It didn't take long for someone to realize how much a difference a real estate company can make.  Pictured above is Suzanne who has the distinguishing title of being the very first person to close on a home with our new company.  Not only did she choose us to be her real estate representatives but she blessed us by purchasing Mark and Holly's house, one of our listings, thus giving us our first listing sold too!

Exciting News:

Because we represented both the buyer and the seller in this transaction we are able to donate 5% of our gross commissions from both parties thus giving a total of 10% away to two of our local charitable organizations.  5% will  go to Global Outreach Ministries located at 602 Clinton St. here in Defiance and the other 5% is going to Tiana's Shining Hope, a fund set up to help out Tiana Bishop a local 9 year-old girl who was diagnosed in June with a rare form of cancer, rhabdomyosarcoma.  The fund will help offset some of the medical bills her family is incurring. If you want to contribute to her fund you can send checks to: Tiana's Shining Hope, in care of First Federal Bank 601 Clinton St. Defiance, OH 43512, or contact Tonya Retcher at 419-428-2406.

Thank you Suzanne, Mark and Holly for "Choosing to give" and choosing Realty Five of Defiance as your real estate team.  We truly appreciate it!

If you work for or know of any charities who could use our help with funding, help us find people who are looking to buy or sell real estate.  Together we can make a difference.

 Your Realty Five Team,

~Scott, Dawn and Karol

Now Available 2.5 wonderful acres just on the edge of town ready for you to build your dream house on.  Several people have taken advantage of this area of town with it's closeness to town and it's country flair.  It really is a great lot to build on.  Head down Kiser Road and take a look at it today!

~ Scott

Realty Five of Defiance
Defiance, OH
"We choose to give."

According to the National Association of Realtors pending home sales have risen for nine months in a row, a first for the series of the index since its inception in 2001.

The Pending Home Sales Index,* a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in October, increased 3.7 percent to 114.1 from 110.0 in September, and is 31.8 percent above October 2008 when it was 86.6. The rise from a year ago is the biggest annual increase ever recorded for the index, which is at the highest level since March 2006 when it was 115.2.

It is believed that the historic low interest rates and the home buyer tax credits are contributing to the increase.  Eventually, the inventory will begin to stabalize and decrease.  When this happens we should expect home prices to begin gaining traction.

If you are still on the fence about buying a home, you might want to jump off as the indicators are pointing to smaller inventories, higher prices, higher interest rates and the disappearance of the tax rebates by the middle of 2010.

It was just announced this morning that the sale of existing homes jumped 10.2% last month.  It is assumed that most of that had to do with the ending of the first time home buyer's tax credit.  However, that credit was extended until next summer plus there was the addition of the tax credit for existing home owners. 

I would suggest that if you are considering taking advantage of the tax credits that are available to not wait until the end for a couple of reasons.  1) The more people who wait, the higher demand for the houses toward the end thus providing less choice of homes and potential higher prices.  2) The more buyers in a particualar time frame, the harder it is for the houses to get closed on time because the lenders and others involved get back logged.

Just some thoughts for you to think about. 

scott

Don't forget to visit our website: www.realtyfive.com

It's been a little bit of a battle for us to get our home search tool up and running on our website, but it is finally there.  It's a powerful tool in the hand of any person who is looking to purchase or even sell a home.  With it a person can look at all the homes in Northwest Ohio that are listed by any agency who uses the Toledo Multiple Listing Service (That's litterally thousands of homes at your fingertips). The homes can be saved in a file then the person can receive emails when there are changes to the house and when other houses match their search criteria.  This is helpful for both buyers and sellers.  Buyers benefit for the obvious reasons for searching for homes, but sellers can get an idea of homes on the market and what is happening with homes that are comparible to theirs.

There are several search options available including map searches and address searches. 

Go ahead and spend some time on the site and see what you can find.  I think you'll be impressed with our search tool and will quickly appreciate it.

Thanks,

scott

I thought you'd like to know. I was talking with a mortgage lender last night and she told me that a 30 year fixed rate conventional loan was at 4.875% yesterday. That's AWESOME! If you own a home and aren't planning on moving you might want to consider refinancing. If you are thinking about buying a home then now is the time!!!! This rate combined with the fist time homebuyer tax credit of $8,000 or the homebuyer credit of $6500, makes buying a home or even selling a home right now ideal. There are even programs in our area that you can buy the home with zero down and have no PMI and still get that rate and the rebates! If you're even considering buying, contact us and we can give you more details about all this.

Thanks,

Scott

Here are the market stats for the Defiance area this year from January 1 through November 8, 2009.  These statistics are only for areas that would be considered Defiance, Ohio.  If you would like stats for your particular area, just let me know and I can get them to you.

Total Homes Listed: 427

Avg. List Price: $109,209

Total Sold Units: 206

Avg. Sold Price: $94,456

Avg. Days on Market: 154

I will try and keep this up-to-date for you every week so you will have a better picture of what's happening in our market.

Thanks and have a great week!

scott

Here's our newest listing.  It's a comfortable 3 bedroom home in the country with neighbors.  Best of both worlds!  16213 SR 111, Cecil Ohio 45879.  Go to our website and see more pictures and information.

www.realtyfive.com

President Obama is expected to sign into law today the newly extended and expanded tax credit for home buyers.  The most interesting addition to the credit is the new credit to existing home owners who want to purchase a new home.  The National Association of Realtors website that highlights the differences between the last one and the new one.  You can get a pdf download at www.realtor.org 

I've been looking forward to this new extention of the credit as there are many people who have been on the fence about moving from their current home to buy a new one.  This credit may be the thing that helps them with a little of the loss in equity they have faced over the past couple of years.

Best of luck!

Scott

We have two new listings to report today.  The first one is a $17,000 investor special.  This house needs lots of love!  It's 315 N. Wilhelm St., Holgate, OH  Here are some outside picts for you to get an idea of what this house has to offer.  The right person can transform this into a nice rental.

The second listing is raw farm land waiting for the next crop to be planted.  This property is a little over 8 acres in Henry County on CR. 19

Well that's it for today.  I have another listing for tomorrow.  Hope you have a great day.

Scott