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Birmingham?s Most Expensive Home
2008-03-26 05:40:00
We continue our series on the most expensive homes on the market in Metro Detroit today. We started Sunday in the City of Bloomfield Hills on Vaughan Road. Tuesday found us in Bloomfield Township’s gated community, Turtle Lake, at a home on Turtle Ridge. Today we’ve got our third spec home in this series, ...
More About: Home , Most Expensive , Birmingham

Bloomfield Township?s Most Expensive Home
2008-03-25 05:34:00
Today I am continuing with my series about a few of Oakland County’s highest priced homes currently on the market.  We began on Sunday with 730 Vaughan Road in the City of Bloomfield Hills.  In surrounding Bloomfield Township, there are currently 5 homes on the market over the price of $5,000,000.  The average price per square ...
More About: Home , Most Expensive

Birmingham Bloomfield Realtor Network Spring Renewal
2008-03-24 05:39:00
Come see 284 Tilbury with Dmitry on Tuesday morning. Tour information on LastTuesdayTour.com
More About: Network , Spring , Realtor , Renewal , Birmingham

Bloomfield Hills Most Expensive Home
2008-03-23 15:38:00
This week I will be running a series of articles about the most expensive homes on the market in Oakland County. These are some of Metro Detroit’s super luxury homes, with price tags above $5 million dollars. In spite of Southeast Michigan’s struggling economony, in the last year the luxury home market saw ...
More About: Home , Most Expensive , Hills

miOaklandCounty Turns 3
2008-03-22 15:14:00
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Jester Topsy Turvy Cake, originally uploaded by PinkCakeBox. This little old real estate blog is turning three tomorrow. It did not want to share it’s birthday with Easter, ...
More About: Metro Detroit

#1 Rule in Home Staging . . . No Playboy Bunnies!
2008-03-20 04:17:00
I was asked to stage a vacant house in Royal Oak which had been on the market for 6+ months with no offers. It definitely needed furniture in place to give it some ?oomph? and show how lovely the property truly is. As I toured the house to take measurements and devise a plan of ...
More About: Home , Metro Detroit , Rule , Staging

Top 10 Reasons to Live in Bloomfield Village
2008-03-18 04:23:00
Larry Nutson, Bloomfield Village ?s manager and a long time resident, loves the village he lives in. When we asked him to tell us a few things he enjoys about Bloomfield Village, he had trouble keeping the list down to the top 10 we requested.     Lower real estate taxes than the City of Birmingham. Birmingham school district. Professionally managed ...
More About: Live , Reasons

Strides of Hope Walk
2008-03-17 03:49:00
Whether it’s helping with a mortgage payment, the grocery bills, or an insurance premium, Shades of Pink Foundation is committed to easing the financial burden of a breast cancer diagnosis. The Shades of Pink Foundation is having their second annual Strides of Hope walk to at the Detroit Zoo on Saturday, April 19th. The ...
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Registering Your Child for Birmingham Public Schools
2008-03-15 01:41:00
Dmitry and I have owned our current home in the Birmingham Public School District since 2001 or so. I went to Birmingham Public Schools as a child and that was a consideration when we purchased our own home. Now it is time to enroll our daughter in kindergarten, and the enrollment requirements surprised ...
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Fresh Eyes on The Birmingham Bloomfield Luxury Home Market
2008-03-13 17:11:00
I’ve just finished up a whirlwind two days with clients in from Miami who were looking at luxury homes in Birmingham and Bloomfield. Their comments gave me a fresh perspective about our area and about our housing market. It was good to hear how we look from the eyes of those seeing the area for the ...
More About: Eyes , Luxury , Market , Home , Metro Detroit

I Am Not Whining About Being Too Busy Selling Homes?
2008-03-12 12:41:00
Sure, the Southeast Michigan real estate market has hit a rough patch. There are lots of homes on the market longer than the owners want them to be. But right now, Dmitry and I barely have time to eat dinner together. We are both running in different directions taking care of clients’ needs. In the last ...
More About: Selling , Metro Detroit , Homes , Busy

Home Sales UP in February
2008-03-12 12:39:00
Don’t take my word for it, take the Free Press’s. Sales of homes and condos in metro Detroit rose 12.8% in February compared with a year ago, according to figures released Tuesday by Realcomp. There were 3,591 home and condo sales in the metro area in February compared with 3,184 in the same month in 2007. Realcomp ...
More About: Home

Eastern European Investors Interested In Metro Detroit Real Estate
2008-03-10 07:39:00
When I first landed in the Former Soviet Union in 1992, the average wage was probably about $20 a month and investment was a new concept. Early “business men” were thought of as thugs, and the notion of capitalism was still very foreign. In fact, as a Peace Corps Business Advisor, I was ...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , European , Metro Detroit , Metro

Birmingham School District Landlords, Didja Know…
2008-02-29 05:34:00
The real estate market has turned many a hopeful seller into a reluctant landlord (or SellLord, as I have dubbed them). Yesterday I got wind of something I have never heard of before, though I can understand the motivation. A new tenant went to enroll her children in the Birmingham public schools. The admission process is lengthy she tells me, and one of the things she was instructed to do was make sure that the landlord had rescinded the homestead exemption on the home. Well, in Birmingham and in most surrounding areas, there is a significant differences in the amount of taxes due on a non-homesteaded property. The school official told her that those funds are used for school funding, hence the district’s interest in ensuring that the exemptions are correctly rescinded. Perhaps Birmingham has been doing this a long time. I don’t know. I also heard a rumor that either the school board or the district was researching all of the currently enrolled students living in...
More About: School , District , Landlords

Your Votes are Needed for Michigan Children’s Hospital
2008-02-28 22:08:00
We are sooooo close to winning a DONATED fun center for Children’s Hospital . All we need is your vote. Voting ends on the 29th, so head on over now and let’s get that fun center! Colgate-Palmolive and Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation have teamed up this year to help children with Sickle Cell Disease and their families cope with the pain, fear and isolation of this terrible disease. By providing FUN CENTERS in hospitals, these children can forget about their illnesses for a moment and remember how to have fun. We asked you to “Show the Loveâ€� by voting for a hospital to receive a Fun Center. The outpouring of support has been wonderful, and Colgate-Palmolive is awarding all nine participating hospitals a Fun Center! And now you can make an even bigger difference. Voting remains open through February 29, and the hospital that receives the most support will receive an additional Fun Center! Vote Here. (Click on Detroit on the map)
More About: Michigan , Votes

Oakland Business Review Article
2008-02-28 15:22:00
Many thanks to journalist Mike Scott and photographer William Cowger for the article about us that just came out in the Oakland Business Review .
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What My Crystal Ball Says about Michigan’s Real Estate Market
2008-02-28 01:15:00
I hovered over my crystal ball all night last night trying to figure out what the universe has in store for Southeast Michigan real estate. That darned thing was cloudy until about 3am but by that time I had had about 3 martini’s and things started to happen (besides the headache and blurred vision!). The ball said I should layoff the liquor! It also told me what’s happening now in real estate and what to expect over the next year. It seems there are 2 main factors affecting today’s market – Distressed Sales and Opportunism: Distressed sales, of course, are foreclosures and short sales. We’ve learned a lot about these over the past year – a lot more than I ever wanted to know! The fact is that these sales are ruling today’s market. In the past 6 months most of the sales activity in our market has come from distressed sales and it’s been a real drag on market values. Opportunism comes in the form of buyers who “want to get the best deal.� They are making ri...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Real Estate Market , Market , Crystal

Grandma ?Got It? When Her Home Became a House
2008-02-25 14:32:00
The number of senior citizens trying to sell homes is growing.  As our parents and grandparents reach the ?golden years,? it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to live unassisted.   Rising co-pays and health care costs combined with decreases in retiree pension benefits are draining this generation?s bank accounts at an alarming rate.  Health issues ...
More About: House , Home , Metro Detroit , A House , Grandma

Good, Better, Best Real Estate Marketing for the Michigan Home Seller (via
2008-02-16 15:37:00
Todd Waller is a Realtor whom I hold in high esteem. Todd and his Team 366 work the Ann Arbor market, and Dmitry and I share a passion with them for innovative real estate marketing. The number one motivation to keep ourselves on the bleeding edge of real estate technology, at least for ...
More About: Marketing , Estate , Real Estate , Home , Real Estate Marketing

Update on Increase in Conventional Loan Limits: What Does it Mean for Metro
2008-02-15 04:03:00
Yesterday President Bush signed the economic stimulus bill into law. One of the key points in the Bill for the real estate industry was an increase in conventional loan limits. The conventional loan limit has been set at $417,000 for the past 2 years. Loan s over this amount are Jumbo Loans and are generally subject ...
More About: Finance , Metro , Update , Limits

Happy Valentine?s Day
2008-02-14 15:26:00
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Winter Love, originally uploaded by scottwills.
More About: Valentine , Metro Detroit , Happy

My Website Provider Just Appointed My Association?s CEO To Their Board
2008-02-13 20:42:00
Congratulations to Walt Baczkowski (Metropolitan Consolidated Association of Realtor’s CEO) and Point 2 Agent (my miBirmingham.com host) for teaming up. Walt was just at our office meeting this morning letting our agents know they need to be on Facebook and Myspace, among other things. 2 hours later one of my ActiveRain friends let me know ...
More About: Website , Blogging , Board , Provider

[HELP]
2008-02-13 06:01:00
[Help] This week, thousands of people lost their homes and over 54 lost their lives. The destruction is devastating and over five states have a long road ahead in rebuilding after these massive destruction.     Our caring friends at Agent Genius are rallying resources. Can you help?

?BuyOwner? or ?By Owner?
2008-02-13 00:58:00
One of my Realtor pals in a far off market sent this excerpt from an email she received from a prospective seller client today: “I am currently with BuyOwner but I think I need more exposure.” I love it, and I can say no more. Well, actually, I think I have said most of it before.

Realtors, Is Your Blog in Violation of the Realtors Code of Ethics?
2008-02-11 04:20:00
..Mine isn’t but it was until yesterday. I attended Professional Standards/Code of Ethics Training this week provided by the Michigan Association of Realtors . Our trainer, Bruce Aydt, went over changes in the COE, and this is one that actually was put in January of 2007, yet is not at all well known. Standard of Practice ...
More About: Blogging , Blog

Property Tax Assessment Time Again
2008-02-06 06:42:00
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Just a friendly reminder that if you are concerned about your latest tax assessment, NOW is the time to be working on an appeal. Each municipality has ...
More About: Finance , Taxes , Property , Time , Assessment

CHOCOLATE?? Vacant Home Staging Decor and ?Thank You?
2008-02-05 14:18:00
Hello………my name is Marianne, and I’m a Chocoholic. Any news story with a reference to chocolate grabs my attention. So does a headline which includes furniture. Imagine my delight when I found a story on WDIV?s website which features both of my obsessions. Godiva has created an all-chocolate room in Manhattan! As a Valentine’s ...
More About: Home , Chocolate , Decor , Vacant , Staging

Bloomfield Hills: Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous
2008-02-04 21:33:00
Get a load of this 1983 segment on Bloomfield Hills , which was America’s richest zip code at the time. That happens to be the year I graduated from high school along with the children of some of the “Auto Barons” mentioned in the clip. I especially loved Ronna Romney’s (Mitt’s ex-sister-in-law) outfit! ...
More About: Rich , Famous , Lifestyles

The Granddaddy of all open houses coming to Metro Detroit in April
2008-02-02 05:43:00
Calling all home buyers, looky-loos, nosy neighbors and undecided: mark your calendars for Sunday April 27th. Agents in four counties?Oakland, Macomb, Wayne and Livingston?are invited to hold open houses on Sunday, April 27. The open houses will be publicized in a special tabloid-sized section of both the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News the ...
More About: Houses , Open , Metro Detroit , Metro

Decorating Trap - TwodalDON?T!
2008-01-31 17:44:00
In 2006 I wrote about my problem with my client with the Fish N’ Flush. There were people who loved the aquarium commode and others who were less than enchanted. Reactions were strong, but fortunately my dilemma was fictional. Today’s offering is another real product that I would honestly recommend you remove from your ...
More About: Humor , Trap