Dmitry & Maureen: Moving Metro Detroit

After years of planning and fund raising, Birmingham's Booth Park is about to make a major transformation.  Its not going to look anything like it did when I played there as a child.  But I know my daughter is going to LOVE the new sled hill and playscape. 

Sept. 5-10, volunteers will spend their days building a community playground at Booth Park.

Eight hundred adult volunteers -- and tools -- are needed to help with construction and related jobs during the week of construction. Volunteers who are skilled in construction and those who are not, are needed. Especially in need are volunteers to fill shifts on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 5-7. Shifts run from 8:00 a.m.-noon, 12:30 p.m.-5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.-sundown (approximately 8:30 p.m.) Construction will begin on Tuesday, Sept. 5 at 12:30 p.m., and is expected to conclude at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 10.

Childcare will be provided for young children whose parents sign up in advance, and food and drink will be provided for all volunteers.

Volunteers are encouraged to sign up in advance, but walk-up volunteers will be accepted. Please contact volunteer coordinators Nadia Juzych at 248-342-4603 or Stacey Cassis at 248-302-1177 for additional details or to sign up.

SKBK Sotheby's agents have volunteered to help with the park construction project on Friday, September 8th.  Look for us there!

Birmingham's most outspoken blogger, Clinton Baller, is mad.  The blogger behind the BhamBuzz is worried about current problems in the city and how the city commission is handling them.  Today he's threatening to file an ethics complaint against commissioner Stuart Sherman (somebody should), thoroughly disgusted about the council's decisions regarding how to spend a $25 million parks bond issue, and looking for vision from the city's elected officials.  His rant is long, but worthy of your time and attention, particularly if you are a resident or prospective resident of Birmingham.  

We think his idea about reducing property tax rates is an important one, though challenging to impliment.  Birmingham is losing some home buyers to other communities because of its millage rates.  

Baller follows Birmingham city politics just about as closely as we follow Birmingham real estate trends.  Some might not agree with him, but I find his site an excellent source for information about Birmingham politics.  He's not afraid to tell it like he sees it, even if it means criticizing his allies publically.  

Right now all local governments in Michigan are challenged by financial constraints.  Our local economy makes the issues that Baller discusses all the more relevant.

Late last year, parts of the real estate community were pondering the unbranding of the FSBO.  NAR did press releases, white papers, and tv spots about how we need to stop building the FSBO brand and call them what they are: unrepresented sellers.  You can find many of these resources on Realtor.org.

Joe Cooke wrote an excellent piece on Realtor.org last year.  Some of my favorite bits from his article:

"Practitioners and clients commonly use the term FSBO as if it were a brand name. But by using the term, we inadvertently promote the brand. It’s akin to an announcer at Wal-Mart talking about how much lower prices are there than at Kmart. Even though we probably wouldn’t pay a lot of attention to the announcement, the Kmart brand wends its way into our subconscious. The same is true for the term FSBO. Every time we use it, the term burrows into consumers’ psyche a bit more.

In theory, every home is for sale by owner because the homeowner holds title. Practitioners essentially facilitate the transaction. The only time this isn’t true is in the case of a person representing an estate or someone with power of attorney. Therefore, we practitioners can come across as slightly arrogant to sellers when we seek to take responsibility for selling their homes.

Once we move beyond the notion that our job is to sell homes, we’re left with a twofold business purpose: representation and marketing. Thanks to this analysis, we came up with a nonadversarial term for FSBOs: unrepresented sellers. "

The Florida Assocation of Realtors developed a fantastic site Dont-it-yourself.com.

Its funny, and gets across the message in a new way.  Turn on your speakers and be prepared to laugh.  As I said before, this is a reason that I wouldn't mind living in Florida.  FAR is behind its members!

So lets join in on the unbranding bandwagon.  We have a strong community here to show 'em what they are: unrepresented sellers.  Lets start today.  No more "fsbo" references for me.  How about you?

On top of all of the other confusion of my day, I received an unexpected fax from an agent who wrote an offer on one of our listings last week.  Buyer and seller never came to terms.  The final counter offer expired Friday without any written response from the buyer.

He sent me a mutual release signed by the buyer.  I looked at it, and said to myself, "what the heck is this?"  So I called him up and said, "what the heck is this?  We don't have a deal, so no need to get my clients' signature to release your clients from the deal."  He said that he preferred to do this as a policy before he released earnest money, but that he would call his main office and ask if it was OK to skip this step today.  They had no objections.

I've never run into this before.  Contract was not ratified.  How is this handled in your market? 

Last week was Ukraine's Independence Day.  The country separated from the Soviet Union 15 years ago.  Shortly after they declared independence, the United States made a commitment to support the fledgling democracy by sending the first group of Peace Corps volunteers there to serve.  I was fortunate to be selected to serve in Ukraine as a business advisor.  Instead of spending 2 years there, I ended up staying 8, enticed by constant change and interesting job opportunities.

Dmitry was generous enough to leave behind a prestigious job, comfortable life and friends and family when I decided it was time for me to return to the US in 2000.  His curiosity lead us into real estate.  When he wanted to get his real estate license I had to drive him to the classes because he didn't have a driver's license yet.  In Ukraine, we only needed taxis and public transport.  I have to tell you, he is incredibly adaptable! 

He quickly learned the market, developed a verly loyal client base, and continually looked for new opportunities to expand his business.  I jokingly call him My Ultimate Souvenir.

In June, Dmitry became a US citizen.  It was a very proud day for me. A side benefit is that we are done with the bureaucracy of INS.

We celebrated Ukraine's Independence day - August 24th will always be an important day for us.  But we are happy to be here now, with all of the opportunities this country has provided for us.  For us, this is home. 

Oh, and if you need a recommendation of where to find the best vodka, pumpernickel bread or stuffed cabbage in Metro Detroit, please give Dmitry a call.  He would be happy to share his findings. 

Maureen Francis 

There are clearly some sharp knives in the drawer in the ActiveRain kitchen.  Guesses to my little quiz with my vacation picture were spot on, or intentionally humorous.  Next time I will have to make my quiz harder.

I took some great photos from the balcony of the condo where we were staying in Bay Harbor, Michigan.  Directly across from us, a $4,000,000 house is up for sale.  We watched one day as the gardeners scurried about grooming the immaculate grounds. When we were there last year, we never saw a light on in the place so we wondered how much the owners actually visited.  The home is stunning and the view of Lake Michigan’s Little Traverse Bay is spectacular.  Dmitry took really beautiful sunset photos almost every night.

The next day there was more activity at the house, a cherry picker was plopped out front and the driveway was hosed down.  A photographer spent quite a bit of time up in the cherry picker getting just the right exterior photo of the home.  The gardener periodically ran back out to re-soak the black top driveway.  (Why do they think that wet looks better?  I don’t.)  The photographer was taking pictures on the first overcast day we’d had since we got here.  Conditions were perfect for a great shot.

I was tempted to run out and interview her for my blog, but I resisted because we were headed to the Emmett County Fair to take our three year old for a series of many firsts: cotton candy, ferris wheel, merry-go-round, etc. Blogging had to wait.

Anyway, I don’t have access to a cherry picker when I take my listing photos, but just the other day I wished that I had had a step ladder in the trunk when I was shooting a new listing.  I would have gotten some much better angles.

I did have some thought as I watched the cherry picker photographer carefully find the perfect picture:

• The listing broker one chooses is extremely important.  This company specializes in the exclusive homes in that resort.  They own the cherry picker so they can orchestrate everything that it took to get that photo.  Now that is service. 

• The difference really is in the details.  We’ve sold a number of listings quickly after long listing periods with other agents -- without changing the price.  We did the little things: good descriptions in the MLS, multiple photos, excellent web exposure, virtual tours, and targeted marketing.
   
• The follow through is more important than the promises.

Most of our listings don’t need us to use a cherry picker to get the right shot.  But they all deserve us looking after the details that will make the difference in finding the right buyer for our seller.  So lets continue to strive for ‘cherry picker’ service. 

Look closely on the left side, and you will see the photographer in her cherry picker
 

Maureen Francis & Dmitry Koublitsky

www.Oakland-County-Homes.com 

Check back tomorrow, when I will reveal why I think this picture from my vacation is interesting....

In the meantime, leave us a comment with your best guess. 

Marketing works.  Right now the hot commodity in Detroit’s hippest suburbs (I know that sounds like an oxymoron, stop laughing!) is the loft.  But suburban Detroit is not Soho, and our trendy suburbs do not have warehouse districts with artists squatting in abandoned buildings and gentrifying them.

For the most part, our “lofts” are new construction condominiums with the obligatory exposed brick wall and unfinished ceiling.  Other industrial decorating touches help to create the coveted loft mystique.  It’s really pure marketing genius.  Just don’t tell the super excited new owners that they’ve just paid an extra $50k for something everyone else knows is just an overpriced condo, ok? 

Not long ago, Maureen McCabe coined the term Fairy Blog Mother for Pennsylvania Realtor, Frances Flynn Thorsen of TheRealtyGramBlogger, one of the first real estate bloggers I ever knew of.  

A few years ago Frances tried to gain access to the press room at the NAR connvention so that she would work on her blog.  She was turned away.  Now they let her in, and the journalists appreciate what she is doing.

Dmitry and I are members of her "Blogsquad."  

Anyway, this is a great article about Frances and about her ideas of where blogging and real estate are headed. 

Frances is on AR, but she hasn't posted yet.  She is probably too busy maintaing all of her other blogs. 

As those of us in Detroit know all too well, the Big 3 are having problems.  GM's attempt to find a new market was introduced this winter at the LA Auto Show.  We wrote about the GMC Pad a while ago, in an article called "The home we won't be selling you." Click on that link, you gotta see the thing.  I mean it. 

GM is trying to tap into the trendy, urban, first time buyer market.  Honestly, I don't see much demand for this, but what do I know?  I mean, we've had motor homes and mobile homes for a long time.  Even if they are give a hip and trendy makeover, the audience they serve would be limited. 

Maybe GM should talk Uncle Sam into allowing people to homestead RV's and offer a write off for vehicles that are registered as a primary residence!!  That could make all the difference. And if it can keep some jobs in Detroit, I certainly wish them luck.  I just am glad I don't have to sell them.