By: G. M. Filisko
Published: March 29, 2010
Whether you’re buying or selling, it’s important to choose representation that meets your needs in the transaction.
1. Buyer’s agency
When you’re buying a home, you can hire an agent who represents only you, called an exclusive buyer’s representative or agent. A buyer's agent works in your best interest and owes you a fiduciary duty. You can pay your buyer’s agent yourself, or ask the seller, or the seller’s agent, to pay your agent a share of their sales commission.
If you’re selling your home and hiring an agent to list it exclusively, you’ve hired a selling representative--an agent who owes fiduciary duties to you. Typically, you pay a selling agent a commission at closing. Selling agents usually offer or agree to pay a portion of their sales commission to the buyer’s agent. If your seller’s agent brings in a buyer, your agent keeps the entire commission.
2. Subagency
When you purchase a home, the agent you can opt to work with may not be your agent at all, but instead may be a subagent of the seller. In general, a subagent represents and acts in the best interest of the sellers and sellers' agent.
If your agent is acting as a subagent, you can expect to be treated honestly, but the subagent owes loyalty to the sellers and their agent and can't put your interests above those of the sellers. In a few states, agents aren't permitted to act as subagents.
Never tell a subagent anything you don’t want the sellers to know. Maybe you offered $150,000 for a home but are willing to go up to $160,000. That’s the type of information subagents would be required to pass on to their clients, the sellers.
3. Disclosed dual agency
In many states, agents and companies can represent both parties in a home sale as long as that relationship is fully disclosed. It’s called disclosed dual agency. Because dual agents represent both parties, they can’t be protective of and loyal to only you. Dual agents don’t owe all the traditional fiduciary duties to clients. Instead, they owe limited fiduciary duties to each party.
Why would you agree to dual agency? Suppose you want to buy a house that’s listed for sale by the same real estate brokerage where your buyer’s agent works. In that case, the real estate brokerage would be representing both you and the seller and you’d both have to agree to that.
Because there’s a potential for conflicts of interest with dual agency, all parties must give their informed consent. In many states, that consent must be in writing.
4. Designated agency
A form of disclosed dual agency, “designated agency” allows two different agents within a single firm to represent the buyer and seller in the same transaction. To avoid conflicts that can arise with dual agency, some managing brokers designate or appoint agents in their company to represent only sellers, or only buyers. But that isn't required for designated agency. A designated, or appointed, agent will give you full representation and represent your best interests.
5. Nonagency relationship
In some states, you can choose not to be represented by an agent. That's referred to as nonagency or working with a transaction broker or facilitator. In general, in nonagency representation, the real estate professional you work with owes you fewer duties than a traditional agency relationship. And those duties vary from state to state. Ask the person you’re working with to explain what he or she will and won't do for you.
G.M. Filisko is an attorney and award-winning writer who zealously protected her clients’ interests as a lawyer. A frequent contributor to many national publications, including Bankrate.com, REALTOR® Magazine, and the American Bar Association Journal, she specializes in real estate, business, personal finance, and legal topics.
“Visit Houselogic.com for more articles like this. Reprinted from HouseLogic.com with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®."
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Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
SE Michigan Real Estate Market Overview Through March 2011
The link below will take you to a comparison for the number of closed transactions by county (Macomb, Livingston, Washtenaw, Oakland, Wayne and within the city of Detroit) and price range over the past four years. The charts as a whole show an interesting trend of the under $100,000 price range closed activity is dramatically shrinking with the exception Macomb county, which has experienced a small increase. You will notice some great news in Oakland County where all price ranges OVER $250,000 are up and all UNDER $250,000 are down. That is definitely a positive sign for the Michigan real estate market. A similar trend is happening in Washtenaw County with the $300,000+ market seeing a nice increase in closings while the lower ranges are not as consistent, some are up while others are down. As a contrast to the Detroit Metro Area, all price ranges within the City of Detroit are showing a decrease in closed transactions over this same time period in 2010. Could this decrease in the city of Detroit be due to a lack of inventory? Will the good news continue? Only time will tell. Check back often, we will keep you posted.
Market Graphs through March 31, 2011
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Market Graphs through March 31, 2011
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Monday, April 18, 2011
Michigan Real Estate Market Update
The first quarter of 2011 has been an interesting ride with home buyer activity at a pace not seen since 2004. Many indicators show that Michigan is actually leading the rest of the country out of the recession, boosting consumer confidence and housing interest.
Looking at the months supply of housing inventory (MSI) gives us a good indication of why the Michigan real estate market has felt so frenzied (MSI of 0-3 months = Sellers Market, 4-6 months = Neutral, over 6 months = Buyers Market). We have been in a Buyers Market for nearly 6 years but in a short period of time we have moved from 8.3 MSI in December to 4.6 months in March and under 3 months for bank-owned for Southeast Michigan!
Within those numbers is a growing housing quality issue. For a percentage of homes where the mortgage has exceeded the market value there has not been an incentive to update, upgrade or even maintain. The result is a higher percentage of homes for sale that are less desirable since they may be dated or require significant work, even if they are not bank owned. So when you factor in the quality of the current housing inventory, the overall market number of saleable homes may be closer to 3 months MSI.
The following chart shows how the market has shifted from 2009 to 2011 in terms of the number of homes for sale and the rate of sales.
It is not hard to see the forces of supply and demand at work over the past three years.
Increasing sales and decreasing inventories have created the multiple offer situations we have seen in the last 90 days. As strange as it sounds, we have a significant shortage of saleable homes for sale.
Does that mean prices are rising as well? Not really, conservative appraisal standards will still hold back values to some degree and at this point in the early stages of our recovery; increased activity translates into a faster sale, but not necessarily a higher price. So pricing still needs to be aggressive to attract attention. But it is clear that for sellers it is the best time in the past six years, with demand exceeding supply, to try the market.
The best advise for a buyer is to be very flexible and willing to act quickly, hesitation will be costly. As prices begin to firm up, buyers will need to shift their mindsets from making deep discount offers to working within the range of the asking prices.
So with all these good signs, what can slow things down again? There has been some conversation about a real estate double dip and in fact Detroit was named as a double dip market (we have not seen that in our data). Increasing gas prices and in general a slowing of consumer confidence will keep a lid on growth. Also the number of bank owned homes being released to the market could have a negative short term affect, but positive in the long term. There is also a large backlog of homes that have been leased because they were not able to sell which, if placed on the market in high numbers, could slow the recovery.
Any market that changes direction, in this case in a positive way, gives off confusing signs to both sellers and buyers, so remember the weirder it gets the better it is for home ownership and home values!
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Looking at the months supply of housing inventory (MSI) gives us a good indication of why the Michigan real estate market has felt so frenzied (MSI of 0-3 months = Sellers Market, 4-6 months = Neutral, over 6 months = Buyers Market). We have been in a Buyers Market for nearly 6 years but in a short period of time we have moved from 8.3 MSI in December to 4.6 months in March and under 3 months for bank-owned for Southeast Michigan!
Within those numbers is a growing housing quality issue. For a percentage of homes where the mortgage has exceeded the market value there has not been an incentive to update, upgrade or even maintain. The result is a higher percentage of homes for sale that are less desirable since they may be dated or require significant work, even if they are not bank owned. So when you factor in the quality of the current housing inventory, the overall market number of saleable homes may be closer to 3 months MSI.
The following chart shows how the market has shifted from 2009 to 2011 in terms of the number of homes for sale and the rate of sales.
It is not hard to see the forces of supply and demand at work over the past three years.
Increasing sales and decreasing inventories have created the multiple offer situations we have seen in the last 90 days. As strange as it sounds, we have a significant shortage of saleable homes for sale.
Does that mean prices are rising as well? Not really, conservative appraisal standards will still hold back values to some degree and at this point in the early stages of our recovery; increased activity translates into a faster sale, but not necessarily a higher price. So pricing still needs to be aggressive to attract attention. But it is clear that for sellers it is the best time in the past six years, with demand exceeding supply, to try the market.
The best advise for a buyer is to be very flexible and willing to act quickly, hesitation will be costly. As prices begin to firm up, buyers will need to shift their mindsets from making deep discount offers to working within the range of the asking prices.
So with all these good signs, what can slow things down again? There has been some conversation about a real estate double dip and in fact Detroit was named as a double dip market (we have not seen that in our data). Increasing gas prices and in general a slowing of consumer confidence will keep a lid on growth. Also the number of bank owned homes being released to the market could have a negative short term affect, but positive in the long term. There is also a large backlog of homes that have been leased because they were not able to sell which, if placed on the market in high numbers, could slow the recovery.
Any market that changes direction, in this case in a positive way, gives off confusing signs to both sellers and buyers, so remember the weirder it gets the better it is for home ownership and home values!
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Wednesday, April 13, 2011
7th Annual Screen Door Open "fore" Special Olympics
It's that time of year again! The 7Th Annual Screen Door Open ‘fore’ Special Olympics is set to go on Tuesday June 14, 2011 at Northville Hills Golf Club, Northville, Michigan. A number of teams have already registered, but we still have room for yours. We promise a great day of golf, course contests and prizes, all to raise money for Special Olympics. We are also looking for sponsors so please pass this information on to anyone that you think could help us.
Don’t delay. We want as many people as possible to be part of this great event. To register on line click here.
Thanks for your support.
REO CHARITABLE FOUNDATION
Don’t delay. We want as many people as possible to be part of this great event. To register on line click here.
Thanks for your support.
REO CHARITABLE FOUNDATION
Monday, March 28, 2011
Michigan is Leading the National Economic Recovery!
In the latest Comerica Michigan Economic report, it is explained that our great state of Michigan is leading the way for national economic recovery! Please read the entire report here.
From the recent increase in home buyer activity and showing activity on our listings, it is clear that recovery has begun in the Michigan real estate market too!
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From the recent increase in home buyer activity and showing activity on our listings, it is clear that recovery has begun in the Michigan real estate market too!
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Monday, March 14, 2011
2010/2011 Michigan Real Estate Market Trends Report
The 2010/2011 Michigan Real Estate Market Trends Report is ready! Please view it here and let us know what you think.
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Friday, February 25, 2011
The Real Estate One Family Takes the Polar Plunge!
What a great day we had Saturday at the Polar Plunge! The Real Estate One Family of Companies which includes Real Estate One, Johnstone and Johnstone, Max Broock REALTORS, John Adams Mortgage Company, Capital Title and Insurance One had 30 individuals representing the REO Charitable Foundation benefiting Special Olympics of Michigan. A spectacular time was had by all first with the plunge and then the Award luncheon which followed. Although monies are still coming in, we expect our total to be near $25,000 for Special Olympics!
A tip of the hat also goes to our Snow White and the many Dwarfs who took 3rd place in the Costume Contest. Thank you to all who organized, participated and supported, it was a pleasure to be a part of it! All tolled, the event had over 450 jumpers and raised over $150,000 for the Special Olympians!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
January 2011 Michigan Real Estate Market Update
The 2011 Michigan real estate market was kicked off in January with the same positive momentum shown in November and December. The inventory of available homes for sale declined, with listings down in all price ranges and markets, furthering our move towards a stable real estate market. Even in this bitter cold month, buyers visiting Real Estate One, Johnstone and Johnstone and Max Broock REALTORS' open houses were up by 50% and showing appointments were up by 25%, compared to December 2010.
So far it appears 2011 home inventories in Michigan will remain close to 2010 levels, with a decline more likely than a rise over 2010 based on an improving economy (an increase in bank inventories would be the only reason for a rise). The months supply of inventory in the under $100,000 range is below the 6 month mark, moving towards a normal market. It is a bit too early in the year to truly claim a normal market, but we should know by the end of the first quarter of 2011. In the over $100,000 price range, the move to a normal market has been slower, but still moving in a positive direction.
The successful formula for this year so far looks like low interest rates + renters coming back into the market + homes getting priced right + banks moving faster = homes selling faster and possibly for more money. A large factor will be the renters who have repaired their credit from as far back as 2006 and still want to own a home. In fact, a National Association of REALTORS (NAR) study showed that 95 percent of owners and 72 percent of renters still believe that it makes more sense to own a home; which further supports consumer confidence going into 2011. NAR economists expect 2011 to be the third best year on record for housing affordability.
All of this good news does not mean values are going to jump or sales will skyrocket, after all, 2010 was a pretty good year in terms of the number of Michigan homes that were sold. But all are clear signs we have moved off the bottom and have enough market momentum that, at least for Michigan housing, we will be able to handle any economic “double dips” that some economists have predicted.
See our how your local real estate market performed in January 2011:
Oakland County, Macomb County, Livingston County, Washtenaw County, Wayne County, City of Detroit, Grosse Pointe and Northwest Michigan!
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So far it appears 2011 home inventories in Michigan will remain close to 2010 levels, with a decline more likely than a rise over 2010 based on an improving economy (an increase in bank inventories would be the only reason for a rise). The months supply of inventory in the under $100,000 range is below the 6 month mark, moving towards a normal market. It is a bit too early in the year to truly claim a normal market, but we should know by the end of the first quarter of 2011. In the over $100,000 price range, the move to a normal market has been slower, but still moving in a positive direction.
The successful formula for this year so far looks like low interest rates + renters coming back into the market + homes getting priced right + banks moving faster = homes selling faster and possibly for more money. A large factor will be the renters who have repaired their credit from as far back as 2006 and still want to own a home. In fact, a National Association of REALTORS (NAR) study showed that 95 percent of owners and 72 percent of renters still believe that it makes more sense to own a home; which further supports consumer confidence going into 2011. NAR economists expect 2011 to be the third best year on record for housing affordability.
All of this good news does not mean values are going to jump or sales will skyrocket, after all, 2010 was a pretty good year in terms of the number of Michigan homes that were sold. But all are clear signs we have moved off the bottom and have enough market momentum that, at least for Michigan housing, we will be able to handle any economic “double dips” that some economists have predicted.
See our how your local real estate market performed in January 2011:
Oakland County, Macomb County, Livingston County, Washtenaw County, Wayne County, City of Detroit, Grosse Pointe and Northwest Michigan!
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Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Real Estate One Android, iPhone and iPad Apps!
We are pleased to announce the release of the Real Estate One Android app, it’s available now on the Android Market. We’ve also released a new version of the Real Estate One iPhone app and a separate iPad version is now available as well. Both can be found on the App Store.
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Thursday, January 20, 2011
2011 Detroit Polar Plunge
The 2011 Detroit Polar Plunge for Special Olympics is fast approaching!!! It will held on Saturday, February 19th at the Milliken State Park which is just east of the Ren Cen on Atwater (see video of site here). We hope that you will consider joining us and others for an invigorating dip in the balmy waters of the Detroit River. This years’ Plunge will be the largest ever in the state of Michigan with 500+ plungers and over 1,000 people in attendance. As always, it will be a fun and festive event including a post-plunge luncheon with awards and recognition. Special Olympics expects to raise over $175,000 this year to help people with intellectual disabilities participate in sporting events and activities that have a huge positive impact on their lives.
Stuart Elsea says, "The last 4 years running, Real Estate One has had the #1 Plunge team in the entire state. Last year we had 25 plungers who raised over $27,000!!! We are looking for even more plungers this year so we can stay #1 again. It may sound crazy to jump into 35 degree water in February, but actually it’s a lot of fun and really very safe. I have done it 3 times myself and I’m looking forward to a 4th time this year. It should be on everyone’s “Bucket List”!!!"
There is still time to sign up to jump!
The Real Estate One Charitable Foundation is represented by the following for 2011 -
Tom Barretta
Troy Bergman
Laurie Brooks
REO TEAM DUKE
Candice Elliott
Stuart Elsea
Doug Hibbing
Ann Lamphier
Al Melfi
Suzanne O'Brien
If you'd like to make a donation on behalf of any of these daring individuals, please click their name and follow the instructions. Every penny counts!
For updates on this event and all things Michigan Real Estate, become a fan of Real Estate One on Facebook by clicking here.
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Stuart Elsea says, "The last 4 years running, Real Estate One has had the #1 Plunge team in the entire state. Last year we had 25 plungers who raised over $27,000!!! We are looking for even more plungers this year so we can stay #1 again. It may sound crazy to jump into 35 degree water in February, but actually it’s a lot of fun and really very safe. I have done it 3 times myself and I’m looking forward to a 4th time this year. It should be on everyone’s “Bucket List”!!!"
There is still time to sign up to jump!
The Real Estate One Charitable Foundation is represented by the following for 2011 -
Tom Barretta
Troy Bergman
Laurie Brooks
REO TEAM DUKE
Candice Elliott
Stuart Elsea
Doug Hibbing
Ann Lamphier
Al Melfi
Suzanne O'Brien
If you'd like to make a donation on behalf of any of these daring individuals, please click their name and follow the instructions. Every penny counts!
For updates on this event and all things Michigan Real Estate, become a fan of Real Estate One on Facebook by clicking here.
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Wednesday, January 19, 2011
December 2010 Michigan Real Estate Market Update
December Pending Sales were at a relatively strong pace, giving the Michigan real estate market more momentum going into 2011 than we had into 2010. Overall we are seeing what appears to be a trend towards a stable market in terms of inventory levels and sales pace. It is also a reasonable window into what we can expect in 2011, an active buyer market with sales near 2010 levels (possibly slightly lower without the tax credit help of 2010). The months supply of inventory (MSI) is still running over 6 months, putting the market on the Buyers side, however it dips closer to 5 months in the under $100,000 range, but still over 24 months in the over $500,000 range. Which means price appreciation is still a year away for the lower priced areas and more for the higher priced markets. So, should buyers wait? As we have said many times, it is pretty clear we have hit the market bottom, and although appreciation won't be taking off soon, interest rates will certainly rise, as they have already. A 1% rise in rates wipes any savings from a 10% price drop and it is far more likely that interest rates will rise by 1% than values will fall by 10%. Also, with an FHA loan, buyers will lock in a low interest rate that is assumable when they sell their home. In five years, a 4.75% rate will make your home more saleable when the rates are at 6.5%.
Also, keep in mind that there are thousands of former homeowners, who were forced to sell and now lease and whose credit is now repaired and ready to take the homeownership plunge. In the most recent NAR surveys, the vast majority of people who lost their homes due to financial hardship are still looking to own another home first chance they get.
2010 was the fifth year of our “new normal”, where most sales required 2-3 negotiations (to the buyer, the appraiser, the lender) and considerably more time. We worked extra hard, but there has not been a time when we have been needed more by our clients. Through it all we closed more transactions than ever before in our 81 year history!! We are one of only five brokers among the Real Trends 500 to show an increase in sales associate productivity! We worked hard for our clients and it showed in our collective success rates.
Click here for December's Market Stats.
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Also, keep in mind that there are thousands of former homeowners, who were forced to sell and now lease and whose credit is now repaired and ready to take the homeownership plunge. In the most recent NAR surveys, the vast majority of people who lost their homes due to financial hardship are still looking to own another home first chance they get.
2010 was the fifth year of our “new normal”, where most sales required 2-3 negotiations (to the buyer, the appraiser, the lender) and considerably more time. We worked extra hard, but there has not been a time when we have been needed more by our clients. Through it all we closed more transactions than ever before in our 81 year history!! We are one of only five brokers among the Real Trends 500 to show an increase in sales associate productivity! We worked hard for our clients and it showed in our collective success rates.
Click here for December's Market Stats.
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Monday, January 03, 2011
U.S. Home Prices Weaken Further as Six Cities Make New Lows - According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices
Here is the latest (October) S&P Case-Shiller market report. It shows that the national real estate market as a whole has seen declining home values over the past 90 days. That is not surprising coming off the end of the Tax Credit boost. They do reference the potential beginning of a "double dip" decline at a national level, since the country hit bottom in 2008, bounced up in 2009/2010 and is falling back again, in terms of values and increasing inventories. Rather than a Double Dip, what we are seeing and will continue to see is a recovery that will be "bouncing off the bottom" for quite some time, with each bounce down not as bad as the last. It will be tough to follow this "bouncing ball" recovery through the media, since each decline will be met with predictions of disaster and each bounce up, predictions of great recoveries. It will be neither, just the slow progress of a housing recovery based on a slow economic engine. We are definitely in the perfect Buy Zone and have been for two years and will continue for the next year or more as well. So for Buyers, keep focused on the long term value of homeownership and buy when you find the right home, otherwise the day to day market noise will drive you crazy.
The Detroit real estate market showed a decline as well in Oct vs. Sept, which we also confirmed in our MLS numbers, based on closed sales (also true for the rest of the state as well). But what the Index does not show is that Pending sale values have stabilized (the most current market data) and our home inventories, different from other cities, are down significantly, giving us a better base to manage the "bouncing" than most of other cities/states. Detroit's value index is the lowest of the cities in the composite, meaning our values have fallen the most (69% of 2000 values vs Los Angeles at 170%) but our economy is not proportionally that much worse than say California, meaning our affordable values are drawing proportionally more home buyers into the market which helps explain our improving activity compared to many others (for every basket of lemons there is always some lemonade!).
This does mean however that since lenders do watch the CS Index, appraisal standards will remain tight until the lenders can see a consistent appreciation trend.
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The Detroit real estate market showed a decline as well in Oct vs. Sept, which we also confirmed in our MLS numbers, based on closed sales (also true for the rest of the state as well). But what the Index does not show is that Pending sale values have stabilized (the most current market data) and our home inventories, different from other cities, are down significantly, giving us a better base to manage the "bouncing" than most of other cities/states. Detroit's value index is the lowest of the cities in the composite, meaning our values have fallen the most (69% of 2000 values vs Los Angeles at 170%) but our economy is not proportionally that much worse than say California, meaning our affordable values are drawing proportionally more home buyers into the market which helps explain our improving activity compared to many others (for every basket of lemons there is always some lemonade!).
This does mean however that since lenders do watch the CS Index, appraisal standards will remain tight until the lenders can see a consistent appreciation trend.
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Monday, December 20, 2010
November Michigan Real Estate Market Update by Dan Elsea
The November Michigan Real Estate market followed the same pattern as September and October, down from the frantic activity of last fall, but up over the market bottom of 2008. I have included a couple of charts below that give a good representation of how our market has moved over the past two years. Values have stabilized (price per square foot) in the past six months and available homes for sale have continued to fall, which are both positive signs towards a more stable market. Overall the number of months inventory (MSI) is still in the Buyer's market range, but at 5.1 months, it is getting close to balanced.
It is interesting to see the average days on market (DOM) for homes sold has remained about the same over the past two years (the blue line on the chart). This sounds counter intuitive; it would seem the days on market should fall as the market improves. The DOM is a good illustration of the "Tale of Two Markets" we are seeing. A small segment of the market is well priced and selling quickly while the majority remains priced out of the main stream, taking months or even years to sell. So even as available home inventories fall and sales rise, it is all "churning" within a smaller segment of the market. For Sellers, that means they need to be fully aware of the total market and focus on Solds over active listings. Be careful pricing against your current competition. Those still on the market after six months are priced out of the market and not relevant competition.
As expected, our current business mix has shifted even more towards Short Sales in the past few months, currently running at 33% of sales. Traditional sales have also risen to 29%, from a low of 10% in 2008/early 2009 and bank sales/foreclosures about 16%.
So what will next year look like for Michigan real estate? We would expect it to look and feel a lot like 2010, maybe down a bit in number of homes sold, but growing stability in pricing. Also a continued decline in available home inventories, but not falling as fast as 2010 (more bank properties and an improving market will bring out those sitting on the fence). If we simply match 2010, that would be a great success, since it would mean our core economic improvement has made up for the artificial market push this year from the tax credits.
Have a Safe and Happy Holiday!
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It is interesting to see the average days on market (DOM) for homes sold has remained about the same over the past two years (the blue line on the chart). This sounds counter intuitive; it would seem the days on market should fall as the market improves. The DOM is a good illustration of the "Tale of Two Markets" we are seeing. A small segment of the market is well priced and selling quickly while the majority remains priced out of the main stream, taking months or even years to sell. So even as available home inventories fall and sales rise, it is all "churning" within a smaller segment of the market. For Sellers, that means they need to be fully aware of the total market and focus on Solds over active listings. Be careful pricing against your current competition. Those still on the market after six months are priced out of the market and not relevant competition.
As expected, our current business mix has shifted even more towards Short Sales in the past few months, currently running at 33% of sales. Traditional sales have also risen to 29%, from a low of 10% in 2008/early 2009 and bank sales/foreclosures about 16%.
So what will next year look like for Michigan real estate? We would expect it to look and feel a lot like 2010, maybe down a bit in number of homes sold, but growing stability in pricing. Also a continued decline in available home inventories, but not falling as fast as 2010 (more bank properties and an improving market will bring out those sitting on the fence). If we simply match 2010, that would be a great success, since it would mean our core economic improvement has made up for the artificial market push this year from the tax credits.
Have a Safe and Happy Holiday!
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Thursday, December 16, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
A Prosperous 2010!
The Real Estate One Family of Companies has just announced their accomplishments through October 2010.
14,934 Home Transactions CLOSED
1,671,073 Website Visitors
163,735 Showing Appointments Set
26,975 Buyers Visiting Open Houses
These numbers are very impressive and it goes along with the Michigan Real Estate Market outlook the company has maintained throughout the year. Michigan homes are selling. Savvy buyers are making great investments. Savvy sellers are able to "move up" to dream homes they never thought were a possibility. If you are thinking of buying or selling, give us a call today, you'll be glad you did!
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** Check our Facebook.com/reoinc fan page on Fridays for a list of Open Houses in your area!
14,934 Home Transactions CLOSED
1,671,073 Website Visitors
163,735 Showing Appointments Set
26,975 Buyers Visiting Open Houses
These numbers are very impressive and it goes along with the Michigan Real Estate Market outlook the company has maintained throughout the year. Michigan homes are selling. Savvy buyers are making great investments. Savvy sellers are able to "move up" to dream homes they never thought were a possibility. If you are thinking of buying or selling, give us a call today, you'll be glad you did!
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** Check our Facebook.com/reoinc fan page on Fridays for a list of Open Houses in your area!
Monday, November 01, 2010
Latest Case Shiller Report
Here is the latest Case-Shiller report (August). Across the country,
the real estate market continues to show signs of improvement, with
values rising over last August (2009)but at a slower pace from July's
gains. The average however is made up of as many cities falling
behind last year as rising above, reflecting the slow pace of the
recovery.
According to the Index, the Detroit Metro area showed a value decline over
August 2009 but an increase over July of this year, following a patter
of rising home values beginning early this year. Our data shows a more
optimistic view, but the general pattern is consistent, with lower
bank inventories and listing inventories in general, values have begun
to stabilize...And that is great news.
the real estate market continues to show signs of improvement, with
values rising over last August (2009)but at a slower pace from July's
gains. The average however is made up of as many cities falling
behind last year as rising above, reflecting the slow pace of the
recovery.
According to the Index, the Detroit Metro area showed a value decline over
August 2009 but an increase over July of this year, following a patter
of rising home values beginning early this year. Our data shows a more
optimistic view, but the general pattern is consistent, with lower
bank inventories and listing inventories in general, values have begun
to stabilize...And that is great news.
Monday, October 18, 2010
September Market Update
The September Detroit Metro Real Estate market continued to follow the same post tax credit pattern with continued falling available home inventories and a relatively strong sales pace. In terms of historical numbers, sales dropped compared to 2009, but remember 2009 was getting near peak tax credit activity, so even coming close is good. The more relevant comparison is pre tax credit 2008, which we were ahead of. Available home inventories for the Metro Detroit market remain at a 3 year low, another good sign. The rest of the state has not yet seen the same declines but their inventories did not rise as high either. In general, the Southeast Michigan market is the healthiest in the state and one of the most active in the country. The rest of the state should follow, since most depend on SE Michigan to some degree.
Foreclosure moratoriums by many of the major banks have been the hottest industry news. Below is a good article that explains what is going on and how it happened. In general, the major banks have found enough issues with their foreclosure process that they have stopped taking possession of homes and in many cases are taking their homes off the market. It is too early to tell if this is a 30 day or 6 month issue. Their action will further shrink the available housing inventory so it may have a short term positive market effect, but the reality is the sooner the bank inventories are moved through the market, the faster we will get to a permanent improving market.
With fewer bank owned homes on the market to compete with, the moratorium does offer a short term opportunity for sellers to get a value boost (not so much appreciation, but a price a bit closer to typical asking prices) by putting their homes on the market now.
The chart below puts the current sale pace in historical perspective. The last few months have been at a pace closer to 2005/06, quite a bit ahead of the low points in 2007/08.
Also, here is a chart of the average price per square foot for SE Michigan sold properties (Excluding the City of Detroit). You can see the effect even a short-term reduction in supply can have on value with the rise in prices during the tax credits.
_________________________________________________
A Primer On The Foreclosure Crisis
JOHN CARNEY, CNBC, CADIE THOMPSON, NETNET, NET NET, FORECLOSURES, REAL ESTATE, HOUSING, FORECLOSURE, BANK OF AMERICA, JPMORGAN
Posted By: John Carney | Senior Editor, CNBC.com
CNBC.com
| 11 Oct 2010 | 02:48 PM ET
Last week, Bank of America announced that it was halting foreclosures in all fifty-states while it reviewed its foreclosure process for defects. Now several lawmakers on Capitol Hill are calling for other banks to initiate nationwide foreclosure freezes—a move which the Obama administration is currently opposing.
So what’s going on here? Why is the foreclosure machinery of our nation’s largest banks suddenly grinding to a halt? What does this mean for the financial sector and the economy?
Let’s start with the most basic questions first. Then I’ll explain some of the possible implications for homeowners, banks, and the economy.
How did this thing get started?
Ever since the housing bubble burst, there have been signs that there are serious problems with foreclosure practices. In some cases, the financial institution claiming it owns the mortgage has not been able to produce the underlying loan documents. In 2007, a federal judge held that Deutsche Bank lacked standing to foreclose in 14 cases because it could not produce the documents proving that it had been assigned the rights in the mortgages when they were securitized.
This decision was followed by similar rulings in other states stopping foreclosure proceedings. Typically the judges would find that the banks that were servicing mortgages pooled into bonds weren’t able to prove they owned the mortgages.
Why can’t they prove they own the mortgages?
Every time a mortgages changes hands, the new owners are supposed to receive an “assignment” of the mortgage notes from the buyers. The assignment is typically a short little document signed by both the seller and buyer of the mortgage acknowledging the sale, which is then attached to the mortgage documents themselves and delivered to the new owner.
When a mortgage is securitized it is typically sold to a Wall Street firm, which pools the mortgage with thousands of others. Investors buy slices of the pool, entitling them to cash-flows from the mortgage payments. The actual mortgages are assigned to a newly created investment vehicle. A servicer is tasked with ensuring the payments to borrowers get divided up properly and that delinquent borrowers get foreclosed upon.
Here’s where things get tricky. When a mortgage is securitized, the investors in the mortgage bonds don’t get assignments or notes. The investment vehicle doesn’t get the assignments or notes either. Instead, the physical notes are typically sent to a document repository company. The transfer of interests is noted in an electronic database.
But during the height of the housing bubble, investment banks were churning out mortgage bonds in such a frenzy, sometimes the assignments never got executed and mortgage notes never got delivered. Keep in mind that this was during the years when lenders were giving out low-doc and no-doc mortgages. It was inevitable that the fast and loose and slightly documented culture would not stop at the mortgage originator but stretch all the way through the process. (For more on this, see RortyBomb’s excellent discussion of the securitization process, complete with nifty and highly informative charts.)
For most mortgages, the note probably still exists somewhere. One problem that has arisen, however, is that some of the original mortgage lenders have gone under or been acquired by a larger bank. This can make tracking down the notes difficult, if not impossible.
Why am I just learning about this mess now?
This issue has been quietly simmering in the background of the housing crisis for quite some time. Gretchen Mortgenson of the New York Times wrote about it back in 2007. It gave rise to a “show me the note” movement of people contesting foreclosure proceedings.
But what really kicked off the latest developments was the deposition of a GMAC loan officer named Jeffrey Stephan, which revealed deep and perhaps pervasive flaws in the foreclosure practices of our largest banks.
Stephan admitted in a sworn deposition in Pennsylvania that he signed off on up to 10,000 foreclosure documents a month for five years. He said that he hadn’t reviewed the mortgage or foreclosure documents thoroughly. He quickly became known by the pejorative “robo-signer” for this way of getting mortgages through. This prompted Ally, which owns the GMAC mortgage company, to halt foreclosures in 23 so-called “judicial states.”
Because Stephan also signed foreclosures for hundreds of other mortgage companies, including J.P. Morgan Chase , the problem is not limited to GMAC. In fact, JP Morgan Chase also halted foreclosures in the judicial states.
Wait, what’s this about judicial states?
The majority of states in the country allow banks to foreclose on defaulted mortgages without going to court. They simply deliver the borrower a notice of the foreclosure sale. This is the method of foreclosure preferred by banks, since it is much faster and easier to execute the foreclosure sale, and much more difficult for borrowers to contest.
Twenty-three states, however, require banks to go to court to get a foreclosure order. These are the “judicial states.” In these states, banks are typically required to produce a sworn and notarized affidavit of a loan officer and submit the mortgage documents. Often, however, judges will issue foreclosure orders without the mortgage documents so long as the borrower doesn’t contest this point.
Keep in mind that in both judicial and non-judicial states, there are strong legal presumptions that favor the banks. So long as they have the mortgage note and the loan is delinquent—or so long as no one argues that they aren’t the owners of the mortgage or that borrower is not in default—the bank will almost always get the foreclosure.
But as the “show me the note” movement took off, more and more homeowners began to contest foreclosures by demanding to see the notes and, if the loan had been transferred or securitized, the assignment agreements. This typically was not fatal to banks seeking foreclosures. They could make up for the lost notes with lost note affidavits and retro-actively build an assignment chain. The worst that would happen, from the bank’s perspective, was that the foreclosure would be delayed.
In some cases, however, banks seem to have not even been able to manage even this kind of corrective action. Evidence has been produced to show that notarizations have been faked, documents forged, and folks like Stephan have simply been operating as foreclosure bots.
So is this just a concern for “judicial states?”Although banks first shut down foreclosures in judicial states, the lack of documentation is a problem in any jurisdiction. Homeowners contesting foreclosures in both non-judicial and judicial states can win if the bank cannot provide documents proving it owns the mortgage.
In judicial states, however, the banks are especially exposed because they must initiate a lawsuit to get a foreclosure. If they have been submitting false documents to the court, they could be sanctioned and fined. Realizing that they had few internal controls over their own foreclosure practices, banks wisely shut down foreclosures in the states where they had the most exposure.
In non-judicial states, banks aren’t required to submit anything to the court until they are sued by a homeowner seeking to stop a foreclosure. That means that they are far less likely to submit fraudulent documents, since the process has already been slowed. Nonetheless, banks may still find themselves swamped by challenges. No one really knows how badly the missing documentation problem is at the banks.
The Wall Street Journal told me this is just about “paperwork” and politics. Are we making a mountain out of a molehill?
Our friends at the Journal are seriously misguided on this issue. (Note: my brother, Brian Carney, is on the editorial board of the Journal.)
The requirement that banks be able to prove ownership of mortgages by producing notes and assignments reflects a long-settled view about the necessity of written contracts in real estate transactions. Long before the founding of our Republic, England adopted what is commonly called the “Statute of Frauds.” It required that real estate conveyances be recorded in writing and signed. Similar laws apply in almost every state in the Union.
Part of the point of the writing requirement is to allow the government the transparency it needs to enforce property rights, including the right to foreclose on a home. If courts were to treat this as mere “paperwork” that was irrelevant to the cases, both property rights and the rule-of-law would suffer. It’s surprising that the Journal’s editorial page would take this stance.
Now, if the problem truly is just sloppy work on the part of robo-signers, banks can likely resume foreclosures before too long. But many suspect that the reason banks were falsifying their knowledge about the possession of loan documents is that the banks do not actually have the documents and don’t know where to find them. This could permanently impair their ability to foreclose on some properties.
What does this mean for the banks?
In the first place, the slowdown in foreclosure sales might hit the revenues of the banks. The defaulted loans aren’t spinning off revenue and now the foreclosures aren’t producing revenue either. If the foreclosure freezes last long enough, this could it the bottom lines of the banks. At the very least, banks should be adjusting the estimates on the likelihood of short-term recovery values for their mortgage portfolios.
The fact that banks securitized loans but did not get proper assignments of the mortgage notes may find themselves liable to lawsuits from investors. A typical mortgage bond issuance includes representations and warranties that all the proper documentation has been obtained. Banks could find themselves liable for a breach of these warranties.
This could also turn into a fight between investors of junior and senior tranches of mortgage bonds. Here’s how the Journal describes this fight:
When houses that have been packaged into a mortgage bond are liquidated at a foreclosure sale—the very end of the foreclosure process—the holders of the junior, or riskiest debt, would be the first investors to take losses. But if a foreclosure is delayed, the servicer must typically keep advancing payments that will go to all bondholders, including the junior debt holders, even though the home loan itself is producing no revenue stream. The latest events thus set up an odd circumstance where junior bondholders—typically at the bottom of the credit structure—could actually end up better off than they expected. Senior bondholders, typically at the top, could end up worse off. Not surprisingly, senior debt holders want banks to foreclose faster to reduce expenses. Junior bondholders are generally happy to stretch things out. What is more, it isn't entirely clear how the costs of re-processing tens of thousands of mortgages will be allocated. Those costs could be "significant" said Andrew Sandler, a Washington, D.C., attorney who represents mortgage companies.
The most damaging thing that could happen to banks would be the discovery that they simply cannot prove they hold a mortgage on a house. In that case, the loan would probably have to be written down to near zero. Even for current loans, the regulatory reserve requirements would double as the loan would no longer be a functional mortgage but an ordinary consumer loan. Depending on the size of the “no docs” portion of the loan portfolio, this might be a minor blip or require a bank to raise new capital to fill the hole in the balance sheet.
What does this mean for the housing market and the economy?
Get ready to hear the phrase “pig through the python” a lot. For example, “We need to get the pig through the python very quickly so that the market can be free of uncertainty.”
This is the favorite metaphor of bankers discussing the foreclosure crisis. The idea is that anything that slows down foreclosures will unsteady the housing market. There’s a lot of truth to this. Buyers will hesitate to bid on foreclosure sales if they are not confident the foreclosure is legitimate. Other buyers may worry that the lack of foreclosure sales in an area is a false indicator of the health of the local housing market.
Banks concerned about the recovery values of their mortgage portfolios and higher capital requirements, may pull back lending even further than they already have. In short, this could be the beginning of the second leg of the credit crunch.
Foreclosure moratoriums by many of the major banks have been the hottest industry news. Below is a good article that explains what is going on and how it happened. In general, the major banks have found enough issues with their foreclosure process that they have stopped taking possession of homes and in many cases are taking their homes off the market. It is too early to tell if this is a 30 day or 6 month issue. Their action will further shrink the available housing inventory so it may have a short term positive market effect, but the reality is the sooner the bank inventories are moved through the market, the faster we will get to a permanent improving market.
With fewer bank owned homes on the market to compete with, the moratorium does offer a short term opportunity for sellers to get a value boost (not so much appreciation, but a price a bit closer to typical asking prices) by putting their homes on the market now.
The chart below puts the current sale pace in historical perspective. The last few months have been at a pace closer to 2005/06, quite a bit ahead of the low points in 2007/08.
Also, here is a chart of the average price per square foot for SE Michigan sold properties (Excluding the City of Detroit). You can see the effect even a short-term reduction in supply can have on value with the rise in prices during the tax credits.
_________________________________________________
A Primer On The Foreclosure Crisis
JOHN CARNEY, CNBC, CADIE THOMPSON, NETNET, NET NET, FORECLOSURES, REAL ESTATE, HOUSING, FORECLOSURE, BANK OF AMERICA, JPMORGAN
Posted By: John Carney | Senior Editor, CNBC.com
CNBC.com
| 11 Oct 2010 | 02:48 PM ET
Last week, Bank of America announced that it was halting foreclosures in all fifty-states while it reviewed its foreclosure process for defects. Now several lawmakers on Capitol Hill are calling for other banks to initiate nationwide foreclosure freezes—a move which the Obama administration is currently opposing.
So what’s going on here? Why is the foreclosure machinery of our nation’s largest banks suddenly grinding to a halt? What does this mean for the financial sector and the economy?
Let’s start with the most basic questions first. Then I’ll explain some of the possible implications for homeowners, banks, and the economy.
How did this thing get started?
Ever since the housing bubble burst, there have been signs that there are serious problems with foreclosure practices. In some cases, the financial institution claiming it owns the mortgage has not been able to produce the underlying loan documents. In 2007, a federal judge held that Deutsche Bank lacked standing to foreclose in 14 cases because it could not produce the documents proving that it had been assigned the rights in the mortgages when they were securitized.
This decision was followed by similar rulings in other states stopping foreclosure proceedings. Typically the judges would find that the banks that were servicing mortgages pooled into bonds weren’t able to prove they owned the mortgages.
Why can’t they prove they own the mortgages?
Every time a mortgages changes hands, the new owners are supposed to receive an “assignment” of the mortgage notes from the buyers. The assignment is typically a short little document signed by both the seller and buyer of the mortgage acknowledging the sale, which is then attached to the mortgage documents themselves and delivered to the new owner.
When a mortgage is securitized it is typically sold to a Wall Street firm, which pools the mortgage with thousands of others. Investors buy slices of the pool, entitling them to cash-flows from the mortgage payments. The actual mortgages are assigned to a newly created investment vehicle. A servicer is tasked with ensuring the payments to borrowers get divided up properly and that delinquent borrowers get foreclosed upon.
Here’s where things get tricky. When a mortgage is securitized, the investors in the mortgage bonds don’t get assignments or notes. The investment vehicle doesn’t get the assignments or notes either. Instead, the physical notes are typically sent to a document repository company. The transfer of interests is noted in an electronic database.
But during the height of the housing bubble, investment banks were churning out mortgage bonds in such a frenzy, sometimes the assignments never got executed and mortgage notes never got delivered. Keep in mind that this was during the years when lenders were giving out low-doc and no-doc mortgages. It was inevitable that the fast and loose and slightly documented culture would not stop at the mortgage originator but stretch all the way through the process. (For more on this, see RortyBomb’s excellent discussion of the securitization process, complete with nifty and highly informative charts.)
For most mortgages, the note probably still exists somewhere. One problem that has arisen, however, is that some of the original mortgage lenders have gone under or been acquired by a larger bank. This can make tracking down the notes difficult, if not impossible.
Why am I just learning about this mess now?
This issue has been quietly simmering in the background of the housing crisis for quite some time. Gretchen Mortgenson of the New York Times wrote about it back in 2007. It gave rise to a “show me the note” movement of people contesting foreclosure proceedings.
But what really kicked off the latest developments was the deposition of a GMAC loan officer named Jeffrey Stephan, which revealed deep and perhaps pervasive flaws in the foreclosure practices of our largest banks.
Stephan admitted in a sworn deposition in Pennsylvania that he signed off on up to 10,000 foreclosure documents a month for five years. He said that he hadn’t reviewed the mortgage or foreclosure documents thoroughly. He quickly became known by the pejorative “robo-signer” for this way of getting mortgages through. This prompted Ally, which owns the GMAC mortgage company, to halt foreclosures in 23 so-called “judicial states.”
Because Stephan also signed foreclosures for hundreds of other mortgage companies, including J.P. Morgan Chase , the problem is not limited to GMAC. In fact, JP Morgan Chase also halted foreclosures in the judicial states.
Wait, what’s this about judicial states?
The majority of states in the country allow banks to foreclose on defaulted mortgages without going to court. They simply deliver the borrower a notice of the foreclosure sale. This is the method of foreclosure preferred by banks, since it is much faster and easier to execute the foreclosure sale, and much more difficult for borrowers to contest.
Twenty-three states, however, require banks to go to court to get a foreclosure order. These are the “judicial states.” In these states, banks are typically required to produce a sworn and notarized affidavit of a loan officer and submit the mortgage documents. Often, however, judges will issue foreclosure orders without the mortgage documents so long as the borrower doesn’t contest this point.
Keep in mind that in both judicial and non-judicial states, there are strong legal presumptions that favor the banks. So long as they have the mortgage note and the loan is delinquent—or so long as no one argues that they aren’t the owners of the mortgage or that borrower is not in default—the bank will almost always get the foreclosure.
But as the “show me the note” movement took off, more and more homeowners began to contest foreclosures by demanding to see the notes and, if the loan had been transferred or securitized, the assignment agreements. This typically was not fatal to banks seeking foreclosures. They could make up for the lost notes with lost note affidavits and retro-actively build an assignment chain. The worst that would happen, from the bank’s perspective, was that the foreclosure would be delayed.
In some cases, however, banks seem to have not even been able to manage even this kind of corrective action. Evidence has been produced to show that notarizations have been faked, documents forged, and folks like Stephan have simply been operating as foreclosure bots.
So is this just a concern for “judicial states?”Although banks first shut down foreclosures in judicial states, the lack of documentation is a problem in any jurisdiction. Homeowners contesting foreclosures in both non-judicial and judicial states can win if the bank cannot provide documents proving it owns the mortgage.
In judicial states, however, the banks are especially exposed because they must initiate a lawsuit to get a foreclosure. If they have been submitting false documents to the court, they could be sanctioned and fined. Realizing that they had few internal controls over their own foreclosure practices, banks wisely shut down foreclosures in the states where they had the most exposure.
In non-judicial states, banks aren’t required to submit anything to the court until they are sued by a homeowner seeking to stop a foreclosure. That means that they are far less likely to submit fraudulent documents, since the process has already been slowed. Nonetheless, banks may still find themselves swamped by challenges. No one really knows how badly the missing documentation problem is at the banks.
The Wall Street Journal told me this is just about “paperwork” and politics. Are we making a mountain out of a molehill?
Our friends at the Journal are seriously misguided on this issue. (Note: my brother, Brian Carney, is on the editorial board of the Journal.)
The requirement that banks be able to prove ownership of mortgages by producing notes and assignments reflects a long-settled view about the necessity of written contracts in real estate transactions. Long before the founding of our Republic, England adopted what is commonly called the “Statute of Frauds.” It required that real estate conveyances be recorded in writing and signed. Similar laws apply in almost every state in the Union.
Part of the point of the writing requirement is to allow the government the transparency it needs to enforce property rights, including the right to foreclose on a home. If courts were to treat this as mere “paperwork” that was irrelevant to the cases, both property rights and the rule-of-law would suffer. It’s surprising that the Journal’s editorial page would take this stance.
Now, if the problem truly is just sloppy work on the part of robo-signers, banks can likely resume foreclosures before too long. But many suspect that the reason banks were falsifying their knowledge about the possession of loan documents is that the banks do not actually have the documents and don’t know where to find them. This could permanently impair their ability to foreclose on some properties.
What does this mean for the banks?
In the first place, the slowdown in foreclosure sales might hit the revenues of the banks. The defaulted loans aren’t spinning off revenue and now the foreclosures aren’t producing revenue either. If the foreclosure freezes last long enough, this could it the bottom lines of the banks. At the very least, banks should be adjusting the estimates on the likelihood of short-term recovery values for their mortgage portfolios.
The fact that banks securitized loans but did not get proper assignments of the mortgage notes may find themselves liable to lawsuits from investors. A typical mortgage bond issuance includes representations and warranties that all the proper documentation has been obtained. Banks could find themselves liable for a breach of these warranties.
This could also turn into a fight between investors of junior and senior tranches of mortgage bonds. Here’s how the Journal describes this fight:
When houses that have been packaged into a mortgage bond are liquidated at a foreclosure sale—the very end of the foreclosure process—the holders of the junior, or riskiest debt, would be the first investors to take losses. But if a foreclosure is delayed, the servicer must typically keep advancing payments that will go to all bondholders, including the junior debt holders, even though the home loan itself is producing no revenue stream. The latest events thus set up an odd circumstance where junior bondholders—typically at the bottom of the credit structure—could actually end up better off than they expected. Senior bondholders, typically at the top, could end up worse off. Not surprisingly, senior debt holders want banks to foreclose faster to reduce expenses. Junior bondholders are generally happy to stretch things out. What is more, it isn't entirely clear how the costs of re-processing tens of thousands of mortgages will be allocated. Those costs could be "significant" said Andrew Sandler, a Washington, D.C., attorney who represents mortgage companies.
The most damaging thing that could happen to banks would be the discovery that they simply cannot prove they hold a mortgage on a house. In that case, the loan would probably have to be written down to near zero. Even for current loans, the regulatory reserve requirements would double as the loan would no longer be a functional mortgage but an ordinary consumer loan. Depending on the size of the “no docs” portion of the loan portfolio, this might be a minor blip or require a bank to raise new capital to fill the hole in the balance sheet.
What does this mean for the housing market and the economy?
Get ready to hear the phrase “pig through the python” a lot. For example, “We need to get the pig through the python very quickly so that the market can be free of uncertainty.”
This is the favorite metaphor of bankers discussing the foreclosure crisis. The idea is that anything that slows down foreclosures will unsteady the housing market. There’s a lot of truth to this. Buyers will hesitate to bid on foreclosure sales if they are not confident the foreclosure is legitimate. Other buyers may worry that the lack of foreclosure sales in an area is a false indicator of the health of the local housing market.
Banks concerned about the recovery values of their mortgage portfolios and higher capital requirements, may pull back lending even further than they already have. In short, this could be the beginning of the second leg of the credit crunch.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Truth About Foreclosure "Lists"!
How many times have you opened your email inbox and have been faced with subject lines like "The One and Only Foreclosure List", "The Best List of Foreclosures" or even "The Secret to Getting a Foreclosure List"? Only to click the link and find out that you have to PAY for these "great lists". Did you know that even if you paid them their monthly fee, you are still not getting a complete list? The only people who have complete lists of foreclosures is the individual Banks who own the homes! Let's face it, is not likely that all the banks in the world will ever come together and share that information in one complete database, so save your money! Once a house is taken back by the bank and ready to be sold, the bank calls a REALTOR(R). That means they all end up on the various Multi-List Systems throughout the state so it only makes sense to search from them where the professionals do! Try it: www.ourforeclosurehomes.com. This is a free website, operated by the Real Estate One Family of Companies. The objective of the website is to offer the public access to all the distressed homes for sale in the state of Michigan. That's right, if a home is in foreclosure or listed as a short sale by a REALTOR(R), our website is designed to scour each MLS within the state and bring that information to you. No fees, no contracts, no obligation. Now hit that "Unsubscribe" button and come check it out! www.ourforeclosurehomes.com
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Join Our Team
Search Foreclosures, Short Sales, HUD Homes
Join Us On Facebook
Chat with us LIVE
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
What's your architectural style?
Do you have an eye for architectural style? Click here to learn more about the differences between them. From Art Deco to Victorian and everything in between!
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