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Columbia Gas Customer? Get the Nest for for half price!

 

Lower your monthly energy use with a smart thermostat

Today is Energy Efficiency day. Celebrate with us by saving energy and money while controlling your comfort every day of the year with a smart thermostat. For a limited time, get the ENERGY STAR® certified Honeywell Home Wi-Fi 7-Day Programmable Thermostat for only $4.¹ Also available at our online store is a $75 instant rebate on top brands Google Nest, ecobee and Emerson Sensi.²

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Franklin County delays property tax due dates

Very welcomed news to many!

https://www.tax.ohio.gov/Portals/0/Documents/FranklinCo20-04-0076.pdf

More Mortage Relife

​Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) and the Federal Home Loan Banks are taking steps to help people who have been impacted by the coronavirus.   If your ability to pay your mortgage is impacted, and your loan is owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, you may be eligible to delay making your monthly mortgage payments for a temporary period, during which: 

• You won’t incur late fees. 
• Foreclosure and other legal proceedings will be suspended 

Problems paying your mortage during COVID19?

If you own a home and are hit economically by Coronavirus, there are resources to help. Here is one of them:

Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)

FHFA has instructed Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and their servicers to be proactive in providing assistance to homeowners including forbearance. In addition, FHFA imposed a moratorium on eviction and foreclosures on mortgages backed by the GSEs:

https://www.fhfa.gov/Media/PublicAffairs/Pages/Statement-from-FHFA-Director-Mark-Calabria-on-Coronavirus.aspx

Spring Maintaince for the Home

• Having your gutters and downspouts cleaned early in the season can also help prevent damage from spring rains. Gutters and downspouts should be clean and running free. If your downspouts are installed properly, water is diverted away from the house so that no water collects around your foundation.
  Clean gutters and downspouts. After the last frost has passed, it’s important to have your gutters and downspouts cleaned and repaired. Clogged gutters and downspouts can cause the wood trim at the to rot, and that can invite all kinds of critters into your attic space.

• Reseal exterior woodwork. Wood decks, fences, railings, trellises, pergolas and other outdoor structures will last longer and stay in better condition if they’re stained or resealed every year or two. Take this opportunity to make any needed repairs to woodwork as well.

• Inspect roof. Winter storms can take quite a toll on the roof. When spring arrives, start by making a simple visual inspection of your roof. ‘It doesn’t require a ladder, and you certainly don’t have to get on a roof to look,’ Sedinger says. ‘Use binoculars or a camera or smartphone with a telephoto feature if you need to.’ Look for missing shingles, metal pipes that are damaged or missing or anything that simply doesn’t look right. If you notice anything that needs closer inspection or repair, call a roofer.

• Paint exterior. If you’re planning to repaint your home’s exterior this year, spring is a good time to set it up. Want to paint but can’t decide on a color? Explore your town and snap pictures of house colors you like, browse photos on Houzz or work with a color consultant to get that just-right hue.

• Inspect driveways and paths. Freezing and thawing is rough on concrete, asphalt and other hardscaping materials. Take a walk around your property to look for damage to walkways, paths and driveways, and schedule repairs as needed. Asphalt can often be patched, but damaged concrete may need to be replaced entirely.

• Prevent mosquitoes. In recent years, we’ve become more aware of the potential danger mosquitos can pose to our health. ‘West Nile virus and Zika virus are just the latest diseases caused by these winged pests,’ Sedinger says. The best way to prevent mosquitos around your home is simply by getting rid of any standing water. ‘Walk around your property [and peek at your neighbors]. If you see anything or any area where water stands, fix it, tip it, get rid of it or maintain it regularly,’ Sedinger says.

• Check screen doors and windows. Screens are designed to let the breeze flow in and keep bugs out – but they can only do their job if they’re free from holes and tears. Before setting up your screens for the warm months ahead, be sure to carefully check each one and repair any holes or tears, no matter how small. You can find screen repair kits at most hardware and home improvement stores.

• Schedule air-conditioning service. ‘Home inspectors see a lot of air-conditioning systems that are just not taken care of,’ Sedinger says. ‘Just because it gets cool doesn’t mean it’s working efficiently.’ To get the longest life out of your cooling system and keep it running as efficiently as possible, change the filters at least once each season, and hire a licensed professional to service the equipment before the start of summer.
• 
  

Corona-Virus and US real estate what to belive?

The lowest mortgage rates on record are colliding with the prospect of an economic downturn prompted by the coronavirus outbreak, setting the stage for an unpredictable spring selling season in the housing market.

Early indications suggest that rock-bottom borrowing costs may not be enough to lure many home buyers amid the current uncertainty. Economists are tamping down earlier expectations that cheap rates and a strong job market would boost the housing market in 2020 following years of sluggish growth.

As the expanding coronavirus outbreak slows economic activity, roiling markets around the world, there’s a 60% chance of the U.S. economy going into a recession this year, said Mark Zandi, a chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. That economic disruption would batter the housing market despite record-low mortgage rates.

“Housing is being buffeted by two gale forces moving in opposite directions,” Zandi said, referring to low rates and virus-fueled economic turmoil. “The question is, what’s the end result of all that? In all likelihood, the recession will trump the lower rates.”

The virus arrived just in time for the housing market’s key season, which was shaping up to be one of the strongest in years. An unusually warm winter brought buyers out early to take advantage of the low rates and they’ve had to battle for listings that are more scarce than ever

When purchase application data adjusting to population hit an all-time low in 2014, we still have over 5,400,000 total home sales and new and existing homes. When rates were as high as 4.75%-5% we didn’t see a collapse in homes sales.

In fact, existing home sales only lost 170,000 in sales year over year. Today, we are in a much better place than in 2014 in terms of demographic demand and more people working. Rates, even at 4%, are still relatively low and purchase application data is at cycle highs with seven straight weeks of double-digit growth. 

However, if people are in fear, you have no idea how the public will act like. None of us foresaw that the hoarding of toilet paper was going to be a story in 2020. Even with low rates, we simply don’t know the scale of what home buyers or sellers will think with this historic horrific event in the short term.

...

U.S. home price increases should soften this year, but central Ohio homebuyers might not see much relief, according to one of the nation's best-known housing economists.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors, delivered his largely rosy forecast to the Ohio Bankers League on Wednesday.

Strong job growth, pent-up demand, low mortgage rates and new household formation will keep the housing market strong in 2020, Yun said.

Still, he said he expected home prices to rise only 3.6% this year, on par with historic increases but less than half the 7.8% bump in 2019.

Home shoppers in Columbus, however, might not see much moderation in prices: The area is one of 10 metro areas projected to outperform the national housing market over the next three to five years, Yun noted.

Columbus was the only Midwestern city to make the list, largely because of its population and job growth and its relative affordability, Yun said after the presentation.

"Columbus homes may seem expensive for people living here, but it's very affordable compared to other markets," he said.

The median sales price of a central Ohio home was $209,900 last year, 7.6% above 2018 and the fourth straight year prices have risen at least 6%.

Despite concerns that homes are increasingly unaffordable in central Ohio, the opposite is true: There are so many qualified buyers that they compete for homes, pushing up prices and pushing down inventory.

At the end of 2019, 3,886 central Ohio homes were on the market, half the number of listings just four years earlier.

The shortage of homes on the market is one of the reasons housing isn't booming more, said Yun, who estimated that the U.S. has a shortage of 5 million to 6 million new homes.

"That is why we have an inventory shortage," he said. "We need to build more homes."

Yun said he thought the U.S. economy could grow 3% this year, but forecast a more modest 1.6% growth, in part because of some concerns: the threat of a trade war; the growing federal deficit; and growing consumer debt including student loan debt.

"There's very little chance, close to a zero chance, of recession this year," he said.

jweiker@dispatch.com

@JimWeiker