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…

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…

Polgon Map Search for property

The new feature utilizes Microsoft's polygon drawing tool and allows Michigan home buyers to use a polygon tool to draw their own home search parameters on a map.  This provide users a unique opportunity and greater flexibility to pinpoint home searches to a specific neighborhood, block or even condo building.

Using the SEARCH HOMES tab, you can start your home search by clicking on "SEARCH BY MAP", then on the right side of the page, click on the specific city that you want to search for property, click on "Refine Your Search" and this will bring up the general area on the map. Now you're ready to start using your never before seen polygon search tool. 

• Draw a Polygon as shown below to narrow your search to…

This chart, from a recent paper by Alan Mallach, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, helps explain why more properties haven’t ended up on the market as foreclosure resales.

There isn't a day that goes by that one of my investors or buyers in our pipeline doesn't ask "Where did all the foreclosures in Michigan go?" A lot of investors and commonly known as "fix and flippers" have a lot of cash sitting around waiting to jump all over the next bank foreclosure.

The number of properties in the foreclosure or delinquency pipeline has grown to record highs, yet volumes of bank-owned properties have fallen steadily over the past year.

What’s happening?

• Some delinquent loans have “cured,” either naturally or through loan modifications. Even…

When The Home You Rent Goes Into Foreclosure

Before May 20, 2009, most renters lost their leases upon foreclosure. These rules changed dramatically on May 20, 2009, when President Obama signed the "Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009. This legislation provided that leases would survive a foreclosure -- meaning the tenant could stay at least until the end of the lease, and that month-to-month tenants would be entitled to 90 days' notice before having to move out (this notice period is longer than any state's non-foreclosure notice period, a real boon to tenants).

Does It Make Sense to Evict Tenants?

New owners may want to terminate existing tenants because they believe that vacant properties are easier to sell. Common sense suggests otherwise.…

The first time home buyers tax credit was about to expire June 30th and at the eleventh hour, the Senate has amended a bill to give homebuyers who were under contract on a home purchase by April 30 an additional three months to close the deal and claim the federal homebuyer tax credit.

Extending the deadline for closing from June 30 to Sept. 30 would allow lenders more time to clear a backlog of 180,000 homebuyers nationwide, said amendment sponsor Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The amendment to HR 4213, the "American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010" -- which primarily extends unemployment insurance benefits -- was approved in a 60-37 vote Wednesday. The vote was mostly along party lines, with only four Republicans in favor and one Democrat…