Realtors donate $7,800 for Arc summer camp

The Arc Hamilton County's summer camp program is getting a boost from a $7,800 donation from the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors.

Tom Eamoe, executive director of Arc Hamilton County, was given the check by Beth Willis, chairwoman of the program Operation Sunshine.

Operation Sunshine is in its 36th year. It has raised more than $200,000. It provides people with intellectual and developmental disabilities the chance to attend a summer camp and to develop social and self-advocacy skills.

The contributions are raised by Realtor offices throughout Greater Cincinnati.

The Arc Hamilton County is a 61-year-old, nonprofit organization.

"We advocate for the rights and full participation of all people with intellectual or developmental disabilities through targeted services," Eamoe said. The agency serves Hamilton, Clermont and Butler counties.

OFFICER IN TRADE-SCHOOL GROUP

Aaron Ray, a Milford High School senior in the Live Oak construction framing and finishing program, has been elected vice president of the Southwest Region of Ohio SkillsUSA.

Ray was elected last month at the Ohio SkillsUSA Fall Leadership Conference in Columbus.

SkillsUSA provides leadership and professional development for high school and postsecondary students who are pursuing careers in industry, engineering, health and skilled trades. Ray is on early placement with Messer Construction.

Ray and the other members of the Southwest Region team will attend the Regional Officer Training Institute at SkillsUSA's National Center in Leesburg, Va., next year.

HELP FOR THE HOLIDAYS NEEDED

Volunteers and donations are needed to help with special holiday programs, parties and gifts at Summit Behavioral Healthcare, Roselawn.

"We depend on community volunteers to bring the extras which mean so much at holiday time," said Lisa Crawford, coordinator of volunteer services. Each unit of the center enjoys a holiday party, and each patient receives a bag of gifts.

Crawford said popular gifts include hand lotions, shampoo, sweaters, caps, gloves, scarves and socks; flannel shirts and sweat shirts, wallets, hair-care items, cosmetics and radio batteries.

To donate, call Crawford, 513-948-3777

SHRINERS' DOG TEACHES LESSON

Kasey, the Shriners fire and life safety dog, has spent a year educating local children about burn prevention, and helped make a $1,000 donation to Shriners Hospitals for Children last week.

Kasey is a black Lab that performs burn prevention demonstrations. She also is part of the "Paws for Prevention" program at Shriners Hospitals, where school groups and Scout troops learn about the hospital and burn prevention.

The programs are free, but Kasey accepts donations for Shriners Hospital.

Kasey's work is sponsored by National City, Stellar Real Estate and Nutro Foods Inc.

For more information, call 513-872-6059 or visit www.shrinershospitals.org/hospitals/cincinnati.

LOCKLAND HIGH GETS DONATION

A $500 "Essential to the Community" grant from Evonik Industries to Lockland High School will support the school's science education program.

Evonik, formerly Degussa, invited students from the school to its Lockland location to celebrate the donation.

Students were given a tour and participated in a ceremony unveiling the new name of the company.

"We are proud of what we do here in Lockland, and we are proud of our industry," Joseph Won, site manager, said. "Chemistry is a cornerstone of our society. Without it, many of the products, conveniences and medicines to which we have become accustomed would not exist."

GUILD DONATES TO GOODWILL

The Ohio Valley Goodwill Industries received an early holiday gift of $15,000 from its Service Guild at the organization's annual holiday luncheon Dec 6.

The money will be used for programs and services to assist men and women with disabilities and other vocational needs.

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source: enquirer.com

Realtors: Sales will pick up

Home sales are on pace for a more than 12 percent decline by the end of the year nationally but are expected to pick up slightly in 2008, a real estate trade group reported Monday.

The National Association of Realtors predicted that home sales will rise next year to 5.7 million, up from last month's prediction of 5.69 million.

Meanwhile, pending home sales in Greater Cincinnati are outpacing national figures, according to the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors, which represents about 80 percent of the region's market. Pending sales are contracts; closings typically occur 30 to 45 days after a contract is written.

The revised national monthly forecast, which followed nine straight months of downward revisions, calls for U.S. existing-home sales to fall 12.5 percent this year to 5.67 million, down from 6.48 million last year and the lowest level since 2002. Last month, the association predicted that 5.66 million existing homes would be sold this year.

Numerous other economists, however, are far less optimistic than the trade group. They predict weak sales and falling prices through next year and beyond, and emphasize that those problems could worsen if the economy sinks into a recession.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com, predicted at a housing forum last week that if the economy slips into recession or if efforts to prevent foreclosures don't pick up substantially, the housing-market downturn could last through the end of the decade.

The trade group's chief economist, Lawrence Yun, cited job growth and the replacement of subprime lenders to borrowers with weak credit with government-backed loans as reasons for the improved outlook.

"Despite over-exaggerated negative coverage on the housing conditions, many local markets are actually seeing price increases," Yun said at a media briefing in Washington. "Mortgage availability is improving"

The national group also said the median price for U.S. existing homes - the point at which half sold for more and half for less - will sink by 1.9 percent to $217,600 this year and rise 0.3 percent next year to $218,300.

Locally, the median sale price in Greater Cincinnati was $129,900 in October, a 5.6 percent decline from the same month in 2006. Northern Kentucky saw a 2.6 percent drop to $131,900 for the same period.

From January through October, home sales for Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and Southeastern Indiana totaled 25,348 - an 11.2 percent drop, compared to the same period last year, according to local boards of Realtors.

In Greater Cincinnati, Realtors reported Monday that 1,814 sale contracts were pending in October. The figure is down 7.8 percent from 2006, compared with the 18.4 percent drop in pending sales in October nationally.

"The October pending numbers reflect a local market that has been consistently performing all year at about 88 to 90 percent of normal," said Tom Steele, president of the Cincinnati Realtors.

Higher-than-normal inventory of unsold homes has continued to plague the local market since January, but Steele said Realtors are seeing improvements.

In October, inventories decreased slightly to a 9.83-month supply. The figure represents the anticipated time that it would take for all the homes currently on the market to sell if no houses were added or taken off the market.

A balanced market - or one that is favorable to buyers and sellers - typically carries a five- to six-month supply, according to the Cincinnati Realtors.

Nationally, the supply in October was at 10.8 months, the national association said.

"As the inventory (of homes on the market) continues to drop to normal levels, a recovery period will begin, and the market will move from the current buyers market toward a balanced market," Steele said.

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Prescription for Renaissance

MIDDLETOWN - Sunday's opening of the 250-bed Atrium Medical Center east of Interstate 75 here is shining new light on more than $400 million in new development, including the 300-acre Renaissance mixed-use development east of Interstate 75 at Ohio 122.

Conceived more than five years ago by Cincinnati builder Allen Zaring III and his son-in-law Andrew Vecellio, the $300 million Renaissance development at the southeast corner of Union Road and Ohio 122 envisions more than 300 upscale homes, 400 condominium units and 80 acres of office and commercial space being built in the next decade on 300 acres of farmland.

About 65 single-family homes have been sold at prices starting about $300,000, and the first two of five office condominiums in the first phase of the Renaissance Professional Village have been completed and are ready for sale. Plans for the office condominium project call for up to 27 of the 10,000-square-foot brick buildings, which include attached garages for the owners, Vecellio said.

He said Monday that one of the 10,000-square-foot buildings is under contract, though he couldn't reveal the prospective buyer. He said he hopes to begin construction on the other three office condos in the project's first phase in 2008.

Future plans call for a possible hotel-conference center, additional retail and other office buildings.

"There's a lot going on," said Chris Dobrozsi, development director for Al Neyer Inc., which put together the 25-year city master plan for the medical center and controls about 100 acres of city land for development. "Until now, people haven't fully understood what's happening there."

Neyer expects to break ground in the spring on a two-story office building on the south side of 122, east of Union Road. Original plans were for a 40,000-square-foot building, but the building's size might be expanded to 50,000 square feet based on preliminary interest, he said.

"We're seeing a lot of interest based first on the hospital and second on the central location between Cincinnati and Dayton," he said.

Bill Murphy, Middletown's economic development director, said development inquiries have increased about 50 percent in the past six months as Atrium Medical Center, which replaced Middletown Regional Hospital, was being completed.

"As the hospital has taken shape, people can see it is a reality," Murphy said.

Vecellio and Zaring saw the potential of the site even before the hospital committed to the area.

"We felt it made sense even without the hospital because the location is visible from I-75 and is midway between Cincinnati and Dayton," Vecellio said.

Besides the $195 million hospital, more than half a dozen other buildings are either under construction or planned for what's known as the Premier Health campus, including a new YMCA, a five-story medical office building, a two-story cancer center, an outpatient surgical center, a children's specialty care center, a health sciences training facility and senior housing.

In addition, a new CVS Pharmacy, designed to fit with the medical center's architecture, is planned for the southwest corner of Union Road and Ohio 122, and the city expects to unveil its new identity for the area - similar to what West Chester Township has done at the Union Centre Boulevard interchange with I-75 - in early January.

Murphy said the hospital's opening is the first hurdle to unlocking the area's long-term development potential. The next steps, starting in 2009, are widening I-75, the reconstruction of the interchange with Ohio 122 and widening of the highway past the medical complex.

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Fannie, Freddie warn of more mortgage losses

WASHINGTON - The chief executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Tuesday warned that their ailing mortgage-finance companies will suffer further in 2008 because of a weakening housing market and rising home-loan defaults.

Shares of Fannie, the No. 1 financer and guarantor of U.S. home loans, declined $2.62, or 7.1 percent, to $34.29.

Meanwhile, Freddie's shares fell $3.73, or 10.6 percent, to finish at $31.31 in trading Tuesday.

Freddie's CEO, Richard Syron, said the government-sponsored company could lose an additional $5.5 billion to $7.5 billion over the next few years from soured loans.

Fannie CEO Daniel Mudd, also meeting with analysts at the conference, forecast "a very tough 2008" and continued weakness in home prices through 2009. Mudd called the wave of defaults and foreclosures this year the worst mortgage crisis "in recent memory."

The Washington-based company, which lost $1.4 billion in the third quarter, sold $7 billion in preferred stock last week to raise capital to stabilize its finances. Mudd said Tuesday that Fannie had no further plans for such sales over the next year.

Mudd said the company could raise additional capital, however, through sales of mortgage investment holdings, increased fees on mortgages and other measures.

Syron said that while the mortgage crisis has brought a rising wave of foreclosure notices into public view, less evident have been "pictures of people standing with furniture on the lawn" after being forcibly evicted from their homes. "As that begins to happen, and it will happen, I am afraid of the impact that this has."

The chief executives' remarks came a day after Freddie and Fannie said they would change their criteria for purchasing delinquent home loans they've guaranteed, in order to reduce the number they buy from investors.

On Tuesday, McLean, Va.-based Freddie announced it was imposing a 0.25 percent fee on all new home loans it buys or guarantees with settlement dates starting March 9, matching an earlier move by Fannie. On a $300,000 mortgage, the new fee translates to an extra $750, which is expected to be passed on to homeowners, though the companies aren't saying. Both companies have begun adding surcharges on loans to borrowers with credit scores below 680 and who are borrowing more than 70 percent of the home's value.

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Scripps lists real estate online

The E.W. Scripps Co. landed with a cyber-thud on the front porch of the American real estate industry Thursday with a new online real estate listing service called FrontDoor.com.

The company will use its cable universe and Web family of brands to partner with Century 21, Coldwell Banker, ERA and Sotheby's International Realty.

It will reach an estimated 250,000 real estate sales associates in the U.S. and another 700 independent brokerage firms.

"FrontDoor closes the loop for the millions of home enthusiasts," said John Lansing, president of Scripps Networks in Knoxville, Tenn., which reaches a universe of 95 million cable households.

The play for national real estate revenues also signals that the company is ready to tap into the value of 40,000 hours of Scripps digital programming to bring entertainment and information to the process of buying, maintaining and selling a home.

HGTV is the No. 1 home and garden content site on the Web, with users typically also visiting one or more of the top 10 real estate sites in the nation, the company said.

Now Americans looking to buy or sell a home have a Scripps Networks-affiliated listing service, officials said. "That's 11.5 percent of the market," Bliss said

FrontDoor will be part of Scripps Networks Interactive when that company breaks away from the Cincinnati-based newspaper group - a deal that is on track to close in the first quarter of 2008.

Shopzilla, uSwitch and UpMy- Street will also be part of the company.

These businesses have combined annual revenue of about $1.4 billion and 2,100 employees.

E.W. Scripps, the newspaper, broadcast television station and syndication arm, will have $1.1 billion in revenues and employ about 7,100 people after the split.

At Scripps Networks, third-quarter revenue grew 16 percent year-over-year to $289 million.

Segment profit for the division increased 18 percent to $137 million while online advertising revenue at Scripps Networks was up 31 percent to $17.3 million, driven by robust advertising at the HGTV family of brands.

Scripps shares closed Wednesday at $43.60, up 60 cents.

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source: enquirer.com