VIP Tour of New Columbus/Polaris Hilton

This week my wife and I were invited to tour the new Hilton Hotel in
Columbus Ohio that will be opening soon. It is on the North side in
the Polaris Centers of Commerce.

It looks like a great and much needed hotel on that side of town.

It is also notable that in all my years in real estate this is the
first time a construction manager has invited me to tour the public
restroom! (And it was very nice!)

Here is a look at the fireplace in the lobby.

Cell phone related, but can this be applied to real estate negotiation?

The link above is from PC world and it presents an interesting idea for getting out of cell phone contract termination fees. Basically get your new provider to pony up money to buy you out of your contract with your old provider.

We just leased another vehicle from Chrysler Corp. and they have a fee if you don't lease or buy your next vehicle from them of $450!

When we leased our previous car we negotiated that out of the deal (the sales person agreed to pay it if we didn't stick with a Chrysler product).

So it can be applied to cell phone contracts and lease contracts, how can it be applied to home buying?

One way we've found is to ask the seller of a home to pay a buyer's early lease termination fee or lease payments. It doesn't always work, but we were able to use it on a Saline home purchase about a year ago.

How To Buy A Foreclosure Class - South Lyon

We were viewing a number of luxury homes in the South Lyon area over the weekend. There are some great values available in that price range.

One of the reasons values have come down is because of the availability of foreclosed homes. At the same time the fact that values have fallen makes foreclosures more likely. It is a vicious cycle.

If you are a buyer these days you should at least consider what buying a foreclosure might offer you. We have a free class about once a month titled "How To Buy A Foreclosure" that provides a lot of valuable real-world information on the process.

Click the link above for more information.

Buyer Agency Toronto Style

I just ran across the web page above from a writer in the Toronto area.

They posted summaries from a number of articles on buyer agency and the difficulties that Ms. Marty Ummel ran into our in California when she hired a "partial buyer agent".

Ms Ummel filed a law suit and recently lost.

There is a lot to the details of the case but the link above just has some good basic information for home buyers.

Some sad news for three South Lyon businesses

This article reports on the future of the theater and two local restaurants in the challenging economic conditions. (Maybe some challenging bad management conditions too!)

How to choose a buyer agent

Here is an article that came out last month about choosing a buyers agent.

If you are thinking about buying a home, particularly in the South Lyon area, it is worth reading.

Sad end to a home buyer who was abused by his REALTORs

I just hear the final decision of a Maryland appeals court on a buyer who got taken because his real estate agent lied to him about being a buyer agent.

It is a long story that will probably cost the buyer over $50,000, but the quick version is:

1. Buyer hires company to act as buyer's agent.

2. The agreement expires but the company keeps acting like his buyer's agent. (So he assumes they are still his agent.)

3. The real estate agent gets the buyer to sign a contract to purchase a new home.

4. Buyer realizes the contract doesn't protect him if his old home doesn't sell.

5. Buyer realizes that the real estate agent was actually now working for the seller.

6. Buyer tries to pull out of the transaction.

7. Buyer ends up loosing tens of thousands of dollars on the transaction and court costs.

8. Real estate company admits they violated the disclosure laws, but they get away scott-free.

This is a scham.

The link above is to the original story.