Displaying blog entries 21-30 of 38
Want to Get to Wisconsin and Avoid Chicago Traffic?
Take a scenic cruise on this high speed car ferry with you car, RV or motorcycle across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee Wisconsin and beyond. This auto ferry is a great was to spend a couple scenic hours on your way west.
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SALINE MICHIGAN SCHOOLS
Newsweek Magazine announced they had selected Saline High School one of the tp 4 High Schools in the State of Michigan. You may click on this link to read the complete article Saline Area Schools in Michigan.
Congrats to the Saline Area School District for a job well done!
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Search for Saline Listings Here Using MLS Realtime Access
Saline Michigan Homes for Sale
Welcome to 968 Penniman Plymouth MI
Charming 3800' updated Home for sale located in Historic Downtown Plymouth Michigan. Updates and hardwood floors throughout with new Hardy Plank Siding, Garage with Loft and much more!
Click here to view more information about this wonderful Property. Call or Email us today for a showing appointment or view other homes for sale by clicking on the All MLS Listings link above.
MORTGAGE RATES CONTINUE THEIR THREE WEEK DROP to hit record low's. Rates on loans tracked by Freddie Mac are now nearly a full percentage pointe below their 2011 highs seen in February.
Of course this means its a good time to purchase real estate or even re-finance as rates seem to be in the low's 4% range. That's a new all-time low for 30 yr fixed rate loans according to Freddie Mac records dating to 1971, surpassing the previous record of 4.17 percent set during the week ending Nov. 11, 2010.
Please Click Here to access the properties for sale inventory within the Board of REALTORS database MLS system.
9221 Sandhill Ct. Saline, MI
York Woods Subdivision
New Listing you should check out:
2800' Home located in one of the area's most desireable communities that features a private park and sandy beach on Sunset Lake. Situated on a cul du sac with a huge quiet yard and setting, this is what you have been waiting for.
4BR-2.5Baths with Granite Counters, solid wood doors, stainless appliances and a partially finished basement plumbed for a bath.....this home won'l last long.
Just 5 minutes from the I94-US23 interchange for commuters who wish to avoid the Ann Arbor exit backups and save money the low York Township taxes while just 2 minutes from the coffee shops and restaurants in downtown Saline.
Call for a showing appointment today or stop by www.TheRealtyTour.com and then look under the Featured listings tab for more information.
CRASH COURSE IN COLLEGE FINANCIAL AID |
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“The cost of college has skyrocketed at three times the rate of inflation over the past decade,” says Farnoosh Torabi, financial expert and author of You're So Money: Live Rich Even When You're Not.So what’s a student with a limited tuition range to do? Get educated on financial aid packages. Scholarships and GrantsThese awards are usually made on the basis of achievement or financial need. Pros: They never need to be paid back and most require nothing of the student other than maintaining grades and/or a specified major. Cons: Scholarships can be lost if there’s a change in majors or the student’s GPA drops. And these awards don’t go on forever. “Scholarships have expiration dates,” Torabi says. “Read the fine print, understand when the money runs out, and plan accordingly.” Student LoansTorabi suggests approaching private student loans with caution given their interest rates. “Federal loans have far better repayment and forgiveness options for borrowers,” he says. Pros: Loans are easier to qualify for than scholarships and grants and are more widely available. Good student loans also generally have lower interest rates. Cons: They must be paid back, and four years of college can add up to tens of thousands of dollars. Work-StudyWork-studies offer practical benefits. “Traditional part-time jobs can cut into class and study time,” Torabi says. “But work-studies offer students a way to make money and stay on top of courses.” Pros: Work-study jobs are on-campus and often in the student’s major or an area of interest. Some may allow students to cultivate their resumes as they pay for their education. Cons: They do take time and require a real commitment—if the arrangement doesn’t work, students can lose the aid. Making Sense of Financial AidUse this chart to evaluate various financial aid packages. Enter all offers from the schools, then use the last column to list other things to factor in, such as the amount of a scholarship compared to the time your student would have invest in a sport/activity.
Learn more about more funding a college education at statefarm.com®. |
On today’s market, every savvy seller wants to know what turns buyers off, so they can get their homes sold as quickly as possible, for as much as possible. But buyers, take note – there is a minefield of seller turn-offs you can trigger that potentially could keep you from getting the Home you want at the best price and terms, or to unnecessarily complicate dealings with your home’s seller.
Lest you think all of today’s sellers are under the gun and will just put up with whatever behavior buyers dish out, be aware that there are still many multiple offer situations in which buyers must compete with each other to get a home – buyers who trigger these turnoffs tend to lose in those scenarios. Also, avoiding these seller turnoffs can create a transactional environment of cooperation and avoid things turning adversarial. That, in turn, can empower you to land a better price, get extra items you want thrown into the deal, and even negotiate more flexibility around your escrow and move-in timelines – all perks that can make your life easier and your budget go further.
For sellers, these turnoffs have the potential of irritating you out of an otherwise good deal – maybe even the only deal you have!
Here’s a few of the most common buyer-perpetuated seller turnoffs, with tips for sellers on how to keep an emotional (and economic) even keel, even if your home’s buyer makes some of these waves:
1. Trash-talking. Trash-talkers are the home buyers who think they’re going to negotiate the list price down by slamming the house, telling the sellers how little it is really worth, how the house across the street sold for nothing, why the school on the corner should make them desperate to give the place away, etc. This strategy never works; in fact, when you attack a seller and their home, you only cause them to be defensive, and think up all the reasons that (a) their home is not what you say it is, and (b) they shouldn’t sell their home to you!
Sometimes this happens with buyers who actually love a house and just walk around it fantasizing about all the ways they would customize it to their tastes while a seller is there. Sellers: avoid being at home while your home is being shown. Buyers: save your commentary for your agent; if you do encounter the seller in person keep your conversation respectful and avoid critiquing the house or the list price.
2. Being unqualified for mortgage financing. When a seller signs a buyer’s offer, most often the seller agrees to effectively pull the home off the market, forgoing other buyers who might be interested. As such, the only thing worse than getting no offers on your home is getting an offer, getting into contract, then having the whole thing fall apart when the buyer’s loan falls through – especially if that could have been predicted or avoided up front.
Sellers: Should work with us or your listing agent to vet your home’s buyers’ qualifications, including their loan approval, down payment and earnest money deposit – before you sign a contract. It’s not overkill for your agent to call the buyers’ mortgage pro before you sign the contract and get a level of comfort for how robust their qualifications are. Buyers: Get pre-approved. Seriously, this should be the first thing you do BEFORE looking at homes to better determine what price home you are pre-qualified for. And make sure that you don’t buy a car, quit your job, deposit lottery winnings or do any other financial twitchery between the time you get loan approval and the time you close escrow on your home.
3. Making unjustified lowball offers. No one likes to feel like they are being taken advantage of. And sellers generally know the general ballpark amount that their home is worth, as well as what they need to sell it for to get their mortgage paid off. Yes – the price you pay for a home should be driven by its fair market value, rather than the seller’s financial needs, and deals are often available in a market like the current one, in which supply so vastly outpaces demand. But just throwing uber-lowball offers out at sellers hoping one will hit the spot is not generally a successful strategy, especially if you really, really want a given property. If you are going to be making a mortgage payment, it should be for a home that was at the top of your favorites list.
Sellers: Don’t get overly emotional about receiving a lowball offer; counter at the price you decide makes sense based on the total circumstances, including your motivation level, recent comps and the interest/activity level your listing is receiving. Buyers: Work through the similar, nearby homes that have recently sold (a/k/a comparables that we can prepare for you) before you make an offer to factor the home’s fair market value into your offer price – also factor in how much you want the place, too. Don’t be amazed if you make an offer far below asking, and don’t get a response.
4. Renegotiating mid-stream. Sellers plan their finances, moves and - to some extent – their lives around the purchase price a buyer agrees to pay for their home. If you get into contract to buy a home, and find out during inspections that costly repairs need to be made, then propose a lower sale price, repair credit or even actual repairs to the seller, that’s sensible and fair. But if you were aware that the property needed a lot of work before you made an offer on it, then you come back asking for a beaucoup bucks’ worth of credit or price reductions midstream, expect the seller to cry foul. And holding the seller up two weeks into the transaction because you caught a case of buyer's remorse? Not cool, and not likely to foster the spirit of cooperation you may need to get your deal closed. Buyers should remember too that no home is perfect and most will need common repairs or upgrades that you will assume or take responsibility for. Your inspection is looking for expensive or surprising things that you hadn't counted on.
Sellers: avoid mid-stream price renegotiations by having a full set of inspection reports and repair bids at hand when you list your home. Buyers: try to avoid renegotiating the entire deal unless you get some major surprises at your inspections or inflating small repairs to try to justify a major price cut.
5. Misleading or setting the seller up. Remember when we talked about buyer turn-offs? Being misled by listing photos or very fluffy property descriptions was high on the list. The same goes for sellers. Offering way over asking with the plan to hammer the seller for a reduction when the house doesn’t appraise at the purchase price? #LAME Making an as-is offer planning the whole time to come back and ask for every penny ante repair called out by the inspectors? Lame squared.
Sellers: If you get multiple offers and are tempted to take a sky-high one or one that claims to be all cash, consider requesting proof that the buyer has sufficient funds to make up the difference between what you think the home will appraise for and the actual sale price, and statements showing the cash truly exists. Buyers: Don’t be lame. I’m not saying you have to tell the seller exactly what your top dollar is, but making offers with terms designed to intentionally mislead is really, really bad form – and can result in losing the home entirely if and when your bluff gets called. Of course we can help you through every step of the way, so no worries. You can get started by clicking here to view all available Ann Arbor Real Estate listings for sale.
In a mortgage market that changes as quickly as this one, today’s fact is tomorrow’s fiction. For buyers, misinformation can be the difference between qualifying for a Home loan or not. Sellers and owners, knowledge is foreclosure-preventing, smart decision-making power! Without further ado, let’s correct some common mortgage misconceptions.
1. Myth: Buyers with bad credit can’t qualify for home loans. Obviously, mortgage guidelines have tightened up, big time, since the housing bubble burst, and they seem likely to tighten even further over the long-term. But just this moment, they have relaxed a bit. In the last couple of weeks, two of the nation’s largest lenders of FHA loans announced that they’ve dropped the minimum FICO score guideline from 620 (which allows for some credit imperfections) to 580, which is actually a fairly low score.
At a FICO score of 620, buyers can qualify for FHA loans at many lenders with only 3.5 percent down. With a score of 580, the lenders are looking for more like 5 to 10 percent down – they want to see you put more of your own skin in the game, and the higher down payment lowers the risk that you’ll default. However, if your credit has taken a recessionary hit, like that of so many Americans, this might create a glimmer of hope that you’ll be able to take advantage of low prices and interest rates without needing years of credit repair.
2. Myth: The Mortgage Interest Deduction isn’t long for this world. Homeowners saved over $85 billion in 2008 by deducting their mortgage interest on their income tax returns. A few months ago, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform caused a massive wave of fear to ripple throughout the world of real estate consumers and professionals when they recommended Mortgage Interest Deduction (MID) reform, which would dramatically reduce the size of the deduction.
Fact is, the Commission made a sweeping set of deficit-busting recommendations to Congress, a few of which are likely to be adopted. Fortunately for buyers and sellers, MID reform is not one of them. Very powerful industry groups and economists have been working with Congress to plead the case that MID reform any time in the near future would only handicap the housing recovery. Congress-folk aren’t interested in stopping the stabilization of the real estate market. As such, the MID is nearly universally thought of as safe – even by those who disagree that it should be.
3. Myth: It’s just a matter of time before loan guidelines loosen up. The US Treasury Department recently recommended the elimination of mortgage industry giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I won’t get into the eye-glazing details of it here, but the long and the short is that (a) this is highly likely to happen, and (b) it will make mortgage loans much harder and costlier to get, for both buyers and homeowners. It’s possible that loans are as easy to get as they’re going to get. So don’t expect that if you hold out, zero-down mortgages will come back into vogue anytime soon. Fortunately, Fannie and Freddie aren't likely to disappear for another 5-7 years, so you have a little time to pull your down payment and credit together. If you want to get into the market, the time to get yourself ready is now!
4. Myth: If you don’t have equity, you can’t refi. Much ado is being made about how stuck so many people are in their bad loans, because they don’t have the equity to refinance their way out of them. If you’re severely upside down (meaning you own much, much more than your home is worth), stuck may be the situation. But there are actually a couple of ways homeowners can refi their underwater home loans. If your loan is held by Fannie or Freddie (which you can find out, here), they will actually refinance it up to 125% of its current value, assuming you otherwise qualify for the loan. That means, if your home is worth $100,000, you could refinance a loan up to $125,000, despite the fact that your home can’t secure the full amount of the loan.
If your loan is not owned by Fannie or Freddie, you might be a candidate for the FHA “Short Refi” program. While most mortgage workout plans are only available to people who are behind on their loans, the Short Refi program is only available to homeowners who are current on their mortgages and need to refinance up to 115 percent of their homes’ value. So, if you owe $250,000 on your home, you can refinance via an FHA Short Refi even if your home’s value is as low as $217,000. If you think you’re a good candidate for a short refi, contact your mortgage broker, stat – there are some in Congress who think that this program is so underutilized (only 245 applications have been submitted since it rolled out in September – no typo!) that its funding should be diverted to other needy programs.
5. Myth: If you’ve lost your job and can’t make your mortgage payment, you might as well mail your keys in. Until recently, this was essentially true – virtually every loan modification and refinancing opportunity required that your economic hardship be over before you could qualify. And documenting income has always been high on the requirements checklist. But there are some new funds available in the states with the hardest hit housing and job markets, which have been designated specifically for out-of-work homeowners.
The US Treasury Department’s Hardest Hit Fund allocated $7.6 billion to the states listed below – all of which are now using some portion of these funds to offer up to $3,000 per month for up to 36 months in mortgage payment assistance to help unemployed homeowners avoid foreclosure. Contact the state agency listed below if you need this sort of help:
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Displaying blog entries 21-30 of 38
The thick envelopes mean yes; the skinny ones mean no. That’s the stereotype when it comes to college acceptance letters. But not every school is right for your child’s academic path—or your family’s financial future.