I've posted before about the concern with poison drywall from China. It is a big problem in Florida and a number of other states.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission now has a website devoted to the topic here: Drywall Information Center
And it looks like there have not been problems reported to date in Michigan.
This is very good. Some people are predicting this will be the largest liability issue to hit the country ever.
If you hear of it becoming a problem in Michigan please let us know and send us a link so we can share it here.
If you are looking to buy a home and you want a real estate company that will always be on your side, in your corner, and looking out for you, call us.
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN January 19 -- An Ann Arbor real estate Buyer's Agency released data on their 2008 purchases today. The Home Buyer's Agent of Ann Arbor reported that their average savings figures are up 39% to $22,777 per purchase compared to 2007 levels.
Unlike traditional real estate companies who try to sell their listings for the highest price, a buyer's agency works to help purchasers get the lowest possible price.
"The economic conditions have certainly brought down the property values and put more foreclosures into the market," stated Jon Boyd, Broker/Manager of The Home Buyer's Agent of Ann Arbor, "but these savings numbers are the product of many conditions coming together, including the skill and passion of our buyer agents. Since many brokerages have moved away from full fiduciary level service into limited designated agency, it gives our more experienced team a greater negotiating advantage."
Savings for buyer's agencies are typically calculated based on cost reductions in multiple areas, including purchase price, negotiated repairs, mortgage costs, and personal property. These savings numbers include a broad variety of property from luxury homes to vacant land and condominiums. A more detailed explanation of savings calculation is available on the company's website here: Ann Arbor real estate savings calculation
"Since most real estate licensees in our area work as designated agents and are only involved in a few home purchases a year, the added complications of short-sales and foreclosures makes it hard for them to be as effective in negotiation" concluded Boyd.
The Ann Arbor real estate buyer's agent is the oldest Exclusive Buyer's Agency in the state of Michigan and has helped hundreds of home buyers save millions of dollars on their home purchases. Since Exclusive Buyer Agents only represent home buyers and never sellers, these companies avoid the conflicts of interest of traditional real estate companies and offer home buyers 100% loyalty.
It sounds like some incoming physicians doing their residency here have been receiving bad information about available mortgage options
The mortgage market has changed dramatically over the last two years. There are now only about a half dozen zero downpayment mortgage options now where two years ago there were about twice that many. (And they were dramatically more available.)
But, when you are buying a home you only need one mortgage, and if you are a physican here for your residency then realatively easy zero downpayment options are still available.
It will take some preparation and there are some limitations, but in general the Midwest Financial Credit Union is still a good option.
They offer: Closing before first paycheck Zero downpayment Ignoring student loan obligations in most situations No PMI (but a higher interest rate to compensate for some additonal risk.) A physician friendly application process
Note: These loans are specifically for physicians, so they are not visible on the credit union's website.
I heard an interesting story yesterday from a home inspector that works in the Washtenaw County area.
It was about one of those enlightening moments in his career and it happened ten or twelve years ago.
He was at an inspection and he was talking to the home buyer about radon and how it was a suspected carcinogen an how it was prevalent in the area. He also recommended that the buyer have a radon test done on the home.
Later that day after the buyer had left the nice real estate agent came up to him and said something along the lines of: "If you ever mention radon to a home buyer again I'll have to stop using you."
That was such a clear instruction, and so anti-buyer, that it made a huge impact on him. At that point he knew he either had to get under the thumb of the real estate industry or build his own referral base totally outside of the REALTOR organization. He chose the latter and he is still in business today.
And, our office is one of the only real estate companies in the market that actively uses this guy.
If you are looking to buy a home and you want a real estate company that will always be on your side, in your corner, and looking out for you, call us.
We serve the Ann Arbor - Brighton - Plymouth - Novi - Canton - Ypsilanti areas in Southeastern Michigan. And we can guarantee that you will never be stuck with designated agency, dual agency, or non-agency. We will always be your buyer's agent!
Call us today at 734-662-6240 to talk about how we can help you achieve your home buying dreams!
The national association most of the top buyer agents belong to (naeba.org) just posted this press release:
AVONDALE, Ariz., March 31, 2009 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- As fewer transactions are split up between a relatively fixed number of real estate agents, those agents are using whatever tools they can to hold on to home buyers, in some cases against the buyer's will. One of those "tools" is an outdated industry secret called "procuring cause," and it is frustrating many of today's home buyers, according to the home buying specialists at the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (NAEBA).
Procuring cause is an industry term that describes the ability of any agent who showed a buyer a home to claim that they should be paid if the buyer eventually wants to buy that home.
Many buyers get "married" to agents who show them a property without ever knowing it. Charlie and Meg Bear, of Acton, Massachusetts, are like many buyers in today's market. When they started house-hunting, they went to the Internet. Click ... they found a house to see; click ... they sent a request to the listing agent. At the second house they saw this way, the agent who showed them the house disclosed that he was a "buyer's agent." He was the husband of the listing agent. Charlie did not want a buyer's agent who was married to the listing agent. "This disclosure is not a contract" was clearly on the form. Meg signed the form; Charlie did not.
Time went by. Charlie and Meg hired Connie LeDuc of Authentic Home Buyers Brokers in Southborough, MA. When they eventually decided to make an offer on that home they saw through the Internet, confusion reigned. The "buyer's agent" did not want Connie to represent Charlie and Meg on his wife's listing. The listing agent, his wife, was all for getting this home sold to the Bears, but her husband insisted that he was their "buyer's agent." After much negotiation between the brokers, the Bears bought their new home.
"Potential homebuyers who attend open houses or view properties with the listing agent, or a licensee working for the listing agency, may forfeit their opportunity to have full representation," said John Sullivan, President of NAEBA . "To have 100% representation 100% of the time, homebuyers should have a written agreement with an exclusive buyer's agent that spells out the duties and obligations of both parties before looking at any home."
What did Charlie and Meg Bear learn from their experience? "People like us don't know they should find their agent before they find their house," says Charlie.
The National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents was founded in 1995 to help consumers become educated home buyers. NAEBA is a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to be the "champions of real estate buyers' rights and representation." NAEBA offers industry standard certifications, ongoing education, client referral services, technology, and information sharing. The NAEBA Code of Ethics pledges undivided loyalty to real estate buyers only. For the name of an Exclusive Buyer's Agent in your area, visit www.naeba.org.
SOURCE National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents
When you think about it the idea that a wife can be a seller's agent and the husband can be a buyer's agent on the same transaction is a complete scam. Why don't those licensees admit that they are dual agents or non-agents and stop destroying any confidence that consumers might have in the profession.
Amazing!
If you are looking to buy a home and you don't want to expose yourself to this kind of nonsense we can help.
We serve the Ann Arbor - Brighton - Plymouth - Novi - Canton - Ypsilanti areas in Southeastern Michigan. And we can guarantee that you will never be stuck with designated agency, dual agency, or non-agency. We will always be your buyer's agent!
Call us today at 734-662-6240 to talk about how we can help you achieve your home buying dreams!
We sometimes talk about homes that have suffered from abuse from their owners.
A friend of mine ran across this example in a home he bought recently.
The furnace had been run for years without a filter.
Here is what he saw when he opened it up and looked at the air conditioning coils:
Here is what it should look like:
Home that have been "abused"
We sometimes talk about homes that have suffered from abuse from their owners.
A friend of mine ran across this example in a home he bought recently.
The furnace had been run for years without a filter.
Here is what he saw when he opened it up and looked at the air conditioning coils:
Here is what it should look like:
You can imagine how this impacted the unit's efficiency for both heating and cooling.
This is something that I think any buyer agent should understand and be able to talk about. This isn't highly technical and it certainly isn't a buyer's agent's job to open up a furnace, but, a buyer agent should understand this.
Many real estate agents call themselves buyer's agents but don't know much about houses. This is unfortunate.
Our people understand homes and we are willing to tell you what we seel.
Remember if you want an unconflicted, true buyer agent to help you with your home buying, call us.
In the business of helping home buyers I am often working on Sunday afternoon. When I don't have appointments though, I like to take a Sunday afternoon nap in front of the woodburning fireplace.
Yesterday my life took me in a different direction. You see we live in a ~40 year old home that has a drain line that gets really slow about every five years. It is a drain line for the dishwasher and the laundry, so I'm thinking it is probably laundry lint and maybe ground food that collects in some low spot.
Unfortunately the "low spot" is under our basement floor. So the solution is to auger it out every couple years. And yesterday it was time.
Previously I was able to clear the run with a 25 foot drill mounted auger. But this time I sent that thing all the way out and the drain was still sloooow.
So off to Lowe's to get a 50 foot model (pictured).
Eventually we got the thing to drain fairly well. But, the reason this is interesting to home buyers is:
Most real estate agents that claim to be "buyer agents" don't want to actually tell buyers anything about the houses themselves. Like, disadvantages and advantages of living on a city sewer system vs a well and septic system in the country. Like disadvantages and advantages of a hot water heat system vs a gas forced air.
There were a bunch of discussions on thisl forum about this very topic.
Judging from that thread it would seem that the majority of the regular real estate agents are afraid to say anything bad about a house!
If you have excellent credit and will be buying a $100,000-$900,000 homein the next 90 days and would like a company and agent who will work exclusively for you, call us at 734 662 6240 or contact us via the link on this page.
Jon Boyd The Home Buyer's Agent of Ann Arbor, Inc.
Exclusive Buyer Brokerages like ours do not list homes and never represent Sellers. Their agents represent Buyers ONLY on the Buyer's side of the transaction.
I was visiting a friends home this weekend and he showed me what the dish service people did for his mounting. He lives in a area where roof mounting isn't practical, and wall mounting won't work because of the type of construction of his home. So the alternative was a ground mount. The dish contractor brought the steel frame and the cinder blocks to keep is secure.
I drove by a branch of our bank today and saw this:
Well, I'm not a furnace expert but I am a home buying expert and I see a problem with that. Do you?
As it turns out the original installer got his/her air input and air exhaust lines switched. Which pushes warm moist combustion air right against the brick wall. And it freezes. This probably isn't dangerous now, but it will damage that brick if it is left uncorrected long enough.
So, did you see know what was happening? Hundreds of people have driven by this same thing and not know what was going on.
I actually mentioned it to the bank teller last year but I can see they haven't fixed it. So today I went in and told the manager and she gave me the maintenance person's name.
I bet they will fix it this time.
If you are interested to get more information on these "concentric vents" and how they should be installed I pulled up some information:
http://www.dnmech.com/lit/good_dcvk_IO-619A.pdf
Remember if you want an unconflicted, true buyer agent to help you with your home buying, call us.
Insights on home buying in the Ann Arbor Michigan area, including Saline, Plymouth, Canton, Chelsea, Dexter, Brighton, Ypsilanti, Belleville, Howell, and Whitmore Lake
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
;)
;)
