Knox County Ohio Real Estate Information Archive

Bank owned listings and HUD homes seem to be gaining popularity from buyers here in Knox County Ohio.  There has been an increase in purchase offers and home sales during the past couple of weeks relating to repossessions, HUD homes and other homes of exceptional value.  What is very interesting is that the majority of the recent sales have been sold to owner occupied buyers...meaning the buyers are going to fix up these homes and live in them.  This is a significant transition because repossessions have been a real hot spot for the investor market.  A key factor to this shift is that many 1st time home buyers can afford to buy a repo and put a little money into it and they can still have a monthly payment that's cheaper than paying rent.  

Currently there are 3 available HUD homes in Mount Vernon available for electronic bid.  

510 West Gambier Street is $63,000
118 Ringold Street is $58,000
40 Columbus Road is $22,000

If you are interested in seeing inside of any HUD or bank owned home please call us at (740) 397-7800 or you can send us an email at samsells@sammiller.com.  We can generally get you inside any HUD or bank owned home quickly because they are typically vacant and on a lockbox.  If you are also interested in viewing our other bank owned listings visit:  Knox County Ohio Bank Owned Homes.

Thanks for your interest!

Sam Miller 

Imagine the top photo was taken of your home while it's for sale with a real estate agent.  As you can see from the top photo...when a buyer drives by your home at night they won't have a clue your home is for sale.  Now consider that roughly 30 percent of all home buyers contact a real estate professional because of the real estate sign and you can see the obstacle that having an invisible real estate sign creates.  Daylight savings time just kicked in this month so it's dark when most people are driving to work and it's already dark before 5 p.m. so most people are also driving home in the dark.  Most people who work during the day will never notice your home during their commute to and from work.  Assuming they work 5 days a week...you agent has lost over 70% of your signs effectiveness.  Remember, nobody can see your sign in the dark even with the headlights pointing straight at it from only 100 yards away.  As you can see in the photo...your signage is no longer an effective means of marketing your home after dark...or is it?  

The photo below is of my real estate sign with the headlights pointing at my sign from the same 100 yards away.  I don't need to sell you on the advantage of the additional exposure my real estate signs create because as you can see from the two photos the difference is like night and day.   You would think that most real estate agents would invest in special reflective real estate signs like mine.  The reality is that a VERY low percentage of agents invest in their own real estate signs.  Most traditional real estate brokerages provide their agents with a basic company real estate sign and by basic sign I mean a "non reflective" real estate sign.  Special reflective real estate signs definitely cost more money but at an added cost of less than $30 more per sign I think it is one of the best investments I can make.  If I can spend an extra $30 per sign and potentially double the marketing exposure of your home it sure seems like a wise investment to me.  

I'm Sam Miller and I want to be your Knox County Ohio real estate agent.

During the month of October there were 7 home sales at the Apple Valley Lake in Knox County Ohio.  The lowest priced home at the Apple Valley Lake sold for $106,500 and the highest priced home sold for $287,500.  The average sales price for October at the Apple Valley Lake was $162,557.  To give you a comparison I ran a report for October of 2009 and last year for the same period there were 11 sales at the Apple Valley Lake.  What this means is that there were 36% fewer home sales at the Apple Valley Lake in 2010 as compared to 2009.  This shift in homes sales at Apple Valley Ohio are certainly understandable because in a tighter economy 2nd homes / vacation homes are not a requirements for everyday life.  As the economy strengthens and as the Spring housing market arrives I am confident we will see an increase in buying activity at both the Apple Valley lake and also in all of the communities in and around Knox County.

View our available homes at the Apple Valley Lake in Knox County Ohio

A client asked me this morning how many homes were available for sale within the Mount Vernon Ohio School District so I ran an "Active Listing" report and thought the information was worth sharing.  The following details came directly from the Knox County Ohio MLS on October 11th, 2010:

• There are 218 homes for sale within the Mount Vernon Ohio School District
• The average listing price for a Mount Vernon Ohio Home today is only $154,637
• The lowest priced Mount Vernon Ohio home for sale is listed for only $25,000 
• The highest priced Mount Vernon Ohio home for sale is listed for $1,300,000
• From 1-1-10 through today 10-11-10 there has been 174 homes sell in this area
• The average sales price for the Mount Vernon Ohio homes that sold was $110,434

The Sam Miller Team recognizes that bank owned homes can offer an opportunity and a real value in the current Knox County Ohio housing market.  Knox County Bank Owned is a new service we are offering our clients because we recognize that bank owned homes can be an exceptional value for owner occupied homebuyers, contractors, landlords and real estate investors.  If you would would like to purchase a foreclosure home be sure to visit www.KnoxCountyBankOwned.com 

Knox County Ohio Bank Owned Homes

We received an e-mail today from one of our lenders confirming that the USDA Rural Development loan program is out of funds and many of the lenders have stopped taking mortgage applications for this loan program.  I cut and pasted two important paragraphs from the e-mail notification I received this morning so that you would better understand the severity and timing of this challenge:

"Current appropriated funds have been exhausted.   If we were unable to fund your loan, you will be notified in the next few days, please do not call or email us.  As many of you have been advised, the previous notice of the ability to issue conditional commitments subject to Congressional authority has been recalled.  We are waiting for further guidance on this from our National Office.  You will be notified when more information is available (we hope within the next 24 hours).  Please do not call our office or other RD offices as everyone will be notified when we have more information.

We do not know when additional funding may be available.  The House of Representatives have passed HR 5017 that would increase the guarantee fee and provide funding for the remainder of this Fiscal Year which runs until September 30, 2010.  The Senate has introduced a similar bill S 3266.  Both bills must be passed, reconciled if necessary, signed by the President and funds appropriated by our Office of Budget prior to funds being available."

From the sound of this e-mail the USDA / Rural Development loan program is no longer an option for future buyers until funds become available later in the year.  The fact that the USDA / Rural Development program has run out of funds is not new to the real estate industry but the fact that they are out of funds in the first 4 1/2 month of 2010 is a bit shocking.  I believe they are out of funds primarily because so many other loan programs have been eliminated and the USDA / RD loan program is one of the few remaining affordable loan programs.  The challenge for USDA is that they only have so much money available per their budget and the demand for low and zero down payment home loans has been extremely high especially during the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit incentives.

If you are interested in buying a home in Knox County, Ohio but are concerned because you do not have much cash saved for your purchase be sure to contact us because we have some additional options and creative ideas that could help you.  (740) 397-7800 or samsells@sammiller.com

Sam Miller  

Serious 1st time homebuyers need to be aware that the deadline for you to have your future home under contract is less than 30 days away and the official deadline is April 30th, 2010.  The good news is that there is an outstanding selection of available homes in Knox County, Ohio so be sure to visit and view Knox County Homes. 

Another important date to keep in mind is June 30th, 2010.  This is the date your future home transaction must be closed in order to take advantage of the tax credit.  Many people do not realize that this is not a tax deduction but an actual tax credit.  If you qualify for the tax credit and you bought an $80,000 or higher home you would qualify for an $8,000 check from the IRS.  If you normally get about $2,000 from the IRS as a tax refund, you should get $10,000 back when you either file your taxes.  Something often overlooked is the ability to amend your prior year tax return and get the $8,000 check back typically within 6 to 8 weeks.

If you are serious about taking advantage of this huge home buyer incentive please contact us as soon as possible because you will need adequate time to select a suitable home and you will need a few days cushion to negotiate your contract to purchase.  Remember, the contract must be fully negotiated and accepted no later than April 30th, 2010.  Give us a call at (740) 397-7800 or email us for all of your Knox County Ohio real estate needs.  

Apple Valley Lake Homes For Sale

Mount Vernon Ohio Homes For Sale

Knox County Ohio Homes with Acreage For Sale

Centerburg Ohio Homes For Sale

Fredericktown Ohio Homes For Sale

Gambier Ohio / Kenyon College Homes For Sale

Butler Ohio Homes For Sale

Utica Ohio / Licking County Homes For Sale

Serious homebuyers may have more than the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit motivating them to buy a home before April 2010!  I just read an e-mail announcement from the United States Department of Agricultural announcing that it is very likely that the USDA will have exhausted all funds available for single family home loans by the end of April, 2010.  This creates additional urgency for homebuyers to get a home under contract and closed before these funds for these loans run out.

According to USDA they have stated that "Once funding is exhausted, the Agency will not issue Conditional Commitments subject to receipt of appropriate funds. This is because it is not certain when additional funding will be available."  What this means to many homeowners is that if they wait until the last minute to take advantage of the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit and they intend to use the USDA loan program there is a VERY good chance there will not be money available to fund the loans.  The bottom line is that you could likely lose out on this super affordable loan program AND you will lose out on the opportunity to take advantage of the tax credit and the potential of getting your $8,000.

The solution is to act fast and get your new home under firm contract as quick as possible and get your loan application started.  If you wait to get a home under contract towards the end of the first time homebuyer tax credit you will likely miss out entirely.  If you would like us to get your home purchase on the fast track send us an e-mail right away or give us a call at (740) 397-7800.

Sam Miller

UPDATE on May 13th, 2010:  

We just received an e-mail from one of our lenders confirming that Rural Development / USDA has ran out of available funding.  I will update you once I hear anything new.

Real estate foreclosures in Knox County, Ohio are on the rise.  Due to the increase in unemployment, I believe it is realistic that home foreclosures will continue to increase until the job market rebounds.  Home foreclosures can cause serious stress and these types of financial challenges are one of the biggest factors influencing the increased divorce rate among married couples today.

Did you know that a high percentage of the homes that are foreclosed on could have avoided foreclosure and the owner could have sold the home through a REALTOR?  This is where the term Short Sale comes into play.

The Short Sale Explained.  (Just click the play button) 

In today's current housing market, many people owe more on their home than their home is worth.  There are many reasons a homeowner may owe more on their home than it is currently worth and here are some examples:

1. This may have happened because the value of the home simply dropped.
2. They refinanced their original loan and rolled the closing costs into the new loan.
3. They may have added a home equity loan and financed the closing costs into the loan.
4. They did a cash out refinance to pay off other consumer debts, vehicles and credit cards.
5. Many owners refinance to pay unexpected medical bills or funeral expenses. 
6. Divorces, in many cases, create the need to refinance a home when one of the spouses wants to maintain ownership of the home and often at that point they are required to remove the ex spouse from legal ownership and financial obligation.
7. There are dozens of reasons why someone might owe more on their home than it is worth and in many cases it could even be a combination of any of the items listed above.