Susanne Novak, ABR, FIS, GRI - HUD, REO & Investment Specialist

Remarkable HUD Homes in Upscale Neighborhoods

HUD listed 26 new homes today. This is good news for buyers who want to pick up a beautiful HUD home at a bargain price, ready to move in at the beginning of the new year. The selection of Columbus HUD homes is very good, especially in suburban school districts. So, let me point out a few of the upscale Columbus houses you should check out this weekend.

Let's start with a 2100 sqft home in Westerville near Hoover Reservoir. It comes with 4 bedrooms and a wooden deck. Listed for $195K, it is the most expensive home on this week's map. Considering the area, it may be well worth the price.

Then we have a 2300 sqft home at Emerald Ice Loop in Delaware. It features 4 bedrooms, a covered front porch and it is "Insured" for FHA financing. Asking price is $184K. It's located just south of the City of Delaware.

There's another 4 bedroom home. This one's located at Friston Blvd in Hilliard. It is listed for only $141K.

The New Albany house at Mardela Drive is back on the market, as well. It is still listed for $125K. You may want to take another look, if you like the north east side of Columbus. If you call me, I may dig up the previously accepted offer from our secret database.

The price of the lake house in Millersport was reduced to $67K, just as I predicted a few days ago. And the forever listed and relisted brick double on 1208 Long Street is back on the market for only $15,000. It was originally listed for $60,000.

Call me TODAY at 975-9650 to see the newest HUD Homes this weekend!

Thanks for reading our Columbus HUD Homes Blog
Posted by: Susanne Novak, ABR, FIS, GRI
Columbus Realtors specializing in
HUD Homes, Shortsales, Investment Real Estate
(614) 975-9650

Listing Statistics for Central Ohio HUD Homes for the Week of 11/20/09

Total homes available: 80 (last week: 66)

Owner occupants: 61
All bidders: 19
New listings: 26
Sunday deadline: 15
Relisted/Price reduced: 20

Median Price: $73,500 (last week: $70,000)
Average Price: $75,236 (last week: $71,355)
Highest: $195,000
Lowest: $9,000

Homes less than $50,001: 28 (last week: 24)
Between $50,001 & $100,000: 31 (last week: 27)
More than $100,000: 21 (last week: 15)

Call me TODAY at 975-9650 to see the newest HUD Homes this weekend!

Thanks for reading our Columbus HUD Homes Blog
Posted by: Susanne Novak, ABR, FIS, GRI
Columbus Realtors specializing in
HUD Homes, Shortsales, Investment Real Estate
(614) 975-9650 http://ColumbusOhioHUDHomes.com

HUD Homes at Buckeye Lake and Last Week's Bidding Results

Many of the homes available to all bidders, including real estate investors, are outside the Columbus metro area. You should not limit yourself to the City of Columbus or its suburbs when you look for great deals. You can find even better buying opportunities in small cities 20 or 30 miles outside fo Columbus. On today's list you see homes in Newark, Lancaster, Ashley and so forth.

This may not be the time when you are thinking about living at a lake, but that's exactly where we found a couple of HUD homes at a bargain price. Two houses on today's bargain hunter list are at Buckeye Lake. They seem to be great deals.

The first one at 143 Elliott Ave is a small 2 bedroom home listed for only $45,000. It is listed as insured with escrow, so I assume it's in reasonable condition.

The other one may offer even more potential. The address is 11917 Broad Street in Millersport. It's a 3 bedroom, 1600 sqft house and has been on the market for more than a month.

Here's my insider tip: HUD will most likely relist this house on Friday for 10% below the current asking price of $70,000. After the relist, HUD should accept offers of $50,000 or even less, especially, if it does not go into contract with an owner occupant.

Now consider this: homes sold for $100 a sqft in this area. The Millersport house could be a tremendous deal with lots of equity, but it also would make a nice rental at a very desireable location.

Here's a summary of the bid results of the Five Gems on the East Side. All of them went in contract for more than asking price!

3578 Creek Meadows Dr, Pickerington, OH
HUGE 4BR/2.5BA 2,396 sqft Asking $150,000
Offer accepted on 11/16/09 for $161,515 - 7.7% above list price

8005 Eurogrey Ct, Blacklick, OH
3BR/2.0 BA 1,220 sqft Asking $99,000
Offer accepted on 11/16/09 for $101,002- 2.0% above list price

7837 Fairfax Loop Dr, Blacklick, OH
3BR/2.5BA 1,808 sqft Asking $113,000
Offer accepted on 11/16/09 for $122,000- 7.9% above list price

4205 Nafzger Dr, Columbus, OH
New Albany Schools, 4BR/2.5BA 1,877 sqft Asking $157,000
Offer accepted on 11/16/09 for $178,000- 13.4% above list price

3169 Thorndyke St, Columbus, OH
4BR/2.5BA 1,972 sqft Asking $101,000
Offer accepted on 11/16/09 for $112,211- 10.9% above list price

Call me at (614) 395-7375 and I will give you my best guess on what I believe HUD will accept.

Thanks for reading our Columbus HUD Homes Blog
Posted by: Susanne Novak, ABR, FIS, GRI
Columbus Realtors specializing in
HUD Homes, Shortsales, Investment Real Estate
(614) 975-9650 http://ColumbusOhioHUDHomes.com

Warning: Mold In 2 Featured HUD Homes

Do you read the property disclosures on the HUD Website? You probably noticed that many Columbus HUD Homes seem to be effected by mold.

Mold occurs frequently in Ohio, especially, if the inside of a house gets wet and there is not enough air circulation. Minor mold damage can be remedied by drying out the house, removing any damaged drywall, and treating the effected areas. A full blown mold remediation, however, can be costly and may take some time to complete. Mold may also prevent you from getting FHA financing.

Two of the Columbus houses featured below have some mold damage. We put them at the end of the list and recommend that you don't waste your time seeing these homes, if you are not prepared to deal with the mold remediation process!

The HUD homes in Grove City on Big Run Ridge and the one in Obetz on Millstone are almost in move in condition. They even come with appliances. The HUD home in Worthington needs some TLC, but it's a great deal, just behind Worthington Killbourne High School.

Now let's take a look at 5 Columbus HUD Homes - the first one is in Worthington.

1564 Grayling Ct, Worthington, OH
3BR/2.5BA 1,648 sqft Asking $122,000

3776 Millstone Rd, Columbus, OH
3BR/2.0 BA 1,496 sqft Asking $104,000

2421 Big Run Ridge Blvd, Grove City, OH
4BR/2.5BA 1,780 sqft Asking $125,000

1011 Drayson Dr, Galloway, OH
MOLD, 4BR/2.5BA 2,478 sqft Asking $95,000

639 Chuck Wagon Dr, Galloway, OH
MOLD 3BR/1.5BA 1,200 sqft Asking $85,000

Call me today at (614) 975-9650 to schedule a showing!

Thanks for reading our Columbus HUD Homes Blog
Posted by: Susanne Novak, ABR, FIS, GRI
Columbus Realtors specializing in
HUD Homes, Shortsales, Investment Real Estate
(614) 975-9650

The New and Improved Home Buyer Income Tax Credit

You probably already saw it in the news and maybe even read about it here on Active Rain. The home buyer tax credit will be around for another 6 months. If you thought that you missed out on the $8,000 gift from your government, now you have another chance.

Buy one of the wonderful Columbus HUD homes we see listed each week! Not only will you get a great residence below market value, but you will also receive cash back after closing, complements of the IRS. Time to double your benefits!

Here are the new rules for the home buyer tax credit and how the program was enhanced:

• The tax credit for first time home buyers is still $8,000 (up to 10% of the purchase price).
• There's a new tax credit for move-up/repeat home buyers. It's $6,500 (up to 10% of the purchase price) for existing home owners who want to move up or buy a new home. You basically must have owned and lived in your home for 5 years (out of the past 8 years).
• The deadline has been extended until April 30, 2010. You may even close as late as June 30, 2010, as long as you signed a binding purchase contract by April 30, 2010.
• The purchase price must be under $800,000 and the buyer's income must be less than $125,000 for single taxpayers and less than $225,000 for married couples.

You can read more about the Home Buyer Tax Credit Here.

I believe this is an incredible incentive. I also believe that this will be your last chance to claim the tax credit. Most likely it will not be extended a second time, as we see continued improvement in the housing market. According to a survey by Move.com 5% of Americans plan to buy a home in 2010, because they believe that the market has bottomed out and home prices will increase next year.

Here's my advice. Take advantage of the winter buying season. The coming months - November, December and January - are usually very slow. There will be plenty of good Columbus houses on the market at even lower prices than we saw last summer and the sellers should be especially motivated!

Keep your eyes open and follow our blog for the best HUD homes in Central Ohio. I can help you find a great deal in the next couple of months, so you can take full advantage of this once in a life time gift from your government.

Thanks for reading our Columbus HUD Homes Blog
Posted by: Susanne Novak, ABR, FIS, GRI
Columbus Realtors specializing in
HUD Homes, Shortsales, Investment Real Estate
(614) 975-9650 http://ColumbusOhioHUDHomes.com