A lot of what gets written about the elderly and poverty has to do with the elderly  who lose pension plan payments and get reduced social security payments when their  spouses die. Usually they are women. Here are some stats from The Senior Journal in 2007:

The nation’s poverty rate declined in 2006 for the first time since George W. Bush became president – 12.6% in 2005 down to 12.3% in 2006. Senior citizens (65 and older), however, saw even a bigger drop – 10.1% in 2005 down to 9.4% last year.

But don’t get too comfortable. This year, The Senior Journal reported this:

Aug. 25, 2008 – The number of seniors citizens (age 65 and older) in the U.S. living in poverty jumped to 3.6 million in 2007, up from 3.4 million in 2006. The percentage of all seniors living in poverty increased from 9.4 percent to 9.7 percent from 2006 to 2007 – an increase the Census Bureau calls “statistically unchanged.”

Another factor that can push seniors into the poverty level is the cost of health care and prescription medication. Since we have a major election going on (did you notice!!) and health care is on our minds with various plans being bantered about, I thought this article  was interesting, even though it’s from eight years ago. Samuel Walker wrote an article on the Mackinac Center site and had this to propose for senior health care:

“….Instead, why not let the elderly set up tax-free medical savings accounts to take care of their prescription drug costs? This program is already available, but is severely restricted by law. Opening this option to everyone wouldn’t just make medical expenses easier to bear—it would lower prices by intensifying competition among drug manufacturers….Medical Savings Accounts would help senior citizens afford prescription drugs without doing damage to America’s ability to produce the best medical care in the world….”

Where do the candidates stand on this issue? The My Barack Obama  site (blog post by someone named Kim) referenced AARP for some facts as well as the campaign’s thoughts on McCain’s position regarding prescription drugs/health care for seniors. Sometimes the UK provides good coverage (maybe because they are removed from the passion) and here is the UK Guardian’s outline of both McCain and Obama’s position on these health care issues. I found it interesting because they also compare their positions to non-U.S. practices. US News & World Report reviews their plans here.

 Internet purchasing of drugs has sky rocketed (not news to any of you, I am sure) and one reason is the reduced cost. Then the FDA et al weigh in on whether or not these drugs are legit, do they contain what they say they contain, are they safe? Regardless of how any of us feels about the issue, medical costs, prescription or otherwise, can easily wipe out savings or monthly pension payments for seniors.

Clearly seniors could use assistance to help them spread their pennies to all needed budget areas. How many of us have time to help? Even for just an hour a week?

In my referenced post above about Transition in Place issues, I mentioned RSVP. Today I had the pleasure of receiving some information from Judith Lozada-DeCrane, Coordinator for RSVP. I asked her about pressing needs for seniors and pressing needs for RSVP.  Judith works in the trenches so she has good insight into this area. Volunteers who are coordinated through organizations like RSVP have back ground checks done on them. Since seniors are a vulnerable population, that is a necessity yes?  Judith stated that “sometimes the budgets in these organizations are so tight that the payments for these background checks falls on the shoulders of the volunteers.”  So that is one of the hidden costs she identified. If you have no time to volunteer your physical self, maybe you could volunteer some money for background checks?

Judith also mentioned a need for drivers, a need that exists in all the organizations she is familiar with that help seniors. Since it is Blog Action Day and the word action  is a focus of the event, it made me think how so many of us, busy or not, could help bring prescriptions or groceries to a neighbor’s house, or volunteer to drive them to the store once a week. Or mow their lawn. The list is limitless. And many seniors don’t have extra pennies to pay someone to do these services. If you have time, why not help out? You could also contact an organization like RSVP to volunteer.

A side benefit (and a big one) to communicating with our neighbors is it increases our sense of community. I know how important that is to me because then I feel like I really belong, like it’s an extension of my family.

I’ve had a strong belief, all my life, that we have a social contract  with each other. I work at being good at putting this into practice, but I really believe we are connected and that this connectedness makes us all stronger. When we practice the principles.

Some of these other issues like how to provide health care for our Nation, specifically seniors, well, we can all weigh in on that. But not many of us can make a direct difference. Except by voting of course. And by speaking out.

By volunteering, even if it’s once a week or twice a month, a direct impact can be made.  Just sayin’   And again, if you know of any other senior service organization looking for volunteers or drivers, please let us know.  Peace Out – 3C

Volunteer with RSVP by calling 216-391-9500

NE Ohio’s Golden Age Center  is also looking for volunteers: 216-231-6500.

The nine initial banks participating are Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America Corp, including the soon-to-acquired Merrill Lynch, Citgroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co, Bank of New York Mellon and State Street Corp.

From my own perspective, Citi is very hard to deal with in short sale situations, as a Realtor®. VERY hard. As in, no one calls you back for months; not weeks, months.  And then there is the Wells Fargo issues, with them coming into our market a few years ago with sub prime loans and now being one of the largest owners of foreclosed property in Cuyahoga County.  Sigh.  To say the least, I would be happy to replace either of them with National City. Wonder how National City feels about it?  Peace Out – 3C

I was remiss and should have added the link to Teresa Dixon Murray’s PD blog post on this issue.  It’s really very thorough with a good explanation as well as quotes from Key and National City people.  Here it is.

44103

86 homes on the market now

11 sold since February

13 pending sales – the highest list price of the 13 was a home on E. 84th which was listed at $109,900 (we won’t know sale price until it closes)

44105

510 homes on the market now

50 sold since February – including one for $155k in Millcreek

7 contingent sales

83 pending sales

(44105 is one of our most densely populated neighborhoods plus the foreclosure crisis has hit hard here. That explains why there are so many homes listed for sale. The good news is that  90 are going to sell soon if everything goes well and 50 sold — the not so good news is that more homes are showing up as foreclosures with many coming from this zip code)

44110

165 homes are for sale now

29 sold since February

3 are contingencies

23 are pending sale – the highest sale price among the 29 was $65k for a home on Aspinwall.  The total average sale price was $13,139.

44108

241 homes are for sale now

22 homes sold

4 are contingencies

39 are pending sales – the highest sale price among the 22 was $50k for a home on East Blvd. The total average sale price was $10,419

 44119

159 homes are for sale now

13 sold since February – the average sale price was $36,654

22 pending sales

44115

41 homes for sale currently

4 pending sales: three single family homes on E. 34th, 36th and 39th, and a condo in the Sincere Building on E. 4th that was listed at $339k.

Please remember that all the data for this report and yesterdays post is gleaned from our MLS computer listing service so these stats cover homes listed with area brokerages.  Peace out – 3C

What does this mean? A home is listed as active on the computer when it’s for sale.  The same home becomes contingent when an offer is made, but it’s in it’s early stages; this means mortgages have to be applied for and inspections are still to be conducted and completed. These are the two main contingencies on a home sale although there are others.

Once these contingencies are satisfied, the status of the home sale changes from contingent to pending. Pending means waiting for the closing date, the sale to be recorded officially at the County, and ownership transferred. Meaning closed.

Having said all that, I’ve taken the West Side zip codes and checked buyer/sale activity from February 1st to today. Here is what I found:

44102

12 contingencies (homes went under contract)

33 pending sales – this includes one in Detroit Shoreway’s Battery Park and a home on Harborview in the Edgewater area that was listed over for 1 Mil plus.

49 closed, or sold.

44113

One contingent sale

19 pending sales

13 closed sales – the Average Sale Price among these 13 was $171,796

44111

5 contingencies

62 pending sales

67 closed sales – 32 of these sales were for less than $50k but the highest sale price was $169,900

44109

One contingency

20 pending sales

13 closed sales – the Average Sale Price for these 13 was $25,939

44135

8 contingencies

48 pending sales

46 closed sales – 38 of these sales were less than $100k (most less than 40k) and the Average Sale Price was $53,627.

Peace Out – 3C

How did the alleged suspects in the ‘ring’ decide what homes to hit?

“….The burglars based what houses to hit on information they gathered from an unlikely but official source: the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office, according to Police Chief Martin Lentz….”

If you have your home for sale and are not living in it, please, please make sure you are visiting it weekly and try to scatter the time you check on it so no one can determine a pattern.  Obviously a sheriff sale means totally vacant and doubtful anyone is checking on it. Peace Out – 3C

On the WKYC site: a video and article about what some scrap dealers are doing to rectify the theft sales they have made. Is it enough? It includes police officers standing by.

What reminded me about this was info on Yahoo! today about all the old gadgets we have sitting around collecting dust.  What to do with them? Well at the EcoGeek site is the article explaining how the US Postal Service is now setting up recycling centers and taking all your old gadgets like MP3 players and yes cell phones too. I wanted to offer the Cell Phones For Soldiers alternative.  I’m going to have to go through more drawers to see what else I can recycle.  Peace Out – 3C

My Company president, Hoby Hanna, said he felt sale prices will stay low for another year and I agree with him….I think the comments from one of the other brokers about prices improving later on this year are optimistic, and of course no one knows for sure. However the number of foreclosures is not leveling off or declining so the number of homes on the market is high in many neighborhoods. That means two things: it will take almost two years to get rid of the inventory already listed and foreclosure listings will keep sale prices low.

I already did February reports and you can review the post here. Sold listings were up 13.8% in February compared to a month earlier. I caution you that stats are really better in showing sold and listing trends when they cover more time, say three months. We are getting to the end of March so I should be able to do a three month study in a week.

I’ve been busy since January but it’s also true that I am busier now than I was at the beginning of the year. This is normal, at least for me. January through May is typically my busiest time. That trend at least seems to be continuing.

Here is the link to the PD article from last week that followed a few buyers, talked to some sellers and discussed trends in various communities regarding home sales.

I’m starting to hate the phrase ‘it’s a good time to buy.’  The truth is, if you want a home and have the money to buy it it’s a good time to buy.  If you want a home but know in your heart you have some soul searching and financial clean up to take care of first, that’s good too. Give me a call and I can direct you to our financial counseling department. They will partner along with you to help you get into a better financial situation and clean up credit issues, etc. The only up side I see to what has happened over the past two years is the focus on financial responsibility instead of just the American dream of owning a home. Peace Out – 3C

Adam Wasserman has been at the helm (!) for about 13 months so the natural start of questioning was about where he had been before coming to Cleveland. Since he spent time (twice) in the DC area (I was there for almost two decades) and his last position was in Yorkshire, England (I spent a Summer studying at Durham University), I guess we had a lot in common.  Okay, so the similarities stop there since he’s a finance person among other things lol. 

In all seriousness, it was interesting to hear the take he had on the Yorkshire ports and the challenges they faced, getting into the issue of making an economic plan surrounding the ports.  So he brings that kind of experience and focus to NE Ohio.  I found this website, Yorkshire Ports. Adam said there were three ports so this should be a good source of info about them.

His description of cargo movement on our waters was that of bulk cargo without legs….. a good visual, meaning we get the goods and use the goods here, it doesn’t get transported elsewhere after it arrives.

Adam said The Port also conducts  conduit financing, i.e., acting like a conduit on projects to the tune of about 50 or 60 over the past 12 years. Other points made:

1. The Authority (presumably through it’s Board’s directive) feels it’s future is in international manufacturing; currently less than one half of it’s capacity is being used.

2. Cleveland needs to be more focused on pushing her assets.

3. Port’s Strategic Plan (pdf of entire plan here)  The main focus points:

• Maritime/Logistics/Transportation
• Cleveland’s Downtown
• Health Care
• NASA
• Hopkins

4. The public (meaning all of us) can continue to get updated on what the Port is doing by attending once a month Board meetings and once a month Strategic Plan meetings. I neglected to ask when the meetings were, but their contact phone number is: 216- 241-8004. Alternatively, you could go here and download individual copies of their newsletters or get on the mailing list to receive new ones.

The Port wants to move, and their choice of locations and why is explained here.  Adam Wasserman said by relocating to E. 55th it helps revitalize a neighborhood and frees up prime Downtown space for other use.

There was more, and as usual I hope someone else will post their thoughts on the discussion. It was such a good conversation and maybe Adam thought so too because he  stayed to chat with us for quite a while afterwards.  We had about a baker’s dozen in attendance, which made it more thought provoking since each of us came at it from our own perspectives.  If you want to make sure you don’t miss out on the next Meet The Bloggers  event, here is the website so you can bookmark it. Peace Out – 3C

Wonderful Update: Cleveland’s Equanimous Philosopher opines about the meeting! Great analysis!

Podcast: MTB Podcast of the Event.

Many say the first professional football game in the U.S. was played in Latrobe  in 1885.  Some of the steel production from the WWII era involved serious military grade steel and supposedly (I heard this from two separate relatives lol) Latrobe was on the list of top ten places Hitler wanted to bomb in the U.S., so he could shut down this steel production. Several steel companies still have military contracts, at least according to Latrobe’s C of Commerce website.

Arnold Palmer grew up in the area and his father worked at a country club in Latrobe. Arnold is adored by the world but Latrobe calls him their native son. He still owns a home there. Rolling Rock beer is no longer made there, which is one of those awful things that happen, like the Browns  going to Baltimore. What were they thinking? Anyway, Anheuser-Busch owns it now (say it ain’t so!).  The saddest part to me (besides the loss of history and jobs!) is that the Rolling Rock music festival isn’t there anymore.

There is apparently a mini argument going on between a town in Ohio and Latrobe; Latrobe’s Stickler’s Strickler’s Ice Cream claims to be the inventor of the banana split.  (I forgot to ask if there was still a Strickler’s shop in Latrobe.) Really cool Tribune article here  about the Strickler’s and the controversy and the 2004 100 yr banana split festivities.

And at St. Vincent’s College (a fine institution in and of itself) you will find the training camp site for The Pittsburgh Steelers.   

During dinner yesterday I asked about Latrobe’s population and they all seemed to feel it was between 8k and 9k…..which seemed to be the kind of numbers I found from the 2000 census info on line. 

Now to the title of my blog.  Yep, I think I have uncovered the mystery. Anyone who has tossed back a cold one or two has probably had a Rolling Rock beer, in it’s distinctive bottle. With the ’33′ on the back, something I have tried to investigate for years. My cousins tried to help.  Lots of theories, Rolling Rock was not talking.  Instead of answers I got a t-shirt (which is pretty darn good! lol) BUT guess what….Latrobe Pennsylvania is 33 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.  I have decided that is what ’33′ stands for.  Anyone gonna argue with me?  Peace Out – 3C

Justin Jeffre has introduced a complaint to start an investigation claiming that the test questions violate Ohio’s own constitutional standards for the test.  Good read and it includes a link to the actual complaint.  Peace Out – 3C