Hafa is a great program but how do you participate? The problem is that though many servicers say that they are participating in HAFA, they have none of the documents to apply for the program. Do not let that stop you. Below you will find a link to the documents you will need to participate in HAFA. If the servicer you are working with does not have the forms, print out the right document from the link, fill it out, have the borrower sign it and fax it to the servicer. This is a new program so do not let the newness keep you from putting your clients in the best program for them. If no one else will help, you must help yourself. Take control and try, try again. If you never quit, you will seldom fail!! Remember, the program is for NON-FNMA/FREDDIE loans.   https://www.hmpadmin.com/porta... 05/04/2010

I got a call from a young lady and she asked "How long has that Farmington Hills foreclosure been empty"?  Unfortunately none of us know.  I can go on line and find out when it went into foreclosure, or when the redemption period was up.  But the bank doesn't give out the information, and probably doesn't have the information of when the people moved out.  Sometimes the owners move out in the dead of night.  They many times don't give the bank notice that they left.  They are usually are mad at the bank.  They just shut off the utilities and leave. So I have no way of really knowing of when the previous owners moved out.  Or how long has that Farmington Hills foreclosure been empty.  So I'm not even going to guess.   And honestly it really doesn't matter.              What matters is wh... 03/31/2010

Here is an interesting graph of Farmington Hills real estate, the graph shows median sales prices per sq ft.  Now this is an interesting graph because it gives you a general idea of what many Farmington Hills homes are selling for.  There is no doubt in my mind that many Farmington Hills homes are selling for less than a $100 a square foot.  So don't take this graph as absolute gospel truth.  You see the average price per square foot I bet is higher.  Probably closer to the $100 a square foot. Median Sale Price / sq. ft.You need the latest version of the Macromedia Flash Player.Download the free Flash Player now!  Search Farmington Hills homes for sale Farmington Hills information Farmington Hills relocation information and real estate info 03/24/2010

Here are the upcoming Farmington Hills MI happenings in the next month. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ The City of Farmington Hills will affirm its commitment to environmental responsibility by participating in Earth Hour 2010.  All non-essential indoor and outdoor lighting on City-owned property will be turned off from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. on the night of Saturday, March 27. Earth Hour is an international event sponsored by the World Wildlife Federation.  The worldwide initiative is designed to express global solidarity in the commitment to controlling climate change.   Earth Hour 2010 will take place at 8:30 p.m. local time in more than 80 countries, including the United States.  Major U.S. cities that are participating... 03/11/2010

Why do you think you can get a tougher loan?  I recently had a client get turned down for a home loan in Farmington Hills.  They were self employed and did not have enough income to qualify for the $600,000 home.  It would take years for them to qualify if they ever could.  So what do they do? They went out and bought a vacant lot cash.  Here comes the problems.  Nothing has changed in getting a loan.  In fact they have made it harder on themselves.  You see getting a construction loan in this 2010 Metro Detroit real estate market is very tough.  They couldn't debt ratio with an ordinary loan and construction loan standards are tougher.  So they are going to get denied there too. These potential home builders are in for a rude surprise.  Now they didn't listen to me that this may not be... 03/04/2010

Here is what is happening in Farmington Hills real estate in the last six months.  If you notice Farmington Hills homes are still taking about 4 months to sell.  And if you look at the table below you will also notice most of the homes that are selling are selling are under the $210,000 price point.     Farmington Hills Price Statistics Legend Range Name Price Range Number of Listings Days on Market         R1 10000 to 60000 42 97 R2 60001 to 110000 61 112 R3 110001 to 160000 94 124 R4 160001 to 210000 83 124 R5 210001 to 260000 51 124 R6 260001 to 310000 25 142 R7 310001 to 360000 4 67 R8 360001 to 410000 4 394 R9 410001 to 460000 1 47 R10 460001 to 510000 2 94 R11 510001 to 560000 1 182 R12 560001 to 610000 0 0 R13 610001 to 660000 0 0 R14 660001 to 670000 1 189 For the 369 listings: ... 02/12/2010

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 When buying a home it may take a comparision between the homes.  In this example I will use a piece of Farmington Hills real estate and a Canton Township home.  When you start making your decision you of course write down what you like and what you don't like in a home.  But you should also do a financial breakdown.  By doing a financial comparision you may find some surprising differences.   Where the comparisions may differ in prices are association fees - different complexs and subdivisions have different homeowners association fees.  So be sure to include that in your comparision. PMI - You may be choosing between two different price ranges.  On the higher priced house you may not have enough down payment to cover the 20% down.  You may be required to pay PMI because you don't have... 01/16/2010

Here is why the bank took a lower cash offer over your offer on the Farmington Hills home.   Banks prefer cash deals for these reasons: cash deals can close within a month.  They close quicker than mortgage deals that take 30 to 60 days.. cash deals don't require an appraisal.  There is no chance that the deal will fall apart because the house didn't appraise. cash deals don't have a mortgage.  The deal can't fall thru because of mortgage problems such as debt ratios, and underwriting issues. cash deals don't depend on the buyer having a job.  If the buyer loses their job on a mortgage deal the deal is dead.  With cash deals it can still close. cash deals have already proved they have the money.  When you put in a cash offer you must get a proof of funds letter.  The letter comes from y... 01/06/2010

 Here is a quick glimpse of Farmington Hills Condos that are currently for sale.  You see there are quite a few condos that are priced under $60,000.  This year I have helped quite a few young people get into condos.  I had a couple of buyers that bought condos for cash.  They are going to live in these condos and have a lower payment than they can rent for.  And they own the place. Some of these condos my clients have bought were very nice.  Move in ready, freshly painted.  Quiet condo associations.  I have helped clients buy stand alone ranch condos for $75 a square a foot that were spacious, newer, move in ready, and in a gated complex.  I have seen 2500 square foot condos for under $150,000.  There are lots of good condo deals out there..... and still quite a few good home deals.   ... 01/05/2010

Here is a list of water problems you might find in Michigan homes Some of the older communities such as Dearborn, Redford, and Farmington Hills some of the homes have cement block basements.  I don't like cement block basements myself because they cost more to fix.  If you had two homes that you loved and one had a cement block basement and a poured wall basement.   I would advise you to buy the the house with the poured wall basement. Poured wall basements have two problems that occur over the years.           Rod holes.  When the poured walls are built the forms are held together with rods in the forms.  After the cement is cured they pull the rods out.  Then they put a cork in the rod hole and some waterproof latex.  Over the years rod holes start to leak.  To repair them they put in... 01/02/2010

So many baby boomers and people that are already retired are wondering how long before the Southeastern Michigan real estate market comes back? Well let's look at the past to predict the future.  Right now we are back to 1990 home prices.  So let's think about this.  From 1990 to 2004 it took 14 years for the market to get to it's highs.  It was a booming real estate market. Detroit's economy was rolling along.  Homes were being built by the hundreds each year.  The Big 3 were doing good.  Unemployment numbers were low.  Interest rates were on the down ward trend.  Banking regulations were extremely lax.  Just about anybody could buy a house even without a down payment or without income or asset documentation.  Mortgage interest rates even reached a 40 year low.  All of these factors he... 12/27/2009

Here is another example of a recent Fair Housing Act lawsuit brought by the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”). I try to post case summaries in order to provide timely updates to real estate professionals about the "dos and don'ts" under the Fair Housing Act, since fair housing is such an important issue. Yesterday (November 12, 2009), the DOJ filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging a pattern or practice of violations of the Fair Housing Act by the owner and managers of Forum Manor Apartments, a federally-subsidized apartment complex, for refusing to rent to African-Americans and males, refusing to allow tenants to have African-American visitors, sexually harassing female tenants and retaliating against tenants who complained about such discrimination. The lawsuit alleges tha... 11/13/2009

Lately it has been hard to downsize your Metro Detroit home because selling your Metro Detroit home would have lost you a lot of money.  Most Metro Detroit homes have lost 30 to 50% of their value.  So if a Metro Detroit home buyer sold their home and downsized their home they would lose money by buying a smaller home. Let's say you own a 2400 square foot Farmington Hills home that was once worth $300,000.  Now it's only worth $200,000.  But now you want to downsize to a 1000 - 1200 square ft Farmington Hills condo.  But you hated to lose all that money on your old Farmington Hills home. Congress and President Obama have now given you a little gift of a $6500 tax credit if you have owned a primary residence 5 out of the last 8 years.  $6500 just for moving.  It's that a nice little gift... 11/08/2009

 Here is what is happening in the Farmington Hills real estate in the last six months.  There have been 418 Farmington Hills homes that have sold in the last six months.  Out of 418 Farmington Hills homes 314 of them have been under $210,000. The average sold price for Farmington Hills homes is $162,873.00 (the last six months) and on the average they took 120 days to sell.   Price Statistics Legend Range Name Price Range Number of Listings Days on Market           10000 to 110000 121 104   110001 to 210000 193 122   210001 to 310000 85 122   310001 to 410000 13 181   410001 to 510000 1 157   510001 to 610000 3 138   610001 to 710000 1 189   710001 to 810000 0 0   810001 to 910000 0 0   910001 to 1010000 0 0   1010001 to 1100000 1 507 For the 418 listings: For the 418 Sold listings: Ave... 11/01/2009

Metro Detroit Relocation Information Whether you are relocating to Metro Detroit area from out of state or just moving to Wayne or Oakland County from within Michigan you want make the right choice in the neighborhood and the right city.  You want to know about the neighborhoods in the area.  For example you might want to know:  What about Plymouth crime statistics, Northville schools?  How do they compare to Novi or South Lyon Schools?  What age group are most of the residents in Livonia? Is Canton, or Redford a better place to live?  What about the taxes? On my Livonia real estate home page or on my metro Detroit real estate information website I have many cities listed, millage rates, subdivisions within the city.  Scroll down the whole front home page and click on the area for valua... 10/25/2009

Rashid Khan of 24136 Lori Ct Farmington Hills is one guy that I don't think much of.  You see in the last few weeks my wife if having some health problems.  She's a three time twenty year breast cancer survivor.  She's one of those people nobody can ever say anything bad about.  She's just a sweet person. Unfortunately Rashid Khan of Farmington Hills is going to feel my wrath of this uncertainty.  See he is everything my wife is not.  My wife is a giver, Rashid is a taker in my opinion.  My wife is a person that tells the truth, Rashid well.... You see I have taken Rashid Khan out for several months looking at homes.  My wife even helped to find homes for him.  She took time out of her busy day to help him and his fiancee look at homes. But last week I got this email from Rashid. Hi Rus... 10/20/2009

I am working on a short sale with a bank.  We have a verbal approval on the first mortgage but the second mortgage company (same bank) wants $17,000 more.  They believe they can go after the homeowner after the foreclosure for the money.  They think they can collect the money from him. What happened to this deal is that we had an approval from the first and second mortgage at $180,000.  Then we found out that the local city had a judgement against the home to remove a two story deck that was built against city codes.  A repair that will cost over $25,000 to fix. So we went back and explained the new information to the bank.  The first mortgage company agreed but the 2nd mortgage company is holding out. So I wrote this to the second mortgage company negotiator to see if we can work it ou... 10/14/2009

 Here is the latest Farmington Hills real estate update.  Like most of Metro Detroit real estate the homes that are selling in Farmington Hills is the under $300,000 range.  The majority of the homes that are selling in the Metro Detroit area.  Right now we have about a 4 month supply of Farmington homes on the market. But houses are selling which is a good thing.  Price Statistics Legend Range Name Price Range Number of Listings Days on Market           5000 to 105000 50 110   105001 to 205000 110 143   205001 to 305000 84 116   305001 to 405000 24 155   405001 to 505000 7 51   505001 to 605000 5 168   605001 to 705000 3 350   705001 to 805000 1 381   805001 to 905000 0 0   905001 to 1005000 0 0   1005001 to 1095000 1 496 For the 285 Farmingto Hills home listings: For the 63 Sold listi... 10/11/2009

but I am slammed right now.  I have quite a few buyers trying to cash in on the Metro Detroit first time home buyer tax credit.  We only have about 40 days to get a purchase contract accepted if you need a mortgage. I have been going out 3 times a day with different buyers for the last 7 days.  I am actually confused on somedays when another real estate agent asks me to give them feedback on a home I saw two or three days ago.  That could be one of 40 -50 homes that I have seen. It's a good thing that so many people are taking advantage of Metro Detroit real estate bargains.  So many nice homes still under $100,000.  It is amazing .  I was on one street where there was a Westland HUD foreclosure and bank foreclosure.  Both were great prices but there was still a $20,000 difference in pr... 09/20/2009