are hardly similar.

As examples:

• FHA mandates mortgage insurance on all loans. Fannie and Freddie do not.
• FHA mortgage insurance lasts 60 months. Conforming mortgage insurance lasts until there’s 20% equity in the home.
• FHA mortgages can be assumed by a subsequent, qualified buyer. Conforming mortgages cannot.
• FHA-backed homes must be free of defects and “issues”. Fannie/Freddie homes may have small defects.
• Fannie/Freddie require loan-level pricing adjustments. The FHA does not.

And, lastly, the FHA requires a minimum downpayment of 3.5% on a purchase. Fannie and Freddie want to see 5 percent, at least; oftentimes, 10 percent.

Lots more great information on this post which is continued here….

Today, we’re playing with both numbers and the local Board of Realtors’ new statistics. It’s a game that could turn dangerous if you don’t read between the lines or follow the stats in your favorite neighborhood closely. For example, while you could certainly find a deal out there, don’t think you can expect to get your next home for 88% of the list price as suggested below.

Just today I had a couple who’d made an extremely strong offer on a foreclosure find out that they lost out in a highest and best situation that mingled at least five offers. The listing agent hinted the winning offer was at least 175%  of the list price. A similar home across the street had a similar situation transpire just two weeks ago. So, come on in, the markets great.

You may be surprised (I was) to hear that of the 18 counties that make up the Central Ohio MLS, Franklin County had only the Eighth Highest Median Sales Price. Delaware was first at $227,794…more than $110,000 over Franklin County but of course Franklin County had more sales, lots more sales—609 compared to Delaware’s 118.

Franklin-County-January <– Click here for all the pretty graphs.

This 1266 brick 3 bedroom at 1237 Hamlet sold for $75,000 last October

I’ve been going on about Weinland Park for years. My first house was there on the 1200 block of Hamlet Street. There’s been hype, there’s been movement, there’s been changes. There haven’t been a whole lot of real estate sales.

Last year within Weinland Park (loosely defined as 5th Avenue North Chittenden and High Street East to the Tracks) 12 residences sold with an average price per square foot of  $108.25 for an average sale price of $118,460. The median sales price though, was $80.91. Half of those 12 sales, however, were condominiums in the York on High project built in the former Masonic Temple at 1276 North High. Taking those properties out of the mix plunges the median $/sf to $32.25. But…

Is Weinland Park on the verge of a real estate renaissance.

Seemingly perpetually ‘on the verge’ of becoming a destination neighborhood — at least to the degree of success that the  Old North Columbus Neighborhood (a campus bookend to Weinland Park) has enjoyed in recent years — Weinland Park does have a lot going for it.

This newly renovated 1733 sf 4 bed 1.5 bath home on Euclid is in contract and listed at $179,900

The new(ish) Weinland Park Elementary School which boasts the Schoenbaum Family Center, sits in a nicely refurbished Weinland Park for which the neighborhood is named.  Newly rehabbed CPO properties line 4th street, some with well groomed landscaping. More than just proposals to build 500+ units of condominiums and apartments with approximately 1.5 acres of greenspace and a community center on the former brownstone sites of Columbus Coated Fabrics and the Auld Company which came from recommendations in the Weinland Park Neighborhood Plan adopted by Columbus City Council in 2006.

How about the Newly relocated Hot Cards site on 5th Avenue? Middle West Spirits? Drake Brothers Meadery? The newly opened Bar L’ertanger?  The still shiny 11th Avenue Columbus 4th Precinct Station? Any way you slice it, Weinland Park is on the move. The Short North cannot go anywhere but North and the goodness of South Campus has been heading South.

Live in Weinland Park and you can both walk to Surly Girl for drinks and eats or walk to South Campus Gateway for a film. That’s a pretty unique opportunity anywhere, especially at this kind of price point.

Does some ‘bad element’ still exist? Probably. Is the housing stock as Stellar as Victorian Village or even Italian Village? No, not at all. But those are two reason why the area is still affordable. If you buy this year you won’t exactly be a pioneer but you might be a bit of a settler.

Also see this from the Knowlton School of Architecture Studio and this from Local Matters.

Feel like doing some exploring? call me 614-940-9100.