Buyer Activity On The Rise?

It's not just me. Talking with agents from other firms and to agents within my company, there seems to be a real spike in buyer activity.

I am getting regular calls on my listings and frequent email inquiries from my various web sites and blogs. Most of the activity is coming from two groups - first time buyers who are generally in the $175,000 and below range, and move-up buyers looking higher. There are a lot of great values in the $225,000 to $300,000 range. Larger, newer homes with a lot of space and upgraded amenities seem to be the ticket.

This is great for the move-up buyers that have been able to save some money, retire debt, or both. They are in a wonderful position to get bargains right now.

A recent short sale in which I worked as a buyer agent gained the buyers $40,000 in equity. This is no joke. The sale price was $240,0000 and the appraisal came in at $280,000. A recent foreclosed home that I had listed sold for $210,000 and appraised at $240,000. Believe me, appraisers and banks are looking critically at comparable properties and have tightened up on the appraised values significantly, but these types of gains are still fairly common in my market areas.

Sellers, I still recommend that you don't put your home on the market unless you absolutely, positively have to sell. If you do market your home, accept that its value will be less than it was just two years ago. Unless it's priced properly you won't even get people to look at it to see how great it is.

Buyers, get pre-approved, Not just a pre-approval letter, but have your lender run the credit, put you through desktop underwriting and really see what (or if) you can afford to buy. If you're looking at foreclosures as a possibility, you may even have to get pre-approved by a representative of that particular bank, although they won't require you to use them for the actual transaction. They're simply trying to reduce the number of transactions that fail to close.

I regularly work with buyers and sellers, have a good listing inventory mix of traditional (homeowner or retail) and bank-owned properties. I'm experienced at short sales and have undergone loss mitigation training, too. If you're feeling the pinch and think you might be on the road to losing your home, call me for a short consultation. There may be other avenues you can take with your lender to keep you in your home.

Preview Properties to Host Blood Drive - May 10, 2008

On Saturday, May 10th, Preview Properties will be hosting a blood drive for the Livingston County Chapter of the American Red Cross. This is the company's charity activity for May 2008, and we invite you to participate.

Hours will be 10 am - 3pm. You can call the Red Cross office at 517-546-0326 to set an appointment, or just show up during the blood drive hours.

Preview Properties is located at 130 W. Grand River Ave., Brighton, MI 48116, at the corner of St. Paul Street.

The Livingston County Chapter of the American Red Cross web site is http://www.liv-redcross.org/index.html

Brighton Optimist Club Golf Outing - 5/17/08, Whispering Pines Golf Club, Pinckney

The Brighton Optimist Club is a community service organization whose motto is 'Bringing Out The Best In Kids'. Perhaps best known for the Free Fishing Derby for Kids at the Brighton Millpond every June, they do many other notable things.

In their 30 year history, they've given out tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships, conduct an Oratorical Contest to encourage public speaking in youth, recognize area youth through their Youth Appreciation events and Public Safety professionals through Respect For Law days. The Brighton Optimist Club was also the group that started the effort towards what is now the SELCRA Meijer's Skate Park. The group is supporting the only remaining Junior Achievement Program in Livingston County.

As part of their annual fundraising efforts, they are organizing a Golf Outing for May 17, 2008. It will start at 1pm at Whispering Pines Golf Club in Pinckney. They're looking for golfers and sponsors. Please visit their online registration page at http://www.regonline.com/Checkin.asp?EventId=610749 to register to golf, or click on the 'event details' link on that page for more information. Help the Optimists help our area's youth - and have a great time while doing so.

Register as a golfer or sponsor today! The Brighton Optimist Club Foundation is an IRS-recognized 501 (c)(3) organization.

Aprils' Community Service - Cell Phones For Soldiers

Here at Preview Properties, we select a new community service project each month. For April 2008, our project is 'Cell Phones For Soldiers'.

Stop in at the office located at 130 W. Grand River, Brighton (corner of E. St. Paul St.) and drop off your old cell phone. For each one collected, a serviceman or woman on assignment overseas will receive a free 60 minute phone card. If you can't make it into the office yourself, give me a call at 810-220-1478 and I'll be happy to make arrangements to pick up your old cell phone equipment.

Gleaner's Food Bank - Fill The Gazebo, May 3, 2008

The Livingston County Association of Realtors has been supporting Gleaner's Food Bank for a number of years by way of its 'Fill The Gazebo' Food Drive. As the name implies, we want to fill the Brighton Millpond gazebo with food donations.

On May 3, 2008, you can drop off items on Main Street in Downtown Brighton. Realtor volunteers will be standing in the center lane to accept your food and monetary donations. We'll also be stationed aroudn the County at various grocery stores to accept donations.

In addition to food, the Gleaner's Food Pantry needs household items like laundry detergent, toothpaste and the like. All food collected stays within Livingston County for families in need. In fact, we can't support our own County's needs and Gleaner's has to bring additional food into Livingston to help support the demand for its services.

If you see a great sale at your local grocery store, consider buying extra to donate on May 3rd. If you have trouble making it into town that day, most Realtor offices will have drop offs available. Or feel free to call me at 810-220-1478 and I'll be happy to get your food or monetary donation collected.