This blog is dedicated to providing information on real estate in South East Michigan and particularly the Genesee, Lapeer, Livingston and North Oakland County areas.
Renaissance Realty specializes in selling homes in all price ranges to qualified buyers. Our services are backed by over 20 years experience in the real estate business.
Buy American:
"Buy American" is usually linked to the automotive industry in this part of the country but it can apply to a wide range of products. Almost all of us like the idea but there are times we succumb to lower prices or what we perceive as a better foreign made product. What we are talking about here is the number 1 product for the "Buy American" concept.
When you buy real estate in Southeast Michigan you aren't just "Buying American" your buying a small piece of America. Have you ever thought about the impact purchasing a house has on a local economy? If you are motivated to "Buy American" because you want to strengthen the economy you couldn't make a wiser purchase than a home. Think of all the people who you just gave a pay check to that will be putting the money back into the economy. There is the selling and listing agent and their respective Brokers, the appraiser, surveyor, loan officer, title company, insurance agent, local municpality employees. Not only that you may have just made it possible for the seller to start the same process over on his next home and the seller he purchased from the same thing, talk about a ripple effect.
It gets even better. After you close; its' like the gift that keeps on giving. The local hardware, the big box store and any other place you spend money to improve your new investment will be ringing the cash register and that is a lot better than laying off workers or closing their doors.
Currently home prices and interest rates are low and there is an over supply of homes. These are obviously the ingredients of a buyers' market. I believe there are as many people capable of making a home purchase as there are bargain priced homes on the market. If enough of these people purchase homes they not only improve their personal economy they stimulate their local economy creating upward preasure on home values; and guess who benefits the most?
Heres what you can do. Attend a seminar on buying foreclosed properties or call your Real Estate Agent and let them know what you would like in a home. Why foreclosed properties? Because that is where the biggest opportunities are and taking out foreclosed homes attacks the problem of declining home values most directly.
You may have heard of another phrase, "perception is reality". There is far more negative reporting done on real estate lately and few articles written about opportunities in real estate and solutions to the problem. After reading article after article, news story after news story we don't just get the impression prices are falling, we get the impression the sky is falling. Let me tell you, it is not and here is why.
The Flint MLS reported 5,518 active listings within Genesee County on March 22, 2008. The Flint MLS also reported 682 pending sales; that is 11% of the inventory. Does that sound bad to you? The sales reported for January of 2008 were 1 short of sales reported for any January since 2000. The sales reported for February of 2008 set a record for the most sales; oh no more good news! It looks to me more like, buy now before the market corrects and prices go back up, than the sky is falling. If you think of yourself as an optimistic or pessafistic person it really doesn't matter; I am simply urging you to be realistic and consider all sides of the issue.
The long term projection for real estate are favorable. Why? Quoting an article on demographics and future demands written by economist Robert Freedman in the March issue of REALTOR "The United States is adding one person every 13 seconds. At the start of 2008, the country had surpassed 303 million residents, almost 3 million more than it had at the start of 2007, the Census Bureau says. One of the driving forces of this increase is a rise in U.S. birth rates, now the highest it's been in more than 40 years, according to an Associated Press review of births dating back to 1909."
Don't forget that real estate, like clothing and food is a necessity. People have to live somewhere and for many it is the "American Dream" of home ownership. Where else can you buy a necessity that typically goes up in value while you have the potential of reducing your tax liability. Does it get any better than that? Sure, buy a foreclosed home for a fraction of what it should be worth and build equity the day you sign the closing docs.
As individuals we have more power to change the economy and the perception of the economy than we can reduce the impact of global warming, lesson the threat of terrorism, solve the problem of immigration or any of the other disturbing issues we are bombarded with; and recent polling indicates the economy is our biggest concern.
Consider this a call to action. Be a soldier in the war on the economy. You won't have to go to boot camp and get your head shaved, be shipped out to a foreign country, and you won't dodge any bullets. Be careful because you might trip while moving your couch into your new living room or hit your finger with a hammer but just suck it up for the good of the country; and above all don't feel guilty about the beautiful home you stole, I mean purchased.
Joe Paris. GRI, IFA
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