South Lyon Michigan Home Buying

VIP Tour of New Columbus/Polaris Hilton

2008-06-20T11:56:00.001-05:00

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?

2008-06-01T09:49:00.003-05:00

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

2008-04-29T14:57:00.004-05:00

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

2008-04-16T09:14:00.002-05:00

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

2008-03-28T08:14:00.002-05:00

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

2008-03-26T18:44:00.001-05:00

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

2008-03-25T15:10:00.002-05:00

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.

Realty Times article about Home Buying Concerns

2008-03-04T23:00:00.004-05:00

If you are interested in buying a home this year in South Lyon or surrounding areas here is an article from writer Broderick Perkins on home buying concerns.

Home Buying Concerns Article

Broderick is a regular writer for Realty Times, and industry publication that also has a website.

Creepy Home Seller - Turns out she had a good reason

2008-02-10T12:28:00.000-05:00

At one of our recent staff meetings one of our purchasing agents mentioned a strange situation when she was setting up a showing on a home.

The listing agent asked her to describe the home buyers she was going to be showing through.

This is almost never done, in part because the listing agent and the seller don't want to be accused of discriminating against a buyer based on the color of their skin or any other protected class issue.

Since this caught our agent off-guard she investigated further and found the seller was indeed behind this question.

But there was a good reason.

The seller was a single woman who was recently divorced and her husband had apparently had some of his friends use real estate agents to go through her home and check out her living arrangements.

I don't blame the woman and that certainly isn't a very nice thing for her X to be doing!

Zillow home values as a tool for South Lyon home buyers?

2008-02-04T22:08:00.000-05:00

I've posted a couple of times on the topic of Zillow "Zestimates".

These are estimates of value from the Zillow website.

Now depending on how you look at the specific data from Zillow it can be useful, but, if you expect a website like Zillow to actually give you a value for a home, you are nuts!

(And I've actually talked to home buyers who plan on doing that. Bad idea!)

As the top Exclusive Buyer's Agent who serves the South Lyon market place, our office has the systems to provide value data and the wisdom to use that data in negotiation.

Assessment falling and taxes rising article

2008-01-25T09:49:00.000-05:00

This article from the Freep talks about how in many parts of Oakland County and Wayne county the assessments are dropping because values have dropped, but the taxes are rising because of the 1994 Proposal A tax law.

Interesting.

South Lyon real estate agents

2008-01-20T12:20:00.000-05:00

When it comes to real estate agents who serve the South Lyon area, most are focused on sales and marketing. Or to put it differently, most are focused on listing homes for sale and then finding someone who will buy them.

We serve buyers looking to buy in South Lyon but our office is different. We are an Exclusive Buyer's Agent. (EBA) An Exclusive Buyer's Agent is a real estate company who never takes listings and never represents the best interest of a seller. This avoids the conflict of interest that traditional "list and sell" real estate offices have.

It also allows us to provide some unique services to home buyers.

We serve Livingston, Western Oakland, Western Wayne, and Washtenaw counties.

If you are looking for an Exclusive Buyer's Agent in another area you can find one by visiting the website of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents at naeba.org.

If you are interested in discussing your home buying needs feel free to visit our website linked above or just call us at 734-662-6240. We'll be happy to speak to you about buying a home in South Lyon.

New tactic to lookout for if you are buying a foreclosure home

2008-01-06T20:22:00.000-05:00

We have run across a new tactic being used by lenders when they are selling the homes they have taken back.

Click the link above to be ready for it.

Also, you can look at properties online at our South Lyon property search site here: http://south-lyon-michigan-real-estate.com/

Meijer Development delayed

2007-11-29T16:21:00.000-05:00

A major development like a Meijer's store has a big impact on home values in the area. it can be a mixed bag, but in general it is positive unless the home is really close to the store.

The link above is an article on the Lyon Planning Commission meeting where the decision was delayed.

We had a Meijers open about a mile from our home a couple years ago and it has made life here much easier.

Another national builder is leaving Michigan

2007-11-27T13:50:00.000-05:00

Ryan Building, a builder who had two subdivisions in process in Lyon Township is leaving the state.

The link above is from the Detroit News and it has details.

Lyon Ridge and The Heights at Elkow Farms will probably remain partially developed for many years.

More than ever buyers of new construction need to look at the financial stability of the builder they are considering working with. In this case the builders stock value lost about 50% in the last couple years.

Funny stuff you see when looking at homes

2007-06-24T23:11:00.000-05:00

Here is an article that came from a survey of exclusive buyer agents around the country. They were asked "What annoying things do sellers do when you are showing their homes?"

Strange stuff!

LINK

Exclusive Buyer's Agency gets some local press

2007-04-12T19:35:00.000-05:00

I'm the president of the standard setting organization for real estate agents who represent the financial best interests of home buyers. It is a non-profit group called NAEBA. http://naeba.org

As such, I was interviewed by the local Business Review Magazine. Here is the article: http://blog.mlive.com/ann_arbor_business_review/2007/04/executive_profile_jon_boyd.html

Prices drop, sales increase

2007-04-11T15:59:00.000-05:00

I saw an article recently from the National Association of REALTORS siting a rise in home sales in March by 3.9%.

(They always focus on the positive sales news because they are always on the seller's side.)

But, if you look around enough you will also see that prices fell for the seventh straight month compared to one year earlier.

The South Lyon market is not an exception. Not at all.

It can be a good time to buy a home, but you still need to be very careful!

Homes with Urinals. Yes Urinals

2007-03-26T22:57:00.000-05:00

This is a post from another one of our blogs about area homes that have urinals.

(Maybe there is a lot of beer drinking?)

Here is another more serious article on the topic: http://www.keidel.com/design/select/urinals.htm

Are home prices going to recover?

2007-03-13T14:59:00.000-05:00

Interesting that a major news organization publishes a story about Realtors predicting that home prices will recover soon.

I guess I have to ask: "What did you expect them to say?"

Realtors are always going to say that.

Here is a post on another forum we have in our office: http://ann-arbor-homes.com/realtors-expect-home-price-recovery/

Watch out for "Affiliated Business Arrangements"

2007-03-06T15:27:00.000-05:00

A big thing now with big real estate companies is making money on parts of the real estate transaction other than the brokerage fees. That means mortgage, title, warranty, and insurance.

Well a Coldwell Banker company got busted for taking advantage of their buyers and sellers. Here is an article from the WashingtonPost on the subject:

WA Post article on class action suit

Don't forget the walkthrough before closing

2007-02-26T11:24:00.000-05:00

One story we hear quite often is about home buyers that close on the house and then go to the house and find that the seller has either left junk or taken things they shouldn't have taken.

Here is a link to a good post on another blog on the topic:
http://annarbormichiganrealestate.com/?p=19