Special offer

Cleveland, OH Real Estate News

By Chris Olsen, Broker Owner Cleveland Ohio Real Estate
(Olsen Ziegler Realty)
I was setting up an appointment this past week for a buyer who wanted to see a property.  When a buyer's agent calls into just about any real estate office, the staff in the majority of calls will put the caller on hold.  Sometimes one will hear good music, and perhaps start jamming to the music. At other times, you hear their marketing sales pitches: We are #1 in the entire Milky Way Galaxy We have sold more homes than re-runs watched of Friends We have more agents than any other company (reminds me of the joke: how many ____ does it take to twist in a light bulb -- as do you need 4,000 agents to help you find a home?  Or does it mean, you may not like half our agents but because we have a ton, we are sure you will find one you like -- I mean, come on, what is the message you are reall...
Comments 2
By Chris Olsen, Broker Owner Cleveland Ohio Real Estate
(Olsen Ziegler Realty)
If what is happening in the marketplace isn't enough for Cleveland Ohio home buyers to content with, with the proliferation of foreclosures, short sales, glut of inventory, sluggish sales, federal 8K tax credit soon expiring and the like, there is a lot for a home buyer to contend with these days. One would not think that a Cleveland Ohio home buyer should have to ensure that his/her buyer's agent is not cheap.  No, I'm not talking about buying lunch for a client, or any hogwash like that. You should ask your buyer's agent a direct question:   Do you subscribe to the GE Supra eKey system?    There are more and more agents who answer this question with a resounding: NO -- and an attitude to boot. This service only costs an agent about $180 per year. If a buyer's agent is to CHEAP to spen...
Comments 0
By Matthew P. Klein
(The Real Estate Corner)
Affordable Housing for at least a decade now has been associated directly with a government initiative to get people who could not afford traditional loans into home ownership. While I have liked a lot things W did during his term in office, the relaxing of the lending rules along with the arbitrary control of the interest rates (that has been standard practice for a long time) left a bad taste in my mouth. Now, however, I'm beginning to rethink that and here is why.... In January I had young lady from New Jersey call me and tell me she's looking for a home in the Cleveland area. One of my listings fit the bill. After I sent her photos of the property and she had some family look at it, she promptly put in an all cash offer, quick close. Her intent was to leave New Jersey, a place where...
Comments 0
By Caren Wallace, Portland Caren Real Estate
(Premier Property Group LLC)
The Virgin Mary is paraded down the street in Little Italy to commemorate the Feast of the Assumption in Little Italy in Cleveland, Ohio.  The day was hot and humid and the crowd was so happy to see the statue arrive in the street carried by the men of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church. The street view of Mayfield Road in Little Italy, Cleveland, Ohio.  The crowd was light in the middle of the day, but by early evening the crowd thickened in anticipation of the Virgin Mary procession in front of Holy Rosary Catholic Church. The ladies of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church serve traditional Italian food in front of the church. They were busy all day keeping the tummies of everyone full! Holy Rosary Catholic Church is very proud and has just refurbished their bell tower. They rang the bells s...
Comments 8
By Chris Olsen, Broker Owner Cleveland Ohio Real Estate
(Olsen Ziegler Realty)
Cleveland Real Estate Marketing Blunders -- Advertising a home 50 miles away is what I just experienced in my inbox. I just received an e-mail from a real estate agent who listed a property that is over 50 miles from my office.  What do you think the likelihood is that I have a buyer for his "hot new listing" which is 50 miles from my market. Sure...everyonce in a while, agents will work with buyers or sellers outside of their normal market area, but 50 miles?  Gimme a break. Agents today, I think to either impress sellers or their understanding of technology is immature -- not sure which -- perhaps a combination of both -- tap into lists of agents and then use programs like ConstantContact, etc. to do a mass marketing blitz. Before an agent hits the SEND button -- he or she should ask ...
Comments 2
By Chris Olsen, Broker Owner Cleveland Ohio Real Estate
(Olsen Ziegler Realty)
Cleveland Home Selling Tip - Make your greater Cleveland Ohio Home EASY to show! I was setting up a tour for a buyer to look at about 10 homes this past week in the Greater Cleveland Ohio real estate marketplace.  When I called to schedule one of the homes, I was told that I would need to stop by the real estate office during business hours and pickup the key, sign for the key upon checkout and to also return the key up upon completion of the showing. I truly wonder why sellers and listing agents (in no particular order here) make it harder to show a home than it needs to be. For sellers that may be reading this who may not be familiar with the ins and outs of showings, here are the ways that your home can be shown, with the most preferential options listed first.  Moreover, I always ma...
Comments 0
By Chris Olsen, Broker Owner Cleveland Ohio Real Estate
(Olsen Ziegler Realty)
Say What?  A real estate agent without an e-mail address?  Say what?  Say it ain't so Joe! Yup, you've got it.  You betcha!  Right here in the greater confines of the Cleveland Real Estate market, I ran across a bona fide real estate agent that DOES NOT HAVE E-MAIL.  No e-mail address at all.  Not even an underused one, not even a dinosaur AOL one, not even a COMPUSERVE one, notta. Here's how this went down... I setup an appointment to show a home to a current buyer.  I called the listing agent to schedule the showing. The listing agent said: Call me back after the showing to provide feedback.  I thought, self, wait a minute, isn't the listing agent suppose to call me for feedback, but whatever. So, being an e-mail person myself, I said, I'm happy to do that, I don't see an e-mail addre...
Comments 2
By Chris Olsen, Broker Owner Cleveland Ohio Real Estate
(Olsen Ziegler Realty)
You've just gotta love real estate...:-) While every industry has it's share of inept and blundering marketing and advertising campaigns, real estate is just filled to the brim with them.  Why one might ask?  Let's think about this for a minute.  Real estate licensees in the State of Ohio have to take 120 hours of classes, take a simple test that is easier than my daughter's middle school Algebra test, and wala, one is now licensed to sell any property in this fine State of Ohio. What is this particular agent's background in: Advertising Marketing Communications Sales Contract Preparation Negotiations New Home Construction Lending Title Escrow Establishing Market Value Functional and External obsolescence Market Trends Statistical Analysis Home Staging Home Re-design Home Renovation Tec...
Comments 0
By Chris Olsen, Broker Owner Cleveland Ohio Real Estate
(Olsen Ziegler Realty)
Haven't heard of Cleveland Real Estate Comedy?  Me either.  I just coined it as an attention grabber as the old saying goes: Life is Stranger Than Fiction! Just when I thought I have seen it all. Hey, wait a minute, I know better than that. One always knows that just when one has thought they have seen it all, something else trumps it and takes the cake. I was setting up appointments for a buyer of mine this past week and ran across a limited service agreement I would surmise as the showing instructions say to call the seller for showings. I call the seller, leave a message and when we finally speak: seller: "Don't bring me any of those cheap offers."  me: "What do you mean by cheap offers?" seller: "I want full price for my house, I'm putting in granite countertops next week and I want...
Comments 4
By Chris Olsen, Broker Owner Cleveland Ohio Real Estate
(Olsen Ziegler Realty)
I love summertime in Greater Cleveland Ohio.  Rarely do we hit 90, rarely is it humid, rarely is it dreary, rarely does the ice cream truck NOT come down my street, rarely, do we not get a visual feast of color in our front yard. These were a few random shots I took last week, not staged, not well thought out, not really anything other than I enjoy seeing color. Question:  This first photo, the one with the fuschia color, up close, with this little thing in it that is to the left of the flower.  They are only attracted to this plant.  I know hummingbirds like red, but this thing looks different, so I'm not sure if it's a distant cousin of a hummingbird, or what?  Can any bird lovers identify this? Enjoy!
Comments 2
By Chris Olsen, Broker Owner Cleveland Ohio Real Estate
(Olsen Ziegler Realty)
Cleveland Real Estate Comedy is everywhere.  I was reading the real estate section of The Cleveland Plain Dealer Sunday newspaper last week looking at homes for sale. I ran across an advertisement by a real estate company that included the phrase: "Offers Being Accepted".Say what???Come on, as in: My home is listed in the MLS, fanned out to websites across the globe, buyer agents making appointments, buyers touring my home, and all the other work that goes into preparing a home for market and the agent has to write: Offers Being Accepted? As opposed to what? OFFERS NOT BEING ACCEPTED?.Seller Logic: I have my home for sale but do not want any offers.I was a Computer Science major in college, my alma mater being George Mason University, I had to write a first-order predicate logic algorit...
Comments 0
By Chris Olsen, Broker Owner Cleveland Ohio Real Estate
(Olsen Ziegler Realty)
Haven't heard of Cleveland Real Estate Comedy?  Me either.  I just coined it as an attention grabber as the old saying goes: Life is Stranger Than Fiction! Just when I thought I have seen it all. Hey, wait a minute, I know better than that. One always knows that just when one has thought they have seen it all, something else trumps it and takes the cake.This past week, a buyer client of mine decided during the evening hours that they wanted to see a home the next evening. Roughly about 24 hours notice, but I'm not being picky here. Since it was after hours for the local real estate office (which I also think is a vestige of yesteryear and real estate brokerages need to get in the 21st century), I had two choices, wait until the office opened up the next day and therefore, request a "sam...
Comments 0
By Chris Olsen, Broker Owner Cleveland Ohio Real Estate
(Olsen Ziegler Realty)
I was browsing homes for sale in our local Cleveland Ohio MLS for a buyer today and ran across a listing that said: Serious Buyers Only. As opposed to what? Unqualified, not pre-approved, waste-your-time, not serious tirekickers? Hey...wait a minute? Isn't that my job to weed out the non A-type buyers?So...if this isn't bad enough, guess what? This text was in the "general remarks" field, the one that gets fanned out for all the public to see.So...I am thinking, what in the world is this agent and seller thinking? Buyers are scarce enough these days, no? Buyers aren't knocking down doors to buy homes these days in general, and most homes are not flying off the market.Granted, there is (imho) a tiny percentage of agents who don't do their homework and end up wasting everyone's time, but ...
Comments 0
By The Prescott Group - We Make YOU Look Good!
(The Prescott Group)
Nothing makes a saying so trite at embellishing it on a plaque or throw pillow, but Home is Where Your Heart Is is still the most apt way to describe my favorite childhood home in Cleveland, OH.  Actually the home of my paternal grandparents, the two store fiberboard double home with a screened porch, a finished attic, and a dingy basement cradled me as a baby, was the scene of many happy events in my childhood, and influenced my later preferences on many things. We came to live there because after World War II, my dad went back to finish college at the University of Detroit; the decision was made that my mom and I would live with my grandparents at least until he graduated.  Mom and I stayed on the second bedroom of their home on the second floor until Dad came home when we briefly mov...
Comments 10
By Alan May, Home is where the hearth is.
(Jameson Sotheby's International Realty)
Mrs. Elvis & I were in Cleveland this weekend, attending a family friend's son's wedding.  I am originally from Ohio (canton), but had never been to the mistake-on-the-lake, I mean the city of the burning river, no-um... Cuyahoga's Catastropheville, where fun-goes-to-die, er... uh...I mean friendly downtown Cleveland. We arrived on Saturday, and stayed right downtown at the Marriott attached to the Key Center.  Downtown Cleveland boasts some great architecture, and a very walkable downtown. Saturday evening began with a rehearsal dinner, at a local bar called the Cadillac Ranch.  This is a trendy nightspot in downtown Cleveland, replete with a Mechanical bull, and the requisite drunken ladies attempting to ride it. Fortunately, we had a private backroom (called the barroom), to celebrat...
Comments 14
By Chris Olsen, Broker Owner Cleveland Ohio Real Estate
(Olsen Ziegler Realty)
Gary Spolar (440.871.7707) is an experienced, licensed and insured chimney sweep and owns Century Chimney Inc. http://www.centurychimney.com and he serves the Greater Cleveland Ohio area.  Gary has done work in my home and many others and is very reliable, cost-effective and is very good at recommending practical solutions such as lock-top dampers among other things. Olsen Ziegler Realty -- A $marter Way to buy and sell your Greater Cleveland, Ohio Home
Comments 2
By Chris Olsen, Broker Owner Cleveland Ohio Real Estate
(Olsen Ziegler Realty)
Homestead Roofing Company (216.382.7677) serves the east side communities of Greater Cleveland Ohio.  They specialize in old homes, installing and repairing slate and tile roofs.  Their prices are very reasonable, given the expertise needed for slate and tile roofs.  They have worked on old homes I have listed and sold and I know of many other satisfied customers as well. Olsen Ziegler Realty -- A $marter Way to buy and sell your Greater Cleveland, Ohio Home
Comments 2
By Chris Olsen, Broker Owner Cleveland Ohio Real Estate
(Olsen Ziegler Realty)
In short, Mark Laity is an exceptional "interior" painter serving the Greater Cleveland Ohio area.  Mark does not paint exteriors. I ran across a job Mark Laity did out in Avon Lake when I was showing a buyer a home several years ago.  I picked up his card, had him cost out a job for a renovation client of ours, and his pricing was very, very reasonable and his work was exceptional.  Mark was also very reliable, punctual, professional, clean, and a host of other admirable qualities.  Mark has done major work for us, painting entire houses for homes we put on the market, as well as private clients and neighbors. It is hard to find a quality, reliable and cost-effective painter.  Mark is this and much, much more. Mark Laity Interior Painter Residential and Commercial Insured 440.263.0543 ...
Comments 0
By Chris Olsen, Broker Owner Cleveland Ohio Real Estate
(Olsen Ziegler Realty)
Wayne Carsten owns ACE Tree & Stump Removal, Inc. and he serves the Greater Cleveland Ohio Marketplace, serving all the counties in Greater Cleveland.  From Lake to Medina to points west, Wayne Carsten is one of those rare contractors who is prompt, reliable, efficient, competent and very cost effective.  He has done tree and stump removal at my own residence, various neighbors and many others for a very long time. I cannot recommend Wayne highly enough. ACE Tree & Stump Removal, Inc. 330.278.2308 440.336.0650 Olsen Ziegler Realty -- A $marter Way to buy and sell your Greater Cleveland, Ohio Home
Comments 0
By Chris Olsen, Broker Owner Cleveland Ohio Real Estate
(Olsen Ziegler Realty)
John Blonski is one of those rare Greater Cleveland Ohio handyman who can not only do a wide variety of work and do it very cost effectively, he also has exceptional communication skills and is highly reliable.  I have had John do work in my own home, family members, as well as recent and major work for a real estate client of mine who was absolutely thrilled with his services and his cost effectiveness. As you know, I do not recommend contractors lightly and John is a rare find! Call John on his cell at 440.655.0023 -- you will be glad you did! Olsen Ziegler Realty -- A $marter Way to buy and sell your Greater Cleveland, Ohio Home
Comments 0