Yesterday the Ann Arbor News sponsored their annual Outlook 2007 luncheon. First to the good news.....not much but Grady Burnett, Director of online operations at Google spoke and he was very positive. He said they chose Ann Arbor because of the environment of Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan. As a graduate of U.M he was hopeful of the economy turning around and their goal to hire 1000 employees within 5 years. They are currently at 50. He said the challenge for us is to " believe things will get better".

One of the things I most enjoyed hearing was how Google has a 20% rule..........According to Grady they are suppose to take 20% of their time to come up with new ideas to make the company better. Lots of great ideas are coming from that 20% time, he also said some flop, but you never know what will be productive and what will be sent to the graveyard. Wouldn't it be great if all companies would do that, including us as realtors.

The main speaker was George Fulton. He shared the hard, cold facts. He and Donald Grimes prepared the report. They are professors at U.M. in the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations at U.M. The were only off by 0.07% in their predictions at the last year events.

Job growth in Washtenw County between 1990 and 2001 increased by 2200 jobs. In 2002 and 2003, it fell by 3200 and 3600 respectfully. We do have a ways to catch up. The saddest thing is that the automotive controls less of the market share for automotive every year. The local automotive industy is still restructing and doing buyouts with their employees. We have less than 1/2the total auto workers we did in 2001.

Pfizer leaving is a huge hit and the schools are struggling as well as the state budget woes.

THE GOOD NEWS:

1) Google came to Ann Arbor and will continue to hire.

2) Toyota is building in Washtenaw County

3) Hundai is in adding employees

4) The health care both private and public is growing.

As a realtor in Ann Arbor, according to George Fulton, 4% less people looking for homes  than last years 9%. Sellers are going to have to price competively. The homes must be in tip top shape and be in the best top 10 than a buyer will see. If you would like the report, email me at missy@missycaulk.com and I'll send it to you.