Avoid the Money Pit while Buying Real Estate in Oakland, Wayne and Washtenaw County

Everyone has their dream home in mind.  It’s that perfect home design with all the right amenities that is nothing short of “utopia”.  It’s the perfect home.  When you actually see what looks like your dream home with an a price that cannot be beat then you’re sold in a heart-beat, ready to dump your life savings into it to finally settle down.

But rushing into buying your first home in Michigan can be a mistake, especially if you get blinded by your dreams and hopes of the perfect home.  The best way to avoid getting burned and losing money on a bad investment is to have an objective pair of eyes review the property lest your dream home transform into…

Making Northville Your New Home

Of all the cities within Wayne County, Northville boasts the highest property values and has more luxury homes than any other community.  For those looking for their dream home, buying a home in Northville may be the ideal choice – especially if you’re looking for brick-paved streets and well-preserved Victorian era architecture.

There couldn’t be a better time to be in the market for Northville real estate considering the signs of increased sale activity along with interest rates hovering at historic lows.  That makes buying Northville real estate so much more affordable for the average family.

The real issue however is making a decision; Northville offers a wide range of choices in homes and lifestyles…

What is a real estate bidding war, and why is it back in Metro Detroit?

It is a supply and demand issue. When there’s not enough supply for the demand, prices get pushed up. The way that this happens is often through bidding wars. If you are just starting to get out and look for homes, you probably are not aware of what has been happening lately. If you have been out looking and maybe even put in an offer or two you have already realized it's not as easy as just finding the perfect home. You have to WIN the perfect home.

When a lot of home buyers want the same property and write purchase offers for it, we have multiple offers. In some markets, multiple offers come in at or under list price (I have seen this in cooler markets). But when the realty…

New Measures by the Federal Housing Finance Agency could help boost short sales in Oakland County, Wayne County and throughout Michigan.

If you've been leaning toward purchasing one of the many homes for sale in Northville or surrounding cities then you may have considered the short sale - where the lender agrees to sell a house for less than the current owner owes.

While a short sale is potentially a great way to buy homes for sale in Novi, Northville, Canton, and even Ann Arbor, the stigma behind short sales is that there is a long (read: looooooooooooooong) wait to get through the red tape. 

Many buyers are intimidated by the process.

Thankfully, that long wait is set to get shorter in the near future.

The Federal Housing Finance…

In today’s residential real estate market, there is a lot of interest in buying bank owned properties. Some of the information you may read about is convoluted and confusing. Therefore, let this article serve as a breakdown of how purchasing bank owned property typically works.

An REO (Real Estate Owned) is a property that goes back to the mortgage company after an unsuccessful foreclosure auction. These properties are now owned by the bank because the properties failed to result in a bid. In fact, most foreclosure auctions do not even result in bids. When buying a property during a foreclosure sale, you must pay at least the loan balance plus any interest and other fees which accrued during the foreclosure process.

Foreclosure sales begin with a…

Has the pendulum shifted? Have we seen the worst of the real estate market here in Metro Detroit?

#marketupdatejan17#

Supply is down 20% and buyer demand is up 6%

The real estate market is changing right before our eyes. In the last year inventory or the amount of homes for sale each month has decreased by more than 20%. This in part due to the fact that there are a lot less bank foreclosures on the market. Lenders are much more open to short sales which avoids a foreclosure.

Of the 5,139 sales last month (the fact that there were 5,139 sales last month is remarkable in itself), 757 or 14.7% were short sales. Had the lender not been open to a short sale a lot of those homes would have eventually foreclosed. In general we know demand is up…

On October 24, 2011, the Obama administration rolled out a revamped program to help homeowners stave off foreclosures. This plan is for current borrowers who want to get a lower monthly payment through a lower mortgage rate. Proponents of the program say it would help boost the economy by relieving financial stress on homeowners and reducing their mortgage so that they would have more expendable money.

The new initiative, which involves removing barriers to homeowners qualifying for the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), is the latest in a series of steps by the President to defend his mortgage relief efforts and promote his jobs and economic policies.

At its core, the latest initiative would allow homeowners to refinance regardless of how…

The MARK Z. Home Selling Team finished number 81 in the country out of 2 Million plus Realtors on the "Top 250 Teams by Transaction Sides List" for 2011. The Wall Street Journal and Real Trends Inc. anncounced the top 1,000 real estate agents and teams for 2011 in the United States. Teams and Agents were ranked based on the total number of closed transactions in 2010. I wanted to congratulate my team on a very successful year in a very challenging real estate market. 

We are starting to see the market turn for the positive. Although we are seeing home prices increase in certain communities, we are still having appraisal issues on many houses. Foreclosure inventory is very scarse and when one does pop up on the scene more times than not, it is a…

To Lease, Own, Or Lease-To-Own Your Home

At some time in your life, you may have rented a home or an apartment, so you may have undoubtedly encountered a lease agreement. If you’ve ever bought or sold a house, you’re familiar with a purchase offer. The lease-to-own agreement is a hybrid of the two – a lease agreement combined with a purchase offer. Whether renting is better than buying depends on many factors, particularly how fast prices and rents rise and how long one intends to stay in the home.

A lease-to-own house purchase (also “rent-to-own purchase” or “lease purchase”) is a lease combined with an option to purchase the property within a specified period, usually 3 years or less, at an agreed-upon price. The borrower pays an…