Knox County Ohio Real Estate Information Archive

The Apple Valley Lake community in Knox County Ohio saw a slight reduction in homes sales in January 2009.  As of today and according to the Knox County MLS there were only 2 residential homes that sold in January which was down from 3 sales in January 2008.  This slower sales activity was not a huge surprise due to the more severe weather we have experienced this year. 

If you are in the market to purchase an Apple Valley home the timing is ideal to be able to negotiate a favorable deal.  Home prices are more affordable than in years past and fixed rate mortgages are nearing a 40 year low so your purchase price and monthly payments will be greatly reduced.  If you are interested in learning more about buying feel free to contact us by phone at (740) 397-7800 or e-mail us anytime.  If you are interested in working with us to purchase an Apple Valley home in the future you should take advantage of our Apple Valley Listings By E-mail.  All you need to do is click the link above and register and our system will search the Knox County Multiple Listing Service and send you the available listings by e-mail. 

The Apple Valley Lake housing market is traditionally slower until early spring.  If you are considering selling your current Apple Valley home we highly recommend that you schedule an appointment to meet with us in February or March so that you can be prepared before other competing Apple Valley property owners list their homes.  Coming onto the market just one month earlier than other competing homes can give you and your home a huge advantage and get your home sold before other competing homes enter the market.   

The links below will allow you to view available Apple Valley Homes and vacant Apple Valley Lots.

View Apple Valley Lake Community Homes

View Apple Valley Lake Vacant Lots

Sam Miller

January 2009 was a slower month for Mount Vernon Ohio home sales activity.  As of January 31st, 2009 the Knox County MLS had only reported 8 residential homes sales in the Mount Vernon Ohio school district so far this year.  Last year during the same time period the Knox County MLS reported 14 homes sales. This means that 2009 saw roughly a 40% decrease in home sales activity during the first month of year.  This certainly doesn't mean that prices are down by 40% but that in 2009 there were simply fewer homes sales.

Each month I spend a substantial amount of time after business hours researching the market activity that is reported to the Knox County Multiple Listing Service.  This month it is very obvious why the home sales are down and that is that many of the January home sales were bank owned foreclosure listings.  You might be asking yourself why this would make the overall home sale numbers lower and the answer is banks do not need to buy a replacement home when they sell their repo listings.  When the homeowner successfully sells their current home they generally replace it with another home purchase essentially accounting for 2 sales or transactions.  When we sell a bank owned foreclosure the bank is not taking their money and buying another home.  This is a very big part of the January 2009 sales drop in Mount Vernon, Ohio.

This may sound like bad news but in reality it isn't bad news at all.  The slow down is simply a small ripple in the Mount Vernon Ohio real estate market which I believe will begin to smooth out in months to come.  Remember that all real estate activity goes in cycles and it's good to move some of the Mount Vernon Ohio  foreclosures so that in the more active months to come many of those Mount Vernon bank owned listings will already be sold when the spring market warms up.  This is important because it can be difficult for an average homeowner to be able to compete financially with HUD foreclosure or a bank who simply needs to get their non performing asset off their books.

I created some special real estate links that will take you directly to homes, condos and bank owned listings for sale that are located in and around Mount Vernon and Knox County Ohio 

Mount Vernon Ohio homes for sale

Mount Vernon Ohio condos for sale

Knox County Ohio bank owned homes

Sam Miller 

I recently read that approximately 86% of all home buyers start their house hunting on the internet.  I find this to be a significant number because it means that nearly 9 out of 10 buyers are shopping online for a home.  The challenge for many of these home shoppers is that they have to search dozens of real estate websites and they will still generally only scratch the surface of what's available in the Knox County Ohio MLS.  

EMailKnoxCountyHomes is a simple solution we offer for all of our customers and clients.  This service provides you detailed information by e-mail for every listing in the Knox County MLS that matches your search criteria.  The system works so well that once you are registered you will receive new listing notifications as fast as the other Knox County Ohio real estate professionals.

The best part is that registering is easy and it only takes about 2 minutes.  

My phone has been ringing off the hook from home owners asking me if it is a good time to refinance their existing home.  For many of my clients the answer is YES and they should refinance especially since many of the mortgage loans available offer a fixed interest rate ranging between 4.5% to 5.5%.  However, there is a large segment of clients who should not refinance.  

If you are thinking about refinancing I would like for you to consider a few questions BEFORE you contact a mortgage lender:

1. Do you plan on staying in your home long enough to see the long term benefit of refinancing?
2. Do you have the necessary equity and will your home appraise high enough to support refinancing?
3. Do you have the cash in savings for the closing costs that are associated with refinancing?
4. If you are planning on adding the refinance closing costs on top of your existing loan balance, how long will it take for you to recoup these added costs and get your loan balance back to where it is today?  

I am reaching out to all parents and grandparents who want to help give their children and grandchildren a real advantage in life.  Buying a home is rarely on the minds of our younger generation and this is partially because they believe that the entrance to home ownership is actually more difficult than it really is.  

During the past 22 years in the real estate business I can say with 100% confidence that the majority of the home buyers I speak with are worried about how they will be able to meet the down payment requirement for their mortgage.  This is without a doubt the biggest road block in the minds of buyers.  This minor obstacle is easily solved with some creative thinking and a little assistance from mom & dad, grandma and grandpa and even a brother or sister.  

The most popular home loan today for first time buyers is an FHA insured home loan.  FHA is a great loan program because FHA only requires a 3.5% down payment and the best part is that the entire down payment can be a gift from an immediate family member.  This allows the parents to assist their children to buy their first home much earlier in life and essentially skip the need for them to waste their money on a rental.  This can result in huge financial savings for their children and it allows them to build equity much faster than they could otherwise.

A few factors to consider about the current housing market:

1. Interest rates are at a 40 year low making homes even more affordable
2. Fixed interest rate home mortgages are readily available
3. Mortgages with fixed rates help protect against future inflation
4. Home values have fallen which makes it an ideal time to purchase.
5. Home ownership often creates stability, security and the home can become an investment like savings account.
6. When you combine the lower home prices that are available today with the lowest fixed rate mortgages since the 1960's it becomes amazingly clear that it is the right time to buy a home.
   

The popularity of online house hunting continues to grow at a rapid pace.  My team and I are constantly researching the most popular websites and there seems to be movement to simplify the online house hunting search process.  A common goal among many within the real estate industry is to enable home buyers to see and view homes within 3 clicks once the consumer has entered their website.  

My team and I gave the 3 click real estate search some serious consideration.  We determined that in order to meet this goal our current website would require some specific updates but most importantly we were able to determine that our goal was within our reach.  We worked closely with our website designer and in less than a month we not only met our goal...we were able to exceed our goal and get over 80% of all home buyers searches down to a single click search.  One Click!

Apple Valley Lake Community Homes For Sale  This is an example of a simple single click Apple Valley home search.  You can now also visit www.SamMiller.net and search for homes in specific price ranges by highlighting the "Search Listings" button and a menu will appear, just click on your selected price range and only those listings will be displayed.  We have also created a one click specialized search for Bank Owned Listings which enables visitors to bypass sifting through every listing on our site and instead have a direct link to the specific listings they want.  

If there is a special search feature you would like to see us add to our website please let us know in the comment section below.  If for any reason we are unable to fulfill your request we have the ability to create a personalized Knox County Ohio MLS search specifically for you within 24 hours of your request.  The Sam Miller Team wants to be your REALTOR and we are willing to go the extra mile to earn your business.

Thank You!

Sam Miller 

The Apple Valley lake community in Knox County Ohio has more than 6,600 developed lots and home sites.  Many of the Apple Valley property owners live outside of the Apple Valley lake community yet they want to stay connected to what is happening in Apple Valley.  Beyond the Cider Press Publication or our Apple Valley Blog there is a new online option for Apple Valley Property Owners called Twitter.

Twitter is a new website technology that allows people to connect with each other using a quick and easy format.  Twitter has been referred to as a micro blog that allows only 140 characters or less per message.  To give you an idea how small 140 characters is let me say that it is smaller than a single cell phone text message.  Keeping the Twitter content brief makes it even powerful because it can be accessed via computer, cell phone, text messaging, iPod Touch or most other wireless devices.  The Twitter technology even allows us to post website links to photo updates, current weather and many other information that an out of town property owner would find useful.  

If you are already a Twitter user and you would like to stay updated you are welcome to follow me on Twitter by clicking the following link and selecting "follow":  http://www.Twitter.com/sammillersells.  For those who are interested in setting up a free Twitter account just visit www.Twitter.com and it is very simple.  Once you have your account setup be sure to visit:  http://www.Twitter.com/sammillersells

Many people think of Apple Valley strictly as a lake community for summer fun during the warm weather months but Apple Valley has activities year round.  The following is a schedule of events for the month of December 2008.   

• December 1st: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
  
• December 2nd: Apple Valley Singers at 6:00 p.m.
• December 3rd:   Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
• December 3rd: Garden Club at 9:30 a.m. 
• December 3rd: Apple Blossoms at 10:00 a.m.
• December 3rd: Teen Fusion at 6:45 p.m.
• December 4th:   Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
• December 4th: So and Sews at 11:00 a.m.
• December 4th:   Cookie Baking at 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
• December 4th: Social Dance at 7:00 p.m.
• December 5th: Fitness Center 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. only
• December 5th: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
• December 5th:   Floral Valley Closes at 4:00 p.m.
• December 6th: Potluck Social Hour at 6:00 p.m.
• December 6th:   Potluck Dinner at 6:30 p.m. 
• December 8th: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
• December 8th: Fish Club Potluck ay 6:30 p.m.
• December 10th: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
• December 10th: Apple Blossoms at 10:00 a.m.
• December 11th:  Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
• December 11th: Apple Core at 9:30 a.m.
• December 11th: Social Dance at 7:00 p.m.
• December 12th: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
• December 12th:  Skating at 7:00 p.m.
• December 13th: Children's Christmas Party 2:00 to 4:00
• December 15th: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
• December 15th: Square Dancers at 6:45 p.m.
• December 17th: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
• December 17th: Apple Blossoms at 10:00 a.m.
• December 17th: Teen Fusion at 6:45 p.m.
• December 18th: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
• December 18th: So and Sews at 11:00 a.m.
• December 19th: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
• December 19th: Apple Blossoms Family Christmas Party 5:00 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.
• December 19th: Skating at 7:00 p.m.
• December 22nd: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
• December 24th: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
• December 24th: AV Artists at 9:30 a.m.
• December 24th: Apple Blossoms at 10:00 a.m.
• December 25th:  All Facilities Closed
• December 26th: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
• December 26th: Skating at 7:00 p.m.
• December 29th: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
• December 31st: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
• December 31st: Fitness Center Open Only 7:00 a.m. to 11 a.m.
• December 31st: Apple Blossoms at 10:00 a.m.
• December 31st:  Floral Valley Closes at 4:00 p.m.
• December 31st:  New Years Eve Dinner and Dance 7:00 p.m.
• All events and dates are subject to change*