Local News
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Realtors reduce ranks
STAFF WRITER
Add another casualty to the slumping housing market: real estate agents.
After growing to 302 early last year, the number of agents in the Heartland Board of Realtors has declined to 267, an 11.6 percent drop. The Heartland Board is an association of real estate agents in Hancock and parts of neighboring counties.
Most who bowed out were part-timers whose shrinking commissions were overshadowed by the cost of doing business, Heartland Board of Realtors President Ray Frankart said.
It costs about $5,000 per year to be a Realtor, even part time, Frankart said.
Agents pay dues to the Heartland Board, to the state and to their franchise. They pay for advertising, signs, office rental and other expenses. The costs are the same for all with one exception: Full-time agents spend more than part-timers on advertising, Frankart said.
In the housing market's traditionally hot season of summer, things were cooler last year. In June and July 2007, home sales in Findlay were down 13.5 percent from the same months in 2006, according to records at the Hancock County auditor's office. A total of 212 homes with a Findlay address were sold in those months last year.
However, home prices continued to rise last summer: The median selling price in June and July among Findlay area homes increased about 16 percent, to $144,950, from a year earlier, according to records at the auditor's office.
Prices now appear to be declining. The average selling price of a home in the first quarter was $127,303, down 2.6 percent from the same period in 2007.
It has become a buyer's market, said Connie Cotton, owner/broker of Cotton Premier Realty.
Typically, a home for sale is getting a bid from only one looker at a time, whereas years ago bids often came from multiple sources, she said.
Sensing the climate, buyers are getting pickier, demanding that more flaws be fixed, Cotton said.
"It's hard on sellers," she said.
To ease the burden and help the market, Cotton has been offering help even to those who are not her clients. She invites those selling their homes without help of a Realtor to list them on her agency's Web site.
Cotton said she wants to help sellers and the economy by getting the properties seen by those who frequent her agency's Web site.
"We are essentially trying to help with getting this economy moving," she said.
Contact staff writer Lou Wilin at:
419-427-8413
Send an e-mail to Lou Wilin
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Findlay, OH 45839-0609
Phone: (419) 422-5151
www.findlaypublishing.com
Please read our privacy guidelines
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News Briefs Two area accident victims reported in serious condition
Two people injured in an accident Sunday night in which another person was killed were listed in serious condition Monday night at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center in Toledo.
Marilyn Emans, 57, of Mount Cory, and Bret Grayson, 35, of Findlay were taken by a Lifeflight helicopter after their vehicles collided at the intersection of Liberty Township 89 and Hancock County 128.
Grayson failed to yield at the intersection, according to the Hancock County Sheriff's Office.
A passenger in Emans' truck, Charles Wells, 66, of Mount Cory, was pronounced dead at the scene.
A passenger in Grayson's car, Chalon Beatty, 35, of Findlay, was transported to Blanchard Valley Hospital. No information was available on his condition.
Street work slated
Harrison Street from Payne Avenue to Foraker Avenue will be closed to through traffic from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Wednesday due to waterline work.
Crash block traffic
WILLIAMSTOWN — A truck rollover accident Monday night blocked both lanes of U.S. 68, south of U.S. 30. The Hancock County Sheriff's Office was called to the scene of the accident, which was reported at about 9:25 p.m.
No other details were available late Monday.
University plans Welcome Week
The University of Findlay alumni and community members are invited to attend several events on campus during Welcome Week, being held from Aug. 25-29.
The Fort Pastor Christian rock band will perform at 8 p.m. Aug. 25 in the Cory Street Mall. The rain site is the union. The event is free.
The band host a U.S. military letter-writing campaign from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Monday in the Alumni Memorial Union.
Changing the earth's climate will be the topic of discussion at 7 p.m. Aug. 26, in the union. Todd H. Albert, an instructor of geography at Bowling Green State University, will speak.
Albert has done research in the Italian Alps, the Rockies, the Andes of Peru and the Greenland ice sheet. This event is free.
College Corner
Mary Linehan has been named to the dean's list for the spring semester at Morehead State University with a 4.0 grade point average. Linehan is a freshman majoring in theater. A 2007 graduate of Liberty-Benton High School, she is the daughter of Michael Linehan and Helen Jomantas of Findlay.
Sarah Ebright, a 2003 Graduate of St. Wendelin High School, was recently inducted into the National Society of Leadership and Success, Sigma Alpha Pi Chapter at Lourdes College. Ebright is pursuing her bachelor of science in nursing and associate of art in fine art.
Hospitals
WYANDOT MEMORIAL
Births
Amber Cooper and Alvin Newsome, Upper Sandusky, a boy.
FOSTORIA COMMUNITY
Admitted
Ronald Henry, Fostoria.
Two people injured in an accident Sunday night in which another person was killed were listed in serious condition Monday night at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center in Toledo.
Marilyn Emans, 57, of Mount Cory, and Bret Grayson, 35, of Findlay were taken by a Lifeflight helicopter after their vehicles collided at the intersection of Liberty Township 89 and Hancock County 128.
Grayson failed to yield at the intersection, according to the Hancock County Sheriff's Office.
A passenger in Emans' truck, Charles Wells, 66, of Mount Cory, was pronounced dead at the scene.
A passenger in Grayson's car, Chalon Beatty, 35, of Findlay, was transported to Blanchard Valley Hospital. No information was available on his condition.
Street work slated
Harrison Street from Payne Avenue to Foraker Avenue will be closed to through traffic from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Wednesday due to waterline work.
Crash block traffic
WILLIAMSTOWN — A truck rollover accident Monday night blocked both lanes of U.S. 68, south of U.S. 30. The Hancock County Sheriff's Office was called to the scene of the accident, which was reported at about 9:25 p.m.
No other details were available late Monday.
University plans Welcome Week
The University of Findlay alumni and community members are invited to attend several events on campus during Welcome Week, being held from Aug. 25-29.
The Fort Pastor Christian rock band will perform at 8 p.m. Aug. 25 in the Cory Street Mall. The rain site is the union. The event is free.
The band host a U.S. military letter-writing campaign from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Monday in the Alumni Memorial Union.
Changing the earth's climate will be the topic of discussion at 7 p.m. Aug. 26, in the union. Todd H. Albert, an instructor of geography at Bowling Green State University, will speak.
Albert has done research in the Italian Alps, the Rockies, the Andes of Peru and the Greenland ice sheet. This event is free.
College Corner
Mary Linehan has been named to the dean's list for the spring semester at Morehead State University with a 4.0 grade point average. Linehan is a freshman majoring in theater. A 2007 graduate of Liberty-Benton High School, she is the daughter of Michael Linehan and Helen Jomantas of Findlay.
Sarah Ebright, a 2003 Graduate of St. Wendelin High School, was recently inducted into the National Society of Leadership and Success, Sigma Alpha Pi Chapter at Lourdes College. Ebright is pursuing her bachelor of science in nursing and associate of art in fine art.
Hospitals
WYANDOT MEMORIAL
Births
Amber Cooper and Alvin Newsome, Upper Sandusky, a boy.
FOSTORIA COMMUNITY
Admitted
Ronald Henry, Fostoria.