Ann Arbor Area Real Estate

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This is Why I do What I do...I am Passionate about Real Estate?
2008-01-23 16:41:00
Someone once asked me, “What is your passion?” I have been married for 30 years, so I suppose I looked at them funny. They continued on, “You know what makes you want to wake up in the morning? What do you think about during the day?” Ahhhh……  Your passions are what you love to do, passions are not work, and passions are what put a smile on your face. A person is lucky indeed if their passions co-inside with their life and career. Have you ever heard the expression, “most men live lives of quiet desperation”?  (It actually originated by Henry David Thoreau in 1854)  When I was growing up my dad owned a Buick Dealership. He was very successful and was asked to serve on many community boards. He was a very warm, friendly, lovable man, with many friends and business associates all over town. But, deep down his family knew running the car dealership was not his passion. My dad loved race-horses. Now by loving ...
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Sound Familiar? or not?
2008-01-22 07:40:00
A few days ago I wrote on post on the Pre-Listing Questionnaire, I send out BEFORE I meet with clients, to determine their motivation for selling, their financial situation or their ability to sell. I mentioned how this helps me be prepared before I show up for the listing appointment. The other items I  include in the email is my Marketing Plan. I ask them in advance to please check out all the web sites I am sending them so they will get a clear idea of where all their home will be marketed on the Internet. Most sellers don't have a clue what we do so we have to tell them. Here is the plan:  Marketing Plan Designed For Mr.and Mrs. Home Seller 1234 Main Street  24 Hour World Wide Web on Realtor.com         ;      &nbs p;      &nb sp;      &n bsp;      & nbsp;        &nb...
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Leadership Lessons from Bo Schembechler
2008-01-21 23:35:00
Over the holidays, I bought my daughter the book, Bo's Lasting Lessons , by Bo Schembechler and John Bacon. She being a avid football fan, I knew she would like it. Hummm, turns out I loved the book. Yea, the history of Michigan football is all there and that is fun to read. But, the lessons on leadership are life-changing. Regardless of what field or career in life you have chosen this book with take you up a notch in learning how to be an effective leader. The majority of everyone Bo coached over his years at Michigan went on to become leaders in whatever career they chose. John Bacon hounded Bo for 10 years to get the book written, because John felt Bo had a message to get out to everyone about leadership. Yes, he did John you were right.Being a leader is all about being prepared. Regardless of what your career is, whether it as simple as leading a girl scout troup, managing your real estate office, or TEAM, learning how to lead is critical to our life'...
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How are you handling Data Sharing with other MLS's?
2008-01-19 01:34:00
        ;       This year, I am chairing our MLS Committee. We have a very big decisions to make. Our contract with Supra E-Key is up in 2009. We have been with them for many years and when we went to the blue electronic box 5 years ago, our Ann Arbor Board of Realtors, bought all the boxes for us and gave us either a Palm Pilot or Display Key. Everyone was excited...Over the last few years as we started DATA Sharing with other MLS boards around Washtenaw County, our Ann Arbor agents were using them less and less. Why? Data sharing with MLS boards that didn't use them.   The agents that were using them, were even putting two lock boxes on... the old combo's and the electronic ones. Why?  Because MLS Boards around us where not using them and those of us that list a lot were sick and tired of driving out to homes to let in agents, from out of area into our  houses. I know some of you meet ...

"This is the results I want"
2008-01-16 23:26:00
Today in my Inman News was this video,(attached below) of Brian Brady and Dustin Luther speaking at the Inman Connect Conference in N.Y.It was on blogging, what else...We hear a lot here on Activerain about how to blog, what to blog, finding your voice, blah, blah, blah...But, this video is NOT on that, the video is primarily on the long tail of blogging. It starts out with a question and continues throughout the video on how to build YOUR community by blogging, BEFORE the "big boys" figure it out and jump in. Who are the 'big boys"? The debate is really lively, it is 42.7 minutes long and well worth every minute spent watching or listening to it. I shrunk it down and listened while I did other things online. However, I still managed to take 4 pages of notes. That is something I never do, but the points were so good, I'd write down something and then something else and then something else.Do Brian and Dustin agree on everything? No and that is what made is so much fun to listen to...
More About: Results

Preparing for your Listing Appointments
2008-01-14 01:15:00
The phone rings, you get an email, a referral comes in someone wants you to list their house....now what?After I have spoken to the potential seller on the phone to find out basic things, like email, timing of the move and the appointment is set, I tell them, I am going to email them some information to review. During the initial conversation I am also trying to "bond" with them and establish trust. Then I email them The Caulk TEAM Pre-Listing Questionnaire, and ask them to send it back to me BEFORE we meet so we can make the most of their time.    I use to drop off a book, with marketing materials in it, the day before; but as the years went by less and less people had read it when I went to the appointment.Over the years, my preparation for the pre-listing appointment has grown. What I want to emphasize in this post is the Pre-List Questionnaire, that I email to potential sellers and what I want to learn from them by sending i...
More About: Appointments , Prep

Honored to be Nominated by RESA
2008-01-12 17:49:00
Recently I was nominated for the Realtor of Year from the Real Estate Staging Association. What an honor to get nominated for this award. I am a firm believer in a home being in perfect condition before it comes on the market. In Ann Arbor and all of Washtenaw County when I am working with a seller, if they are moving and leaving there house vacant, I require (yes I said require) that their home be staged before they move. A vacant house is a sad, cold, lonely house. Most buyers will fall in love with a house before they buy it. The Missy Caulk TEAM wants to give our sellers every opportunity to get their home SOLD. Staging a home before it comes on the market is critical to make it stand out among the competition. I work primarily with Denise Sloan at Show Case My Home in Ann Arbor, MI. Denise is an Accredited Staging Professional who is fantastic on knowing what to do to make the house look and feel like a “home”. Not sure what to think abo...
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2662 Fenwick Ct Ann Arbor, Mi 48104
2008-01-10 11:21:00
Very well maintained condo located in the Georgetown Community of Ann Arbor , MI. Walk to shopping,parks, and located on a bus route. All appliances stay including washer and dryer. Rare find, THREE bedroom, on a cul-de-sac, with great view. Subject to banks approval on a short sale. Move in condition and only minutes to U of M and medical complexes. 

Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County End of the Year Market Reports
2008-01-09 02:49:00
Well, here it is the end of the year and the housing data is in. Yes, we continued to sell homes in Ann Arbor , Michigan and throughout Washtenaw County . I know you are shocked by all the horror stories you read in the media. Oh well... people do need to move and buyers do need to buy.Property in Washtenaw County, sold for 89% of asking price, with an average of 86 days on the market. Over one in 5 homes listed SOLD.December ended with a 30% drop in listings in 2007, compared to December 2006. So even though our inventory was up by 17.5%, the drop in listings in December 2007 is a positive sign. Here are a couple of graphs to compare historically the trends in Washtenaw County.I like to say, "Buyers are very unforgiving". That means what they would accept in a home a few years ago, they don't have to now, they just keep looking and find what they really want.The homes selling the fastest are those priced to sell. Work with a Realtor that will "t...
More About: Market , Year

Video of the Day in the Blogosphere
2008-01-05 02:04:00
This video has been EVERYWHERE today on all the blogs I subscribe to outside of Activerain. I did a search and couldn't find it posted anywhere here, so here it is.Some of the sites I have seen it on are:The Future of Real Estate Technology1000 Watt BlogBloodhound BlogInman NewsI'm sure I'm forgetting somewhere else I saw this, but this is enough. Inman gave credit to 1000 Watt Blog, so I believe they are the original source. These are all good blogs to subscribe to outside activerain.Regardless, thought I'd share it with you on Activerain, since it is the video of the day in the blogosphere. Forgive me if someone posted it, I searched and couldn't find it. After you watch it post your comments on what you think of the message. null
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Activerain Year In Review
2008-01-01 14:07:00
I joined Activerain in December of 2006, so not one of the first to join; but in Activerain months, I guess I am old.Jennifer Fivelsdal invited me to contribute to the Year in Review for 2007 for the Activerain Community.There are dozens of posts that have been paramount in growing my business this year and with the 15 or so of us contributing, I encourage everyone to follow all the links and see what you may have missed out on, or what you can implement in 2008. I spent hours, a few weeks ago, going through all my bookmarks. That was a job, but I found many of them I had already been implemented along the way. Have you ever heard the saying, "when the pupil is ready the teacher will come?"On April 4th, 2006,  I was sitting at my computer and a post came up about The Great Blog Link Experiment by Karen George. She said the first 22 people to sign up could be a part of the blog experiment. I quickly threw my name in, having no clue what I was going to learn.  You can see from my comm...
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Alt Tags
2007-12-27 19:43:00
I enjoy  looking at all the ALT tags on Chris Griffiths posts and Bob Carney's posts. Some people have emailed me and asked what the heck is an ALT tag?I found this great video on YouTube with the master himself, Matt Cutts explaining ALT tags. ALT tags are important because they tell the person reading what the image (photo) is about. It is easy to do on Activerain, after you upload your photo, just add a title tag and image description. The title tag will be what shows up when someone holds their cursor over the photo. Google likes us to use ALT tags, enough said.  Here is an example:  Put your cursor over the image and hold it there. See it? Now enjoy the show.
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Christmas Greetings
2007-12-24 15:17:00
A holiday greeting to all my bloggin' buddies on ActiveRain. Hopefully you are in one of the collages, with 191Associates and 216 people I  subscribe to it is impossible to get everyone in. Regardless, I care about each of you and the friends I have met here. I've learned I am addicted and need therapy. So a Very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday to all of you...  Make a slideshow - it's easy!
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See Ya in the Rain... or wherever
2007-12-22 00:40:00
When I was a little girl, and would be leaving my grandmother's house she would  always say, "Be sweet, see you in my dreams."My mother use to say, "Be good."My dad use to say, "Remember who you are."Lately, when I leave a message for someone on other social networks, I've been saying,"See ya in the rain". Lately, I have been joining other Social Networks, seems like more and more pop up and are started every day. I joined Naymz in December 2006, wasn't quite sure what it was all about and then last month all of a sudden lots of Activerain members were looking at my profile and joining in. I wondered what happened if someone here had posted on it, but Jeff Turner told me, "someone had twittered on it". I don't get the whole "twitter" thing. Maybe next year. But, I do know what Jeff, Sarah, and Linda are doing. Linda's getting insane baskets of food dropped off at her office. I guess my life is borin...
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Happy Birthday Christa Noelle Caulk
2007-12-20 14:27:00
Happy Birthday to my wonderful daughter, Christa Noelle Caulk. It is hard to believe that 28 years ago today you came into my life and changed me forever.Born on December 20th in Auburn, Alabama, with a head full of hair, you were the best Christmas gift I ever received. We named you Christa, (Christ with an A) and Noelle (because you were born at Christmas time)Like any mother and daughter relationship, we had our struggles during those last few years of high school. But, now our relationship has grown into a friendship like none other.You never made me happier, the day you came to me and said, "Mommy, I want to go into real estate with you."  We had never talked about it, so besides the initial shock, I was thrilled. Did I tell you, I like that you still call me, "mommy"?The last 4 years of you being on my team, I have seen you grow and mature in your knowledge and wisdom. Your clients in Ann Arbor all LOVE you, and refer you to their friends so that you rarely need me. You have t...
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Saline, Mi A great Place to Raise Your Family
2007-12-20 03:17:00
I live in Saline , MI. It is a small, friendly community outside Ann Arbor, MI. We moved here 14 years ago and have enjoyed everything about it. The schools are great, the teachers are great, the administration is great and is is so easy to get to know people. The Chamber of Commerce is very active and I served on the Board for 6 years. Here is a little slide show of some of the schools, historic places, and things to do in Saline, MI.If you are moving to the Ann Arbor, Saline area, you can search for homes here. This site has Google Maps, Google Satellite Images, and multiple photos. When you are ready to re-locate to Michigan, give the Missy Caulk Team a call, with four Buyer Agents we can help you all over Washtenaw County. Missy Caulk734-216-2822Missy@MissyCaulk.com  Find more photos like this on Real Estate World
More About: Family , Great , Place

University of Michigan Hires Rich Rodriguez
2007-12-16 23:24:00
The wait is over....University of Michigan hires Rich Rodriguez , from West Virginia as the new Head football coach at University of Michigan .He will be introduced at a press conference Monday morning. Personally, I'm glad the search is over. It has been a month long search since Lloyd Carr resigned.You can read the entire story on my Ann Arbor Real Estate Blog.Last year, U of M. hired the head basketball away from W. Virginia, John Beilein. Sorry, Jeff Belonger, I know you love West Virginia and Sarah Cooper, I know you do too.GO BLUE !!!  

Saline, MI First Snow Fall
2007-12-16 14:58:00
Our first snow fall in Saline , MI.  Oh, we've had a few flurries... but his is the real thing.My son, Jamie who is going into the Navy is home and his girlfriend who lives in Tennessee flew in for the weekend. Malena was born and raised in California.Malena is sooooooo excited. It is hard not to pick up some of her excitement. Her excitement made me think of our 1st time home-buyers, how excited they are. Even though I mostly list, I still work with a few buyers that are past clients or referrals from other agents. Buyers are so much fun! Our pastor just called, they are canceling church. Now that is a first for me. Apparently, he shoveled his driveway, got into the street and got stuck. Unfortunately, we still have to get out in the snow. Allyssa is at a camp about an hour away on a one lane dirt road. Oh my, glad I have a SUV with a snow button. My two boy dogs went out, my two female dogs would not. You know what that means ??   
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The Battle we all Face
2007-12-16 01:58:00
My computer is fixed. I blogged on it, Monday afternoon, when support at DELL told me to: "Take Your Computer to Walmart. You all were so kind with all your suggestions and your own troubles with DELL. A few of you have had none and you can be grateful for that. The mother board arrived on Thursday, 5 days earlier than I was told. My hubby installed it that night and oh no, "the same blue screen".On Friday, I called Kevin Williams, he does tech support for the Keller Williams office and the manager had offered for him to help me. (No, no decision has been finalized)After working on it for several hours in my home, Kevin needed to take it to his office to do more testing, but he suspected I need a new hard drive.Late Friday night, Kevin called and he had it fixed. It was the hard drive, full of junk and several files corrupted. However, he fixed it and it didn't need replacing. I have been using my Tablet PC since then and although great for mobility, not great for...
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Over Full Price Offer Rejected in Ann Arbor Area "What"?
2007-12-14 13:43:00
A house and five acres is listed at $79,900, and it is in foreclosure. It was originally listed at $154,900 back in April.Pattie, one of my Buyer Agents is working with some wonderful first time home buyers and even with a ton of work they want this house and land. It is in a very good school district. Only 2 bedrooms, on a crawl space, less than 1000 square feet and needs a ton of work. In fact they want it so bad that they want to "pay over asking price."  The listing agent that represents the bank tells her another offer came in, but it is not very good and so she gives Pattie time to get her buyers financing approved before submitting both offers.I told Pattie, that back in the days of a sellers market, after many of my first time buyers would make offers, for less than asking price and didn't get the house, were starting to get frustrated by people out bidding them, I would add the clause:"One hundred dollars over the highes...
More About: Price , Full , Rejected , Area , Ann Arbor

Santa's Little Helper and 42 Christmas Trees
2007-12-14 02:20:00
Running out of time in Ann Arbor, Michigan to get your presents wrapped? There is great little company that I found in Ann Arbor, Mi called, Santa's Little Helper .Santa's Little Helper will come into YOUR home and wrap your presents, stuff your stockings. They are currently offering 10% off on all wrappings before December 15th, 2007. To see the prices, click here.   I saw this on YouTube, a video of  Cindy Johnson who has 42 Christmas Trees in her home in Lyndon Township. Cindy is an IT Supervisor at Borders Corporate office in Ann Arbor, Mi. Lyndon Township is located in Washtenaw County. Cindy has each of her 42 Christmas trees decorated with a different theme. Enjoy !
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Are you busy ?
2007-12-13 03:24:00
I'm happy.  Just wrote an offer yesterday, it is accepted. In Ann Arbor Michigan. All terms and conditions met.My buyer Agent  (one of them ) wrote an offer too. Folks I am honestly NOT usually busy in December. I usually cook home-cooked meals. Go Christmas shopping, matter of fact....I am one that advocates for boundaries. I wrote a post back in April.  "Are you Denny's or Outback."  Families come first etc.... blah, blah, blah.....But........in this market we DO what we need to do. Sorry kids, we had Taco's by candle light tonight. SeriouslyBut, hey I have happy buyers, they got 100% financing, on a bridge loan because they have a 770 credit score and they fell in love with a house.Yippee !!! Click to: Search All Listings in Ann Arbor Michigan      
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Ann Arbor, MI "Take your DELL to WALMART"
2007-12-12 14:10:00
Yes those are the very words I heard yesterday at 6:30 A.M.I woke up at 2:30 to let my dogs, all four of them out to do their business. Of course I being so obsessive went to check my email.The computer was frozen, so I re-booted and got the blue screen.Yikes..........Re-booted again.Now I have a black screen........I had paid for Dell Connect so called them up. (Opps, gotta let the dogs in........)Got a really nice guy, Kevin. Very patient, he couldn't get it fixed after 2 ½ hours. It is now 6:00 A.M.  He transfers me to the physical hardware dept. He says she will tell me how to take my computer case apart and see if anything is loose.I am fairly good with software; not so much with hardware.He says he will document everything he has done.He did, but she is asking me the same questions and going through the same steps. I politely tell her, " I was being transferred to you, so you could check the hardware inside the computer to see if it was loose, Kevin a...
More About: Ann Arbor , Walmart

Christmas Funk and Surprises
2007-12-09 02:03:00
I'm in a funk.........It is only a few weeks away.........I haven't done one bit of shopping..........So I thought I need to do something to get in the spirit of the Season...........I decided to get out some of my favorite Christmas Songs and play them. Amy Grant is playing in the back-ground of almost all of the Caulk family Christmas video's. And this songTennessee Christmas brings so many wonderful memories back in my life. >Hope you enjoy....Some of you still have small children and every day you can see the anticipation of Christmas in there eyes. Lists are made, then crossed out. I remember the year, my children had their lists all made, I had done all my shopping and then they all changed their minds........So back to the stores to return and get what was now on their Christmas Wish Lists.As they grow up........how did that happen?  We all have different dreams, and this is another song by Amy Grant that is a Grown Up Christmas Wish. Enjoy and think about our soldiers. My...
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One Year Ago...
2007-12-04 11:53:00
A man leaves all kinds of footprints when he walks through life.Some you can see ... others are invisible, like the prints he leaves across other people's lives.  Margaret Lee Runbeck     &nbs p;      &nb sp;      &n bsp;      & nbsp;               ;    Today is my One Year Anniversary on Activerain. I can't believe it has been a whole year! Words can't even begin to describe what this year has meant to me. Don't worry I'm  not going to post:       Why I love Activerain   What I have learned   What I hope to learn   All my friends and AssociatesJust a big thank you for all the invisible footprints you have left across my life.   Who knew what would happen when I stumbled upon Active Rain on December 4th, ...

Activerain brings Business Success
2007-12-02 03:52:00
Brian Block, from Alexandria, VA is the founder of the group Active Rain Block Party. He started this group so we can share about our success on Activerain. Hardly a week goes by that someone doesn't post on, Are you getting business from Activerain? I always answer YES ! Here are some of success in my busineses that have come about because of blogging on Activerain. Currently, I have sold one house where a consumer found my blog and called me. 1358 Quail Hollow was sold. A referral from Maureen Francis, the number one blogger in Michigan on Activerain referred a buyer to us and they are already in their new home. I have another house listed at 3008 Green Valley in Ann Arbor, she found me by reading my blog.  Kelly Sibilsky, from Lake Zurich, Ill. A fantastic blogger on Activerain, referred her sister Kim to me and we are waiting on her home to sell before she can purchase in Whitmore Lake, Mi. Just this week, I was contacted by two consumers:You've received a contact m...
More About: Business , Success

Google Alerts for you Name
2007-12-01 17:00:00
 Back in May, I wrote a post on Google Alerts, stay informed. I love Google Alerts, and I get many alerts on your posts because one of the terms I search is real estate leads. When I get these in my email the first time, I email them out to you. It helps you know what your site in indexed for and I think that is cool. One of the Google Alerts I follow is my name, Missy Caulk.If you don't use them for anything else use them for your name. Maureen McCabe, from here on Activerain, recently wrote a post on her Columbus Best Blog, and mentioned my name about a trip she took to Ann Arbor, Mi.  So I would not have found her mention of me any other way. Now here's what happened today and why I'm posting this again. Today I received a Google Alert on my post Links in the Activerain Chain ( MissyCaulk). I thought that was sorta weird so I decided to open the site that had optimized it. The name was AV Stars the Adult Hut. DO NOT GO THERE !! It was a site of mal...

Links in the ActiveRain Chain (Missy Caulk)
2007-11-30 03:36:00
The torch has been passed to me. Matthew Blum passed to me because Adam Waldman started a group called Links in the Activerain Chain . Naymz. I had been a member since forever and had a few hits. All of a sudden I was getting tons of emails from ActiveRainers wanting to connect. I thought to myself, "Self what is going on"?Someone on AR must have blogged on this and now everyone is running over here to join. Jeff told me someone has Twittered on it. "Oh, ok that makes sense."I have about 180 friends on Facebook and I'm always being sent drinks, poked, and invited to add new applications. So many ActiveRainers are there. But, I like Facebook because I can expose my listings. I just found out today that CribFinders  app. Started by my friend Adam Oppenheimer who lives in Ann Arbor, Mi. is now in a strategic partner ship with Market Place. So you can add all your listings into Market Place but then be able to follow them up in CribFinders. Cool, huh ? Ok, so what's the point ?The poi...
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