Buyer Information

I want to stand on the rooftop and shout Screaming Deal! Screaming Deal! But I know that won’t go over too well with the neighbors, so I am keeping my large mouth closed. I can’t believe the price on this house. We just reduced it by $50,000 today and it is priced below market for [...]

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Each year limits are set on how much a conventional loan (non-government insured) can be and when a conventional loan exceeds the limit it is known as a jumbo loan.  Government loans (FHA insured) also have a limit and when a loan exceeds that limit the FHA will not insure the loan and therefore it [...]

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2008 has certainly provided for lots of unexpected surprises for Metro Detroit.  In January we will be rolling out a new series of posts for Metro Detroiters on how to deal with the challenges in today’s real estate market.  The good news: there are previously unseen opportunities for buyers.  Sellers, you are not left out, [...]

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This week I have gotten a flurry of phone calls from people who found super exciting homes “on the internet.”  Actually, they all found homes on Trulia or on Realtor.com and then they called me to ask to see them.  Amazing bargains waiting to be snatched up by eager buyers. I like Trulia a lot.  They [...]

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Someone is going to get a GREAT deal on this super home, steps out of desireable downtown Birmingham. When the home last sold in 2004, the list price was $1,395,000. Dmitry and I relisted it this week for the motivated seller at $799,990. No, nothing is wrong with the house. It is not a foreclosure, [...]

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I just ran a complete search of home sales in Birmingham MI for the first three quarters of 2008. There were 243 home sales (225 sold, 18 pending sales) between January 1st and September 30th, 2008. I decided to create a pdf file so that readers could take a look at these sales themselves. Statistics [...]

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This week we got a question from Tim.  He writes: My son and his family are relocating back to Oakland County after 4 years in the military. Their financial situation is fairly strong. They have a serious interest in a house listed as a short sale. The listed price for the home is about half [...]

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In a historic move yesterday, Treasury Secretary Carlson announced the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two financial giants have been struggling over the past year due to an unprecedented increase in foreclosures which relate to falling home values and the subprime loan meltdown. If the two were allowed to fail the [...]

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Ken Mascia’s recent post on the Mortgage Relief Act resulted in some good questions about exactly what the new law does for home buyers. This week Ken was even featured on the front page of the Oakland Press, where he further opined on the topic. We are always delighted to see Ken’s name in the [...]

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I’ve been seeing an interesting phenomenon this year. Seems like some home buyers are so driven to “get a great deal” that they’re buying homes they aren’t even that excited about living in! I’ve been financing houses since 1990 and for the most part people are generally buying houses to improve their quality of life. [...]

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The last few months have been whirlwind for Dmitry and me.  In spite of all that you hear about the crummy housing market, we, through hard work, good fortune and a bit of creative thinking, find ourselves square in the middle of our best year in real estate-EVER.  Yes, you read that right.  Our best [...]

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