Our Canton and Plymouth home sellers are saving money big time by getting refunds on their Michigan Transfer Taxes incurred upon the sale of their primary residence.

1) The property must have been occupied as a principle residence and classified as a homestead property during the year of sale. 

 

2) The property’s SEV for the calendar year of the sale must be less than or equal to the SEV for the calendar year in which the seller acquired the property.

 

3) The property cannot be transferred for consideration exceeding its true cash value for the year of the transfer.

Fed rate cuts should boost house sales in Canton, Plymouth, Northville, Novi and the rest of the Detroit Suburbs.

There was major news news out on each of the first three days of the week. The net effect of the ups and downs was a significant reduction in mortgage rates.

 Two stories surprised investors Monday morning: 

  In an uncommon emergency meeting over the weekend, the Fed decided to lower its discount rate to 3.25% from 3.5%

The other major announcement was the sale of Bear Stearns, a large investment bank, to avoid bankruptcy. Bear’s stock, which had been trading around $80 per share in January, would be sold for just $2 per share. Investors took the news to mean that the risks to the credit markets were even greater than they thought, and they embarked on a flight to relatively safe investments, which lowered mortgage rates.

 Big news on Tuesday: 

 Fed cut the Fed Funds rate by three quarters of a point to 2.25%, as expected by many investors, although two of the ten voting Fed members were in favor of a smaller rate cut.

Stocks rallied on the news, and the Dow closed higher by a whopping 420 points, but the Fed’s emphasis on the risk of higher inflation hurt mortgage markets. Overall, the Fed’s statement described reduced economic growth and higher inflation expectations. The Fed believes that inflation should moderate over coming quarters, but that the uncertainty over the inflation outlook has increased. Mortgage investors require higher yields to offset future inflation, and mortgage rates rose, offsetting some of Monday’s reduction.

 Another big news story hit the wires on Wednesday:

OFHEO, the regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, relaxed the capital requirements for the two firms. Early estimates are that the changes will enable Fannie and Freddie to make an additional $200 billion in loans. The additional capacity for mortgage investments boosted mortgage markets, and mortgage rates fell again.

Besides all the great trainers that coached us on real estate tools and new systems there were other speakers that sent  a message of hope.

Jeff Thredgold was one of them. In his new book "econAmerica"  he outlines the positive news the media often won’t report. Jeff’s message gave his audience the correct image of our current economy not being as bad as most would have you believe. We are in a slowdown but certainly not in a full fledged recession. "In this political season there are just too many who would exaggerate to make political points or make the other side look bad" he said.

 Jeff stayed around to answer questions and autograph his latest book. Most would think of an economist as the kind of person that would put you to sleep with all his dry facts. While Jeff is full of useful iformation he delivered it in such a way as to make economics interesting.

If you ever get a chance to hear Les Brown speak please don’t hesitate. His story is heartwarming, sad, compelling, and upllifting all at once. He had us crying one minute, laughing the next, and finally wanting to get up out of our sets with enthusiasm about the future. "If I can grow up to become as successful as I am, you can too " said les.His story of the mother who adopted him and his brother, worked her heart out for yeas to feed and educate Les and his 5 other adopted siblings, and his promise to one day buy her a home of her own was one that inspired yo to go out and face whatever struggle you have a little more cheerfully.

As many time as I have had the pleasure to hear Les speak over the years, meeting and chatting with him was a thrill I did not expect. Les stayed with us quite a while and continued inspiring us. His meeting with some of the most famous speakers were most interesting. He worked with the likes of Norman Vincent Peale and Zig Ziglar. Since I have just about all of Peale’s and Ziglar’s recording it was especially interesting to hear Les’s advetures with these legends.

"This Too Shall Pass" says Dave Liniger

Dave Liniger is the Chairman of the Board and Co-founder of RE/MAX International, Inc. He and real estate agent sales trainer extraordinaire, Howard Brinton, talked about the current real estate market and how similar it is to markets of the past. "We started RE/MAX in 1973 in Colorado" says Dave, "and I can tell you that I have seen worst markets than this in my career and expect this one will also pass. We have grown the company through 7 presidents, 3 major wars, 4 recessions and a number of economic booms and busts. In this dynamic economy there is no such thing as status quo. What is constant is people will always buy and sell commodities including homes."  Dave further explained the agents that are serious about their professions and their desire to care for their clients will outlast the slowing economy and the agents that are not.

Gail Liniger, another co-founder and Vice Chairman of the Board of RE/MAX International, Inc  is a fixture at all the RE/MAX Conventions. Her spirit and positive outlook is infectious. No matter how many agents RE/MAX has (now over 100,000 in 65 countries) Gail makes you feel like your part of the family. Here Noel & I met Gail at the vendor marketplace where real estate vendors from all over the country demonstrate new and innovative systems that help agents provide better tools to their clients and eventually help sell their homes quicker and for higher prices.

Bernice Ross, Inman News Columnist, Hypes Great Service

Bernice Ross is a syndicated columnist with Inman News. Her columns focus on training real estate agents to be their best.

In this market, preaches Bernice, sellers and buyers need the benefits of improved services. Typical discount real estate brokerages achieve their low prices by slashing the service levels they provide. The best way to get a house sold is not to decrease the services. Maximum exposure is required these days to get a house sold in a reasonable period of time and at the right price.

Anybody can tell you they will sell your house but it takes a professional using the tools available today to get the exposure you need.

Typical Realtors will put a house on the market and use the "Five P" method of marketing . . . Put your house in the MLS, Put a sign in the yard, Put an ad in the paper, Put it in the Internet in a website or two, and Pray it sells!

Bernice delivered a powerful message concerning quality of service and adding systems that increase exposure. The problem is most agents are scaling back on their services because of the cost. Low house sales equal low income and 90 % of the agents can’t afford to spend the money to provide their clients the right kind of exposure.

Lee & Noel and a few other RE/MAX agents from across the country listen intently to Bernice and took advantage of her presence to receive an autographed copy of her latest book.

Lee & Noel Bitinger attend the RE/MAX International Convention

Well we are leaving for Las Vegas this morning for the RE/MAX International Convention.  Noel and I have been selling real estate in the Detroit, Michigan western suburbs for about 25 years and have been with RE/MAX since 1991.

We attended every RE/MAX Convention except one over these years because all the latest tools and new technology is presented in a four day whirlwind of training sessions and presentations.

Most agents think conventions are a bore or view it as an excuse to escape to a fun filled few days of play. All the real estate agents that come to the RE/MAX convention however, are serious about improving their business. RE/MAX is generally thought of in the real estate industry as the franchise that agents graduate to after they have developed their business to a higher level than they have at the franchise they started in.

Noel & I strategize to get the most out of each convention. When we invest our time away from home, incur the travel and hotel costs, and take care of all the details connected with the trip we make sure it pays off. The marketing tips we pick up and the new technology tools we get exposed to keep us ahead of the pack as far as being able to provide our clients with the latest methods to expose their homes to more buyers on the market. In the real estate market we are in back home in Detroit that means getting our sellers out of homes faster and at the best prices possible. It really makes it worthwhile.

We will have a little fun though. We don’t do any gambling but we do love the shows. RE/MAX puts on a few social events designed to allow the agents from across the country and around the world (RE/MAX is now in 68 countries) to network with each other. Over the years we found this to be invaluable for referring our clients to the best agents in a place they are going to relocate to.

Thursday night is the last of the events and they always put on a fun night. This year they will have Journey put on a full blown concert just for us. What a thrill. We will take a few photos and tell you how it went.