Metro Detroit Real Estate Homes For Sale

I have a first time buyer who wants to close before the end of tax season to get his first time buyer credit.  We had an offer on a home which had a bad inspection and they decided to move on.  No problem - so many choices - or so you would think.  So, I have a buyer with a very high credit score, pre-approved with down payment & closing costs who has found another home he really wants.  This should be a Realtor's dream come true in this Buyer's market.  So, what's the problem. . .

After moving on from the previous home, they found one they liked even better, in a neighborhood they like and across from a park.  The home is perfect and both husband and wife like it, within their price range and they are ready to show their parents.  It was a short sale when we viewed it and within a week I am making an appointment for our second showing.  The agent says he lost the listing and it is now in the foreclosure process--notice of sheriff's sale.  We drive by to get the name of the new agent to give him a call.  We ran into the neighbor who knows the sellers (they had moved on and home has been vacant).  He said they are giving it back to the bank "deed in lieu".  This made more sense since Michigan has a six month redemption and the original agent could continue to pursue a "short sale".  I get the name of the new listing agent and give him a call.

He says he knows about the "deed in lieu" and told the asset manager and they told him to just watch it and he can't list it and they don't want a BPO (Broker Price Opinion).  I had this scenerio once where the bank told an owner to list is for a short sale prior to accepting it as deed in lieu and then refused to take it after the sellers had complied with all they asked.  The previous agent assured me that the sellers said they did sign it over to the bank.  So, here we are in limbo.  My buyers are prepared to close ASAP and love the home, the banks could have this off their books, it would be occupied and not vacant and we could take one more home off and oversaturated market.

Frustrating to say the least - what will it take?

Royal Oak Michigan Realtor selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan.  TishHouse sells Houses - selling Oakland County Real Estate with RE/MAX Showcase Homes in Birmingham, Michigan. Helping People in a challenging market by specializing in Short Sales. See what my clients have to say about my extraordinary customer service.  Follow me on Twitter.

The following is an end of the year market analysis Ferndale Michigan.  It compares only residential homes sold in 2007 with 2008 to determine the # of homes sold for the year and the increase/decrease in average sold price.  It also distinguishes how many homes were recorded to be Bank Owned as opposed to private owned.   Total number of Homes Sold include private, bank owned and short sales.  In the latter part of 2008, Realtors were required to categorize ownership status so figures may not truly reflect the actual number of bank owned for 2007 and part of 2008.  To insure that most leases were not included in data, minimum sale price used was $5,000.

If you are looking to Purchase a Home, click here for an IDX Home Search

If you are looking to Sell a Home, click here for an outline of our Marketing Strategy.

 Market Analysis for Oakland County Michigan.

Market Analysis for Birmingham Michigan 

 Market Analysis for Royal Oak Michigan.

Market Analysis for Rochester Hills Michigan.

Ferndale Michigan Realtor selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan.  TishHouse sells Houses - selling Oakland County Real Estate with RE/MAX Showcase Homes in Birmingham, Michigan. Helping People in a challenging market by specializing in Short Sales. See what my clients have to say about my extraordinary customer service.  Follow me on Twitter.

I have been posting a lot about Twitter and why you should join and all the great applications I find as I explore the Twittersteam.  This evening, after shoveling snow, getting my showing appointments made and my listing presentation complete (Not much Twittering tomorrow), I indulged in an hour or so of Twitter.  I found a new application called re-Twit'd.  This application lets you see what's hot on Twitter based on how frequently something is retweeted.  You can find the most popular tweets by most retweeted in hours, day, week and fortnight.  When I checked it out, there was a retweet saying "OMG What an inspirational video You MUST watch this! I'm bawling!!!"  Well that was something I could not pass up!  Here is a link to the video she was referring to (retweeted 7 times).  It's called "Are You Going To Finish Strong".

http://www.maniacworld.com/are-you-going-to-finish-strong.html

One of the people I follow is Pete Cashmore @mashable.  He had tweeted about a Twitter section on his Mashable Blog--this is where I get a majority of my news on Twitter and other things relating to Social Media.  One of the stories was about introducing re-Twit'd.  If you love Twitter like I do, I suggest your check out this site and follow him - AFTER YOU WATCH THE VIDEO!

And, if you haven't checked out my most recent post about Twirl - Tweetdeck - Twitterific: Which is Best?  , I suggest you choose an application to manage your tweets - @mashable is in one of my groups called Twitter and SEO - this way I am fairly certain not to miss a lot of his great posts.  If you still aren't embracing Twitter then Twitter for Beginners - On the Fence - Read This.

Royal Oak Michigan Realtor selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan.  TishHouse sells Houses - selling Oakland County Real Estate with RE/MAX Showcase Homes in Birmingham, Michigan. Helping People in a challenging market by specializing in Short Sales. See what my clients have to say about my extraordinary customer service.  Follow me on Twitter.

I have been deeply immersed in Twitter since I joined over a month ago.  In my first post about Twitter for Beginners - On the Fence, I talked about how I avoided it for well over a year and am completely sold on how much value it provides.  Since then, I have been finding new applications, ways to find people to follow and so much more.

As of this post, I am following 506 people with 446 following me.  There are different goals and philosophies on how many to follow and why you choose to follow who you do.  Clearly with over 500 (and I follow people with over 10,000 followers) how do you keep up with them all--you don't!  But, there are ways to manage it and I want to introduce a few of the more popular downloads to interact to utilize with Twitter.  Whatever one you choose there are many.  If you haven't noticed, under each update in whatever program you are viewing them in, there is a source of where the tweet came from.  You will see "web" and this is from the Twitter home page - the basic entry point when you sign up.  You will see "twitterfeed", "twitterberry", the three I mentioned in the title and more.  I am going to talk a bit about Twirl, Tweetdeck & Twitterific which are some of the most popular.

The main thing that Twirl, Tweetdeck & Twitterific (and others) have over the "web" or home page of Twitter is that they have all the tools you need at your fingertips - mainly the "shorten url".  Twitterific is for iPhone or the Mac so I have not used this one.  With the iPhone (and Mac) so popular, this one, of course, is popular.  My nephew uses it and showed me the basics - a one column list of recent friend/follows as they post on Twitter.  It gives you the most recent tweets of those you follow and the ability to reply, direct message (DM) and update your status.  Twirl is pretty much the same only I have used Twirl and am a bit more familiar with it.  It is also one column which you can stretch longer than the initial download to include more posts.  You can customize it, shorten urls, comment, reply and direct message.  When it is running in the background, it gives you small alerts when there is a reply or DM.  I actually like the alerts on Twirl better as it gives you the actual message of the post.

Actually Tweetdeck does most of the same like shorten url, replies, direct messages, alerts and the ability to search (Twirl does too).  Tweetdeck is my favorite because you have the ability to create Groups.  This is important to me as I follow most of the people who follow me.  However, I search for some of the best on Twitter and want to particularly keep up with them.  With over 500 and growing, this is impossible unless I separate them somehow.  So, I have created about 5 groups:  Local, ActiveRain, Elite, Twitter & Social Media(it seems you can have as many as you want but have to slide screen over to view them).  You can have a column/Group of Replies and one of Direct Messages as well.  These you can close when not using them and open again with an icon at the top.  If you close the other groups, you lose them permanently.  I have done this a couple of times accidentally and the newest download now warns you that your group will be lost.  It warns you about DM & replies but I find that you can open them back up later.  You also have gone Group/column of Friends which is the whole tweetsteam of who you follow.

Other features include a column that opens up when you see someone referred to in another post and want to check out their profile.  You just click on their name (like @tishhouse) in the post and it opens with their profile, stats and recent posts with the ability to click "follow" at the bottom of the column.  The last feature I like is the ability to open Twitscoop from an icon at the top and another column opens and you can check out the top conversations/words that are being twitted right now.  You do have the option to view Tweetdeck in a one column format as well--which is all "friends" like Twirl.   Lastly, if you don't like the black color (I didn't), you can click settings and change it.

More of my posts about Twitter:

How To Follow the Elite on Twitter & Are you One?

Twitter for Business & Using Twitter Alerts

Shorty Awards - Find & Follow Best Producers of Short Content on Twitter

Royal Oak Michigan Realtor selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan.  TishHouse sells Houses - selling Oakland County Real Estate with RE/MAX Showcase Homes in Birmingham, Michigan. Helping People in a challenging market by specializing in Short Sales. See what my clients have to say about my extraordinary customer service.  Follow me on Twitter.

I am usually shy at tooting my own horn about what I am up to but I am genuinely excited to have my efforts in creating videos recognized by RE/MAX--and they found out about it through ActiveRain!

Deborah Ball, RE/MAX Times Associate Editor called me when looking to write a story about the importance of video as a tool for Realtors.  Of course I was very excited and asked how she heard about me. She was reading posts in ActiveRain to find a RE/MAX agent who was utilizing video in their business.   It was a great interview where I very enthusiastically talked about the vision of being a "local expert" and networking with the community and businesses--having something to offer while also promoting my real estate business.  I have Brad Andersohn to thank for his generosity in creating the vision of Localism and helping me through my confusion and growing pains with video.  Here is the RE/MAX post:  New at Shooting Video? Here's One Beginner's Tale.

I can't imagine life as a Realtor without ActiveRain.  Everything I do and learn is from the posts and friendships I find here.  While Real Estate is my primary objective for being on ActiveRain, I learn about technology, social media, video, marketing and more that applies to all things on the internet.  Thank you ActiveRain, Brad Andersohn, Deborah Ball and Susan Tedesco (owner of RE/MAX Showcase Homes) for the opportunities to grow and create a business I love.  I also want to thank Jeanette Schneider, VP/Regional Director of RE/MAX of Southeastern Michigan who always recognizes my enthusiasm for RE/MAX and the real estate business--and my efforts in the area of social media as a marketing strategy.

Sorry if it sounds a bit like I am accepting an award LOL but I always feel I am a bit behind in the game of social media because I follow the best on AR and Twitter and they are up to so much--it's hard to keep up in a field that is ever expanding with no end in sight.  I often feel overwhelmed and this encourages me to remember it's the journey and not the destination.

 Birmingham Michigan Realtor selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan.  TishHouse sells Houses - selling Oakland County Real Estate with RE/MAX Showcase Homes in Birmingham, Michigan. Helping People in a challenging market by specializing in Short Sales. See what my clients have to say about my extraordinary customer service.  Follow me on Twitter.

The following is an end of the year market analysis for Rochester Hills Michigan.  It compares only residential homes sold in 2007 with 2008 to determine the # of homes sold for the year and the increase/decrease in average sold price.  It also distinguishes how many homes were recorded to be Bank Owned as opposed to private owned.   Total number of Homes Sold include private, bank owned and short sales.  In the latter part of 2008, Realtors were required to categorize ownership status so figures may not truly reflect the actual number of bank owned for 2007 and part of 2008.  To insure that most leases were not included in data, minimum sale price used was $15,000.

If you are looking to Purchase a Home, click here for an IDX Home Search

If you are looking to Sell a Home, click here for an outline of our Marketing Strategy.

Property Taxes in a Declining Market, click here to learn more.

 Market Analysis for Oakland County Michigan.

Market Analysis for Birmingham Michigan 

 Market Analysis for Royal Oak Michigan. 

Rochester Hills Michigan Realtor selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan.  TishHouse sells Houses - selling Oakland County Real Estate with RE/MAX Showcase Homes in Birmingham, Michigan. Helping People in a challenging market by specializing in Short Sales. See what my clients have to say about my extraordinary customer service.  Follow me on Twitter.

The following is an end of the year market analysis for Royal Oak Michigan.  It compares only residential homes sold in 2007 with 2008 to determine the number of homes sold for the year and the increase/decrease in average sold price.  It also distinguishes how many homes were recorded to be Bank Owned as opposed to private owned.   Total number of Homes Sold include private, bank owned and short sales.  In the latter part of 2008, Realtors were required to categorize ownership status so figures may not truly reflect the actual number of bank owned for 2007 and part of 2008.  To insure that leases were not included in these calculations, minimum search price was $10,000.

If you are looking to Purchase a Home, click here for an IDX Home Search

If you are looking to Sell a Home, click here for an outline of our Marketing Strategy. 

Market Analysis for Oakland County Michigan.

Market Analysis for Birmingham Michigan 

Market Analysis for Rochester Hills Michigan

Royal Oak Realtor selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan.  TishHouse sells Houses - selling Oakland County Real Estate with RE/MAX Showcase Homes in Birmingham, Michigan. Helping People in a challenging market by specializing in Short Sales. See what my clients have to say about my extraordinary customer service.  Follow me on Twitter.

The following is an end of the year market analysis for Oakland County Michigan.  It compares residential homes sold in 2007 with 2008 to determine the # of homes sold for the year and the increase/decrease in average sold price.  It also distinguishes how many homes were recorded to be Bank Owned as opposed to private owned.   Total number of Homes Sold include private, bank owned and short sales.  In the latter part of 2008, Realtors were required to categorize ownership status so figures may not truly reflect the actual number of bank owned for 2007 and part of 2008.  This data includes many communities hit hard with foreclosures like Southfield and Oak Park as well as very high priced homes in the millions such as Bloomfield Hills.  To insure that leases were not included, the search started at $25,000 minimum price.

If you are looking to Purchase a Home, click here for an IDX Home Search

If you are looking to Sell a Home, click here for an outline of our Marketing Strategy. 

Market Analysis for Birmingham Michigan.

Market Analysis for Royal Oak Michigan.

Market Analysis for Rochester Hills Michigan

Oakland County Michigan Realtor selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan.  TishHouse sells Houses - selling Oakland County Real Estate with RE/MAX Showcase Homes in Birmingham, Michigan. Helping People in a challenging market by specializing in Short Sales. See what my clients have to say about my extraordinary customer service.  Follow me on Twitter.

The following is an end of the year market analysis for Birmingham, Michigan.  It compares only residential homes sold in 2007 with 2008 to determine the # of homes sold for the year and the increase/decrease in average sold price.  It also distinguishes how many homes were recorded to be Bank Owned as opposed to private owned.   Total number of Homes Sold include private, bank owned and short sales.  In the latter part of 2008, Realtors were required to categorize ownership status so figures may not truly reflect the actual number of bank owned for 2007 and part of 2008. To insure that leases were not included, the search started at $25,000 minimum price.

If you are looking to Purchase a Home, click here for an IDX Home Search

If you are looking to Sell a Home, click here for an outline of our Marketing Strategy. 

Market Analysis for Oakland County Michigan.

Market Analysis for Royal Oak Michigan. 

Birmingham Michigan Realtor selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan.  TishHouse sells Houses - selling Oakland County Real Estate with RE/MAX Showcase Homes in Birmingham, Michigan. Helping People in a challenging market by specializing in Short Sales. See what my clients have to say about my extraordinary customer service.  Follow me on Twitter.

For those of you still on the fence about Twitter, you really are missing the opportunity to immediately access and follow some of the top voices in the field of technology, social media and really any field you have an interest in.  The true value I find on Twitter is to follow those who are influencing the fields I am interested in.  That is the beauty of Twitter - a conversation NOW in Real time - where we get to listen and interact with the creative process of people.

I posted about following the Elite through Twitter Grader but the Shorty Awards are an even better way to find the top microbloggers in 26 main categories from advertising, social media, SEO to videogames, humor and nonprofits.  There are many other categories as well.  The nominations are now closed but there were more than 32,000 nominations, for 6760 Twitterers in 1599 categories.  I have been following @shortyawards and found the top nominees in social media and started following them.  The top overall nominee is @marismith in social media followed by a list of top bloggers in a variety of fields.  You can click on the different categories and follow individuals in your field of interest.  I started following  @Breakingnews and  @guykawasaki and was already following several.

The thing that makes this different from the elite on @grader is that they are nominated by followers who find great value from their posts.  There will be final voting and an awards ceremony in February and you can follow @shortynews.  You can also check out my post about twittering for business and twitter alerts.

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter.

Royal Oak Realtor selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan.  TishHouse sells Houses - selling Oakland County Real Estate with RE/MAX Showcase Homes in Birmingham, Michigan. Helping People in a challenging market by specializing in Short Sales. See what my clients have to say about my extraordinary customer service.