Dmitry & Maureen: Moving Metro Detroit

Michigan is in a big pickle.

What will Michigan citizens say next month when they see that the government says their home is worth more than it was a year ago?  They see for sales signs all around them.  They see falling prices.  If they are a home seller, there is no way they haven't felt the bite.

Yes, it is reassessment time and it looks like the assessors are about to tell us that property values are on the way up! 

Who is lying?  The tax assessor?  The Realtor who hasn't brought an offer after 6 months on the market?

We feel your pain.  

For the explanation and our rant on Prop A, you'll have to visit miOaklandCounty.com, your source for the latest on the Oakland County Real Estate market.

Kosher Baby Dill Courtesy of BunchofPants

Last week I started to get some strange looking splotches on my forehead and scalp. A case of creeping crud?  Kris Berg's Martian Death Flu?

I have always had very clear skin so I had no idea where this was coming from. I asked one of my Realtor buddies to take a look and she thought they looked like bug bites. Hmmmm. Interesting. Being the internet dependent do-it-yourself Gen Xer that I am I used Google images to diagnose my splotches. Clearly they were bed bug bites. Looked just like them.

So, we loaded up every piece of bedding and laundry in the house on Saturday evening and took our daughter for her first trip ever to a laundromat. Exciting times for a 3 year old. Quarters to be put in slots, buttons to push, carts to crash around and new people to entertain. She loved it. Somehow the laundromat seems to have frayed my new sheets but that is another issue. I sent Dmitry out for some Benadryl ointment and tablets, because that is what I learned I was supposed to do on Wikipedia.

To learn more about Not having bed bugs, shingles that aren't on your roof and what this all has to do with selling your home, stop on by miOaklandCounty.com. 

The bed bug illustration is by mindfuldocumentation. 

Troy, Michigan Real Estate and City Information

About Troy

I've been seeing an "explosion" in the real estate blog world in the last few months with new bloggers springing up everywhere.  Even seasoned bloggers are adding new blogs or switching platforms and domains.  I am hoping we will see some of these newer blogs on the tour this month, in addition to those who've been around a bit longer.

For the last few months, we've run blog tours of ActiveRainer's 'other blogs,' or the blogs they maintain outside of ActiveRain.  Some of us, it seems, are crazy enough to maintain 2 (or more!) real estate blogs.  My other blog, for example, is mioaklandcounty.com.

So, here is the invitation.  The January Blog Tour is now officially underway. 

Here are 4 posts you can look back on if you are curious about what has taken place in the past.  But, really, its quite simple.  The benefits to the participants are that we often give each other feedback on site issues and you create incoming links to your own site every time you leave a comment.  I also usually pick up some new ideas for future posts.

Here is how it works: 

• Put a link in the comments here with your 'other' blog's URL. 
  
• If you have a post that you think we would particularly enjoy, use that as the landing page.  But the main page is just fine too. 
• I will stop by any blog that is posted here. 
  
• If you post your own blog here, I ask you to visit at least the two other blogs that sign up immediately before you.   Of course, you are welcome to visit more. 
  
• If you add your blog early in the comments, you'll want to stop back later  to check out the new  additions.
  
• When you are out visiting, leave a comment to let them know you stopped by. 
  
• Optional: You might consider adding someone to your blogroll.  If you don't have an outside blog, you could add them to your "favorites" on your blog settings or as an associate.

Help me get out of Michigan!  We had an ice storm yesterday and snow today. Join us before January 22nd to take place in the fun!

If you find out anything interesting while you are out there, report back here and let the rest of us know so that we don't miss it... 

If you want to make sure you don't miss future blog tours, join blog tourists. If you are a real estate professional and you are not a member of ActiveRain, you should sign up here.  It is FREE and it will change the way you do business.

Bon Voyage!

photo by zcar.300

Sorry for the shouting.

I am a little riled up about this one. A few days ago I came across a couple of listings in the MLS that I find not just irresponsible, but bordering on malpractice. I know that mistakes can be made, but big ones like these cost sellers a lot of time and money. A good Realtor is worth every penny she earns, and most days I don't see anything like this. Let me make it clear that this is the exception not the rule.

• A Birmingham home has been on the market for months. I bet they don't get any showings. The listing agent listed it with NO BASEMENT. In these days of the computer searches, there are usually 3 primary boxes an agent clicks when they are looking for a home for a buyer:

• Price Range
• Location
• Basement

Yes, there may be more criteria, but those 3 are just about always there. So this Birmingham home is not coming up on the search results of agents or homebuyers who have ticked off the 'basement box'. It just so happens that the listing agent is from outside of the Birmingham market and does not use our MLS as his primary MLS. Looks like he never checked the listing after it was entered. The seller will never know why her house isn't getting any action. She'll lower the price a couple of times and get frustrated. In this case, an agent who uses the dominate MLS in the market every day would probably have caught it long ago.

• On another Birmingham home, I saw the agent list it with no basement, no garage and no fireplace. I knew for a fact that it had all three. He didn't even write the descriptive blurb that goes in the MLS. He just copied it from a prior listing. He must have been too busy that day. My only guess is that he is working really cheap for the seller so he is trying to make sure he gets paid on both the buyer's side and the seller's side. of the transaction. He's made the odds of another agent or a buyer finding this house in the MLS very low.

• From my ultra-lazy agent file: an agent put "mapquest.com" in the driving directions on the mls. Hello!! Usually we put something like North on Adams to Derby, left on Norwich to house. I do everything I can to make it easy for another agent to find my listings so they can show them and sell them. I don't assume that the agent knows the area and I don't assume that the agent will take the time to mapquest every home they are showing. I know that even a little thing like having mapquest.com in the showing directions will result in less showings. It takes me two minutes to write the directions so there is really no excuse not to do it right.

I could probably come up with a few more, but you get the point. As a consumer you can protect yourself by asking your agent to send you a copy of your mls listing as soon as it is posted and any time there is a change. Some agents might do this automatically. I am guessing that the ones I've mentioned above certainly don't.

The locations of these listngs have been changed to protect the guilty.  Or to protect this blogger. 

As for those agents, the Queen has spoken. Off with their heads!

Off with their heads was taken by iam4ranny

First let me say that I am a born skeptic, and I am frugal. I NEVER buy the extended warranty when I buy a new appliance or other major purchase. In my mind I think that extended warranties are a scam and I would like to assume that the product that I am buying is well enough made that it should last for 3 years or so without me needing an expensive service call or a warranty to pay for the service call. Heck, I have a refrigerator in my basement that I think is about 15 years old and it runs just fine.

So, for me to state that sellers should have a home warranty seems a bit hypocritical. Yet I always offer them to my seller clients and I suggest that I place an order right when I take the listing. In my opinion, there really is no reason for a seller not to have a warranty. First of all, the warranty is free until closing. If its not negotiated in to the contract, you never pay for it. Second, the seller is covered for lots of things during the listing period, even without purchasing the warranty, and the all the seller pays is the deductible for the service call. Not bad, huh? 

And just so nobody thinks I am trying to scam the warranty company, our sales rep from the company is the one who sold me on this whole concept.

Last month we had a seller of a newer condo in Birmingham, Michigan whose stove stopped working the week that her condo went under contract. She was faced with getting the stove fixed or replacing it before close. Fortunately for her, we had ordered the warranty so she paid about $60 to have her stove fixed. Not bad. And if the problem had been worse, that would have been covered too.

On the other hand, I had a seller a year ago who told me he didn't want me to order the warranty because his home was in pristine shape.  The hot water heater died shortly in to the listing period.  He got to pay for a new one on his own.  Oh well.  I tried.  

The warranty can also help if there are negotiations after a home inspection. We sold a home last winter with some older appliances in it, and the buyers were comforted by knowing that a home warranty would take care of any breakdowns in their first year.

The verdict: a warranty warrants serious consideration. 

self portrait by Glutnix

miOaklandCounty has been around since March of 2005, but I have to say that I really feel like it was totally reborn in the second half of 2006. I left blogspot.com and became the mistress of my own domain. Even though I have struggled with Wordpress, I’ve felt like my blog ‘grew up’ this year. I began to have a bit of a sense of direction and purpose. Heck, someone even bothered to hack my site, so I must be doing something right.

To read more about what has been going on at miOaklandCounty read on here. 

I also halfheartedly tried to start a meme, but it fizzled.  So if anyone would like to do a recap of their personal favorites from their own blog from 2006 (AR or 'other blog'), consider yourself tagged. You are welcome to leave a link to your recap post in the comments here and I will stop by to take a look.  I think it's kind of interesting to see an author's personal favorites.

photo by CharlieTYack

Fortune Magazine recently put out a list of the top 10 housing markets ready for a fall. Note that NOTHING IN Michigan is on the list. Honestly it is probably because we’ve already ‘been there and done that.’ In Oakland County and South East Michigan we are on the other side of a correction and now other markets are seeing what we experienced in 2006 when we went through it ourselves.

To see the top 10 markets and read Fortune's predictions for Oakland County Real Estate, read What Goes Up, Must Come Down.  But At Some Point it Lands on miOaklandCounty.com

This is a story about a blogging success, and how ActiveRain helped me to improve my business through a blogger who I think of more for his 'deep thoughts' than for his product.  As a matter of fact, it was Jeff Turner's blogs about life that made click through to his profile to figure out more about who he is. 

Like many of you, I am  sure, I get really tired of solicitors calling me on my cell phone to tell me about the latest greatest product that is going to give me more business than I can handle.  One of Jeff's competitors, whose company bears an amazingly similar name, hung up on me recently when I asked them to email me information. Somehow, I mistakenly thought this call was from Jeff's company.

So when I clicked through to RealEstateShows.com I was hesitant, but curious because Jeff works there.  When I found out that Jeff's company offered a product I had sought for a couple of years, I was floored.

I prefer slide show type virtual tours to the spinning rooms, so that is what I was looking for. I had tried a few of his competitors and had been very satisfied with the service that I have been using for over a year.  RealEstateShows had two things that intrigued me enough to sign up: a reasonable price: $125 for ALL the virtual tours I might need for a year, AND a 14 day free trial period.  I figured I had nothing to lose with the free trial period. 

Here are a couple of the things I like so far: 

• It's super easy to post the tours to the MLS and Realtor.com
• There is a stats section that shows me where the views on each tour are coming from
• It's really very simple to upload a tour
• There are neat links you can put on the tour with links to school data, maps and your personal web site
• The program is very intuitive, so its easy to create a tour in a very short time
• There is an enormous database of music
  

What I will tell you is that the service I've received far outweighs the price I am paying.  Jeff personally took a look at my first tour and then sent me feedback and suggestions.  A few days later, I received an completely unsolicited email about how to achieve optimal viewing on my web site.  A tech guy from the company figured out a fix.  I can tell you how many times my web site provider has contacted me to tell me how to do something better.  None.

If you take digital pictures of your listings already, you can have a tour done in a few minutes.

I've made a commitment that ALL of my listings will have virtual tours in 2007.  They will have them within two days of the listing going on line, at the latest.  I know that homes with virtual tours get viewed more often on the net and they come up higher on Realtor.com.  I want my listings to stand apart.

When I told Jeff that I wanted to share my joy with all of you, he gave me a little gift to pass along to everyone on ActiveRain.  This promotional code will get you your subscription to the RealEstateShows.com for $99.50.  You enter it when you go to pay after your free trial period and the price is adjusted from $125.  It is 65acd527fca0 Thanks, Jeff!!

By providing a great product and outstanding service, I just became part of Jeff's sales force.  His indirect sale by making a connection through posts completely unrelated to his product are what lead me to him.  So maybe there is a lesson to be learned in there about the content we put in our posts.  And, I'll be doing my best to provide the same kind of service and counsel to my own clients, so that my sales personal force can growwwwwwww!  What a great way to get new business.  It sure beats cold calling.

PS.  I have now concluded my longest absence from posting on AR since I joined.  I missed you guys. 

Photo of the Beauty Bar In NY by COBA

First, let me start off by thanking everyone who participated in the Carnival, either by nominating someone or by voting.  You gave us all a bunch of great posts to revisit, all 'winners' in their own right.  There were 49 posts nominated, and the Rainers whittled the list down to 11 of their favorites. A three way tie for 8th caused us to expand this list from 10 to 11.

No one can accuse us of being a shallow or insensitive group.  When I look at all of the top 11, I see compassion and passion, both about our profession and about our concern for others.  If you are new to ActiveRain, here is a GREAT reading list to get your familiarized with some of the things we've talked about, and some stellar examples of what a blog can be.  You'll find diverse voices here, all delivering compelling messages.

The votes have been tallied and YOU selected Craig Schiller's The Gift of Tears as being the most memorable post of 2006.  As someone who was brought to tears of my own reading Craig's post, I know what William Collins saw when he nominated it.  If you missed it, make sure you have Kleenex nearby.

The other posts you selected as those that touched you in 2006:

• We Need to Charge for What We Know, Not What We Do by Lenn Harley.  Lenn reminds us of what we are reallly selling.  I happened to nominate this post.
• An Example of Plagiarism Right Here on ActiveRain by Kristal Kraft.  Lenn Harley nominated this post because she thought it demonstrated the serious problems we face on the internet.  My editorial:  that particular 'event' rallied the community as we went through it.
• ActiveRainaholics Anonymous by Jay Thompson gave me a belly laugh, and that is why I nominated it.  If you feel out of control, read Jay's post.
• Your Values Are Your Brand: Part 1 by Jeff Turner.  Jessica Hughes nominated this one because she felt this poignant post was profound and demonstrated integrity and values.  We agreed with you Jessica.
• Jeff Turner delivered again, this time with I Promise: Those are Some Strong Words, nominated by Margaret Rome.
• Mary McKnight's Real Estate Blogging Rookie Mistakes.  William Collins picks another winner for a post he felt was one of the most informative and educational.
• Kristal Kraft makes another appearance for her post Circling the Drain, Jessica Hughes second winning nomination. 
• The list would not be complete without something by Broker Bryant, whose So what do you to do justify your high commission elicited lots of feedback from the Rainers.  Bryant knows his audience (us) and nominated this one himself.
• Jessica Hughes had Jeff Belonger in tears for being funny, with Rich Came to Denver.  I spent most of that day laughing, and Jessica had me in stitches.  Apparently many of you felt the same way.
• Last but not least, Jay Thompson nominated How I Spammed ActiveRain by Paul Sullins.  This is the oldest post that was nominated, and Paul was one of the early people instrumental in the growth of the network.  This nomination was seconded by Matt Heaton. 

Congratulations to the bloggers who wrote these posts and shared them with the rest of us.  Big thanks to those who saw something good and took the time to nominate.  And to those of you who voted.

I am hoping that these ActiveRain carnivals are something that the community would like to see continue in the future.  I have had great fun organizing them, but I think it is time to let this evolve and grow under different peoples' direction and creative vision.  I've asked Rich Jacobson if he would be the organizer of next month's carnival and he has graciously accepted the task.  There are others who have volunteered to host in the past, and Rich will pass along the torch to someone else the following month.  I'll be more than happy to advise and assist anyone who wants to organize a carnival in the future.  Believe me, I have some thoughts on the topic!  So with that, I sign out and thank all of you who have participated in the last few months. 

award photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid and modified by me. 

P.S. AR has the official poll results, just so everyone knows this was audited.