Solon, OH

That was another great day. I am so fortunate to work with outstanding people - smart, very well educated, curious, informed, funny and caring. Isn't it the biggest reward in our profession to get an opportunity to help people who you enjoy working with! We drove around Solon and Bainbridge with my new clients looking for a bigger home for this nice family. The home where they live now is immaculate! It's lovingly improved from bottom to top, tastefully decorated and meticulously maintained. You understand how eager I am to find the perfect home for this wonderful growing family.

We visited three homes in one of our finest developments. All at the same street, same size, all priced very well, all three - sad but true - foreclosed. As these houses are in a high price range, they are taken care of by listing agents, pretty clean and not vandalized. They are good deals! Why then my good reasonable buyers who will be happy to enjoy the financial advantages of today's market did not get excited about these homes? We discussed this and got the answer: these houses are not bad, or sad, or depressing. They are just short of love. It looks like previous owners before they lost these houses to the banks just had not had a chance to fall in love with their homes. They probably got some kind of "deal' from the builder or from the bank - we'll never know. But they failed to make these houses their homes, they failed to love them.

The day was still great. At the very end of our tour we finally found the Home. It is full of love. You feel it. You know it. I usually prefer showing the houses without the owners' assistance. You know, sellers may be kind of annoying when they try hard to show the best of the best in their homes. Not in this case. Great people, great home and - I am sure - that will be the best deal for the buyers.

Real Love always attracts luck. That's more than true in Real Estate. I wish the best luck to all loving sellers and caring buyers!

Local-n-Global Realty invites the home owners to take part in our February contest:

I am lucky to love my home.

Send us your stories, pictures, scrap books, videos. Please express your Love to your Home.

If you can submit your art work electronically, please e-mail it to:

IloveMyHome@Local-n-Global.com

Please feel free to call us with any questions regarding this contest and with any Real estate related concerns or suggestions.

216-548-HOME(4663)

Free 24/7 Local-n-Global Real Estate Hotline: 877-770-5551.

Good luck!

Svetlana Stolyarova, Local-n-Global Realty, Broker

Greater Cleveland Housing market: out of balance or still o.k.? How does it feel when market goes even a little bit out of balance like it happened in Greater Cleveland in 2007?We were fortunate to have a pretty balances housing market here in Greater Cleveland, OH. Balanced market may be not a dream market for flippers or speculators but it is predictable and comfortable for home buyers and sellers. Balanced market means a constant meeting of minds of relatively reasonable sellers and relatively reasonable buyers combined with sufficient supply of money and strong professionalism of Real Estate consultants advising their buying and selling clients.

Are all Real Estate agents greedy and useless? We still have great professionals among our fellow Realtors who diligently serve their clients despite all the troubles and rumors about housing crisis and death of the profession itself. Indeed, only the best survive and prosper on today's market, so if you need a good Realtor to help you sell or buy the house, please choose the one who is active and successful TODAY, not two or three years ago.

Mortgage alert for Cuyahoga County. Mortgage crisis of 2007 created situation of insufficiency in money supply. 2008 may be even worse as not only sub-prime or A- borrowers will be affected, but also good and even perfect borrowers will partially lose availability of mortgage financing because almost all the Greater Cleveland neighborhoods belong to "declining market" according to new Fannie May rules. All Cuyahoga County, Geauga, Portage Counties are declared declining market. Sad, especially considering that Real estate market is strictly local. How can they seriously compare markets in Cleveland and Solon or Mayfield Heights?

Let's measure reasonability of home buyers and home sellers in Mayfield Heights, Solon and Twinsburg. Speaking of reasonability of buyers and sellers: let's compare the sales data for three cities - Mayfield Heights, Solon and Twinsburg. All three are on the East Side of Greater Cleveland. All have excellent school systems. All of them are great places to live and raise kids. All three have strong housing demand and good inventory of houses for sale. Let's see what today's sellers expect to sell their houses for:

Mayfield Heights - 171 house for sale; Average asking price $181,315

In 2007 207 houses were sold for average price of $153,387. Sellers historically get 95-96 % of the last asking price (after all price reductions) in Mayfield Heights.

Solon 201 house for sale; Average asking price $395,654

In 2007 245 houses were sold for average price of $368,829. Sellers get 95 % of the last asking price.

Twinsburg 124 houses for sale; Average asking price $242,612.

In 2007 251 houses were sold for average price of $225,527. Sellers get 97 % of the last asking price.

So, now buyers will decide: who is a champion in reasonability among the home sellers

Mayfield Heights sellers expect to get about $172,250 vs. $153,387 avg. sold price in 2007

Solon sellers expect to receive about $375,870 vs. $368,829 avg. sold price in 2007

Twinsburg sellers expect to receive about $235,330 vs. $225,527 avg. sold price in 2007.

Let's see what happens in three month.

Good luck to all sellers and buyers! Let's keep it real!

Svetlana Stolyarova, founder and broker of Local-n-Global Realty

Buyers and sellers in Mayfield Heights, Solon and Twinsburg! Need an expert on your side?

Call anytime 877-770-5551 or e-mail Realty@Local-n-Global.com