Michigan Real Estate

Fresh off the press! The incentives keep getting better for first time homebuyers throughout the country. Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said that the Federal Housing Administration is going to permit lenders to allow homeowners to use the $8,000 tax credit as a downpayment. The best part is the $8,000 does not have to be paid back. Secretary Donovan said that important changes, which the National Association of Realtors® has been calling fo... Read Full Post

For those of you that call expired listings and for sale by owners the most common objections this time of the year from a homeowner is "I want to wait until after the holidays" or "Nobody buys homes during the holidays." We all know this is NOT true. In fact if you look at your MLS statistics homes still sell in November and December, so the homeowners that are on the market actually have a distinct advantage over those that are "sleeping" until spring time. Here is the most compelling reaso... Read Full Post

A recent article in the Detroit Free Press, written by Greta Guest talks about how the number of Michigan Real Estate agents dropped by 16.7%, and many big name franchises like Real Estate One and Century 21 closed many of their offices because business was so bad. Experts predict this will spread throughout the entire country soon as times get tough. The article then goes on to talk about how because so many agents have left the business, the agents that have made it through these times are ... Read Full Post

I'm very excited about the real estate market that is spreading across the country. While most Realtors think this is the worst possible thing that could ever happen to our industry, I'm looking at all the positive things that will come out of this market. Lets face it, there are a lot of Realtors who are having their best year ever, not to brag but me included. There are a lot of Realtors who have sold more houses than they have ever sold before. There are a lot of Realtors who have done pos... Read Full Post

ATTENTION ALL REAL ESTATE AGENTS... ALL Seller funded Down Payment Assistant Programs such as Nehemiah, HART and AmeriDream or funds from any other interested party (Yes, this includes the seller) to the transaction will be prohibited on all loans where final credit approval has not been established by September 30, 2008. This means call all your buyer leads that have been sitting on the fence and tell them the urgency of finding a home within the next two weeks. I say the next two weeks, bec... Read Full Post

Donald Trump has even decided to jump into the real estate bank foreclosure market. Donald Trump will be soon be Ed McMahon's Landlord. Trump has agreed to buy Ed McMahon's house for an undisclosed price and rent the house back to him. The Beverly Hills mansion boasts six-bedrooms, five-bathrooms and had been on the market for about two years. At one point, it was listed at more than $7 million but dropped in increments, winding up this weekend at $4.6 million. McMahon purchased the house in ... Read Full Post

Divorce Attorneys are a great source for Real Estate leads and most Realtors never even think to take advantage of the opportunity. Why not try to network with divorce attorneys in your market. It was never brought to my attention until I was dealing with a divorce couple in the Novi Real Estate Market, who had me contact their attorney to get a better handle on what we needed to do, to get their home sold. The couple wanted to sell their home so they could split the proceeds and move on with... Read Full Post

Northville Home For Sale On 2.8 Acres JUST LISTED $425,000 SEV $379,450 (city value over $758,000) Seller paid $555,000 in 1996 AFTER BEING ON THE MARKET FOR OVER 5 YEARS WITH 4 DIFFERENT REALTORS, THIS REALTOR MARK Z. SOLD THE HOME IN LESS THAN 120 DAYS!!! This home will be coming on the market and available for sale here very shortly. The home is currently being professionally staged by a company called Staging Places, to impress a buyer with the most discriminating taste. The sellers insis... Read Full Post

Governor Granholm signed legislation allowing Michigan property homeowners to keep 2 prinicipal resident exemptions for property still on the market after the seller has moved elsewhere in the state. The signing of this legislation is a huge step in aiding struggling sellers who have had homes on the market for over a year and have lost their prinicipal residence status on that property. Prior to this legislation, if a homeowner still owned two homes and May 1 rolled around, the homeowner wou... Read Full Post

It's nothing new among self made millionaires, and independently wealthy individuals who have accumulated wealth through their own means, to go against the common trend in society. As a matter of fact most millionaires are made during a recession. Our current Michigan real estate market provides such opportunities that are being overlooked by many due to the emotional and financial pain associated with the decrease in value of their own homes. For the past 20 years when home values were consi... Read Full Post