Maureen Francis

Relief might be on the way for harried home buyers, mortgage officers and title companies who are rushing overtime to make sure they close  before June 30th so that their home purchases qualify for the $6,500 and $8,000 tax credits that were offered on purchase agreements signed by April 30th. Our market saw a frenzy of [...]

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The tax credit that gave new home buyers and move up home buyers an opportunity to receive $8K or $6.5k, respectively certainly had a positive impact on the market, especially in the month of April, as buyers rushed to get in under the deadline.  Multiple offers were commonplace and anxious buyers often bid up homes [...]

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Last week a spectacular home in Birmingham hit the market at a list price of $6,395,000, making it the most expensive residence currently on the market in the City of Birmingham.  Our company, SKBK Sotheby’s International Realty, has been entrusted to market this exceptional home. 400 Arlington was originally built for Carole Ilitch Trepeck and [...]

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February sales for residential properties in Oakland County increased 25 percent over the same month last year; in Macomb County, the increase was 6 percent. Listings decreased in both counties (by 15 percent in Oakland and 6 percent in Macomb), but while Oakland posted a sales volume increase of 45 percent, Macomb’s sales volume dipped [...]

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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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Another agent just made my day with this email: Hello. A client of mine had requested to see this property, but I noticed it’s pending. I was looking at the listing and felt it necessary to compliment you on your photos. You did a fantastic job with all of the photos-they look wonderful. So many [...]

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I typically refrain from tooting my own horn, but I am very excited about yesterday’s announcement from Trulia.com, the leading real estate site. Trulia launched it’s new Trulia Mayors program and chose five agents from across the country from the 400,000 agents active on the site, recognizing us as “social media role models and innovators.” [...]

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Here it is very early in the  morning on Labor Day 2009.  I have been up for a couple of hours reading entries to this week’s carnival of real estate, and I am doing my best to be really happy about that!  But then, we all know that Realtors rarely take a day off. Since [...]

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When we started selling homes in 2001, short sales were unheard of in Metro Detroit.  Foreclosures were rare in Oakland County.  But times have changed and this year we have had an enormous uptick in our short sale business. Short sales are taking place in every price range.  In the last 30 days we’ve helped [...]

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