Howell Michigan Home Buying

Real estate company to use in Ann Arbor

2008-10-06T14:24:00.000-07:00

We do offer what I believe is the only Exclusive Buyer Agency service that covers the Howell Michigan area.

What some people miss is that we are Ann Arbor's largest buyer agent office. Since Ann Arbor is significantly larger than Howell there are a lot more real estate companies. There is even one other brokerage in Ann Arbor that meets the standards of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents.

Exclusive Buyer Agents are companies that never list homes and never have a seller as a client. We only work for buyers to avoid the conflicts of interest that dominate traditional real estate companies.

Pistons Guard Involved in Mortgage Fraud?

2008-08-25T09:32:00.000-07:00

The link above goes to an article from Crain's Detroit Business about a mortgage fraud scheme that involved a famous local basket ball player.

It isn't clear at the moment if Lindsey Hunter was on the victim end or was on the crimminal end.

Interesting, and another reason to work with a real estate professional to avoid this type of nonesense.

Helping Home Buyers Locate, Evaluate, and Negotiate great home deals!
Jon Boyd, Broker/Manager
The Home Buyer's Agent of Ann Arbor, Inc.
http://buyersagentannarbor.com/
734-6620-6240
1908 W. Stadium Blvd. Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Ann Arbor's Most experienced Exclusive Buyer's Brokerage!

Manhattan gets an Exclusive Buyer's Broker

2008-07-25T05:01:00.000-07:00

We've know for about ten years that Manhattan has not had an Exclusive Buyer's Agent. (A real estate company like us who is always on the buyer's side. Never takes listings. Never works for a seller.)

It is exciting to welcome the Elika Associates Real Estate Company to this very important niche in the real estate marketplace.

How Howell Home Buyers can Boost Your Score By 100+ Points

2008-06-20T05:38:00.000-07:00

This Monday night we are having another free class. But this time it isn't just for home buyers.

"How To Repair Your Credit & Boost Your Score By 100+ Points!" Is a class about dispelling some of the myths of credit and showing you exactly what is possible and why in terms of improving your credit file.

You know that your credit file is critical in determining what kind of home loans yu qualify for, but did you know that potential employers will check your credit? Did you know that your credit score has a dramatic impact on your insurance rates? Even renting an apartment is impacted by what is in your credit files.

Why do we know so much about credit and how to improve it? Because as we have been looking out for the best interest of home buyers for close to 20 years, and that includes helping buyers with their credit files dating back for over 15 of those 20 years.

So, come to the free class Monday night, June 23rd and find out all about what can be done to turn your credit around in the next six months.

Again the class is free, but pre-registration is required.

Call the voice mail system at 734-223-9831 and leave a message with the number of seats you would lie to reserve, your name(s), and a phone number we cal call to confirm your reservation.

And, we will see you Monday night!

Aldi grocery store coming to Howell sometime soon?

2008-05-14T07:05:00.000-07:00

The Ann Arbor News / Mlive.com site just ran the article linked above about International Grocery Store Chain Aldi moving into the Ann Arbor market on the Northwest side.

It sounds like a new Howell Michigan location is not far behind.

Aldi is kind of like the Ikea of grocery stores so it will be an interesting addition to the Howell retail environment.

Do You Renegotiate After A Home Inspection?

2008-04-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

The topic often comes up of what do you do after a home inspection uncovers problems.

Many real estate agents are focused on the seller's needs and getting the deal done. That is not what you want as a home buyer.

The link above is a post on one of our other office blogs that goes into some detail on the topic.

Sewer Line Videos - Important if you are buying a Howell Home

2008-04-16T06:38:00.000-07:00

If you are buying a home in the Howell Michigan area that is built before the mid 60's you may want to have your sewer line inspected.

Not this is not a joke. Many sewer lines in homes built between about 1940 and the early 1960's are failing these days. And sewers are an expensive problem to fix.

In any case the link above shows a video of a failed sewer line. By having this inspection done during our contractor's inspection we saved the buyer about $4,000 and a lot of grief.

How to choose a real estate agent if you are buying

2008-03-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

Late last month the Cyberhomes information site published an article that could be really helpful if you are going to be buying a home. Particularly if you are going to be buying a home in the Howell Michigan area.

Click the title above to see it.

HOW TO BUY A FORECLOSURE class well attended

2008-03-25T14:12:00.000-07:00

On Monday night we had our first monthly class on "How To Buy A Foreclosure".

Laura and I taught the class and we had 15 participants. I think they all seemed happy with what they learned. (Even though it is not all good news.)

If you are interested in future classes our current schedule is available on our website: http://buyersagentannarbor.com/classes

Fewer jobs expected in Livingston County

2008-03-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

Here is an article from the Free Press where Manpower's study of employment trends shows fewer jobs in Livingston and Washtenaw Counties based on employer's projections.

Certainly this is bad economic news but good news now for home buyers. (As in this will help hold down prices.)

Howell Michigan Exclusive Buyers Agent

2008-02-13T15:37:00.000-08:00

Howell has some of its own real estate companies, but there is only one Exclusive Buyer Agent real estate company who is actively serving Howell. That is us down in Ann Arbor!

As you may know an Exclusive Buyer Agent by definition is a real estate company who works only for home buyers. Never taking listings and never representing sellers.

This definition may have originally come from a National Association of REALTORs publication many many years ago, but it was also adopted by the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (NAEBA). NAEBA is the standard setting organization for buyer agency.

The benefit to home buyers of using an Exclusive Buyer Agent is two-fold:

1. Exclusive Buyer Agent offices have unique expertise since they are specialists and not generalists like regular real estate companies.

2. Exclusive Buyer Agent offices provide loyalty to buyers. (Unlike traditional real estate offices who often solicit buyers with buyer agency and then turn into dual agents.)

If you would like to talk to us about your home buying needs you can call our office at 734-662-6240 or visit our website at Exclusive Buyer Agent

Ummel Home buying case generates comments from NAEBA

2008-02-09T16:32:00.000-08:00

The National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents posted their comments on the Ummel case in California and I see Yahoo picked it up.

The bottom line seems to be that if you are a buyer you need to understand what kind of "buyer agent" you are working with.

The guy from Re/MAx who was this couple's "buyer agent" reportedly didn't even give them critical comparable data.

M59 improvements are not all good news

2008-02-01T08:16:00.001-08:00

The planned improvements on M-59 in Howell Michigan are good news to most of us.

Ramps will be re-done, roads will be widened and the whole process of driving on M-59 will be much nicer when the project is done.

But at the same time there is going to be a significant amount of inconvenience during the construction and some trees and parking lots and such will be lost.

The link above will take you to the Michigan Department of Transportation site for plan details.

Watch out if you're looking at condos in short sale situations

2008-01-20T08:28:00.000-08:00

A good article on the additional difficulties faced by home buyers when they are trying to purchase a condo in a short sail situation.

Remember the best way to approach a home purchase is to have your own Exclusive Buyer's Agent (EBA) to protect your interests. Otherwise the real estate agents with their mixed loyalties and conflicts of interest might push you into one of these problems.

Trick to watch for if you are negotiating with a bank on buying a foreclosure

2008-01-06T17:38:00.000-08:00

Here is something we've just started to see in the Ann Arbor real estate market. So it is probably also happening to some home buyers in Howell.

The banks are dropping their prices once they get involved in a negotiation to try and bring any other buyers out of the woodwork.

Click the link above for more details on our Ann Arbor blog.

Christmas lights in Howell area

2007-12-03T08:10:00.000-08:00

One of the pleasures that comes with home ownership is the ability to go nutty with Christmas / Holiday lights.

The Press & Argus (the major Livingston County newspaper) is collecting addresses of homes with nice displays. Click on the link above and maybe I'll see you out taking in the lights!

Skeletons in the closet and other things I've seen showing homes

2007-06-24T20:36:00.000-07:00

Exclusive Buyer Agents (EBAs) from around the country were surveyed on annoying things home sellers did.

Here is an article that came out of the results.

http://www.ksnt.com/business/8133562.html

Michigan Business Review Executive Profile

2007-04-12T16:54:00.000-07:00

I've posted elsewhere that this year I'm the President of our national non-profit group called the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents. http://naeba.org

We are the standard setting organization for real estate agents who actually work for the best financial interest of home buyers.

Well, a reporter from the Ann Arbor Business Review noticed that and wrote a nice executive profile about me here:
http://blog.mlive.com/ann_arbor_business_review/2007/04/executive_profile_jon_boyd.html

Nice, don't you think?

Howell Michigan Real Estate Market is still SLOW

2007-03-26T14:15:00.000-07:00

At the end of the first quarter of 2007 we would normally expect the market to be moving along fairly quickly. (Based on 9 of the last 10 years.)

Well, it isn't. Taking a quick look at inventory levels I see that we have about 200 homes listed for sale right now.

In all of last year there were roughly 125 homes that were actually listed and sold.

Doing a little math you can see that right now there is almost one and three quarters years worth of inventory.

We've really never seen any time like this in the 15 years I've been full time in the business.

A rough time to be selling but a great time to be buying.

But be careful, you really should make sure you are working with a company who represents you and not a bunch of those sellers!

Home values have really fallen in Howell

2007-03-13T13:13:00.000-07:00

I was just meeting with a listing agent and looking at homes in Howell Friday and I was surprised at how much values have fallen.

This is something that you probably won't hear from many real estate agents unless you are a seller.

Here is one example:

Howell luxury home on an acre sold in 2004 with multiple offers at ~$440,000.

The same home is now back on the market with an asking price of ~$330,000.

And, there are about 60 other competing homes on the market right now in the area.

Now is a great time to be buying but you want to be careful. And you want a full time buyer's agent to help you.

Our office is in Ann Arbor but we have agents who live in the Howell area. Let us know if you need help.

Big office gets caught with hand in real estate cookie jar

2007-03-06T10:47:00.000-08:00

A big Coldwell Banker office got caught steering their real estate buyers and sellers to a company that they owned without complete disclosure.

We see this type of behaviour all the time in SE Michigan, but rarely does the real estate company get caught.

Here in Howell you want to be careful if you see related mortgage companies or related title companies. Often it is hard to know if there is actually money passing under the table from your wallet to companies related to the real estate brokerage.

Here is a link to a Washington Post article:

WA Post article on class action suit

Howell MI real estate market dynamics

2007-02-26T08:37:00.000-08:00

On the topic of the "quiet" market in Howell right now, I wanted to share this post on another blog about some views on the Ann Arbor market. Howell is a good distance from Ann Arbor, but the region is still impacted by Ann Arbor's pending loss of its second largest employer, Pfizer.

Here is a link:
Ann Arbor Home Buying: Local market looks "dismal"

Coldwell Banker sued over Title Company Kickbacks

2007-02-25T17:00:00.000-08:00

I saw this week that a federal complaint was filed against a Coldwell Banker company for allegedly steering sellers and buyers to the company's Burnet title affiliate without fully disclosing the relationship between the affiliate and the brokerage.

The consumers allege that the Coldwell Banker agent steered them to the company's title company but didn't tell them they could have saved hundreds of dollars had they gone elsewhere.

If you know much about our office you already know that we work to protect buyers from title company cons and improperly disclosed kickbacks. But most home buyers never really understand.

Here is a link to a couple other posts about title company concerns in this area:

Other posts on title company issues and kickbacks

Remember, in Livingston county if you sign a the standard REALTOR purchase contract form you've given the real estate companies permission to take kickbacks. Don't do it, it will cost you money!