Farmington Hills Real Estate and Events talk Michigan

It is very important to look at the current taxes on the listing ticket and then to look at the public records to find out if the Michigan property taxes will go up once you buy the property.

If the SEV (state equalized value) is greater than the taxable your Michigan property taxes are going to go up next year.  You don't want a big surprise next year and find out you can't find afford the house next year because of the taxes.  It's a surprise you don't want to know about

Be sure to ask your agent to help you find this out.

Here is what is happening in Farmington Hills real estate in the last six months.  If you notice Farmington Hills homes are still taking about 4 months to sell.  And if you look at the table below you will also notice most of the homes that are selling are selling are under the $210,000 price point.  

There are still lots of great deals out there and many beautiful Farmington Hills home that still are hitting the market.  When you are ready to start looking feel free to call or email me to help you find the homes of your dreams.

Information provided courtesy of RealComp II LTD

Negotiating is the toughest part of the sales process.

You have found the house you like finally.  Now the uncertainty starts.  So much depends on your agent at this point.  His goal is to learn as much about the seller's position as possible while negotiating.  WITHOUT GIVING AWAY YOUR POSITION.

His job is to portray that you are interested in the property, but not dying for it.  That you have interests in other properties, or that you think the property is overpriced.  NOT THAT YOU HAVE TO HAVE IT AT ANY PRICE.  (unless you tell your agent that)

But if you are trying to get the sales price down to a reasonable price you can live with.  That's your agent's job to help you achieve that goal. BUT IT ALSO DEPENDS ON THE SELLER.  In this market it is so hard sometimes.  So Metro Detroit home sellers are upside down.  They have to bring money to the table.  They owe too much.  They might owe as much as the list price.  I have seen it many times.

The problem then becomes your problem.  Your choice then becomes either to pay their price or go and find another house.

But in this real estate market of 2010 it may be that you have to walk away.  The sales price the seller has to get may be too high.  The house may not appraise for your bank.  Then you can't buy it.  YOU DON'T WANT TO OVER PAY FOR ANY HOME IN THIS MARKET.  My clients and I have had this happen to us with a Canton home and a Novi home lately.  Over paying in this market is not the smart thing to do. 

How did we ever get so hooked up to technology.  And how did it happen in 10 short years.  Yesterday I put down my cell phone at noon.  I honestly started reaching for it unconsciously two or three times.  I was practicing for an upcoming trip.  I am become so connected that sometimes my clients know that they can reach me anytime of day or evening.  

About a month ago I had a client get upset at me because I was unreachable when I was in the hospital.  Sad but true.  Normally I take phone calls almost all the time.  I got so bad my wife told me that she wanted me phone free some hours of the day.  So I am trying to do that for her.  I have to take care of who's number one in life.  So I have to and want to spend phone free time with my wife. 

What amazes me is that how we didn't have this technology 10 years ago or didn't call so much ten years ago.  We couldn't afford the minutes ten years ago.  So how connected are you? 

REIA of Oakland County Michigan is putting on a seminar on "How to flip houses"
REIA of Oakland County is a Non-Profit Real Estate Investment Group
Serving Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, and Livingston Counties in South Eastern Michigan.  I can't say enough about this association.  They go out of their way to teach and inform their members.  If you are a beginner I believe joining REIA (real estate investment association) is one of the best things you can do to ensure your success as a profitable real estate investors.

   This month they are proudly presenting

Paul Esajian of A&E's "Flip This House" on  February 11, 2010

 How To Rehab Like A Pro

 Paul Esajian, along with his lifelong friend and co-founder Than Merrill, built their company, CT Homes, LLC into a multi-million dollar company in just three short years.
During their first year in business Paul and Than bought and sold 30 properties. Since that time they have more than doubled that number every year.
Currently buying 8 - 12 properties each month, CT Homes, LLC has purchased, rehabbed and wholesaled more than 180 single and multi-family properties in the last three years. Their rehabs don't tend to be paint and carpet specials--their average project requires more than $35,000 in rehab. The average profit is over $27,000 each-you do the math!
Paul currently manages multiple teams of contractors and sub-contractors in three different states and over twenty different cities. Paul is an experienced Project Manager who specializes in personnel management and incentive based motivation for his contractors.
Don't think you have to be a Project Manager doing the number of projects that Paul manages--you may just have your own home and a rental or two to deal with--but don't think you can't do multiple projects, either.
Does the thought of rehabbing make you think twice about buying properties?
Paul will share three simple steps in managing contractors: do your homework, lay out a detailed scope of work that outlines your expectations and, finally, investigate the contractor's business before you go to contract. Paul will elaborate on those steps to take some of the fear out of rehabbing.
 

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Meeting Location

Michigan State University Management Education Center 811 W. Square Lake Road Troy, MI 48098

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Meeting Schedule 5:30pm - 7:15pm Early Bird Q&A and Vendor Expo 7:15pm - 9:30pm General Membership Meeting and Guest Speaker
         The public is welcome to attend at any of the above times.  
It is not necessary to attend all night.
       _________________________________   Cost  REIA of Oakland Member - FREE Non-member - $20.00 

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 About REIA of Oakland 

Thank you for your interest in the Real Estate Investors Association of Oakland.  REIA of Oakland is a non-profit organization founded in 1981 run entirely by volunteers.  Our goals include providing education to our members, providing professional networking, and monitoring the political and legislative environment as it affects the real estate investment business.  Our meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month at the MSU Management Education Center in Troy, 811 West Square Lake Road Troy, MI 48098  Click here for a map.

The meetings begin at 6:00pm with an hour of networking and an informal Early Bird Q&A session.  The seminar portion of the meeting runs from 7:15-9:30pm. Each month we have a different guest speaker, including national speakers on topics useful to  real estate investors. The formal presentation is followed by a question and answer session.

In addition to free admission to our monthly meetings, joining REIA has many benefits for real estate investors from novice to pro.  Visit our membership page here for more details about the benefits of membership.

Non-Members are welcome at the monthly meetings.  The monthly seminars are free for members and $20.00 for non-members

Search Metro Detroit investment homes and foreclosures 

I know of two people that have tried to do a loan modification.  I have one friend that had a contracting business that was dependant on new home sales.  When new construction died, so did his business.  So now he has a house he really can't afford.

He has been working on a loan modification since last summer.  He has stayed on top of all the requirements and has called the bank weekly.  He has the time to do it.  He still does not have a final approval but they are working on it.  (So they say)

Now the other loan modification is the exact opposite story.  She had a subprime loan, and was behind on her payments too.  They told her to make a specific payment for three months and give them a specific amount of money.  She did what she was told.  At the end of the period she followed up only to be told that they were changing what they wanted.  They wanted more money and to do the three months over again.

She felt she was lied too.  She feels she can't believe whether they will do the loan modification or not.  She has given up.  She is going to give the house back to the bank.  It is going to sheriff sale soon.  Then she has six months to live in the house for free. 

 So there are two sides of the coin.  One going thru and another client that was put thru the wringer only to find out the bank changed the rules halfway thru.  I have clients call and get frustrated and never even get the ball rolling.  I have had other clients call and be told in the first few calls they aren't eligible.  I myself don't have a clue what the banks require as criteria.  I think it all depends on the bank.

So few loan modifications have been done as compared the amount of foreclosures out there.  I wish the best for all the people that are trying to get loan modifications done.

We have come to the point of technology where NAR ethics - the Realtor code of conduct needs to be updated.

Recently I had an incident that involved common ethics and the Realtor code of ethics.  My clients had put in an offer the seller and listing agent responded back via email and texts of a counter offer.  We accepted the counter offer via text and email.  The listing agent was on vacation but acknowledged the acceptance of the offer.  She said she would get a signature as soon as she could.

But before the actual paperwork was signed by the seller three days later they received another offer and accepted that over our accepted offer.  Was it because she was on vacation and her assistant dropped the ball?  Who knows?

The code of ethics was quoted in that they had to "present all offers to the seller".  Which I think is wrong once an offer has been accepted via text or email.  But it wasn't in signed contract form.  The agent was able to back out of the deal.  She used the code of ethics to back out of a deal.  That isn't what our Realtor code of ethics was designed for.  It was common ethics - we had a deal and the agent in my opinion wasn't trust worthy.

I myself try to live by the code that your word is who you are.  I used to be a landscape contractor 20 years ago.  I have done a $100,000 landscape job on a handshake.  Sure it was dangerous and could have cost me but I had done business with these people before.  I knew how they worked and trusted them.  Sure real estate isn't like that at all.

We put everything in writing but we need to catch up with our code of ethics and layout guidelines on presenting offers once a offer has been agreed to via text and email.  Sadly my client lost this deal.  Sure he might have been able to sue and win but it was only a $30,000 house.  It would have cost him more.  My client feels he has been taken and cheated. He had a deal.

Sadly this agent in my eyes lost her reputation as a trust worthy agent.  I will always make her put her counter offers in writing from now on.  She is the one in a hundred real estate agents that give real estate a bad name. 

 Here are all the homes that have sold in Redford Michigan in the last year.  We have broken them down into price rances.  Out of the 1033 sold listings over 800 of them have sold under $50,000.  Redford is one of Detroit fringe cities.  I would call Redford a blue collar town.  Redford is one of America's working towns.

Last year over all the average time on the market was 89 days.  Now in the last 30 days it is only 67 days.  Homes are moving a little faster.  But there are still quite a few deals out there so get out there and start looking.

Search Redford foreclosures and Redford home listings - get the latest home listings emailed to you

Yes can you score or are you falling short?  Like the Colts tonight you can have great players, a great leader and still not come up a winner.  The Indianopolis Colts were favored to win but they came up short.

It is the same way in real estate.  You can have a good realtor, put in a good offer and still not get a home.  The other side, the seller may not cooperate. 

Here are some examples:

1.)  Some metro Detroit home buyers put in a offer over list price, but their offer was rejected on a Canton foreclosure because a lower cash offer was accepted.  Yes you heard me right, a lower cash offer.  The house needed a few repairs and the client was doing a FHA loan.  The bank didn't want to fix anything.

2.)  A client of mine lost a bid last week.  The seller has to sell the home at list price.  Even at that price the seller has to bring $37,000 to the table because the Canton home has lost so much value.  At list price the Canton home is way over priced.  So my client couldn't buy the home unless he was willing to over pay for the home.

3.)  My client put an offer in on a Farmington Hills short sale.  She can only get approved up to $200,000.  Well the listing agent called Friday and said the bank rejected our offer as too low.  We offer slightly above list price.  My client can't go higher.  We can't score on this deal because the bank won't take that price for the short sale.  My client can't go higher.  So the deal is dead.

4.)  My client put an offer on a Detroit home.  We offered below list price, the seller accepted.  We had an accepted offer.  The mortgage lender did an appraisal and came in $10,000 less than the accepted offer.  The seller refused to come down in price.  The deal fell apart.

So as a buyer you can put in good offers and not get the house because of what the seller thinks or what the seller can do.  They may not be able to sell the home except at a certain price.  A price that is too high for you the home buyer.  Sellers sometimes have financial restraints that won't allow them to sell except at an above market value.  Sellers sometimes won't accept certain kinds of mortgages because it creates potential problems for them.

So don't get discouraged when your offer gets turned down.  Put in your best offer and be glad you didn't over pay for the home.  That would only hurt you in the long run.   You can't change what the seller thinks or does.  

More Canton real estate information

        Farmington Hills real estate information

        Wayne County real estate home buyer advice

        Search Wayne and Oakland County real estate listings

If you are thinking of selling your home yourself here are some thing to think about.  Selling a home takes time but I will admit it can be done.  In this Metro Detroit real estate market it is extremely important to grab every buyer lead that is out there.  It is important to have priced your home right.  And most importantly to have the knowledge to negotiate the deal to close and hold the deal together when there are issues.   These are the top 5 reasons FSBO's are trying to sell right now in the metro Detroit real estate market.

1.  For Sale by Owners do not want to pay commission or Pay a commission they think is high:  80%.  For sale by owners want to save money.  In this market some of them are very close to what they owe.  They feel they have to sell themselves.  But according to research most FSBOs sell for less than comparable homes according to market research.  Why?  Here are 3 reason why FSBOS sell for less:

• Because they didn't have all the Local Metro Detroit real estate market data available to find out what there house was worth.  A Realtor or real estate agent has access to the MLS and public records at his fingertips.  A homeowner doesn't.  They can go to Zillow or CyberHomes to get an estimate, but the For Sale by Owner doesn't have the up to date knowledge that Real Estate agents do!  I have seen these estimates from Zillow and Cyberhomes off by $40,000 
•  The Metro Detroit home buyer thinks they should be getting 6% off the Metro Detroit home price when they are buying from a FSBO because they think the seller is saving 6% on realtor commissions.  
• The seller is not used to negotiating a real estate sale.  Those are some of the reason why FSBOS sell for less than a home listed by a real estate agent.  Many times FSBO's take longer to sell

2.  Don´t want to deal with a real estate agent:  6%  At some point in time the FSBO had a bad experience with a realtor.  This is a dumb reason- you don't want to deal with an experienced person in the field of knowledge?  Think about this....You don't want to deal with somebody licensed in the field?  You don't want somebody that has to take 6 hours of continuing education a year?  You don't want to use somebody that has many other realtors to ask questions to, a large reference support team that has years of experience for those odd situations?  You don't want somebody that is being exposed to the local market conditions and real estate 8 hours a day, 5 days a week?  You would rather use a novice?  You don't want a person that is licensed in the field and could lose that licence if they do something wrong?    You don't want to use an agent that carries errors and omissions insurance.   All agents are not alike.  There are many very good Metro Detroit real estate agents out there.

3.  Selling to neighbor, friend, relative, someone you know:  9% This is the one time I think you should be a FSBO.  If you have the deal all set up, you and the buyer know what your house is worth and you have the ability to get the legal paperwork right.  But please consult with a local title company, and an attorney to make sure the paperwork is right.

4.  An agent was unable to sell your home:  2%  So one Metro Detroit Realtor or real estate agent could not sell your Michigan home.  You might want to try a different agent with a different marketing plan.  The MLS and the internet sells homes.  You need more than a sign out front usually to sell a home.  You need to answer the phone calls immediately when somebody call on the house.  This is one area that I think For Sale by Owners lack in.  I usually get a call back when I call on a FSBO 2 days - 7 days later.  By then my buyers have moved on.  Real estate agents have office staff to set up showings, floor agents or themselves to answer questions about the property usually within a few hours.

5.  Buyers contact you directly: 2%  Sure! You get somebody that wants to buy your house.  What is it worth?  Either you are going to sell it too low, or you might get lucky and sell it high.  Think about it.  If you were going to offer to buy a home that wasn't listed wouldn't you offer low and try to get it at a bargain.   Either the buyer or the seller is going to lose here.  Again most of my experiences with For Sale by Owners is that they had the price wrong.  They did not have a Metro Detroit realtor or Michigan real estate agent bringing them the latest market comparables that sold in their neighborhood and city

For sale by owners ( FSBOS) do not have the internet  exposure needed in this Metro Detroit market to sell there home.  You have to react quick to the buyers out there.  You have to have your home priced right with the falling Metro Detroit real estate market or else your home will sit even longer and you will be chasing the market down longer.

The  bottom line is that the media has hyped that there are great deals out there.  That you can offer way below list price.  Well take it from a metro Detroit real estate agent if you price your home right many homes right now are selling close to list price.  The media is a little off on what is happening in the Metro Detroit real estate market.

If you are trying to sell by owner in the Metro Detroit area and can't give me a call on my cell at 313-310-9855 or email me at info@RussRavary.com to see if I can help you sell your home.