30 Great Reasons to Live in Cleveland Cuyahoga County Market Update – November 2024 Cuyahoga County Market Update – October 2024 Ohio: Steady Growth in 2024 and 2025 Ohio: New Tax Relief Proposals Ohio’s Real Estate: Goldmine in the Next 5 Years How Fall & Winter Markets Favor Ohio Homebuyers Backyard Party on a Budget 30 Great Reasons to Live in Cleveland

Here are 30 Great Reasons to Live in Cleveland!

1. Affordable Cost of Living: Cleveland offers a lower cost of living compared to many major U.S. cities, making it easier to afford housing, groceries, and other essentials.

2. Thriving Food Scene: With a diverse array of restaurants, including celebrity chef Michael Symon’s establishments, Cleveland is a haven for food lovers.

3. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Home to the iconic museum that celebrates the history of rock music and its artists.

4. Cleveland Metroparks: Known as the “Emerald Necklace,” this network of parks offers beautiful green spaces, trails, and outdoor activities.

5. Lake Erie: Enjoy waterfront activities like boating, fishing, and beaches along the Great Lake.

6. World-Class Healthcare: The Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals are renowned institutions, providing some of the best healthcare in the country.

7. Cultural Institutions: The city is home to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Orchestra, and Playhouse Square, the second-largest performing arts center in the U.S.

8. Sports Town: Cleveland loves its sports, with major teams like the Cleveland Browns (NFL), Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA), and Cleveland Guardians (MLB).

9. Rich History: Explore historical neighborhoods like Tremont and Ohio City, full of Victorian homes, churches, and cobblestone streets.

10. Job Opportunities: A strong job market in industries such as healthcare, technology, manufacturing, and finance.

11. Vibrant Arts Scene: Galleries, street art, and local artists thrive, with events like the Cleveland International Film Festival.

12. Public Transportation: The RTA provides convenient bus and rail service throughout the city and surrounding areas.

13. Festivals and Events: Enjoy events like the Cleveland International Film Festival, IngenuityFest, and Parade the Circle.

14. Great Local Breweries: The city has a growing craft beer scene with popular spots like Great Lakes Brewing Company.

15. Diverse Neighborhoods: Each neighborhood has its own unique vibe, from the hipster cool of Ohio City to the historic charm of Little Italy.

16. Excellent Education Options: With numerous public and private schools, as well as institutions like Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland offers strong educational opportunities.

17. Music Scene: From indie bands to classical music, Cleveland’s live music venues like the Agora Theatre and Grog Shop keep the city rocking.

18. Access to Nature: Proximity to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park offers hiking, biking, and stunning landscapes.

19. Innovative Tech Scene: Cleveland’s tech industry is growing, especially in health tech and biotech.

20. Friendly Community: Midwestern hospitality is alive and well, with friendly, welcoming residents.

21. Historic Architecture: From old warehouses converted into lofts to stunning Gothic and Victorian buildings, the city’s architecture is beautiful.

22. Food Markets: The West Side Market is a historic public market offering fresh produce, meats, and unique local foods.

23. Proximity to Other Cities: It’s conveniently located within driving distance of cities like Pittsburgh, Columbus, and Detroit.

24. Seasons: Experience all four seasons with beautiful falls, snowy winters, fresh springs, and warm summers.

25. Affordable Real Estate: Whether you’re renting or buying, Cleveland’s housing market is more affordable than many other big cities.

26. Growing Entertainment Scene: New bars, restaurants, and entertainment venues are popping up all the time.

27. Green Initiatives: The city is focusing on sustainability with numerous green initiatives, including bike lanes and eco-friendly public transport.

28. Quirky Attractions: Unique spots like the A Christmas Story House and the Cleveland Arcade are fun, offbeat places to visit.

29. Strong Sense of Community: The neighborhoods often host local events, farmers’ markets, and festivals that bring residents together.

30. Resilient Spirit: Known for its grit and resilience, Clevelanders are proud of their city’s comeback story and continue to build a vibrant future.

Cleveland is a city with a rich culture, strong community, and endless opportunities for entertainment, making it a great place to live for all generations!

Cuyahoga County Market Update – November 2024

Cuyahoga County Market Update – October 2024

Ohio: Steady Growth in 2024 and 2025

Ohio: New Tax Relief Proposals

Ohio’s Real Estate: Goldmine in the Next 5 Years

How Fall & Winter Markets Favor Ohio Homebuyers

Backyard Party on a Budget

It’s summertime! That means road trips, lazy lake days, cabin and boating weekends, pool time and barbecues!

We all know the budget had tightened up as costs have bumped up, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still host and enjoy time with our friends at home! Here are some tips to roll out the summer fun for all, while still saving up for other summertime fun!

Considerations in Planning It:

Total budget
Number of guests
Start time and length of the party
Menu
Decor & games

Menu:

Make a batch of margaritas or sangria.
Keep it simple. Stick to 1 or 2 proteins like burgers & dogs.
Kabobs. No buns or condiments needed!
Snacks.
Ask guests to bring a side or dessert.
Make it BYOB, and if compelled
Make a batch of margaritas or sangria.

Keep it Cool:

Save on bags of ice. Fill balloons with water and freeze. Add to a bucket or kiddie pool (serves as deco too).

Use your kitchen:

Reduce waste and save money by not using paper plates and cups. You have a kitchen full of those and utensils. Check your nearby thrift stores for deals on festive plasticware

Decorate Cheaply:

Check out dollar stores for holiday decorations like streamers, balloons, tablecloths, flags and more!

Fun and Games:

Make a photo booth #summerfun
Again dollar stores for the win!
Don’t forget the water balloons!
Get creative with household items

I am a full service, full time REALTOR® dedicated to my clients’ successes. I act as a fiduciary partner with my clients carefully analyzing needs, listening to their goals and guiding them toward the best possible outcomes.

What I WILL do:

Carefully analyze your individual needs, actively listen to understand your motivations.
Guide you and provide you with the most up to date and accurate information to help you make your most informed decisions.
Keep you apprised of your options, protect your rights and inform you of your obligations.
Make myself available for your needs instead of spending my time chasing after new business.
Work with you through the various steps and obstacles of the purchasing process to ensure all parties have met their contractual obligations and are released from further warranties and claims.

What I WON’T do:

Push for any action that doesn’t meet the outcome that you desire or sit well with you. All decisions are yours to make. I’m here to guide and inform and ultimately – listen to YOU.
Pacify you. I don’t want you to settle, and I don’t want you to miss an opportunity. Straightforward is the best business practice.
Disappear after the sale. My job doesn’t end when the sold sign goes up. I am here for any questions you have, now or years into the future.

Steps To Purchasing Your Home

Select An Agent

Get Pre-Approved

Search For Homes

Make An Offer

Offer Acceptance

Inspections & Appraisal

Close of Escrow

Select An Agent

SELECT AN AGENT

To start your home-buying journey, it’s important to hire a real estate agent. With expertise in the real estate market and process, an agent serves as a trusted source of information to help you make informed decisions. There are countless brokerages and agents to choose from, so the challenge isn’t just finding an agent, but finding the right agent for you. Follow these tips to help make sure you hire an agent who best fits your needs.

Research the Options

Do some investigating! You can learn a lot about a real estate agent with a little online research. Check out their website, social media accounts and online reviews. Ask friends and family members if they recommend an agent they’ve enjoyed working with.

Interview and Ask the Right Questions

Interview multiple agents before selecting the one. This allows you to gauge their style, experience and whether or not your personalities work well together. Make sure to ask questions about what to expect during the home-buying process, and find out how often – and via what methods – they’ll be available for you to contact. Ask how long they’ve been in real estate, what areas they sell and if this is their main job. Don’t assume experience goes with age or that the agent isn’t a part timer with a full time commitment elsewhere.

Get Pre-Approved

GET PREAPPROVED

The next step is to get preapproved for a mortgage. Preapproval for a loan provides insight into how much house you can afford. Here are reasons why getting preapproved is so important and can accelerate the path toward homeownership.

It Allows Homebuyers to Know Their Limits

Being aware and respectful of a budget saves time and prevents prospective homebuyers from daydreaming about out-of-budget homes. The less ambiguous homebuyers are about what they may be able to afford, the more efficient the home search will be. Having a mortgage professional review your credit, income and other financial liabilities will give you the advantage of knowing what you may be able to comfortably afford. Your mortgage professional will issue a preapproval letter to you and, armed with that, you can work with your agent to make sure the homes they show you are within your budget.”

It Opens Doors – Literally

When a home is listed, ready, willing and able buyers are looking at it in person. Those who are preapproved and able to purchase today. Appointments are scheduled to accomodate qualified prospective buyers. The homeowner has in most cases, gone to great length to tidy up the house, remove the pets and kids and figured out another plan for dinner to be out of the house while prospective buyers are looking. As a professional courtesy, agents aren’t filling up limited showing timeframes with unqualified buyers. In very limited circumstances a home may be shown regardless of qualification status such as during open houses or through a shared recorded tour. Agents and homeowners will not entertain an offer, even in writing, from anyone not already preapproved so it makes sense they would not entertain showings of buyers not yet qualified.

It Shows Sellers the Homebuyer is Serious

The real estate market is a volatile, competitive space. Having a pre-qualification or preapproval letter in hand lets the seller know you mean business and you can confidently make a purchase of their home. It’s not uncommon in this market for sellers and their real estate agents to insist on seeing a preapproval letter prior to showing the home.

It Helps Homebuyers Know How Much to Save

Prepare for success by planning and goal setting. By being organized and reasonable, homebuyers may avoid unnecessary roadblocks on the path to homeownership. In running through the numbers with your mortgage professional, you’ll know exactly where you stand financially in preparation for this big decision. Understanding how much money you’ll need to bring to closing, including down payment and closing costs, will help you better manage your spending and helps plot a course to help you achieve your goal of homeownership.

Search For Homes

SEARCH FOR HOMES

After determining your budget, it’s time to begin searching for homes. Be realistic by identifying your wants versus your needs before beginning your search.

What may seem like the start of an exciting adventure can surely become exhausting if you’re not prepared. With a bit of planning and legwork, you’ll be sure to find a home that fits your needs in no time.

Define your wants and needs vs. needs.
Communicate with your agent and others helping your or involved in your purchase.
Act quickly and decisively from making time to view, to making decisions.
Don’t be too picky. Refer back to your list of must-haves and remember that no property is perfect.

Wants & Needs Checklist

Make An Offer

MAKE AN OFFER

Once you find a home you love, your agent will prepare to make an offer based on the price and terms you choose. Including an offer letter helps distinguish yourself from other candidates in some instances. Quickly and decisively, any information should be obtained and considered through county and public records as well as any specifics that you are independently relying on to make this decision to purchase your home.

Key Components of Your Offer

Property legal description and all conveyances
Whether or not the offer is a secondary
Purchase offer price including deposit, loan conditions and seller concessions
Inspection period contingency election of various home inspection types
Prorations withheld from selling including charges/escrows to both parties
Explanation of the title provided
Escalation terms if applicable

Offer Acceptance

OFFER ACCEPTANCE

Negotiating:

I take the ethical responsibility of fairly negotiating contractual terms very seriously. It’s my job to find a win-win agreement that is beneficial to my clients and responsible for all parties involved. You may have to work through multiple offers before ratifying the one you judge to be most suitable to you and as your REALTOR®, I guarantee a thorough and objective assessment of each offer to help you make the right choice.

Initial Agreement and Deposit: A signed offer is a legal arrangement between a purchaser and seller. Laws vary state to state but in order to be legally binding, the contract must be signed by all parties. Most of the time consideration is offered such as a $1,000 or a 1% good faith offering and is held in the closing agent’s escrow account pending the fulfillment of conditions or contingencies to the effective agreement.

Written Records of Everything: For clarity, it is extremely useful to transcribe all verbal agreements and discussions including counter offers and addendums and convert them to written agreements to be signed by all parties. I’ll assist you in drafting all paperwork for your sale and make sure that you have copies of everything.

Sticking to the Schedule: Now that you have your purchase agreement, you have a timeline of dates that will be met by all parties that I and the other agent, if there is one, will coordinate and make sure you’re aware of and are met in time. Meeting every requirement on time ensures a smoother flow of negotiations and also ensures that each party involved is not in breech of their obligations. During the process I will keep you constantly updated so you will always be prepared for the next steps.

Inspections & Appraisal

ESCROW, INSPECTIONS AND APPRAISALS

Most buyers will have the property inspected by a licensed property inspector within the time frame that was agreed upon in the effective contract to purchase. Some buyers will have several different inspectors inspect the property, if they wish to obtain professional opinions from inspectors who specialize in a specific area (roof, HVAC, structure). If the agreement is conditional upon financing, then the property will be appraised by a licensed appraiser to determine the value for the lending institution via third party. This is done so that the lending institution can confirm their investment in your property is accurate. A buyer of a commercial property may also have a complete environmental audit performed and/or soil test, if required by the lending institution

The Closing Agent: A title company will be selected as the closing agent, whose job is to examine and insure clear title to real estate. After researching the complete recorded history of the property, they will certify that the title is free and clear of encumbrances (mortgages, leases, restrictions and liens) by the date of closing; and 2) all new encumbrances are duly included in the title.

Contingencies: These are conditions that must be met in order to continue forward with the binding agreement. A buyer will usually include a contingency stating they will continue forward after a home inspector inspects the property and they accept the condition. Other contingencies may be financing and insurance, review of certain documents pertaining to the bylaws or association of the property, a review of the title report, property disclosures and possibly more inspections and reviews.

Final Negotiations: Depending on the outcome of any of these mentioned contingencies, one of three things may happen. Either each milestone is successfully closed and the contingencies are removed in writing, bringing you a step closer to your closing; or the buyer, after reviewing, requests a renegotiation of price or other terms in the agreement; or they may for some reason decide to release from the agreement subject to their rights to do so.

Respond objectively: How do you respond objectively and fairly when a seller appears unreasonable? This is when a REALTOR® can make a real difference in the outcome of the transaction. I guarantee my expertise and title commitment to every client, no matter the situation or personal opinion on the matter.

Loan Approval and Appraisal: As your REALTOR® I will have verified your preapproval before you even enter into an Agreement and be sure you understand your loan terms so that there are NO surprises. In addition, I’ll keep you advised of area purchase prices and values that may affect this home’s value. When obtaining a loan, an appraiser will review your property and verify that the sales price is appropriate for the collateral that is being purchased.

Close of Escrow

CLOSE OF ESCROW

It’s here and it means it’s almost time for congratulations, but not just yet. There are some loose ends to tie up.

Final Walk-Through: More a formality, the walk through takes place within a few days before the closing. You will visit the property to verify all is in working order, everything is just the same as it was the day you viewed the property last and that there are no items, major damage or appliances missing.

Be Prepared for Last Minute Surprises: I am ready to assist you should any unforeseen glitch pop up even at this last stage. If something at the property breaks down or the loan doesn’t pull through on time, there’s no need to worry. I know how to efficiently and effectively handle any issues in a stress-free manner.

Cancel Home Services and Utilities: Not before, but once the property has transferred, it’s time to call utilities to put them into your name within a day or two of the property being transferred.

Closing: On closing day, parties will sign their respective documents to complete the sale of the property. Closing in this case simply means signing day. The property will still need to be transferred at the county recorder’s office before it is officially sold and transferred which is usually the following day.

The closing agent will furnish all parties with a settlement statement summarizing the details of the financial transactions including charges and credits to each side of the transaction.

Client

Reviews

EPIQUE REALTY

Tabatha Whewell | License ID: 2003018978

+1(216) 978-7933 Tab@NEOhioRealty.com

IDX information is provided exclusively for consumers’ personal, non-commercial use and that it may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed to be accurate. Listing information updated daily.

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