I knew it wouldn't last forever, but I was kind of shocked to get the information in my email that the HUD incentives for Michigan are ending soon. As of February 12th of this year (yes, less than 2 weeks away) HUD is putting an end to the wonderful incentives that they've been offering for the
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01/30/2010
I wrote a blog post earlier about appraisals, and what we as buyers agents can do to help our buyer clients to understand current market value and to avoid appraisal issues. One of the comments I recieved said something like "You may not make the sellers happy..." I'm a nice person. I like to
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01/24/2010
When you plan on purchasing a home using mortgage money it doesn't matter what type of mortgage you are applying for (FHA, VA, Conventional) - your mortgage lender is going to order an appraisal of the homes value. They will want to make sure that the amount of money you are asking to borrow i
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01/24/2010
Just as we suspected would happen, FHA has now had some major changes and it is now going to cost you more out-of-pocket money to purchase a home. New - Sellers concessions are limited to 3% of the purchase price. New - Upfront mortgage insurance premium is increased to 2
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01/23/2010
Here in my Macomb County MI area we have been in the throes of the foreclosure / unemployment / plummeting home values for several years. During all of this chaos I've spoken with many people who have tried to have their mortgages modified with the Making Home Affordable program. They've all
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01/18/2010
A recent question on Trulia Q & A section has still been on my mind days after I replied to it. The former home owner who asked the question was denied a short sale in which the lender wouldn't take $30,000 less for their home. It was then foreclosed upon and sold for $116,000 less that what
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01/15/2010
Last week I wrote about the average sales price during the 4th quarter of 2009 for residential sales in Macomb County MI. I thought it would be interesting for those who are perhaps looking for a home to purchase in Macomb County, or those who are considering putting their homes on the market t
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01/11/2010
As I read through the statistical reports for Macomb County yesterday and this morning I tried to get a feel for what I am seeing and analyzing. 2009 was indeed a tough year for home prices in the county as a whole, with the average sales price of a single family residential home plunging by 22.
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01/06/2010