During a home inspection in Chesterfield Township MI the other day I decided to get over my fear of heights, and take photos of John Seely of WIN home inspections as he tackled investigating the roof.  (Psst, John, update your website :-)Once before I photographed John on the roof of a home, (in Grosse Pointe Farms) but my hands shook and my palms were sweaty and I had to turn away from what he was doing.  (For the record, the buyer client felt the same way.  He had to turn away and not watch.)Here is another good example of why I feel home inspectors are so valuable to home buyers. (Also why I do what I do and won't consider being a home inspector. ) There isn't much sitting room on the roof of this home, unless you sit at the very top.Thankfully John is used to doing this, and I can s... 10/02/2008

In the construction trade, job site safety is a number one concern. Nothing is more upsetting than watching one of your crew become injured or incapacitated on the job. Also unnerving, is the increase in liability costs and the fees associated with unsafe working conditions on the job site. Typically, maintaining proper equipment safety, proper safety gear, safe handling of dangerous materials, and the removal of potentially harmful waste minimizes the safety risks on a job site and offers maximum protection to workers.  Dangerous Materials  Most materials on a job site pose a safety risk to workers and others when left lying around. The following materials pose safety risks and must be removed from the job site as soon as possible or be stored in a safe manner to avoid injury:  Excess ... 09/23/2008

Another one of the downsides to the road work along 23 Mile Road in Chesterfield Township is the difficulty for consumers to weave their way in and out of their favorite businesses. One of my favorites, Meldrum Brothers Nursery, decided to reward the customers who dodge the orange cones and the uneven pavement by having a MDOT sale.  (MDOT an acronym for the Michigan Department of Transportation)I ventured in to Meldrums late last week (before the storms hit - notice the clouds in the photo!) to pick up some colorful mums.   I think I'll go back this week to take advantage of the mulch sale and browse through all of the fall and Halloween items that they have inside the main building.     Meldrum Brothers Nursery is located along the south side of 23 Mile Road, just east of I-94. If you... 09/14/2008

Quite possibly the only thing I look forward to during the late fall and winter months is the end to Michigans 5th season:    The construction season. I know business owners will also be more than thrilled.  This Chesterfield Township MI auto wash, By the Bay Auto Spa,  closed during the recent spring-summer long road resurfacing project on 23 Mile Road.   Many businesses tried to tough it out, but I would think that keeping an auto wash open when the road dust would cover your newly washed car was just too much for this business. I was saddened to see it close as it has been a long standing business in Chesterfield Township and one of the area car washes that many residents counted on for quality service.Here's to hoping that the road work along 23 Mile Road is finished before the proj... 09/12/2008

I thought it would be interesting to highlight one of the homes that recently sold in Chesterfield Township MI (Macomb County) that was not a foreclosure (bank owned home) or a pre-foreclosure (short sale).This lovely ranch home on Adele Circle sold on August 28th for $187,000.   The listed (asking) price of this home was $199,900 and it featured a professionally finished basement along with 3 bedrooms, a 2 car attached garage and 2 full baths.Along with this home, 26 other homes sold in Chesterfield Township during the past month, which is an increase from the 20 homes that sold in August of 2007.  The average total days on the market this past month was 210 days, but this house on Adele Circle that sold beat the average by quite a bit!  It was only on the market for 41 days.Without ha... 09/08/2008

  It was a bit of a slower month in Macomb Countys Chesterfield Township for home sales, but all in all I am still feeling good about the local real estate market and the wonderful bargains to be had for home buyers. From glancing at the prices of the homes that sold in July (2008) it appears that many first time home buyers took advantage of the low interest rates, good FHA and VA mortgage progams, and a plentiful supply of homes in Chesterfield Township. During the past month 28 residential homes sold.  The lowest price home sold at $70,000 and the highest price of a home sold in the township is being reported at $239,000. This nice ranch home located at 25657 Briartown Boulevard in the Briartowne Subdivsion sold for $127,500 with the seller paying $3825 of the buyers closing costs, p... 08/04/2008

Chesterfield Township Michigans Muirfield Manor Subdivision is one of the completed subdivisions in our area that has a nice mixture of homes:  Ranch style, Split-Level and Colonials. This location in Macomb County is within the Lanse Creuse school district and also offers to a prospective home buyer a range of prices and sizes in the homes:Since April 1st of this year 2 homes have sold within Muirfield Manor.   One of them was an approximately 1600 square foot ranch that sold for $179,000.   The other was a bank owned foreclosure.  It was a split level design of approximately 2250 square feet on a corner lot that sold for $184,275.  (The seller paid $10,725 in concessions to the buyer of the home, which I have taken into consideration with the quoted final sales price.) I had the oppor... 07/13/2008

While checking the databases this morning I saw that the amount of foreclosures on themarket in Chesterfield Township MI appears to be dropping. This is great news for home sellers in our area of Macomb County.  This morning therewere only 8 foreclosures on the market between $125,000 and $150,000.  If you are a consumer who is considering purchasing this spring and taking advantageof the low prices in our market now would be the time to talk to your mortgage lenderand find a buyers agent to represent you. In this price range a FHA or VA mortgage would be a wonderful way to finance your newhome.  If you have questions about these mortgage programs please don't hesitateto call me.  I would be happy to refer you to local mortgage lenders who are FHA & VAknowledgeable.Want to peek at some ... 05/11/2008

One of the questions that I am asked quite often is if a condo can be purchased with an FHA or VA mortgage.  The answer is a resounding YES.  In fact, I find the whole process with FHA and VA purchasesto be a bit easier with condos than with single family homes.  Typically condos have muchless of the larger items in disrepair to meet the appraisal guidelines:  Roofs are normallyin good condition, foundation & grading issues rarely arise, etc.HUD has a list of condominium complexes online that you can quickly review to see if thecondo that you have chosen is in a community that is already approved.   When I havea buyer client that wishes to purchase a condo with an FHA mortgage I use that site for aquick reference.  If the complex is not on the approved list, I then check back through th... 05/07/2008

What an exciting month April was for Chesterfield Township single family & condo sales!30 single family homes sold in April, compared with 26 homes in March. I had a feelingthat along with the better weather and buyers feeling a bit more confidence in the mortgagemarket that we would see a strong month. Surprisingly, 18 condos sold in Chesterfield Township in April, which is up substantiallyfrom March which only had 6 condos sold! This is certainly great news for those condo ownerswho have been working hard and waiting patiently for their homes to sell.The total time on the market for the homes and condos was higher in the month ofApril, but I believe that number is a bit skewed because of one or two homes and condosbeing on the market considerably longer than the rest of them. Next mon... 05/03/2008

If you've been in this business longer than 5 minutes one of the things that will pop into your mindand your buyers mind is "How do I know the sellers received my offer?"We can ask the listing agent, the broker,  and even the tooth fairy but we really weren't assured that a seller received the offer that our buyers submitted if we were getting clues to the contrary:No return phone calls from the listing agent, vague "they got it" responses, nothing in writing for several days, etc.With the many bank owned properties that our buyers are submitting offers on it is even more difficult to be assured that the bank/asset manager received our buyer clients offers.  Now thereIS a way for buyers and buyers agents to be assured that the owners of the properties have indeedreceived their offers to... 04/26/2008

Chatting with a friend yesterday about how much the real estate market has changedin the last 5 years had me curious for clarifying data.   I took a peek this morning in Mirealsource™ to see the hard numbers during the monthof April in 2003 compared to what we are experiencing now in the housing market in Aprilof 2008.  I chose Chesterfield Township in Macomb County as my target area and thisis what the 5 year snapshot looks like: A couple of things startled me when I first saw the numbers as I entered them into the graph.First, the number of homes sold was almost identical.  Secondly, the average days on the marketwere also very close.   If you had asked me before I looked at the data if I would think those 2 itemswould be so similar I would have said no.The average list price and sold... 04/25/2008

Anyone who knows anything about me and reads my blog had to know this postwas coming this morning. For those not in the know (is there anyone in the Metro Detroit area who does not know that the Detroit Tigers won last night?):They won! They won! They won!Tidbits of last nights game:Jeremy Bonderman holding the lead he was given and pitching very well to a tough Red Sox lineup. Edgar Renteria answering the boo-birds at Fenway in a special way: 3 hits and 2 RBI's. Marcus Thames looking like his old self witha powerful 2 run homer. Ivan Rodriguez hit the 2500 hit milestone. Congrats Pudge!Our much maligned bullpen doing a fabulous job. Todd Jones giving us fans a bit of excitement in the 9th. (Love him..he is entertaining!)Coffee tastes sweeter this morning for some reason... 04/10/2008

Michigan is now considering allowing those who hold concealed weapons permits to carry a Taser. A bill that is part of a package before the House has this new provision in it. There seem to be many in the state who favor this bill as it would allow them to have a choice between carrying a Taser lawfully or packing their trusty gun.The Taser cartridges will leave a confetti like material that will carry the serian number of the Taser it was fired from. That should help trace those who used the weapons so that the police can then hear their "He looked harmful to me.." stories. Me? It scares the dickens out of me. Even though I work in an industry that has seen an increase in violent crimes against its members, I still could not carry a Taser and use it. Besides, it wouldn't fit in my purs... 04/07/2008

Late yesterday afternoon while driving home after showing homes I had one of those “lightbulb” moments go off inside my head. (No jokes from the peanut crowd please) All of the homes I viewed were bank foreclosures with the exception of one lovely home. I jotted down notes on each home and realized that there were common issues as to why these homes have not sold and it wasn’t the price. If I was ever asked to sit on an advisory committee to banks & REO managers I would give them this advice: Keep the electricity on. Many homes in our area have sump pumps. Guess what happens when they aren’t working? The homes get wet and moldy. Enough said. Do NOT winterize after November 1st. If you cannot winterize a home prior to that date then keep the heat on. Put a lock box around the thermostat... 04/05/2008

A buyer client was wandering around the Internet the other day and called me asking about a home for sale that he saw on one of those real estate sites that also provide online value estimates. He was excited because one of the homes we are viewing this afternoon with a listed price of $125,000 is in a neighborhood that this real estate site has valued at between $135,000 and $172,000. We had a quick chat about online values and how the data is gathered and then had a more intense chat about how value is really determined and more importantly, that local opinions are the opinions that matter. Today I am bringing him the facts so that I can educate him about this subdivision and others that we will be viewing homes in. Fact: House at 123 Main sold for $128,000 in January. Fact: House at... 04/04/2008

Home sales pleasantly surprised me when I look back at the month of March and the statistics.  We Metro Detroiters were treated to extended wintery weather yetdespite this home buyers were still out ready to purchase in Chesterfield Township.We also saw some encouraging signs in the market activity:     26 homes sold in March, up from 14 single family homes sold in February.     The total average days on the market dropped from 209 in February     to 159 days in March for single family homes.    Has the market begun to turn around?  Only time will tell, but the baby stepsforward that we seem to be taking in our area is encouraging.     Data provided is courtesy of MiRealsource™ and it's participating members and brokersand does not include data from outside sources. If you would like to... 04/02/2008

If you've chosen the lovely Anchor Bay area of Chesterfield Township for your new home you may choose to narrow the search to one of the 3 school districts that are within the townships boundaries.Within the Lanse Creuse school district there are 19 homes for sale that are priced between $100,000 and $150,000:  View the homesIf your search takes you in to the Anchor Bay school district there are currently also 19 homes for sale within the price range of $100,000 and $150,000:  View the homes There is also the New Haven school district that falls within the borders of Chesterfield Township.Today there is only one home available within the same price range: View this home If you would like more information regarding homes currently on the market in Macomb County and Chesterfield Township ... 03/20/2008

Yesterday while grocery shopping on the base I realized once again what a terrific dutystation it must be for those who are being assigned here.   Anchor Bay is within view, wonderful school districts for those who have children, terrificrestaurants and a variety of things to do and see and "play" while you have down time.In the coming weeks I will be highlighting all that our wonderful Anchor Bay area has tooffer to those coming in to Selfridge ANG base. In the meantime here are some of the homes that are currently for sale in Chesterfield Township that are available for VA home buyers.Homes for sale in Chesterfield Township offering VA terms between $125,000 - $175,000.Homes for sale information courtesty of Mirealsource™ and it's participating brokers and real estateagent & provided ... 02/20/2008

If you are looking for a wonderful home in Macomb County one of the communitiesyou may be drawn to is Chesterfield Township. As of the time of this posting, the following homes are on the market and are bankowned  /  foreclosures.  Some of these homes are real bargains!   There are 3 homes currently for sale in Chesterfield township under $100,000. Currently, there are also 41 homes for sale between $100,000 and $200,000.Homes for sale information courtesy of Mirealsource™ and it's participating brokersand real estate agents via the broker reciprocity feature.If you would like a list of these homes please feel free to contact me and I willforward them along to you via email or mail them to you, whichever you prefer. The homes in the above price ranges would also be within the current pr... 02/19/2008