Farmington Hills Real Estate and Events talk Michigan

 We got the clear to close today and now what do we have to do when buying Metro Detroit real estate

 Now that we are clear to close and have the date and time set up this is what happens next.   Your lender sends the closing documents to the title company.  The title company prepares the final HUD statement which is the final numbers document.  The title company figures out the tax pro rations and put all the closing fees on one document.  Then they send it back to the lender for final approval.  Then your lender will call you with the final number you need to bring to closing.  You lender may not call you until the day of closing with those numbers.  Though most of the time they get it to you the day before.  If you have an early morning closing they will get it to you the day before.   Here is what you need to bring to closing. 

• A picture ID  preferably your driver's license.  You can not close without this.
• The check with the full amount your lender told you.  It must be a cashier's check.  The title company will not accept personal checks.  Have it made out to you and then at closing you will sign the back of it and sign it over to the title company.
• Bring a copy of the homeowner's insurance just in case the title company needs it.

Also before closing be sure to have the utilities switched over into your name.  The seller will be shutting them off on the day of closing.  So you won't have any lights in the house that night.  If the house is a foreclosure you may have switched over the utilities already for the inspection so disreguard this.

• DTE                                         800-477-4747
• Consumers Power                     800-477-5050

If you have any last minute questions feel free to pick up the phone or we will see you at closing.

It took some time but we finally got the deal closed on the Livingston County water front home.  It was a for sale by owner who picked an attorney out of the yellow pages because the attorney lived close to them.  Boy was that a mistake.

                               

It took 2 months to get this Livingston County water front home closed.  Sure it needed propate court approval, but 8 weeks on a cash deal!!!!  I had to call the attorney at least twice a week to keep them moving.  Sadly the attorney always had an excuse why this or that wasn't done.  The only reason it closed this week is because I set the closing and alerted all parties that is was closing today.  Even though the attorney wasn't ready to close it.

The attorney had to get the document from the court.  Something he had been putting off for three weeks.  He of course didn't show for the closing.  The seller said he would have fired the attorney, if it wouldn't have slowed the deal down more.

Unfortunately this happens way too much in our business.  Every once in a while the other real estate agent, title company, attorney, or mortgage company just falls down on the job.  Even though I got this one closed today, I got a bombshell on another deal.

A downriver home needs a city inspection to close.  Sadly the real estate agent never bothered to order it and only ordered it when I called to schedule the closing.  Yes that agent fell down, but we are at least on the right path.  And today I got the news that the title work came in on another house after 26 days.  Again the real estate agent didn't order the title work for 16 days, then the title company didn't send it over for 10 days.  The mortgage company was calling every single day for the past week.  Sadly the listing agent and the title company didn't do their job well on that deal.

But that is what my clients pay me for.  To handle the issues and push the other people to get their job done.  It's my job to call, and to be the pain in the rear so the deal can close.  Hopefully on time, hopefully without cost to my client, and as soon as possible.  With as little stress as possible.  That's my job to get your home deal closed.  No matter if it is a Livingston county water front home or just Northville real estate we all have to do our job well.

 and have a few thousand bucks to invest.  But is Detroit the place to invest your money? Sure you may have never heard of such low home prices.  Yes homes in your country or state may be much higher.  In fact they may be hundred of thousands of dollars higher.  But just because a home is $500 or $1000 or $10,000 doesn't mean it is a bargain.

• What will be your return on investment?
• what will be your downside?
• what will it cost to bring up to code or to saleable condition?
• what is Detroit and rental market like?
• what will it take for your investment to be worth more money?
• what are local professional investors doing in the City of Detroit.

I myself would not buy investment homes in the City of Detroit.  I would put my families or friend's money there either.  I don't know of any investors that have done well in the City of Detroit.  In the suburbs yes, but not in the city. 

I have to be a little more specific why not to buy in Detroit

1. poor school system in the city of Detroit.  Nobody will want to move to Detroit from the suburbs because the school system is so bad and unsafe for their kids. 
2. High crime statistics
3. High home and car insurance rates
4. Poor city services in my opinion
5. high property taxes - they could be as high as $3000 for that $500 property - hard to get the high property taxes reduced.
6. Detroit is unfriendly for investors and property managers - hard to evict and landlord is responsible for people leaving cars or dumping garbage or leaving personal property to be removed.  have to board up the house when vacant.
7. when home is vacant very likely the furnace, the copper plumbing, and the hot water heater will be stolen.  Anything valuable has a chance of "walking"  how will an out of town investor know when the tenant is gone?
8. too many great investment homes in the suburbs which will give a better return on investment.  Sure not $500 but you'll still have a home intact when it is vacant 

My advice buy in a city that the homes will increase in value quicker.  Call me if you want to know what makes a good investment home.

It wasn't a picture perfect weather day.  It was a little cloudy but it was a picture perfect day for Marianne my wife and I.  We are waiting for results from a bone scan she had done the other day.  So I set up what she needed the most.  She needed a little comfort from Ryan our son.

The fall colors were beautiful.  We got off the main highway and took some back roads for an hour.

                                      

I called him (he lives in Chicago) but he was busy.  I was going to drop in with Marianne but he had a Halloween party planned with friends.  But he was great and said he would meet us on the west coast of Michigan to go to an apple orchard on Sunday.  So Marianne and I drove about 2 1/2 hours and he and Katie drove a couple of hours to meet over on the west side of the state.

                      

So we hung out at Jollay Orchards in Coloma.  We took a hay ride, had a carmel apple, drank some cider, and swatted away all the bees that were after the sweet stuff. 

                                                       

 We fed the animals and then we had a meal at the Friendly Tavern in downtown Coloma.   If you are in the area I would recommend both places.  We had some great service and good food at Friendly Tavern.  206 N Paw Paw St, Coloma, MI 49038-9589
(269) 468-3037 

It was a great day.  Ryan lifted Marianne's spirits.   I hope you all had a good weekend too.  

 If you are selling your Metro Detroit home here are the two areas you may have liability.

1. Tax liability -  currently there is no tax liability because President Bush declared there would be no tax liability for on a principal residence.  It hasn't expired yet.  Before President Bush did that the banks would send out a 1099.  The borrowers would be liable for the tax on the deficiency.  If it is a investment property you can get a 1099.

2. Deficiency liability -  Difference between sales price and loan amount.  The banks can come after the borrower for the deficiency.  The only protection the borrower has is if you get a release of deficiency letter for them.   Many real estate agents are not following up on this.  Some banks are putting the release in the short sale letter others are not.  Some banks require the seller to be responsible for the shortage.  It just depends on the bank.

So be careful and check with an attorney and your CPA also on what your liabilities may be.

Metro Detroit Relocation Information

Whether you are relocating to Metro Detroit area from out of state or just moving to Wayne or Oakland County from within Michigan you want make the right choice in the neighborhood and the right city.  You want to know about the neighborhoods in the area.  For example you might want to know:  What about Plymouth crime statistics, Northville schools?  How do they compare to Novi or South Lyon Schools?  What age group are most of the residents in Livonia? Is Canton, or Redford a better place to live?  What about the taxes?  On my Livonia real estate home page or on my metro Detroit real estate information website I have many cities listed, millage rates, subdivisions within the city.  Scroll down the whole front home page and click on the area for valuable city info.   Below are links and suggestions on how to find more information than even I have on my sites.

Metro Detroit Relocation Information is important to you the buyer.  The first thing I recommend you should do is search the city.  Google or Yahoo the information you want.  Go to the actual cities site and the chamber of commerce and read about the community.  Read about the schools, police and fire department.  Then use outside sources to get through the "hype"

Metro Detroit School Information  So your move to Michigan is going to take you to Redford. What about the schools, what about the test scores, How does Redford compare to Northville.  Or how does Plymouth schools compare to Novi schools.  Here are some ways to compare them:

www.greatschools.net                                 http://www.schoolmatters.com/                 michigan.privateschoolsreport.com          www.schooldigger.com             www.publicschoolreview.com                     www.schoolmatch.com            www.ratemyteachers.com

Demographics about Metro Detroit information  Are you relocating to Michigan and want to know about Canton Michigan or a city in Oakland County.  You might want to know the average age, the average income, the races of the people to see if you are going to like the area or fit in.  You don't want to move your 6 kids into an area that 85% of the residents are over 65.

http://www.census.gov/main/www/cen2000.html        http://www.maps-n-stats.com/                      http://profiles.nationalrelocation.com                           http://www.muninetguide.com/         http://www.epodunk.com/                                              http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki                   http://michigan.hometownlocator.com

Metro Detroit crime Statistics   How bad is the crime in Northville, how does it compare to your old city?  How good are the Michigan crime statistics?

http://www.infoplease.com/                   http://www.cityrating.com/      
www.crime.org                                      http://livonia.areaconnect.com

Best places    So you are nervous about your Metro Detroit relocation and you want the best possible city.  Here are a few more areas to check out.    Novi Michigan may be the town for your family.

http://www.bestplaces.net/                     http://www.findyourspot.com/                   www.cityrating.com                                www.homefair.com

Local Metro Detroit suburb Data    Now here are spots to get information about your Metro Detroit relocation.  Whether it is Livonia, Garden City, Wayne county, Oakland county or any county in the local metro Detroit area you can learn a lot about the spot you are moving to.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki                       http://www.city-data.com/                      http://www.relocationnow.com/                 http://www.infomi.com
http://zipskinny.com/

 

This is a question I received from one my clients the other day.  They are looking to buy a Canton Michigan home.  Basically how the negotiations go depends on how the listing agent priced the home.  There are two main components I believe in a short sale that determine how the negotiations go.

1. Fair market value of the home.  The bank that is selling the property is going to do an appraisal or a BPO on the home.  They are going to look at the fair market value of the home and compare it to your offer.  If your offer is far below the fair market value that the appraiser says it is,  then they may say no to your offer.  The bank considers the market trend in the area (are home values falling)  The bank considers the costs of keeping the property.  The costs of the attorneys fees, the costs of maintaining the property.  Then the bank comes up with a number they can live with.  It is usually a drop dead number.
2. Whether there is a second mortgage company is involved.  This usually complicated the whole short sale process especially if it is a different mortgage company from the first.  Some times the second mortgage company don't want to co-operate.  Sometimes they feel the borrower is collectible so they don't want to take anything less than full amount.  Sometimes they need to get at least a fraction of the money owed.  Even $5,000 or $10,000 is sometimes better than nothing.  A second different mortgage company throws an unknown factor into the mix.  Sometimes they just never close.

So you can't really low ball a short sale much lower than what foreclosures are going for in the area.  Sometimes you don't get a second shot at the offer.  So my opinion is...if you want to low ball offers then do not go after short sales.  If you want the house put in an offer that is close to the market value so you make sure you get the home you want.  That's just my opinion.

They have asked me to teach a class in February for our Remerica firm so I thought I would start now with what I will talk about.  There is so much to talk about.

Social media and blogging scares a lot of newcomers.  The biggest question is how will I make money from blogging or participating in social media sites.  I am going to start first on blogging.  Some of the questions most newbies ask are:

• Where do I start?
• I don't know how to write?
• What do I write about? 
• How do you blog? 
• How much money will I make from blogging? 
• What sites should I blog on?
• How much time does it take? 
• Does Blogging work?

So to answer the last question..... Yes blogging works.  Yes blogging brings business.  Blogging is an bigger time investment versus a money investment.  So for a newbie to the real estate business it is a great way of building a business.  For somebody who has been in the business a long time and now finds they are slow...... blogging is a great way to invest your time.  A great way to build a web presence inexpensively.

Just to give you general idea of what blogging can do.  I have read stories over over 4 million dollars of sales coming from an investment of one hour a day.  Myself I get any where from 5 to 15 leads a week.  I do a good business from blogging.

Check out active rain success stories to see how it has helped others.

Stay tuned for more info on:

• what are keywords
• how to hyperlink
• what to write about
• what's a perfect blog
• why be personal
• what's the benefits of blogging and social media
• facebook, linkedin, plaxo, twitter
• profile pages
• what sites to blog on
• how to pick a website
• how to manage your time and still sell real estate
• how to put blogging, websites, and social media together   

I need help with more topics so all of you active rainers add what else I should talk about and write about between now and February.

I want to say I have to hand it too Michigan State Spartan football team.  They played a heck of a game against Iowa.  To lose the game with 2 seconds left was a heartbreaker.  They played tough and they played well.

To all the young men on the team when you look at yourself in the mirror tomorrow be proud.  You may have lost but I'm proud of you and I'm sure many other people are in Michigan.  Football games sometimes are won with one key play and Iowa did it.  But you made us proud by playing a great game.

 

I saw a blurb on short sales on a national morning news channel this week.  What they were showing is that short sales are taking a long time.  They say they are taking twice as long as they were a  year ago.  They showed a couple of people that took 8 months and 12 months.  In the metro Detroit area most short sales are taking about six months.  The issue usually is that sellers are trying to short sell their property too late.  If you think you are in trouble or need to sell call a Realtor quickly.  Get the home listed as soon as possible.

The news channel also said 12% of all homes on the market are short sales.  They also said that only 60% of the short sales get done.  I honestly don't think anybody really knows that number.  What I am finding out or noticing is that short sales don't get completed for these reasons.

1. Buyers don't stick around.  They get tired of waiting and being in the dark.
2. Banks don't approve the short sale because they want more money. 
3. The seller doesn't cooperate with the bank or the real estate agents. 
4. The bank doesn't agree to short sale the home because of the sellers situation.

What percentage of short sales actually get done is a guess.  But many are getting done if you stick it out.  I myself have been on both sides.  Sometimes getting done, sometimes never even getting close.   I had one fall apart today.

The buyer wants to buy, the seller wants to get out, and the bank wants a certain price.  We ended up $17,000 apart.  The seller decided they wanted to let it go to foreclosure.  They gave up on the game.  So the house most likely will go into disrepair for the next 7 months.  The 2nd mortgage holder will lose everything once the house goes to foreclosure.  The lose.