Greater Cleveland Real Estate Blog

What's our home in Cleveland suburbs really worth?

There are many homeowners who want to sell their homes and move to another one. However, according to 2009 NAR Profile of Home Buyers, 47 % of all home buyers were first time buyers, which means that only 53 % were repeat home buyers.

This was a record low number of repeat home buyers. Multiple reasons are responsible for this disbalance, such as falling home prices, inability to sell for more than owed to the bank, ruined or corrupted credit history of current homeowners, inability to verify income to be sufficient for a new loan, etc., etc.

Besides these reasons, there is one, which is hard to measure but which is very real: FEAR. Fear to move to a bigger home, fear to get a higher mortgage, fear to lose a job or business.

I personally believe that new $6,500 tax credit, which has been expanded to existing homeowners who own their residences during five consecutive years within last eight years is the best stimulus action offered by our government. We see more and more inquiries from existing home owners who are willing to buy another home.

Just few examples: young family wants to move from the condo in Highland Heights to a bigger home in Kirtland, or Family of four  needs to sell a house in South Euclid in order to move to a bigger home in Solon, couple wants to downsize from their home in Gates Mills to condo in Aurora, and many more.

All these people have the same question: what's our home or condo in a Cleveland suburb really worth on today's market?

We in Local-n-Global Realty have a great tool for the homeowners: instant Real Estate evaluator. Just click the banner above, type in your address and get one of the very accurate estimates in the industry.

Sure, none of the machines can do the same job as experienced, knowledgeable Real Estate expert can do in giving you a right idea of not only how much yout house in Cleveland can be worth, but also - and more important - on what to do to get your house sold .

You deserve to move on with your life! It's just a right time to make a move! Call us 877-770-5551 or Svetlana Stolyarova directly 216-548-4663 and let's discuss your Real Estate situation in order to find the best solution for your family!

Broker's Tour.

What to Preview in Northfield - Macedonia - Sagamore Hills 01/26/2010.

It was a lively discussion on necessity to preview homes for the clients of Real Estate agents on our post

Real Estate Agent's Tool Kit: How to Show the Houses To Home Buyers Circa 2010.

For those Realtors who believe in diligent previewing homes for their buyers, there is an excellent opportunity to do it at one time, with a pleasure to meet other agents, grab some food and have a fun. This opportunity's name is Broker's Tour. Or Broker's Open House. Or Office Caravan.

Local-n-Global Realty will hold a Broker's Open at our new listing at 794 Lost Creek Ln. Northfiled, OH 44067 this Tuesday, 01/26/2010 between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm.

I want to remind that there are few Broker's Opens scheduled by different agents tomorrow in 44067 Zip code area, which covers Northfield - Macedonia - Sagamore Hills.

Please be our guests and tour this wonderful home in Brandywine Preserve priced below initial construction cost!  See all the upgrades this home has to offer!  Better and less expensive than new, this is a home your buyer will love!

House in Brandywine Presrve of Northfield OH.

Don't Miss an Opportunity to own a beautiful ranch style home in Brandywine Preserve. Short sale - good chance to become an owner of the property at Brandywine Preserves for a fraction of price! House is listed by Local-n-Global Realty. Asking price - $166,000. House was built  in 2005 by Ryan homes for $205,590. That price did not include huge 27' x 17' deck made of expensive and maintenance-free composite material, and partially finished basement. What a great value in this nice home!

For those who need a good access to major highways and who need to travel between Akron and Cleveland, Brandywine Preserve is one of the best solutions. Its central location between Hudson and Macedonia, next to Twinsburg Township and Boston Heights provides direct access to all amenities of both Cleveland and Akron.

Beautiful nature preservation areas surround the homes of Brandywine Preserve. Undeveloped open spaces include wooded areas as well as open plains. Brandywine Preserve is only minutes away from local parks and recreation, where families can enjoy various outdoor activities.

Smart and sophisticated one floor home design makes living in this wonderful upgraded Piedmont model home real convenient and enjoyable. Low maintenance cluster community of Brandywine Preserve provide a good care of common areas, landscaping and snowplowing for a reasonable monthly fee of $115. Property taxes are $3,405 per year.

Updated ranch in Brandywine Preserve - better than new!

Overview Maps Photos Features Description Neighborhood

$200,000 Single Family Home For Sale Main Features 3 Bedrooms 2 Bathrooms Interior: 1566 sqft Lot: 0.16 acre(s) Location 794 Lost Creek Ln. Northfield, OH 44067

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Svetlana Stolyarova Local-n-Global Realty (440) 2475388 Realty@Local-n-Global.com http://www.Local-n-Global.com Listed by: Local-n-Global Realty

Our recent listings Updated ranch in Brandywine Preserve - better than new! Affordable Cleveland Condo Opportunity to build in Walden Farms Willoughby OH Condo at its best Affordable home in Mayfield Heights Subscribe to our listing feed

See more Northfield, OH real estate for sale

Look at the pictures, read description and call us any time at 877-770-5551 ext.136 to set up an appointment to preview this wonderful home. Follow us on Twitter to check out info about Open Houses.

Attention property owners in Cuyahoga County Ohio!

Real Estate Tax payments for the first half of 2009 (pay in 2010)
are due by midnight, January 20, 2010.

If you have any questions regarding your tax bill, here is contact information for Jim Rokakis,

Cuyahoga County Treasurer:

Phone: 216-443-7420    Fax: 216-443-7463

http://www.treasurer.cuyahogacounty,us

Quick reminder to recent home owners:

Owner-occupied properties are entitled to an additional 2.5 % reduction in taxes. If you are not receiving this reduction and believe that you are eligible, please call 216-443-7089 for an application.

Just don't be late!

As usually, Local-n-Global Realty offers complimentary House evaluation to homeowners in Solon, Twinsburg, Bainbridge, Orange, Aurora OH and other neighborhoods of Greater Cleveland, who are willing to sell the house and move to another one.

Real Estate Agent's Tool Kit. Part 2.

How to Show the Houses To Home Buyers Circa 2010.

Showing the houses to home buyers is one of the most visible activities performed by Real Estate agents. Many people still perceive the Real Estate agent as the "Door Openers":). Even for simply opening the door for our buying clients we, the Real Estate agents do a lot of things behind the scene to make it happen.

Simple list of activities we do prior to showing appointment includes, but is not limited to:

• Buyer's initial consultation, qualification in order to understand buyer's motives, needs , desires and ability to meet these needs
• MLS data base search in order to find the best matches for our home buyers
• Coordination of appointment time with the buyer
• Creating a preliminary route for a showing tour
• Scheduling the appointments with the listing agents and getting the showing instructions
  
• Compiling the final route, printing out or e-mailing the map and driving direction to the buyer
• Printing out the flyers for each home
• Investigating the property history, checking out the current neighborhood marketing condition for each property 

Times changed, and the way we handle all these activities change, too. Not for everyone though. Thus, we are still in the transition between the 20th century way of doing business routine and the 21st century one.

Scheduling the showings and getting showing instructions is all about communication between Real Estate agents. Sometimes it's real time consuming, and even frustrating and exhausting. Listing agents can make the showings much easier for cooperating agents and buying clients.

I personally love one tool, which makes the whole process easier and a way more professional: Centralized Showing System. Our company Local-n-Global Realty uses this system for more than two years. Among the advantages the most important for me is a time savings. Besides saving a time, there are few more important benefits of using this or similar system vs. calling the listing office or listing agent:

• Accessibility to the services. It's  available by phone from 8 am to 8 pm every day. Sunday hours are 8 am to 6 pm. Listing offices may be closed, agents may not answer the phones nor return the calls timely.

• Internet access 24/7. We can manage our appointments at any time per our convenience. We do not have this privilege while using traditional approach to scheduling the showings.

• One easy phone number to remember and dial for multiple houses vs. many different phone numbers to dial if listings to show belong to different brokerages.

• Easy to identify yourself. If you call the office or agent who do not use this system, it's always a burden spelling first and last name, buyer's name, phone numbers, etc. Having 18 letters in my not-that-common first and last names, it's not fun to spell them at each attempt to set up an appointment for my clients.

• E-mail notification and e-mail instructions We do not have this privilege while using traditional approach to scheduling the showings.

• Easy to follow-up after showing. We can easily e-mail showing report to our buyers. System automatically generates a courtesy feedback request .We do not have this privilege while using traditional approach to scheduling the showings.

The other tool which listing agent can use is an electronic lock box - Supra box, IBox, whatever other names can be.

I personally feel that

it's much more safe for the sellers if their agents use electronic entry system for showing of the properties for sale.

Interesting, but here in Cleveland you can find the whole variety of different entry systems. If you show the houses in Solon, Pepper Pike, Twinsburg there is a very high probability that the listing agents use electronic IBoxes. Listing agents on West side of Greater Cleveland traditionally use electronic systems very rarely. You have a chance though to find numeric lock boxes, combination lock boxes with letter combo, even ancient camel key lock boxes!

I understand that purchasing and maintaining electronic entry system may be pretty costly for the agents but it's much more convenient and safe for our clients and for our fellow agents! Electronic entry systems provide a perfect tracking for each of our listings. Sophisticated system of registration, tracking , and notification does not leave any chance for unattended showings or for letting unauthorized showings be unnoticed.

Read our first post about Real Estate Agent's Tool Kit:

Real Estate Agent's Tool Kit: How Not To Miss Important Call

Cleveland International Piano Competition: Exciting Announcements For 2010

I love to list the reasons why people should move to Cleveland. Yesterday, January 9, 2010 one more exciting reason was announced at the Cleveland International Piano Competition party hosted by Dr. Jim Gibbs. Karen Knowlton, Executive director of the Cleveland Piano Competition told about the 2010 concert series. 

Cleveland is the city of a rich cultural legacy, living tradition of visual and performing arts, and International flavor. No wonder that Cleveland International Piano Competition is worldwide renowned and very popular among young pianists all over the world.

Clevelanders and guests of our city will enjoy three wonderful performances during 2010. Russian community of Greater Cleveland is proudly supporting the key event of 2010 - The Winners Return! concert, which will take place in Severance Hall June 12, 2010.

The First Prize winner of 2007 Alexander Ghindin from Russia and the First Prize winner of 2009 Competition Martina Filjak from Croatia will be performing together.

I am fortunate to meet with Alexander Ghindin in person back in 2008 when he performed at Severance Hall on August 16, 2008 in support of Russian-American Medical Association's international medical mission to save children with life-threatening heart defects. What a wonderful personality, sense of humour, passion and drive for excellence! Alexander is a good friend of Russian community of Greater Cleveland.

Please mark your calendar: Saturday, June 12, 2010

7:00 pm

Severance Hall

The Winners Return!

FIY: Five-Star rated Cleveland Piano Competition takes place every other year. The next Competition will be held July 26 through August 7, 2011.

Orange OH Real Estate.

We in Local-n-Global Realty extend our campaign Cleveland OH Real Estate Search: Make It Easier.

In addition to Homes In Solon Schools District Property search, we added the Homes in Orange School District Property Search.

Now home buyers can monitor Real Estate market in Orange School District.

In ten consequitive years the Orange Schools were rated the Excellent with Distinction by the Ohio Department of Education.

WHAT EXCELLENT WITH DISTINCTION MEANS

• 100% of all state indicators met
• Attendance / Graduation rates near perfect
• Adequate Yearly Progress met
• Value Added ABOVE expected growth
• Performance Index: all-time high of 106.3
• 91.2% of all tests: proficient or higher
• 68% of all tests: advanced/accelerated
• 93.3% OGT passage rate on all 5 portions.

Great results for the Orange Schools!

Solon OH Real Estate Search.

We in Local-n-Global Realty Make It Easy For Home Buyers to find the one and the perfect home in Solon for your family. Solon is one of the best places to live, according to Money's list of America's best small towns.

Exceptional Solon Schools system is one of the biggest factors why so many families consider buying Real Estate in Solon.

We in Local-n-Global Realty decided to make it easier for home buyers who are looking for moving to Solon School district. We created the specific Homes In Solon Schools District Property search web page. Now you cango directly to this page and check out the most up-to-date Real Estate information from our local MLS.

Real Estate Agent's Tool Kit .

I do my New Year's resolutions as many people do. Part of my 2010 resolution is to compile and share an easy-to-use Real Estate Agent's Tool Kit.

Let's start from the basics.

Real Estate Customer Services.

Answering Your Phone. Not Missing The Calls.

All clients and customers of Real Estate brokers are very important. We love your calls and we want you to call us about your Real Estate needs, hopes and desires! However, are all the Real Estate customers treated by average agents as Very Important Persons?

It was a good post by Michael Holmes featured today Calling All Agents, Answer Your Phone!

Michael mentioned that public perception of Real Estate agents is as being Lazy. Sad. Indeed, many agents do not answer the phone. Worse is that many agents do not timely return the calls from potential and actual clients and from the other agents.

I admit that there may be some business situations when Real Estate agent simply can not answer the phone. It's usually not appropriate to answer the phone when you are having a conversation with another client or when you are attending a meeting or class. In many communities it's illegal to use the phone while driving. Besides, Real Estate agents are human beings! We may have our personal time, we may be with our family, with our loved ones. We may be at the doctor's office. We may have a vacation.

However, in most cases we can not afford to miss any business calls.

Technologies may be a very efficient solution for a caring Real Estate professional. See what a good Real Estate agents can use in order to better serve our home sellers and home buyers.

• Call Capture System. We in Local-n-Global Realty successfully utilize 877-770-5551 Real Estate Hotline for spreading a listing information and for capturing all listing calls during more than three years. Beauty of this system is that there is no chance to miss any call, as all callers are identified by the system. Information about the call instantly comes to dedicated agent's cell phone and to e-mail box. Agent can chose to get all the calls forwarded to any phone number within particular hours. If call forwarding is chosen to be disabled, agent returns the call at the first convenience. This number also works as an electronic fax number.  This technology is offered by Freedom Voice Systems. It's a very smart approach, which allows us capture and promptly respond to everyone who is interested in our services and in our listings. We report to our selling clients about all activity on their listings. We can broadcast any information to any people from our database. We trace the calls from different marketing sources, and many more. Very reasonable pricing. That's one of the best  investment in technology, which we've ever done.
  
• Love Your Voicemail system. Thanks to YouMail.com, we can capture, share, store, visualize, customize, and manage all voicemails and calls coming to our cell phones. This sophisticated and fun system allows to securely store on-line all calls and voicemails received by the subscriber. Instant text messaging and e-mail notification make our calls accessible and easy to manage. Good news is that a basic level of this service is free!
  

I am a firm believer that Real estate customers deserve excellent customer services from their Real Estate agents and from the whole professional community. Few easy-to-use technologies can help Real Estate professionals to make their services exceptional!