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Cleveland, OH Real Estate News

By Timothy Bradford
(Howard Hanna Lakewood)
So I went to this meeting at the Q, here in Cleveland, and it was in regards to market conditions for Real Estate and found it pretty gloomy. What are the good experiences out there... is there any? What differentiates those from the rest, and how do I find that niche? I love my carreer but am finding it difficult to prosper during this tough market. Great tools are offered by Realty One, and I use as much as is offered, and I so appreciate the support of Ohio's #1 brokerage, I am looking for ways to market myself out the in the masses.. any ideas? 
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By Charlotte Koch, Realtor-Strongsville,Ohio
(Keller Williams Greater Cleveland Southwest)
Great price reduction on this home!!  Ready for immediate occupancy  Bring your buyers and/or investors to this great double with both units vacant.  The sellers have done an excellent job of getting this home ready for a quick sale! Stop here before you look at anything else in the area!  Both kitchens have stove and refrigerator included.  Separate utilities  and separate washer/dryer hookups in basement as well as additional storage.
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By Mark Cassidy, Home Inspection Cleveland Ohio
(Crown Inspection Solutions)
                (440) 521-5399. I want to relay some of the information on the pamphlets that the department of natural resources shared with me when this abandoned gas well was encountered and inspected by the state of Ohio representative. A good reference site is http://www.ohiodnr.com/ . All of the following is copied from the materials handed to me at the inspection.This is in response to my previous posting.1. How will I know if I have a leaking abondoned oil and gas well on my property? These oil and gas wells have been found under buildings, houses and streets, as well as in lawns and recreation areas. Some of the signs you may notice are:            - large diameter pipe or wellhead           - an area where vegetation will not grow.           - the odor of crude oil or natural ...
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By Mark Cassidy, Home Inspection Cleveland Ohio
(Crown Inspection Solutions)
                (440) 521-5399. This home inspection resulted in a turn of the century gas vent for a pocket of gas that was once used by this old farm house located in Rocky River, Ohio. Back in the late 1800`s gas was drilled for by the farm owner to use for heating and cooking purposes. Drilling companies would drill for the pockets of gas and then surface case the hole they drilled. Surface casing is a pipe that protects Underground Sources of Drinking Water (USDW) from oil-field contamination. Ohio requires that surface casing be set 50 feet below the bottom of the deepest USDW and sealed with cement or prepared clay. This double protection of pipe and sealant separates oil, gas and brine from freshwater supplies.The production casing allows oil and gas to move freely up the wellbo...
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By Carole Cohen, Realtor, ePRO
(Howard Hanna Cleveland City Office)
For years I have wistfully missed the Christmas in April program. Now it seems to have appeared in another form in Cleveland! I'm gleeful, yet sad that I had to find out about it after the fact.  I don't know if this was the first time this event was held in Cleveland, but The Sun News and Ken Prendergast reported about last Saturday's Rebuilding Day 2007. The local organization is called Rebuilding Together Cleveland and it's an arm of a National Umbrella Group of the same name. (Minus the Cleveland part of course). The focus is to help low income homeowners with home repairs, painting, carpentry work, sprucing up of the yard. There were eight homes/homeowners who received volunteer assistance this year to the tune of about $50k worth of supplies and $20k worth of labor. When I lived i...
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By Mark Cassidy, Home Inspection Cleveland Ohio
(Crown Inspection Solutions)
                (440) 521-5399 With foreclosures still prevalent in cuyahoga county. As a home inspector I see this more often than I would like to. At this home inspection Cleveland, Ohio the water main is disconnected at the meter. A common practice done by the utility company for the bank to protect the home from freezing pipes during the winter. This also prevents the intrusion of mold if a pipe should burst...which can be a big deterrent from a future buyer from buying the home. This home was discounted $140,000 dollars from its sales price from three years ago. The problem with doing these types of inspection when the water is off is the plumbing cannot be inspected. So on top of the price for a home inspection the buyer is gonna pay another $100.00 dollars to have our firm come b...
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By Mark Cassidy, Home Inspection Cleveland Ohio
(Crown Inspection Solutions)
                (440) 521-5399 On this home inspection in Rocky River, Ohio our inspectors found this water heater showing signs of improper venting of the heated gases that heat the water for this home. Besides the burn patterns on the outside of the gas chamber, the excessive flaking of the bottom of this tank is another sign of heated gases getting pushed back down into the chamber and interacting with the cool bottom of this tank causing condensation to form and flaking the coating and paint off the bottom of the tank. This tank is only three years old.  Another indicator that this tank may be back-drafting is when the inspector placed his mirror along side the bonnet of the flue which hovers over the opening at the top of the tank and connects the flue that connects to the chimney,...
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By Mark Cassidy, Home Inspection Cleveland Ohio
(Crown Inspection Solutions)
                This crack in a poured concrete foundation wall was observed on a previous home inspection our company Crown Inspection Solutions performed. (440) 521-5399This crack although seems like a serious crack for most homeowners. This crack can be dealt with without excavatating.There are two methods that are perferred.1. Expandable two-component polyurethane.2. Two- Component Epoxy Most homeowners have encountered the frustrating problem of cracks in poured concrete basement walls and thus leads to stubborn water leaks after a heavy rain. They usually try to fix the crack with some type of caulking or tar base materials. This is only a tempory solution. Water will still fill the crack on the inside and cause efflorescence, which will push off the caulking and or tar. Then it w...
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No offense to Florida, really. It's a great State! But Clevelanders are 'sticky.' It's one of those high tech terms for those who own a website; we want our websites to  be sticky meaning people visit our sites and then browse for more than a few seconds. Well, that's how I view the Midwest, at least here in Cleveland. Families are here so as people reach retirement age, moving to Florida or anywhere else away from our families is not always a pleasant thought. Moving to a retirement community isn't always a happy thought either.  There are things you can do to your home to make it comfortable for your 'later' years. You have a couple choices. If you are young and designing your home somewhat (new construction), have the cabinets hung lower than normal. As a short person, this idea woul...
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By Mark Cassidy, Home Inspection Cleveland Ohio
(Crown Inspection Solutions)
              At this home inspection in Brecksville, Ohio. I observed this pile of decaying and infested wood. The general rule of thumb is to keep this type of firewood at least 50 feet away from the home. That way if carpenter ants, powder post beetles, or termites happen to decide to have a harvest festival on this pile of wood, they wont decide to bring the after hour party to your house. (440) 521-5399Crown Inspection Solutions20800 Center Ridge Rd. Suite #323Rocky River, Ohio 44116http://www.ohioshomeinspector.com/Mark@OhiosHomeInspector.com (440) 521-5399
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By Mark Cassidy, Home Inspection Cleveland Ohio
(Crown Inspection Solutions)
               (440) 521-5399 Recently encountered this nest for a family of mice in the main electrical panel at my last home inspection. It looks like they may have been here for sometime. Recommended resealing all exit and entry points and removing the nesting material by a licensed electrician. (440) 521-5399Crown Inspection Solutions- www.OhiosHomeInspector.com20800 Center Ridge Rd.Suite #323Rocky River, Ohio 44116(440) 521-5399
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By Carole Cohen, Realtor, ePRO
(Howard Hanna Cleveland City Office)
I have a terrific client -the one I mentioned here, we met in person yesterday instead of just being email pen pals and began our search for his apartment. This led to an interesting hour at the Statler Arms Apartments. I got there early and proceeded to walk the building. It was converted from an office building to apartments and in 2002 the first residents moved in. Because it used to be a hotel (more on that later in this post), this residence has unique features. The first floor/lobby still looks and functions in a way a hotel might operate: a concierge desk at the door is now the 24 hour front desk. There is a newsstand, a Spa, a clothing boutique and a restaurant all on the first floor.I started out with a decent double shot expresso from Juji's at the Statler, with open air style...
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By Carole Cohen, Realtor, ePRO
(Howard Hanna Cleveland City Office)
What if I told you that you could buy a new home, wind up paying less than $600 a year on natural gas fuel costs, be within walking distance to the Rapid Transit? And buy this home for less than $130,000? You'd say I was not of sound mind? Well you'd be wrong, this time anyway lol.  There is a new green housing development getting ready to break ground (maybe as early as late August) between W. 58th and Pear Avenue. This is exciting news folks. One Design's ECCO House was selected to do the project. This is also the site of Cleveland's Eco Village which has always had as it's goal Transit Oriented Development (TOD) near a West Cleveland transit stop. The Eco Village Townhomes are luxurious and consist of about 20 town homes. They have been there long enough to have gone through some res...
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By Mark Cassidy, Home Inspection Cleveland Ohio
(Crown Inspection Solutions)
                This fire was at an apartment building on West 80th St in Cleveland, Ohio. The building was equipped with working smoke detectors. While working as a fireman on this fire I personnaly can vouch for the importance of a smoke detector program for every city. When we pulled up the alarms could be heard from the outside. Because of the noise that was produced the four residents were up hanging out of various windows. We rescued the residents with the use of various ground ladders.  This is another reason why shutting down fire houses in the city of Cleveland, Ohio should not be tolerated by the citizens. You the citizens of Cleveland need to call the Mayors hotline to make your voice heard! Just ask the four residents of this apartment building if fireman are needed! To sced...
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By Mark Cassidy, Home Inspection Cleveland Ohio
(Crown Inspection Solutions)
Splicing in newer style wiring into old knob and tube should be placed inside a junction box. Also, consider that the old knob and tube should be replaced when possible as a gradual upgrade to your electrical system.  The old way of splicing was done by soldering the splice together and then wrapping the splice with a electrical tape that has a cloth appearance. The shiny electrical tape is a dead give away that it is not of the older accepted way of splicing. The seller has agreed to have this fixed at his expense..around $300.00 dollars. To schedule your home inspection call (440) 521-5399visit us on the web at: www.OhiosHomeInspector.com                                          or email us:                              Mark@OhiosHomeInspector.com
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By Mark Cassidy, Home Inspection Cleveland Ohio
(Crown Inspection Solutions)
To Whom It May Concern,I want to thank Crown Inspection Solutions for doing my home inspection in Hiram, Ohio. When I first had Crown out to do my first home inspection in Twinsburg, the professionalism and courtesy that Dave extended not only to me but to the sellers was appreciated. Even though the home had some issues Dave was always respectful to the owner. The next home I had the owner Mark come out and do the inspection. The home had no real issues but, Mark encouraged me to get a radon test done. I`m glad he convinced us because the home ended up with a 21.0 PiCo`s reading. This was something even the currently home owner knew nothing about. The sellers ended up having a radon mitigation installed...that they paid for. Home Inspection was $249.00 and the radon test was $125.00. M...
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By Mark Cassidy, Home Inspection Cleveland Ohio
(Crown Inspection Solutions)
Crown Inspection Solutions is located in Rocky River, Ohio a inner ring suburb of Cleveland, Ohio.20800 Center Ridge Rd. # 323 Rocky River, Ohio 44116Crown Inspection Solutions is aprofessional home inspection company that provides general homeinspections,real estate inspections,radon testing and radon mitigation forthe Greater Cleveland area and all of Northeast Ohio. We provide all of our clients with a 90 day home warranty, a computer generated report printed on site in a three ring binder for their viewing when they return home to discuss the findings. While walking through the home fully explaining the home to the client we report on our hand held PDA`s and sychronized to our laptops and print right in front of you in the kitchen.All questions are answered and if we dont have an an...
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By Carole Cohen, Realtor, ePRO
(Howard Hanna Cleveland City Office)
MSN.com and real estate issues ran the gamut today. I don't normally read MSN for Industry news. First up was an article that was non-controversial, with a 'grabber of a headline: What realty agents won't tell you. Schools and neighborhood safety, how these issues factor into neighborhood desirability, and how Realtors® do not normally offer opinions on these issues (I know I don't). My normal comment on safety is that everyone's ideas about safety are different, some will say it's one of the safest cities to live in and others will be upset if even one murder occurred in the neighborhood in question. So I do what the article suggests, send them to the authorities for answers. Here in Cleveland, we send them to the police districts for data. Of course I tell them to call on the non-emer...
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By Carole Cohen, Realtor, ePRO
(Howard Hanna Cleveland City Office)
So I discovered msn.com's real estate section today for the first time. Maybe I'm a tad late to the party on this one. Anyway, they had an article about trends that work and don't work if you are planning on putting your house on the market. I'm re - printing them here verbatim and of course adding my comments because I can't help myself lol:1. Avoid installing bowl-shape, above-the-counter bathroom sinks.They look pretty but have proved to be harder to maintain and keep clean. Me: This is a no-brainer. I could tell by looking at them this would happen! I agree with this one.2. Use engineered stone compound for kitchen countertops. The material is less expensive than granite and is expected to be the trend this year. Me: Hmm. My buyer clients are still asking for granite - maybe Clevela...
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By Carole Cohen, Realtor, ePRO
(Howard Hanna Cleveland City Office)
Lo and Behold: WALMART  announced that they are participating in Job Opportunity Zones in ten cities. How did I find this out? And what is it? Let me explain.WALMART as we know, has been taking it on the chin by groups of citizens wherever they plan a store; some are thrilled but this inevitable group of people springs up and says, we don't want you, you will take away jobs from locals. Walmart is answering this objection with Job Opportunity Zones. One already exists on the west side of Chicago. Now nine more are planned: Decatur Georgia, El Mirage Arizona, Landover Hills, Maryland, Portsmouth Virginia, Richmond California and Sanger California. And Cleveland Ohio. What does it mean to have a Job and Opportunity Zone? Walmart says they will aid in the growth of jobs and provide economi...
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