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Walk-a-thon and Teacher Surprise

Susan Pierce

Recently Susan and her girls, participated in their school Walk a Thon. We were gold donation members of the Worthington Estates walk a thon that benefited the school and PTA to give the students items and events they deserve. They were able to raise their goal of $15,000 and Marsh Home Group represented with donation as well as on site by bringing cut oranges, organizing and passing out popsicles, encouraging the runners and supporting the school in anyway they needed it. The kiddos had a blast! We can’t wait for the next one.

We also recently started filling the teacher’s lounge at Worthington Estates with goodies for all the teachers. We appreciate everything they do and it’s great to be able to stop in refill the lounge with their favorites!

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Pumpkins Aglow- Franklin Park Conservatory

Get out and enjoy one of your last fall weekends at The Franklin Park Conservatory. There will be a variety of live entertainers performing from 6-8pm on October 27-31.The Conservatory Food Truck, other local food trucks and Charlie’s Kettle Corn will be on site. Beautiful glass pumpkins and autumnal goods made by local artists will be available for sale. Become immersed in the fun atmosphere with a foggy creek, witches garden, larger than life spiders and more!

Hundreds of glowing jack-o-lanterns fill the botanical gardens and Grand Mallway, along with gourds, mums, and brassicas. Enchanting decorations throughout the gardens include larger-than-life spiders created by Tork Collaborative Arts, Inc., a foggy creek and skeletons and ghosts. Two Pumpkin Houses stand ready to welcome guests this year.

On Halloween weekend, children ages 2-12 will receive a small bag filled with treats and surprises. Family friendly costumes are encouraged!

Ticketing

For all ticketing concerns, you must email tc@fpconservatory.org. Using any other method will likely result in your message going unanswered.

Procedures

  • It’s strongly recommended that all guests, including members, reserve tickets online in advance. Many nights will sell out
    • Members at the Patron, Benefactor and Monarch level do not need to register in advance.
  • Special engagement rates are in effect for Pumpkins Aglow.
  • Pumpkins Aglow occurs regardless of weather, please plan accordingly.
    • The entire building will be open each night and guests can take shelter inside during inclement weather.
    • No refunds will be issued due to weather.
  • The Conservatory will close to the public at 4pm before Pumpkins Aglow begins at 5pm.
    • Closing after General Admission allows the facility to be cleaned and set up for Pumpkins Aglow.
    • Guests will not be permitted to stay in the Conservatory buildings or interior grounds from 4-5pm.
  • Doors open at 5pm,  please arrive within 30 minutes of your scheduled ticket time.
    • Timed ticketing allows for capacity control and improves the check-in process.
    • Please have tickets ready to be scanned when you arrive at the front desk. Tickets can be printed or scanned from a smartphone.
  • If you want to renew your membership or purchase a new membership, please do so ahead of your visit to Pumpkins Aglow.
    • Members receive discounts on special engagement tickets and having tickets ready to scan will expedite your admission.
    • Membership purchases and renewals are available online.

Refunds & Exchanges

  • Admission tickets are non-refundable.
  • No refunds will be issued due to weather.
  • All requests for exchanges must be made at least 48 hours in advance of your reserved ticket time. Requests using any method other than what is outlined above will go unanswered.
    • Email your exchange request to tc@fpconservatory.org. Include your name, email address used to reserve tickets, and the date and time you would like your tickets moved to.
    • A $5.00 fee per reservation will be assessed for all ticket exchanges.

Cancelation

  • If the Conservatory determines that conditions warrant canceling an event, a message will be posted on our website and on social media. Guests with reserved tickets will be contacted directly.

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Troy’s October 2021 Market Update – Has the market really slowed?!

Troy Market Update October 2021 – Watch Video

Thanks for joining me down below here! Feel free to turn on my market video above and listen or dig a little deeper here with me on the stats! I want to dig into a couple key indicators of today’s market and how they may effect you if you are thinking about buying, selling or investing in real estate.

Highlights in the Market

Active Listings are DOWN just under 10% compared to the same time last year (-9.9%)

New Listings are DOWN just under 1.5% compared to the same time last year (-1.4%)

SOLD Properties are relatively flat UP 1% compared to the same time last year (+1%)

Under Contract/Pending Properties are UP 30% compared to same time last year (+30.1%)

Interest Rates are UP from 1/8% to 1/4% compared to 1 yr ago (+0.18 to +0.27% on 30 yr fixed) … (From 3% one year ago to 3.18% today and they were 3.27% last week)

Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/data/30-year-mortgage-rates.aspx

So what does all of this actually mean to you? Below I will break down what it means to you if you are a buyer, seller or investor in the market.

Buyers

The relatively stable buyer demand with the seasonal drop in new listings has created movement back to a tighter inventory environment. Although the days of 20 offers from spring and summer are gone, 5 or 6 strong offers creates enough competition to continue driving prices up. We have seen the strongest demand in the sub $500k price range in suburban school districts.

The interest rates continue to be at historic lows, however, buyers who sat on the sidelines “waiting for the crash” might be surprised at what there payment will be now, especially if we see the Federal Reserve begin to pull back on their purchasing of mortgaged backed securities, which has kept rates arbitrarily low for the last couple of years. They have said they may start pulling back on that as soon as November, so we will wait to see what effect that has on rates. Certainly buying power is affected when rates rise, which will either slow demand or cause the lower price ranges to become even more competitive.

Sellers

The current environment continues to be the strongest in years, if not ever for most sellers. The extremely low inventory packaged with stable buyer demand has continued to create competitive offer environments for sellers who have priced their home appropriately. We have seen the rate of appreciation slow a bit as some areas have bumped into pricing ceilings, especially when pricing in traditionally lower priced areas begins to bang up against that $400-$500k range. We continue to see very strong demand in suburban and rural school districts which were experiencing less growth compared with urban areas Pre-Covid.

Investors

The investor market in Central Ohio remains very tight. With very little foreclosure activity, the bulk of “off market” buying has happened through direct prospecting by investors. This has led to less hitting the actual market. When something does hit the market there are often multiple offers. A lot of the demand in multi family real estate in particular has been compounded by interest in our market from cities on the “coasts” whose average sales prices are significantly higher. Columbus metro has a very attractive average sales price as well as very strong rents for the price. The combination of those two factors makes our market very attractive for investors from out of the area. I average one to two inquires from investors (often from California) who have never been to Columbus, but are interested in purchasing here, either in the form of long term rentals or in “flips”. If prices continue to rise for multi-family properties and rents don’t rise at the same pace, I expect demand to decrease some, especially from out of state investors. Other lower priced markets which are in a similar place that we were in 5 or so years ago will start to grab the attention of the bargain hunters from the coasts. Until that shows up in the numbers, we will continue to see strong demand from outside the market.

Thank you for checking out my latest post, please follow us for more information. If you would like to have a quick chat about the market or get a market analysis for your particular home or investment area, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Troy

Founder & Managing Partner

Marsh Home Group of KW Consultants Realty

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Boo at The ZOO!

What would fall in columbus be without a trip to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium’s Boo at the Zoo! It is a merry-not-scary experience, presented by Wendy’s® over 5 weekends in October 2021. 

Join the Zoo Character Ambassadors and other costumed guests to celebrate the season! Boo at the Zoo takes place October 1-3, October 8-10, October 15-17, October 22-24, October 29-31, 2021.

This family-friendly event also features Tommy C. Turtle’s Trick or Treat Trail, Cali’s Pirate Dance Party, Frogwortz Academy, Zoo Boo Choo Choo rolling through Vertebrate Village, plus animal encounters, character ambassadors, and many other exciting Halloween activities and demonstrations.

Go on Jama’s Jack-o-Lantern Journey seek-n-find to help find all of the character ambassadors’ pumpkins scattered throughout the Zoo. Help Jama Giraffe locate all of them to be entered to win a prize!

Wear a costume* and have a blast at America’s #1 Zoo! Special rides and attractions may be an additional cost to the zoo admission.  

*Only adults accompanied by a child or children under 13 years of age will be permitted to wear costumes on zoo grounds and adult faces must be uncovered, because otherwise, that’s just creepy….

Boo at the Zoo Hours

October 1 –3, 8 – 10, 15 – 17, 22 – 24, 29 – 31

Fridays: 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. (Zoo opens at 10 a.m. Boo festivities begin at 5 pm)

Saturdays: 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Sundays: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

The Heart of Africa and Congo Expedition will close at 5 pm each day.

Event is included with regular Zoo admission and with memberships. Parking is $10 for non-members. Advance tickets are not required, but encouraged to reduce the wait in line at ticket windows.