Principal residence exemption for property tax has always been a challenge for home buyers.  Having two times in the year when a buyer can claim a purchase as their principal residence is a great benefit for our housing industry.   Today, the Michigan Senate voted 38-0 in support of legislation providing a fair process when it comes to their property taxes. Senate Bill 349, sponsored by Senator Dave Hildenbrand (R-Lowell) creates two Principal Residence Exemption (PRE) filing dates; one on June 1st, and the other on November 1st. Additionally, this legislation allows bank-owned properties to retain their PRE so that buyers can qualify at the lower rate of taxation. This is particularly important since foreclosures have flooded the market in recent years.   Senate Bill 349 now heads over... 03/28/2012

      Weekly Market Statistics          03/19/2012 thru 03/26/2012 This report is compliments of Bob Reamer, Certified General Appraiser        200  New Listings 70   Sold Listings   Sales By Classification 56 Residential $1,500 to $745,000 Median $148,750 Mean $182,347 7   Vacant Land $10,000 to $237,500 Median $18,000 Mean $47,928 7   Commercial $1,700 (Lease) to $770,000   Sales by Location 12 Antrim County 8   Benzie County 30 Grand Traverse County 7   Kalkaska County 7   Leelanau County 4   Wexford County 2   Outside Areas   Expired Listings       57   Year over Year Comparison for Grand Traverse County on & off water homes Off Water Homes All Values   Current Listings         677     Sales                         03/10-03/11 831  03/11-03/12 794  Average DOM            154 or 5.1 ... 03/25/2012

  FHA Announces Several Underwriting Changes If you are thinking about purchasing a home, you will need to know a few of the new changes that FHA has in place, starting April 1, 2012. There are many types of home loan programs out thre, be sure to consult with your lender to see which product fits your needs the best. FHA recently announced several changes that will impact underwriting in several areas. These changes are effective April 1, 2012. Here's a quick summary of these changes: For self-employed borrowers: P&L statements are now required if the last business tax return is more than 3 months old; in addition, statements must be audited if P&L income is greater than the two year average, and the higher income is needed for qualification purposes. If the two year average income is ... 03/24/2012

  10 Questions You Must Ask Before Purchasing A Condominium Unit To borrow from a famous phrase, not all condominiums are created equally. Some condominiums are very well run; some are quite poorly run and underfunded. Buyers interested in purchasing a condominium unit must do their homework:  not only about the condition of the individual unit they are interested in purchasing, but on the financial health and governance of the condominium as a whole. Remember, you are buying into the entire project as much as you are the unit, and your decision will impact your daily living and your ability to re-sell. Here are the 10 questions buyers should ask when deciding to purchase a condominium unit: 1.     What is the monthly condominium fee and what does it pay for? The monthly condominium fee... 03/24/2012

If you are thinking of selling your home, the information contained in the document below is well worth the read. In our ever changing market these days, a sellers needs every advantage they can get to make sure their home gives the best first impression. You can learn some great tips on how to make your home stand above the other listings in your area with this guide. Please feel free to pass it along to anyone who is thinking of selling in the near future, it will be a valuable resource. 03/23/2012

Below is the next guide in my "Smart Series". Investing can be a wonderful way to utilize your current 401K to purchase real estate without experiencing and tax penalty. If you are looking to invest in real estate, you should take a look at this guide. There are some very helpful tips. Please feel free to pass it along to your clients, friends and family that may be considering investing in real estate. 03/22/2012

In today's real estate environment, sellers need every advantage to make their house more desirable to buyers. The guide below will walk you through some steps on how to get in the mindset of selling your home and how to prepare your home for sale. Remember, buyers are not buying what you made into your home, they are buying a house. We need to always take the personal side out of the transaction. Enjoy 03/22/2012

If you are looking to purchase a home and have questions, please take a look at our Smart Buyers Guide, it will assist your with those questions as well as the entire home buying process. 03/21/2012

Below are some useful tips on building a brand using social media.  Social media, by no means, takes the place of face to face  interaction with clients and potential clients.  It is, however, another useful tool in your marketing toolbox.  I personally, have found it very effective in comunicating with potential clients long distance to earn and build trust with them about area knowledge and market conditions.      How to Use Social Media to Build a Powerful Brand Branding is how a market perceives your business from the products it promotes to the message it conveys. There is no single item at your business that constitutes as what your brand represents; it’s a combination of your message, culture and what you have to offer. Social media provides a platform to share your brand with th... 03/20/2012

    Anatomy of a Perfect Website Part 1     Long gone are the days where you can have your nephew create a website for you and hope that all goes well and you get business leads. Technology is evolving at such break neck speeds that you need to have a perfect website instead of a “good enough” website. If a user comes to your website and has any issues or any concerns they will immediately leave. Studies show you have approximately 15 seconds to capture a user and keep their attention. With this being said how do you know you have a perfect website?   First you need to ensure you have a captivating and fully functional web design that truly represent your company and the image you wish to provide. If your web design is mediocre or has limited functionality the user will find that out qu... 03/15/2012

  Below are some tips to help you with your social media journey.  Social media can be extremely beneficial to your business if you utilize it and leverage your industry brand and knowledge to your potential customers.  You must always remember that your potential customers want value from you not just a sales pitch or commercial, or even worse - bragging about how good you and your company.  Nothing will turn off a prospect more quickly than bragging.  Enjoy the tips.     The Seven Deadly Sins of Social Media Social media is an ever changing landscape of community interaction and engagement. There are no set guidelines on how to properly use social media because it changes on a day-to-day basis. There are, however, many deadly sins you could be doing that are destroying your reputation... 03/14/2012

  Why SEO Matters Every client prefers to save money while still getting the expected results from search engine optimization. The problem is that when you focus on saving money with SEO you can “save” so much that you end up decreasing your ROI to nothing. Search Engine Optimization is complex and difficult. It has been reported that Google users 200 different criteria for ranking a website within their results. This algorithm is never set in stone and is often tweaked daily by Google. What this means is that any “professional” that quotes you a complete price for SEO without evaluating your website or spending time researching your website isn’t providing you the best bang for your buck. They might be able to optimize the obvious things but they aren’t going to provide you the compreh... 03/11/2012

Most Americans do not know that our United States Coast Guard not only protects our precious waterways from terrorists and drug runners but they are also deployed to Afghanistan to protect those waterways and ports of entry.  It goes without saying that they are always ready to rescue anyone in distress on our waterways.  What you also may not know is that they are not considered a branch of our country's military personnel.  Unless we are in actual war time (which we have not been in for many decades), they are classified under Homeland Security.  As a result of this classification, they are not entitled to some of the benefits that the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force receive.  To me, that is very sad.   Having had the pleasure to serve as a Realtor for many families relocating to Tr... 03/09/2012

    Click Here To View A Copy Of Our Newsletter   In this month’s edition, you will find tips on the changes in Facebook fan pages as well as a great article from our web site expert on why Search Engine Optimization matters.  Other topics are:             How to get started with social media             How to promote your business using social media             How to use social media to build a strong brand             If you would like to receive a copy of our e-newsletter each month,  email me at socialmediapartners@charter.net and we will be sure to add your name to our list.  You will not be put on any other mailings that we send out.  Just our e-newsletter monthly.        03/01/2012

  Overview Facebook is growing up…and fast.  If you haven’t figured out by now to survive on social media you need to be clear about two things:  your audience and your strategy. This becomes even more important with the Facebook announcement and of its preview of Timeline for branding pages which is scheduled to officially launch at the end of March. While this new format mirrors that of the profile Timeline, there are some major changes that will impact branding.  These new changes may be worrisome to some businesses, but they offer significant advantages to organizations who want to brand themselves using the new (and in my opinion better) Timeline format. The biggest change with the Timeline for pages is that admins now have more control over what content is showcased (By using Pin ... 02/29/2012

  Facebook Business Pages Have Changes   Today Facebook announced some BIG changes to Facebook Fan Pages.  Right now, you have the option to have your page in the old format or to have it in an admin view only while you make changes to it.  On March 30, 2012, Facebook will change ALL pages to the new Timeline with the new functions.  Be sure you are ready for the switch.  Below, I have outlined some of the changes that will be made.  Some great, some good and some are not so good. Click here to watch a tutorial on the changes    1. Default Landing Tabs are Gone, Tabs now 810px Wide: Facebook has removed the ability to create a default landing tab. However, you can still create fan gates. The size of the new tabs is 810px. If you are designing new tabs, be sure to design to this width. 2... 02/29/2012

  Content Marketing   Marketing has certainly evolved over the years and we are seeing a big swing into content marketing these days.  You may ask, what is content marketing?  -  Glad you asked!  Content marketing is a form of marketing that shares useful information to prospects, current clients/customers and to the members of the public.  While unlike call to action marketing, content marketing persuades potential customers towards your product or service by bringing them value instead of selling to them.   If you are utilizing social media for marketing your business, content marketing is a must.  Whether you are using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or blogging to reach your potential customers/clients, you cannot use traditional call to action marketing.  Over 800 million people worldwi... 02/27/2012

  Why SEO Matters   Every client prefers to save money while still getting the expected results from search engine optimization. The problem is that when you focus on saving money with SEO you can “save” so much that you end up decreasing your ROI to nothing.   Search Engine Optimization is complex and difficult. It has been reported that Google users 200 different criteria for ranking a website within their results. This algorithm is never set in stone and is often tweaked daily by Google.   What this means is that any “professional” that quotes you a complete price for SEO without evaluating your website or spending time researching your website isn’t providing you the best bang for your buck. They might be able to optimize the obvious things but they aren’t going to provide you the c... 02/25/2012

  Why Should You Use Professional Web Designer?   In order to make an effective and popular website which can promote the company and its product efficiently, a professional web designer should be utilized because they have in-depth knowledge about the Internet industry and user experience (UX). The professional web designer should be experts in designing a site according to the requirements of your company in a unique way.   It should be remembered that an elegant web site will invite more user inquiries. The website should be made appealing and a custom designed template will provide with all the useful information. Also keep in mind that the site should be user friendly so that the search gives instant results with relevant content. If the website has informative hyperlinks then the ... 02/25/2012

Dear John,Thank you for all of your help in finding this great house! Now I have the not-so-fun project of unpacking. I absolutely love this house, and appreciate all of the feedback you presented during the search that really helped me settle on the perfect home. Being a new resident of Traverse City, I was unfamiliar with the different regions of Grand Traverse County. I really appreciate the input you gave me in helping me to make the best decision for me. I also wanted to let you know that all of the references you gave me were super! Everything from the bank, to the home inspector, to the insurance person...everyone was just as professional, knowledgeable, and prompt in their responses as you were. All of this helped make the closing go effortlessly!Thank you for making the home pu... 02/25/2012