Daily News - Ohio Real Estate Sales Continue to Slip While Foreclosures Increase (ContributorNetwork) Daily Business News
The Ohio real estate market is still circling the bowl, according to May sales figures just released by Realty Trac. The federal tax credit in 2009 was a small bandage that could not stop the bleeding in the housing market. Even when an Ohio real estate agent can coax a potential buyer to tour a home and make an offer, the hopeful homeowner is often turned down for a loan.
Long-time property owners with good credit scores are hearing "no" from overly cautious loan officers more frequently. May home sales in Columbus were down 25 percent from the same month in 2010, a sad statistics echoed throughout the Buckeye State.
Ohio is not the only state experiencing housing woes. Florida home sales and foreclosures are also at a record high. A three-bedroom, two-bath home within 10 miles of Gulf Coast beaches that sold for $196,000 in 2006 is now listed with a bargain basement price tag of $56,000. The increased pressure on banks to offer loans to anyone with a pulse by the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac government-backed loan programs are at the root cause of the problem. The greed of bankers desiring a bigger payday and Americans who allowed their materialism to exceed their pocketbooks are also to blame for the housing crisis.
Not a single geographic area in Ohio has been spared from the foreclosure, short sale and price reduction trauma, according to Realty Trac. Even the affluent area of Dublin is now marred with 164 foreclosure signs. Homes that once demanded a price only affordable to successful professionals are now going to auction for far less than $200,000.
In Cincinnati 3,405 home owners were displaced after their homes were placed on the auction block this summer. Columbus faces perhaps the largest foreclosure problem in Ohio with 4,099 homes recently listed as foreclosures. Smaller communities face the same price tag and loan approval problems as metropolitan areas, but do not boast as many foreclosures and short sales. The southern Ohio cities of Jackson, Athens and Logan each have less 20 defaulted homes listed for sale.
When a home is in foreclosure it is also likely that unpaid real estate taxes are attached to the property. Local governments and schools around the state are suffering due to the growing amount of delinquent property taxes. Less levy revenue and an unwillingness from taxpayers to approve new school levies as long as districts maintain a business as usual approach to spending habits may mean lean times ahead for public schools in the Buckeye State.
Homeowners in general are impacted by the growing list of foreclosures. The steeply discounted prices on short sale and foreclosed homes drives down the price of similar homes in the same area. Banks require a real estate appraiser to use comparable homes to determine current market value during the loan process. When your neighbor cannot pay his mortgage and his house is sold at a foreclosure auction, your home is now worth less in the eyes of lenders and appraisers.
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