You're upside down with a loan greater then what the home can sell for. What you owe is irrelevant to how much a buyer is willing to pay for a it.   Other homes are priced far less because they are bank owned or Short Sales.  These homes are selling and their is an ample supply of them, you can not wait until they are all sold.. The local economy has generated buyers who are only looking for "Deals". If your home is not priced right it will sit because buyers will find another seller who will wheel and deal! Your price is based on the list price of other active homes that have not sold.    Only sold and pending home sales data demonstrates true market value, homes that have not sold are often overpriced. You have dismissed the most recent sales because they were foreclosures or were "... 05/19/2009

  Realtors hate saying no; we are in the yes business.  In the past, saying yes was not a big problem.  If an agent wanted to "buy the listing" (tell the seller what they wanted to hear to secure the listing), the greatest harm done to the client, was the disappointment of selling for less then promised.  Not the best practice by Realtors but it was done to get their sign in the yard of attractive homes.  An agent would get buyers, a neighborhood presence and maybe even sell the home after a few price reductions.   Now in a Short Sale, tons of harm is done to the seller.  If the seller can't make payments, then they will be foreclosed on.  A Short Sale is a time bomb ticking backwards, the longer it takes, the more likely it will explode into a foreclosure.   Some agents are still "buyi... 05/19/2009

  The following is a monthly market analysis for Birmingham Michigan Real Estate.  It compares only residential homes sold in April 2009 with March 2009 to determine the # of homes sold for the month and the increase or decrease in median sold price.  It shows all homes sold then private owned vs. Bank Owned/HUD.  In the latter part of 2008, Realtors were required to categorize ownership status so figures are not accurate for bank owned in earlier months and not calculated.   Birmingham Market Analysis of Homes Sold also compares year ending April 2008 to April 2009.  To exclude leases in data, minimum sale price used was $15,000. Market Analysis For Birmingham MI April 2009 April 09 median sale prices decreased 7% from March 09 & a 10% increase # of homes sold. Private owned homes medi... 05/14/2009

Time for The Friday Roll Call!!!! Let's get positive!! I am dedicating another post just to allow all of us the opportunity to read a positive story or two. I will start!!: 1. Have two closings set for next week. 2. Taught a great Short Sale class to some new agents. 3. I am leaving today to go to Manhattan with my wife, three girls (ages:3, 6, and 7). Will be stay at E78th and 2nd. ***If any of you NYC’ers out their have suggestions for where to go, places to eat and what to see, please add them to this post. *** 4. Had my 9th year wedding anniversary with my wife. 5. My Team Leader, Katherine picked up two buyers. Very proud of her, she is really working hard! *** Life is a Gift given from G-d. What you do with it is our gift back him/her!*** This was a good week Mike S Mike Sher, (24... 05/08/2009

One of the best purchases I have made in 2009 was a PDF editor. I use Nuance® PDF Converter Professional 5. It has been “the cats meow!!” I am able to take PDFs from the bank, add my client’s information, put in signature tags or highlight relevant passages and forward them by email to my clients. Plus I able to add my electronic signature to save from printing out the document, signing and rescanning it. The best has been with my Hardship Packages. This has been a real time saver. I am able to attach the PA, all the documents for the short sale. Plus comps and statistics into one PDF. I can also add a header to each page with my contact info, the borrowers name, loan number and page number. If you have Efax or an equivalent product the world becomes even brighter. With my faxes coming ... 04/27/2009

I have taught hundreds of agents how I do short sales.  I have negotiated 40+ short pay offs for my clients and yet, I know a fraction that is out their.   I just got back from a CDPE (Certified Distress Property Expert) class.   It was awesome!!  I took away so much information, good ideas and perspective to last me a long time.   So, take a class in Short Sales soon.  If you have already taken one, take another.  I have gone to a dozen and I'm still hungry for more!!  Google short sale classes in your city or state.  Call your local board or ask your broker to find a class.  Go out side of your brokerage and talk to other realtors that are doing short sales.  Find out how they keep up with the information.   If you are a Michigan Realtor, I am teaching a class for Max Broock Realtors ... 04/22/2009

The following is a monthly market analysis for Birmingham Michigan.  It compares only residential homes sold in March 2009 with Feb. 2009 to determine the # of homes sold for the month and the increase or decrease in median sold price.  It shows all homes sold then private owned vs. Bank Owned/HUD.  In the latter part of 2008, Realtors were required to categorize ownership status so figures are not accurate for bank owned in earlier months and not calculated.   Birmingham Market Analysis also compares first quarter 09 to 08 and year ending March 2008 to March 2009.  To exclude leases in data, minimum sale price used was $25,000. Market Analysis March. 09 median sale prices decreased 4% from Feb. 09 & a 37% increase # of homes sold. Bank owned homes median price decreased 14% in March. 0... 04/04/2009

As you know by now, the bank logs every call, fax and email pertaining to a Short Sale.  Every time you call them they log your name, number, time, date and all of the details of the call.  If we want to compete, we have to do the same.  When I or someone from my team calls the bank, I make sure we get all of the details of who we spoke to, the day, time, content of the call.  So when we speak to another person later in that week, we can reference the past call.  Sometimes, documents, a BPO or other important detail gets lost.  Because we have logged every call, we are able to go back to our notes and retrace or steps. We can tell the bank when we faxed something, what fax number we sent it to, what fax number we sent it from, how many pages it was and at what time/day it was confirmed.... 04/03/2009

Recently opened, the Be Well Center in downtown Birmingham Michigan held an open house to introduce the community to the Creating Wellness System which promises to be dramatically different from anything else on the market.  It was a day long event to showcase their new facility which includes many services such as chiropractic care, an exercise room complete with personal trainers, massage rooms, life coaching and the Wellness Quotient. Located at 750 S. Old Woodward Ave, Birmingham, MI, the new center is owned and directed by Dr. Rosemary Batanjski, D.C.    Focusing on a holistic alternative approach to wellness, the center advocates a system that is "designed to help you get the most out of your life - to thrive, not just survive." I spoke with Alissa Stopczynski, Certified Wellness ... 04/02/2009

Often Realtors end up relying on the one point of contact.  This often is the negotiator assigned to the file.  The agent calls, leaves a message and waits.  I believe in an all out communication assault to get my file to the top of the pile.  How:  First remember the 3 methods of modern communication: phone fax email Know your cast of characters: Negotiator Loss mitigation representatives Short Sale dept representatives Negotiator's supervisor Customer service Local law firm handling the sheriff sale. All of these people have information that is helpful to your cause and all of them can carry information to the right sources if needed. a.       They can email your negotiator. b.      They can move your file along. c.       They can read you the notes on the file. d.      They can tell ... 04/02/2009

WOW!! What a great marketing idea!   Name your own price March 23 - 27that the  Whistle Stop restaurant on Eaton Street in Birmingham!!  Matt Rafferty, who's back ground is radio,  is inviting diners to pick the price they want to pay for their dinners, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. during these promotion days. This landmark restaurant serves delicious food and incredible desserts.     The question is why would they be making this offer of name your own price for dinner? Will they be making money or loosing money during this week of their promotion? What would happen if we offered this pricing for our clients? Would they pay us what we feel we are worth?   Or would they pay us more? It's a very interesting concept. Are you this confident in your service, quality of product and customer satisfac... 03/18/2009

Birmingham Real Estate Birmingham is probably one of Michigan's most affluent cities.  Birmingham is located in Oakland County Michigan.  As of the 2000 census the population was 19,291.  Birmingham has a central shopping district that draws people from all over the Oakland and Wayne County area.  Many of the stores are "high end" catering to the wealthy.  There are many boutiques that have unique items that you can not find in the big box stores. Birmingham's bars and restaurants also tend to draw the yuppie, professional crowd.  A little more "high end" and refined would be how I would describe the area.  Birmingham MI is fairly young with 35% of it's population between 25-44 years old.  Some of the homes sit on large lots. Just because it is affluent area doesn't mean Birmingham resi... 03/14/2009

The following is a monthly market analysis for Birmingham Michigan.  It compares only residential homes sold in Feb. 2009 with Jan. 2009 to determine the # of homes sold for the month and the increase/decrease in average sold price.  It also distinguishes how many homes were recorded to be Bank Owned/HUD. as opposed to private owned.   First figures 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 Feb. 2008.  Birmingham Market Analysis also compares year ending Feb. 2008 to Feb. 2009.  To insure that most leases were not included in data, minimum sale price used was $25,000. Market Analysis Feb. 09 median sale price increased 38% from Jan. 09 & ... 03/07/2009

The following is a monthly market analysis for Birmingham Michigan.  It compares median price of only residential homes sold in Jan. 2009 with Dec. 2008 to determine the # of homes sold for the month and the increase/decrease in average sold price.  It also distinguishes how many homes were recorded to be Bank Owned/HUD. as opposed to private owned.   The Market Analysis also compares homes sold in Birmingham Michigan in Jan. 2008 to December 2008 to determine an annual decrease in property values. First figures 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 Jan. 2008.  To insure that most leases were not included in data, minimum sale price u... 02/21/2009

Birmingham is certainly known for its upscale downtown, incredible restaurants and it's wonderful neighborhoods. We have pricey real estate here too, compared to much of the rest of the region. On Inauguration Day, I showed Birmingham's only HUD home active in the MLS. To date, there are have been few HUD homes in Birmingham, but we could have more in the future. My investor client asked me, "Aren't HUD homes in bad areas?" This seems to be a common perception, but HUD homes are the product of people who had FHA guaranteed mortgages losing them to foreclosure. 2009 FHA loan limits for Oakland County are up to $273,700, and we certainly have many homes in that price range in Birmingham. FHA loans have allowed people to get into homes with lower down payments, and have been of particular ... 02/16/2009

The well known Detroit broadcaster, Larry Henry, and Dave Benjamin from The Sales Matrix have started a new series of podcasts about entrepreneurs leading the renaissance of Detroit.  You can find their work on the recenlyt launched VoicesOfDetroit.com I had the pleasure of sitting down with them last week and talking about the Metro Detroit real estate market and professional business coaching along with Kim Knapp. You can listen to our podcast here.  There are positive messages that Metro Detroiters need to hear about the real estate market and I was happy for the opportunity to share them. Larry and Dave are also available to help businesses expand their reach through podcasting.  Check them out.     02/02/2009

http://michigiganrealtormasterminds.collectivex.com Welcome to Your Michigan Realtor Masterminds Website! A website focused on putting the Best of the Best in Michigan Real Estate Professionals Together from all walks to make a positive change here in the Michigan Real Estate Market for 2009! _______________________________________________________________________________ This is a forum for Real Estate Agents, Investors, Mortgage Loan Officers, Title Insurance, Appraisers, Inspectors, CPA's, Stagers, and Home Owners Insurance Professionals for blogging, networking, marketing, conducting meetings, seminars & Broker Opens together along with the most important part: Sharing ideas, goals, and referrals amongst each other here on Michigan Realtor Masterminds.  *Thank You for your positive c... 01/29/2009

Tightened credit markets and sluggish real estate sales in Oakland County MI have sellers looking for ways to seal the deal. This week I saw a Birmingham builder do what he could to take control of the situation and set his properties apart. His answer: the land contract. Not only is he offering land contracts, he's offering them at rates better than you will get at the bank. Today he advertised 4%! What's not to like about 4% money, especially since his homes sell at prices where the buyer is likely to need a more expensive jumbo mortgage. Other advantages of land contracts: Potentially cheaper closing costs Seller *might* be more lenient with credit blemishes I think this sounds like a great incentive for buyers. Kudos to this seller for thinking outside the box and looking for a new ... 01/18/2009

This article was written by friend of mine who I have also had a business relationship with.  She has given me permission to repost her material.  I am sure you will find the information to be valuable and useful. Have you heard the saying "Anything worth doing well - is worth doing right"?  It's true - especially when it comes to business.  Filing your company's "business name" correctly is critical in order to obtain business credit.  If it's done wrong, you could unfortunately give somebody else the access to use your business name or even take it from you once you have your business established.  What a terrible loss that would be.   There is always paperwork involved in this type of process, and it needs to be done right. This is one of those times when you want to make sure you ha... 01/13/2009

In today's competitive market - How did your title company EARN your business? What is based on fees? was it based on a referral from another agent or loan officer? was it their marketing efforts? reputation? did you do another closing with them and were impressed? I am wondering as I am looking to bring on some new accounts for 2009 as we are growing and looking to see what might be the niche' that I missing. Looking to see what might be working for some that I missing out on and or not even thinking of. This is why I put together Realtor Mastermind groups for my Realtor clients so they can learn these tips and pointers of what catches the eye of the potential client. Thanks in advance for your feedback - Keith Stonehouse - Franklin Title Agency 01/06/2009