So if you are thinking of buying a Metro Detroit home whether it is in Canton, Plymouth or Novi.  Or in any state or city for the matter you need to know the facts.The most important thing to know is NOT WHAT THE SELLER PAID FOR THE HOME (who cares what they may make or might lose).  The most important factor is what comparable homes are selling for.SMART MICHIGAN HOME BUYER TIPSHere are the guidelines to find comparable homes:Must be recent sold homes.  Within the last 6 months especially in this falling home price market.  Just because a home sold for $50,000 more 2 years ago doesn't mean diddly squat!  It is what houses are selling for now that means something to you as a Metro Detroit home buyerMust be close by. Usually you like to compare the home you are buying to homes in the sam... 04/29/2008

Being Earth Day it seems natural to announce Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day will be held at Compuware Sports Arena, 14900 Beck Road  Saturday,  April 26, 2008-9 a.m. to 2 p.m and is free to Plymouth Township, Michigan residents Examples of Items Accepted:  • Household paints, stains, dyes• Floor wax, floor care products, carpet cleaner• Furniture polish, bathroom cleaners, stain removers, solvents• Nail polish, glue• Fertilizer, lawn and garden chemicals, pesticides• Antifreeze, motor oil, gasoline• Automotive batteries and dry cell batteries  Fluorescent bulbs and Compact fluorescent lamps• Fire extinguishers, smoke detectors• Mercury containing thermometers and other devices  Prescription and Over-the-Counter Medications  Electronic Recycling•   Computer monitors, printers, ... 04/22/2008

Downtown, Plymouth  -  We invite everyone to visit our open house at 1177 Penniman this Sunday, April 27th from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Located just two blocks west of Main Street in Downtown Plymouth, this home has been beautifully renovated. This is just one of hundreds of homes being held open during The Big Open House. The event promises to be the biggest open house day in Michigan history. Property information 04/21/2008

When selling your Michigan home it takes time and every tip helps.  It doesn't matter whether it is in Metro Detroit or in Washtenaw County preparing your home to sell and pricing it right is important.  Here are some past articles I have written on selling your home.5 things that turn off Michigan home buyers The ugly leprechaun and home sellingWhy home location is importantShould you sell for sale by owner?Why do you need a CMA, what is it?If you are selling a home take notice5 tips to speed up your sale of your Michigan homeTo all you home sellers out thereFor more on home selling go to my websites www.RussRavary.com or www.DetroitMichiganREALESTATEHomes.com 04/20/2008

Although the Sunday, April 13th edition of the Detroit Free Press highlighted the high levels of home inventories in the area, the rates of foreclosures have decreased. We've definitely noticed an increase in activity over last year and there continues to be lots of good deals for both first time buyers and move-up buyers, so we're looking forward to a strong Spring selling season.A couple of pieces of important legislation have been passed by the Michigan State Legislature recently to ease the homeowner burden during this challenging market. These include:A 33-month 'pop-up' tax moratorium making it more economical to make a move, and a Conditional recission of homestead exemption for those sellers who own and are living in a second property who still haven't sold their original proper... 04/17/2008

Michigan Real Estate NewsIf you are a Michigan homeowner and are stuck with two homes this is great news for you.  This is only if you bought a new one and have not sold the previous one.   This week Jennifer Granholm will sign the Homestead Exemption extension bill which will grant homestead (primary residence) exemptions for up to 3 years for those who bought a home (new or existing) in Michigan and still need to sell their last home In Michigan. As long as the first homes is "for sale" and not rented, the Homestead (Primary Residence) exemption will stay in place. As May 1 approaches, this rule will stop the panic about loss of homestead taxes and give our  sellers with two homes in Michigan some peace while they continue to offer their Michigan homes for sale.For more great Michigan... 04/07/2008

If you have future relocation to Michigan or any other state you want to know about the area and the city.  When moving to Michigan you want to know about the local schools, the crime statistics, the type of people that live in the city.  So whether you are moving to Livonia, Plymouth, South Lyon, Novi, Westland or any city in the country here are some tips and links to find out about the area.                                                             First thing you should do is search the city.  Google or Yahoo the information you want.  Go to the actual cities site and the chamber of commerce and read about the community.  Read about the schools, police and fire department.  Then use outside sources to get through the "hype"Schools  So your move to Michigan is going to take you to ... 04/04/2008

Plymouth Michigan is a town about 20 miles west of Detroit, Michigan.  It is halfway between Downtown Detroit and Ann Arbor, and a short hop to Detroit Metro Airport.  What is special about Plymouth is that it has a central park (Kellogg Park) that the city circles around.  Kellog Park is faced on 3 sides by old commercial builidings.Plymouth was first settled in 1825 and only became a city in 1932.  One of Plymouth's claim to fame is that the Daisy Air Rifle company started here.  Plymouth was the BB Gun capital of the world or the "air rifle capital of the world"   In 1886, Plymouth native Clarence Hamilton invented a rough model of the soon to be Daisy BB Gun. It was a combination of metal and wire, vaguely resembling a gun that could fire a lead ball using compressed air. Lewis Cass... 03/30/2008

Plymouth, MI and Plymouth Twp, MI Here is the latest Plymouth Township real estate market update and Plymouth real estate market update.  Great information for Michigan home sellers The chart and table below shows you how long Plymouth homes have taken to sell (how long Plymouth Homes have been on the market) in different price ranges.  This will help you price your Michigan home whether it is a Plymouth home or a Plymouth Township home.  When you are pricing your Michigan home for sale the most important item is price in this Michigan buyers market. Price Statistics Num of Listings   80   60 40 20   0    R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 R11 R12 R13 R14   Price Range   Price Statistics Legend Range Name Price Range Number of Listings Days on Market R1 200000 to 225000 78 113 R2 225001 to ... 02/09/2008

People looking to relocate to Michigan may not be aware that the City of Plymouth and Plymouth Township are two individual communities with their own governments.  The city of Plymouth has the old time downtown with offices and stores located around a central park. Plymouth Township is 16.6 square miles on the Western side of Detroit and Wayne County. In 2000, the City of Plymouth had a population of about 9,000 and Plymouth Township had a population of 27,798.   The city is one of the oldest communities in Michigan.  The City of Plymouth is 1/8 the size of the township, only about  2.27 square miles in the middle of the Township. Plymouth and Plymouth Township have over 81 acres of parks!  And they even have a public golf course and a water splash park for the kids.  During the summer ... 02/09/2008

Plymouth Michigan held it's annual ice show this past weekend.On Monday, my husband and I, thought we would walk around a little bit and enjoy the the 40 degree heat wave.It's amazing how fast these carvings will melt in our balmy winter days when the sun is shining.The next day the temp were higher and we had thunder storms.  I imagine that the carvings are gone now.BTW, we are back to sever winter with about 6 inches of snow.It was a challenge getting these few photos.  The sun wasn't right and they were melting.  The tails had broken off the dragons becasue of one day of 40 degrees and a little sun.Next year I'll try to go the day of the show. 02/01/2008

Here are the latest statistics for Plymouth Real estate, Michigan as of February 1, 2008.  This is how long Plymouth homes are on the market in the last year for each price range. Remember this is just an average of how long they have been on the market.  So if the average was 230 days there may be homes on the market as long as a 400 days!  Please note the highest days on the market for Plymouth homes  $400,000 -$420,00 have been on the market on the average of 431 days!  Use this as a pricing tool.  You can see where your competition is with the breakpoints.  To search Plymouth homes for sale feel free to go to my website www.russravary.com for buyers tips, seller tips, how to get your home ready to sell. Plymouth homes for sale   Price Range Number of Listings Days on Market 200000 t... 01/31/2008

Attendees at last weekend's Ice Sculpture Spectacular in Downtown Plymouth were captivated by this very personal proposal ... "Cat I love you. Marry me?". It was surrounded by crowds when I snapped this photo, and everyone I talked to who saw the sculpture wanted to know more about the story behind it.Today we learned 'the rest of the story' in this morning's Detroit Free Press. Randall Walker, a 32-year-old Royal Oak man, commissioned the unique proposal for $500. On Friday evening, Randall got down on one knee and proposed to Cat Yurk, whom he had met through eHarmony.com last year. According to the Free Press article, the crowd cheered when Cat said yes.Don't you just love happy endings! 01/29/2008

It is Plymouth Ice festival time in downtown Plymouth, Michigan in Kellogg Park.  They have ice carvers from around the world that come.  Some of the displays are huge taking 50+ blocks of ices.  They are definitely beautiful.  The Plymouth Ice festival runs from January 25 - 27.  The crowds are big, the downtown stores usually stay open a little later.  If you have never been to Downtown Plymouth it is a old style downtown with the stores around the central park.  Be sure to dress warm as you will be walking around and it is going to be cold this weekend.  It is a great event to come to with the family and get out of the house.There are lots of great bars and restaurants to eat in.  Here are a few of them are listed belowBox Bar- a great place with 100's of different beer and reasonabl... 01/24/2008

Grab the kids and come to Downtown Plymouth next weekend to check out the wonderful ice sculptures created for this event that keeps growing every year. Opening in Kellogg Park on Friday, January 25th and running through Sunday, January 27th, the Spectacular features ice carvers from around the United States and from as far away as Japan. Over 100 sculptures are expected to be carved, mostly from single blocks of ice. Several sculptures will be constructed using between 5-100 blocks of ice, and you can watch the carving process from the beginning of stacking the blocks of ice to the finished works of art.Each day's events include sculpture competitions and an evening light show at dusk. Special additions this year include snowshoe interactive demonstrations, live reindeer, and wood carv... 01/18/2008

Plymouth, Michigan Downtown Development Authority to Host Internet Marketing Expert, Corey Perlman, on February 12th, 2008. Plymouth, MI - Residents of Plymouth, Michigan and Small Business Owners will get an opportunity to meet Corey Perlman, in person, at his upcoming seminar on February 12, 2008, 6:00-8:30pm (Networking begins at 5:30pm)Corey will discuss strategies such as how to utilize eMarketing and ePR to attract traffic to your site, tips to winning the search engine game, and creating a powerful sales-driven website. All in a simple, easy-to-understand presentation that he promises to be fun and entertaining. Before creating the Small Business eBoot Camp, Corey spent three years with the e-Commerce division of General Motors where he visited 37 cities throughout the country pr... 01/05/2008

The MichiganMoves.com Team is excited to announce our new Downtown Plymouth location. RE/MAX on the trail at 1000 West Ann Arbor Trail Road recently finished a complete renovation of their historic 1874 building. A large addition and remodeled interior has kept the unique character of the office, and an expanded parking lot to be built in the Spring will complete the renovations. One of the reasons we made the change was because we missed a downtown location, and we chose an office that didn't charge the administrative fees other brokers have resorted to, saving our clients money. We're proud to join the 9 other agents in the office, and look forward to sharing our wonderful new location with our clients. We wish you a very happy and prosperous 2008! 01/01/2008

Plymouth Art in the Park , founded, directed and managed by mother and daughter team, Dianne Quinn and Raychel Rork, is celebrating its 28th show this year. Plymouth Art in the Park is Michigan's second largest art fair and has been rated as one of the "Gems of the Great Lakes" by AAA Magazine. Visitors have enjoyed Plymouth Art in the Park since its inaugural event in 1980.2007 DATES!FRIDAY, JULY 13           12:00pm - 8:00pmSATURDAY, JULY 14    10:00am - 7:00pmSUNDAY, JULY 15         10:00am - 5:00pmFor more information please visit: www.artinthepark.comI'll see you there!Plymouth...My Hometown! 07/10/2007

This weeks Music in the Air Concert will feature - Redhill.  Redhill:  Detroits' original Detroit Country band returns to the Plymouth stage for another rockin' night! The concert will begin at 7:00pm and will be held in Kellogg Park, located at the corner of Main and PennimanCost once again is FREE, so bring the family. It seemed as if the whole town came out last week to enjoy the show...don't miss this one.  I'll see you there!Music series sponsored by the City of Plymouth Downtown Development AuthorityPlymouth...My Hometown! 07/05/2007

Tonight's Music in the Air Concert will feature "Harper" bring the whole family downtown and enjoy the music.Harper:  Originally from Australia, Harper brings his international flavor of blues-rock to the park in Plymouth! All Concerts help in Kellogg Park, Located at the corner of Main and Penniman.Cost of the concert is: FreeMusic series sponsored by the City of Plymouth Downtown Development AuthorityFor more information please click on the link below.http://ci.plymouth.mi.us/CurrentEvents.asp?EID=644Plymouth...My Hometown 06/29/2007