First Ohio Home Finance

Think it’s a strange time to invest in real estate? Well, think again. With the discounts offered by home builders and competent Realtors, there are a number of good ways to become invested in real estate.

Some clients are surprised when I mention investing in new homes. Most people think of real estate investment as the rougher multi-family units, such as near college campuses. But those situations are not for everyone.

The hard part about investing – having your units torn up, chasing down rents, patching up 60-80 year old homes – can go away when you buy a new unit. And with builders stinging from a plunge in new buyers, they have begun to offer some genuine discounts that make cash flowing an investment that much easier.

One of these programs is with long-time local builder Dunmoor Homes. Gary Dunn and Bill Moorhead have worked hard to build quality homes and place lease option clients in them. With two-year leases and reasonable cash flow already in place, it’s a good time for investors to step up.

The other thing that really sets Dunmoor Homes apart from a mortgage and personal finance perspective is Bill understands the financial condition, perspective, and traps for average Ohioans. He’s even held countless seminars in the Columbus market called Seven Steps to Smart Homeownership. He makes a personal investment in setting up tenants to succeed so one day they, in turn, can own the place they’ve called home.

I personally can’t think of a better answer to the current foreclosure mess, than to have men with integrity doing everything possible to ensure your neighbor can succeed in the American Dream!

The best way to find out more about this easy way to invest in real estate is to shout out to Bill.Moorhead@DunmoorHomes.com or visit their website at www.1031homes.com.

Central Ohioans have known for more than a decade that Delaware County has a lot going for it. Such advantages as reasonable real estate and mortgage costs, low crime, and easy commute to one of the nicest cities in the Midwest have made Delaware County one of the fastest growing places in America.

First, Forbes.com ran this story naming Delaware County the 5th best place to raise a family and touting the Columbus Zoo and Polaris Fashion Place.

Then, CNN Money Magazine released their list of top places to live, with Delaware County ranking 13th best place to live in America.

Lately, though, we’ve really been earning attention with solid ratings from national media. Topping the list was job growth at 42% - that’s almost unbelievable! Players in that sandbox certainly are JP Morgan Chase, PPG Industries, Ohio Wesleyan University, and McGraw Hill Companies, to name a few. There’s no doubt that a booming economy helps to keep real estate and mortgages services affordable.

The Ohio Department of Development have a detailed county profile here. No other city in Ohio made the lists, so it feels pretty good to be in the hot spot of good living. Columbus had been #8 on the best big city list in 2006.
Here are the Best Places to Live from Money Magazine:
1. Plymouth, MN
2. Fort Collins, CO
3. Naperville, IL
4. Irvine, CA
5. Franklin Township, NJ
6. Norman, OK
7. Round Rock, TX
8. Columbia/Ellicott City, MD
9. Overland Park, KS
10. Fishers, IN

Hat tip to Maureen McCabe of Real Living HER for bringing this to my attention. We look forward to working with her clients on the mortgage side.

Growing up in a rural area, I’ve often been confused by our local COTA system. I’ve experimented with it, and with public transit in other cities. But what I found was it was too confusing to figure out how to get from one place to another. In Columbus, I tend travel from east to west, and most buses seem to go north and south. The Internet documentation is confusing and paper maps are not readily available.

Now there’s a change for the better in making COTA more usable. As of July 4, Columbus’ leaders are opting into Google’s transit maps.  By inputting a starting point, destination, and travel time, you’ll be able to see where and when to catch the bus, and which routes make sense.

Ideally, I would like to see fewer subsidies from taxpayers who don’t use the service. But for now, I think this is going to have a big impact on the use and usability of public transit in Columbus. If ridership increases and they maintain fiscal responsibility, COTA could be independently profitable. They have seen ginormous increases in ridership this year as gas prices have soared. Read that story here: COTA business increases, along with costs

Who knows, you might even see me on the bus again one day!

Matt Berardi makes more loans than any other employee at First Ohio Home Finance, so sometimes we wonder how he gets it done. There’s always a secret somewhere when you have a salesperson out in front.

We received a piece of mail last week about Matt Berardi’s mortgage lending that really made an impression on nearly everyone at our branch of First Ohio Home Finance - and told part of the secret to the way he does business.

Like every loan we make, there was a little luck and a lot of caring communication and hard work involved in this story.

Dear Matt,
We can’t thank you enough for all the work that you did on our behalf for our recent refinance. Your expertise and patience cut our loan duration in half and we still can’t believe that low rate is really, really true! A huge weight has been lifted from our shoulders - thanks to you.
Warmly,
Carol L.

I couldn’t help but blog about this mortgage lending success. Thanks, Carol!

We love what we do here at First Ohio and work hard to find opportunities to help other Ohioans!