Metro Detroit Real Estate Homes For Sale

Rochester Michigan, a great walk able community in Northern Oakland County, held it’s third annual Fire and Ice Festival January 29 & 30, 2010.   “A Winter Zoobilee” was the theme for the many ice sculptures that lined the streets downtown.  While it was a sunny day, the temperature was anything but.  I took my camera and Flip video to capture all the fun and my first stop was the fire where they were roasting marshmallows – I definitely appreciated the “fire” part of Fire and Ice.

Fire and Ice Festival in Rochester Hills from Cathy Tishhouse on Vimeo.

The festival, sponsored by Oakland County Parks, included sledding, ice skating, horse-drawn carriage rides, broomball demonstrations, taste fest and beer tent with local restaurants until 9 p.m. each night, the “Big Bright Light Show,” and fireworks on Friday and Saturday nights.  Winter recreation activities (and other festivals) take place on East Third and Water streets near the Rochester Fire Department. 

After warming a bit by the fire, I watched some tube sledding – which probably would have done a lot to keep me warm.  I noticed there were not that many people at the top of the hill - the line was at the bottom where you picked up your tube and walked the long hill up to get your turn to sled.  There were a lot of parents carrying a couple of tubes – children have all the fun!

After walking the course and taking video followed by pictures of the ice sculptures, I really needed to warm up.  A large bowl of vegan chili and a glass a wine at “Mind, Body, Spirits” was just the thing.  I found a nice sunny window upstairs where I watched the activity on the street.  I didn’t wait around for the “Big Bright Light Show”  - when shops along Main, Fourth, Walnut and Water streets switch on the 1.2 million holiday lights.  Rochester is well known for the Light Show which begins every year around Thanksgiving and a signature event to get into the holiday spirit.

Rochester (and Rochester Hills) is a great community to live with many festivals throughout the year geared for family fun.  I was really impressed with all that went into creating the sledding runs, rink and course for the dog sledding – for literally a day and a half event.

Rochester Hills Michigan Realtor selling Oakland County Real Estate.  TishHouse sells Houses – selling Real Estate Southeastern Michigan 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 much-anticipated North American International Auto Show NAIAS 2010 has finally opened to the public in Detroit.  The first major media event of 2010 showcases the best of the auto industry at a time when it’s very existence has been in question.   What better way to celebrate the heritage of the “motor city” than visit Cobo Center and take a peek of what’s new and what’s eco friendly?  While I am not quite ready to buy a new car, I couldn’t help but imagining . . .

While there were personnel polishing the cars, fancy lighting and floors to show off the beauty of color and design, I couldn’t help but be dazzled with the sparkle and jewel like appearance of many of the cars.  I picked a Monday afternoon thinking there would be fewer crowds but the parking lots were almost full and attendance  has already surged past 2009.  It definitely shows that Metro Detroit has not lost its fascination with cars even in a challenged economy.  It made me think I was seeing the “Dream Cruise” far into the future.

I tried to capture at least one car from each automaker (slide shows below).  While I was there however, Ford clearly had the most concentration of people checking out the demonstrations and viewing the 2010 Motor Trend Car of the Year.  There is always a fascination for “Cadillac” and my favorite is always the “concept” cars.  If you are attending, there is an opportunity to ride in a “green” car in “Electric Avenue”.

North American International Auto Show - NAIAS from Cathy Tishhouse on Vimeo.

Metro Detroit Realtor selling Oakland County Real Estate.  TishHouse sells Houses – selling Real Estate Southeastern Michigan 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 receiving massages from Irene Dalessandro at Ultimate Health Systems for 10+ years.  On the few occasions when she wasn’t available, I have tried a few others but she has spoiled me.  Many may not be familiar with this hidden gem of alternative healing in Trenton Michigan so a recent tour was eye opening for me as well.

Little did I know that the waiting room is designed with Feng Shui to promote positive energy – I have walked by the dolphin table so many times and never noticed.  I am sure the early morning time of my visits is not to blame as much as I would like to say it is.  One of the services I always find intriguing is the ionSpa foot detoxification (live demonstration in the video).   I have utilized this “relaxing ” cell and organ detox and am always amazed by the amount (and variety) of particles it can pull from the body.

Ultimate Health Systems in Trenton Michigan from Cathy Tishhouse on Vimeo.

Irene has clients that have been with her much longer than I have and has about a 3-month waiting list for appointments.  I am now on her once a month regular rotation when she does her schedule every 3-4 months.  However, she is a mentor to many other therapists who rent space at Ultimate Health Systems as well as offering (and adding) a variety of services.  I discovered a flyer for an upcoming Raw Food class with Maya Healthy Foods at my recent visit and considered reminisced about my brief time of living totally on raw food.

One of my interviews was with Amy Judd about the Bellanina facelift massage which I am now considering checking out.  I could tell that Amy has a great respect and dedication to the Bellanina training and products that promote "a gentle method of treating the problems of sagging, aging skin without surgery".  I have been noticing a few “baggy” for myself that could certainly use some toning - and the facelift massage includes home care exercises to follow.  A special Thank You to Misty for her willingness to be a model for the video.

Ultimate Health Systems is located at 1545 Kingsway Court, Suite 202, Trenton, MI  48183.  If you are interested in making an appointment, attending classes or have an alternative healing system and want to rent space, call their office at 734-671-3961

Michigan Realtor selling Wayne County and Oakland County Real Estate.  TishHouse sells Houses – selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan 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.

Diet and exercise always seems to be on the top of my list for new year’s resolutions – which I hate to say usually aren’t very effective.  I have been a vegetarian for 20+ years but have an insatiable sweet tooth.  More than a tooth, my whole body craves sugar.  One of my best experiences was when I was in my twenties and lived on raw food for almost a year.   I lived on a farm and had a huge garden.  The best thing was to pick an ear of corn and stand right there and eat it immediately!!

Over the years, I have tried many diets from “Eating for Your Blood Type”, Vegan and Gluten Free and I have a whole library of nutrition books—both obscure and popular.  I still have all my raw food cookbooks but have never managed to be that disciplined again.  At best, I maintain a certain amount of raw food in my daily diet.  I can lecture anyone on the benefits of ‘being raw’ – how heat kills vitamins and enzymes (minerals are safe); how much of our body is water and raw foods have the most water content; and the importance of fresh ‘green’ drinks’ (I do manage wheat grass from Beyond Juice in Birmingham).

So, when I heard about a class on raw foods, it prompted me to reminisce about my days without dairy (arthritis) and wheat (headaches) and a lot less calories (much thinner).   I have been to raw food restaurants in Las Vegas, New York and locally including the Red Pepper Deli in Northville.  Surprisingly most of the food is totally delicious and can even be warmed in a food dryer as long as the temperature does not go over 118 degrees.  I saw a flyer at Ultimate Health Systems – a hidden gem in Trenton Michigan – promoting the upcoming Raw Food class.   I stopped by Yoga 4 Peace to get a preview of the class and spoke briefly with Annette Zimmerman of Maya Healthy Foods.  

Eating Raw Presented by Maya Healthy Foods from Cathy Tishhouse on Vimeo.

For more information or to register for the class call Ultimate Health Systems at 734-671-3961.  It is January 20, 2010 from 6:30-8:30PM.  There is a charge of $35 if registered before January 17, which includes a raw food demo, theory,  and Italian raw food to eat.

Southeast Michigan Realtor selling Oakland County Real Estate  and Wayne County Real Estate.  TishHouse sells Houses - selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan 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.

In a time when many Real Estate offices are closing their doors or merging with other agencies, our office if flourishing.  And, what better time to celebrate our success and friendship than the holidays with a party.  This post and pictures is also to show all my readers that I am not always working - even though you may get an e-mail from me at 2AM.

When I became a Realtor a little over five years ago, our office was recruiting agents regularly and I would see a few come and go.  Now we are pretty much at capacity and what a great team we have!  Kudos to our owner, Susan Tedesco, who makes being here a pleasure and our broker Tom Tedesco, who single handedly supervises three foreclosure teams and a variety of independent agents - impeccably!  The evidence of the fun and friendship is this slide show tribute to our office.  The party does get a little tense (and hilarious) with our gifts.  We bring an anonomous gift for under $15 and draw numbers.  We can pick a new gift or "steal" one from someone - obviously we like to draw the higher numbers.  After a gift is stolen three times - it is considered safe and can't be taken any more.  However, there is gift exchanging, or shall I say bartering, until the very end.

Birmingham Michigan Realtor selling Oakland County Real Estate.   TishHouse sells Houses - selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan 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.

Birmingham Michigan is a great place to live and a prime location is the neighborhood surrounding Booth Park.  It is a four-acre park located as a gateway to the center of town coming from the north.  The entrance to Booth Park is on Harmon Street near the corner of Old Woodward and is a destination point for parents and kids with the community-built “Castle” play station, labyrinth/tunnel and an Astroturf hill where you can see children (and adults) slide down on pieces of cardboard.  Along with a climbing wall, rock garden and a pedestrian trail connecting to the Rouge River Trail, there is a large open green space leading into the residential area where many homes overlook the park area.

Booth Park in Birmingham Michigan from Cathy Tishhouse on Vimeo.

The Cranbrook Foundation donated the land to the City of Birmingham in 1947.  The Upper Rouge River Branch runs through the park which serves as an assess point to the river entering the park from the East.  Stabilization of the Rouge River stream banks was one of the priorities of the City of Birmingham when developing the Booth Park project while creating a park visually aesthetic and public awareness of the value of the Rouge River system.  Over 800 volunteers built the play station area in 2006 and it was the winner of the National Project of the Year award from the American Public Works Association.

While Booth Park is the focal point of the northwest area of Birmingham Michigan the name has also come to represent the popular and sought after residential area known as Mill Pond (Holy Name).  The official area of Mill Pond is bordered by Old Woodward, Maple, Oak Street to the north and Quarton Lake.  There are three subdivisions closest to the park and downtown Birmingham that consist of Randall Add, Whitehead & Baldwin Shattuck.  This area is comprised of about 123 homes and currently (August/September), there are 9 homes for sale and 6 that have sold in the last six months.  On the lower end, homes can be found for about $400K and up to $1.8 million.  However, the overall average is about $500K - $600K.

The Booth Park/Mill Pond area of Birmingham is within walking distance to downtown.  With numerous restaurants, two movie theaters, shops (including a Kroger’s), a cup cake station and so much more, Birmingham offers most everything.  In the summer, there is a Farmer’s market almost diagonal to Booth Park and movie night in Booth Park.

Birmingham Michigan Realtor selling Oakland County Real Estate.   TishHouse sells Houses - selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan 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.

My office is located where Old Woodward and New Woodward meet in Birmingham Michigan and I have had a birds-eye view of the parade of vintage cars all week.  I did a little preview video in anticipation of the 15^th Annual Woodward Dream Cruise and wasn’t about to miss the Big Event.  With all the talk about two of the Big Three having gone through bankruptcy and all three pulling out of sponsorship, everyone was wondering about the turn out and success of an event that, in previous years has drawn up to 1.5 million people.

Parking was a snap upon arriving at my office and I began to wonder – a couple years ago, our parking lot was turned over to a parking service and I had to pretend work was calling to get a spot.  However, upon turning the corner I was not disappointed.  On the meridian between Old Woodward & New Woodward, the crowds were there, vintage cars were parked near downtown Birmingham and all was well with the Dream Cruise – even the scorching heat.

There was a restaurant set up with table cloths and flowers, a couple of bands, 94.7 broadcasting near by, a baseball game of sorts for the kids, face painting and, of course the cars.  Driving to the Cruise, I was listening to the radio where they talked about how uncomplicated the engines were then – ‘you knew what you were looking at when you opened the hood’.  Well, that may be the case for some but I was just wondering how they keep the engines so clean – an important question answered here in my interview with Chris Fusco, owner of a 1966 E-Type Jaguar Coupe.

From Birmingham Michigan - Woodward Dream Cruise 2009 from Cathy Tishhouse on Vimeo.

I admit that I am not very knowledgeable about cars and to some – “how do you keep an engine clean” may not be a good interview question.  However, there was another woman who came and asked the very same question.  Chris, who works as an automotive designer for Johnson Controls in Auburn Hills treated my question with respect.  I could tell he has put a lot of work and pride into restoring his Jaguar.  He also told me about his 1965 Mustang Fastback that he drives a bit more than the Jaguar and he is currently working on a 1967 Mustang Fastback.  

To the many car enthusiasts who come – whether as an owner or novice bystander – it was a great day to see over a million people lined along Woodward enjoying and celebrating what Detroit has always been know for – cars.

Birmingham Michigan Realtor selling Oakland County Real Estate.   TishHouse sells Houses - selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan 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.

Metro Detroit and the world's largest one-day automotive event runs from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. along Woodward Avenue through nine host communities.  This Saturday (August 15) is the Fifteenth Year for this Annual Event that takes place the third Saturday of August.  It runs through nine host communities from Ferndale to Pontiac . . .

Here is a preview a few days before the event.  Our office is located where Old Woodward and New Woodward meet and we always see people gathering days before and the cars revving up for a parade.  There is so much more on the day of the event.

Dream Cruise on Woodward Ave. in Birmingham Michigan from Cathy Tishhouse on Vimeo.

Birmingham Michigan Realtor selling Oakland County Real Estate.   TishHouse sells Houses - selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan 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 Red Run Subdivision of Royal Oak Michigan is located within a one mile square area between twelve mile and thirteen mile that runs from Rochester Rd. to Campbell Ave.  It gets its name from the Red Run Golf Club located nearly within the center of the community.  Just north of the Red Run Golf Club is a park that is another great plus to what this subdivision has to offer.

While many residents may belong to the Red Run Golf Club, this is not what primarily draws people to the subdivision.  The homes consist mostly of bungalows and ranches averaging between 1000 and 1200 square feet built in the 1950s.  A neighborhood with large trees, sidewalks and a feeling of community appeals to people while remaining very affordable.  When I first became a Realtor, my owner spoke of this neighborhood with a certain distinction that I grew to understand and appreciate when I sold my first home there. 

My buyers were referred to me from a friend and they were very clear from the start that they wanted to live in the Red Run area.   They didn’t want to look anywhere else because it was centrally located between each of their places of employment.  It is located near two major expressways and a mile away from downtown Royal Oak.  I showed them six homes in the Red Run Sub and they put an offer on a home that very same day.

Red Run Subdivision in Royal Oak Michigan from Cathy Tishhouse on Vimeo.

Soon after, two more clients purchased homes in Red Run.  One of my buyers already lived there and wanted a larger home.  He was also a member of the Red Run Golf Club.  While we looked in other areas of Royal Oak and Beverly Hills, they chose a home almost walking distance to the Golf Club.  Their daughter swam there in the summers, they ate in the restaurant and enjoyed the family activities like yearly fire works.  When we closed on the home, the listing agent wore a shirt with the Red Run Golf Club crest and my client noticed it immediately. 

This is such an appealing area of Royal Oak that in the last six months 12 homes sold and five of them in June and July – only one was a foreclosure.  There are currently 24 listings ranging from $80,000 to $235,000 with an average of $169,500.  This is excluding the one foreclosure and about three new builds unique to the community over $300,000.  Excluding one foreclosure and one home over $400,000, the average sale price in the past six months was $135,500.

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

Royal Oak Michigan Realtor selling Oakland County Real Estate.   TishHouse sells Houses - selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan 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.

With two great events in Oakland County Michigan, I split my time between the Berkley Michigan Art Bash and the Royal Oak Clay Glass & Metal Show.  There were around 65 artists at the 8^th Annual Art Bash in downtown Berkley and my favorite part of the art fair were two budding artists at the “spin art” booth.  This is the type of activity that always attracted me at similar fairs as a younger person and I probably would rather have been spinning that shooting video.  However these two girls captured my interest with their creativity and persistence in getting just the right colors.

Even though the “budding young artists” caught most of my attention, I also enjoyed the chimes made of silverware, the pet dinner plates and the music. . . I did manage to pass up the candy-roasted cashews – usually an automatic treat at street fairs.  It was definitely a day well spent.

Berkley Michigan Art Bash from Cathy Tishhouse on Vimeo.

If you are looking to Purchase a Home in the Berkley area, click here for an IDX Home Search

If you are looking to Sell a Home in the Berkley area, click here for an outline of our Marketing Strategy

Berkley Michigan Realtor selling Oakland County Real Estate.   TishHouse sells Houses - selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan 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.