Birmingham MI Real Estate

Planning for Barnum Park begins with a series of community forums, the first of which is set for Nov. 7. The full schedule is on the city’s website. Members of the community should get involved in planning for this park. With costs running more than $10 million for Barnum Park we think everyone should be involved in its planning.

This last Sunday was the last day of the Birmingham Farmers Market. The market runs from July 1 thru October 21 first this year. For much of the season it was a challange to get into the market with all the road construction on Old Woodward between Willits and Oak Street. But at last it appears to be almost finished. It will now be easier to find a spot to park for all the shops and next years Farmers Market. Don’t miss next years market which is open every Sunday from 9 AM until 2 PM

Tonight, Tuesday, Oct. 23, at 7:30 p.m., the League of Women Voters will hold a Birmingham City Commission candidates forum at the Community House. You will have the opportunity to get all your questions answered by the candidates. Don’t miss the meeting but if you do watch for the rerun on Comcast

After a movie at the Birmingham Palladium on a Sunday afternoon we decided to walk over to one of the new restaurants in Downtown Birmingham.  Our dining experience was exceptional at Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar.  The appetizers were delicious – we tried the Lobster Tempura and seared Ahi Tuna.  Having not realized how plentiful the portions were, after the appetizers we decided to share a steak with a side of grilled asparagus.  Even with sharing we ended up with a “doggie” bag and our little dachshunds were very happy to see what we brought home that evening.  Take a look at the inside of Fleming’s by clicking here (it may take a couple of seconds to load). Since everything in Birmingham is just a short walk away it was not a problem to enjoy the rest of the evening walking around window shopping and relaxing. 

The City of Birmingham is a wonderful place to walk around with a friendly downtown area offering a myriad of unique shops, restaurants, theatres and cultural events.  A children and dog friendly city, Birmingham boasts several lovely parks and outdoor café seating for three season enjoyment.

A phrase such as "birmingham michigan homes"  is how people find homes for sale when they are doing searches on Google. When you are selling a home in an area such as Birmingham, Michigan you really should keep this in mind. If you click on this phrase "birmingham michigan homes"  you will see the results of that search in Google. Once you are there take a close look at the results.

Today’s smart internet user does not very often choose to click on the sponsored links on the page as they know the only reason the link is showing up on page one is because the party being linked to is BUYING THE POSITION. The "organic" (natural) results are folks that have gotten to the top without buying the position. They earned their page one position.

Example:

WHY IS THAT IMPORTANT?

Almost every real estate listing today is put up on the internet. The real question is "does is ever get seen?" If you look again at the search results you will see that we show up in first page position. With tons of people using key word searches like this it is extremely important that you consider your agents web site position.

If you were to click on the links to our website from the Google search you would see in the title "FEATURED HOMES" which are individual websites on our featured properties. To see how we create an individual web site using the street name of a property, take a look at one of our newest properties to hit the market at www.RATHMOR.WhitehouseS.com.

This is how homes get FOUND on the internet

Par for the media is all the negative news coming out of the various news programs. I have heard numerous remarks on several TV broadcasts that Countrywide has ceased offering Jumbo loans and their 100% programs. These rumors are simply NOT correct. What is true is that these types of programs are no longer available to the high risk borrowers but they are available to the normal credit risk purchasers.

There is plenty of blame to go around as to why this all happened. The Wall Street Broker, Wall Street Rating Services, Lender, and Investors were all pushing mortgage products they fueled the real estate boom and ran up this huge SubPrime problems. It will take some time and some investors will loss money on mortgage products that should never have been in the market in the first place but overall we will move forward.

If you are interested in buying or selling in the Birmingham – Bloomfield Hills area there is still money available so now is the time to be exploring your options. If you would like a copy of our book  "Get The Best Deal When Selling Your Home – Southeast Michigan Edition" call or drop us a note and we’ll get one to you

More than you ever wanted to know about a Southeast Michigan Real Estate Team. We are based in Birmingham, Michigan home of the world famous WOODWARD DREAM CRUISE. (The Woodward Dream Cruise is the world’s largest one-day celebration of car culture that attracts over 1.7 million visitors, and more than 40000 muscle cars …)

 
Linda Davis, a fellow real estate blogger, has memed us. Her blog Eastern CT Blog Buffet is creative and well written. The term "meme" (rhymes with dream) seems to have evolved from a book by Richard Dawkins in 1976. As it relates to blogging, I rather like the definition provided on The Daily Meme.

WEB - Our first real estate website was in 1995.  We have gone through numerous total revisions and use a website designer, Sandy Teller of Sizzling Studios.  Like most websites our first one was all about us. Now, it is all about SE Michigan and the Birmingham Bloomfield Hills area and what our prospective customers and clients want to know.  Our main Real Estate site is www.WhitehouseS.com. Our second site where clients and customers can search for available property, get a current value for their property or have a search set up that updates them on what’s available every morning is www.SEMichiganHomeInfo.com.

Computers – Our first computer was an Apple with a floppy drive and a modem. Our real estate office didn’t have a computer yet. They only had a Silent Thermal printer terminal. Our first venture into computers was to find a way for our Apple computer to communicate with the MLS so we could get information before most agents got into the office in the morning.

EMAIL – Bulletin Boards and Email became part of our daily routine very early.  Today the fastest and quickest way to reach us is via email as we all carry a Blackberry. Speaking of Blackberry (BB) let me share why we will never go to another communications device. The BB has a little known capability called PIN to PIN messaging. If you know the PIN number of another BB you can send a PIN message just like email. The difference being that a couple of years ago when the whole East Coast had a major power failure cell phones and email were useless but PIN to PIN still worked and I could communicate with my wife across town and our daughter in Chicago to get the lastest news. I now ask every BB user for the PIN number of their Blackberry.  

BROWSER – Simply IE.

GROUPS -  We belong to a group of the top 200 or so agents in the world know as the CyberStars.   I’m also a member of a Community Zero group with my Cyberprofessional family. These groups, with many common members, share their exceptional marketing skills openly with one another making each and everyone of them the top marketer in their individual market areas.

Test Messaging - Yes 

RADIO – I’m not a big radio listener.  I am currently listening to Greek lessons on my I-pod as we are headed to Greece in September.

MUSIC – I like country music and Broadway musicals like Phantom of the Opera.

TV – 24 is the only program I plan my schedule around and if I do miss it, I have every show on Tivo. 

BOOKS – I read mostly fiction – the last book was James Patterson’s "Step on a Crack." I also like John Grisham’s writings.  One of my favorite inspirational books is "Illusions" by Richard Bach.

PODCASTS – Don’t listen to them.

COMMUNICATION – I prefer e-mail or Text messaging.

MAGAZINES – Power Boating, Great Lakes Boating and Wired.

This photo was taken in the Canadian North Channel and it shows why we like boating.

NEWSPAPER -  Wall Street Journal

REPLY TO LINDA – who said "I’m meming all my friends in my Real Estate Blog Site’s yahoo group!  I’m curious to see how many accept the challenge." Challenged accepted.

I just finished a conversation with a client in Birmingham who came to me with the idea of giving their home back to the bank as they owe more than they can get in today’s market. They thought that it was possible to just tell the bank that the home was now the banks property and the only consequence was a blemish on their credit.

There are numerous additional factors that need to be taken into consideration if you find yourself in a position that you think you want to head in one of these directions. In most cases the lender can still go after other assets that you may have and then there is always the income lax considerations.

Currently when a debt is forgiven as in a "Short Sale" the amount of the debt forgiven becomes taxable income. At this time the National Association of Realtors is trying to get Congress to change the law on your personal residence regarding debt forgiveness becoming a taxable event.

If you are considering either of these options get advice