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Knox County Ohio Blog

Sam Miller

Knox County Ohio Blog

Sam Miller

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Displaying blog entries 221-230 of 264

Knox County MLS Home Search

by Sam Miller

I recently read that approximately 86% of all home buyers start their house hunting on the internet.  I find this to be a significant number because it means that nearly 9 out of 10 buyers are shopping online for a home.  The challenge for many of these home shoppers is that they have to search dozens of real estate websites and they will still generally only scratch the surface of what's available in the Knox County Ohio MLS.  

EMailKnoxCountyHomes is a simple solution we offer for all of our customers and clients.  This service provides you detailed information by e-mail for every listing in the Knox County MLS that matches your search criteria.  The system works so well that once you are registered you will receive new listing notifications as fast as the other Knox County Ohio real estate professionals.

The best part is that registering is easy and it only takes about 2 minutes.  

Knox County Ohio MLS Listing Search

 

Should You Refinance?

by Sam Miller

My phone has been ringing off the hook from home owners asking me if it is a good time to refinance their existing home.  For many of my clients the answer is YES and they should refinance especially since many of the mortgage loans available offer a fixed interest rate ranging between 4.5% to 5.5%.  However, there is a large segment of clients who should not refinance.  

If you are thinking about refinancing I would like for you to consider a few questions BEFORE you contact a mortgage lender:

  1. Do you plan on staying in your home long enough to see the long term benefit of refinancing?
  2. Do you have the necessary equity and will your home appraise high enough to support refinancing?
  3. Do you have the cash in savings for the closing costs that are associated with refinancing?
  4. If you are planning on adding the refinance closing costs on top of your existing loan balance, how long will it take for you to recoup these added costs and get your loan balance back to where it is today?  
Most people want to refinance for one of two reasons:
  1. They want to shorten their loan balance and pay the home off sooner which is a great reason.  Taking your existing 30 year amortization and refinancing to pay it off in 15 years is a powerful way to build equity quickly.
  2. They want to reduce their monthly payment at the cost of starting a 30 year loan all over again.  You can reduce your monthly payment with this method but typically you are going backwards and lose equity for at least a couple of years until the savings from the refinance get you back to where you were prior to the refinance.
Here is one of the quickest ways to determine how many months it will take before the cost of refinancing is beneficial and I have created a basic example: 

  1. If you are refinancing a fairly new home loan that has an existing 6.5% fixed rate 30 year mortgage with a loan balance of $100,000 and the current principal and interest monthly payment is $632.07.  
  2. The new interest rate you can obtain by doing the refinance is 5% fixed interest rate for 30 year and that would give you a new payment of $536.82.
  3. The closing costs to complete the refinance would be $2,500. (this amount is different in each market).
  4. The monthly payment savings would be $95.25 which is the difference from $632.07 less $536.82 = $95.25.
  5. Based on this $95.25 monthly savings it would take a little over 26 months of making the monthly payment at the new lower 5% interest rate before you would recoup your $2,500 closing costs.
Before any of my Knox County Ohio friends, customers or clients contact a lender to discuss refinancing PLEASE contact me by e-mail or phone me at (740) 397-7800.  I can help you determine within just a few minutes and over the phone if refinancing is a good move for you by using a specialized refinancing computerized calculator.

For those of you who are not planning on living in your current home much longer you may want to visit a few of the links below:







Please bookmark our site and feel free to subscribe to our RSS feed for regular updates.

Thank You!

Sam Miller

Help Give Your Kids and Grandkids A Chance

by Sam Miller

I am reaching out to all parents and grandparents who want to help give their children and grandchildren a real advantage in life.  Buying a home is rarely on the minds of our younger generation and this is partially because they believe that the entrance to home ownership is actually more difficult than it really is.  

During the past 22 years in the real estate business I can say with 100% confidence that the majority of the home buyers I speak with are worried about how they will be able to meet the down payment requirement for their mortgage.  This is without a doubt the biggest road block in the minds of buyers.  This minor obstacle is easily solved with some creative thinking and a little assistance from mom & dad, grandma and grandpa and even a brother or sister.  

The most popular home loan today for first time buyers is an FHA insured home loan.  FHA is a great loan program because FHA only requires a 3.5% down payment and the best part is that the entire down payment can be a gift from an immediate family member.  This allows the parents to assist their children to buy their first home much earlier in life and essentially skip the need for them to waste their money on a rental.  This can result in huge financial savings for their children and it allows them to build equity much faster than they could otherwise.

A few factors to consider about the current housing market:

  1. Interest rates are at a 40 year low making homes even more affordable
  2. Fixed interest rate home mortgages are readily available
  3. Mortgages with fixed rates help protect against future inflation
  4. Home values have fallen which makes it an ideal time to purchase.
  5. Home ownership often creates stability, security and the home can become an investment like savings account.
  6. When you combine the lower home prices that are available today with the lowest fixed rate mortgages since the 1960's it becomes amazingly clear that it is the right time to buy a home.
If this topic has even slightly peaked your curiosity and you are wondering if this is the time to help a loved one, just pick up the phone and call us at (740) 397-7800 and tell us you read our blog and want to help a family member.  

We specialize in Knox County Ohio real estate and we have real estate connections throughout America and Canada.  If you need a recommendation or a referral to a prescreened real estate professional we offer this service entirely free of charge to you.

Sam Miller 


Apple Valley Lake Real Estate Search

by Sam Miller

The popularity of online house hunting continues to grow at a rapid pace.  My team and I are constantly researching the most popular websites and there seems to be movement to simplify the online house hunting search process.  A common goal among many within the real estate industry is to enable home buyers to see and view homes within 3 clicks once the consumer has entered their website.  

My team and I gave the 3 click real estate search some serious consideration.  We determined that in order to meet this goal our current website would require some specific updates but most importantly we were able to determine that our goal was within our reach.  We worked closely with our website designer and in less than a month we not only met our goal...we were able to exceed our goal and get over 80% of all home buyers searches down to a single click search.  One Click!

Apple Valley Lake Community Homes For Sale  This is an example of a simple single click Apple Valley home search.  You can now also visit www.SamMiller.net and search for homes in specific price ranges by highlighting the "Search Listings" button and a menu will appear, just click on your selected price range and only those listings will be displayed.  We have also created a one click specialized search for Bank Owned Listings which enables visitors to bypass sifting through every listing on our site and instead have a direct link to the specific listings they want.  

If there is a special search feature you would like to see us add to our website please let us know in the comment section below.  If for any reason we are unable to fulfill your request we have the ability to create a personalized Knox County Ohio MLS search specifically for you within 24 hours of your request.  The Sam Miller Team wants to be your REALTOR and we are willing to go the extra mile to earn your business.

Thank You!

Sam Miller 

 

Digital Camera Wide Angle Lens Comparison

by Sam Miller

A statistic that those of us in the real estate industry know very well is that 86% of all home buyers begin their home shopping adventure searching for homes on the internet.  Buyers often visit dozens of real estate websites viewing detailed information on listings including taking virtual tours and viewing real estate slideshows.  Websites, virtual tours and slide shows all have one thing in common and that is that buyers are looking at digital photos of these homes.  Wouldn't you think that it would be logical for a real estate professional to invest in the technology that produces the best quality photos considering that 4 out of 5 buyers will be making their decision of which homes they want to take an interior tour of based on what photos they see online? 

The biggest mistake I see agents make is that they are trying to photograph their listings with a small pocket digital camera.  The challege with these types of cameras is that they are truly not designed for taking interior photos of homes especially in lower light settings.  The biggest issue with these types of camera is that most are limited to a 25 mm to 35 mm camera lens.  This makes for some very awkward photos when you are trying to get some really good shots of a moderate to smaller sized room such as a bathroom, breakfast nook, media room, enclosed porch, breezeway, kitchen pantry or pretty much any other smaller room.   The type of camera, the camera sensor, the lens and the flash all contribute to the quality of interior photos of our homes.

The following four photos were taken using a very high quality Canon DSLR 40D camera.  I wanted to demonstrate the difference between a more standard 35 mm lens shot compared to a 24 mm, 17 mm and even the ultra wide 10 mm lens shots.  The reason is that to the average consumer a digital photo is a digital photo UNTIL they actually see how much more of the room we are able to feature using the wider angle lens that is simply not available on the small pocket sized digital cameras.  

Sam Miller 35 mm digital camera comparison35 mm Setting.  The above photo was taken using the 35 mm lens setting.  As you can see it only captures a small portion of this kitchen.  What is amazing is this kitchen is a huge room but because of the narrow focus of the 35 mm lens you only see a fraction of this home.  This is obviously NOT how to highlight your listing.

Sam Miller 24 mm Photo Comparison

24 mm Setting.  The above photo was taken from the exact same angle and the major difference is that with the 24 mm lens you can start to see more of the actual kitchen area.  This photo is a major improvement over the 35 mm because it makes the kitchen appear a little larger.  the problem is that 24 mm is a wider angle view than most poctet digital camera allow.  It would be extremely rare that most pocket digital cameras produce a photo that is this wide angle. 

Sam Miller 17 mm Photo Comparison

17 mm Setting.  The above photo view obviously shows a much larger kitchen view and you can now appreciate the amount of counter space and the actual size and feeling of the kitchen.  A 17 mm lens is not an available option on a popular pocket digital camera such as the Kodak, Panasonic, Sony, Olympus or the HP models.  This is where the Canon DSLR cameras really shine because they can take advantage of the availability of specialized lenses such as the 10-22 which is ideal for shooting the interiors of homes.  Yes, they are certainly more expensive but the results are well worth the investment and your clients will love you for it. 

Sam Miller 10 mm Photo Comparison

10mm Setting.  This is the widest angle setting I have on my Canon DLSR which is 10mm.  The room looks absolutely huge and you can really notice how much work area and you can see there there is plenty of room to walk around the center island.  Notice this is the only photo where you can see that this kitchen actually has a vaulted ceiling.  The 10 mm view highlights more than  3 times the shear space and volume as the more standard 35mm lens.

When you are interviewing a real estate professional to market your home it is a great idea to view and compare the quality of their photos and their website and virtual tour marketing.  With more than 80% of all home buyers making their home buying decision based on what they see online remember that a picture is worth a 1,000 words so consider what will your agents photos say about your home. 

Sam Miller

*All photo examples were used as they came out of the camera and no retouching or photo enhancements were utilized.   

2008 Annual Real Estate Sales Report for the Mount Vernon, Ohio Housing Market.  

  • 211 Residential homes sales within Mount Vernon, Ohio in 2008
  • $22,261,868 or just over 22 million in combined volume
  • $105,506 was the average sales price for Mount Vernon, Ohio
  • $425,000 was the highest residential sale in Mount Vernon
  • $8,000 was the lowest actual frame constructed home sale (repo) 

Here are the 2008 Knox County home sale numbers broken down by specific price ranges, how many sold in each price range and the average sales price per price range grouping.

  • 27 homes sold from $50,000 or less with an average sale price of $36,104.
  • 41 homes sold from $50,001 to $75,000 with $61,411 average sales price.
  • 47 homes sold from $75,001 to $100,000 with $86,655 average sales price.
  • 33 homes sold from $100,001 to $125,000 with $110,719 average sales price.
  • 25 homes sold from $125,001 to $150,000 with $138,222 average sales price.
  • 13 homes sold from $150,001 to $175,000 with $158,592 average sales price.
  • 13 homes sold from $175,001 to $200,000 with $189,882 average sales price.
  • 9 homes sold from $200,001 to $250,000 with $231,044 average sales price.
  • 2 homes sold from $250,001 to $300,000 with $276,250 average sales price.
  • 1 home sold above $300,001 in the Mount Vernon, Ohio area in 2008.
Sam Miller

Apple Valley Lake Annual 2008 Residential Home Sales Report

by Sam Miller

Each year I compile "The State of the Market Residential Housing Report" for the Apple Valley Lake Community which is located in Knox County, Ohio.  This report highlights all residential home sales for the previous year.  This report includes only home sales in Apple Valley Lake Community including Apple Valley lakefront homes, lakeview homes, golf course homes and wooded and more typical locations.  This report excludes all vacant lot sales which are being featured in my Annual Apple Valley Lot report.  

  • 101 Residential homes sales in 2008 at the Apple Valley Lake Community
  • $16,058,378 or just over 16 million in total combined volume (per MLS)
  • $158,993 was the average sales price for the homes sold in Apple Valley
  • $530,000 was the highest residential sales in Apple Valley in 2008 MLS
  • $65,000 was the lowest sales price in Apple Valley per Knox County MLS 

Here are the 2008 Apple Valley home sale numbers broken down by specific price ranges, how many sold in each price range and the average sales price per price range grouping.

  • 3 homes sold from $50,001 to $75,000 with $68,500 average sales price.
  • 23 homes sold from $75,001 to $100,000 with $88,607 average sales price.
  • 23 homes sold from $100,001 to $125,000 with $113,744 average sales price.
  • 16 homes sold from $125,001 to $150,000 with $138,059 average sales price.
  • 4 homes sold from $150,001 to $175,000 with $161,236 average sales price.
  • 15 homes sold from $175,001 to $200,000 with $184,950 average sales price.
  • 4 homes sold from $200,001 to $250,000 with $227,625 average sales price.
  • 1 home sold from $250,001 to $300,000 with $295,000 average sales price.
  • 9 homes sold from $300,001 to $400,000 with $351,333 average sales price.
  • 2 homes sold from $400,001 and higher with $467,000 average sales price.
Click Here to view the 2008 Knox County Ohio "State of the Market" residential home sale report.

Sam Miller

 

Knox County Ohio 2008 Home Sales Year End Report

by Sam Miller

Each year I compile "The State of the Market Housing Report" for Knox County Ohio highlighting all residential home sales for the previous year  This report includes home sales in Mount Vernon, Centerburg Danville, Fredericktown, Gambier, Howard and even the smaller villages such as Bladensburg and Martiinsburg.

  • 428 Residential homes sales within Knox County Ohio
  • $53,249,324 or just over 53 million in combined volume
  • $124,414 was the average sales price for the Knox County
  • $565,000 was the highest residential sales in Knox County MLS
  • $8,000 was the lowest actual frame constructed home sale (repo) 

Here are the 2008 Knox County home sale numbers broken down by specific price ranges, how many sold in each price range and the average sales price per price range grouping.

  • 40 homes sold from $50,000 or less with an average sale price of $34,459.
  • 54 homes sold from $50,001 to $75,000 with $62,891 average sales price.
  • 93 homes sold from $75,001 to $100,000 with $87,353 average sales price.
  • 77 homes sold from $100,001 to $125,000 with $111,665 average sales price.
  • 52 homes sold from $125,001 to $150,000 with $138,905 average sales price.
  • 43 homes sold from $150,001 to $175,000 with $160,796 average sales price.
  • 27 homes sold from $175,001 to $200,000 with $187,998 average sales price.
  • 19 homes sold from $200,001 to $250,000 with $230,310 average sales price.
  • 8 homes sold from $250,001 to $300,000 with $275,937 average sales price.
  • 10 homes sold from $300,001 to $400,000 with $350,200 average sales price.
  • 5 homes sold from $400,001 and higher with $490,800 average sales price.
I am also in the process of posting additional 2008 "State of the Market" reports for each individual community within the Knox County Area.

Click Here to view the Apple Valley Lake Community 2008 "State of the Market" Home Sales Report

Sam Miller


 

Apple Valley Lake January Calendar

by Sam Miller

Many people think of Apple Valley strictly as a lake community for summer fun during the warm weather months but Apple Valley has activities year round.  The following is a schedule of events for the month of January 2009.   

  • January 1st: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
  • January 2nd:  Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
  • January 2nd:  Skating 7:00 p.m.
  • January 5th: Property Committe. Meeting 2:00 p.m.
  • January 5th:  Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
  • January 5th:  Lake Committee Meeting at 7:00 p.m.
  • January 6th: Activities Committee Meeting at 1:00 p.m.
  • January 7th: Water Aerobics at 10 a.m.
  • January 7th:  Teen Fusion at 6:45 p.m.
  • January 7th:  Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
  • January 8th:  Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
  • January 8th: So and Sews at 11 a.m.
  • January 8th: Apple Core at 2 p.m.
  • January 8th: Social Dance at 7 p.m.
  • January 9th: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
  • January 9th:  Skating at 7 p.m.
  • January 12th: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
  • January 12th:  Fish Club Potluck at 6:30
  • January 13th: Bridge at 1:00
  • January 13th: Cub Scouts Pack 344 at 7 p.m.
  • January 14th: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
  • January 14th: Apple Valley Artists at 9:30 a.m.
  • January 14th: Apple Blossoms at 10 a.m. 
  • January 14th: Lions Club at 7 p.m.
  • January 15th: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
  • January 15th:  So and Sew at 11 a.m.
  • January 15th:  Cooking School at 2 p.m.
  • January 15th:  Social Dance at 7 p.m.
  • January 16th:  Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
  • January 16th:  Skating at 7 p.m.
  • January 17th: Cards at 7:00 p.m. 
  • January 19th: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
  • January 20th:  Board Meeting at 7 p.m.
  • January 21st:  Garden Club at 9 a.m.
  • January 21st:  Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
  • January 21st:  Apple Blossoms at 10 a.m.
  • January 21st:  Teen Fusion at 6:45 p.m.
  • January 22nd: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
  • January 22nd:  So and Sews at 11 a.m.
  • January 22nd:  Social Dance at 7 p.m.
  • January 23rd:  Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
  • January 23rd:  Skating at 7 p.m.
  • January 24th: Fishing Seminar and Lunch at 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • January 26th: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
  • January 27th:  Bridge at 1 p.m.
  • January 27th:  Cub Scouts Pack 344 at 7 p.m.
  • January 28th:  Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
  • January 28th:  Apple Valley Artists at 9:30 a.m.
  • January 28th:  Apple Blossoms at 10 a.m.
  • January 28th:  Lions Club at 7 p.m.
  • January 29th:  Label Cider Press at 
  • January 29th: Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
  • January 29th:  So and Sews at 11 a.m.
  • January 29th:  Social Dance at 7 p.m.
  • January 30th:  Water Aerobics at 9:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.
  • January 30th:  Skating at 7 p.m.  
All events and dates are subject to change*

If you are interested in obtaining information relating to the Apple Valley Lake housing market or you would just like to view available Apple Valley Homes that are currently for sale Click Here to visit our exclusive Apple Valley website www.AppleValleyOhio.com.

 

Twitter Connects Apple Valley Property Owners

by Sam Miller

 

The Apple Valley lake community in Knox County Ohio has more than 6,600 developed lots and home sites.  Many of the Apple Valley property owners live outside of the Apple Valley lake community yet they want to stay connected to what is happening in Apple Valley.  Beyond the Cider Press Publication or our Apple Valley Blog there is a new online option for Apple Valley Property Owners called Twitter.

Twitter is a new website technology that allows people to connect with each other using a quick and easy format.  Twitter has been referred to as a micro blog that allows only 140 characters or less per message.  To give you an idea how small 140 characters is let me say that it is smaller than a single cell phone text message.  Keeping the Twitter content brief makes it even powerful because it can be accessed via computer, cell phone, text messaging, iPod Touch or most other wireless devices.  The Twitter technology even allows us to post website links to photo updates, current weather and many other information that an out of town property owner would find useful.  

If you are already a Twitter user and you would like to stay updated you are welcome to follow me on Twitter by clicking the following link and selecting "follow":  http://www.Twitter.com/sammillersells.  For those who are interested in setting up a free Twitter account just visit www.Twitter.com and it is very simple.  Once you have your account setup be sure to visit:  http://www.Twitter.com/sammillersells

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