Housing Stimulus Bill Set to Pass in Congress

President Bush lifted his veto threat and the Senate passed a housing stimulus package on Wednesday. Some key provisions of the bill will affect residents of Northeast Ohio.

1. $300 million to help homeowners facing foreclosure refinance their mortgages into FHA loans. The lender would have to agree to take a loss on the original loan and lender participation is voluntary.

2. $3.9 billion in block grants to help local communities buy up (often vacant)foreclosed homes, rehab them, and resell them.

3. $15 billion in housing tax breaks, including $7,500 in tax credits to first time home buyers. This provision applies only to buyers who purchase between April 9th 2008 and July 1st 2009. The full tax credit is available only to homeowners making less than $75,000 (or couples earning less than $150,000). The tax credit must be paid back, interest-free, over the next 15 years.

Cleveland Ranks as 14th Most Walkable City by Walkscore.com

The website walkscore.com allows you to tally the walk-ability of your neighborhood, using a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the proximity of shops, schools, restaurants and coffee shops.

Recently, Cleveland was ranked as the 14th most walk-able city by walkscore.com. Downtown Cleveland as well as the city of Lakewood both ranked particularly high.

“Walkability is actually a stand-in for a convenient way of living," said Christopher Leinberger, a University of Michigan professor who studied walkability for the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution and serves as a WalkScore advisory board member. "A higher walk score reflects a place that is walkable urban, it is vital. You're living the Seinfeld life, rather than the Tony Soprano life."

This weekend, you can celebrate the walk-ability – and bike-ability – of Lakewood by attending the “Walk and Roll” event. The neighborhood party will close two miles of streets for walking and cycling. The Rockport Square development in Lakewood is located within walking or biking distance of all of the amenities that the city has to offer. The Walk and Roll event will be centered around Lakewood Park and surrounding streets.

For more information on Walk and Roll, please visit their website at
www.walkroll.com.

Lakewood: One of the Best Places to Buy an Old Home in the Midwest

From Lakewood Alive:


If you haven't already heard, Lakewood was named by This Old House Magazine as one of the best places in the Midwest to buy an old house. The article says:

"A well-established Cleveland bedroom community situated on Lake Erie, Lakewood has about 55,000 residents and thousands of single-family and multifamily homes built between 1890 and 1930. Locally owned shops, restaurants, theaters, and art galleries, strung behind vintage storefronts along a former streetcar line, are where families meet in summer-when they're not relaxing by the lake. Home to a celebrated public library, the Beck Center for the Arts, Lakewood also has great schools that have been making news for their rapid test-score gains and high graduation rates."

Thanks to the efforts of Marcia Moll, Paula Reed, and Mazie Adams who started over a year ago with "send us a one page statement of why your town is one of the best places to buy an old house." Obviously, Lakewood stands out!