Maureen Francis

Every year, Washington State real estate and mortgage blogger, Larry Cragun publishes The Magnificent Seven, an award he gives to some of the best real estate blog posts he has read over the previous year. Larry plows through thousands of posts over the course of a year to cull his list down. A [...]

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The well known Detroit broadcaster, Larry Henry, and Dave Benjamin from The Sales Matrix have started a new series of podcasts about entrepreneurs leading the renaissance of Detroit. You can find their work on the recently launched VoicesOfDetroit.com
I had the pleasure of sitting down with them last week and talking about the Metro Detroit [...]

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Would you like a free report with complete statistics for 2008 home sales in Oakland County, by municipality? Just Email Maureen, and we will send it on to you.
Written by Maureen FrancisSKBK Sotheby’s International Realty, 248.430.4450
Visit WebsiteSearch for homes in Oakland County

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Did you know that the larges single open house event in the US takes place right here in Metro Detroit?
Last year our board of Realtors sponsored The Big Open house, a huge tri county effort to have as many homes as possible opened on one day.   Agents reported great turnout, and a number of buyers [...]

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I hate to say I told you so, but I did.
Creative thinking pays off in today’s real estate market. Two weeks ago, I told you about one Birmingham MI home owner who decided to offer very attractive land contract terms to promote interest in a luxury home he was trying to sell. Guess [...]

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Charlie Wollborg, Chief Troublemaker at Curve Detroit surprised me with this great picture.  I was so thrilled to see Detroit’s own Aretha Franklin with such a prominent part in the inauguration as the whole world watched. I am giddy to see myself in Aretha’s big attention getter.
Detroiter, Luke Song, created the buzzworthy hat for the [...]

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Last month Bud Gibson from Michigan Innovators and I sat down on a snowy December morning and enjoyed a long chat about the approach Dmitry and I have used to developing our real estate business.  Much of what we do is internet based, and we use tools like social media to grow and expand our [...]

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Banks ARE lending money, they are just a quite a bit pickier about the particulars: who, what, how much, where, when etc…
When I wrote this post about seller financing a few days ago, I really had no idea about how the floodgates would open. Frankly, there are very few land contract homes listed in [...]

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This morning I showed a new listing in Huntington Woods.  The cars were lined up as I left, with two other agents bringing through buyers.  I had passed another broker and her clients on my way in.  On this freezing cold Metro Detroit morning, that house is looking relatively hot.
Sure, it has great curb appeal.  [...]

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Tightened credit markets and a sluggish real estate market have sellers looking for ways to seal the deal. This week I saw a Birmingham builder do what he could to take control of the situation and set his properties apart. His answer: the land contract.
Not only is he offering land contracts, he’s offering [...]

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I found some pictures of Birmingham on Flickr that present a nice slice of the city. The photographer has his own blog, The Incorrigible City, where he shows the multi-faceted face of Detroit. I find his message hopeful. Take a look at this post to see what I mean.
Written by Maureen FrancisSKBK [...]

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