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Ohio is on the cutting edge when it comes to stopping home foreclosures and that news made US News & World Reports this week. Thanks to real estate blogger Carole Cohen in Cleveland for bringing the news that Ohio is in the news to my attention.

According to an article in US News & World Reports by Luke Mullins, the secret weapon? Lawyers. Mullin’s interview of Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, who orchestrated “the plan”is the story in How Ohio is Tackling the Foreclosure Crisis:

“What will the lawyers do?
The lawyers will work with the borrowers to see if there are defenses to the actual foreclosure, whether there was fraud or unsuitability in the creation of the mortgage to begin with, and then to assist in two other ways: either to help litigate the case or to help structure a settlement.”

Carole wrote about Ohio using lawyers to level the playing field when it comes to foreclosures on her Cleveland Real Estate News

Happy Earth Day

Earth Day 2008

Green Columbus

mufan96 Going to sleep, like I was before that pesky earthquake. 44 minutes ago from web

Anyone in Central Ohio feel the earthquake this morning?  Channel 6 News a woman in Dublin was on the phone, she recognized it as an earthquake. 

The quote above is from Twitter.  People I “follow” in the mid-west are talking about it.  Here’s the story about mufan96:

About
Name Evan Courtney
Location Mattoon, IL 61938
Web http://www.evanco…
Bio Family Life Pastor in the Midwest. Blogger, Youth Ministry, Apple, Bigfoot Seeker, Guitar Hero Thrasher

Map from mufan96 via Twitter - April 18, 2008 mid-west earthquake

The local news said because of the rock we sit on in the mid-west the area where we can feel an earthquake is 10 times as large as when we hear about California earthquakes.

The best foreclosure bargains are not local. Relocating out of Central Ohio? There could be opportunities for you in this buyers market.   In “Where the Suprime Mess Has Created Buying Opportunities” Yahoo names five areas nationally where the unemployment rate is below 5% and according to RealtyTrac there’s a boatload of foreclosure properties available for home buyers…

Relocating out of Central Ohio and to sunnier climes? This may be the time to relocate to Phoenix or one of these Florida cites…

Want to know more about the real estate market in the five best foreclosure bargain markets, here’s some local blogs I suggest:

1. Denver /Aurora, Colorado

Kristal Kraft’s Denver Dwellings

Bob Schenkenberger’s Denver Real Estate

2. Fort Lauderdale, Florida 

Jeannetten Neerpat’s JNeerpat Weblog

3. Miami, Florida - I suggest

Maggie Dokic’s The blog that ate Miam.com

Ines Hegedas-Garcia’s Miamism

4. Orlando Florida

Marc Grossman’s Orlando Homes  blog

5. Phoenix, Arizona 

Jonathan Dalton’s Phoenix Arizona Real Estate

Jay Thompson’s The Phoenix Real Estate Guy

In “Where the Suprime Mess Has Created Buying Opportunities” Yahoo says of median home prices in these markets:

“DENVER/AURORA (COLO.) MEDIAN HOME PRICE: $245,400

FORT LAUDERDALE (FLA) MEDIAN HOME PRICE: $365,500

MIAMI (FLA) MEDIAN HOME PRICE: $365,000

ORLANDO (FLA) MEDIAN HOME PRICE: $261,300

PHOENIX/MESA (ARIZ) MEDIAN HOME PRICE: $257,400″

The Yahoo article used 2007 median prices they found via the National Association of Realtors but it is US government info… Remember those are median home prices not average home prices.  We don’t usually talk median prices here in Central Ohio because the average prices are so good.  Or they don’t talk average prices in markets where the average price is scary.  It is all relative of course.

Median price of a home in Columbus $147,400 (MSA.)

Click your heels together and repeat after me:

There’s no place like home.

There’s no place like home.

There’s no place like home.

Skybus Airlines a 10 month old Columbus Company went out of business a week ago siting rising fuel costs.  According to travel industry insiders… there were clues…  Not everyone saw the clues though…  Jaunted.com “The Pop Culture Travel Guide” wrote Skybus Not Planning Anything Stupid” on March 13, 2008.  I believe that was 11 days before CEO  Bill Diffenderffer left Skybus.

On March 17, 2008  Jaunted.com wrote about new routes… for Skybus Airlines.

There was a Jaunted entry about Diffenderffer leaving Skybus on 3/26/2008 at 11:56 AM.  If I am not mistaken the announcement of Diffenderffer’s departure from the ground breaking low cost airline was made on the March 24, 2008.   There was news of Skybus announcements on April 1, 2008 on Jaunted.com, they were the stuff April Fool’s Day  is all about.   Three days later Skybus announced it was closing up shop.

Many in the aviation industry said Skybus was a foolish idea from the start