New homes don’t pop up in old neighborhoods every day. It happens, certainly. Builders or would-be homeowners buy vacant lots and put a new house on them. It’s called in-fill housing. At a time when many condo projects in and around Columbus are/have been flailing, North Of Broad has ever so slowly continued selling homes in a neighborhood full of vacant homes that is still struggling to regain an identity while balancing new interest in historic homes with gentrification.

Along the way, Columbus Housing Partnership’s Homeport division has built the City’s first LEED Certified home and buy, develop and market new projects. Here is one new home-owner’s heartfelt appreciation for her new home.

You should also know that, “Homeport Housing Advisory Center services give people the information they need to improve their financial lives and prepare to purchase their own homes. Homebuyer and Housing Counseling Programs also work to address the underlying social and economic needs facing families within Columbus neighborhoods. The Homeport Housing Advisory Center helps people understand that purchasing a home comes with many obligations. The Homeport Housing Advisory Center teaches its clients how to be responsible homeowners and good neighbors.”

Homes on the market: 159 Greater Short North Homes and Condos for sale today

• $255,953
• $189/sf and
• 279 days on market – see below
• CONDOS ONLY – 114 Listings, $$237,880 1259 sf, $201/sf, 333 DOM*
• HOMES ONLY – 45 Listings, $301,738 – 1901 sf – $159.63 sf – 142 DOM

*The current Active Short North condo market has many unsold, long-time listings From Harrison Park which skews both days on market and average list price. This is the first update since it was announced that Ibiza will be turned into apartments, not condos.

Greater Short North Homes in contract with escape clauses:

(1) A three bedroom three bath 1620 sf condo on Dennison Place is in contract contingent on the sale of a home. It is listed at $270,000.  Because of the contingency, an interested buyer could conceivably swoop in and make an offer that would force the hand of the current buyers in contract with the home sale contingency.

(I’m surprised that there aren’t a few more of these, ala Empty Nesters in Columbus suburbs selling their homes and moving to be closer to the action. Maybe the Spring and the impending end of the $6500 tax credit will bring some more home sale contingencies-though Sellers aren’t generally accepting them unless the Buyer’s homes are in-contract and past the inspection period)

Greater Short North Homes in Contract contingent on financing/inspections as of today: 34

• Averaging 1360 sf
• $268,074
• $207/sf
• 97 days on market
• CONDOS ONLY – 26 w/ avg of $288,528, 1340 sf (!) $226/sf, 109 DOM – Most of these are  in The Jackson
• HOMES ONLY – 8 with an avg of $201,600 – 1424 sf – $131/sf – 81DOM

Greater Short North area Homes in firm contract as of today: 4-all condos

• Averaging 1608 sf
• $303,350
• $181/sf
• 332 days on market 2 of them are in Harrison Park w/ 522 DOM, 1 on Summit, 1 on Brickel

Greater Short North area Homes SOLD in January and February, 2010: 30

• Averaging 1368 sf
• $233,617 avg List but a $225,125 Sale price or 96.32%
• $199/sf (up $34/sf over last quarter)
• 117 days on market – 2 weeks longer than last qtr
• CONDOS ONLY – 9 @$206,108, 1324 sf, $198/sf, 171 DOM
• HOMES ONLY – only 3! @ $302,933- 1931 sf – $183/sf –81 DOM

This 3 story home with 5 bedrooms at 122 W 2nd Ave sold for $356,500 just over a week ago after 3 days on market

The Most expensive home on the market at the moment is (still ) 1029 Neil which boasts 3,800 sq ft, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and is listed at $649,000. It has been active on the market a whopping 675 days.

Two of the least expensive homes in the area at the moment are both two bedrooms – 1071 North 4th came on the market about a week ago, a small cottage-y home in need of lots of love for $45,000 and 252 Detroit which has been on the market a year with 770 sf at $79,900.

Homes and Condos temporarily off the market – 3 all condos

71 East 5th Ave 1 bedroom at $89,000, 11 West 3rd, 1 bed at $249,000, 949 Neil 2 bed, $329,000

Joe Peffer is a Realtor who works in Victorian Village, the Short North, Italian Village, Harrison West and specializes in midtown Columbus Neighborhoods.

Would you like me to break it down by Victorian Village vs Italian Village or just condos? Call or email me anytime with questions or concerns and I will be glad to get back to you.

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.