Michigan homes for sale

Wayne County Michigan real estate statistics

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:10:11 -0600

Here is happening in Wayne County real estate in the last month. Detroit real estate is still throwing off Wayne County real estate statistics. As you can see there is still a large amount of Wayne County homes selling for under $25,000. In fact most of the homes that sold in Wayne County MI last month were under $100,000.

Wayne County Home Price Statistics

Num of Listings

890

667.5

445

222.5

R10

R11

R12

R13

R14

R15

R16

R17

R18

R19

R20

Price Range

Price Statistics Legend

Range Name	Price Range	Number of Listings	Days on Market

R1	0 to 25000	887	94
R2	25001 to 50000	301	87
R3	50001 to 75000	230	105
R4	75001 to 100000	148	104
R5	100001 to 125000	113	133
R6	125001 to 150000	114	122
R7	150001 to 175000	68	163
R8	175001 to 200000	33	144
R9	200001 to 225000	15	129
R10	225001 to 250000	12	72
R11	250001 to 275000	10	107
R12	275001 to 300000	10	216
R13	300001 to 325000	9	86
R14	325001 to 350000	14	136
R15	350001 to 375000	3	54
R16	375001 to 400000	4	299
R17	400001 to 425000	7	223
R18	425001 to 450000	5	164
R19	450001 to 475000	2	126
R20	475001 to 500000	1	31

For the 1986 *Wayne County MI listings:*	For the 1986 Wayne County Sold listings:
Average List Price	$64,131.00	Average Sold Price	$60,921.00
Median List Price	$34,000.00	Median Sold Price	$32,100.50
Highest List Price	$579,000.00	Highest Sold Price	$482,000.00
Lowest List Price	$100.00	Lowest Sold Price	$100.00
List Volume	$127,363,500.00	Sales Volume	$120,989,600.00
Avg. Days On Market	104	Avg. Days On Market	105

Info courtesy of Real Comp II Ltd

Oakland County MI real estate

Metro Detroit home buyer tips

__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

Are you keeping track of your investments

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:42:24 -0600

Each year you should be reviewing the amount you spend on marketing. It is silly to spend money on marketing that isn't working. You are no longer spending bundles of money on print advertising. One of the keys to being successful is to put your advertising dollars in the best place. You have to look at the returns for the money invested.

You should know where your real estate closings are coming from.

How many from referrals?
How many of your deals closed from blogging?
How many closed from your newsletters?

Sit down and figure it out and then adjust your marketing dollars. Put your most of your marketing dollars in the area that brings you the most business.

WAIT....WAIT..... I SAID......

You did the money part of it but you forgot about your most important resource. Sure we only have so much money. But we even have less of another resource. TIME.

So how much time are you spending on marketing. Are you spending your time wisely?

Like all marketing investments your time should be evaluated. How much time are you spending blogging? How much time are you spending on Facebook? How much on Linked in? How much on building your website?

What is bringing you the business? Hey I believe that it takes about a year to a year and a half to really start reaping the benefits of social media. So if you are in the infancy stage of the first year and a half put your heart and soul in it. Spend as much time as you want.

But after that you to treat the time you spend on blogging and social media as a marketing investment. Like all investments you have to evaluate the returns. If you are spending way too much time on Facebook and it is not bringing your returns. Then it is time to cut the purse strings and put your time in another area. Remember social media isn't a cure all. It is just another tool in your marketing tool box. Use your time wisely.

Just my thoughts.................Russ

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__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

I need a little help from you

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 07:01:49 -0600

This is the second time this week I have gotten a Google alert yet not been able to find where my name is at.

Google Web Alert for: russ ravary

Post License Course // BlogCatalog Topic // BlogCatalog
Thanks to Russ for pulling together these thoughts. I wanted to pass them along to a wider audience. Via Russ Ravary - Michigan Homes for sa read more ...

It looks like me and the title is right but I don't see the blog. Maybe I just not looking hard enough. Any suggestions out there.

It happened on another alert too. Any thoughts?

__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

ah the public option and the health care bill

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:00:22 -0600

sound like they are on the ropes. Health care is such controversial issue. It may be President Obama's Achilles heal. With the economy on the borderline of coming back or crashing (nobody knows for sure) many people are upset with the amount of government spending. I myself predicted before anybody was elected that this president will only be a one term president.

It didn't matter whether it was McCain or Obama elected, nobody can fix all the problems we have in this country right now. Add to it Irag, Afganistan, and the terrorist threats it is a quagmire for any politician. Many Republicans have become rabid over Obama.

So now health care has become the football. It is going to become a casualty of excessive government spending. As a self employed person I feel the pain of health insurance costs. My wife got cancer about 20 years. At the time she had a private insurance policy. We weren't married so she had her own insurance. Over the years we have kept her insurance going because of the "pre-existing condition" problem.

With Marianne having a cancer we never wanted to take the chance of her be denied insurance coverage because of her cancer. So we always kept her insurance. Over the years I paid for a separate insurance policy too. With job changes or companies going out of business I was always nervous about Marianne not being covered. Sometimes one of her treatments cost $4000. Everybody knows how much a hospital visit cost.

They always say that everybody could go into financial straits because of a major illness.

As a person who pays $12,000 - $15,000 in medical bills and insurance premiums each year I know what is like to feel the pressure of working to pay medical costs. Some years we get up to $20,000, I always say we would be able to take better vacations or live a little better life if medical costs weren't so large. I'm sure there are lots of people across America that are like us that feel the pain of health care costs.

As the years go on more and more people across America will feel the brunt of medical costs. So something has to give. Do we need more doctors so doctors fees go down? Do we need to regulate prescription costs? I don't know the answer but I would not have minded the option to explore what the government was going to offer.

Though I thought the whole change of needing to be 50 years old to get a mammogram is tied to the possible future insurance and government regulations. If they are already doing that now would we be denied treatment because some board said it wasn't needed. Who knows what is right or wrong. But either way I think it will be a ways be before we ever see health care reform.

Just my ramblings on health insurance.

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__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

I went to Chicago last weekend

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:29:00 -0600

And it was invigorating. The metro Detroit area was on a death spiral for a while but we seem to have leveled off. It is good to see the leveling off, but it was more exciting to see how well Chicago seems to be doing.

The streets were full of shoppers. People were spending money. The restaurants were busy.

That's what America needs the spending of cash. Everybody is cutting back still in Metro Detroit. There are quite a few empty store fronts here in the metro Detroit area. But we didn't see much of that in Chicago. We are into round two where school systems, counties, and the state are all cutting their budgets. So it was great to see spending.

Money flowing freely into the system.

It was great to see my son Ryan and enjoy Chicago. It was great to spend family time together.

It was great to relax and enjoy time off from the real estate business. Enjoy your family and the holidays.

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My thought of the day is:

You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by; but some of them are golden only because we let them slip by.

~~~ James Matthew Barrie ~~~

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__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

Searching for a suburban Detroit home - what site to look on?

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:50:11 -0600

Lately some of my clients have been sending me Detroit suburb listings but unfortunately many of the listings are sold or are pending. So I started asking what sites they were looking on. I started hearing some of the same names.

The clients were getting frustrated that the Detroit suburb homes they were wanting to see were gone!!!!

The two websites that are best to search Detroit suburb listings on are www.Realtor.com and www.MoveinMichigan.com These two sites are the best sites to search because they are directly affiliated with our local Metro Detroit MLS. The local Metro Detroit MLS is basically affiliated with the local real estate assocations so all our listings show up on the MLS and then filter down to www.Realtor.com and www.MoveinMichigan.com

All the other real estate websites like Trulia, Zillow, Yahoo, and some "Joe Smoe" real estate agent sites get the information later than www.Realtor.com and www.MoveinMichigan.com Sometimes some of those sites have listings still showing up long after they have accepted offers on the homes. I have even called on some Detroit suberb listings for some clients to find out the house already closed. That means they have been showing up on the site for over 2 weeks after an offer has been accepted.

Of course my websites www.RussRavary.com or www.Michiganlakesrealestate.com also have up to date listings too. So don't get frustrated stick to the websites above and there will be more listings that are still on the market.

__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

Don't let Scrooge the real estate agent ruin your holiday!

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:08:27 -0600

In the last few minutes I have read some blogs that sounded like "used car salesmen". I'm sorry but I love the holidays. Too me Christmas is a magical time of the year. I love giving gifts. I love twinkling sparkling lights. I love a fresh snowfall Christmas week. I love the happiness the holidays bring to so many people.

So all they hype of not decorating your home because it distracts buyers goes against my grain. Sure it is true decorating may distract a buyer. But what about the buyer that does expect to see a Christmas tree? A beautifully decorated tree would make me feel at home. Sure over the top decorating may turn some buyers off. But a home at that isn't decorated at Christmas would turn me off. It wouldn't be my home. I probably won't buy the home.

What I am saying is that the decorations would depend on the buyer whether it is a distraction or a benefit. (YES THE ABOVE TREE IS OVERBOARD)

But the way I look at it is that you only have so many Christmases on this earth. With my wife Marianne being sick I realize it even more. So putting the house on the market right away during the holidays or because holiday home buyers are more serious over the holidays is just "used car" tactics.

Enjoy the holidays, make this one special for you and your family. Don't let the scrooge the real estate person ruin your holidays. Your house will sell to the right buyer after the holidays too.

__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

How do we save Detroit? The history of Detroit's death - part 1

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:44:55 -0600

I'm sad. I just got back from Chicago and was amazed at the vitality of Chicago. People on the street, people shopping. An active city. Detroit was once that way too. Now you can cross many of downtown Detroit's streets with getting hit by a car. There are no major crowds walking the streets at lunch time. The downtown center is suffering. We don't even have a major national grocery chain in the city. This blog will be controversial to some, but the key is to get dialogs going on how to save Detroit. To get people thinking about Detroit's future.

I am going to start with the history of WHY I THINK Detroit is dying.

Detroit is dying because of racial prejudices and the inability to bring the races together. Now that is just my opinion. Maybe that's too simple of a reason. Detroit I believe has starting dying because of white flight and the lack of support from the suburb's coming into the city to shop, eat, enjoy the city, and enjoy nightlife.

Here are the three major influences of white flight out of the city

1. The Riots of 1967. Detroit starting dying the day the 1967 race riots started. Detroit and it's suburbs were racist back in the day. Many suburbs were "lilly white". Like most cities black and white did not mix back in the sixties. Up to the 1960's there was a large Caucasian population in Detroit. White and black co-existed in the city just like many of the big cities around the country. But the riots of 1967 started the white flight out of the City of Detroit.

2. Bussing. Detroit like many other cities had their areas. Some were wealthy white areas and other areas were the poor areas. We had Indian Village, The University district, the Boston Edison district, Rosedale Park, Palmer Park, and Palmer Woods. All beautiful "nicer" neighborhoods. All along Outer Drive were nice areas. Bussing kids from those nice areas to mix with poor black kids did not sit well with the wealthier white families. Many of them had lived in Detroit for years. But when it came to sending their kids to be bussed they just said "we will move". Thus starting major white flight out of Detroit.

3. Coleman Young. Coleman Young did many good things for Detroit but in my opinion he was the "Orville Hubbard" of Detroit. In my opinion both those mayors had a disdain of the other race. I don't blame Coleman Young. He had seen racial discrimination his whole life. He had served his country with the Tuskegee Airmen. They had done many great things but never got the credit they deserved. Blacks were treated badly during those times. As Colemen Young gained in power his disdain of the suburbs and the need for their money became more apparent. As Coleman Young rose to power he openly told the suburbs he didn't need them. Of course the white suburbs listened. Slowly over the Coleman years key businesses moved out of the city. White people knew they weren't welcome. The white population moved out of the city. Investment into the city slowed.

Coleman Youngs black Detroit was in it's infancy. Slowly but surely many whites stopped going into the city to shop. They stopped going into the city to eat. Even the shows suffered. Sure the Ren Cen was built, sure the people mover was built. All good things. But every major city needs the suburbs around it to survive. Whether it was fear of crime or what, the city center started slowly dying.

Adding to it were some minor things that added to white flight and the Caucasian population not coming into the city and shopping

a. Repeal of having to live in the City of Detroit. The City of Detroithad a rule at one time that if you worked for the city you had to live in the city. Throughout the city there were pockets of white policemen or white firemen living together. After the rule was abolished many of the city employees moved out of the city.

b. Malice Green Trial -two white policemen were convicted of beating a black man to death. Again Colemen Young voiced his opinion quickly about the white police officers before they even went to trial. On one side was the black community and on the other was the white community.

To say that these are all the factors that have contributed to the death of Detroit would be wrong. There are many, many things that have started the decay. The questions are

Is it too late to save Detroit?

How do we save it?

How do we get Detroit to become a multi racial city?

Unfortunately some Detroit suburbs are pre-dominantly white or pre-dominantly black. But as a real estate agent I am noticing that many cities are becoming multi-racial and multi-cultural. So how do we get that to happen in Detroit is the question? How do we get the city back? How do we make it a great city again? Letting Detroit die may not be a good thing. Letting Detroit die won't be good for the suburbs either. Or for the State of Michigan.

So what do we do?

I just think we need to save Detroit somehow before it is too late. If it is not too late already.

Detroit is a big example of no major city can exist without the suburban community supporting and visiting it. Detroit is an example of what other major cities can't let happen to them. You can't blame the auto industry on the death of Detroit. Most of them were based outside of Detroit. So how can Detroit be saved?

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I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

Pontiac Investors - REIA of Oakland County

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 19:37:56 -0600

The Real Estate Investors Association of Oakland County, REIA of Oakland is a great association to join. It is a "club" that is continually educating it's membership and also allowing non members to attend it's meetings. It's a great way to learn about investing in real estate.

This month they are holding a special meeting. It is about tax board review time and many Pontiac real estate investors have had issues with Pontiac tax review board so I am guessing it is about that. But here is information about the meeting. If you have property in Pontiac or thinking about investing in Pontiac I would stop in.

The Real Estate Investors Association of Oakland County REIA) will be holding a special "Pontiac Subgroup" meeting on Tuesday, December 15, 2009, at 7:00 PM to discuss the current governmental and economic issues affecting real estate investors in the city of Pontiac. The REIA of Oakland Pontiac Sub-Group will meet at Kerby's Koney Island at 43061 Woodward Ave. It is located at the north west corner of Square Lake Rd and Woodward in Bloomfield Hills. Space is extremely limited so please RSVP to paradigm1@comcast.net or reianews@aol.com Per the management of of this establishment there will be a room charge of $1.50 added to everyone's bill to cover the cost of holding the meeting in a private room. Agenda The new Mayor of Pontiac Leon Jukowski will be our guest speaker for this informative evening. He will provide an overview of sweeping new changes within the City and specifically the building department. We need additional input from our landlords so please mark your calendars and bring your questions. While not mandatory, a Ten Dollar donation to help fund the subgroup's efforts to improve the real estate investing climate in Pontiac would be greatly appreciated. We are a non-profit group that depends upon membership dues and donations to fund our efforts. For more information about the Pontiac Real Estate Investment Subgroup, please visit http://www.reiaofoakland.com/pontiacsubgroup.html For more information about REIA of Oakland, or to join, please visit REIA of Oakland County If there is a subject or topic you would like added to this agenda or any future agendas please let me know via email and I will add it. Invite all the Pontiac Rental Owners that you know!!! "There is Strength in Numbers!" Chris Yatooma, Chairman paradigm1@comcast.net

Search Pontiac homes for sale

__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

Flipping Michigan homes - Michigan real estate investing part 5

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:25:51 -0600

One of the keys to being profitable when flipping Michigan homes or Westland homes is buy homes that need the least for the less. Sounds simple doesn't. Get a rundown house at a very cheap price that has the major items done. Fix it up more to appeal to buyers and sell at a profit.

What I mean by that is you want the big cost items or the majority of the big cost items done. Or in good shape. The six major items you should be looking at

Roof
Furnace
Windows
Basement
Updated Kitchen
Updated Bathrooms

A roof even for a small Redford house is going to cost $3500 and up. A furnace for a Westland or a Redford home is going to range from $3,500 to $4,500.

Updated windows are very important. Wayne County home buyerswant good windows. You can figure at least $250 - $300 for a standard size window. Doorwalls can cost $1500 - $2000. Large picture windows can be expensive.

A dry basement is important. There are two main types of basements in the metro Detroit area. Block basements and poured wall basements. I think a poured wall basement is best. They are usually easier and cheaper to fix. Rod holes cost $25 - $50 a hole to fix. Cracks in the wall cost about $450 - $500 to fix. Sometimes block basements are so damaged that you don't want to buy the house. Block basements can be leaning in and need major bracing. It can cost $5000 - $10000 to get block basements fixed. So buying a Redford home or Westland home with a good basement is very, very important.

Of course when flipping Michigan homes or flipping Westland homes an updated kitchen or updated bathroom is a extra bonus. Especially a kitchen. Look for newer kitchen cabinets.

Other items that are nice to have are:

a newer hot water heater
a good/decent driveway that is not heaving or all cracked up
a deck or patio in average condition
hardwood floors are easily sanded and refinished
carpeting in good condition

Remember every thing you don't have to buy or re-do when flipping a Westland foreclosure or Redford foreclosure is a bonus. It is money in your pocket. So create yourself a check list when out shopping for a good house to flip. I hope this gives you a little information on what to be looking for.

Search Westland foreclosures and Redford foreclosures or any Wayne or Oakland County foreclosures

First time home buyer tips

Lake Sherwood Commerce Twp MI

Search metro Detroit foreclosures

Flipping Michigan homes - Michigan real estate investing part 1

Flipping Michigan homes - Michigan real estate investing part 2

Flipping Michigan homes - Michigan real estate investing part 3

Flipping Michigan homes - Michigan real estate investing part 4

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My thoughts for gifts this Christmas - this one comes from my son when he was younger. With money being tighter sometimes the best gifts come from the heart. Years ago my son made a coupon book up. So my first suggestion is a coupon for a game night with the kids or a movie of your spouses choice. If you want to jazz it up then get the favorit snack of your gift recipient.

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__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

Andover Lakes sub Plymouth MI homes for sale

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:18:54 -0600

Andover Lakes Sub is located in Plymouth Township west of Ridge and South of North Territorial. Plymouth Township has one of the lowest mileage rates in Wayne County

Plymouth Homes for sale

Current Andover Lakes sub homes for sale as of 12/10/2009

	LIST PRICE	SALE PRICE	DOM	SP PER SQFT	SQUARE FOOTAGE	YEAR BUILT
13039 ANDOVER DR	325000		10		2359	1996
12410 WENDOVER LOT 19 DR	339900		76		2819	2009

Homes that have sold in Andover Lakes sub in the last six months 12/10/2009

ADDRESS	LIST PRICE	SALE PRICE	DOM	SP PER SQFT	SQUARE FOOTAGE	YEAR BUILT
12338 WENDOVER DR	2100	2100	9	0.7449	2819	2006
12684 WENDOVER CT	224900		507		2143	1998
12710 WENDOVER CT	232900	225000	150	104.993	2143	1998
12588 WENDOVER	225000	227500	16	113.5796	2003	1998
13455 ANDOVER DR	229900	230000	169	114.0873	2016	1997
13120 GRAEFIELD CIR	245000	240325	40	111.779	2150	2000
13033 GRAEFIELD CIR	269900	250000	143	99.8801	2503	1998
12464 WENDOVER CT	250000		51		2638	1998
50913 RICHARD DR	299900	282500	110	113.6363	2486	2004
12936 ANDOVER DR	309900	290000	163	123.3517	2351	1996
12653 WENDOVER CT	290000	290000	18	110.4761	2625	1998
12755 ESSEX CT	295000	292000	58	108.1481	2700	2000
12428 WENDOVER LOT 20 DR	349900	300000	76	94.4287	3177	2009
12357 WENDOVER LOT 27 DR	349900	349900	87	110.1353	3177	2008

Feel free to sign up and get the Latest Plymouth MI home listings emailed to you or just search Plymouth homes for sale

Listing information provided courtesy of RealComp II Ltd. Homes have been sold by various member Realtors.

__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

Flipping Michigan homes - Michigan real estate investing part 4

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:31:35 -0600

So you are thinking about investing in Michigan real estate and flipping Michigan homes. Are you ready? So now how can you be sure you win the house you are bidding on? You already know to bid cash but what else will give you an edge in bidding?

There are two more areas that the bank considers besides how much cash you are offering. There are:

whether you want an inspection or not
how soon can you close

So you want to put the soonest date possible as your closing date. The bank wants to be free of the foreclosure as soon as possible. Then they will take an offer that says they will buy the house without an inspection. They have a sure deal if there is no inspection clause. The bank wants a sure deal.

I always recommend every buyer to get a home inspection. So I don't recommend you to waive the inspection unless you have the capability to know the house is good yourself. Or if you take a qualified inspector thru before you make the offer. Then I say go ahead and waive the inspection.

You will have a greater chance of winning the bid. You will be on your way to flipping Michigan homes.

Search metro Detroit foreclosures

Flipping Michigan homes - Michigan real estate investing part 1

Flipping Michigan homes - Michigan real estate investing part 2

Flipping Michigan homes - Michigan real estate investing part 3

__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

Oakland County water front homes for sale

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:04:32 -0600

As of today there are currently 591 Oakland County water front homes for sale. Out of all those lake front homes only 18 are Oakland County waterfront foreclosures. Out of the 591 homes for sale 69 are short sales. There are only 7 homes that are under $100,000. The average time on the market is over 7 months!

There are over 101 lakefront homes for sale priced over a million dollars. The highest price house is 6.975 million dollars for a 8500 square foot home.

In the last year 427 Oakland County water front homes have been sold. But only 9 of the million dollars + homes have sold. There is a 11 year supply of waterfront homes priced over a million dollars. But there is only about a 1.4 year supply of homes. The low priced water front homes are selling but not the high priced ones.

Search Oakland County water front homes for sale

__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

Flipping Michigan homes - Michigan real estate investing part 3

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:29:53 -0600

The reason I write about flipping Michigan homes is because it is not for everybody. It takes time to get the work done, it takes time away from family. It creates stress at home. You are going to be rushing around trying to get the home ready for sale. You will be spending time away from wife kids and your wife. If you have a "real" job it is going to take focus away from your "real" job.

Flipping Michigan homes is not for the feint of heart. It is hard. There will time constraints, there will money issues. Many people, many Michigan investors don't realize how much time flipping homes take. Can you take the stress of waiting to see if the home sold. Can you take the stress of may be losing money? Can you take the stress of just breaking even with all the work you put into flipping the home?

Investing in real estate is usually some of the biggest investments many people make in their life. I have seen too many people burned in real estate investing. I have seen smart business people lose thousands of dollars when they tried to flip Michigan homes.

So think hard before you enter the world of Michigan home flipping.

Search metro Detroit foreclosures

Flipping Michigan homes - Michigan real estate investing part 1

Flipping Michigan homes - Michigan real estate investing part 2

__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

Flipping Michigan homes - Michigan real estate investing part 2

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:03:42 -0600

In flipping Michigan homes I talked about which offer would win based on types of mortgage and method of payment. But I forgot to mention one key factor that plays into the equation.

Banks will not, I repeat will not give a loan on a home that needs a lot of work. What I mean by needing a lot of work is:

no furnace
no hot water heater
missing a wall of drywall
leaking plumbing (broken water pipes, not dripping faucets)
Missing kitchen
Missing bathroom like bathtub or toilets
electrical fixtures

A bank or lender wants good collateral. If you went into foreclosure the bank would need to sell the house. They don't want to go into another deal that the house is hard to sell. They want a finished home. They will not loan money on a house that has missing items listed above.

How will they know? After all you are just trying to flip a Michigan homes. You are going to make it beautiful. They should trust you. You have great credit. You have a track record. I hate to burst your bubble.....The lender/bank doesn't care. It wants good collateral. A decent home.

How will they know it is missing a furnace, or has a missing drywall or no kitchen? The appraiser will tell them. Years ago some appraisers would turn a blind eye. But no longer. It's appraisal fraud and in these years no appraiser will turn a blind eye. The appraiser will note the "issues" and then the underwriter will decline the loan.

They don't give loans to Michigan home flippers on homes that need substantial repairs. So that one more reason why cash deals will be accepted over mortgage deals. You don't need an appraisal on a cash deal.

Sometimes the bank or the listing agent will know that some minor repairs are needed. They may think the bank will turn down the property. They may accept a much lower cash offer than take a chance on taking a mortgage offer. I had one deal this year.... we were bidding on a Livonia foreclosure. I think the list price on the Livonia foreclosure was $65,000. The Livonia home was on the borderline of needing a roof. We offered $81,000 because even with repair the house was worth about $125,000. Well the bank sold the Livonia foreclosure for $55,000. I myself would never believe the bank would take $26,000 less but they did.

So that is just one more explanation of why cash is King when flipping Michigan homes

Flipping Michigan homes - Michigan real estate investing part 1

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I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

Flipping Michigan Homes - part 1

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:21:46 -0600

There are many investors that have gotten in the business of flipping Michigan homes. Last year when prices were cheap many Michigan investors starting buying Westland homes, Livonia real estate, and many other cities homes. Where ever they think they can make a buck flipping a home they are doing it.

I am seeing it in Redford, Eastpointe, and Allen Park. Whereever there is a deal they are doing that. So how do you get involved? Are you qualified to do it? Do you have the cash to do it?

You see you have to have cash or be able to get a 203K loan to do it. Being a Michigan cash investor will get you into the business easily. You have to remember that banks will accept a cash offer over a person that needs a mortgage. Nothing can go wrong with a cash investor because there are no appraisals, no credit check, no debt ratios. So banks will even accept a little lower cash offer over a mortgage offer.

So in order of how the banks accept the offer:

cash offers
Mortgage offers in this order (most money down because it says the borrower has a good income and is a saver which means most likey they have great credit)
FHA is next because they require repairs
VA is after FHA because they require repairs and the appraisal is tougher and there is no money down
203k is usually last because there is not only the mortgage process but the borrower has to get a contractor estimates and some of the money has to be escrowed for the repairs.

So the bottom line is if you want to win the Michigan foreclosure you need to pay cash. Cash wins the deal. So the first thing you should plan on is to pay cash if you can.

__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

IRONWOOD GRILL PLYMOUTH RESTAURANTS MICHIGAN

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:00:43 -0600

I stopped into Ironwood Grill one of downtown Plymouth's newest restaurants. Just open three weeks it was pretty full at lunch today.

From outside it looked expensive. I thought it was going to be pricey but it wasn't. It was a medium ranged priced menu. They had ribs, salads, burgers, and wood fired pizzas. I myself just had a burger. I'm a burger type of guy but my doctor says I should be more of a salad type of guy. But let's not digress.

They brought out some fresh bread before the meal. I'm a bread type of guy. I think I learned that from my Italian wife Marianne.

This was the mushroom Swiss burger with seasoned fries. I was going to have the Reuben but I changed my mind at the last minute. I saw a plate of ribs and coleslaw go by and they looked mighty good too. Didn't see a pizza but if they are half as good as the burger you won't go wrong.

If you are a businessman the Ironwood Grill in Plymouth is a place that is classy enough and yet reasonably priced. Also if you want to keep up with the Wings, Lions, Pistons, or Tigers they have enough TVs to see what's happening.

Downtown Plymouth Michiganis lively downtown and a great place to live. Take a stroll in the Kellogg Park after you visit Ironwood Grill.

Feel free to call for location and directions to

Ironwood Grill

840 W. Ann Arbor Trail

Plymouth MI 48170

Telephone Ironwood Grill 734-667-5614

If you are thinking of relocating to Plymouth Michigan feel free to check out my websites for more information or

Search Plymouth homes for sale

__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

What happens at Michigan Sherriff sales

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:18:18 -0600

Ever body thinks they can pick up a deal at a sheriff sale but this is what happens at Michigan Sheriff sales.

When a Michigan home goes into foreclosure the house is scheduled for a sheriff sale. The sale usually happens at the county offices. On most homes the bank ( the lender/mortgage holder) buys the home back. The bank bids it up high enough so the borrower, friends, family members, or even the general public doesn't buy cheap.

What the bank wants to do is to buy it back so it releases all other lien holders (2nd mortgages) or others that have claims against the property. Such as contractors, lawyers that have judgements. When the sheriff sale takes place the winner gets the property with no liens.

So if the

1st mortgage company is owed $170,000
2nd mortgage company is owed $35,000
a judgement from an ex wife and divorce attorney is owed $8,000
a window installer is owed $2,700

Then most likely the 1st mortgage company is going to bidding the house up over the market value of the home and up close to the amount owed on the mortgage. So the 1st mortgage company is going to bid close to $170,000.

The second mortgage company won't, ex wife, divorce attorney, an window installer won't bid $170,000. They won't get their money back if it is only worth $170,000. Because now they will have bad 170,000 and they would have to add what they are owed to it and sales commissions. They will just lose their money. So why bid that high.

A home buyer or investor isn't going to buy it either. The only way the 1st mortgage company won't buy it back is if they make a mistake. It happens once in a great while at Michigan Sheriff sales. But most of the time the price the home is bid up to is close to the 1st mortgage amount and the winner is the 1st mortgage company.

__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

West Bloomfield Lake, West Bloomfield Lakefront real estate MI

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:03:51 -0600

West Bloomfield Lake is a very small lake in the middle of a subdivision in West Bloomfield Township. It is located just North of Walnut Lake Rd and West of Orchard Lake.

I myself would call West Bloomfield Lake a big pond. It's only big enough for canoes and row boats. There is a small park on one side of the lake and the other 3 sides are surrounded by private homes. There are about 17 homes that sit on the lake.

Most of the homes on West Bloomfield Lake are mostly colonials in the 2000 to 3000 square foot range.

Of course the lake is a private lake only for the residents of West Bloomfield Lake estates

__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

Novi real estate and Novi neighborhoods

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 21:07:15 -0600

Novi neighborhoods

I think most Metro Detroit residents would agree that Bellagio is Novi's premier neighborhood. It is a gated neighborhood with homes being priced over a million dollars. The other gated subdivision is Turnberry.

Island Lakes is right up there as one of Novi's top neighborhood. It is a subdivision that is around a small lake. Around the lake are million dollar homes. One side of the lake are upscale condos.

Beckingham Subdivision

The following Novi neighborhoods are some of Novi's newer subdivisions in the last 15 years.
Addington Subdivision
Autumn Park Subdivision
Barclay Subdivision
Bradford of Novi Subdivision
Bristol Corners Subdivision (Bristol Corners North, South, West, Farms)
Broadmoor Park Subdivision
Chase Farms subdivision
Churchhill Crossing subdivision
Greenwood Oaks Subdivision
North Haven Woods Subdivision
Orchard Ridge Subdivision
Riverbridge Subdivision
Roma Ridge Subdivision
Summerlin Subdivision
Vista HillsSubdivison
Westmont Subdivision
Windridge Subdivision
Wintergreen Subdivision
Yerkes Manor Estates subdivision

These other Novi neighborhoods are nice but a little older than the above neighborhoods

Royal Crown subdivision

Simmons Orchard subdivision

Yorkshire Place Subdivision

Cedar Springs Subdivision

Jamestown Green Subdivision

Lexington Green Subdivision

Dunbarton Pines subdivision

Fairfield Farms Subdivision

Heatherwyck Subdivision

Meadowbrook Glens Subdivision

Whispering Meadows Subdivision

Willowbrook Estates Subdivision

Novi is what I would call an upper middle class neighbor. Couple that with one of Michigan's better school Sytsem makes Novi MI a great place to relocate to.

__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

Christmas in Plymouth Michigan - photos of Plymouth MI

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:05:25 -0600

When you move to a city you always wonder what it is like the other times of the year. Here are some photos of Plymouth Michigan at Christmas.

The City of Plymouth puts up trees and then people "buy" them to decorate. Some people "buy" the tree to promote their business, celebrate a loved one's life, or just to let the people know about a community organization. Here are some photos of the trees.

The stores, restaurants, and bars decorate their windows

The city has put up some great decorations too!

Of course you can't forget historic Penn Theatre. They are even showing old Christmas films

Downtown Plymouth Michigan is a great place at Christmas time to come eat and shop or at anytime of year. You will love living in Plymouth so if you are relocating to Metro Detroit and Michigan feel free to call me on my cell with any questions (313)310-9855

Plymouth subdivisions

__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

Moving tips - how to get ready for your move

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:11:35 -0600

One of my clients last month was getting stressed about moving out of state. She had never moved before and her husband was out of state in a new job. She asked what should she do.

The biggest keys are:

Start early
get organized by making lists

So I sent her a list of internet links on moving tips

25 moving tips by creative home making

tips for moving with kids

Cat moving tips

compare moving prices

how to move across country

Pet moving tips

preparing your kids for a move

Pages and pages of moving info by about.com

post office change of address

Moving tips by lending tree.com

Lowes moving guide

Traveling and moving with pets

Moving advice

Do -it yourself moving tips

Stress free indepth moving checklist

Frugal moving tips

I hope this help you plan a stress free easy Metro Detroit move.

__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

Why I love active rain

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 11:34:18 -0600

I don't know about you but I love Active Rain because agents share their intimate knowledge about what works and how they improve their business. Hints about what to do, How to survive, how to do better.

Sure most offices have office meetings and seminars on what to do and how to improve. But what about those deep secrets that make big producers a "little better". They don't share those little secrets very easily. But if you pick up the phone and call one of you active rain friends from across the country they do share. They tell you how to get better.

Case in point. One of the guys in my office is a real good guy. Nice, always up beat. Willing to tell you what you should be doing. But he is part of a brain trust. Bigger producers that meet once a month that share some of their ideas.

I asked him about going.... he said sure. But I never got invited. It boils down to not wanting too many people to know how to be better. You see local agents don't want have their market share cut into. So most won't give you the real tips.

But here on the Rain you can find out anything and become better every year.

__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

Some Metro Detroit listing agents are out of their mind

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:16:14 -0600

I don't know about the rest of the country but our REO and short sale listing agents have learned how to shirk any responsibility for accurate information. They have learned how charge their office fees to the buyer. They have learned to push off their and the sellers duties such as getting the final water bill onto the buyers. They have learned to make the buyer order the city inspections, dewinterize, and turn the utilities on.

Here are a few examples right off our mls listings on what is going on in the Metro Detroit real estate market:

BUYER SHALL ORDER AND PAY FOR ANY MUNICIPALITY INSPECTION(S) AND FINAL H2O READING WITHIN 24 HRS OF ACCEPTANCE OF OFFER. SOLD "AS IS". SUBJECT TO BANK APPROVAL. 24 HOUR NOTICE TO SHOW. BUYER TO PAY LISTING BROKER $995.00 SHORT SELL PROCESSING FEE AT CLOSE.
BUYER RESPONSIBLE FOR FINAL WATER READ, CITY CERT / ACR & INSPECTION DE-RE WINTERIZING IF APPLICABLE PRIOR TO CLOSING, NON-CASH OFFERS REQUIRES ###### MTG PREQUAL 866.319.0208 or SUBMIT VIA WEB www.#############/AHMSI/REO * $399 REO COMPLIANCE FEE
BUYERS AGENT 2 VERIFY INFO. BUYER RESPON. 4 PAYING CITY INSPEC & ACR. NO COMM. IF BUYER IS AGENT. EMD $1K CERT FUNDS & MADE OUT 2 ...... NO EXCEPTIONS! $300 COMPLIANCE & DOC FEE APPLIES 2 ALL BUYERS.

It's a crazy market out there and buyers are being asked to do a lot. And they can't say no. You say no to one of the listing agents rules YOU AREN'T BUYING THE HOME. Especially it is about the compliance fees.

What is happening in your market ?

__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website

Plymouth MI

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:59:53 -0600

I didn't have a camera with me tonight when we went to downtown Plymouth MI. It was pretty neat. They had all the Christmas trees in Kellogg Park. Many of the stores had their buildings decorated. We were just going down to Kilwin's to get an ice cream cone. My wife was still full from lunch so she just wanted dessert for dinner.

We stopped and listened to a group caroling in Kellogg Park. Then went and got an ice cream cone. That is what is neat about downtown Plymouth MI. There are people walking around enjoying the downtown area. Some stores are open late and of course all the restaurants and bars are there for a refreshment and a bite to eat. So come on down to Downtown Plymouth and enjoy.

Check out a little more about Plymouth MI on facebook and see the latest happenings

__________________________________________________________

I hope your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy times with family and friends.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor

Click on one of the pictures below to see the latest home listings

Metro Detroit relocation information website

Oakland County Water front homes for sale and Livingston County lake front real estate information website