rentals: Change of Use or Just Abuse? - 08/04/10 02:27 PM
Living in a University town, a good part of our real estate sales are students and parents of students looking for housing. I found a perfect house for my students close to campus and even zoned R3 allowing for student rental. We negotiated down to a reasonable price and during our inspection period I checked with the City to be sure zoning was correct for students. It was....but....here it comes....because the home had been single family it would have to go through a "Change of Use" process. Even though it was Zoned correctly it would need zoning approval of the change of … (9 comments)

rentals: Tenant Issues - 05/16/10 12:43 PM
Tenant Issues How often have you scheduled your showing three days out, planned the trip your buyer is making to view properties down to the minute, met with them in the AM and started the scheduled showings and...and...first place has tenants who have changed the locks without the sellers knowledge or forgot to remove their large angry dog? Being a University town, Big Rapids has a diverse population with several rentals and student homes splashed throughout town. Quite often we get calls from out of state parents wanting to see homes for their students to live in while they attend Ferris. … (2 comments)

rentals: Show and Sell - 03/23/10 09:46 AM
Show and Sell This blog is for the well intended seller who really, really wants the house sold but not if they have to pick up the yard. It always amuses me when a seller says they are desperate to sell yet sabotage every sale opportunity they come across. No one is saying you need to repaint (though it might not hurt) but would picking up the house before a showing not help it to sell? Think of you home for sale as two cars on a car lot. One has just been detailed and the other was just test drove … (2 comments)

rentals: Where Do the Tenants Fit into the Showing? - 03/21/10 08:35 PM
Where Do the Tenants Fit into the Showing?  
After reading a post this morning by Lisa Hill about a tenant story she had it made me sit and reminisce about some of my showings involving tenants. Being a college town, Big Rapids has its share of rental homes for sale and most have existing tenants living in them. Through the years of selling in this area I have grown to be "cautious" whenever the list agent tells me the home I am about to show has "tenants". I remember one showing where we had made it through the downstairs and … (2 comments)

rentals: Real Estate Buying in Big Rapids, MI - 03/06/10 02:15 AM
Real Estate in Big Rapids, MI  
Most of the blogs I write are telling about my community or giving my words of wisdom to fellow agents but this one goes out to the buyers. Buyers looking for homes or property around Big Rapids, MI be aware, being a college town the market plays a little different here. We have students and parents looking for student housing and then we have people looking for a place to call home. First step for either should be researching and picking a capable real estate agent to help with, what will probably be, the … (0 comments)

rentals: Showings in Big Rapids - 02/22/10 07:40 PM
Showings in Big Rapids This Past Weekend  
As I have written in many blogs I am not one who likes showing homes with tenants involved. Big Rapids, being a college town, I do show my share. Seems there is a definite break in communication between the showing agent, list agent, seller and tenant. Somehow in that simple four step process one is always left out. Out of five showing at least two have no idea why we are there and one has changed the locks and we can't gain access. Even though my part of setting the showings amounted to … (0 comments)

rentals: Do you know where you tenants are? - 02/19/10 12:05 AM
Do you know where you tenants are? Sounds silly but it truly amazes me how often I will set up a showing on a vacant house to arrive and either scare or be scared by tenants the list agent didn't know about. More common would be setting up a showing with an agent, who had to call the owner, who had to call the tenant and of course day of showing didn't' happen because the tenants had no idea know you were coming. If you were given a key all is good, right? Or....do they have a guard dog, security system … (2 comments)

 
Randy Ostrander, Real Estate Broker, Serving Big Rapids and West Central MI (Lake and Lodge Realty LLC )

Randy Ostrander

Real Estate Broker, Serving Big Rapids and West...

Big Rapids, MI

More about me…

Lake and Lodge Realty LLC

Address: 107 N. Michigan Suite B, Big Rapids, MI, 49307

Office: (231) 796-5253

Mobile: (231) 250-9802

Author Bio: Randy Ostrander, Broker/Owner of Lake and Lodge Realty in Big Rapids, MI covers all of West Central Michigan. He does work weekends so he can be there wheneve you are ready to handle all of your real estate needs.



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