South Lyon Michigan Home Buying

Ann arbor Rolling Sculpture

2009-07-10T18:10:00.000-05:00

A view from town tonight.

Top of The Park in Ann Arbor

2009-06-12T21:06:00.000-05:00

ToTP is an annual thing in Ann Arbor where there are a bunch of free
evening concerts and performances and it is a lot of fun.

This is the first night this year and a band called NoMo is playing a
great set.

Why don't listing agents pay attention to radon testing?

2009-05-26T08:30:00.001-05:00

I'm out at an Ann Arbor home inspection again today and we arrived to
find the windows partially open. This is a bit frustrating because
radon tests require the home to be closed up for at least 12 hours
before the radon data is valid.

So, since the seller wasn't asked by the listing to close up the
windows we have to wait an additional 12 hours.

I'd guess that the listing agent doesn't know much about representing
buyers or he would have told the sellers.

Typical.

Does your real estate agent know what this is?

2009-05-05T13:41:00.001-05:00

There is a controversy in the real estate business these days where a
lot of real estate agents say they don't want to know anything about
how homes work.

I think any buyer's agent should know that this indicates a high
effeciency furnace. Normally 93-96% effecient.

Amazing growth of Blog sites

2009-05-01T17:09:00.002-05:00

I just stopped to think -

Four years ago I don't know if I'd ever seen a blog.

Three years ago I started one.

Now I think I run about a dozen, and, I think we will be changing a number of our websites over into blog sites.

Amazing growth in this technology.

Jon Boyd

Broker/Manager, CEBA-Master, CBA, CBR, GRI, e-PRO
The Home Buyer's Agent of Ann Arbor, Inc. 1908 W. Stadium Blvd. Ann Arbor, MI 48103
734-662-6240
Helping Home Buyers Locate, Evaluate, and Negotiate
http://www.buyersagentannarbor.com

Hail To The Victors (At Least Hail in Ann Arbor)

2009-04-22T13:30:00.001-05:00

It was hailing this afternoon at the office. And I hear it is going to
be in the 80's Saturday.

Love Michigan weather!?

Tax Credit Video For South Lyon First Time Home Buyers

2009-04-04T19:34:00.004-05:00

The National Association of Home Builders just published a really nice video that explains some of the basics of the $8,000 tax credit.

Take a look:

If you would like help buying your first home and you want someone on your side who knows the South Lyon / Milford area, give us a call. We have the area's top buyer agent in our office waiting to talk to you.

Jon Boyd

Broker/Manager

The Home Buyer's Agent of Ann Arbor, Inc.

1908 W. Stadium Blvd.

Ann Arbor, MI 48103

Double generator set-up

2009-03-19T19:28:00.001-05:00

Battery backup for sump pump system

2009-03-18T13:23:00.001-05:00

I'm at a home inspection today and the homeowner had installed a
battery back-up for their sump pump system.

Here is a photo. These are a good idea for anyone that depends on a
pump to keep water out of their basement.

T-Mobile Dance and Exclusive Buyer Agents

2009-03-06T14:45:00.002-05:00

This is fun.

In out national association (naeba.org) we have been talking about viral marketing. One great example that someone just showed me is thi T-Mobile dance. A fun, well planned, public performance.

Here is the show:

Have fun!

Jon Boyd
Ann Arbor real estate buyer agent

2008 Was a great year for savings at our office

2009-01-26T15:15:00.003-05:00

We set a record for saving home buyers money in 2008.

Here is a link to the article on a News site.

Funny, for 15 years we've heard regular real estate offices claim to act as buyers agents. But I sure haven't heard any of them mention saving buyers any money!

Download Suze Orman financial book for free till the 15th

2009-01-12T10:17:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to pass this on.

Suze Orman is a top financial advisor who has a very informative TV show. (She also recommends home buyers talk to Exclusive Buyer Agents if there are any working in the buyer's area.)

Here is the link:

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20081119_tows_bookdownload

(This is courtesy of Oprah, Thank you Oprah!)

Jon Boyd

Broker/Manager, CEBA-Master, CBA, CBR, GRI, e-PRO
The Home Buyer's Agent of Ann Arbor, Inc. 1908 W. Stadium Blvd. Ann Arbor, MI 48103
734-662-6240, 888-566-2693
Helping Home Buyers Locate, Evaluate, and Negotiate
http://www.buyersagentannarbor.com

Trying out a new web tool - Instant Video Generator

2009-01-09T13:31:00.001-05:00

This seemed really interesting. I'm going to try it on some of our office websites.

Instant Video Generator

I'll put up some videos soon.

Good article on winter home care

2008-12-23T12:28:00.002-05:00

Here is a great article from the Seattle Times on taking care of your home in the winter.

With these record setting cold temperatures and all the predictions from scientists about global cooling it is important to understand and be comfortable with this stuff. (Or just move to Florida and not worry about it!)

Two Long Days of Meetings for Home Buying Experts in Orlando

2008-11-09T09:28:00.002-05:00

This last week was a very busy one for me. I was on Orlando at the
National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents annual meeting. I'm in the picture there somewhere!

A broad variety of topics was discussed, including how the confusion
over agency disclosure laws has contributed to the national mortgage
crisis.

Blogged from my iPhone.

Home Buying Lingo and Euphemisms

2008-09-26T10:34:00.003-05:00

I speak to a lot of home buyers each month and one thing that often comes up is the "truthfullness" of the listing remarks.

This is particularly important when you are looking at a foreclosed home in South Lyon.

It can be a little frustrating, but one of the first things to understand is that those remarks are written by someone hired to sell the home at the highest possible price. It doesn't matter if the home isn't worth the asking price, their job is to sell it!

Our professional association put together a short report that has been mentioned by Newsweek, Realty Times, USNews and Marketwatch. It is a good read for homebuyers and it is available as a free download here: http://www.naeba.org/euphemisms/20080804NAEBAEuphemisms.pdf

Four Searches for "South Lyon Real Estate" in the last 4 months?

2008-08-22T14:13:00.003-05:00

As part of our search engine strategy we look at keywords and their usage.

The best tool I've seen to study this is Wordtracker.

As part of that effort today I notice that there were only four searches in the last 130 days for south lyon real estate out of the ~306 Million searches that were performed.

This tells me there is not a lot happening this summer online in South Lyon Real Estate. (Just like there isn't a lot of activity in the real world.)

Interesting.

VIP Tour of New Columbus/Polaris Hilton

2008-06-20T11:56:00.001-05:00

This week my wife and I were invited to tour the new Hilton Hotel in
Columbus Ohio that will be opening soon. It is on the North side in
the Polaris Centers of Commerce.

It looks like a great and much needed hotel on that side of town.

It is also notable that in all my years in real estate this is the
first time a construction manager has invited me to tour the public
restroom! (And it was very nice!)

Here is a look at the fireplace in the lobby.

Cell phone related, but can this be applied to real estate negotiation?

2008-06-01T09:49:00.003-05:00

The link above is from PC world and it presents an interesting idea for getting out of cell phone contract termination fees. Basically get your new provider to pony up money to buy you out of your contract with your old provider.

We just leased another vehicle from Chrysler Corp. and they have a fee if you don't lease or buy your next vehicle from them of $450!

When we leased our previous car we negotiated that out of the deal (the sales person agreed to pay it if we didn't stick with a Chrysler product).

So it can be applied to cell phone contracts and lease contracts, how can it be applied to home buying?

One way we've found is to ask the seller of a home to pay a buyer's early lease termination fee or lease payments. It doesn't always work, but we were able to use it on a Saline home purchase about a year ago.

How To Buy A Foreclosure Class - South Lyon

2008-04-29T14:57:00.004-05:00

We were viewing a number of luxury homes in the South Lyon area over the weekend. There are some great values available in that price range.

One of the reasons values have come down is because of the availability of foreclosed homes. At the same time the fact that values have fallen makes foreclosures more likely. It is a vicious cycle.

If you are a buyer these days you should at least consider what buying a foreclosure might offer you. We have a free class about once a month titled "How To Buy A Foreclosure" that provides a lot of valuable real-world information on the process.

Click the link above for more information.

Buyer Agency Toronto Style

2008-04-16T09:14:00.002-05:00

I just ran across the web page above from a writer in the Toronto area.

They posted summaries from a number of articles on buyer agency and the difficulties that Ms. Marty Ummel ran into our in California when she hired a "partial buyer agent".

Ms Ummel filed a law suit and recently lost.

There is a lot to the details of the case but the link above just has some good basic information for home buyers.

Some sad news for three South Lyon businesses

2008-03-28T08:14:00.002-05:00

This article reports on the future of the theater and two local restaurants in the challenging economic conditions. (Maybe some challenging bad management conditions too!)

How to choose a buyer agent

2008-03-26T18:44:00.001-05:00

Here is an article that came out last month about choosing a buyers agent.

If you are thinking about buying a home, particularly in the South Lyon area, it is worth reading.

Sad end to a home buyer who was abused by his REALTORs

2008-03-25T15:10:00.002-05:00

I just hear the final decision of a Maryland appeals court on a buyer who got taken because his real estate agent lied to him about being a buyer agent.

It is a long story that will probably cost the buyer over $50,000, but the quick version is:

1. Buyer hires company to act as buyer's agent.

2. The agreement expires but the company keeps acting like his buyer's agent. (So he assumes they are still his agent.)

3. The real estate agent gets the buyer to sign a contract to purchase a new home.

4. Buyer realizes the contract doesn't protect him if his old home doesn't sell.

5. Buyer realizes that the real estate agent was actually now working for the seller.

6. Buyer tries to pull out of the transaction.

7. Buyer ends up loosing tens of thousands of dollars on the transaction and court costs.

8. Real estate company admits they violated the disclosure laws, but they get away scott-free.

This is a scham.

The link above is to the original story.

Realty Times article about Home Buying Concerns

2008-03-04T23:00:00.004-05:00

If you are interested in buying a home this year in South Lyon or surrounding areas here is an article from writer Broderick Perkins on home buying concerns.

Home Buying Concerns Article

Broderick is a regular writer for Realty Times, and industry publication that also has a website.