The Bratenahl Housing Market in 2007

Yes, this is a serene way to wait for a bus; the gorgeous tiling and textured surfaces are part of a gate surrounding one of the many gated homes in Bratenahl. I showed a few condominiums in Bratenahl Place yesterday and was impressed. First, it's not easy to purchase a home for under $150k in Bratenahl, yet these condos are just short of 1600 square feet of living space and are priced well under $150,000. The maintenance fees might give us all pause.......the three I showed were approximately $950/month. That does cover all your utilities. To find out what else is covered, you can check the Bratenahl Place website here. One cool feature at this complex is a 17 acre hiking trail. Not to mention the view of Lake Erie.

So how have homes been selling in Bratenahl? Here are stats from January 2007 until today. Once again, these stats relate to homes listed with area brokers on the Multiple Listing (computer) Service:

Five single family homes have sold between the prices of $157,500 and 1.5 million dollars. The two homes sold for less than $160k were on the market for less than a month; not surprising! The average amenities were: 3,612 square feet of living space, and $139/sq foot to purchase. They also averaged four bedrooms and four bathrooms.

The condos? Eight sold since January between $120k (one condo) and $500k. This time, the home that sold for $500,000 was on market only five days.

You can read about the Village of Bratenahl here. The Village's recreation center offers things like kick boxing and Pilates; and they apparently opened up an outdoor coffee shop on the premises. Very cool. If you have never driven through Bratenahl, take a gander. It's lush and green (at least until Winter!) and the architecture on the homes may just blow you away. Peace Out - 3C

The Consumers are Speaking! Check out 'Bring Back Doubles' Web Site

I was tracking a link to my blog post, and something miraculous occurred. 'Loyal Giant Eagle shoppers' (their words) bought a domain name and established a grassroots website called 'Bring Back Doubles.'

They detail several points about why they are upset with G-Eagle. Here is one excerpt:

".... We are not convinced that manufacturers are "moving toward the trends of lower coupon usage."Coupons are the manufacturers bread and butter. They are incentives to get consumers to try new products and fall in love with old ones. Even if coupons from Sunday papers are not redeemed, they serve as a means of product advertisement for the Sunday paper. Also, over the past few years, internet sites such as www.coupons.com, www.coolsavings.com and others have popped up. The Internet has also brought about coupon coordinating sites such as www.TheGroceryGame.com and NorthEast Ohio Couponers which help consumers make the best use of their coupons. These types of sites are gaining momentum. The Grocery Game, a paid subscription coordinating service, had sales of over 6 million dollars in 2006 and recently branched out to offer coupon services to people living in the United Kingdom. Giant Eagle claims that consumers have lost interest in redeeming coupons. This is interesting because while the grocery chain has ended double coupons in the Akron/Canton/Cleveland areas, Giant Eagle actively allows coupon doubling in regions such as their Columbus area stores...."

This is not just a slapped up website I am truly impressed. Please give it a read.

And I would be remiss if I didn't send you to their 'what you can do to help' section.

A big hat tip to the group! Peace Out - 3C

Giant Eagle Reverses Their Decision To Eliminate Double Coupons...But Don't Get Too Excited

I wrote here about their plan to eliminate the double coupons. Sometimes it pays to stay up late -- WKYC reporter Dick Russ writes that Giant Eagle came to their senses and as of tomorrow (well, today), you can double your coupons again!

This is not a permanent reversal however.

Store executives claim to be responding to customer complaints that there wasn't enough notice. So now you can double through September 30th. Would love to know the statistics...you know, numbers of coupons actually redeemed for double discounts on a weekly basis.

In any case, you still only have a few weeks to do it, then I guess Giant Eagle will revert back to their original, non-consumer friendly plan. Peace Out - 3C

Somewhat Housing Related But Not Really.....'Little Boxes'

Apparently the show Weeds has decided the song 'Little Boxes' is their theme song and they invite different artists to sing it. Here are eight different versions. For those of you old enough to remember the song (or maybe you heard your parents sing it lol), it's a hoot! I like all of them but maybe The Shins win. Not sure. What do you think? :-) See, I couldn't just rant and leave it at that could I?

A hat tip to Cleveland.com for this delightful entry. Oh, and on the same page you can watch the You Tube video of our own Devo's first new song in 17 years. Night!

Peace Out - 3C

Cleveland Economic News: Giant Eagle Does it Again

Newsnet5.com reports that Giant Eagle is ending their double coupon program in the Cleveland and Akron areas. They claim it's what consumers want. I seem to be on a constant Giant-Eagle rant, but I can't help myself. It's what the consumers want? Must be a response to the fact that we moved from first poorest city to the rich ranks of fourth poorest city.

I guess they need all that extra money they save by not paying out for double coupons to build the new Giant Eagle at W. 117th and I-90; you know, the one no one will be able to walk to?
Peace Out - 3C

Housing Trends: A Serious 2006 Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland Study on Home Sales Trends

My last 12 months in real estate have been like a roller coaster: frustrating, sad, satisfying and busy year, all wrapped up in month-to-month cycles. I was aggravated at the media talk about housing bubbles and now declining prices. I got sad about the number of people contacting me, trying to get help with a home sale when their mortgage was not being met, and frustrated at how long they waited to get help...meaning, it was not possible for me to list their home and have them make enough money to save themselves. I was delighted to see so many young people and other first time home buyers saving money and coming in with an ethic of fiscal responsibility. It is what makes my chosen profession the best for me; never dull and different almost every day.

Some of my real estate colleagues, in the business for decades, told me that real estate is always cyclical. My own personal experience from home purchases in the '80s and then trying to sell a condo in the '90s, showed me first hand this was true. And my experiences now as a real estate professional back up these opinions.

Foreclosures and extremely high numbers of listings do have an effect on sale prices in our area. But here is a study pointed out to me on the University of Wisconsin-Madison site. They talk about two studies, but one is more recent. It was completed in 2006 by The Federal Reserve in Cleveland and talks about cycles. Here is an excerpt:

"....To understand changes in house prices, it is necessary to study the price of residential land. Data indicate that the real price of land has been marching steadily upward since 1950. If the 1998–2006 boom to house prices reflects demand for housing-related amenities, then the data on land prices argue that this boom is a continuation of earlier trends.
Relaxed credit constraints could explain the outpacing of house price appreciation to incomes. House prices can and should be expected to surge if credit constraints are unexpectedly relaxed for first-time home buyers who are credit or down-payment constrained. This surge can occur even when incomes remain constant; when credit constraints change over time, incomes and house prices should not be expected to increase at the same rate. ..."

This is a long dissertation, so you might want to grab a cup of java before you read. It's a very good read, however, for anyone who owns a home, is interested in how real estate works.

I'm never going to discount our foreclosure issues, or the change in (for the better) home sale prices sellers experienced for a few years running. The old saying is that 'real estate is local' and it surely is that. But this is a 'non-chicken little' approach...statistics! Let me know what you think. Peace Out - 3C

The Avenue District: Progress!

Check out the Avenue District Blog - they have photos of the construction site, via a webcam they installed. I wish all the projects had webcams! You can subscribe to their newsletter as well, by going to their website. Peace Out - 3C