real estate prices in greater cleveland (Dayton, Cleveland Heights: sales, HOA fees, condo)

[lisa12230]

Is it just me or does it seem as though the prices of homes are starting to go up again????? What say you

[Peregrine]

Not just you.
It is starting to rebound a little.
The drop has stopped, most areas are stabilizing and a few are even recovering.

[Steve36]

In Cleveland, things are looking up on the westside but I'm not so convinced the bottom has been reached in the city proper and the eastside suburbs yet. While the average price of homes sold is trending up in some areas in the last quarter of 2010 and 1st quarter of 2011, the average home value in most city proper neighborhoods and eastside 'burbs continues to slide. The year-to-year change in average home value in the city of Cleveland was -24% and the average sale price decreased by 15%; in Cleveland Heights values fell by 12% even though the average sale price rose by 24%; and in Shaker values decreased by another 3% while average sale price went up by 14% over sales in the same period last year. This trend continues throughout the eastside with values continuing to decrease slightly or moderately in places like Solon and Chagrin Falls. On the westside, suburbs like West Lake and Avon are seeing both sales price and values creep up so that is a very good sign. Hopefully, sales will continue throughout the spring and values will finally stabilize over here on the eastside as well. Unless we backtrack on lending practices, I'm not really looking for much of a rebound in prices/values after the bottom is reached; there just isn't enough money in the system to drive prices up.
These numbers come from a popular real estate information website that starts with the letter Z.

In the neighborhoods I'm most familiar with in on the eastside I'm seeing some of the larger homes selling but in many cases the prices are coming in way under the initial asking prices. One house we looked at a couple of years ago is now listed at less than 50% of the asking price when we looked at it. I'm sure it is just buyers remorse, but I wish we would have waited a little longer to move up to a larger house.

[Heidi60]

Is there a neighborhood called Covington there? I used to live in the area many years ago and recall it as a nice, safe area but don't recall the location. I've been reading some of the other posts and it is realy sad to see some good neighborhoods not doing so well. Taxes appear to be as bad, if not worse, than California taxes. I sort of wanted to return home for retirement but I'm not so sure anymore. I'll always miss the pierogi!

[Cleveland_Collector]

Taxes worse than California? Yeah, I seriously doubt that.

[Heidi60]

Remember, I said appear, I'm not claiming to know all the property taxes there but we pay $3,500/yr for our condo and the houses I look at in Cleveland seem to be higher, but I can't really make a fair comparison from here. Do you know the neighborhood I recall?

[Steve36]

Originally Posted by Cleveland_Collector

Taxes worse than California? Yeah, I seriously doubt that.

Real estate taxes as a percentage of market value, which is the fairest comparison, are generally much worse in Cleveland than in the areas of California I am familiar with (LA and surrounding). I only paid 1% of the market value for propery taxes when I lived in S. Pasadena (most of the area was right around 1% as well) but I pay over 3% in Cleveland Heights. Of course it was the inflated house values that allowed for the low % of market value to be paid as tax but it certainly made it easier to build equity. Sales tax was a little higher there and overall it was much more expensive to live in California but not because of the tax rates.

Heidi: I wonder if you are thinking of the Coventry, rather than Covington, neighborhood of Cleveland Heights?

[Cleveland_Collector]

Coventry, possibly. The only Covington I know of around OH is near Dayton or in Kentucky.

Property taxes vary by community and property value. I'd say that 2-3,000 is average for a typical condo in most places.

[Cleveland_Collector]

Originally Posted by Steve36

Real estate taxes as a percentage of market value, which is the fairest comparison, are generally much worse in Cleveland than in the areas of California I am familiar with (LA and surrounding). I only paid 1% of the market value for propery taxes when I lived in S. Pasadena (most of the area was right around 1% as well) but I pay over 3% in Cleveland Heights. Of course it was the inflated house values that allowed for the low % of market value to be paid as tax but it certainly made it easier to build equity. Sales tax was a little higher there and overall it was much more expensive to live in California but not because of the tax rates.

Heidi: I wonder if you are thinking of the Coventry, rather than Covington, neighborhood of Cleveland Heights?

No, the fairest comparison is by the amount. No matter what the assessed value and rate may be, most people would be put off more paying $10K per year on an identical 2,000 sq. ft. house than they would paying $4K.

[Heidi60]

Thanks for your posts. Yes, it might be Coventry, it has been a long time and I don't recall. After I graduated from Andrews School in Willoughby, I worked in Cleveland for two years so I got to know some of the neighborhoods but now I'm not sure about some of the names. As I recall, that area was safe then, is it still?

Between the high property taxes here as well as over $360/mo in HOA fees, this condo isn't worth it when we retire in the next year or so (or sooner if the job goes to asia). I am looking for a place for my husband I to retire to so I've spent a lot of time looking at different areas. Tenn. and W.V. have really low tax rates but that isn't the only factor I am considering as I'm not into NAS car and transportation is a consideration. My heart keeps me bringing back to the Cleveland area but my gosh, your winter was totally brutal this year. I have a vivid memory of my little 1968 VW Beetle sliding on the road just inches away from a moving train my last winter in Ohio. Driving down Lake Shore late one night, that same little Beetle was pushed to the other side of the road by wind and crashing lake. Anyway, I am trying to think objectively about where to go so thanks again for your posts.