Maureen Francis

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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7/01 Fireworks in Borden Park in Rochester Hills 7/03 Fireworks during ArtBlast in Birmingham at the Birmingham-Bloomfield Art Center 7/03 Fireworks at Lincoln Hills Golf Course in Birmingham 7/03 Fireworks in the Parks at Addison Oaks County Park in Leonard 7/03 Fireworks over Wolverine Lake 7/03 Fourth of July Fireworks at Hazel Park Raceway in [...]

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Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said that the Federal Housing Administration is going to permit its lenders to allow homeowners to use the $8,000 tax credit as a downpayment. Donovan’s remarks came in an address to several thousand REALTORS®, including 130 from Michigan, who are in Washington D.C. [...]

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Written by Maureen FrancisSKBK Sotheby’s International Realty, 248.430.4450 Visit WebsiteSearch for homes in Oakland County

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Unfortunately, the number of people who owe more than their house is worth is increasing in Metro Detroit.  If you are staying in your house, you don’t have a pressing issue, though the new housing bill that is coming out on March 4th may provide you with some relief.  More on that later when the [...]

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WXYZ anchorman Stephen Clark put this video up on YouTube today. Detroiters are resilient. Just watch. Written by Maureen FrancisSKBK Sotheby’s International Realty, 248.430.4450 Visit WebsiteSearch for homes in Oakland County

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Last week Oakland County introduced a plan to help get some of the vacant foreclosed homes off the market in select Oakland County communities.  Their press release follows. I need to call the county and ask some questions.  The program seems very generous and should help sell some foreclosed homes.  I am not sure why [...]

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Yep, you Metro Detroit first time home buyers who have been thinking about stopping renting and starting owning now have 8,000 new reasons to get hopping and start shopping.  Uncle Sam is giving you that much in good ol’ US dollars.  You’ll see it as a credit on your 2009 tax return, so it could [...]

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Over the last few weeks I have had the pleasure of meeting with quite a few people who will be soon buying their first homes in Metro Detroit. They are excited about the opportunities they are seeing in places like Royal Oak, Birmingham, Beverly Hills, Huntington Woods and Troy. They should be excited. Today’s housing [...]

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Birmingham is certainly known for its upscale downtown, incredible restaurants and it’s wonderful neighborhoods.  We have pricey real estate here too, compared to much of the rest of the region. On Inauguration Day, I showed Birmingham’s only HUD home active in the MLS.  To date, there are have been few HUD homes in Birmingham, but [...]

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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 daunting task, [...]

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