City’s historical districts show stability-article from Columbus Business First

Properties in city's historical districts show stability, investment opportunity in roiled market

Business First of Columbus - by Paul E. Kostyu

Real estate investors looking for value in a down real estate market might want to take a look at properties in the city's historic districts.

Though Ohio remains one of the hardest hit states in the number of foreclosures, according to RealtyTrac, a California-based company that follows foreclosures, there's been little impact, if any, on historic districts here, industry insiders say.

In Central Ohio, much of the foreclosure problem resides in suburbs. Still, real estate agents are seeing flat sales in the city's historic districts in part because people are staying put.

Historic homes and buildings are in short supply and that keeps their market relatively stable. Also, the value of property in some of the districts hasn't decreased as much as in other parts of the city and Franklin County.

"We have a limited commodity - 1,200 homes," said Marilyn Vutech, a longtime real estate agent in German Village. "Thank goodness."

She described the market for houses in the $250,000 and under range as healthy because they typically are bought by first-time homeowners who don't have another house to unload.

"Historically, there's been solid appreciation, a very strong 3 to 4 percent over the past 22 years," Vutech said of German Village properties. "The past 18 months, there's been a hiccup all over Ohio. There's been a slight depreciation. It's the commodity that saves it. There's not a sea of competing inventory."

Joe Armeni, a real estate agent in the Short North area, including parts of Victorian and Italian villages, said available properties are few and far between.

"Foreclosures are nonexistent in the Short North. It's completely stable here," said Armeni, who has been in the business 28 years. "Traffic has been pretty good. Prices are relatively flat."

Stelios Giannopoulos, a Bexley-based developer who has done preservation work for several decades, said money can be made by renovating old buildings. If there's a foreclosure, someone grabs it.

"You won't see a lot of signs for rent either," he said. "People have a nostalgia for the old neighborhoods and bringing them back to life."

buyer beware

Just because historic properties may have a good value proposition doesn't mean they're a right fit for every buyer.

Giannopoulos said to expect the unexpected.

"You have to be careful not to let the cost get out of hand," he said. "You have to look at a building. Look how sound it is, make a study. You should hire an experienced architect."

The first building Giannopoulos renovated in Italian Village was held together by roots and vines, he said. He had to build a metal skeleton to keep the structure from falling down during renovation.

Still, he said, "when you renovate you can get more money out of an old building than (building) a new one."

Jason Janoski said buyers in search of a purchase in one of Columbus' historic districts need to do their homework. And expect trouble.

Janoski lives in the Old Beechwold Historic District off North High Street, south of Morse Road.

Changes to the exterior of buildings, including landscaping, are controlled by the city's seven-member Historic Resources Commission, which gets recommendations from the preservation office within the Columbus Department of Development.

"We think the commission is important," Janoski said. "But the process has been inconsistent, not well communicated and capricious. That's a problem across districts that discourages people from doing projects."