Puritas Park Town Homes Offer The Best of City and Park Living: 4541 Big Met Place
What Puritas Park Town Homes has to offer: 1. Close to the Metro Park - situated on the border of Cleveland and Fairview. 2. Close to Big and Little Met Golf Course 3. Just over a mile from Gunning Recreation Center 4. The town home community is not too big and not too small, and is walkable with your own attached garage and spaces for guests to park. Easy living! 5. A new strip shopping center at the intersection of Grayton and Puritas. It already has a travel agency and more service oriented shops are expected to open there.
It's in truly move-in condition. This pretty end unit town home has tasteful interior colors, a completely finished lower level that could be a third bedroom (two abundant closets) or your entertainment room. Two full baths, including one on the lower level. Since this is an end unit, the home features more natural light than you might expect in a town home. The master bedroom has three windows, a vaulted ceiling and a double closet.
The previous owner upgraded the kitchen: ceramic tile (which extends to the foyer), rich wood cabinetry, and a There is over 1500 square foot of living space here. You have your own private deck accessible through sliders from the living room. The Home Owners Assn. maintenance fees are low (about $74/month) If you work at NASA Glen or Hopkins, you could live five minutes away! If you simply desire to be close to I-480 or I-71, you are right there. Cleveland living at it's best. Call me for an appointment and I would be delighted to show you this home. Carole Cohen, Realtor®, ePRO, Howard Hanna Cleveland City Office
What Tchotchkis Do You Want In Your Apartment or Condo???
I'm also thinking why not brainstorm out of the ordinary tchotchkis for condo complexes as well? Cool article in the Washington Post Thursday on a rental complex called Camden College Park. They are offering some amenities that are not the norm: WiFi, W ii, ipod docks in fitness center, a croquet and bocce ball set up (although they spelled it boccie which I think is wrong, anyone know? lol). Would you like a game room with a poker table? Flat screen televisions in the community room? Fitness rooms are de rigeur now but having a W ii game is not! When I first moved to Maryland in my twenties, one of my neighbors invited me to a Summer party and they had bocce....it was totally new to me and I loved it (I'm saying this because this Camden College Park complex does not seem to be geared towards older people but rather people of all ages....albeit ones with enough money to live there). What about a climbing wall?On my wish list would be a coffee house. Starbucks or a cool independent (translation: one with really good coffee). They could offer WiFi as well. And I have to admit the poker table appeals to me. This is discussed as a luxury building. Could some of the amenities be included into moderate apartment complexes? I'd say the climbing wall probably costs a bit of money but an Internet Coffee house would bring in money to the owner of the building so it shouldn't drive up rental prices. Any developers reading? If so, your expertise would be appreciated. What else would float your boat that hasn't been mentioned? I'd add only one more thing: how about instead of underground parking it had a light rail stop underground so I never had to get wet or snowed on while waiting for it.) (okay that one's a bit pricey; how about a light rail stop across from the complex? Good compromise?) And yes, Camden will have what I want:
What say you? Peace Out - 3C I Wish I Had Invented That!
I realized about a month ago there is something else I wish I had invented: the Tiny URL. It eases the life of many a web user but for those of us Twitter-addicted folk, it is invaluable. I have 140 characters to say what I mean and god knows that is not easy, as those of you who know me will attest :-) So most Twitterites use the Tiny URL. Did you know where it came from and why? Once upon a time there was a young boy named Kevin Gilbertson who loved to ride unicycles. This love stayed with him and he found himself looking for newsgroups to interact with other cyclists. Apparently it was cumbersome to link to all those long newsgroup URLS. He is also a web programmer so necessity being the mother of invention, he came up with a solution. You can read a cool article about Kevin Gilbertson and Tiny URL here on the WIRED site. How popular is Tiny URL? Here is a ZDNET 2006 web articletalking about how Madison Avenue is very interested in Tiny URL and how some of the info gleaned can be further gleaned into stats that would help MAD AVE advertisers figure out who is reading what, when. And the prediction is the Company could garner big bucks if sold (since this article is from 2006 I have been trying to see if a sale ever occurred and so far it seems not...any of you have different info?) Most of you already know how this works but I suppose I should at least give an example. I'm going to use Bonnie Erickson's AR Blog(in honor of the fact that the URL inventor lives in Minnesota and so does our Bonnie). If I wanted you to see her post on Webkinz I would paste it normally like this: http://activerain.com/blogsview/381568/Webkinz-Distractions If I take this and copy it exactly on the tiny url website it comes out to: 59 characters down to 25. So what's the point of my post? Heck if I know! :-) Is there anything you wish you had invented? Anything bothering you enough so that you wish you had a solution? If so, don't wait like I did on the phone cords, get crackin! :-) A big shout out to Kevin Gilbertson for this invention and when you get a chance, check out his unicycle website with the coolest logo ever at Gilby.com See you all on Twitter! And if you sign up, my sign in is Clevecarole Peace Out - 3C 43 Things on my 2008 'To Do' List
At first I thought og, how am I going to come up with 43 ‘things?' It turns out it wasn't hard. I took the Really Bad Cleveland Accent - Christine Bourne challenge. You can read about the challenge (and maybe do your own list. Today I am doing the list here, I will possibly go to the ‘43 Things' site and add it, but since one of my items on my ‘to do' list is limit my social networking sites, well, dunno. Here is my list: 1. keep meeting new people also interested in grass roots solutions to Cleveland's challenges 2. attend more Meet The Bloggers events (on my mind, just signed up for another one) 3. figure out a way to not have a car; it's a challenge, being a Realtor®. Even City Wheels thinks it's not possible. Moving closer to RTA would help....see later ‘things to do' lol 4. do a better job staying in touch with family 5. do a better job staying in touch with friends 6. learn as much as I can about Cleveland's government and how it can be lead to affect needed results by grassroots efforts 7. organize my closets - I don't even have real closets in my bedrooms but that can be corrected 8. paint two living room walls; I found a cool paint color at a broker's open - Spring project 9. put my ten speed back in working order 10. clean out my garage; there are things in there from the previous owner of my house, need I say more? 11. exercise 12. do better at meditation - I'm so much better than I was but still need to work on it 13. go to more concerts 14. make more money so I can go to more concerts 15. get a few friends and go hiking in the Emerald Isle parks this summer, or even somewhere more strenuous 16. take the RTA to work when I have no plans to show homes. Hard to convince myself as a Realtor but good for the environment. 17. learn how to make tasty beef soup; I make kick ass chicken soups and others but good beef soup is elusive to me 18. if I have to have a car, buy a mini cooper; that fantasy is pushed back to Fall now 19. keep fixing up my house so I can move by 2010 - yes I will be staying in Cleveland but on RTA line 20. meet out of town friends for the first time (we met on social networks) 21. figure out what my best efforts should be to help get The Ohio Hub up and running 22. learn a few on line organizational systems; my friend Linda Davis is the queen of this stuff; maybe paperport®? 23. actively work on three networking/social media sites and forget about the rest of them. I even removed my posts from Landbrkr 24. become more limber; seems like the best preventive medicine I can practice 25. get health insurance before the end of the year! 26. start going to movies at the new Capital Theatre in Detroit Shoreway. I can't wait for it to open 27. buy an ipod and enjoy filling it up with music 28. hang the paintings, artwork on my walls. I know I know, I've only been in this house three years LOL 29. hold a picnic in the park for all my friends and past clients. A nice late summer party. 30. go to the CSU debate between Hillary and Barack....I hope this can happen! 31. get back to running three miles every other day 32. ride a steam engine at least once this year 33. take a train somewhere! 34. take the dust off my guitar and start playing 35. go to Lola's. I mean really, I can't believe I haven't gone yet 36. attend as many of the CSU Levin College Maxine Goodman Forums as I possibly can, they are awesome 37. drink a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne with at least one good friend. It's been a while 38. go on the Detroit Superior Bridge Tour 39. walk more; I love walking why don't I walk more? 40. still debating this one but I would love a dog. 41. earn another designation; maybe ‘neighborhood' - alternatively, just learn something useful! 42. figure out how to convince an entreprenuer to open a coffee house near 150th and Puritas. I mean, that intersection has more traffic than you can shake a stick at. People in that neighborhood deserve good coffee (well, I'm not that far from it either). I'm just sayin! 43. Tell each of my friends they are important to me and why. Life is short If any of you wish to do your own list, on just about any topic, go to the 43 Things website. It's pretty nifty. Peace Out - 3C
It's January, Must Be Time for an Ohio Hub/Passenger Rail Update
First, most of my rail posts last year were strewn with pleas for support of SB294 to restore monies to AMTRAK for rail improvements. I'm happy to say that the Senate passed the Bill! 268 Yays and 153 Nays later, with my only disappointment - Senator Voinovich did not support it. This after correspondence from his office saying how supportive he was of pursuing the idea of high speed rail in Ohio. I guess he wasn't going to put the pocket book with the words? If you are disappointed, write him a letter. Seriously! More Bills and issues will arise and we need both of our senators on board. (Senator Brown voted for it). Now comes word that President Bush may veto the Bill. Sigh. Here is a thoughtful article about iton the Accuracy in Media site by guest author Paul Weyerich. Yeah, the article is from 2005 but it lends some light on why the veto may occur. Here is a glimpse:
Next up we have the report by the National Transportation Commission. (follow that link for the entire report.) All Aboard Ohio's website highlights the following and I am going to as well:
Sandusky is now seeing the light and is working in support of The Ohio Hub. This article in the Sandusky Registerby Jennifer Grathwol discusses how the Sandusky City Commission voted in support of it's US Representative's vote on matching Federal funds for the building of The Hub. One sound byte I like from the article has someone saying 'This is not pie in the sky anymore.' Amen to that! While we are waiting on the Innerbelt Plan and the West Shoreway plan to take shape (sigh) and keep hearing about delays, ODOT seems to think that the first leg of The Ohio Hub can begin in two years. By the way, Parade Magazine, of all things, did a great story on passenger rail it included an on-going poll being conducted by Washington Watch. If you go to my other blog, Cleveland Real Estate News,you can see the widget in my side bar. It updates constantly; currently 51% are supporting monies for passenger rail. Last week it was 50-50. If you click on the widget it takes you to a nice compilation of info about passenger rail and the poll as well. The next Bill we need to support is HB 3074. And of course we need all of you to contact your Congress people and Senators to ask them for their support. The Freight Unions, The Highway Unions, Federal studies, and public opinion is all swinging towards passenger rail. We have our own reasons in Ohio. Yes, fuel prices are high, dependence on foreign oil keeps us boxed into foreign policy issues that we don't like. But the truth is, Ohio needs a better economy and passenger rail, in the words of Stu Nicholson from ODOT can "be the penicillin that is good for what ails us." If you are in Ohio and interested in staying abreast or even helping out with grassroots effort to move passenger rail along, email me through Active Rain or at c.cohen@adelphia.net. We have a Yahoo! group for all of us grassroots types and I can forward your info along to the moderator! Lastly, a shout out to Linda Davis who provided this awesome link to an Alaska Rail Line slide show. You will find it breathtaking I know you will! Peace Out - 3C I Have A Big Time Crush on My New Cell Phone: The LG Voyager VX1000I just spent the last half hour text messaging with a client. Who would have thought? When the iPHONE came out and Jeff Turner reviewed it, I was so jealous! First it was an Apple product and second it was wayyyyy sexy. Alas, it was only an ATA&T product, so I had to pass. Luckily for me, Verizon just introduced the LG Voyager VX1000 - and after only having it for about 10 hours, I'm already in love with it. The features: VZ Navigator: a GPS system that is easy to use, even for me. I programmed in a few locations and it was right on target. I can see, as a Realtor®, using this feature a lot. Messaging: Video, Photo and Text. So far, I have just used the heck out of texting. I can see the value in being able to send photos since a client sent me photos from a house he was in a week ago....by using his iPHONE lol. When CNET reviewed the LG Voyager, they said the downside was the exterior touch screen did not offer the qwerty keyboard. Maybe, but, the regular phone keypad is MUCH easier to use than most of your standard cell phone keypads. In fact, I used it more than the qwerty feature today. THAT surprised me. The touch screen does not require a stylist. It's very intuitive, in fact it vibrates and makes a 'tone' when you touch it, which really helps you navigate. I checked out CBS Sports and ESPN.....got all the game scores for basketball and the NFL from this past week. BTW, you can watch television on the Voyager. Not a feature I plan on activating at the moment, but during World Series Week, who knows lol. The camera feature - as CNET opined, the clarity could be a bit better. Not bad in a pinch, but I would not want to be using this as my listing photo camera. It's the only downside I see. For me, I have a great digital camera, so no worries. But still, it would have been better to have a higher quality camera feature. I bet this improves on both the iPHONE and LG as time goes on. Of course you can email, surf the net, download videos. And the next feature I plan to download? VCast Music of course :-) This phone is pricey, if you ask me. In stores it's about $359. On line you can buy it, with a two year contract, on the Verizon site, for $199. At least that is what it said last week. It's in such demand, it could be higher now. I was fortunate because I had a Company discount so it did not cost me as much for the phone. But if you don't wince at spending a few hundred bucks for a phone, I think this is well worth the price. Do any of you have this phone? Love to hear what you say about it. I'm in love. Here is a You Tube video demo of the LG from PHONE SCOOP Peace Out - 3C
What Part Do Individual Markets Need to Play In Our National Mortgage Crisis?There are two thought provoking posts on the board today getting my brain in a swirl. The first one was on the issue of California Sub Prime Relief by Lenn Harley. This post is replete with the relief issue as proposed by the California Governor, and the general question of how involved should The Government be in these relief efforts (Gena Reide). Lenn asks important questions and some of them said, is the California Market pertinent to her Maryland market? I say, how intertwined are all of our markets based on the severity of the issues involved? And I ask that question hoping that mortgage and financial 'peeps' and economists from around the Country will weigh in. The second post was written by Bryant Tutas on the Subprime Market. Who should bear the responsibility of correcting the situation? Should the foreclosure and ARM resets just play out, and if not, what kind of intervention is appropriate? As a believer in the 'we all need to think and act for ourselves' philosophy, I have some serious questions. First, my brain siezed on an issue based on something said in Lenn's post. There are areas in the Country where speculative investors/buyers and housing bubbles in general had reached a level of (in my opinion) insanity. Lenn makes a point in a comment on her post:
Our NE Ohio experience was different. We had over 30 years of stable housing growth (not without cycles mind you, but stability). Our average return on investment per year for those 30 years was 3%. And this includes years averaged in when our unemployment rates were 22% (I know because I was in Maryland at the time reading about it and wondering if the entire area was going to collapse....it did not). We saw 2004, 2005, 2006 'teeny spikes' in that 3% number. Some communities had 5%. A few (like Westpark and Lakewood) had 11% or 14% for ONE year. That does not a housing bubble make. So my question is: Since we have not had bubbles and huge amounts of speculation, but we do have foreclosures, what is in our best interest? Should we be for relief? Should we hope that many lenders follow suit with other lenders and freeze the ARM reset dates? Do we want more foreclosures to get it over with? Do we want a policy that is good for the whole Country when our own market is different? Or is a National Policy possible that provides the best course of action for Cleveland too? And if so, what is that policy? I think we all need to be proactive in learning all we can about these issues so if you have an expert opinion with facts that make sense to back them up, please talk to us! lol And even though we did not have bubbles, or high percentages of speculative buying, we do have some corrections going on. Here are some statistics: These figures cover all of Cuyahoga County for 2006 through 11/06 and 2007 through 11/07 Pending or 'waiting to close' sales: 1,126 in 2007 and 1,084 in 2006 The Average Ask Price in 2007 was $170,638 and higher, $221,186 in 2006 The Average Sale Price was $166,777 in 2007 and $171,350 in 2006 for same eleven month time frame. Percentage of Sale to List Price was 95% in 2007 and 93% in 2006. Average Days on the Market: 93 in 2007 and 82 in 2006. And Lenn, volume difference is ten properties: 725 sold in eleven months in 2007 and 735 in 2006 And we won't even list the number of foreclosures but we know, especially by looking at Callahan's Cleveland Diary, that a good number of them occur every week. We are the professionals in the field, be we mortgage lenders or agents or brokers. But we are not economists, at least not most of us. Again I ask, should there be a National policy that we all participate in to provide a solution? Is there a solution? If you think so, why? If not, give us facts as to why not. And will NE Ohio and Maryland and Florida and California and Maine all benefit from some policy already discussed or not, or should we let 'nature take it's sad course?' Peace Out - 3C
Adding Good Reading Links on the Subject as I go along: The Economist - Good insight into Cleveland and the rest of the Nation Global Economic Monitors - Different perspectives on what should be done or not, and links to their opinions I had to do a post on my other blog, because I had some truly insightful comments from Lou Tisler of the NHSGC who is in the trenches and working on these issues here in the Cleveland area. Gabriel Silverstein's No I'm Not Going to Bail You Out Ed Rybczynski's A Coin Only Has Two Sides Brian Brady's Lose a Limb or Slowly Bleed to Death In Cleveland You Can Have A Zen-Like Experience Without Being Dead
My friend and author Casey Daniels was the host of a Lolly the Trolley Tour sponsored by the Fairview Park Branch of the Cuyahoga County Library System. The Tour had a mystery 'bent' to it; Casey's Pepper Martin books take place in Cleveland neighborhoods like Little Italy and Ohio City. And Pepper Martin, the Series Heroine, works at Lakeview, errrr, Gardenview cemetery when she' not solving murders. It was a great reason to get out and explore Cleveland on a sunny, 85 degree day. We toured other places like Erie Street Cemetery, The Rock Hall and The West Side Market, but the highlight was Lake View Cemetery. What is Lake View and what is so special about a cemetery? I call it Cleveland's Central Park. Lake View was built in the 1860s and modeled after great cemeteries in Europe. It encompasses almost 300 acres of land, with walkable trails, memorials, thousands of tombstones that are works of art in themselves. Here are some highlights of other famous NE Ohioans (and famous people from elsewhere who adopted NE Ohio) buried there: Jeptha Wade: he founded Western Union but was also very attuned to nature. He was responsible for building Wade Park (yes it's named after him) and was the first President of the Lake View Cemetery Association. How fitting that Wade Chapel is a memorial to him. I had never been inside before. The walls are lined with Tiffany-style mosaics detailing Old Testament rules and regulations and the Flight of the Souls Tiffany Favrille window (the focal point of the chapel) is truly breathtaking. Factoid: The original green coke bottle used Tiffany style glass! Dr. Harvey Williams Cushing: A famous brain surgeon who went on to amass a library of books that became the heart of the original Yale University Medical Library. He was considered one of, if not THE greatest neurosurgeon of the 20th Century. Oh yes, and like so many other people from our great area, he invented or enhanced a lot of things: he introduced the use of XRAYS for patient diagnosis; he also invented a thing to measure blood pressure. (Some day I will have to do a post on all the great inventions that arise from our area...I think it's the smell of the smokestacks that enhanced creativity lol) James Garfield: Who only wound up being President of the U.S. for three months, but that was only because he was assassinated. His memorial was breathtaking. (See photo taken from top floor deck; I enjoyed the soaring of a hawk from that vantage point but was not able to capture him on camera). His memorial is Gothic and beautiful and well worth the trip inside. He was a famous Civil War Officer and that is how he came to be the 20th President of the United States. John D. Rockefeller: Unless you live in a cave (or are under 30), you know who this guy is. He founded Standard Oil in 1870 and the rest is history. It was not one of the City of Cleveland's best moves, aggravating Mr. Rockefeller, who left Cleveland in a snit and of course went on to spend the rest of his time in NYC. It was most definitely our loss. However he made his mark here. There were SO MANY ancillary companies that grew and operated because of Standard Oil. Carl B. Stokes: The first African American Mayor of a major city in the United States. I was in awe of him when I was in my 20s as he sat at the dinner table with other creative thinkers of his time discussing his vision for Cleveland. (no, I was not lucky enough to have him at MY home, but I WAS lucky to have friends who knew him). Besides being Mayor, he served as a Municipal Judge and later became a U.S. Ambassador (appointed by President Clinton) to The Seychelles. There are 21 other Cleveland Mayors buried in Lake View. I think you get the idea. There are way too many famous people to name; they obviously wanted to be buried there for the same reason I want to keep visiting; it's beautiful. You do not however, need to be famous to be buried there. 285 pastoral acres to walk in complete serenity. You can do tours that originate at the Cemetery; you can hire Lolly the Trolley to take you there with forty of your friends; or you can obviously just go on your own, which is how I had previously explored sections of Lake View. One of my friends commented on Sunday, that you could go once a month for the rest of your life and probably not experience every thing there is to offer. So whether you are visiting the Cleveland area or you live here, I highly recommend meandering to one of our Citie's great treasures. Peace Out - 3C A Walk Down Memory Lane .....My Childhood Domain is More Than Just a Bunch of Foreclosure Statistics
So if you are in the neighborhood of East 71st and Harvard, have a look around. Strike up a conversation with friendly residents, the shopkeepers, the others like you who are just passing through. Jim Rokakis challenged us to look beyond foreclosure statistics. I decided to enjoy the humanity. I can't really go home again, but I can enjoy the friendliness of people who work and live in what used to be my domain. All is well, it is their domain now. Peace Out - 3C |
Carole Cohen Cleveland, OH More about me… Howard Hanna Cleveland City Office Office Phone: (216) 696-4800 Cell Phone: (216) 235-3719 Email Me
Anything and everything about real estate, life, revitalizing and redeveloping Cleveland and what's on my mind and your mind!
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I discovered Puritas Park Town Homes when I had a buyer client a few years ago. She was a flight attendant and living close to Hopkins airport was one of her requests. Puritas Park is definitely a great find. And I happen to have one listed for sale at 
What does 4541 Big Met Place have to offer you?
The home has been through the Airport Noise Insulation Program - which means it has new exterior doors, furnace, a/c, windows and electrical wiring. There is the added 'end unit' advantage - a small flower garden where you could put in your own annuals or perennials, without having the maintenance of a whole yard that comes with a single family home. Truly the best of both worlds, again.
peninsula counter and cabinet that provides extra kitchen storage, not common in these town homes and very useful. 
If I fantasize about myself being a renter, there is one thing for sure: I want enough amenities to make me happy while I am home, to allow me to become a part of my home community and interact with people, but not so many amenities that I don't go out and become a part of the larger community. Does that make sense? 
Back in the day I worked for an advertising company and we all moaned and groaned about tangled phone cords. I was always spouting off about inventing a way to hook up the receiver to the phone on a ball so the cord would stay straighter. Of course I only whined about it, didn't try to invent it; lo and behold, we wound up with just such a land line attachment available. 
We are real estate professionals of one sort or another right? So we always have goals. Well, some of these are work related and some aren't. But I'm hoping you guys can relate. A fellow Cleveland blogger asked me to do this, come up with 43 things I want to do in 2008...and the point is to make these reachable goals. 
I've met some awesome people over the past six months and that is the up side to working on and caring about this issue....because it all moves so slowly. Having said that, here is what is new or newer (now I sound like a Realtor®) regarding passenger rail/The Ohio Hub.
I'm not kidding; look at the photo I snapped of the Reflecting Pond across from Wade Chapel in Lake View Cemetery. Yes, it is that peaceful and gorgeous. 
Today I stopped at E. 71st and Harvard to buy gas. I could not pass it up, Gas USA was selling it for $2.54/gallon (and who would have ever thought that would be a bargain). While there, I snapped a photo of the diner at the corner. My Aunt Ann used to hold court there, serving the hungry factory workers on the way to begin their days (and occasionally a niece on her way to junior high). It's now called the Harvard Inn. I have no clue what it was called in the old days lol. A lady named Hattie beckoned me over to her car asking why I was snapping photos. Neither of us lives in the neighborhood anymore: she lives farther East and I live farther West. But she had good things to say and as we parted company I touched her shoulder and she informed me that now that I touched her, I would have good luck. She said "....honey, go play some three digit numbers!...." Yep, that is the colorful neighborhood I remember.
I have a listing in 
This was my elementary school. It's still an architectural beauty in it's present incantation as the Harvard Senior Apartments. What was true then is still true now: a city works because of sidewalk activity; a city works because of the businesses that cause people to be on those sidewalks. A city gives us a sense of place because of the neighbors visited on a sidewalk trek around the block. There may be 
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