March 2010

The good news is that, in my little corner of the world, real estate sales have really picked up this year! No doubt that some this activity can be attributed to the Home Buyer Tax Credit which is scheduled to expire on April 30th – and I sure hope that congress decides to extend that [...]

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If you are still on the fence about the value of professionally staging a home for sale, here is another benefit to consider:  staged properties command higher appraisals. Certified Residential Appraiser Linda Shurtliff, owner of Troy-based Reliable Residential Appraisals, LLC agrees.  “A staged home has much more appeal than an unstaged home.  A staged home [...]

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Love this post from The Onion, simply because it is hilarious. With a title like I Wasn’t Going To Buy This House Until I Saw The Realtor’s Headshot On The Sign, how could it not have some delicious morsels to offer up? I’ve never understood lots of things about the way we Realtors market ourselves, [...]

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Over the last few years, we have helped sellers save a bit of cash on transfer tax. The state legislature “rebranded” this law this week, but the savings to home sellers remained in place. We received the following from the Michigan Association of Realtors, outlining the criteria of qualifying for the transfer tax break: Sellers [...]

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Dmitry and I have been selling Oakland County real estate since 2001, and some Realtor’s would say that we have never never seen a “good” market, though we would disagree. A good market is what you make of the market you are in, afterall. I can’t control the market, but I can control how I [...]

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Gary Keller, one of the country’s top brokers and author of best-selling book “Shift:  How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times” was on ABC’s “Good Morning America” last week.   Mr. Keller gave his opinion on how to increase your chances of selling in this market. Selling Your House in a Down Real Estate Market [...]

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