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Homeownership is an amazing privilege

Happy New Year to everyone. It seems like a short 40 years ago I obtained my real estate license. I have to say how blessed I have been and what a wonderful career choice it was. All of us who live in this Valley have seen the good, the ups and the downs that have occurred here. We comprise some of the kindest, hardiest, most resilient individuals in the United States. The real estate market has changed in those 40 years, especially in the technology arena. Buyers today can house hunt 24/7, 365 days a year. Social media has become a staple in marketing and in obtaining our news ...

Area should stay the course on YARS, Camp Garfield

During the past 12 to 18 months, much has happened concerning our local military assets. Both Camp Garfield (formerly Camp Ravenna) and the Youngstown Air Reserve Station (YARS) have had, arguably, their best year in more than a decade. To that end, the community as a whole, our state legislative leaders and our federal delegation have all contributed to their recent successes, with a nice “push” from the Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber’s advocacy arm, the Eastern Ohio Military Affairs Commission (EOMAC). Where we go from here largely depends on staying the course and continuing ...

It’s up to us to protect future

In what has become commonplace in corporate America, General Motors once again, undeniably, demonstrated it will always put corporate interests and executive bonuses over the stability of our community and the families who have served it for decades. Shortly before Christmas, GM CEO Mary Barra openly admitted she and the corporation are using the threat of job losses to ensure a stronger negotiating position during upcoming contract talks. To anyone who is familiar with union contract negotiations, this came as no surprise; however, it is an extreme low to give individuals the ...

Homeownership is not fit for every lifestyle

After a year writing about homeownership and its benefits, the premise of this article may seem a little odd. Follow along and maybe you will understand what I mean. America and the right of all to own real property was a novel concept in the 1700s. Most countries did not allow anyone except members of the royal or ruling class to own property throughout history. The natural extension of property ownership was home ownership, and it became the cornerstone of the Realtor organization. Today, America enjoys one of the highest rates of home ownership in the world. The question can then ...

Commercial vs. residential real estate sales

Ohio law does not differentiate between commercial and residential Realtors. They carry the exact same license, but that is where the similarities end. Like Venus and Mars, black and white and fast and slow, there are stark differences in the skill sets needed to successfully represent clients in either arena. While some people possess both sets of skills, because of the vast differences, most Realtors only choose one path. Here is why. Residential real estate works around the emotion of buying. Preferences about how the neighborhood feels, how the house looks and the number of ...

What does the future of housing look like?

Many times we look back to see what others predicted about the future to see just how accurate they were. I remember as a child looking at the Dick Tracy cartoons and seeing him talk to his watch, or Captain Kirk flipping out his tricorder to talk to someone on the Enterprise. This was all pretty far-fetched then, but today a whole generation uses watches and cell phone just as those characters did 40, or even 60, years ago. So I would like to take a feeble stab looking forward to the future of housing and maybe someone will find this article 50 years from now and pass ...