John and Lisa's Blog

Thanks to increasingly tightening credit standards and rising interest rates, there has been a lot of buzz about the startling increase in foreclosure rates across America.Many homeowners think it can or will not happen to them, but what would you do if you were actually faced with the prospect o...

According to the latest forecast by the National Association of Realtors®, tightening credit standards for those applying for home mortgages will likely dampen home sales in the short term and postpone an expected recovery for existing-home sales until 2008.   Lawrence Yun, senior NAR economist,...

Where to start? Well, let's keep it brief and to the point.Livonia MI has low taxes, great schools, wonderful housing stock, and is in very close proximity to Downtown Detroit.  In short, Livonia is truly a great place to call home.Now is a great time to learn more about Livonia MI real estate an...

Thanks to today's tightening credit standards, you may need more paperwork than ever when applying for a new home loan.  Below is a comprehensive list of items you may be required to bring along when you visit your lender to begin the loan application process:  (please note, all lenders are diffe...

One thing that is overlooked quite often in a challenging real estate market is the opportunity to buy a house that you thought that you could never afford.Often a seller can lease out their home and use the equity in their present home for a down payment  and then purchase a trade-up home such a...

We just closed a short sale in Livonia, Michigan that worked out to be a "win win" for all parties involved:The 2 banks involved took less than the loan amount that was due, but ended up selling the home and getting it off their books. The alternative would have been having the home go into forec...

Have you ever really thought about the dirt that your home is sitting on?  It may seem like just an afterthought when you're out mowing the lawn or playing in the yard with the kids, but the details of the soil on your property can tell you a great deal about the history and future of the land up...

We have all seen the recent coverage of Hurricane Dean and all of the weather-related issues around the midwest. If you are not familiar with your homeowners insurance policy coverage, now is a great time for homeowners everywhere to review their policies.  Homeowners should take a good look at t...

If you've turned on the news or read a newspaper lately, you have certainly seen all of the buzz around the national housing market crisis.  Some news media is even referring to it as "Mortgage Meltdown 2007."   In the wake of recent changes in interest rates and credit standards, Realty Trac (an...

A forward-looking indicator based on pending home sales shows the market is likely to stabilize in the months ahead, according to the National Association of Realtors®. The Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in June, was 5 percent higher from the downwardly revised May index of ...