Akron Life November 2022

I just had a point of sale inspection on my dad’s house, everything they found was expensive: Driveway Apron, Central A/C had corrosion, so that had to be replaced. I wrote to the commissioner and asked him to look at the apron and offer some options. There were no uneven areas, no trip hazards, it was just old. I further explained that I’m a disabled senior in a wheelchair, and I can’t afford a new apron. He never answered. The buyer has already backed out, and I’m out $6000. —DH, Garlfield Heights

a house to a violation-free status prior to the transfer, then the buyer — depending on the community — must unequivocally assume the violations and make the repairs within a certain period of time, which is usually 90 days.” “You can’t change the law of economics,” Task says. “If you have a law that limits the pool of buyers, whether they are investors or owner-occupants, you are reducing the value of your community. I have buyers who love a house in a community and can’t buy it because they can’t place escrow or they do not want to deal with the vio lations. They want to handle the work in their own time.” Euclid is a case study in how a com munity can elevate values and make homeownership more accessible to buyers. It removed its escrow requirement and financial verification process. And now, sellers can choose an exterior or interior/ exterior inspection. Previously, sellers complete the point of-sale application, which is valid for one year. Within 30 days of the expiration, they can request an extension if they are close to a sale. “They could fix the home and sell it violation-free or sell it and have the buyers assume the violations,” explains Kristal Grida, assistant to the mayor in Euclid. REIMAGINING REGULATIONS

Escrow was required, as was proof of finances, which as Grida says, “Are good for that day because things change.” The city met with McMillen and ACAR and learned more about how changes to the point-of-sale requirements might in crease home ownership and values. During the past number of years, some of the hous ing stock that might have gone to investors who potentially had more resources to take on the cost of repairs than first-time home buyers. “We found through working with ACAR that we were trying to attract people who want to move into a home, live there, im prove it and make it their home for a long time, but the escrow requirement was a bar rier,” says Mayor Kirsten Holzheimer Gail. Gail relates her own experience when she and her husband moved to Euclid. “We bought our house and didn’t have extra money to put into escrow,” she says. “We were thrilled to be able to buy a home, and we bought an older one that needed repairs. If we had to put that money in

escrow, we wouldn’t have been able to make the improvements to the home. “In essence, the people who had money to buy were maybe the LLCs or people flip ping homes, and that was not our intended buyer,” Gail says. “The city would like to do what it can to encourage home purchasing by those who want to occupy their home and enjoy the City of Euclid. The city was sensitive to some residents’ perspectives that the existing process protected values. And a council meeting open to the public allowed an opportunity to explain what ACAR showed through home values studies and anecdotal feed back. “There were a lot of longtime Euclid residents that felt comforted that we were doing escrow because they felt like buyers would have the money to fix violations,” Grida says. “But we know that financial security and escrow don’t ensure the work will get done, so we shared this informa tion so everyone would understand.” Since lifting escrow, proof of finances and giving sellers the choice of exterior

A D O B E S T O C K

Akron Cleveland Association of REALTORS 5