Joe Peffer
Posts
Well, these are Ohio Magazine’s Picks for the best towns in Ohio. Hilliard, Represent! Best of the Best Hometowns Here are a few of the reasons why Archbold, Lebanon, Nelsonville, Oberlin and Hilliard are Ohio Magazine Best Hometowns. Linda Feagler, Christina Ipavec, Jessica Roblin, Jennifer Rogers, Jill Sell and Ilona Westfall NELSONVILLE << Music Festival Each May, some of the [...]
The fact of the matter is that no one know what to do with our city’s vacant structures, Columbus has torn down 139 of them so far but you can’t demolish your way out of this problem. The other day Columbus City Council met with area residents to discuss the issue and while it’s my opinion [...]
A whopping 281 homes sold in Franklin county for a sales price above $500,000 in 2011. What will North of half a million dollars get you in and Greater Columbus? On average, about 4 bedrooms and 3 baths in around 4741 square feet. Thirty-One of those 2011 home sales were at least $1Million or more which [...]
Some of the best home mortgage originators from across the country answered Dan Green’s call for 2012 mortgage rate predictions, here is his post on the subject but, in a nutshell: “Predictions for 2012 were remarkably consistent — mortgage rates stay low, housing continues its recovery, and the government adds more grease to the engine. These [...]
2011 was a fantastic year for my family and I personally and professionally. I’m looking forward to a better 2012 in many respects. Thanks for coming here, reading this and allowing me to do what I wake up every day eager to pursue. I’m hoping to make the time to write more often this year…about my [...]
This Morning’s Press Release from the Central Ohio Board of Realtors: Home sales remain elevated in central Ohio (Dec. 21, 2011) November marks the fifth consecutive month of increased home sales in central Ohio this year after the first half of the year struggled to keep up with increased sales from 2010 due to the home buyer tax credits. [...]
The homestead exemption is a statewide program administered by the County Auditor that offers qualifying homeowners a reduction on their real property or manufactured home taxes. Senior citizens and permanently and totally disabled homeowners may reduce their property tax burden by shielding some of the market value of their home from taxation. The primary responsibilities of [...]
I’m finding that the market continues to be relatively active, more so than past years at this 4th quarter time of the year. More listings, more showings, more buyer actively looking and even beginning their searches late in the year. Here is what the Board had to say about last month’s numbers. Note the bold orange [...]
NAR Call For Action: The restoration of the FHA loan limits is vital to homeownership, economy On Oct. 1 the mortgage loan limits declined in 669 counties in 42 states. This immediately reduced mortgage liquidity and home buyers’ ability to obtain a mortgage. The House and Senate are now deciding whether or not to restore the [...]
DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011 President Obama announced Monday a plan to ease eligibility rules for home owners who want to refinance to take advantage of ultra-low mortgage rates and lower their mortgage payments. The administration hopes that by broadening its requirements for the Home Affordable Program that about 1 million home [...]
Posts
Well, these are Ohio Magazine’s Picks for the best towns in Ohio. Hilliard, Represent!
Best of the Best Hometowns
NELSONVILLE
<< Music Festival
Each May, some of the biggest names in music head to theNelsonville Music Festival for one of the summer festival season’s most unique weekends. With past performers including Willie Nelson, the Flaming Lips, Loretta Lynn, Neko Case, George Jones, Wanda Jackson and more, Nelsonville’s event (this year May 18–20) is one of Ohio’s most eclectic. The fest takes place on the campus of Hocking College at Robbins Crossing and is hosted by Stuart’s Opera House. 3301 Hocking Pkwy., Nelsonville 45764, 740/753-1924. nelsonvillefest.org
Degree Program for the Outdoorsy
Hocking College’s Wildlife Resources Management programcouldn’t be taught in a better location than southeast Ohio’s Wayne National Forest near Nelsonville. Students gain strong ecology, conservation and botany knowledge. Data collection, population sampling and map reading also give graduates an edge in the wildlife-management job hunt. hocking.edu
A Hocking Valley Scenic Railway Foliage Train ride takes passengers on a 22-mile journey through the reds, oranges and yellows of autumn, while providing a narrative about Hocking Valley history as the train glides past historic landmarks such as canal locks and former industrial sites. The 1920s train cars travel just over two hours roundtrip to Logan or Haydenville and stop at Robbins Crossing, the living-history village at Hocking College, providing a leisurely weekend activity each October. 33 W. Canal St., Nelsonville 45764, 740/753-9531. hvsry.org
Historic Sandwich Shop
Nestled in a corner of the 1830 Dew House hotel, the one-room FullBrooks Café’s small size doesn’t match its big sandwich appeal. Freshly made bread-and-meat creations offer a variety of toppings such as hummus and pesto. With a street view of historic shops lining Nelsonville’s square, the lunch stop offers more than a quick bite. 6 Public Square, Nelsonville 45764, 740/753-3391. athensohio.com
Visitor Center
An ideal spot for hiking, Wayne National Forest has 300 miles of trails to explore. The Wayne National Forest Welcome Center ensures visitors get the most out of the 834,000-acre lands sprawling across 12 counties. Places not to miss in Athens County include the Shawnee Tower Lookout, the only remaining 1930s lookout point in Ohio, and the rock shelter of Tinkers Cave. Day trips can be spent hiking, biking, fishing, canoeing and observing wildlife. 13700 U.S. Rte. 33, Nelsonville 45764, 740/753-0101. fs.usda.gov
HILLIARD
<< Restaurant to Taste Ripe Plantains
Reason to Appreciate Modern Voting Booths
The voting wagon displayed at Historical Village at Weaver Park in Hilliard is typical of the mobile polls that were pulled by horse or tractor from 1880 to 1940. Old wagons were often retired to back yards. Many homeowners thought they just had an old tin shed on their property until they discovered four wheels, sunk long ago into the ground. franklincountyohiohistory.org
Place to See TV Dinosaurs
The years 1928 to 1955 may not all be the Golden Age of Television, but it was certainly a time of important broadcast innovations. Visitors to the Early Television Museum see sets primarily from those years, including mechanical televisions (those without picture tubes), itty bitty screens and the first color offerings. Hundreds of televisions are on display, including do-it-yourself kit TVs that were housed in homemade cabinets. The TVs come from across the globe and, according to museum attendant Larry McIntyre, many still work. 5396 Franklin St., Hilliard 43206, 614/771-0510. earlytelevision.org
Religious Outreach
Only about 30 percent of the activities at the Noor Islamic Cultural Center are strictly or officially “religious.” Completed in 2006, the center also serves as a community gathering place, educational facility, art gallery, sanctuary and a beautiful setting for weddings. Under the guidance of Khaled A. Farag, the director of outreach programs and one of the center’s founders, activities reflect more than 40 different cultures in the region. Wishing for transparency in both the physical and political senses, the center’s huge windows encourage sunlight and observations from the local community. 5001 Wilcox Rd., Hilliard 43016, 614/527-7777.
Community That Loves Its Police Dogs
When the City of Hilliard’s Division of Police recently retired Brix, its beloved police dog, with full honors, the city was without a K-9 unit. The division went to residents and businesses to raise the $11,000 it needed for a trained police dog and equipment. According to Chief of Police J. Douglas Francis, about $34,000 was collected in less than eight weeks. That generosity allowed for the purchase of three Belgian Malinois shepherd dogs named Erko, Eros and Oz, along with maybe a few dog bones.
The fact of the matter is that no one know what to do with our city’s vacant structures, Columbus has torn down 139 of them so far but you can’t demolish your way out of this problem.
The other day Columbus City Council met with area residents to discuss the issue and while it’s my opinion we need more action and less talk, solutions need to be brainstormed before they can be implemented.
One interesting idea came from City Attorney Richard Pfeiffer who suggested a ‘restoration partnership’ outlined in the Columbus Dispatch article from yesterday and excerpted here:
Vacant houses swamping city
Official suggests neighborhood leaders help find new owners
By Mark Ferenchik
The Columbus Dispatch
Friday January 6, 2012 7:38 AM
The message that Columbus officials gave last night on the crisis of vacant and abandoned homes plaguing city neighborhoods was clear: We don’t have enough money to solve this mess ourselves.
So they’re asking neighborhoods for help.
During the Columbus City Council hearing on how to deal with the spreading problem, City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer Jr. made a suggestion.
Area commissions and civic groups could help identify residents who would be interested in buying and fixing up tax-delinquent properties. The city then would acquire those homes through foreclosures and deed the properties to those people for the cost of the foreclosure process.
If those people didn’t follow through, the city would take back the property.
He called it a “restoration partnership.” The city alone can’t bring back neighborhoods, Pfeiffer said.
The city has been using about $50 million in federal neighborhood-stabilization money to deal with the foreclosure crisis in its hardest-hit neighborhoods: Franklinton, the Near East Side, the Hilltop, Linden and the South Side.
It has acquired homes with that money — it now has 900 properties in its land bank — and partnered with nonprofits to redevelop homes.
The city is using more than $3 million of that federal money to demolish homes. So far, it has torn down 139.
“When that money dries up, what are we going to do?” Pfeiffer asked.
There are now more than….click here to go to the Columbus Dispatch story and read the rest.
NAR released its latest pending home sales index figure last week and for the second month in a row the index is up. But more than that, the index has broken 100. This is significant because the only time since the housing boom collapsed that the index has broken 100 is when the home owner tax credit was in effect. The fact that the index has returned to that level a year since the credit has been in effect means the housing market is strengthening completely on its own, without any stimulus.
NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun is upbeat about 2012 because in a number of areas indicators are pointing upward. Not only are home sales up but housing starts are up and home prices are stabilizing in many markets and heading up in some. In areas where they’re still down, the declines aren’t that great. More fundamentally, broader U.S. economic signs are looking positive, including the all-important jobs picture. About 100,000 job are being created a month, and that could rise to 150,000—still not a quick enough pace to get us back to where we were before the downturn but the headwinds are in the right direction.
In the video, Yun talks about what the latest figures mean.
Posted via email from Sights and Sounds of Columbus, Ohio Real Estate
2011 was a fantastic year for my family and I personally and professionally. I’m looking forward to a better 2012 in many respects.
Thanks for coming here, reading this and allowing me to do what I wake up every day eager to pursue. I’m hoping to make the time to write more often this year…about my clients, our real estate markets here in Columbus and first ring suburbs and my day to day. More misc. thoughts, more photo and video captures of being a realtor in Columbus, Ohio and more knowledge and advice shared from me to you so that you and your friends can make better, more informed decisions.
Happy New Year to you and yours.
Posted via email from Sights and Sounds of Columbus, Ohio Real Estate
Joe Peffer
Real Estate Broker
Re/Max Town Center
Delicious Real Estate Group
614-940-9100
Posted via email from Sights and Sounds of Columbus, Ohio Real Estate
Joe Peffer
Real Estate Broker
Re/Max Town Center
Delicious Real Estate Group
614-940-9100
Posted via email from Sights and Sounds of Columbus, Ohio Real Estate
Joe Peffer
Real Estate Broker
Re/Max Town Center
Delicious Real Estate Group
614-940-9100
Posted via email from Sights and Sounds of Columbus, Ohio Real Estate
I’m finding that the market continues to be relatively active, more so than past years at this 4th quarter time of the year. More listings, more showings, more buyer actively looking and even beginning their searches late in the year.
Here is what the Board had to say about last month’s numbers. Note the bold orange quote from the Board President about contract failures…
“Home sales in central Ohio home have exceeded 2010 for the last four months according to the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. The 1,543 homes sold in October marks an 8.6 percent increase over the 1,421 homes sold in October of 2010. Home sales in September were up 16.6 percent compared to the year before.
Year-to-date, home sales (January through October 2011) are only 2.1 percent behind 2010 and closing the gap. Homes put in contract last month (1,379) were up 46 percent from a year ago making October the sixth straight month of increased contracts.
“The number of homes put into contract have been up for the last several months,” said Rick Benjamin,2011 President of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. “However, contract failures – cancellations caused largely by declined mortgage applications or failures in loan underwriting from appraised values coming in below the negotiated price continue to be a problem for central Ohio buyers.”
Total housing inventory at the end of October fell 23.3 percent to 13,827 existing homes available for sale, which represents an 8.1-month supply at the current sales pace, up from an 8.7-month supply in September.
The average sale price for single family homes and condominiums year to date is $157,327, down 2.4 percent from homes sold January through October 2010.
“Affordability conditions this year have been the most favorable on record since 1970,” said Benjamin. “As mortgage interest rates continue to remain low, more first time home buyers, investors and move up buyers are being drawn into the housing market.”
Click here to view the October sortable housing market report by area.”
Click here to view the entire central Ohio Local Market Update.
The Columbus Board of REALTORS® Multiple Listing Service (MLS) serves all of Franklin, Delaware,
Fayette, Licking, Madison, Morrow, Pickaway and Union Counties and parts of Athens, Champaign,
Clark, Clinton, Fairfield, Hocking, Knox, Logan, Marion, Muskingum, Perry and Ross Counties.
Their stories start with a mid-decade home purchase and turn sharply as they simply walk away from those homes and the mortgages that accompany them. What was supposed to happen next was that their financial lives would crash and burn for years.
Or so the dire warnings went. In reality, both men said, walking away turned out to be the best financial decision they made.
In 2005, Mr. Wittenberg, 42, was working in the pharmaceutical industry in Boulder, Colo., when his employer told him he would be relocated to Southern California. It was two years to the day since he had bought a house, and he had no trouble selling it.
When he got to Agoura Hills, north of Los Angeles, Mr. Wittenberg said, he could not believe the pressure to buy another home. “Everybody was making tons of money,” he said. “My company had a relocation expert who said, ‘I’m going to have to insist that you buy property.’ My only hesitation was it seemed like prices were inflated. Little one-bedroom condos were half a million dollars.”
Mr. Wittenberg bought a two-story, 1,300-square-foot condominium for $450,000 in April 2006, putting 20 percent down on a 30-year fixed mortgage with Wells Fargo. And the bank promptly offered him a line of credit, he said: “They were handing mortgages out like candy, and I was able to borrow from the house on Day 1 of signing the loan.” A Wells Fargo mortgage spokeswoman, Vickee Adams, confirmed last week that Mr. Wittenberg had been a customer but said that because of confidentiality laws, the bank could not release any additional information.
A year and a half after getting his mortgage, he was laid off, along with 3,300 co-workers. But he found a new job almost immediately, with a renewable-energy company. It meant yet another relocation, to San Francisco. So he turned the condo into a rental and headed north.
But Mr. Wittenberg found himself agreeing to lower and lower rents, eventually resulting in a monthly shortfall of $1,200 between the rental income and his mortgage payment. By 2009, comparable homes in the area were selling for $210,000, and he still owed more than $300,000. He tried for a year and a half to get the bank to modify his loan, he said, to no avail. So with the help of YouWalkAway.com, he decided to stop paying. YouWalkAway.com is a company that sprang up in 2007 to help homeowners through the foreclosure process, specifically what is called a strategic default. In that instance, even if you can afford to make mortgage payments, you stop paying to force the bank into foreclosing.
The company charges clients an enrollment fee of $199 to $395, and monthly membership fees ranging from $29.95 to $99.95, depending on which assistance plan a homeowner chooses. Then it essentially coaches clients through the process of walking away from their mortgages, helps them figure out which threatening letters to pay attention to and which to ignore and provides access to lawyers versed in each state’s property laws.
As YouWalkAway.com points out in its materials, there is usually no paperwork or response required from homeowners: they should track what documents the bank sends, but other than that, the process is fairly simple. “We looked at how much my home was under water, how much I’d lost thus far and how much I would continue to lose until I started to break even,” he said. “And that could be 20 years away. It was a no-brainer.”
YouWalkAway.com’s chief executive, Jon Maddux, said that was how it should be — a no-brainer — for hundreds of thousands of people who were underwater on their mortgages.
“I think as more and more people know someone that’s done it, they know that, O.K., these people have moved on, they kind of pushed the reset button, and they’re starting over,” he said.
For many Americans, a mortgage is about more than money. It’s a contract that should not be broken, a debt that should under almost all circumstances be paid. In this context, walking away has been framed as an ethical or moral issue.
But many economists, and legal professionals, say it’s not and is simply a matter of contract law. “If your home is a financial asset, and it’s financially rational to walk away, that’s what you do,” said Nicolas Retsinas of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard.
Mr. Maddux of YouWalkAway.com said his site had helped more than 7,000 homeowners walk away and that, for most of them, a change in their all-important credit score was the biggest downside.
Among the company’s clients, the average score drops 100 points, he said. Fair Isaac, which provides the industry-standard FICO credit score, released a study this year showing similar results.
But if someone’s original score is on the high end, say a 780, that person will take a bigger hit (150 points on average) in a foreclosure or short sale than someone who has a lower score of 680 or 720 to begin with.
The bigger surprise, according to YouWalkAway.com, is that many clients are finding their scores begin to recover within the first few months of a foreclosure’s becoming final. Mr. Wittenberg said he knew the decision to walk away could spell doom for his score, which was in the low-to-mid 700s, and he didn’t know what other financial complications might arise.
“Am I going to have to pay this back? What are these banks capable of doing to me? Buying a house again? Out of the question,” he said. “So here I am, upper middle class, I have two degrees, and I’m stuck. Just because I wanted to end the hemorrhaging.”
The impact so far? There hasn’t been any. At least for him.
Mr. Wittenberg lives in his girlfriend’s house in Walnut Creek, so he didn’t have to worry about a landlord checking his credit. He has a job he enjoys. And he said he was done with debt forever. He doesn’t have any credit cards. His car is paid off. “I live in a cash world, and I want to keep it that way,” he said.
He hasn’t checked his FICO score and doesn’t want or intend to. He shredded every last piece of paperwork from his mortgage and foreclosure.
That’s not to say he has not paid a price, though. He lost his entire down payment and drained a significant portion of his savings account to make up for the monthly rental shortfall.
Mr. Wittenberg said he never planned to walk away from his debts and if the bank had lowered his interest rate by a percentage point or two, he could have continued to rent it out.
In the end, his financial stability, both short term and long term — it would take up to 20 years to break even on the home — trumped any ethical or moral questions he had about honoring his contract with the bank.
What saddens Mr. Wittenberg, he said, is the loss of a home. “I did a lot of work on it, did it all myself, and it was nice,” he said. “But it’s O.K. I’ve moved on.”
He did note that the lack of permanence in the job market made owning a home for any length of time more difficult.
“It’s not like our parents, where they worked at the same place for 40 years,” he said. “So when you own a house, it’s a huge burden. It’s almost like renting is peace of mind.”
•
SIX hundred miles north, in the rural community of Wilsonville, Ore., Bill Sawyer, 50, sat at a desk just off the kitchen in his apartment in a multiunit complex near the I-5 freeway, about 17 miles south of Portland.
Mr. Sawyer, who works as an operations and policy analyst for a state government agency, said a couple of years ago, his credit score was in the low 700s. That’s about average on the Fair Isaac scale, which tops out at 850.
He knows his score has gone down, because he stopped paying the mortgage on his former residence, a small town house in nearby West Linn, more than a year ago. But he has no idea how much. He bought the town house in 2000 for $138,000, with a loan from the Federal Housing Administration and a small down payment. Mr. Sawyer was a single father to Vanessa, who was 12 at the time, and Daniel, who was 11.
Over the next few years, the town house’s appraised value grew to $256,000. The mortgage holder, Wells Fargo, approved two cash-out refinancings, and Mr. Sawyer said he used that money to pay down other debts.
“They just crunched the numbers like a car salesman might, and, you know, you sign the dotted line,” he said.
Then in 2007, his son, then 18, was killed, along with a friend, in a head-on collision with a truck.
Aside from the emotional and psychological devastation, the accident sent Mr. Sawyer into a financial tailspin. Insurance coverage was minimal, he said, and he was billed by the towing company and the volunteer fire department that responded to the accident.
“There were financial hardships as a result of funeral expenses and so forth,” he said in a low voice. “That started a chain reaction. A maxed-out credit card and line of credit. When you have a limited income, and you make minimum payments, well, that debt just keeps going.”
Within a year, the housing market collapsed. Similar town houses started selling for $180,000, and with the equity he had taken out over the years, he owed more on the mortgage than his home was worth. He said he spent months trying to negotiate with the bank for a loan modification. When he was unsuccessful, he abandoned the property in March of this year, with the help of YouWalkAway.
Mr. Sawyer had not wanted to check what that had done to his credit scores, but he did. “Oh, boy,” he said, with a small, uncomfortable chuckle, as he waited for numbers to pop up on his laptop’s screen.
“Oh gosh. Never has it been that low. TransUnion 535. Equifax 520. Pretty much start over from the bottom of the barrel now.”
It’s not the bottom of the barrel, but it’s close, and it was made worse by a bankruptcy filing over the summer. The resulting damage to his credit history is what Mr. Sawyer worried about most.
He has what he thinks is a stable job, he said, and he made sure to secure his current apartment before leaving his other property, in case a low score scared away potential landlords. But if something happened with his job, and he had to move, he said his decision to walk away could make everything more difficult.
A future landlord could decide not to rent to him. Insurance companies could decide to raise his rates.
One thing Mr. Sawyer and Mr. Wittenberg do not have to worry about is banks coming after them for the mortgage debt they left behind. California and Oregon are nonrecourse states, which means that lenders cannot take homeowners to court to get that money back. Many other states — including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, as well as Nevada, a foreclosure hub — do allow recourse. In those cases, walking away can exact a much higher price.
For now, Mr. Sawyer said he felt relief. “We were happy in that home,” he said. “But I didn’t see any other way to resolve this matter without pretty much putting money down the drain for years to come.”
And the financial recovery appears to have started already. Mr. Sawyer was approved last month for a credit card through Capital One. It has a $300 limit and a 22 percent interest rate, but he said he planned to use it and pay it off each month. “I’m going to live within my means and kind of start from scratch,” he said.
Devin Maverick Robins contributed reporting.
Posted via email from Sights and Sounds of Columbus, Ohio Real Estate
Posts
Pretty quite out here in way northeast Gahanna
Joe Peffer
Real Estate Broker
Re/Max Town Center
Delicious Real Estate Group
614-940-9100
NAR released its latest pending home sales index figure last week and for the second month in a row the index is up. But more than that, the index has broken 100. This is significant because the only time since the housing boom collapsed that the index has broken 100 is when the home owner tax credit was in effect. The fact that the index has returned to that level a year since the credit has been in effect means the housing market is strengthening completely on its own, without any stimulus.
NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun is upbeat about 2012 because in a number of areas indicators are pointing upward. Not only are home sales up but housing starts are up and home prices are stabilizing in many markets and heading up in some. In areas where they’re still down, the declines aren’t that great. More fundamentally, broader U.S. economic signs are looking positive, including the all-important jobs picture. About 100,000 job are being created a month, and that could rise to 150,000—still not a quick enough pace to get us back to where we were before the downturn but the headwinds are in the right direction.
In the video, Yun talks about what the latest figures mean.
Slightly spicy, Carmel finish. Cheers
Joe Peffer
Real Estate Broker
Re/Max Town Center
Delicious Real Estate Group
614-940-9100
Joe Peffer
Real Estate Broker
Re/Max Town Center
Delicious Real Estate Group
614-940-9100
Looking at homes for sale in Gahanna and Westerville. Can you guess which home they liked the best?
Joe Peffer
Real Estate Broker
Re/Max Town Center
Delicious Real Estate Group
614-940-9100
Joe Peffer
Real Estate Broker
Re/Max Town Center
Delicious Real Estate Group
614-940-9100
Joe Peffer
Real Estate Broker
Re/Max Town Center
Delicious Real Estate Group
614-940-9100
Joe Peffer
Real Estate Broker
Re/Max Town Center
Delicious Real Estate Group
614-940-9100
Joe Peffer
Real Estate Broker
Re/Max Town Center
Delicious Real Estate Group
614-940-9100
Rich Street is bare.
Joe Peffer
Real Estate Broker
Re/Max Town Center
Delicious Real Estate Group
614-940-9100
Their stories start with a mid-decade home purchase and turn sharply as they simply walk away from those homes and the mortgages that accompany them. What was supposed to happen next was that their financial lives would crash and burn for years.
Or so the dire warnings went. In reality, both men said, walking away turned out to be the best financial decision they made.
In 2005, Mr. Wittenberg, 42, was working in the pharmaceutical industry in Boulder, Colo., when his employer told him he would be relocated to Southern California. It was two years to the day since he had bought a house, and he had no trouble selling it.
When he got to Agoura Hills, north of Los Angeles, Mr. Wittenberg said, he could not believe the pressure to buy another home. “Everybody was making tons of money,” he said. “My company had a relocation expert who said, ‘I’m going to have to insist that you buy property.’ My only hesitation was it seemed like prices were inflated. Little one-bedroom condos were half a million dollars.”
Mr. Wittenberg bought a two-story, 1,300-square-foot condominium for $450,000 in April 2006, putting 20 percent down on a 30-year fixed mortgage with Wells Fargo. And the bank promptly offered him a line of credit, he said: “They were handing mortgages out like candy, and I was able to borrow from the house on Day 1 of signing the loan.” A Wells Fargo mortgage spokeswoman, Vickee Adams, confirmed last week that Mr. Wittenberg had been a customer but said that because of confidentiality laws, the bank could not release any additional information.
A year and a half after getting his mortgage, he was laid off, along with 3,300 co-workers. But he found a new job almost immediately, with a renewable-energy company. It meant yet another relocation, to San Francisco. So he turned the condo into a rental and headed north.
But Mr. Wittenberg found himself agreeing to lower and lower rents, eventually resulting in a monthly shortfall of $1,200 between the rental income and his mortgage payment. By 2009, comparable homes in the area were selling for $210,000, and he still owed more than $300,000. He tried for a year and a half to get the bank to modify his loan, he said, to no avail. So with the help of YouWalkAway.com, he decided to stop paying. YouWalkAway.com is a company that sprang up in 2007 to help homeowners through the foreclosure process, specifically what is called a strategic default. In that instance, even if you can afford to make mortgage payments, you stop paying to force the bank into foreclosing.
The company charges clients an enrollment fee of $199 to $395, and monthly membership fees ranging from $29.95 to $99.95, depending on which assistance plan a homeowner chooses. Then it essentially coaches clients through the process of walking away from their mortgages, helps them figure out which threatening letters to pay attention to and which to ignore and provides access to lawyers versed in each state’s property laws.
As YouWalkAway.com points out in its materials, there is usually no paperwork or response required from homeowners: they should track what documents the bank sends, but other than that, the process is fairly simple. “We looked at how much my home was under water, how much I’d lost thus far and how much I would continue to lose until I started to break even,” he said. “And that could be 20 years away. It was a no-brainer.”
YouWalkAway.com’s chief executive, Jon Maddux, said that was how it should be — a no-brainer — for hundreds of thousands of people who were underwater on their mortgages.
“I think as more and more people know someone that’s done it, they know that, O.K., these people have moved on, they kind of pushed the reset button, and they’re starting over,” he said.
For many Americans, a mortgage is about more than money. It’s a contract that should not be broken, a debt that should under almost all circumstances be paid. In this context, walking away has been framed as an ethical or moral issue.
But many economists, and legal professionals, say it’s not and is simply a matter of contract law. “If your home is a financial asset, and it’s financially rational to walk away, that’s what you do,” said Nicolas Retsinas of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard.
Mr. Maddux of YouWalkAway.com said his site had helped more than 7,000 homeowners walk away and that, for most of them, a change in their all-important credit score was the biggest downside.
Among the company’s clients, the average score drops 100 points, he said. Fair Isaac, which provides the industry-standard FICO credit score, released a study this year showing similar results.
But if someone’s original score is on the high end, say a 780, that person will take a bigger hit (150 points on average) in a foreclosure or short sale than someone who has a lower score of 680 or 720 to begin with.
The bigger surprise, according to YouWalkAway.com, is that many clients are finding their scores begin to recover within the first few months of a foreclosure’s becoming final. Mr. Wittenberg said he knew the decision to walk away could spell doom for his score, which was in the low-to-mid 700s, and he didn’t know what other financial complications might arise.
“Am I going to have to pay this back? What are these banks capable of doing to me? Buying a house again? Out of the question,” he said. “So here I am, upper middle class, I have two degrees, and I’m stuck. Just because I wanted to end the hemorrhaging.”
The impact so far? There hasn’t been any. At least for him.
Mr. Wittenberg lives in his girlfriend’s house in Walnut Creek, so he didn’t have to worry about a landlord checking his credit. He has a job he enjoys. And he said he was done with debt forever. He doesn’t have any credit cards. His car is paid off. “I live in a cash world, and I want to keep it that way,” he said.
He hasn’t checked his FICO score and doesn’t want or intend to. He shredded every last piece of paperwork from his mortgage and foreclosure.
That’s not to say he has not paid a price, though. He lost his entire down payment and drained a significant portion of his savings account to make up for the monthly rental shortfall.
Mr. Wittenberg said he never planned to walk away from his debts and if the bank had lowered his interest rate by a percentage point or two, he could have continued to rent it out.
In the end, his financial stability, both short term and long term — it would take up to 20 years to break even on the home — trumped any ethical or moral questions he had about honoring his contract with the bank.
What saddens Mr. Wittenberg, he said, is the loss of a home. “I did a lot of work on it, did it all myself, and it was nice,” he said. “But it’s O.K. I’ve moved on.”
He did note that the lack of permanence in the job market made owning a home for any length of time more difficult.
“It’s not like our parents, where they worked at the same place for 40 years,” he said. “So when you own a house, it’s a huge burden. It’s almost like renting is peace of mind.”
•
SIX hundred miles north, in the rural community of Wilsonville, Ore., Bill Sawyer, 50, sat at a desk just off the kitchen in his apartment in a multiunit complex near the I-5 freeway, about 17 miles south of Portland.
Mr. Sawyer, who works as an operations and policy analyst for a state government agency, said a couple of years ago, his credit score was in the low 700s. That’s about average on the Fair Isaac scale, which tops out at 850.
He knows his score has gone down, because he stopped paying the mortgage on his former residence, a small town house in nearby West Linn, more than a year ago. But he has no idea how much. He bought the town house in 2000 for $138,000, with a loan from the Federal Housing Administration and a small down payment. Mr. Sawyer was a single father to Vanessa, who was 12 at the time, and Daniel, who was 11.
Over the next few years, the town house’s appraised value grew to $256,000. The mortgage holder, Wells Fargo, approved two cash-out refinancings, and Mr. Sawyer said he used that money to pay down other debts.
“They just crunched the numbers like a car salesman might, and, you know, you sign the dotted line,” he said.
Then in 2007, his son, then 18, was killed, along with a friend, in a head-on collision with a truck.
Aside from the emotional and psychological devastation, the accident sent Mr. Sawyer into a financial tailspin. Insurance coverage was minimal, he said, and he was billed by the towing company and the volunteer fire department that responded to the accident.
“There were financial hardships as a result of funeral expenses and so forth,” he said in a low voice. “That started a chain reaction. A maxed-out credit card and line of credit. When you have a limited income, and you make minimum payments, well, that debt just keeps going.”
Within a year, the housing market collapsed. Similar town houses started selling for $180,000, and with the equity he had taken out over the years, he owed more on the mortgage than his home was worth. He said he spent months trying to negotiate with the bank for a loan modification. When he was unsuccessful, he abandoned the property in March of this year, with the help of YouWalkAway.
Mr. Sawyer had not wanted to check what that had done to his credit scores, but he did. “Oh, boy,” he said, with a small, uncomfortable chuckle, as he waited for numbers to pop up on his laptop’s screen.
“Oh gosh. Never has it been that low. TransUnion 535. Equifax 520. Pretty much start over from the bottom of the barrel now.”
It’s not the bottom of the barrel, but it’s close, and it was made worse by a bankruptcy filing over the summer. The resulting damage to his credit history is what Mr. Sawyer worried about most.
He has what he thinks is a stable job, he said, and he made sure to secure his current apartment before leaving his other property, in case a low score scared away potential landlords. But if something happened with his job, and he had to move, he said his decision to walk away could make everything more difficult.
A future landlord could decide not to rent to him. Insurance companies could decide to raise his rates.
One thing Mr. Sawyer and Mr. Wittenberg do not have to worry about is banks coming after them for the mortgage debt they left behind. California and Oregon are nonrecourse states, which means that lenders cannot take homeowners to court to get that money back. Many other states — including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, as well as Nevada, a foreclosure hub — do allow recourse. In those cases, walking away can exact a much higher price.
For now, Mr. Sawyer said he felt relief. “We were happy in that home,” he said. “But I didn’t see any other way to resolve this matter without pretty much putting money down the drain for years to come.”
And the financial recovery appears to have started already. Mr. Sawyer was approved last month for a credit card through Capital One. It has a $300 limit and a 22 percent interest rate, but he said he planned to use it and pay it off each month. “I’m going to live within my means and kind of start from scratch,” he said.
Devin Maverick Robins contributed reporting.
$8,704,303. Wow. What a great and generous community Columbus is.
Joe Peffer
Real Estate Broker
Re/Max Town Center
Delicious Real Estate Group
614-940-9100
Joe Peffer
Real Estate Broker
Re/Max Town Center
Delicious Real Estate Group
614-940-9100
Joe Peffer
Real Estate Broker
Re/Max Town Center
Delicious Real Estate Group
614-940-9100
Joe Peffer
Real Estate Broker
Re/Max Town Center
Delicious Real Estate Group
614-940-9100
Joe Peffer
Real Estate Broker
Re/Max Town Center
Delicious Real Estate Group
614-940-9100
I've thought about it as a 2nd home/getaway cabin solution.
Joe Peffer
Real Estate Broker
Re/Max Town Center
Delicious Real Estate Group
614-940-9100
Joe Peffer
Real Estate Broker
Re/Max Town Center
Delicious Real Estate Group
614-940-9100
Joe Peffer
Real Estate Broker
Re/Max Town Center
Delicious Real Estate Group
614-940-9100
Updates
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RT @mortgagereports: Mortgage markets slipping, and have been since late-morning. Mortgage rates may rise this afternoon.
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who knew! ... RT @janineaquino: 1 Grapevine produces about 10 bottles of wine #winegeek
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Here's a new one: "* NOTE: may not be eligible for FHA financing due to electrical tower located at end of cul-de-sac."
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Columbus real estate agents R going to enjoy the improved functionality with the new MLS system. Including upload multiple images! (finally)
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Wild homes of the future that are on the market now http://t.co/1ldgWCd6
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Columbus Montessori Open House till Five-Come check omit out! (@ Columbus Montessori Education Center w/ @meves) http://t.co/pNhLtkcr
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SO happy to see Indians baseball reruns on STO! Now Playing, July 4 Yankees game.
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RT @cbusmontessori: Remember - Our Columbus Montessori Admissions Open House is this Sunday January 29, from 3-5! You'll be glad you came!
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RT @bblanquera: TechLifeOhio news- DEC Presents: How a Small Business Owner Can Save on Taxes http://t.co/5ARHPj4t
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I'm at Caribou Coffee (3645 N High St, at Northmoor Place, Columbus) http://t.co/2syt8MWM
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The downtown high school cafe is now open to the public we'd and thurs - http://t.co/A8cmVzba
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Hey, the @columbuslibrary has an app for that. And it's not bad: http://t.co/9oOhO0U7
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See! http://t.co/Yh57eEj7
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I'm going to love showing off the many wonderful wallpapered walls I encounter. http://t.co/ARDVJ5Jv
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This wine-y colored carpet looks much worse in person. Simply not a good color choice IMO. http://t.co/dt4YC2fc
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@jennybrodie @twixlen Last February there was snow on the ground every single day of the month-fresh, white snow too. Snowed most every day
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RT @foodnetwork:Think there's only so much you can do with meatloaf? Think again! Check out the 5 best meatloaf recipes http://t.co/Z5Uk3KRN
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RT @cbusmontessori: RT @TheCobbSchool A great article from @HarvardBiz : Develop Leaders the Montessori Way http://t.co/G5Xjk5Nl”
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RT @cbusmontessori: Take a look at some nice press for Physical Education Teacher's Rock Band. Way to wear CMEC colors Austin, congrats!...
Updates
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SO happy to see Indians baseball reruns on STO! Now Playing, July 4 Yankees game.3 days ago
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Indians Fausto Carmona ($7MM) has played w/a false ID & they sign the 1st pitcher to make at least 8 starts & lose them all since 1951. :(10 days ago
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someday...RT @dwell_feeds: Article » Architecture » Lakeside House in Texas http://bit.ly/wkVMGk11 days ago
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Just discovered channel 600 on DirectTV. It has 8 boxes of sports channels on the screen and you can watch all of them and listen to one. Didn't know it was there.3 weeks ago
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Happy New Year friends!4 weeks ago
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Just ran across this on a Grandview listing - could be trouble..."Dining room is family heirloom and does not stay."6 weeks ago
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Good News: FHA loan limits in Franklin and contiguous counties are going back up to $341,250 as of January 1, 2012. Current max is $310,5007 weeks ago
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Maybe naming Urban Meyer OSU's new head football coach will inspire Columbusites to purchase more Urban Columbus Homes. Maybe less Fickell !2 months ago
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Looking at plumbing dYI videos and wondering why everyone whispers when they film them. Speak up plumbers of the world!2 months ago
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E Street Radio on Sirius is playing Nov 17, 1999 Columbus show. I think I heard me clapping- we were the farthest seat in the house that night!2 months ago
Posterous Photos
Some scenes from recent showings ....
Mobile Uploads
Utterli Photos
Doors and things of interest from today's showings in Bexley
Wall Photos
993 South Roosevelt in Bexley
Videos
Profile
Summary
Masters Degree in Marketing & Communications
Brokers License - State of Ohio
Ability to think outside the box and create value
Web Site named best Realtor web site in the state - Ohio Association of Realtors
Designations - GRI & ABR - (Graduate of the Realtor Institute) and (Accredited Buyer Representative)
Blogging about Real Estate buying and selling since October 2004
Member of:
National Association of Realtors
Ohio Association of Realtors
Columbus Board of Realtors
Bexley-Berwick-Eastmoor Realtors Association
Midtown Realtors Association
Columbus Metropolitan Club
Downtown Residents Association
Olde Towne East Neighborhood Association
Bronzeville Neighborhood Association
I specialize in Historic Homes, First Time buyers, Urban Families and Columbus' midtown markets such as
Downtown Columbus Condos
Short North and Victorian Village,
Harrison West,
Italian Village,
German Village,
Merion Village,
Olde Towne East,
Bronzeville,
Schumacher Place and
Clintonville
and first-ring subburbs such as
Bexley,
Grandview,
Worthington and
UpperArlington
Accolades
GRI Designation - Graduate of the Realtor Institute
ABR Designation - Accredited Buyer Representative
2005-2006 Realtor Website of the Year from the Ohio Association of Realtors
Rising Star Award from Coldwell Banker King Thompson
Quarterly Pacesetter Award from Coldwell Banker King Thompson
Quality Choice Award from Coldwell Banker King Thompson thanks to my 100% satisfied clients
Certified Negotiation Specialist
Experience
- Jul 2011 - PresentColumbus, Ohio Realtor and Real Estate Broker of Record / RE/MAX Town CenterProud to be both a Columbus, Ohio Realtor and the Real Estate Broker at RE/MAX Town Center in Columbus, Ohio....The State's largest Re/Max office in terms of agents, transactions and dollar amount of property sold.
- 2006 - PresentVice President of the Board / Columbus Montessori Education Center
- Oct 2008 - Jul 2011Columbus Ohio Realtor & Founder-Broker / Delicious Real EstateDelicious Real Estate, based in Columbus, Ohio, is a Real Estate Brokerage for a new generation of home owners who are empowered by knowledge about their local markets, their agents abilities to think outside the box and the very communities they hope to join.
I founded Delicious Real Estate to give a voice to the home owner, the home buyer and the neighborhood throughout the real estate transaction.
Smart, educated and knowledgeable about local markets, tech savvy Realtors appreciate Delicious Real Estate for bringing the Web 2.0 world to their business -- allowing them to service their clients in ways Big Box Brokerages simply won't. - Oct 2003 - Sept 2008Realtor / Coldwell Banker King Thompson
- Jul 2003 - Dec 2004Chief Operating Officer / Kolfer TechnologiesKolfer Technologies was a Geographic Information Systems Business advisor and custom software development firm.
Kolfer worked for Fortune 1000 companies, the government sector and higher education, specializing in geocoding, creating visual representations of customers, market factors, and warehousing inventories to aid in the understanding of where value can be created.
The firm was started by Joe Peffer and Mike Koluder in Columbus, Ohio.
Education
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1998 - 2000Franklin UniversityMasters in Integrated Marketing & CommunicationActivities: Who better to chose as your Realtor than perhaps the only Columbus area Realtor with a Masters Degree in Marketing.
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1994 - 1995The Ohio State UniversityBS in Communication
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1986 - 1988Ohio UniversityJournalism
Additional Information
Latest checkin
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@Columbus Montessori Education Center (979 South James Rd)32 hours ago in Columbus, OH
Badges
Checkin history
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@Columbus Montessori Education Center (979 South James Rd)32 hours ago
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@Whetstone Recreation and Community Center (3923 N. High St.)3 days ago
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@Caribou Coffee (3645 N High St)3 days ago
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@The Angry Baker (891 Oak St.)3 days ago
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7 days ago
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@Schiller Park (1069 Jaeger)9 days ago
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@IKEA (9500 Ikea Way)2 weeks ago
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@Kroger (1350 N. High St.)2 weeks ago
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@Schiller Park (1069 Jaeger)2 weeks ago
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@Ichiban Japanese Steakhouse (146 Graceland Boulevard)2 weeks ago
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@Mi Bandera (1965 E Dublin Granville)3 weeks ago
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@The Jury Room (22 E. Mound St.)4 weeks ago
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@Casa De Mike And Lilia (Chase)5 weeks ago
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@Target (3955 E Broad St)6 weeks ago
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@Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace (248 S 4th St)6 weeks ago
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@Joe & Adriana's (Monroe)6 weeks ago
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@Lowe's Home Improvement (3616 East Broad Street)7 weeks ago
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@Smith & Wollensky - Columbus (4145 The Strand West)7 weeks ago
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@Joe & Adriana's (Monroe)7 weeks ago
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7 weeks ago
Real Estate Broker and Owner of Delicious Real Estate
call me @ 614-940-9100
email @ joepeffer@deliciousrealestate.com 254 South 4th Street Columbus, OH 43215