Category: Info

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Cincinnati City Council to Set 2020 Property Taxes

On January3, 2019, Cincinnati City Council’s Budget & Finance Committee voted to keep Property Taxes in 2020 at today’s current amount, thereby setting the stage for continuing the Property Tax Rollback – a long-standing, key issue of the Cincinnati Area Board of REALTORS® and property owners throughout the city.

Want to see Cincinnati Area Board of REALTORS® Advocacy in action?

CABR’s Director of Government Affairs Mark Quarry testifies before the committee and explains the importance of rejecting the city administration’s recommendation to increase property taxes.  At the conclusion of his remarks, virtually every city councilmember espouses the importance of home ownership and the need to keep property taxes low in the City of Cincinnati! Watch the video below.


Click here to read an article from the Cincinnati Business
Courier on last Thursday’s Budget & Finance Committee Meeting.

The final
vote on the matter will occur at 2:00pm this Wednesday January 9, 2019 at the
Cincinnati City Council meeting.

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Hamilton County Real Property Transfer Tax

Hamilton County Commissioners Vote 2-1 to Increase the Real Property Transfer Tax

It will be more expensive in 2019 to sell a property in Hamilton County.

Hamilton County Commissioners Todd Portune and Denise Driehaus voted today to increase the Real Property Transfer Tax by 1 mill, putting Hamilton County’s Transfer Tax at the maximum 4 mill limit permitted by Ohio law. Commissioner Chris Monzel dissented, voting against the tax increase.

Hamilton County now joins Clermont County as the only two counties in our region at the maximum 4 mill limit. Butler County and Warren County are currently at 3 mills.

The Resolution passed by Commissioners today contained a provision that will include an annual review of this increase in hopes that if county revenue comes in higher than projected, the Commissioners might vote to reduce this 1 mill increase.

As reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer, “If you sell a property, you’ll help the county cover the deficit. The owner of a $100,000 house will now pay the county $400, up from $300 this year after the commissioners raised the real estate transfer fee.”

The Transfer Tax is essentially a transaction fee imposed on the transfer of title to property. It is imposed where there is a legal requirement for registration of the transfer.

Click here to read the Cincinnati Enquirer’s article on today’s vote.

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Help Prevent Hamilton County Property Transfer Tax INCREASE

As you know, The Cincinnati Enquirer recently joined the Cincinnati Area Board of REALTORS® in opposing any increase in the Hamilton County Real Property Transfer Tax!

This Wednesday December 12, 2018 at 11:30am, the Hamilton County Commissioners will cast their vote!

PLEASE HELP! Tell Commissioners Todd Portune and Denise Driehaus to reject this increase in the Transfer Tax!  Commissioner Chris Monzel has already vowed he is opposed to any increase in the Transfer Tax.

As former Hamilton County Commissioner and current Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper said in 2007, “We’re trying to get more people to move into Hamilton County and buy houses; we can’t be charging them more to do it.”

Please Make Your Voice Heard!  Help STOP this INCREASE in TAXES!

Contact Todd Portune and Denise Driehaus right now!

Todd Portune todd.portune@hamilton-co.org 513-946-4401

Denise Driehaus denise.driehaus@hamilton-co.org 513-946-4406

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Reality Meets Reality TV

There is no bigger fan of home improvement reality TV than myself. I am a self diagnosed HGTV addict and Mike Holmes is my personal Superman. That being said, the one thing that is by necessity missing from all of the home improvement TV shows are the endless delays and ballooning budgets. If there is one thing that I have learned over my many renovations it is that planning is crucial and nothing goes to plan.

My most recent case in point. I had to replace the hot water heater in my house. No problem, I got this! So, after determining that the 23 year old hot water heater was not really worth fixing. Simple trip to Menards and I would be back in hot water in an hour or two.

I had not paid much attention to the hot water heater. It had been working and well, out of sight out of mind. I began looking the water heater over and it looked pretty good. No leaks but no hot water. The flue however was rotten. It was rotted up to the joint with the furnace. It was rotted up through the wall and all the way up to the roof. This turned out to be a rather large problem.

Replacing the flue with the correct double wall pipe would cost over $750 plus the cost of the water heater. So, I explored the possibility of converting over to a direct vent water heater. Schedule 30 PVC is a lot less than double wall stainless.

Direct vent hot water heaters are more expensive but not enough to cover the cost of replacing the flue. So, direct vent is the way I was going.  That required significant basement work but not too bad.

Next problem was that the direct vent hot water heater wanted 3/4 inch water lines to and from the new hot water heater. I had 1/2 plumbing throughout the house. My 3/4 inch supply line went to 1/2 inch as soon as it entered the house.

This was going to require significant re-plumbing to address. I wanted to replace the plumbing shortly after I moved in but never seemed to find the time to. It looks like that time was now. PEX to the rescue!

I re-plumbed about 95% of the house with PEX and upgraded to 3/4 inch lines for everything but the branch lines. After the plumbing and vents came the electrical. The direct vent unit needed an outlet which was nowhere close to the hot water heater.

So, after all was said and done I spent about $1,500 and 4 weeks without hot water. The moral of the story is that remodel projects cost more and take longer than you expect. When you are trying to flip houses those realities can be the difference between making money and taking a loss.

Which leads to the most important lesson in flipping houses. You determine ALL of your profit on the buy side. If you can't buy the property right you shouldn't buy it at all. Which is where an independent real estate professional can save you.

Shawen

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Ohio home to most affordable houses

via Columbus Dispatch

Ohio is the most affordable state in the nation for home buyers, according to a new study by the National Association of Realtors. Using home prices, mortgage costs and median income figures, the trade association concluded that buyers in Ohio have the easiest time affording a home while those in Hawaii and California have the toughest time. “The survey confirms that the lack of entry-level supply is putting affordability pressures on too many buyers – especially those at the lower end of the market, where demand is the strongest,” said Lawrence Yun, the chief economist with the Realtors’ group. (read more)