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Voted BEST & FAVORITE Again!

We take a great deal of pride in doing things the right way and it is great to be recognized! We were voted Genesee County Best “Green Company” again this year and Favorite Real Estate Company again this year!

The “Green” award is great, we have taken great strides to streamline our processes from purchasing to operations to outsourcing to more efficient providors, all in an effort to reduce our consumption. I have even traded my giant SUV for a small car and ride my bike more all in effort to drop my “pump spend” by 50% !

We have also introduced our “Green Text” home info system that allows consumers to get color photos and up to the date info via text on listings. This replaces paper flyers in a lot of cases saving paper, gas and stress all while providing consumers a better experience.

The Favorite Real Estate Company is also huge, it is great to see consumers appreciating our efforts to provide them great service! Please keep surfing and reading ChangingStreets.com homes for sale, web traffic is up 23% this year in a static market and we are pumped.

Ernie Harwell’s Michigan

Ernie Harwell said, “In my almost 92 years on this earth the Good Lord has blessed me with a great journey. The blessed part of that journey is it’s going to end right here in Michigan.”

Wow.  Ernie Harwell has been described using words like “lovely”, “angelic”, and “beloved.” One of the most beloved men in sports history considers association with our state a blessing.  At a time when Michigan is being beat up, residency is declining, and our neighborhoods are facing downsizing, Ernie’s words are a welcome sentiment. At a time when Flint and Detroit are the focus of unflattering headlines and headlining negative statistics, we get to claim the voice and heart of baseball as our very own. And he was proud of it. Does that mean we’re not so bad afterall?

Yes.

I am not denying that we have some real serious issues here in Flint, or saying  that we shouldn’t feel bad about them. But all the bad press and negativity in general, I believe, takes a negative toll on us as individuals and as communities. Look, as people we are already suffering and struggling with a toe in the door of feeling worthless due to our own issues with job, finances, home, etc. So when we hear the commentary about the mess we live in that comes from across the country and from within our own borders, it is easy to be pushed right through that door and become locked up in our own den of negativity.  No good change can come from within those walls.

You want to hear something odd? I don’t get it. I don’t feel like I live in this desperate location that is our nation’s punchline. Maybe it’s like a kid who is poor but doesn’t realize it because he thinks everyone goes to bed hungry.  I know there’s pain. But I drive through the cultural area in the spring and summer and see beauty in the architecture and landscape all around me. I am infected by the festive energy at the Farmer’s Market. I go to the Art Fair in June and visit with artists and walk through FIA and am overwhelmed by talent and creativity and hope. I admit that many days are met with struggles that take me down if I let them. But when I look around at what is available to me and the efforts of the people around me  – sometimes I am bold enough to think not about how pitiful we are, as the news tells us every day, but how GREAT the rest of the country must be if everyplace else goes up from here.

My point is, we’re tough, Flint Stones.  We’re making it in a place where other, more sissy types, could never imagine living. Maybe the odds really are stacked against us and nobody expects us to succeed as individuals, as communities, as cities… but you know – the odds were also stacked against a young boy born 92 years ago with a tongue tying speech impediment who went on to become the most influential baseball announcer of all time.

In a complicated world, in complicated times,  Hall of Fame announcer Vin Scully was able to sum Ernie Harwell up very simply.  He said that he cared for people and he loved baseball.  Everybody loves something don’t they? What a beautiful and fool proof formula for success – focus on what you love and enjoy while caring for every person you encounter. If I was surrounded by people who lived according to that credo, I couldn’t be convinced that there was any better “place” to be.

I’m not a big sports fan. Tiger Baseball & Wolverine Football is the extent of my interest. I don’t even watch baseball much anymore because the timing just doesn’t work. But my childhood experiences spent watching with my Dad or just hearing the crack of  the bat and Ernie Harwell’s voice in the background have ingrained in me these beautiful images and warm feelings that awaken at the mere sound of a game on tv today.  And even though I’m not much of a sports fan I am a Mitch Albom fan. His Farewell to Ernie Harwell makes it very plain that I am not the only one who will carry those warm fuzzy memories forever.

Suspicious Buyers: Multiple Offers, Highest & Best, Sold for Higher than List Price

Placing offers and negotiating is a complicated thing. We are coming off an age of negotiation where people became comfortable putting in low ball offers hoping for a bargain and prepared for a counter. Today, however, the situation is much more complicated, the list prices are not so negotiable and bidding wars are stressful. Maybe you don’t know for sure what kind of interest your potential house is getting, but I can tell you that in this market today, multiple offers, bidding wars, and higher than list price sales are happening commonly. The house next door to me is an example of what  has been going on in real estate, all that has gone wrong, and who has been hurt.

The Tragedy and the Multiple Offer

I watched the house being built.  I snuck in on a regular basis and checked out the progress when no crew was present. In fact, I have B&E’d just about every house on my street.  When we moved in here, ours was only one of a handful of houses built. I wasn’t a real estate agent back then so I didn’t think in terms of laws, safety concerns and private property. Just neighborhood curiosity. I didn’t bake muffins or bring welcome baskets to my new neighbors, but I did assess their property before they moved in. The house next door was no exception.

So I watched it being built and we made fast friends when the new family moved in in 1999 ish.  Even confessed to the trespassing! The Mrs. and I talked about our kids together,  bought hanging baskets for each other when planting time came, attended each other’s home parties, and gladly sent our husbands off to play together shooting clays and such. It might have been 2001 when they had their third baby.  Jonathon with the full head of black hair… I can still see him and smell him in my arms. Too bad it was only two weeks later that Hubs and I were eating fruit on the back deck early on a Sunday morning when Mr. Neighbor came walking across the yard- his head held low with the news that baby Jonathon had died.

We tried desperately to hold them together over the next several months but the loss was too much and Mr. & Mrs. Neighbor split up. They had paid almost $250,000 for the house only two years prior at the height of the market, and it was already declining in value – they couldn’t sell it. In 2003 it was listed at 160k and sold for 168,500. There are two things to pay attention to there… 1) the drop in price and 2) it sold for more than it was listed. I highlight that because so often buyers are suspicious of the “highest and best” scenarios and claims by agents that other offers are coming in.

Rental Fraud and the Multiple Offer

So the new neighbor moved in. We were all in awe of what a fantastic deal the house was at 160k, yet also pessimistic about the affects on the value of our own homes. It was the first of many foreclosures to come.

Now this neighbor was not as ideal as the Mr. & Mrs.  Much gossip and silly behavior eventually led to her moving to Florida with a fella. The house couldn’t sell because she owed too much so she took in a renter.

GREAT! (sarcasm) A renter. We had already had bad experiences with renters in the the neighborhood and were not looking forward to having one next door. Guess what! She was awesome! She owned a business downtown Flint and was one of those sunshiney people that made you smile when she drove by or was out in the yard when you pulled in.  Too bad the owner of the house, Silly Pants who moved to Florida, had been taking her rent payments but let the house go into foreclosure. My new wonderful renter neighbor came home one day to a notice of eviction. We stored some stuff for her catering business in our garage until she made arrangements for everything.  More heart break on Meadowlane Ct.

So the house went into foreclosure again and in 2009 was listed at 92k. NINETY TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS! That plus all the other repos that had come and gone in the hood sealed our fate.  We were actually naive enough to think that we would never go negative.  Now we are, which is not a huge deal because we don’t have to sell and we’re fine with our payment. But we feel a little too close for comfort to the misfortune that has crippled the Flint area. And I am pretty cheesed that I can’t sell and get a piece of that $8000 home buyer credit if I’m being really honest. Anyway…

As it turned out the house sold for 109k, thank goodness for another multiple offer, highest and best situation. How do we know it was a true multiple offer situation? I wrote one of the other offers and we lost it because that buyer didn’t believe she really had competition. Too bad for her but what a fantastic deal for the new owner. Another great neighbor, by the way. My daughter interviewed her and her son one day when they were scouting the property before their closing. She determined that they were nice people and that we should give them a potted plant to welcome them and clear away some of the negative juju that may have accumulated.  So we did.

I am happy to report now that although there are some foreclosures scattered throughout the sub, our street is filled with home owners. And with a note of optimism I point out that the house right behind me, slightly inferior to the house next door, listed 7k higher at 99k.  Perhaps a sign of inching higher value? In a bittersweet accomplishment, though, I rushed in with a full price offer… no need to over bid because I urged the buyer to be fast to avoid a highest and best situation… yay for her, but there’s a few more bucks off my square foot value. What a complicated business.

Life and real estate negotiation may be hard but you know what is a no brainer decision? BUYING right now if you have nothing to sell first. There is money with your name on it right now and prices are ridiculously low. They won’t stay here. There are already signs of rising values across the country. You only have ten days left to make an offer and get it accepted. Hurry!

OMG You Should Totally Like Live Within Your Means, For Sure!

Right Nic Cage?  Look at him there, twenty some years ago, with a full head of hair and all rich and famous already.  Now personally, of the two, I would have borrowed against the equity of my house to put big money on his costar there, Deborah Foreman, to continue to charm audiences for decades. But SHE went on to become a Pilates instructor, while HE – my personal pick for least appealing & most over rated actor in Hollywood – has gone on to kidnap babies, eat cockroaches, fight for what’s right, take his face off, bring down planes of bad guys, buy a winning lottery ticket, and even WON AN OSCAR in Las Vegas! In fact, Nicolas Cage was the 5th highest paid actor in the United States last year, having raked in $40 million between June 2008 and June 2009.  Had I wagered the equity in my house for that bet I’d likely be in foreclosure right next to extravagant Nic, closing the gap between Burtucky and Bel-Air.

But I didn’t. So I’m sitting in my tiny home office – also known as “the kitchen” in some circles – thinking about how stupidity with money brings us all together.  The $40 million dollar a year guy and the $40 thousand dollar a year guy both have blemished credit and cannot get a loan for 5 to 7 years. I was going to say “… brings us all to the same level” but that’s not true at all. Nic can say – and undoubtedly feel like – he is broke like the rest of us. But while he was selling off his million dollar comic book collection to pay off his multimillion dollar tax lien, the rest of us were taking our CD collections to Jellybeans for grocery money.  Even so, the lifestyles of the rich and famous – Annie Liebowitz, Aretha Franklin, Ed McMahon, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, tons of sports dudes  all going bankrupt and losing their homes – is not that different than our own. Just bigger.

Although it’s true that lending institutions were very generous with the loans they gave us  a decade ago, we made more mistakes beyond simply taking them. Our homes were soaring in value so what did we do? We took more money from the generous banks by borrowing against our equity – not for home updates that would have been so useful right now trying to sell the houses we can’t afford, but to finance swimming pools, and jet skis, and snowmobiles, OH BOY! Now these bad decisions might never have become bad decisions if we hadn’t started losing our jobs and seeing our home values plummet. But they did, and we were screwed. Just like Nic. But smaller.

I should interject here… After a few days of researching and writing some more serious stuff, I thought that the NIC CAGE foreclosure story would be a relaxing no brainer. Draw a few comparisons, show some cool pictures… but no. The research sucked me in! His expenditures were outrageous.  We’re not just talking about a repo in Bel-Air… Dude has cribs, mansions, and castles in Newport Beach, Venice Beach, Malibu, San Francisco, Middleton, New Orleans, Rhode Island, New York, Las Vegas, England, and Germany! He owns 2 islands in the Bahamas, 2 yachts and a jet.  I don’t have time to get into what he paid for the Lambo he bought from the Shah of Iran, or how  many exotic animals he has in addition to his two pet King Cobras he keeps, complete with antidote serum nearby – just in case! Really, you have to look it up yourself. It’s remarkable. My favorite news site THE DAILY BEAST has a lot of the details if you want to check it out.  What blew my mind is something much more simple. More like you and me.  He paid for a lot of it with EQUITY!

The house was built in 1940 for a whopping $110,000. Dean Martin and Tom Jones each made additions and improvements when they lived there.  Nic paid $425,000 for it in 2005.  When it went into foreclosure he owed SIX DIFFERENT BANKS, are you ready? 18m!!! Here’s where my mind is blown. How did it get from $425,000 to 18m?  He borrowed against it on two separate loans in 2007 – one for 10.35m and one for 5.5m.  Then three more times in 2008 totaling 2.1m. WHAT! THE! HECK?! If your 40m per year salary does not allow for a $276,000 auction win of a dinosaur skull – you shouldn’t have gone into a bidding war with Leonardo diCaprio. Common sense should dictate this.

Oh well. Maybe he didn’t have good role models or learn to manage money. He probably looked up to his great Uncle Francis Ford Coppola and want to be just like him one day. But didn’t he have money troubles too? And I don’t know how much Hollywood is affected by recession, but when your business manager isn’t paying your taxes, it only makes sense that you’ll end up suffering your own private recession one day. So maybe his refinancing and beyond his means spending wouldn’t have come at such a price if he hadn’t been hit with millions in back taxes.  I don’t know, and that’s the point, we never do.

We never know what’s waiting for us around the corner. Illness, job loss, unexpected responsibility… and somehow we’ve got to stop being obsessed with what we don’t have and what we “need” – be it a ski boat or every Astin Martin ever made – and get instead excited over saving some money and being prepared.

We all got out of control just like Nic- at all different levels – and have a chance to start over here.  It’s easy to see the ridiculousness in the mistakes of a Hollywood actor who buys 30 cars and displays some of them in his house as decoration, but we shouldn’t be too judgmental when we do the exact thing on our own smaller scale. When it comes time to buy a house again, shop more conservatively. Don’t buy so much “stuff”. And when your home gains some equity, enjoy that security and save it for your kid’s education and rainy days.

Short Sale Assistance

Thinking about pursuing a short sale transaction on your house? Let’s start with what you already know.

1. You are unable to keep up with your house payment.
2. You owe more on the house than it is worth right now meaning you cannot sell it.
3. You are headed for foreclosure – You can live rent free in your house for a few months, wait out the foreclosure process, lose 200 or 300 points on your credit score, and forfeit your right to buy another house for 5 to 7 years. Maybe get hit with a deficiency in the future.
4. As an alternative to foreclosure – You can cooperate with your bank in marketing and negotiating a short sale on the home, lose about 100 points off your credit score, be eligible to buy again within 2 years, and the bank forgives your deficiency.

Now what? If foreclosure sounds like a good solution for you the first thing to do is find out if you qualify. Every scenario is different but basically to qualify for a short sale the bank is going to be looking at 4 things.

1. Home Value. You will be required to provide proof in the form of sales comparisons that the house is worth less than is owed on the mortgage.
2. Payment Status. Until recently banks would not consider a short sale until the mortgage was at least 3 months behind, but in light of today’s economy and real estate market they are open to reviewing all cases and cutting their losses to avoid more trouble down the road.
3. Seller Hardship. It is the seller’s responsibility to prove to the bank that they are unable to keep up with the mortgage AND that they are unable to pay the deficient amount if the house sells. Banks tend to understand things like job loss, divorce, illness, death, and bankruptcy. Things like adding to your family, lifestyle changes, or living outside your means are all “choices” and banks don’t tend to see those as “hardships”.
4. Assets. Sellers will have to provide income, banking,  and asset information proving that they do not have access to the cash necessary to pay the shorted amount.  If assets are discovered the seller might be denied OR required to pay the shorted amount back over time – sometimes at a discounted amount.

Documentation. Good communication and cooperation is essential to a successful short sale transaction and it begins with that phone inquiry to start the process.  Although similar, each bank has its own guidelines for its short sale process and the necessary documentation.  Between you and your real estate agent, your package should look something like this…

1. SELLER –

• 2 years tax returns with W2
• 3 months bank statements
• current monthly budgetT
• all mortgages and account numbers
• pending bankruptcy if applicable
• hardship letter
• last 30 days of payment stubs if applicable

2. REAL ESTATE AGENT -

• Letter of Authorization, signed by seller
• Letter of facts regarding the property
• Market Analysis
• Photos (remember, the idea is to project low value, not glamour)
• Copy of all showings with dates and feedback.
• Copy of listing contract.
• Copy of Purchase Contract

Of course there is always the chance that the right buyer won’t come along, but if everyone  is on their toes and does their job properly, the odds of a successful short sale transaction will be increased.  Your real estate agent can help you along the way during the process and provide any real estate market information required.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Tax Consequences of short sale -Although they are forgiving the deficient amount of the loan, the lender may still have the right to issue the Seller a  1099 for the shorted amount, according to the IRS code for debt forgiveness. However, The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 should in most cases protect you from that. Talk with your tax attorney to be sure.

Incentives for Certain Situations In SOME circumstances a Seller may be eligible to receive a monetary incentive to complete the short sale transaction, according to the HAFA (Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative) Program that was implemented on April 5, 2010 and will continue through December 31 2012.  In addition to potential incentives, the HAFA Program claims a quicker, cleaner transaction which will make home buyers less hesitant to pursue short sale homes.  The HAFA Program is available to homeowners who qualify for the HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program).

Now remember, neither I nor my fellow Streeters are  accountants or bankers so make sure you refer your specific questions to the appropriate expert. We are happy to answer any real estate questions for you, though, and point you in the direction of those who have the answers when we do not. Email us, call us, chat online with us… you can almost always catch one of  us online waiting to help you.

The Seller’s Short Sale Transaction: Avoiding Foreclosure

You know what? It brings me into a dark and melancholy place to write about short sales, foreclosure, an unhealthy real estate market, and all the people and things that are affected by it all. As unpleasant as it is for me to simply write about it though, I have no idea how to multiply the darkness to get a sense of the stress it wreaks on the folks going through it. Facing the possibility of losing your home can carry with it some heavy emotions and distractions. Don’t let those things defeat you.  You have an option called a short sale that could turn things around for you, but it takes focus, patience, and work. If you truly are unable to make your monthly mortgage payments and you see foreclosure in your future, a short sale could be a good solution for you AND your mortgage holder.

Homeowner Short Sale Benefits vs. Foreclosure

You can’t make your house payment and have gotten to far behind to catch up – so you are looking at something like this … After 3 to 6 missed payments, you are already considered to have begun the foreclosure process and you will receive a notice of default. In 6 to 12 months you will receive a notice of eviction giving you 30 days to vacate the premises. You will have a foreclosure on your credit report and be unable to purchase another house for 5 to 7 years and THEN only if you raise and maintain the acceptable credit score of the day.

There are a lot of question marks and gray areas in that foreclosure time line. Every case is a little different and not only are you living with the stress of not knowing exactly what is going on and how long you have to try and make things right or find other housing, but you will be dealing with phone calls, letters, and legal notices that further burden you and prevent you from focusing on rebuilding your life. This is where the short sale offers some relief.

First of all, in addition to the embarrassment associated with losing your home, there is a degree of integrity that drives people to make things right. I don’t condone walking away from your mortgage obligation, but I do have to bring attention to the obligations to self and to family.  Forget about how a person gets in this position… once he’s there, his income is reduced, and his house is suddenly worth less than he paid for it… what can he do? How “honorable” is it to continue paying from a savings account that will eventually be empty,  leaving the homeowner with a foreclosure anyway? With no means to move on rebuild his life? Lose-lose!

A short sale offers the opportunity to honor your financial obligation and feel good about being proactive in the process to make things right, as opposed to ducking phone calls and ignoring scary foreclosure documents that come in the mail.  Instead of a year or two of question marks and worry associated with the foreclosure time line, your short sale experience involves living your life, keeping your house tidy, and showing it to potential buyers – just like a regular for sale scenario. When it’s all said and done you will not have a foreclosure on your credit report, your credit score will have dropped about 100 points (about a third of a foreclosure’s penalty) and an ability to buy when you get your score back up.  Less stress, less penalty, and less embarrassment knowing you worked with your lender to fulfill your obligations, rather than simply walking away from them.

The short sale process has been a bit of a mystery and it has been tough to advise distressed home owners whether or not it was a good option. Having observed it for a while now there is one thing we know for sure – In a case of real hardship, a short sale transaction is a good option to deal with your mortgage situation and put you on the fast track to rebuilding and ENJOYING your life again.  Read here to find out how to get started.

The Buyer’s Short Sale Transaction

It was not more than  two or three years ago that I sat in a sales meeting where short sales quickly took over the conversation.  By that time, we had all lost countless hours put in on a number of short sale transactions that never closed.  We lost buyers, too. As well as our patience.  In the end, agents just decided to avoid them whenever possible. Things are a little different today, but to give you an idea of how these deals can turn out, here’s a brief accounting of my history with short sales, scanning the last three years.

My first experience with a short sale took place just before the market took a dive. We had received an offer that was $5,000 short of what was owed on this house I had listed for a client. Because they had already missed payments, someone suggested looking into short sale. We had less than two weeks to closing and the buyer did not have time for extensions. It wasn’t easy but the buyer and I were diligent in keeping up with the bank and they managed to pull it together and we closed on time. Can you believe that?If only…

My next transaction went on for three months with no reply from the bank. The listing agent finally said, “Oh my God I am so sorry, but the the asset manager told me your offer was thrown away because it was too low. They had no intention of countering or responding at all because they are too busy.”  That buyer bought a home the following weekend from a builder at an open house. Too bad for me.

My next 2 short sales took 5 weeks from purchase agreement to close – the same time as any other deal. Those buyers were very happy.So was Mama.

After that I had 4 short sale deals that died. Two of the buyers disappeared afterward and two went on to buy something else with me. In all four cases the bank FINALLY responded within a week of either the buyer walking away or closing on an alternate property.  Crazy, right?

Side note here: One of the deals above that died was a full price offer that went on for several months with no reply from the bank. The agent confirmed that it had been received and that the asset manager was aware of the offer, but we had to wait our turn.  The problem with all that waiting is that the paperwork on file is ticking and by the time it is finally your turn, that paperwork is expired, causing more delays as everything is refreshed and resubmitted. In the unfortunate case of this particular house, my homeless stressed out and confused (yet amazingly gracious and patient) newlywed buyers were not the biggest losers. While the bank took its sweet time, the house went into foreclosure, having missed out on our full price offer.

As much as we wanted to avoid short sales because of the risks and nonsense, and headaches, and wasted time with no commission, the core of our buyer’s agency is that we act in the best interest of the client, not our own or anybody else’s.  And sometimes you just had to face the fact that the best house for the client was one that happened to be a short sale.  We just sort of learned the hard way to prepare our potential short sale buyers for the very worst.

We learned that 3 to 6 months to close is too optimistic to predict. Better make it 6 months to a year.  Whether they choose a different house because they don’t have that kind of time to wait, or they decide to give a go because they are in no hurry, we know that we have set aside our own negative feelings about short sale negotiations and have helped the buyer make an informed decision and acted according to their best interests.

The market is now flooded with so many short sales, it would be hard to avoid them if you wanted to. Luckily over the years the negativity has worn off a little bit and all parties are learning to handle them more efficiently and maintain more realistic expectations. We are even finding that the process is more beneficial to sellers than we originally thought, whereas before there were concerns about future ramifications. Be sure and check out The Seller’s Short Sale Transaction to get a better idea from a seller’s view.

Mobile Home Browsing

I hope everyone’s enjoying Easter break.  Here in Flint we have had a few dark rainy days but I don’t think anyone’s complaining after that amazing sunshiney Easter weekend we had.  But getting back to work is hard, isn’t it? Kids are home from school. Some people have Easter Monday off so if you were working it could have been frustrating to get much done because so many other people were not. Now Tuesday was kind of a stinker too, I have to say. The office internet was down. My home internet and email were up and mostly down. WiFi seemed to be working though. Thank goodness for our gadgets! Actually, I have to admit, I was so busy complaining about agents who wouldn’t call me back (Oakland County! Shame on you!) for showings and cursing my connection that it didn’t occur to me how much I could have gotten done from my phone until I saw this bit about the iPad real estate apps.

I’m a PC. I don’t know Mac at all. I flirted a bit with the Apple Ipod because it was given to me, but I felt guilty the whole time. I gave it away. I get my music from other sources now. This iPad has me intrigued though. And I’ll stay intrigued with that $500 price tag. I’m not saying it’s not worth the money, but between my Android phone and my laptop, I pretty much have the world in user friendly form at my finger tips. But after yesterday’s mess of trying to set up 9 showings for the afternoon in Clarkston & Waterford – not my usual stomping ground and unknown agents – this iPad Zillow application looked like a real problem solver. Agents and buyers can browse listings and access real estate information at home or while driving about.

But then I got thinking. If iPad has a real estate application, wouldn’t my super cool bad a**  Motorola Backflip have an Android app?  It has one for everything else. So I went to the Android “market” and there it was – Zillow! I downloaded it and a few others to try out. I am highlighting Zillow here because it is probably the most well known site for real estate information among every day home shoppers. At least for now, anyway. (wink wink) So you’re on your Android phone, open your (free) Zillow app and start browsing.  Punch in an area and a list of addresses and information pop up. Especially friendly for those days of driving around and window peeking. Everything you would want to know about the house is there, maybe.

The problem with Zillow is, as cool as it is, and as free as it is, it costs the agents to have their listings there.  Is it worth it as an agent to pay to post your listings at Zillow, especially at this time when mobile applications are all the rage? Absolutely. But can every agent afford to have all their listings included at the same time, at THIS time? Maybe not. It’s a tough time for us, too, don’t forget.  With the average sale price of homes dropping so much and sales decreasing, so have our commissions. Everyone might eventually get on board as agents continue to adjust to the “famine” portion of our “feast or famine” cycle.  But for now, as a buyer’s agent, I have to be sure I have access to everything. So Zillow isn’t quite perfect for me. Buyers keep that in mind too. Not EVERYTHING is listed there.

So I thought some more and you know what I thought? “DUH!” My Android phone views and works magnificently with the ChangingStreets.com website! And the ChangingStreets.com website is linked directly to the MLS so IT HAS EVERYTHING. This morning I have been playing with the website on my phone, from a Buyer perspective, and can’t believe how easy it is to run a search or even plug in an address for price and specs of a house that catches my eye on a drive by, right from my phone. My $99 Android. That also plays my mp3s.  No additional gadgets required.

With ChangingStreets.com’s complete & accurate listing inventory and shops popping up nationwide… Zillow better watch out!

Zillow, Android, iPhone, iPad, laptop, netbook, apps market… Things have sure changed from just a few years ago of drive by house shopping and flyer boxes.  How do you mobile shop? What are your favorite apps?

Building Homes, Changing Lives

Tantrums, defiance, lying, sudden change in grades & attitude… these are some of the challenges of parenting, right? Just when everything seems to be going okay and you think about taking a breath – there is another behavior change. For adoptive parents, these issues carry an extra burden as we wonder, “Is this normal?” or “Is this the big meltdown of repressed memories resurfacing?” That’s where I am right now, but I think a big part of the remedy in any case is togetherness and involvement. So you know what I’m thinking about doing with my kids? Building a house!

What? Your kids are perfect and you don’t need any extra bonding time? Sure. I’ll have what you’re drinking.

Oh – you don’t have kids? That’s okay, you still should build a house.

Everybody wants to help. We all want to do our part. We get so caught up in our bubbles, though, that we forget to make time. Or don’t know how. So I’m making it easy for you.

GENESEE COUNTY HABITAT FOR HUMANITY

I’ve heard of it. I know they build houses to help people in need.  But their purpose goes even beyond providing houses for the person – it is working hard to preserve our neighborhoods and communities too.  Currently they are building in the Grand Traverse Neighborhood in an effort not only to house folks, but raise value and make the whole area nicer by getting rid of dangerous abandoned homes and caring for vacant property.

I found the application process interesting.  Did you know that a Habitat for Humanity home recipient puts in 75 hours of sweat equity on OTHER H4H projects before they begin the process of building their own? And another 250 hours of sweat equity are required in building  their own home.  So it keeps volunteerism going for each new project, and provides a sense of accomplishment to H4H recipients as they receive the keys to their new home.

What caught my attention and got me thinking about my kids is a program through Habitat for Humanity called YOUTH UNITED.

Youth United is an exciting initiative through Habitat for Humanity that invites youth, ages 5-25, to work together to fund and build homes in their own communities. Targeting young, enthusiastic volunteers to build homes, Youth United develops leadership skills and engages youth in positive service experiences.

My ten year old tree hugger activist thinks this is my greatest idea yet. My brooding, mouthy 14 year old worries it is going to cut into his video game and sulking time.  I think in the end they will both feel good about the project and themselves, having made an impact on people in their community.

There are many opportunities for you to help Habitat for Humanity nurture our families and communities. No building experience is required, and if you don’t want to build you can volunteer your time at their shop or fundraising events.

For more information or to find your local Habitat for Humanity click here.

To find out more about local adoption and children who need a home in your area click here.

Flint Sees Dramatic Drop in Listing Inventory

The number of homes for sale in the Genesee County area is half of what it was this time last year to 3550 homes. This with recent surges in sales has dropped inventory levels to a six onth supply.

This has led to situations where nice properties are creating situations with multiple bids and sales prices exceding listing prices.

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