Forbes Least Expensive U.S. Cities For Homeowners

Forbes Least Expensive U.S. Cities For Homeowners
September 23, 2008

Behind the Numbers:
To determine America’s most and least expensive places to own a home, we used data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2008 American Community Survey, released Tuesday. It reported the 2007 median monthly home ownership costs in the country’s metro areas with a population over 65,000. Home costs include monthly mortgage payments, real estate taxes, various insurances, utilities, fuels, mobile home costs and condominium fees.

In some areas of the country–particularly in big cities on the coasts–the costs of owning and maintaining a home are higher than ever before.

10. Cincinnati, Ohio - $1,353 a month
9. Charlotte, N.C. - $1,336 a month
8. St. Louis, Mo. - $1,299 a month
7. New Orleans, La. - $1,296 a month
6. Nashville, Tenn. - $1,256 a month
5. Indianapolis, Ind. - $1,232 a month
4. San Antonio, Texas -$1,216 a month
3. Pittsburgh, Pa. - $1,187 a month
2. Columbus, Ohio - $1,060 a month
1. Cleveland, Ohio - $978 a month

Go Cincinnati!

Rookwood Development Able to Move Forward Again

Friday, September 12, 2008

Long-delayed Rookwood now back to ‘ground zero’

Business Courier of Cincinnati - by Lisa Biank Fasig Staff Reporter

In the end, Rookwood Exchange – that long-planned development that fought for a place in Norwood since 2003 – might better be called Rookwood’s Changed.

The developers might have acquired the last property on the site, after losing a legal battle to purchase it through eminent domain, but Rookwood Exchange will emerge as a much different project than originally planned. For starters, it has lost some of its most promising tenants, including Crate & Barrel and Arhaus Furniture. Worse, its developers are faced with an economy that has nose-dived since they launched this endeavor, with a declining housing market and very tight financing opportunities.

After years of planning, the roughly 12-acre project now begins from scratch and will require government assistance, such as through tax increment financing (TIF), community reinvestment dollars and other incentives, said J.R. Anderson, director of development at Jeffrey R. Anderson Real Estate. Though plans are vague, Anderson said he still wants to build a hotel and is working on a partnership with locally based Brandicorp and Janus Hotels. He wants housing, too, but now has to consider going with rentals.

And retail? Who knows. Even tearing down the final property on the site, once owned by Joe Horney, will take time for environmental evaluation and clearance first.

“We’re at ground zero,” Anderson said. “A bunch of uses have been proposed in the past, but I’m going to need the various governments to participate in order for everybody to benefit.”

Restaurant chain interested

Sources at Brandicorp and Janus could not be reached. But Fred Mayerson, managing general partner of downtown investment firm Walnut Group and an owner of Asian restaurant chain Stir Crazy, would like to put his first local restaurant at the Exchange. Jeffrey Anderson is an investor in Stir Crazy.

“We have a very keen interest in it,” Mayer­son said. “And we are now moving in discussions with Jeff.”

The long, convoluted history of Rookwood Exchange was seeded in the opening of Rookwood Commons, a neighboring project of popular eateries and specialty stores that – after opening in 2000 – quickly became one of the most successful local shopping centers. Plans were to add another phase, west of the project, on about three blocks occupied by middle-income homeowners and a clutch of business operators.

While most sold willingly, five held out and launched a protracted, and historic, eminent domain battle. Three owned businesses along Edmondson Road. The fourth, a retired couple by the name of Gamble, owned a home in the center of the planned project. The last building was a rental home owned by Horney who – after a 2006 Ohio Supreme Court victory that assured his ownership of the home – agreed in early September to sell for $1.3 million.

Whole new ballgame

In 2004, Anderson planned a $125 million project (the price is expected to go up) with two nine-story office towers, two eight-story residential buildings with parking, and a large site for stores. Now he is back to the drawing board. As recently as last April, Anderson declined to discuss it with brokers because he didn’t have anything to share, said Scott Saddlemire, senior vice president at Brandt Retail Group in Sycamore Township. “They were contemplating building around Joe Horney, but now that he’s out of the way I suspect they’ve thrown out all of those plans,” he said.

Smudging the ink on those new plans is the economy. Dozens of retailers, not to mention restaurant chains, have canceled plans to expand and have shuttered stores this year. Further, the tight credit market has led to a short list of potential lenders and higher financing costs, while global demand for steel and raw materials has contributed to climbing construction bills, said Brian Copfer, partner at Miller-Valentine Group in Deerfield Township, and a former partner in Rookwood. “Some lenders just won’t lend in certain product types,” he said.

Richard Dettmer, Norwood’s economic development director, said the city and Rookwood’s developers had discussed a TIF, but for the original project.

“There are ongoing discussions, obviously there have been since day one,” he said.

$7500 First Time Buyer Credit May be the key to Jumpstarting the Cincinnati Market

Local Realtors and home builders believe a $7,500 tax credit available to first-time homebuyers is the one prong of President Bush’s Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 that could provide the biggest stimulus to Cincinnati’s housing market.

The federal legislation, approved Aug. 6, includes a series of measures to stimulate home sales, prevent foreclosures and neutralize the weak economy’s effect on the housing market.
First-time buyers, or those that haven’t owned a home in three years or longer, may qualify for up to a $7,500 tax credit on their 2008 income taxes. They’ll have to pay the credit back over a 15-year term, with no interest.

But the key is in raising the confidence of buyers who might have doubted their ability to qualify for a loan without the attractive zero-percent-down offers of the last few years, said Karen Schlosser, president of the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors and sales manager at Re/Max Unlimited. The tax credit will be retroactive back to April.

Industry groups, brokerage firms and home builders are desperate to spread news like this to the Cincinnati market, said Dan Hendricks, president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati. Building permits have dropped from 7,000 per year to 3,600, he said.
Inventory levels have spiked. A Cincinnati home, on average, sits on the market 8.5 months, according to the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors’ June 2008 report.

In a stable market, homes sell within five or six months, said Schlosser.

“We need first-time buyers to come in and take a layer of housing out so those people selling can move up,” she said.

Schlosser added that buyers purchasing a home for the first time represent 40 percent of all sales.

A new marketing tool
Couple the tax credit with measures to encourage use of Federal Housing Administration loans, and builders have a new tool to use in marketing their homes, said Terry Sievers, Midwest region president for Drees Homes.

The legislation ups the maximum loan government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks can provide to $625,500.

It also increases the maximum FHA-insured loan to 115 percent of an area’s median home price to a maximum of $625,500 with a minimum down payment of 3.5 percent, up from 3 percent.

“They are appealing to a lot of buyers that would not have used FHA financing a couple years ago,” Sievers said. “In the ’70s, it was all about financing. People would walk in to buy a home and the first thing you’d discuss is what the interest rate and payments would be, not the features of the home. In many cases, it’s a return to that.”
Schlosser’s Re/Max Unlimited group will host an information session for its Realtors next week to provide tips on marketing the legislation to past, present and potential clients.

They’ll also discuss Ohio Housing Finance Agency measures, like low interest loans for first-time buyers in Ohio and the Ohio Heroes Program, in which full-time police and fire officers, paramedics, health care workers and teachers can qualify for a rate that is one quarter lower through the agency.

“We need people to be confident to come into the market and buy a home,” Schlosser said.

“Getting information out to as many people as we can is so important.”
Group Realtors is contacting its clients who have purchased homes over the past few months to encourage them to pursue the credit and spread the word to others, said the firm’s owner Marilou Butcher Roth.

Fischer Homes hopes the act stimulates sales in its Maple Street Homes division, in which 50 percent of buyers are purchasing for the first time.

“Do I think that it’s the miracle cure for the housing industry? Absolutely not. But it’s a lot about what’s going in people’s ears versus the facts,” said Fischer Director of Marketing Brian Fannin.

Fischer will advertise parts of the bill through direct mail and e-mail blasts to customers.

“We’re just trying to say, ‘you owe it to yourself to look at the window of opportunity,’” Fannin said.

Mariemont’s "Jordan Park" - Built using plans from 1921

Friday, August 15, 2008
Mariemont’s new units align with 1921 plan
Business Courier of Cincinnati - by Melissa Haller Courier Contributor

As a resident of Mariemont, David Arends is deferential to the historic character and small-town feel of his community. But as president and CEO of downtown-based Cole + Russell Architects, Arends clearly recognizes the importance of designing to meet the needs of today’s market.

To him, the $10 million, 29-unit Jordan Park condominium project under way on Miami Avenue, just off Mariemont Square, fits both requirements: It’s sensitive to the Tudor Revival architecture style of Mariemont’s environs, yet still serves the needs of residents who want to downsize their living space and upsize amenities and convenience. Proof is in the sales: Only six of the 29 units – which have a price tag starting at $425,000 – remain unsold, even though the project won’t be done until October. Many buyers are empty-nesters seeking single-story residences and safe parking.

“He definitely hit the right button relative to the product type and location and understanding what that buyer wants,” Arends said of Rick Greiwe, whose Greiwe Development Group is the project’s developer.

Cole + Russell played a part in that, too, since it’s the architectural firm that designed the Jordan Park project. The building is 3.5 stories, with one-story units on the first and second floors, and one-story units with lofts on the third floor. They all have nine-foot ceilings and are about 2,000 square feet. The building has elevators that travel to an enclosed garage below.

The location near the square will allow residents to walk to banks, restaurants, entertainment and, of course, Jordan Park, the project’s namesake.

The project is nearing completion, but Greiwe largely credits history for its blueprint. Arends said he heard of the project idea directly from Greiwe as the two sat at a restaurant on the square and looked at the nearby spot.

But Greiwe wasn’t starting from scratch. The project is closely aligned with the plans created in 1921 by John Nolan, the original planner of Mariemont. Nolan was hired by Mary Emery, a Cincinnati philanthropist, to create a community that resembled an English garden. His result was a village with English Tudor-style architecture, large trees, and several small parks that are reachable on foot.

“Nolan was hired to design Mariemont, which is still a national model,” Greiwe said. “Planners from around the world come to look at this plan. I looked at some of the sketches, and they were the real impetus for the development.”

Cole + Russell used both that 1921 plan and Greiwe’s ideas to design Jordan Park with a traditional Tudor style outside and open, contemporary floor plans inside. The Tudor style includes a masonry base and accents, or “overbuilds” of heavy timber. The Jordan Park building also has heavy corner boards and diagonals, with pitched roofs and a façade that changes dimensions. For instance, looking down the block, some of the front porches step back from the street while other accents are forward-reaching. “That undulation of the façade helps change the scale,” Arends said. “It is a very big building, but it fits in with the area and is respectful of the street and street edge.”

The building also provides a transition for the commercial and residential buildings on the street. This transition, Arends points out, is a subtle way to keep the buildings in visual scale along the roadway.

Tudor Style
Project: Jordan Park
Cost: $10 million
Developer: NAP Miami Road LLC
General Contractor: Griewe Development Group
Architect: Cole + Russell
Description: 29 Tudor-style condominiums in Mariemont

Red Bank location attracts more tenants

Friday, August 15, 2008
Business Courier of Cincinnati - by Jon Newberry Staff Reporter

Two mixed-use office and retail developments along the busy Red Bank Road corridor have picked up key occupants in recent months. Reisenfeld & Associates, a law firm currently located on Reading Road just north of downtown Cincinnati, is building a two-story, 38,000-square-foot building at Miller-Valentine Group’s Red Bank Village in Fairfax.

It will be the second office building at the site and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The first office building at the complex, adjacent to Reisenfeld’s, was recently completed.

Reisenfeld has tripled in size over the past three years and also acquired the Sojourners Title agency. The agency will also be relocating to Red Bank Village. Brad Reisenfeld said the firm will own the building and conducted an employee survey before settling on the site.

“It’s the perfect location for us. It’s a very central location and an up-and-coming area,” he said, citing easy highway access and a desire to work with Miller-Valentine as key factors.

The office buildings are part of a larger project anchored by a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter that’s being developed by Regency Centers Corp. The Wal-Mart was announced in 2006, but its opening was pushed back to 2009. Construction likewise has yet to get under way on a planned 30,000-square-foot retail strip center and on three available retail outlots along Red Bank Road.
Red Bank Village is at the southern end of Red Bank, about nine miles from downtown via Columbia Parkway.

Neyer Properties also has been adding buildings and tenants at Red Bank Crossing. A Goddard School day-care center recently opened in a single-story, 10,000-square-foot building that lies to the south of a two-story, 30,000-square-foot office building that’s just been completed. The first, 40,000-square-foot office building on the site was completed a couple years ago and is fully leased to medical and health-related tenants.

Jeff Chamot, project manager for Neyer, said the newest office building is a LEED-certified “green” building and, as such, affords tenants a 100 percent tax abatement for 12 years from the city of Cincinnati.

The environmental design also reduces utility costs by about 20 percent, he said, and studies indicate that people who work in green buildings are more productive, use fewer sick days and are happier at their jobs.

All the monetary benefits flow directly to the tenants since they’re responsible for property taxes and operating expenses, Chamot said.

Tenants have been attracted to the project because of the location and the 30,000 cars a day that use the Red Bank Expressway, he said. Red Bank runs between Wooster Pike/Columbia Parkway on the south end, to Interstate 71 on the north, with major intersections at Erie and Madison Road in between.

“I’ve always thought of it as the East-North connector,” Chamot said.

Red Bank Ready
Projects: Red Bank Village, Red Bank Crossing
Costs: More than $15 million
Developers: Red Bank Village Office LLC, Neyer Properties
CMs: MV Construction, NPI and Reece-Campbell
Architects: McGill Smith Punshon, PSA

Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008

Great News!! President Bush just signed into law the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. This is a major victory for REALTORS®, consumers, and our nation.

Thanks to your advocacy, homebuyers will soon have access to more affordable financing, and first-time homebuyers (those who have not owned a home for three years) will receive a tax-credit to help them enter the market.

H.R. 3221, the “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008,” passed the House on July 23, 2008, by a vote of 272-152. On Saturday, July 26, 2008, the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 72-13. The President signed the bill on July 30, 2008. The bill includes the following provisions:

• GSE Reform – including a strong independent regulator, and permanent conforming loan limits up to the greater of $417,000 or 115% local area median home price, capped at $625,500. The effective date for reforms is immediate upon enactment, but the loan limits will not go into effect until the expiration of the Economic Stimulus limits (December 31, 2008).

• FHA Reform – including permanent FHA loan limits at the greater of $271,050 or 115% of local area median home price, capped at $625,500; streamlined processing for FHA condos; reforms to the HECM program, and reforms to the FHA manufactured housing program. The downpayment requirement on FHA loans will go up to 3.5% (from 3%). The effective date for reforms is immediate upon enactment, but the loan limits will not go into effect until the expiration of the Economic Stimulus limits (December 31, 2008).

• Homebuyer Tax Credit - a $7500 tax credit that would be would be available for any qualified purchase between April 8, 2008 and June 30, 2009. The credit is repayable over 15 years (making it, in effect, an interest free loan).

• FHA foreclosure rescue – development of a refinance program for homebuyers with problematic subprime loans. Lenders would write down qualified mortgages to 85% of the current appraised value and qualified borrowers would get a new FHA 30-year fixed mortgage at 90% of appraised value. Borrowers would have to share 50% of all future appreciation with FHA. The loan limit for this program is $550,440 nationwide. Program is effective on October 1, 2008.

• Seller-funded downpayment assistance programs – codifies existing FHA proposal to prohibit the use of downpayment assistance programs funded by those who have a financial interest in the sale; does not prohibit other assistance programs provided by nonprofits funded by other sources, churches, employers, or family members. This prohibition does not go into effect until October 1, 2008.

• VA loan limits – temporarily increases the VA home loan guarantee loan limits to the same level as the Economic Stimulus limits through December 31, 2008.
  Risk-based pricing – puts a moratorium on FHA using risk-based pricing for one year. This provision is effective from October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009.

• GSE Stabilization – includes language proposed by the Treasury Department to authorize Treasury to make loans to and buy stock from the GSEs to make sure that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae could not fail.

• Mortgage Revenue Bond Authority – authorizes $10 billion in mortgage revenue bonds for refinancing subprime mortgages.

• National Affordable Housing Trust Fund – Develops a Trust Fund funded by a percentage of profits from the GSEs. In its first years, the Trust Fund would cover costs of any defaulted loans in FHA foreclosure program. In out years, the Trust Fund would be used for the development of affordable housing.

• CDBG Funding – Provides $4 billion in neighborhood revitalization funds for communities to purchase foreclosed homes.

• LIHTC – Modernizes the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program to make it more efficient.Loan Originator Requirements – Strengthens the existing state-run nationwide mortgage originator licensing and registration system (and requires a parallel HUD system for states that fail to participate). Federal bank regulators will establish a parallel registration system for FDIC-insured banks. The purpose is to prevent fraud and require minimum licensing and education requirements. The bill exempts those who only perform real estate brokerage activities and are licensed or registered by a state, unless they are compensated by a lender, mortgage broker, or other loan originator.

$250 Million Developement Planned for Liberty Township

More than $250 million in retail, restaurants, apartments, hotels and offices are planned for a 110-acre plot of land just west of Interstate 75 in Liberty Township.

Liberty Township-based developer George Flynn, Bob Hutsenpiller of Hutsenpiller Contractors Inc. and Brian Brockhoff of Bailey Capital Partners have spent the last three years quietly acquiring 22 parcels along Hamilton-Mason Road. Earlier this year, they brought in Miller-Valentine Group to assist with development and land acquisition and Columbus-based Steiner & Associates as lead developer of the project. The team plans to build more than 2 million square feet of development there over time.

The first phase, which could begin as early as 2009, includes 250,000 square feet of office space, an upscale theater, two hotels, restaurants, three department stores, additional retail and about 200 apartments - 1.2 million square feet of total development costing about $200 million.

"We're essentially building a community gathering space," said Mike Duffey, a Steiner spokesman. "It will become a hub for the entire community."

Liberty Township, located almost halfway between Dayton and Cincinnati, has spent the last few years preparing itself to handle the rush of developers seeking land positions in its boundaries. As the West Chester corridor has become saturated with offices and retail, it became evident to Liberty officials that the rural bedroom community would be next.

"Development is going to happen. We thought, 'What can we do to control it?'" said Dina Minneci, township administrator.

To prepare for even more population growth, expected to top 60,000 over the next 20 years from 35,000 today, the township created a master plan and four overlay districts that focused on commercial development for 18 percent of Liberty's total land area.

"The criteria we have is it has to be a sustainable, long-term commitment with a 30-40 year life cycle," said Pat Hiltman, president of Liberty Township trustees. "If we're going to bring retail in, it needs to be the crown jewel of Butler County and Southwest Ohio."

Steiner & Associates Inc. is best known for its mixed-use development of Easton Town Center in Columbus, a 90-acre project. It recently built the 72-acre mixed-use development in Dayton, called The Greene, and is known locally for Newport on the Levee, a late 1990s project.

Miller-Valentine Group became a financial and development partner to help with land
acquisition and development. The firm's local expertise in health-care office, hotel and residential development would be an asset for parts of the project.

"We're out of land at University Pointe and it's been a big success. This will be the office location in the northern market," said Brian Copfer, Miller-Valentine's vice president of development services.

The developers submitted plans to Liberty Township Tuesday, requesting a zoning change to planned unit development. Pending approval, plans will go before the Butler County Planning Commission in June and to Liberty Township trustees in late July.