Passed by the House early in October was a bill extending the $8,000 home buyer tax credit next year for military, diplomatic and intelligence personnel serving overseas. This increases the likelihood that Congress will write an extension of the $8000 tax credit program into 2010 but of course there is no guarantee.  Hopefully, lawmakers appreciate the tax credit program, currently slated to expire November 30, as a critical component in "saving and creating" jobs.  The $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers is scheduled to expire on December 1, 2009.  However, in order to qualify, the transaction must be closed on or before November 30th, essentially leaving first-time buyers with less than 35 days to complete the process.  At this point, this assumes a "Chinese Fire Drill" approach in order to take advantage of this program if you haven't already began the process.  While the urgency of trying to find and close on a home before the deadline may seem stressful, it doesn't have to be, unless you want it to be a... "Chinese Fire Drill".  "Yes, the tax credit is encouraging first-time homebuyers, but we're concerned that people could miss out on this unique money-saving opportunity if they haven't anticipated the time necessary for closing," said Coldwell Banker Schmidt Realtors General Manager Tom Gray.  "While every home purchase is a unique experience, we are encouraging first-time homebuyers to be under contract within the next few days in order to participate in this "soon to not likely be extended"... Chinese Fire Drill."   Please assume your positions.

Traverse City Real Estate Market is in fact better.  The numbers don't lie!!!  From July 1^st 2008 to September 25th 2008 there were 270 closed residential sales reported in the Traverse Area Association of Realtors (TAAR) MLS system.  During that exact period of time for this year there were 303 closed residential sales reported.  That's a 12% increase over 2008!  Another positive note is that of the 303 residential sales only a total of 68 were either bank owned, foreclosures or pre-foreclosure homes.  Again, this is good because prior to this, foreclosures represented approximately 35% of the closed sales in Traverse City.  Now that number is only 22% over the last 86 days. 

"It just feels better" according to Josh Croff of Coldwell Banker Schmidt Realtors 402 E Front Street office.  "Any first time home buyer I work with has had to be disappointed by the number of properties that are already "under contract" waiting to close" says Mr. Croff.   He continues "Your buyer picks out 15 listings to look at and of those 15, 7 are not available to show because they have a contract signed". 

The fact that the number of closed foreclosure homes is shrinking is good news for both regular folks trying to sell their home unencumbered by a shortfall and good news for real estate prices.  If this trend continues then prices should level off as compared with a consistent decline we've seen in recent months.

The bottom line is this:  Now is a great time to buy and now is a great time to sell.   Buyers are "coming out of the woodwork"   The "two minute warning" is here.  Two months to close for first time home buyers to qualify for the $8000 tax credit.  November 30^th 2009 it ends...unless it gets extended.   Let's hope it does!  Either way Traverse City Real Estate Rocks!

So the big question is how many foreclosure homes closed in May 2009 in Traverse City?  26 homes out of 88 were tagged as foreclosure or bank owned in Traverse City for May 2009.  That represents about 29%.  The better news is right now if you complete a search for foreclosure and bank owned homes in Grand Traverse County, there were only 74 such homes available as of June 12, 2009.  That means that there is less than a 3 month supply of foreclosure/bank owned homes on the market today in Traverse City Michigan.  With the number of foreclosures starting to perhaps taper off, there could be a chance that prices may begin to climb again in the near future.  Please see below the diverse mix of foreclosures in Traverse City Mi:

Stay away from foreclosures!

Did I hear you right?  Stay away from foreclosures?  Are you on drugs?  Yes, but that's beside the point.

I was talking to a first time home buyer in Traverse City recently that made a conscience effort to avoid buying a bank owned property.  Why?  He simply said "I got tired of being 3d in line and out bid by other buyers."   It's true.  The competition is fierce in some markets.   Traverse City real estate is getting to that point where buyers are getting frustrated at what I call "the foreclosure cluster offer period whereby people get angry syndrome" or FCOPWPGAS.   Yes FCOPWPGAS is new acronym that I am pushing out to see if it gets any traction.   So what is the solution to FCOPWPGAS?  This aforementioned buyer decided to buy a regular guy's house!  Imagine that.  A regular guy's house sells to an x-foreclosure buyer!  Why?  The "regular people" are pricing their homes to compete with the foreclosure properties in Traverse City.   Yes, it happening, this is a good sign and it does make sense.  Think about what's happening.  Foreclosure homes tend to be in need of monumental TLC.  TLC = mucho $$$.  So if you have a choice to buy a "regular guy's" house that's priced great and needs no (major) work and a bank owned home that needs roof, windows, plumbing, carpet, doors, walls, appliances, kitchen.....need I say more?  Again, add to the mix the bidding war for foreclosure homes...yes..."you may want to stay away from foreclosures " to avoid FCOPWPGAS.

To see all Broker foreclosures in Traverse City click here.

To see all Broker "regular folks" homes and foreclosures click here.

Affordable housing in Traverse City has never been better.  There are 137 homes tagged as Traverse City foreclosure or bank owned  in Grand Traverse County as on April 30 2009.  43 of these 137 Traverse City homes for sale are $150,000 + in value.  10 of these Traverse City foreclosure Homes are between $300,000 and $825,000.  So the message is "they are not all dives".  You can buy a nice home in Traverse City Michigan for a great price at http://www.cbgreatlakes.com/Search/Foreclosures .

To get a taste of great deals nationally please see this video:

Traverse City Michigan Real Estate Sales were strong in March and April of 2009!  There was reported in TAAR MLS 150 closed homes.  Compared with March and April of 2008 that represents approximately a 7% difference.  161 Homes closed in March/April of 2008.  Of those 150 Traverse City Mi Homes that closed this year how many were bank owned or reported as Traverse City foreclosures homes?  49 homes were reported as Traverse City bank owned or foreclosures.  That means that 33% of the closed homes were foreclosures in Traverse City.  For a direct link to see all broker foreclosures in Traverse City MI click here.

Are we at the bottom?  How big is the bottom?  Today's real estate market could be likened to reminiscing about your 3d grade bus driver in that no one knows how "big" (his or her) bottom was.  However, whereas you don't care to know the anatomy of your 3d grade bus driver, you are hoping to foresee and understand the "anatomy" of this unprecedented market low as it relates to buying a home or helping someone buy a home. 

There are indications that the market is reaching it's bottom.  This means that home prices may not get any lower.  When you consider that interest rates are at a 50 year low, now is unquestionably and unmistakably the time to "get off the fence".  Foreclosure pricing has also effected the pricing of homes overall.  Now we're seeing non bank owned (regular folks) pricing their homes more competitively and this is causing them to sell (their homes) in higher numbers than for example 6 months ago when they may have "hoped foreclosure home inventories would be decreasing".  Although the number of foreclosure homes is not decreasing yet, we are seeing the stabilization of pricing which alludes to a possible bottoming of the market. 

The "bottom" line is get your "butt" in gear or you may be kicking yourself in the "rear".

See video below for similar sentiments nationally:

See all of the  Traverse City, MI Real Estate listings, residential, homes, vacant land, waterfront and bank foreclosure properties!  All Realtor and MLS listed homes and acreage properties. View ALL MLS Listings!  

All Bank Foreclosure Properties.  Every MLS Bank Repo,  REO properties here, Foreclosures.  See all  homes in the Traverse City, Michigan area.  See all foreclosures before  buying bank foreclosure homes, all bank repo homes, All REO homes. Click here for All Bank Foreclosure Homes, Bank Repos, REO Homes

If you are Buying a home or Real Estate in Traverse City, Michigan  then consider finding every available residential, waterfront, bank foreclosure, condo, commercial and vacant land right in one place  CBGreatLakes.com

What about Selling a home or Real Estate in  the  Traverse City, MI area?  Whether you own residential, waterfront, vacant land, commercial, condo or you might be nearing  bank foreclosure we have experienced Traverse City sales associates who can assist you in  Selling your property!

All MLS Listings of Traverse City, MI Real Estate are a click away.  Property Detailed MLS profile  pages of homes for sale in Traverse City, Michigan. 18 photos and virtual tours of  Traverse City Real Estate Listings  ALL MLS Listings!

  Location, Location, Location see the Location of every property via Google mapping. It's all about Google. It's our Marketing Strategy.  Whether you're searching for bank foreclosure homes, residential listings, waterfront or vacant properties, our site has ALL MLS listings!

Traverse City Relocation Link Here

Coldwell Banker Schmidt in top 50 list

 FROM STAFF REPORTS

 TRAVERSE CITY -- The Coldwell Banker Schmidt Family of Companies was listed among the top 50 real estate brokerages in the U.S. in the 2009 RISMedia Power Broker Survey.

The firm ranked 46th with 6,672 closed sales units in 2008 among more than 600 respondents in the survey. That made it the third-ranked Coldwell Banker affiliate in the country and the largest in the eastern half of the U.S. The company also made the list of the largest 500 brokers in the country as determined by REALTrends 500, an annual research report.

"That we've experienced this kind of growth, and done it outside of the large metro markets in southeast Michigan, is truly humbling," said Ken Schmidt, the firm's chief executive officer.

The firm is a fourth generation, family owned realty company that includes Coldwell Banker Schmidt Realtors in northern Michigan, Coldwell Banker AJS Schmidt in Grand Rapids and Coldwell Banker Woodland Schmidt in the Holland-Muskegon area.''

full story here

www.cbgreatlakes.com

Rick Mately from our Acme office which services the Grand Traverse area was recently quoted in USA Today.  "Rick is one our top producers and a hard working agent finding his niche in Traverse City, Acme and Kalkaska" according to General manager Tom Gray of Coldwell Banker Schmidt Realtors.  "They (USA Today) interviewed a true professional that knows current market conditions for the Traverse City real estate market" Gray says.  See http://www.cbgreatlakes.com for more Traverse City Mi Real Estate.

Full Story Here:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/closetohome/2009-04-06-traverse-city-michigan-home-market_N.htm