Pinckney Michigan Real Estate

A Thorough Home Inspector

2010-02-09T12:52:00.000-05:00

One thing that often separates real buyer agents from the pretend
buyer agents / designated buyer agents is the type of inspectors they
recommend.

For most buyers we recommend at least medium grade inspectors but
often the real thorough guys.

This photo is of a thorough inspector who has filled the tub to check
the overflow and is standing on the tub rim to check for settling &
wood rot on this -150 year old home.

Most inspectors don't do this. Because most inspectors focus on making
real estate agents happy.

It you want a real estate company to be on your side, call us. 734-662-6140
.

Our office broker gets quoted extensively in BankRate Article

2009-08-25T20:53:00.003-05:00

A writer for Bankrate.com interviewed our company President Jon Boyd one or two months back for an piece he was working on regarding real estate language.

In particular, the theme was stuff listing real estate people will say with reference to their listings to try to grab the attention of home buying consumers. Hint: The positive features are often exagerated.

These phrases were collected from our national organization (naeba.org) and the are definitely authentic.

Here is what you want to think about:

If a real estate agent normally directs words like these to buyers, why would you ever want somebody like at being your buyer's agent or designated buyer's agent?

Just a idea to mull over as you hunt for Pinckney real estate.

Here is the article.

Ann Arbor Real Estate Eyesore Coming Down

2009-06-29T12:31:00.001-05:00

The old Ramada Inn building on Jackson Rd. Is being taken down. Good
news for the neighborhood

This is a big job and I saw three different excavators over there
getting the job started including a big Link Belt LS-5000.

Unfortunately I couldn't get a decent picture of that because of the
fence.

Here is a little Cat unit

Blogged from my iPhone.

Wiring you don't want to see in your garage

2009-05-31T23:24:00.001-05:00

I was at a home this week that had this mess in the garage.

Is this how you want your wiring to look?

Anybody smart enough to do this and get the switches and outlets to
work should also be smart enough to know not to leave it like this.

Brighton Real Estate Agent Receives "Wolverine" Savings Award

2009-04-28T08:13:00.003-05:00

Laura Degiovanni, a senior exclusive buyer agent in our Ann Arbor office just received the Wolverine Savings and tenacity award this week.

We know that Laura was able to do things for the buyer that most real estate agents wouldn't have a clue about.

Wolverine Award to excellence in buyer agency - Laura Degiovanni

If you know Laura you should congratulate her!

If you are interested in buying a home in Livingston, Western Oakland, or Northwestern Wayne County, you should talk to her.

You can reach her through our office at 734-662-6240

Fun with spell checkers

2009-04-10T18:13:00.002-05:00

I was out on the internet today and ran across this:

Owed two a Spell Chequer

Eye halve a spelling chequer;  It came with my pea sea; It plainly marques four my revue  Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.    Eye strike a key and type a word  End weight four it two say  Weather eye am wrong our write -  It shows me straight a weigh.    As soon as a mist ache is maid  It nose bee fore two long,  And eye kin put the arrow rite It’s rare lea ever wrong.    Eye have run this poem threw it;  I am shore your pleased two no  Its letter perfect awl the weigh,  My spell chequer tolled me sew!

And also this from dailywritingtips.com:

The Impotence of Proofreading

Its a fact that a spell checker will not catch all the mistakes on your text. More specifically, it will not catch misspellings that form other valid words.

So how do you solve this problem? Proofreading, of coarse!

Just read again through you’re text trying to spot words that don’t fit, and make sure to not loose the focus while you do it. Proofreading is sometimes more important then using the spell checker itself.

You should proofread virtually any written piece, from emails to blog posts. Proofread your homework as well, since you don’t want to drive the principle of your school crazy.

Let’s be honest, misspelled words are defiantly a sign of ignorance.

The simple act of proofreading will have a great affect on the quality of your material, and I am sure that you’ll earn more complements from people.

Their you go my friend, and take this advice seriously. After all, you don’t want to look dumb in front of the general pubic!

And this from coffeeswirl.com:

Ode to a Spell Checker

I have a spelling checker
I disk covered four my PC.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot see.

Eye ran this poem threw it.
Your sure real glad two no.
Its very polished in its weigh,
My checker tolled me sew.

A checker is a blessing.
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right awl stiles two reed,
And aides me when aye rime.

Each frays comes posed up on my screen
Eye trussed too bee a joule.
The checker pours o’er every word
To cheque sum spelling rule.

Bee fore wee rote with checkers
Hour spelling was inn deck line,
Butt now when wee dew have a laps,
Wee are not maid too wine.

And now bee cause my spelling
Is checked with such grate flare,
There are know faults in awl this peace,
Of nun eye am a wear.

To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should be proud,
And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
Sew flaws are knot aloud.

That’s why eye brake in two averse
Caws Eye dew want too please.
Sow glad eye yam that aye did bye
This soft wear four pea seas.

Not real estate related, but funny!

Septic field inspection

2009-03-18T14:39:00.000-05:00

When you buy a home with a septic field, it is important to have an
evaluation of the field done.

In Washtenaw county the county has standards and a specific
requirement for an evalation to be done prior to change of ownership.

But in other Michigan counties you are on your own.

The interpretation of the report is critical also.

Nothing to do with Pinckney real estate - diet fraud exposed

2009-02-21T10:22:00.002-05:00

One of the sites I visit related to excercise happen to do a very interesting expose of some diet advertising and faked photos.

You need to see this to believe it, but it is worth it:

Faked Photos for diet product

This does remind me of some of the lies put out by real estate agents, but I'll leave that for another post.

Be well!

Jon Boyd
Ann Arbor real estate buyer's agent
The Home Buyer's Agent of Ann Arbor, Inc.

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

Another way real estate agents scam buyers with Zillow

2009-01-06T23:04:00.002-05:00

I just read a disturbing story on a real estate agent from Alameda California who intentionally changed sold properties to active so buyers would contact her to see them.

This is a complete violation of REALTOR ethics and Zillow Terms of Service, but the agent didn't seem to see anything wrong with it. Fortunately another agent in the office has made some effort to stop her.

Locally here in Michigan I was just talking to a home buyer Saturday about Zillow and he wanted to know why I said the Zestimates were often more than 20% off. Zillow is fine for generalities. but don't trust it for important decisions!

If you are interested in having a company represent you when you are buying Pinckney Michigan real estate, contact us at http://buyersagentannarbor.com

Man sets his house on fire by clearing snow!

2008-12-23T09:39:00.001-05:00

This is too good to keep to myself.

A great example of what not to do this winter!

Top real estate buyer agents meet in Orlando

2008-11-05T08:54:00.002-05:00

Members of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents are
meeting in Orlando this week.

We are learning a lot and having a good / busy time.

We are talking about blogging right now!

Sent from my iPhone.

Defogging your windows in Pinckney Michigan

2008-08-28T08:13:00.002-05:00

There is now a local company that specializes in fixing fogged thermal pane windows.

(I'm not sure of their address, but they service Pinckney and all of Livingston County and much of Southeastern Michigan.)

The link above will get you to a blog post where it is discussed.

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!

Example of a Bad Home Inspection and What it Does To Home Buyers

2008-08-18T14:57:00.003-05:00

The link above takes you to a news report on a home buyer's nightmare.

They used a traditional real estate agent and just happened to decide to buy a home being sold by the agent's husband. No conflict of interest there....

They take the agent's recommendation on a home inspector and a few weeks after closing find out they've been scammed.

The point:

If you want to buy a home use an Exclusive Buyer's Agent so you don't have all the conflicts of interest!

How Pinckney Home Buyers Can Boost Their Credit Score By 100+ Points - Free Class

2008-06-20T07:43:00.001-05:00

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!

"Home Buying Class On Foreclosures"

2008-04-29T13:16:00.003-05:00

We had another one of our free "How To Buy A Foreclosure" classes last night here in Ann Arbor. In March we filled up but this time we had extra seats.

I could tell that a couple of the buyers who were there were gaining insights about the process. One of the buyers who had actually viewed a number of foreclosed and short-sale homes was clearly much more comfortable with the process when he left.

Since we are active helping Pinckney area buyers one of the examples discussed in the class was actually a Pinckney area home.

Click on the link above for information about the next class if you are interested.

Should you have a sewer inspection on a Pinckney home purchase?

2008-04-16T08:54:00.003-05:00

Here is a link to a sewer line video. No this really isn't a joke.

Sewer line problems are really expensive problems to fix and a lot of homes over about 40 years old are showing signs of wear.

The home in the video linked above isn't perfect, but it isn't failed either. Take a look!

How to determine your offer price in a slow market

2008-03-26T18:17:00.005-05:00

Here is a link to a post by real estate author Ilyce Glink.

She does a lot of top-notch stuff. I have one of her home buying books sitting on my book self right now.

In this post I leave an important comment on when you don't want to just look at historical sold data to determine value.

Livingston County Assessment Update

2008-03-16T23:55:00.001-05:00

Here is an interesting article from the Press & Argus about the current assessments on residential property and how they've been moving down.

Article On Choosing An Agent

2008-03-04T21:51:00.003-05:00

I was actually quoted in this story from the Baltimore sun about choosing a real estate agent when you are buying a home.

And more importantly it has some interesting ideas for home buyers. Baltimore Sun on Choosing an Agent

Structuring a repair credit

2008-02-10T00:16:00.000-05:00

A few years ago a reporter from the Detroit Free Press asked me what happens when an inspection uncovers serious problems with a home.

I described to her the 4 distinct methods to deal with issues that come up and she put those four in an article.

Well recently we had a transaction in the office where the listing agent didn't know how to structure a repair credit. This agent had been in the business a while so it wasn't like she was totally new. Obviously our agent was able to show her how (and how much) but it is surprising to me sometimes how a broker will have an agent active in the business with so little training.

If you want a experienced, competent agent to represent your interests when you buy a home in the Pinckney area, contact our office at 734-662-6240 on online at hbaaa.com

Miserable closing for some area home buyers

2008-02-04T21:08:00.000-05:00

This is a post on our office blog site about a really bad closing at a title company that was one of the area's better companies a few years ago.

Interesting thing about real estate blogs in Michigan

2008-01-18T10:17:00.000-05:00

As I have been looking at real estate blogs in Washtenaw, Livingston, and Western Wayne Counties, I've started to notice something interesting.

The buyer agent blogs post about problems to watch out for when buying a home or a condo, and the regular real estate agent blogs post about houses they have listed or additional ways they can make money from you.

Here is an example of a couple blogs relating to Ann Arbor real estate: (There really aren't any Pinckney Michigan blog sites other than this one right now.)

http://annarborrealestate.blogspot.com/ Here, the agent Kathy Toth talks about her recent listings. (And you can bet she never says anything bad about her listings.)

http://www.realestateoneblog.com/2008/01/when-buying-home-it-is-very-important.html is another example. Real Estate One is talking about how you need to use other competent people in your team when you buy, which is true, but they don't mention that these vendors are all part of their company and make them more money, and, often cost you more than other competent vendors.

Contrast that to the area's exclusive buyer agent site (ours):

http://www.annarbormichiganrealestate.com/The last couple of posts include discussions on problems with Zillow property values, a title company that is doing terrible closings where a buyer has to wait 4.5 hours and still not have the correct figures, and a new negotiating tactic used by lenders selling foreclosures.

I'm going to check other markets to see if this is consistent around the country.

Demonstration proves: Be careful with your Christmas tree!

2007-12-07T11:04:00.000-05:00

A recent demostration by the Brighton Fire Department showed why Christmas tree maintenance is so critical. I've posted the link above.

The alternative is putting your home or condo at serious risk. (Not such a good idea.)

Goofy things sellers do

2007-06-24T22:53:00.000-05:00

Buyer Beware: Skeletons in the Closet (and Aliens in the Basement)