Greater Cleveland Real Estate Blog

Investing in Cleveland is a hot topic.

I am glad to invite you to the Investing in Cleveland Event which will take place at Local-n-Global Real Estate Center 05/05/2011 between 5:30 pm and 8 pm.

Cleveland Real Estate market 2011 presents numerous opportunities for home buyers and for Real Estate investors. Come to explore some opportunities and to network, consult and socialize with experts.

When I was a little girl, I lived in a city not too big and not too small. I loved to decorate our apartment, and I loved to see how other people decorated their homes and apartments, too.  Since I was 5 years old, I played piano and adored a ballet. Those two passions seriously affected my imagination - I was always imagining the fairy tales and at the same time was thinking about the real people's stories behind the scene and behind the curtains. Real Estate at that time translated into art and creativity for me. And I loved it.

        Decoration and style were the scene, and people were acting in their unique manner, and their relationships were not simple, and it was a complicated world, which I wholeheartedly wanted to make a better place.

        I studied a Western Philosophy and Psychology in a great city of Moscow and was never even thinking about anything better than a brilliant academic career for me:).

As I mentioned before, the world was complicated, and the country where I was born disappeared, vanished. There was no USSR on the map any more. Instead, there was a new beautiful world of opportunities to harmonize the world and to do business in an intelligent, humanitarian manner. At that point Real Estate translated into investment for me. And I loved it.

Then our family moved to the United States, and we are lucky to live in beautiful Moreland Hills, near Cleveland, OH. I needed to translate all my experience and knowledge into a new career. Real Estate became my new career, and my passion, and my life.

It's a miraculous business of Real Estate where artistic creativity and sensitivity to other people's feelings and thoughts, where academic knowledge and research skills,  where business intuition and investment experience are part of the Real Estate agent's job description.

It's an every day opportunity to meet new local people, and to connect with wonderful people from all over the world. Thanks to new technologies, we have Active Rain of Real Estate, and our clients benefit from our new connections and from Rain of knowledge, and support, and winning attitude.

Real Estate translates into a business of making the world a better place. Home to home. Person to person. Heart to heart.

And I love it!

Happy Valentine's Day to all my clients, colleagues and friends!

Cleveland Homes for sale needed! Sold out - and ready to sell more!

I've just come back to Cleveland from my two weeks trip to Russia, just to find out that my inventory of homes for sale in Eastern suburbs of Cleveland is almost SOLD OUT.

After few months of relatively slow market, Cleveland home buyers started actively making the offers, which  is good and smart of them.

Real Estate mantras, like "Prices are historically low", "Interest rates are historically low", "Houses have never been as affordable as they are today" are all true. I'm glad that many buyers appreaciate this unique situation.

We, the marketing and listing specialists in Local-n-Global Realty are ready to help more home owners to move up or down and to sell their homes in Greater Cleveland. Just give us a call 24/7 - 877-770-5551. We'll be happy to present to you our scientifically designed, meticulously planned, and enthusiastically performed marketing system, which helps many Cleveland home owners to sell their houses and condos.

Cleveland Real Estate : iPhone Home Search Application By Local-n-Global Realty

Local-n-Global Realty is proud to announce our new exciting services for Cleveland home buyers and home sellers. If you use an iPhone, you can see all current MLS information about the houses around the area where you are now, right on your iPhone screen!

Just do few very simple steps.

• Download MyAgent by IDX Broker application from your app store. It's free.

• Enter agent's code 7308

• Your iPhone's built-in GPS will define your location and you see the map of the area where you are now and all the active MLS listings in the area!

• Touch the home icon on your screen to find out more details about the house which you like 

• See all the pictures which listing agent put into the system

• If you want more information or if you are willing to see the home just touch the upper left corner of the screen where my phone is and I will answer all your questions immediately.
  

         Download MyAgent app from your App Store.                                               Enter code 7308

Enjoy your Real Estate Search  in convenience of your iPhone.

                                              Touch my phone number 216-548-4663

                                  if you like to see the house or want to get more information.

Have a happy and cool Real Estate search in Cleveland!

7308Have a happy and cool Real Estate serach in Cleveland!

Be safe and happy! I am not a complainer, not at all. My glass is always at least half-full. I enjoy turning disadvantages into advantages and turning advantages into benefits for my loved ones or for my clients.

My last experience with Delta challenged this attitude. As my Facebook friends know, I was taking a long trip to Ukraine and Russia. That was an amazing journey! I took part in Yalta International Real Estate Conference, I also taught classes on building Real Estate business as a system in three cities: Yalta, Ukraine; Tyumen, Russia; Chelyabinsk, Russia.

Meeting and speaking with hundreds of Real Estate professionals from Ukraine and Russia made my life brighter. Young, well educated, eager to learn and develop their business, our Ukrainian and Russian colleagues are on the edge of technology and definitely make the future of Real Estate.

I will probably write much more posts about people in Russian and Ukrainian Real Estate, about their ideas, challenges, problems and solutions.

Only thinking about all wonderful people whom I met, helped me survive the last part of my trip, which is usually the easiest one - Delta connection flight from JFK in New York to Cleveland OH.

I'm a Delta's frequent flyer, loyal and old time customer. I was never charmed by Delta's customer services but their precise timing and reasonable pricing was the reason why I kept my loyalty to this company. This time I realized that I would rather get a better customer services.

The long story short, JFK is under a big reconstruction now (hot news, huh!). Flights' delays and cancellations are part of everyday operation. Like Delta practitioners don't know about this! No information, no attempt to find a better solution for their passengers.

After almost nine hours flight from Moscow to JFK, I was waiting for my last connection to Cleveland. Everything looked fine. Information board said that everything's ok, flight would be timely, just relax and wait. That was exactly what I was doing. 

Information about one hour delay appeared few minutes prior to scheduled boarding time. That was fine. Understandable.

At the new scheduled time we were boarded,  baggage and hand bags arranged, nothing seemed wrong. It took two hours to realize that we were not going anywhere! First, it was runway, which was closed, then it was storm coming from the West, next it was Delta's regulation to taxi back to the gate the plane with the passengers insight, in two hours afer boarding, in order to avoid government fines.

In three hours of taxiing back and forth, our plane was unboarded at the gate. No information. No offer to arrange something, no excuses, no apologies. Flight attendant was doing her best  to keep everyone calm and as happy as possible but she was the one who delivered all this contradictory information, so she got her portion of people's frustration.

Then the worst part started. No information game continued. I decided to take care of myself without relying on Delta. So, I claimed my baggage. After another three hours of waiting it became clear that my baggage was lost. I need to thank Delta for safe delivering it to my house in Moreland Hills less than two days later.

I was thinking, what should we do real bad in Real estate to make our customers so unhappy and to challenge our customers' loyalty as Delta did? I tried to use my imagination but did not manage to invent anything close to arresting your customers inside the plane with no information, no hope, no attitude to deliver result, which we, the Delta's customers paid for.

Using to have my glass at least half full, I am grateful for this experience as it showed how loving and caring my husband is - he drove to New York to pick me up from there and to bring me back to Cleveland  -almost 20 hours round trip! I am grateful to my friends in New York who picked me up from the airport and brought me to their apartment. I am grateful to all my on-line friends who sent me messages of support and cheer.

I will do my best to never let my clients down. I don't want to challenge anyone's loyalty and human decency. My job is to help you solve your problems. That's what I know how to do. That's what I'm devoted to.

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.

New Year used to be the main celebration of the year back to Russia. Actually, It was the only celebration , which united everyone in joy, and hope, and happiness. It's always been a magic night. It still is.

We have a big Russian community here in Cleveland OH. We keep the traditions of New Year celebration here in Cleveland, too. I am really happy to extend the best wishes for New Year to all my friends, clients, colleagues, partners, no matter what cultural background they have and what community they belong. 

Some people like to attend big parties, some people perform in funny home made and home staged plays, some enjoy warm and joyful family gatherings. No matter how and where you celebrate a New Year, let 2010 be a prosperous, successful, happy year, full of fun, friendship, love and good deals!

According to Russian Orthodox tradition we celebrate Christmas on January 7th, that's why most of the Russian families still keep our Christmas trees decorated and lightened. As Christmas was kind of a prohibited holiday back in the USSR, people used to call the Christmas tree a New Year tree.

Happy New Year to all of you, my friends! С Новым Годом!

Is it wise to list your home or condo in Cleveland during the Holiday season?

Many Cleveland Real Estate agents are traditionally on their vacation at this time of year. Some experts, on the contrary, believe that Holiday season is the best time to show your homes in Cleveland to serious home buyers.

Let's see what are advantages and disadvantages of selling a house in Cleveland OH during the Holidays.

Disadvantages:

• We have real winters in Cleveland! It may be cold, snowy, hard to see the driveway or roof, hard to walk around the yard
• It's hard to show the properties as daylight time is shorter
• It may be disturbing and inconvenient for homeowners to show the properties due to family gatherings, cooking, gift packing, etc.
  

Advantages:

• There are no "Just lookers" on the market at this time of year - serious buyers only
• Competition is not as strong as on Spring or Summer market, fewer properties listed for sale
• If the property is decorated, it looks more attractive for potential buyers - warmer, prettier, more like Home should be
  
• Limited home buyers tax credit incentive makes buyers more active and anxious about purchasing a home timely.

SOMETHING ELSE? YOUR OPINION PLEASE!

The Plain Dealer will feature one of our listings - a condo in Willoughby, Big Turtle II on December 26, 2009. We'll see how efficient this advertising will be. In order to make the Plain Dealer's Ad more powerful, we will support it by broadcasting it on Twitter and Facebook. I hope, home buyers and their agents will not miss this wonderful opportunity to buy a very good condominium in Willoughby in truly move-in condition.

Happy Holidays to all of you!

It's time to check out your credit score if you consider to buy a home in Cleveland OH or anywhere in the United States in few months, so you can still benefit from Home buyers tax credit.

Monitoring and reviewing your credit reports is a good idea for everyone. According to Equifax, 

• more than 27 million Americans have been victims of identity theft in the last five years
• only this year about 500,000 people will be robbed by identity thievs
• there is likely to be a "mass victimization" of the consumers within the next two years
• it may take six months to two years to recover from identity theft.

Even if you get pre-approved by the mortgage lender and If you are going to buy a house within next few months, it might be wise to monitor your credit in order to avoid unwilling surprises.

Consumers are entitled to receive one free credit report every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Free credit report can be requested through the website https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp.

The addresses for the credit reporting agencies are listed below:

Equifax
P.O. Box 740256
Atlanta, Georgia 30374

Experian
P.O. Box 9554
Allen, Texas 75013

TransUnion
P.O. Box 6790
Fullerton, CA 92834