The Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) is planning on bringing back Down Payment Assistance early in February. If you are a potential home buyer or a Realtor that would like more information on this program when it becomes available, please drop me a email.

Initial word from the OHFA is they will be offering 2.50% of the sales price as a gift/grant to buyers using this program. Buyers will be required to participate in a Homebuyers Education program.

This post will be updated once additional information is received.

Here is a short Video regarding How Values and Taxes are determined, It was done by Michael E. Kovack the Medina County Auditor and the basic information presents is good. Below you will find some links that may assist you in filing a request for review of you Taxes and Tax Value according to county records. Please watch it then continue to the links below to determine if your property is valued correctly with Lorain County and if you are paying more taxes than necessary.

An protests or requests for lower your Property Values in Cuyahoga County must be filed between 1/1/2009 and 3/31/2009.

Here is the link in Lorain County Records to start the process of disputing the Tax Value on a property. http://www.loraincounty.com/auditor/real-estate-taxes/board-of-revision.shtml

Prior to filing a protest they should look on the auditors site to see what value the property is being taxed at. Here is a link to that site. You can search the county records here. http://oh-lorain-auditor.governmaxa.com/propertymax/agency/oh-lorain-auditor/ohlorain_homepage.asp

With the decline in property values we have seen recently, any homeowners or buyers might be able to save some money on their taxes by filing for a correction of counties tax values.

Because of the limited window to file the requests (3/31/2009) I suggest that you look at the County valuations and it if is above what the current market justifies, file a request for reconsideration.

Also any homeowners that are considering refinancing may want to determine if refinancing makes sense, There are many calculators available to do the math for you, Here is one that I have that gives you the basics and does calculations based upon how long you expect to remain in the home. http://www.lenderbradford.com/RefinaceCalculator I also welcome phone calls from Northern Ohio owners to assist them in determining if refinancing makes financial sense.

I also encourage all Realtors to share this with their clients.

Here is a short Video from Michael E. Kovack the Medina County Auditor regarding How Values and Taxes are determined. Please watch it then continue to the links below to determine if your property is valued correctly with Medina County and if you are paying more taxes than necessary.

An protests or requests for lower your Property Values in Cuyahoga County must be filed between 1/1/2009 and 3/31/2009.

Here is the link in Medina County Records to start the process of disputing the Tax Value on a property. http://www.medinacountyauditor.org/frm_bor.htm

Prior to filing a protest they should look on the auditors site to see what value the property is being taxed at. Here is a link to that site. http://www.medinacountyauditor.org/allsearches.htm

With the decline in property values we have seen recently, any homeowners or buyers might be able to save some money on their taxes by filing for a correction of counties tax values.

Because of the limited window to file the requests (3/31/2009) I suggest that you look at the County valuations and it if is above what the current market justifies, file a request for reconsideration.

Also any homeowners that are considering refinancing may want to determine if refinancing makes sense, There are many calculators available to do the math for you, Here is one that I have that gives you the basics and does calculations based upon how long you expect to remain in the home. http://www.lenderbradford.com/RefinaceCalculator I also welcome phone calls from Northern Ohio owners to assist them in determining if refinancing makes financial sense.

I also encourage all Realtors to share this with their clients.

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NOW IS THE TIME TO FILE ANY PROTEST TO YOUR REAL ESTATE TAXES AND VALUES

An protests or requests for lower your Property Values in Cuyahoga County must be filed between 1/1/2009 and 3/31/2009.

Here is the link in Cuyahoga County Records to start the process of disputing the Tax Value on a property. http://treasurer.cuyahogacounty.us/taxpayer/contesting.htm

Prior to filing a protest they should look on the auditors site to see what value the property is being taxed at. Here is a link to that site. http://auditor.cuyahogacounty.us/repi/default.asp

With the decline in property values we have seen recently, any homeowners or buyers might be able to save some money on their taxes by filing for a correction of counties tax values.

Because of the limited window to file the requests (3/31/2009) I suggest that you look at the County valuations and it if is above what the current market justifies, file a request for reconsideration.

One of the biggest complaints people make about their computer is that it is running slow. The main reason that I find is the limited RAM installed in the computer. Windows Vista has a feature/program that is installed called ReadyBoost. Here is short description of ReadyBoost from Wikipedia

Using ReadyBoost-capable flash memory (NAND memory devices) for caching allows Windows Vista to service random disk reads with performance that is typically 80-100 times faster than random reads from traditional hard drives. This caching is applied to all disk content, not just the page file or system DLLs. Flash devices are typically slower than the hard drive for sequential I/O, so to maximize performance, ReadyBoost includes logic to recognize large, sequential read requests and then allows these requests to be serviced by the hard drive

Click here to read the entire description of ReadyBoost

I found out about this ReadyBoot after buying a USB Memory Stick on Black Friday. I was considering buying additional memory for my laptop, but postponed doing that because of the cost of the memory and also the fact I would have to open the Laptop case to install it. The USB Memory stick I bought was 2GIGS and only cost me $10.00. This was much better than the memory upgrade.

I found that http://www.eboostr.com/beta/has a program that does the same thing on on Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows 2003. The beta version appears to be available for free during the testing period. If you do not want the Beta version here is Version 2.0.2 http://www.eboostr.com/download/ that allows you to try the software for free. The cost to eliminate the need to reboot every 4 hours is very minor. Consider checking out the program if you are dealing with a slow computer because of limited RAM memory.