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On Tuesday, February 19, 2008, a couple in Franklin County Court won a jury verdict against Maronda Homes for nearly 3.2 million dollars. The couple, Roman and Jennifer Cosner alleged that Maronda Homes knowingly sold them a defective home. The jury verdict in favor of the homeowners stated that Maronda Homes did sell a defective home and that Maronda was aware of that fact. Maronda acted in an “unfair, deceptive or unconscionable” manner.
Maronda has always had a reputation for building the biggest square footage home possible at the lowest price. No other local production home builder can even come close to the price and square footage of Maronda Homes. There is usually a reason why this happens. It is not really complicated. Home owners should stop being so naive. You buy the lowest priced “anything” and you are going to have problems. I don’t care if you buying a new home, a 
toilet seat or a widget. You get what you pay for!!!! Like many home builders, Maronda has had it’s fair share of unresolved consumer complaints.
In my opinion, this could be landmark case for new home builders. The jury ruling in this case has now set a precedent for all future, similar cases. I would be really curious to see how this affects the policies and procedures of other builders in our area. I bet many builders are now “scrambling” to figure out how to adjust their business practices to deal with this jury verdict.
I’m glad the home owner had won their court case. But, I guarantee you, that they probably didn’t use an Exclusive Buyer Agent to help them purchase their new built home. If they had the proper Buyer Broker representation looking out for their best interest then this problem probably would not have happened. As consumers we have to be accountable for our bad decisions or lack of…..
Stay tuned for future posts on this topic.
HomeBuyer Advocate Mike
Representing People, NOT Property!
Central Ohio’s largest home builder announced on Friday losses in the 4th quarter and for all of 2007. M/I homes is one 
of the nation’s largest home builders. M/I builds a quality a home and is a well managed company. But, even the best, well- run, new home builders were not immune to the recent real estate market crisis. M/I Homes has been in business for 30+ years and I’m sure they will be in business for another 30+ years.
It is still a great time to be a home buyer in the Columbus, Ohio area. But, in my opinion, the real estate market has now started to turn in Central Ohio. The market will gradually start shifting back to a normal market which is typically a Seller’s market. There are 3 to 4 reasons why the real estate market in Columbus, Ohio is finally starting to change. 
Reason number 1: Mortgage rates bottomed out at a few weeks ago at a low of 5.125% – 5.250%. We have seen the end to flat, low home prices and super low mortgage rates. Everything will start to rise (interest rates and house prices) from this point forward. I predict, in the next six to nine months will still see rates in the range of 6.00% – 6.75% and home prices just modestly increasing. As home buyers we can’t really complain, mortgage interest rates in the “6” range is still really good.
Reason 2: President Bush will sign the economic stimulus package in a few days. In financial terms, the 170 billion+ package will not actually do that much to improve the economy. But, it will help a little. The main benefit of the economic stimulus package is that the consumer confidence in the economy and our government will increase because we were able to get something accomplished, even though that “something” was very small.
Reason 3: My personal buyer activity has increased dramatically in the last 10 – 14 days. I’ve been receiving a lot of phone calls and emails from interested home buyers with questions and looking for help.
Reason 4: It’s all about supply & demand. The inventory in the last 9 months has continued to drop drastically. The end of last Summer we had 21,000+ listings on our multiple listing service(MLS) system. As of right now, we have a little more than 16,300 listings. Granted the drop in the listings is mainly due to the slow winter and holiday season. But, it is still a significant decrease. Even with the listings going down, we are still at insanely high inventory levels. The key months to watch inventory levels will be May, June & July. How these three months go will probably predict the rest of 2008.
This is my prediction on where we are headed in 2008 for the real estate market in Columbus, Ohio. Back in September of 2007 (about 5 months ago), I correctly forecasted in 2008 that we would see all mortgage programs with rates well under 6%. Review my 5.99% or Lower blog post. I did receive a few emails and phone calls from lenders that didn’t think I knew what I was talking about. These lenders didn’t think rates would go that low. I guess I got lucky on that forecast. Again, I could be wrong or I could be right on my latest prediction for 2008. I still think 2008 will be a great year for home buyers. But, the buyer’s market is sort of over. Good Luck!
Another builder is leaving the central Ohio market. Beazer announced on Friday, February 1st that they will stop building new homes in the Columbus, Ohio market. New home builders have really been affected by the real estate slow down. Beazer is the second major new home builder to pull out of our market in the last year. Last Summer, Centex homes stopped building in our area.
Last week, National City Bank announced that they will lay off 900 employees from their National City Mortgage division. National City has decided to shut down their wholesale mortgage department. The wholesale department was responsible for originating first and second mortgages with other mortgage brokers. National City will still originate 
mortgages to the consumers through their branch office networks.
National City Bank is the the state of Ohio’s largest bank. The layoffs can be directly tied to the problems in the sub-prime mortgage crisis. This is another example of Banks “circling the wagons” and tightening credit options. As an Exclusive Buyer Agent I am actually more concerned with the trend of banks restricting or tightening credit options then with the layoffs. Tightening credit options & layoffs are both terrible for our economy. But, in my opinion, the bank management decisions to tighten credit and make it harder for the consumer to obtain mortgages will be a lot more detrimental to our economy and recovery in the long run. Contact me if you have any questions or if you are looking for a lender.
Finally some good news for Central Ohio home buyers. Cincinnati’s largest home builder, Fischer homes will be entering 
the new build home/condo market in the Columbus, Ohio area. Fischer homes saw a good opportunity to finally enter the Central Ohio market. Fisher homes was able to purchase land and lots from Centex homes, that pulled out of the Columbus market last year. Fischer Homes acquired more than 280 lots in Central Ohio.
the new build home/condo market in the Columbus, Ohio area. Fischer homes saw a good opportunity to finally enter the Central Ohio market. Fisher homes was able to purchase land and lots from Centex homes, that pulled out of the Columbus market last year. Fischer Homes acquired more than 280 lots in Central Ohio.
Fischer Homes appears to be a fairly strong builder with a good reputation. As an Exclusive Buyer Agent I looking forward to working with my new home build clients to compare Fischer Homes to the other good home builders that are already established in our market. The increased competition with new home builders will be GREAT for my buyer clients. In my opinion, the competition between builders will increase QUALITY and LOWER PRICES in the long run. For more information on buying a new build home or condo check out this section in our main company web site. Good luck to Fischer Homes!
Yikes, times continue to be rough in the real estate market, especially for new home builders & lenders. Yesterday another good builder in central Ohio closed its doors for good. C.V. Perry & Co. has gone out of business due to serious financial troubles.
C.V. Perry & Co. was a good, solid builder that had been around for 60 years. C.V. Perry “folding up” was not as unexpected as Centex Homes leaving the central Ohio 
market last year. Centex Homes leaving our market was a total surprise to many people. I’m pretty confident that C.V. Perry probably won’t be the last builder in central Ohio to call it quits or to be bought out by a competitor.
Hmmm, let me guess, maybe Dominion Homes might be the next fatality. It seems like Dominion Homes has been hemorrhaging cash forever and has had a “ton” of lending problems (see additional links below). If you are new home buyer in this market please make sure you are protected. You need to make sure you fully understand your builders deposit policy. Don’t risk losing your deposit money. Contact a real estate attorney ASAP if you have any questions. Good Luck!
Additional info:
Dominion 5.9 million in red for 3rd quarter
M/I Homes post 21.7 million 3rd quarter loss
Dominion Homes sales drop nearly 25%
Beazer Homes report weak earnings
In 2000, we won FIRST PLACE in the television advertising category for a medium/small real estate firm in the State of Ohio. The advertising & promotion contest was 
sponsored by the Ohio Association of Realtors (OAR). These television commercials were conceived & produced in Central Ohio by a good friend of mine who is in advertising. We produced these commercials for the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (NAEBA). NAEBA is our professional trade organization. I hope you enjoy these spots. I am really proud of the commercials. I think the messages of these commercials are very powerful. Today’s home buyer really has to question their “so called” buyers agent’s loyalty, competency and advocacy. The home buyer really has to be aware of their agents duties and required disclosures to them or LACK OF! The 30 second spots are funny, informative and controversial.
Cannonball II http://youtube.com/watch?v=agN7p1lGvtQ
(This is not a clip of that great Burt Reynolds sequel movie in the 70’s – Cannonball Run)
Problem http://youtube.com/watch?v=1c15qPWkAz8
Flight Path http://youtube.com/watch?v=1ASHpSARguU
Watercooler http://youtube.com/watch?v=5OR8JSETKVs
SOB http://youtube.com/watch?v=C1KfYDx_DAI
Thinking http://youtube.com/watch?v=mTaiJqGDmPg
Hounds http://youtube.com/watch?v=cKFtTGCzHJ0
Cannonball http://youtube.com/watch?v=1xD37nhebGU
In the future I hope to have more home buyer advocate clips on my main youtube site:
http://youtube.com/profile?user=OSUMike64
Ohio Association of Realtors Award Certificate
I hope you enjoyed these funny, informative spots.
Forbes magazine recently posted a great article about housing trends in America, “Americas Most Stable Housing Markets” The article ranks the Top 10 most stable housing markets in America. The real estate market has been dreadful in the last year. But, the good news is that Columbus, Ohio ranked 3rd on the list. Even though the 
State of Ohio & central Ohio consistently rank very high on many of the recent foreclosure rankings list, our area has ALWAYS had a very, stable housing market. One of the big advantages of living in central Ohio, even prior to the latest downturn in the real estate market, was our stable market. We’ve almost always enjoyed a solid, decent appreciation rate without the wide volatility swings that many other areas in the nation experience.
Great News! The Federal Reserve (Fed) on Tuesday had a bigger than expected drop in the federal funds rate. The aggressive drop will really help the local real estate 
market. Lenders in central Ohio now have approximate 30 year mortgage rates in the “low” 6% range. Many “so called” experts predict additional lower adjustments by the 
Fed over the next three to nine months.
In my opinion, in 2008 we will see many loan program rates between 5.50% – 5.99%. The low rates and Buyer’s (slow) market continue to make it a great opportunity to purchase a new home.
Current homeowners should continue to watch the mortgage rates to see if it would be advantageous to refinance their mortgage. You can click here to check your local mortgage rates. If you have questions about possibly refinancing then I would recommend that you contact your mortgage originator/lender or your Buyer agent for more help and information.
My Buyer Broker Advocate! 
Cool Comments!