2019 Color of the Year!

What will be the hot color for 2019?  There are a number of candidates.

Pantone believes it will be 'Living Coral', a warm tone that it believes evokes a "warm, comforting and nurturing" feeling.

Photo credit: Pantone

Along the same lines, Sherwin Williams is predicting its 'Cavern Clay' will be popular. A darker color than the Living Coral, it is earthier and suggests more of a southwestern mood.

Photo credit: Sherwin Williams

Behr's thinks its midtone blue, 'Blueprint', will be seen a lot this next year.  They are staying with the blue, teal and gray schema as being very popular.

Photo credit: Behr

Remember that these colors won't be showing up only in paint.  Often, fabrics and accent pieces appear as a complement to popular colors.  Whether it's an accent wall or full room, keep your eye out for these colors in 2019.

Thinking about a bit of painting prior to listing your home? Give me a call and I'll be glad to take a look at your place and give you my thoughts. 810-220-1478.

Brighton's 150th Birthday Party - August 13, 2017

Brighton, Michigan will be celebrating its 150th birthday on Sunday, August 13, 2017.  A full day of activities will keep you coming back throughout the day.  

Activities include a community picnic from noon to 4pm, an 'old town' setup on Main Street, and photographs from Brighton's past in the COBACH Center, home of the Brighton Historical Society. There are many other activities, too.  

Also, the Brighton Kiwanis Sunday Concert at the Gazebo starts at 7pm, with the the band 50 Amp Fuse.  There is also a classic car show on Main street beginning at 5pm.  For the big birthday bash you'll be treated to a laser light show immediately after the concert ends, around 9:15 pm.

You can read a longer article about this event at:
http://marketeer.ws/Events/Aug13_Brighton150Years8-Web.pdf

Check out the facebook event page at:
https://www.facebook.com/events/392239171155178/

Sellers Market? Buyers Market?

If you're selling you definitely want it to be a sellers market.  But what does that really mean?  It's all supply and demand.

If the demand is greater than the supply it is a sellers market. The reverse, it's a buyers market.  Some times we experience a 'balanced' market.  So here's how to figure it out. In real estate, if the supply of homes in a given price range is under 6 months, it is a sellers market. If the supply is around 6 months it's a balanced market.  Supplies over six months is a buyers market.

Real estate practitioners talk about 'absorption'.  That means that if you divide the current inventory by the number of average monthly sales for the last 12 months,  you get the months supply.

Right now (8/1/2017)  in Livingston County we are overall in a sellers market with a total absorption of 3 months, across ALL price ranges.  But in the $151,000-$200,000 range (popular with first time home buyers), the months supply is only 1.5 months. You got it - Sellers Market!!

$401,000-$500,000 is a 5.7 month supply, or a balanced market.  Go to $501,000 - $750,000 and we have 15.6 months of supply - a very strong buyers market.  So you need to have a better reference point than just your whole county, or township, or city.

We can take this a step further and break down by school districts or even neighborhoods if the neighborhood is big enough.  It doesn't work well in a community of 60-70 homes.

image courtesy of renjith krishnan/freedigitalphotos.net

Howell Real Estate News Apr 20 2016

Here’s the latest.  Inventory is just starting to improve, but so are the sales, so we’re not seeing much of a net increase – yet.  There are still a lot of expired listings, too.  Hopefully they will be back on the market in the next month or so.

Year to date we’ve seen 268 units sold at an average price of $208,060, or $117 per square foot.  This is a pretty typical number for Howell, but remember that new construction, lakefront homes and homes on large acreage will fall well outside this value.

Homes are still selling reasonably fast, 73 days on average since the 1^st of the year.

What’s it all mean?

Buyers still have to move quickly when they find a property they like.  I had multiple offers on a really low end property last week and the purchaser that prevailed moved quickly compared to the other interested parties.

Sellers, you still have a strategic advantage to list now instead of waiting for a month or two.  Take advantage of the lower competition and the buyer demand that is there now.  Interested about your home’s value? https://youtu.be/QFNTOL-qtps

Watch this week’s video here for a few more nuggets of info.  Feel free to call me at 810-220-1478 with questions.  Download the presentation in pdf format here.  

South Lyon Real Estate News April 7 2016

I'm starting to feel somewhat like a time loop.  Over and over and over again.  South Lyon inventory is flat.  No significant difference since the first of the year with 211 units currently available.

New listings have also been flat since the middle of March with 25 new listings in the last 7 days.  Time on the market for the 14 solds last week has slightly lengthened, now at an average of 98 days, although the median time on market is a more reasonable 70 days.

The average sales price last week was $304,547 or $134/square foot, pretty typical for this market area.

Market insights?  Sellers, don't wait for the warmer weather to list unless you have exterior work to do on the house.  Buyer demand is healthy with lower inventory, especially in the $350,000 and under price points.

Buyers, please work with a full-time local agent that knows your market inside out and backwards.  Any licensee can complete a purchase agreement, but how many of them can help you with getting all the info you need to make the best decision possible?  

You can watch my video report here or get a copy of the full market statistics and last week's new listings here.

Bob Smith has 17 years experience working the South Lyon real estate market.  Call for a home valuation.

Howell Update on March 31 2016

The inventory of available Howell homes is at a low for the year at 198 units.  Even though we had 18 new listings in the last 7 days, 20 were sold in the same period, and when you count in expired listings and those pended (taken off market pending the sale), we're at a net loss.

For the 20 sold properties, the average days on market was 45 - a quick time period.  But the median time on market was a blistering 18 days!  Buyers - don't hesitate when you find something you like,  I want to throw in a pitch for LOCAL, full-time agents, too.  We know the little nuances of our market in ways that you can't decipher from looking at multilist statistics.  Plus, we can react faster and get you into a home quicker than an out of area agent.  

The average and median sales prices were very close, right around $200,000, and the price per square foot is within what we normally see for the Howell market, $100-$125/sq ft.

Sellers - if you've been waiting for warmth and sunshine but are able to list now you'll be doing yourselves a favor.  There is high demand and low inventory.  That will likely change by the beginning of May.  More competition usually gets you top price and the quickest sales.

If you're interested in the 18 new listings you can download a copy of them here, along with this week's analysis.  You can also watch my video report here.

South Lyon Home Prices 23 MAR 2016

There were only 5 sales in the last 7 days for the South Lyon area, so that makes a weekly report senseless.  Instead, I'll talk about the year to date prices.

First, there's a lot of price variability in the market.  Older, smaller homes selling for under $100,000 right up to million dollar properties.  That often makes averages unrepresentative of true values. I'll give you those figures, but I think median values are a better way to go.

Watch my 3 minute market report video here.

Since 01 JAN 2016, 112 units have sold. This does not include a few for sale by owner properties and also some of the new construction that was never entered into the multilist system (MLS).  For the sold properties, the median price was $299,500 and the average sales price was $290,834.

The median time on market (time from listing to sale) is 42 days, the average is 66 days.  Both are pretty quick time frames.

The median price per square foot is $138 and the average is $133.  The median home was 2176 sq ft, and the average was 2181.  

A lot of different factors go into pricing a home.  Age, architecture, updated or not, lot size - and of course, location.  But you can expect to spend about $135/square foot if you want to buy an existing home in this area.  That means a 2000 sq ft home will be in the ballpark of $270,000.  

If you have questions about the South Lyon market, feel free to give me a call at 810-220-1478. Ask me about my Marketing Edge program if you're thinking about selling, and about my one-on-one Home Buyer Workshop if you're thinking about buying.

Keep up to date on general real estate info by visiting and liking my facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/MichiganRE.

South Lyon Real Estate News 3-17-16

Our active inventory is 203 units.  We are still waiting for the Spring flood of listings to happen, but that can be a mistake if you're a seller.  There is less competition and a lot of pent up buyer demand out there right now. Homes are selling quickly.

In the last week there were 28 new listings, but that's not enough.  With solds, expired, and pending sales, we're at a deficit.

10 homes sold in the last 7 days with an average sales price of $289,289 and the price per square foot was $131.  These 10 homes sold in an average of 55 days.  Existing resale homes in the $250,000 and lower price points are going quite fast.

You can watch my weekly video report here, get a copy of the weekly breakdown AND new listings here.  If you're interested in this market area, please consider following and liking my facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/MichiganRE, where I post local reports, news, and general real estate items of interest. 

Buyers – work with a LOCAL, full-time agent to have your best chance of success.

Sellers – agents can look at stats all day long, but it helps to know the market history and local influences on the market that are not contained in the multilist system (MLS).  Your best opportunity at success is also a LOCAL agent.  Don’t waste 6 months of time because you chose an out of area agent that advertises himself instead of YOUR HOME.

Howell Michigan Real Estate Update

Our active inventory is just 214 units.  We are still waiting for the nice weather listing mindset to happen, but that can be a mistake if you're a seller.  There is less competition and a lot of pent up buyer demand out there right now. Homes are selling quickly.

In the last week there were 25 new listings, but that's not enough.  With solds, expired, and pending sales, we're at a deficit.

11 homes sold in the last 7 days and because 3 were in the higher price ranges, our stats this week are skewed upwards.  The average sales price was $283,055 and the price per square foot shot up to $142 (typically in the $100-$125/square foot range).  These 11 home sold in an average of 55 days.  Homes in the $250,000 and lower price points are going quite fast.

You can watch my weekly video report here, get a copy of the weekly breakdown AND new listings here.  If you're interested in this market area, please consider following and liking my facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/MichiganRE, where I post local reports, news, and general real estate items of interest. 

Buyers – work with a LOCAL, full-time agent to have your best chance of success.

Sellers – agents can look at stats all day long, but it helps to know the market history and local influences on the market that are not contained in the multilist system (MLS).  Your best opportunity at success is also a LOCAL agent.  Don’t waste 6 months of time because you chose an out of area agent that advertises himself instead of YOUR HOME.

There was a delay in this report publishing. Stats accurate as of 3/14/16.

How's The Market in Howell? Glad You Asked

Inventory continues to decline, but that should change soon.  Right now we're at a 2016 low with 210 units available.

Last week, 19 new listings hit the market.  We also had 19 sold listings.  But with expireds, pendings and withdrawn properties, we actually lost inventory.

For the 19 sold, the average price was $211,250 or $116/square foot.  Average time on the market was 84 days, but one listing had been on the market for over 800 days (!) and if that one is excluded, the average time on the market was only 42 days. Folks, that is very, very fast.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, here's my analysis for consumers.  

Sellers - if you're waiting for 'Spring' (look outside today, by the way), DON'T.  There are motivated buyers looking for homes and your competition is at an extreme low right now. Need or want to sell fast?  List it now.

Buyers - I know many of you are committed to other agents, and that's fine.  But please work with a LOCAL, experienced, preferably full-time agent.  Why?  Because they know the area, they don't have to drive 45 minutes to get here and they'll add real value to your home purchase.

Last year I worked with two buyers that found me after working with what could be called 'mega agents'.  The buyer agents on those 'teams' couldn't get them into homes quick enough and they had trouble reaching them by phone.  They didn't feel as if they were being taken seriously while they were ready to make the biggest purchase of their life.

If interested, you can get a list of last week's 19 new listings here, or check out my video report here.

How's The Housing Market in Howell?

Like many other parts of the country, local demand is outpacing supply.  Even with some new construction in the area, there is still not enough inventory.

Last week, there were 14 homes sold at an average price of $208,486, or $114/sq ft.  These homes sold remarkably fast on average - just 45 days!  We also had 20 new homes come onto the market.  I know what you're thinking.  Hey!  14 sold and 20 new listings?  That sounds like inventory is replenishing itself to me. 

Au contraire.  When you take into account the expired listings, those that went pending (an off-market status), and the consumer-requested withdrawals, we're at a decided net loss.  You can download the weekly new listings here and watch this week's update video here.

If you're a seller that's waiting for spring and has the ability to adapt quickly, this is a great time to list.  Motivated buyers and far less competition than you'll see in another month or two.  Feel free to request a home valuation here.

Buyers, if you're looking for a home in Howell, please consider working with a local, full-time real estate professional (like me) :-).  Working with an out-of-area agent that doesn't know anything but the basic geography will not be able to add quality to your home search.  And I practice what I preach.

Last year I had 5 outbound referrals so clients could get the best possible service by an agent from the area in which they were interested.  Why would I do that?  Because I am committed to the best possible service - and because you deserve the best possible service.

photo credit R. Smith

Weekly Market Update - Howell – February 22, 2016

Inventory is at the lowest point of the year.  Since last week, time on market has increased a bit to 109 days, average price per square foot is $127.  There were 12 solds last week and 13 new listings, but there were also some expired and withdrawn listings that had a negative impact on overall inventory.

You can get a copy of last week's new listings and some Year To Date sales info for the Howell homes market here.  If you want to watch my video report on the Howell realestate market, click here.

If you would like me to determine your home's value, please visit here.

Blood Drive - Brighton MI - March 4 2016

Looking for an opportunity to give blood?  Of course you are!  Who isn't?  My office is having a blood drive on Friday, March 4th from 11 am - 4:45 pm.

You can schedule an appointment by using the Red Cross Blood Donor app, by scheduling through http://www.redcrossblood.org (use sponsor code PREVIEW), or by calling 800-733-2767.

Each donation you make can help or save up to three people.

What’s My Home Worth?

What's My Howell Home Worth?

Everybody wonders about their home’s real value.  I have and I’ll bet you have, too.  So how do you find out? 

Let’s say you just want a number, no pesky real estate agents looking for a listing, something free, something easy.  Hmm, there’s a lot of free stuff on the internet, start there!  And yes, you can get a number without too much trouble, but what if it’s incorrect? (It often is, by the way.)

Too high and you’ll be disappointed if you try to sell it alone (for sale by owner), refinance (refi) or take out an equity loan.  Too low and you’ll feel sad, perhaps even depressed.  So what’s the answer?

Unless you’re in a really small neighborhood, you can keep track of the home listings and their sale prices.  That’s OK, but what if those properties are bigger, smaller, older, newer, a different architecture or on a better or worse lot?  What if your home has updates and the others don’t?  Or vice-versa.  That’s the problem with ‘free’ valuations from a large real estate aggregator site.  (Aggregator sites collect data from all over and put into one location.)  And there are plenty of them out there. They’re wildly inaccurate in many cases.

Real estate professionals have access to tools other than just the MLS.  Sadly, many agents ignore them, are afraid of them, don’t want to take the time and effort to learn them, or just think the old ways are still OK.  They don’t do their clients justice and they don’t do themselves justice, either.

Two Great Ways to Determine Your Home’s Worth

• ·      Have a LOCAL full-time real estate agent out to look at your house.  Do your homework, too.  Have a list of capital improvements for the last 10 years (think new roof, new furnace, additions, remodeled kitchen or bath – NOT carpet and paint). Energy saving improvements are also helpful to know.

• ·      The other way costs you.  Hire an appraiser. If you do this, please, again, use a local appraisal company. They are ‘invested’ in their own community. They know things that out of area appraisers won’t, and they’ll likely respond quicker. 

Whether it’s an agent or an appraiser, they should take the time to walk through your home and around the outside.  Hopefully, they’ll drive through the neighborhood, too, even if they’ve been there before.  All of these things are important to getting to the right value.

If you’re just curious, go the internet aggregator route (think “Z”, “T”, or any number that begin with “H”).  Just don’t lose sleep over a low number or max out your credit cards based on a high number.  If you’re thinking of selling you’ll definitely want to talk with an agent or an appraiser. That’s how you really find out what your house is worth.

If you’re local to me (Livingston, west Oakland, north Washtenaw Counties), I’d be happy to give you a well-explained and documented opinion that will tell you what your house is worth. You can reach me through email or my facebook page. And don’t forget to ask me about my ‘Marketing Edge’ plan.

Howell Home Photo Credit - Robert Smith

53rd Annual Livingston County Home & Garden Show, April 2016.

I know it's tough to think about a home and garden show with cold weather and snow, but get ready for Livingston County's Home & Garden Show in early April, at the Howell High School Fieldhouse.

This is the 53rd (yes - 53rd!) Livingston County Home & Garden Show, and it will run from Friday, April 8th through Sunday, April 10th.  Vendors are still being accepted, but typically there are 200+ at this event.

Cost is $6 adult, $5 senior (60 and up), and children and students accompanied by an adult are FREE.

One of the highlights is the 'Taste of Livingston' on Saturday, the 9th from 11:30 am - 3:00 pm in the Howell High School cafeteria. Tickets are $0.75 each, or a strip of 10 for just $7.

Kids' Zone each day, a Gardening Booth, free paper shredding, a fine arts show, and a neighborhood resource display, too.  

Get more info at: http://livingstoncountyhomeshow.com/ and plan to drop by!

New South Lyon Real Estate Update 2-15-16

Here's the quick update for South Lyon real estate.  Check out my video, complete with a discussion of the median home sale, here.

Inventory remains low at 211 units.  In the last week there were 14 new listings (low, also) and 8 sales.  The sales were completed in an average of 41 days!  Folks, that's blistering fast. The average sales price was $253,262 or $132/sq ft, pretty much normal for the South Lyon area.  

You can download the pdf of the 14 new listings here if you wish.  And buyers, contact me for a free home buying workshop.  One-on-one service and you'll get a great ebook as reference, too.

Howell Real Estate Update - Valentine's Day Issue

It's Sunday, February 14th - Valentine's Day!  The current inventory is 244 units.  YTD in the Howell area we've had 80 properties sold and in the last 7 days, 8 have sold at an average price of $212,306. That's $100/sq ft. They were on the market for an average of only 41 days!

We saw 21  new properties come on the market in those same 7 days,  There are 9 rentals available via the MLS, but most rentals don't go in the MLS, so you'll have to do some leg work to find that perfect rental you're looking for.

Call me if you'd like a personalized, 1-1 Home Buying workshop. You get my free ebook at the end as a bonus.

Feel free to watch this week's video update here.  You can download this week's 21 new listings here.

Weekly South Lyon Real Estate Market Feb 09, 2016

The South Lyon area is mostly in Oakland County, but parts of it range into northeast Washtenaw and southeast Livingston Counties, too.

Inventory in the South Lyon area continue to decline, we're now at 216 units.

There were 17 new listings in the last 7 days (click here to get them in a pdf file). You can see my video report here.

In the last 7 days, there were 6 sold residential properties (detached homes and condominiums), averaging a sales price of $303,528, or $132/sq ft.  These 6 homes sold in an average of 51 days!  Remarkable when you consider that it takes 30-40 days to close a conventional or FHA mortgage. That means these homes are going under contract in the first 10 days on the market.

There is a lot of new construction in the South Lyon area, and builders often only place one model in the MLS, so there's likely more than what is showing for inventory.  But builders are still not putting up 'spec' houses, preferring to get buyers under contract before they start to build.

Buyers - don't hesitate. Be sure you're working with an agent that can get you into homes quickly or they will be gone.  If you're interested and not working with an agent yet, I have a great workshop that we can do one-on-one that will answer most of your questions.  Even 'experienced' buyers will learn a thing or two from this session.

Sellers - your competition will NEVER be lighter than right now.  DO NOT WAIT UNTIL SPRING to list unless it's absolutely necessary.  At this time of year there are fewer buyers that are 'tire kickers' and more that are SERIOUS.

Follow my facebook page to see local real estate news, tips on buying, selling, decorating and home maintenance and more!   http://www.facebook.com/MichiganRE

Howell Real Estate Update February 8, 2016

Near Downtown Howell

The active Howell inventory is 239 units (detached homes and condominiums).

In the last 7 days there were 17 new listings and 11 sold.  For the sold properties, the average price per square foot was $114, a typical number for Howell.  These homes were on the market for just 62 days from date of listing to date of closing, not very long when you consider the average closing takes 30-45 days.  The average sales price was $181,195.

Sellers - DON'T WAIT FOR SPRING UNLESS IT'S ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.  Right now with the lower inventory your home will get noticed faster and at this time of year the buyers tend to be serious, not tire-kicking.  If you're thinking about selling, please interview me so I can tell you about my 'Buyer's Edge' program.  Just curious about your home's value?  Contact me anonymously and obligation free at http://goo.gl/LiQjYb.

Buyers - Work with a full-time real estate pro to get into these homes as quickly as you can or they may be under contract, especially in the $225,000 and under price ranges.  I offer a buyer's workshop that is great for first-time buyers, but is also useful as a refresher for folks that have purchased a home in the past.  Rules and regulations are changing even though you may not see it.  It's best to be prepared and not leave things to chance.  Want to get the newest listings immediately?  Contact me and let's chat for a few moments so I can set you up with a great search that will email you once a day, once a week, or every time a new listing hits the market that matches your search needs.

See this week's video report at:  http://goo.gl/WZzah0

photo credit - Robert Smith, Realtor

Groundhog Day Howell Style

For 17 years, the Howell Nature Center in Marion Township has had its own ‘Groundhog Day’.  The reigning groundhog prognosticator is Woody.  Woody has been named as Michigan’s official groundhog, by the way.  And the laurels don’t stop there.

This will be the 18^th year that the Howell Nature Center has a groundhog forecast regarding an early spring or a longer winter.  Thus far, forecasts have been accurate 13 out of 17 times!  That’s a whopping correct answer more than 75% of the time. Compare that to the most famous groundhog weather predictor, Punxsutawney Phil, who’s correct just under 40% of the time.  Woody sounds like a ringer!

Woody is actually a female groundhog. Legend states that if she leaves her house and stays out for 30 seconds or more there will be an early spring.  If she doesn’t emerge or runs back in under 30 seconds we have six more weeks of winter in store.  She runs back in because she sees her shadow and becomes scared.

As a side note, last year Woody was ‘under the weather’ (excuse the pun) and there was a stand in, Murray, who gave an incorrect weather forecast.

Woody today predicted that we will have six more weeks of winter!  Woody didn’t even come out of her house.  And this just in – Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow so Phil’s predicting an early spring.  Who’s right?  Time will tell.

The Howell Nature Center really does a great job with this event.  There’s a Continental Breakfast and a kids’ costume contest before the 8:15 prediction.  There was also a pancake breakfast this past Saturday where the public could meet Woody before her big day.  And Woody has a degree of fame that goes beyond Howell and the State of Michigan, too.  She’s listed by the Weather Channel as #11 of the top 11 groundhog forecasters in the country. Who’s number 1?  Yup, you guessed it, Punxsutawney Phil.

A groundhog named Woody, you wonder?  Groundhogs and woodchucks are the same animal, so technically it’s Woody the woodchuck.  But this is groundhog day, so we’ll call her Woody the groundhog.

People have used woodchucks to forecast an early spring or longer winter since 1886, when the editor of the Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper reported that local groundhogs had not seen their shadows that day, and it indicated an early spring.  This legend may be based on some European beliefs that badgers and hedgehogs can provide signals to the future. In Pennsylvania, the closest thing to a badger or hedgehog looks like a groundhog.

Woodchucks are considered true hibernators and they do typically ‘wake up’ in early February, so there is some basis for the legend, after all.

Image courtesy of google-listed as free to reuse