Cleveland Real Estate News

Someone asked me if there was still a price bump for a seller if they are selling a completely restored 1850 era home or are buyers preferring newer construction now?  Of course there are variables, some people would kill for an old home with thick mahogany woodwork and brass appointments or a farm house with gorgeous plank flooring. And some people want brand new with the idea that there will be less work involved of them, at least for a while. But what I am looking for is your rationale.  After all, this is a blog and stats are stats but your opinion adds value.

If someone knocked at your door & said here is $250,000, no strings attached, the only caveat is you have to use it to purchase a home, which of the two kinds of homes would you choose, and why?

From Bob Villa’s website we get this plus a 2000 study on South Carolina homes (and yes that was 8 years ago):

Return on the Investment
“A National Register citation confirms a home’s historic significance, but the real worth may be realized in the stability and strength of the property’s value. A 2000 study of South Carolina home salesshows that homes in Columbia’s historic districts sold 26 percent faster than the overall market; while historic Beauport owners saw a whopping 21 percent greater sale price. In Rome, Georgia, properties in designated historic neighborhoods increased in value 10 percent more than similar properties without historic designation between 1980 and 1996. Studies in Texas, New York, and Pennsylvania corroborate the positive effect an historic district designation has on property values, with overall increases between 5 percent and 20 percent. The stability of property value appears to extend to owner tenure as well: There is a reportedly lower owner turnover within historic districts than in neighborhoods lacking that distinction….”

Bob Villa is talking about homes that have received an official historic designation (or neighborhood’s that have the designation). Since Ohio City has that designation, I decided to do some research on what has happened over the past year regarding historic home sales in Ohio City and Tremont.

First I asked the wizard in the computer to tell me about four bedroom homes with at least 1800 sq. feet. (I picked that as opposed to OC’s famous cottage parameters because it was closer to the stats the owner with the restored farmhouse disclosed to me). I got one sale since April 1, 2008. It was for a 1910 home on W. 41st Street, south of Lorain. 3,180 sq. feet of living space and five bedrooms. It was listed at $164,900 and wound up selling for $155,000. I even went back to January of 2008 to see if it changed the numbers but this is the only home sale that showed up.

I changed the parameters to 3BRs to see if I could pull up more sales. Four more homes:

1.  2,148 SF brick colonial on Bridge (across from Heck’s, beautifully, professionally redone). It was built in 1900. Listed at $285,000, it sold for $270,000.

2.  A 2007 built home on Brayton (near Starkweather and W. 10th in Tremont). I’ll call it a bungalow because it has a first floor master bedroom. 1,892 sq feet of living space, tax abatements, vaulted ceilings, stainless appliances, granite counters. You know the drill, the amenities which are pretty common now for newer construction. This was listed at $289,900 and sold for $307,167. (probably due to upgrades the buyers chose to include while it was being built.)

3.  2007 built Clinton Courts town house with 2,144 sq. ft, 3 Brs, 2Baths. The Ask Price was $299,000 and the sale price was $363,168. It has a wrap around porch, so it might have satisfied someone’s desire to have an older home while still having new construction plus the no maintenance exterior ‘stuff’ of a town house.

4.  603 University, built in 2003, one of the row houses that overlooks the industrial valley in Tremont (near Bergen Village and W. 7th). This was a corner unit with a good view, and the ‘come to be expected’ third floor den/media room/ with a door leading to the deck for those great views. The asking price was $360,000 and the sale price was $350,000.

Remember, I used very specific parameters for the above stats. So what was the total sale info for homes in zip code 44113 between April 1st and September 1st 2008?

54 homes sold in total (single family).The sale prices were between $2,000 for a HUD owned 900 sq. ft. ranch on W. 20th built in 1900 and a resale Fries & Schuele town house for $360,000.

There are 193 single family homes for sale in zip code 44113right now.  Ohio City and Tremont have gone through the last few years without a ton of homes on the market, so the historic designation of a neighborhood probably filters into this fact. Now it’s also true that along with the historical aspect of these communities they are home buying designations in their own right, due to what’s available to do there and the vital community associations that have become an expected part of the thread of the neighborhoods.

There are six contingent sales homes under contract but awaiting inspections or mortgage finalization. There are 16 pending sales in this zip code, waiting for the title to transfer.

The average sale price for all 54 homes sold since April 1st was $164,849.

There is more to the story regarding historical homes and their value. I’ll do another post about that soon.

I really do want your opinions on what kind of house you would buy?

Would you pay more for a historically designated home than you would a newer home? Thanks – Peace Out – 3C

PS: If you go to this page on Trulia Voices, you can see how other agents responded to the question does having your home designated as historic impact the value of it?