Lets make 2012 the best year yet! The housing market in Grand Rapids has stopped it’s tail spin and has leveled off. You might say it has actually improved in some areas. Downtown Grand Rapids Condos are selling and I am seeing a lot of demand for condos. Single family homes in East Grand Rapids, Ada Township and Cascade Township have also been moving, particularly in the higher priced subdivisions. If you have any questions about anything, give me a call, I would love to talk to you!

Sincerely,

Andrew Ingram

Rural Development Update

Rural Development is a great program and we are closing many of these loans. RD has recently taken on more restrictive rules with regards to what they consider to be a farm and farm service buildings (see below for their definition). Bottom line is that if RD determines that any part of the land is income producing or has farm service buildings on the property they will issue a property rejection. They have said that a standard pole barn used for residential storage is acceptable. Let me know if I can be of any assistance.

Farm Service Buildings

The regulation at 7 C.F.R. section 1980.313(a) states: “The property on which the loan is made must be located in a designated rural area ……A nonfarm tract to be purchased or improved with loan funds must not be closely associated with farm service buildings.”

The Agency considers a farm to be a parcel or parcels of land operated for the production of one or more agricultural commodities and which customarily produces or is capable of producing such commodities for sale. The Agency considers a farm service building to be any of the structures used in farming operations, which may include buildings to house workers and their families, or livestock, machinery and crops. Service buildings can include, but are not limited to, livestock barns and shelters; machinery-and form supply-storage buildings; buildings and facilities for crop storage, including fodder; and special-purpose structures such as grain silos. The nature and arrangements of farm facilities vary significantly. Older buildings may be built with lumber, while modern buildings are typically steel. Farm service buildings are typically associated with a tract of land cultivated for the purpose of agricultural production or devoted to raising and breeding domestic animals, such as cattle. They can also be associated with other types of farm operations involving water, such as oyster, catfish, or trout farms.

Properties that are actively used as a farm operation, or in cases where the seller previously used the property to operate a farm, are ineligible for the SFHGLP. The same apply for properties that contain farm service building(s), even if the building(s) have no contributory value.

Thanks,

Scot W. Veneklase, Sr. Loan Officer
Exchange Financial Mortgage
616-957-3480-Office Ext 108
616-575-9808-Direct
616-957-2306-Fax
616-293-7040-Cell (Available Monday-Sunday, 7a.m. to 8p.m.)
www.HomeLoansWithScot.com

Make sure to stop by this former parade home this Sunday, July 17th from 1:00pm to 3:00pm.

895 Quintara Ct is a great home in Comstock Park, just off of Pine Island, close to Post Dr. if you are looking for an immaculate home in a quiet neighborhood with a large private yard, this could be the one for you.

Directions: Pine Island to Loyalty to Quintara Dr, W to Quintara Ct.

Hope to see you there!

Make to use our handy search tool for access to thousands of Grand Rapids listings. If you are looking for something specific, feel free to contact me any time.

This is probably something you never want to hear your Grand Rapids Realtor saying. Selling a home has changed quite a bit in the last few years. When you have made the decision to sell your home you really should interview several agents to determine who is going to get your business. I would recommend doing this even if a friend or close family member has referred someone to you. Not all agents are the same and doing a favor for a friend may end up costing you thousands of dollars and months of frustration. The interview process is important and you owe it to yourself and your family to hire the best.

Before the internet’s information bonanza and especially before the social media phenomenon of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn etc, a real estate agent could get away with putting a sign in the yard and placing it on the local Multiple Listing Service. Perhaps run some ads in the local newspaper like the Grand Rapids Press or Homes Magazine.

Today, most Realtors should have a highly placed website and/or be an active blogger. They should have a Facebook account or better yet, their own Facebook business page, or both. They should have a Twitter account, a LinkedIn account and most of all; they should be actively using all of these tools in their every day marketing of your home. That also includes taking quality pictures. Your home will be online and viewed by potential buyers right away. A decent camera with a wide angle lens is a must.

The Grand Rapids’ Housing Market is tough and challenging. Pricing is going to be key and you should expect any agent you interview to have a detailed Market Analysis with recent comparable sold properties as well as the current listings in your area. It is important to know what your competition is doing. Your agent should also be able to present you with their plan of how they will effectively differentiate your home from the rest of the similar homes in your market.

For more information on selling a home or obtaining a Market Analysis, feel free to contact me anytime.

Showing a couple of gorgeous Grand Rapids homes located in some of our wonderful Ada Township Subdivisions. Looking at the market over the last year or so, the homes at this price point have had to really come down in price in order to attract those good, qualified buyers. It has been the same to some extent throughout most of the Grand Rapids market but particularly in these homes. Another thing I have noticed is that the home owners are now preparing their home for showings much better. Going the extra mile to really impress and that is a great idea and so important.

As a listing agent in Grand Rapids, while pricing a home correctly is the most important step when selling your home, another step that I recommend is preparing your home for the inevitable showings. First impressions are very important and a buyer looking for that high end home is expecting to see a home in show room condition. If you can have the lights on, soft music playing, even better. But it has to be clean and it has to smell nice and it has to be free from clutter.

Thinking of selling a home? Visit my Home Seller page for pricing and staging tips or feel free to contact me any time.

Today’s Showings

 The Home and Building Association of Greater Grand Rapids (HBAGGR) puts on two Parade of Homes each year and the fall parade is all set to start on September 24th thru October 9th. This year will also see the addition of superbly remodeled homes in addition to the new construction offerings using Green technology and featuring floor plans and designs of all types. The HBA office is located at 3196 Kraft Ave SE.

Grand Rapids has no shortage of quality builders and craftsmen. The Parade of Homes is an excellent opportunity for buyers currently in the market to take in some excellent homes, meet some of the builders and get some ideas that they can incorporate into their own home building plans. Current home owners looking to remodel can also benefit from taking the tour and seeing the innovations currently being used.

Each home on the tour will be staffed by non-profit groups that will be there to welcome you and sell tickets. A portion of the proceeds will go towards the non profit organiaztions that help out with the staffing. The Grand Rapids Fall Parade will feature 25 homes, 5 condos, 5 remodels and 2 conceptuals.

For more information, visit the official website or contact me anytime.

Selling a home in today’s Grand Rapids real estate market can be tough.  There is a lot of inventory and depending on the location of your home or condo, you could have several properties to compete with. As a buyer, it couldn’t be a better time, but as a seller, you will want to make your home stand out and get buyers looking at it. The first place to start is establishing the price.

Pricing

The first place to start is to request a list of recent home sales in your area. You’ll want to look at similar styles of home, bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage. What upgrades, number of garages, etc. If you have a condo, the best comps are those that have sold in the same building or development. How does your Grand Rapids Condo stack up against the competition with regard to amenities, upgrades, parking, location or association fees?

Show-ability

Your home or condo should be neat and tidy when a buyer first walks through. Remove as much clutter as you can, remove nick nacks and pictures from the walls. The kitchen and bathrooms in particular should be spotless and touch up any walls that need touching up.

Interest Rates

Interest Rates have an impact on home sales. When rates are high or rising, demand for housing weakens. When interest rates are low, demand for housing increases. Right now, interest rates are at historic lows but experts project them to climb steadily throughout the year.

Short Sales and Foreclosures

In a normal market, distressed property wouldn’t really have the impact that they currently are having. There is such a large amount of short sales and foreclosures in Grand Rapids, the market can’t help but be affected. In some areas, most of the comps are either short sales or foreclosures. One of the factors not yet felt is the ‘shadow inventory‘. Shadow Inventory is an inventory of homes that are held by the banks and are not yet on the market. When will these be released and how will they affect the market?

We can sell your home or condo. If you would like to have a cup of coffee and talk about the market and what your home would be worth, feel free to email me or call any time.

Macromarkets has recently completed a study on just this situation. They have assembled a panel of over 100 economists, investment strategists and housing market analysts. They are surveyed every month regarding their 5 year expectations of future home prices. 70% of the participants in this study believe that home prices will drop or remain the same with 60% predicting lower prices. What this illustrates is that it may be best to sell your home now rather than wait it out. The buyers are out there and sales have increased over the same period last year.

Selling Grand Rapids homes and condos is what we specialize in. We employ the latest in internet marketing techniques and our websites are always at the top of the search engines. These powerful tools enable us to expose your home to the most qualified local and relocating buyers in the shortest amount of time. Knowledge of the market helps us educate you on price and what to do to stage your home for maximum effect. We also are experienced in Grand Rapids Short Sales and can help you sell your home and negotiate with the lender even though you may owe more than the market value. If you have any questions, we would love to help you.

The Grand Rapids real estate market continues to show some life for the moment. The average single-family home sales prices rose slightly from 4.6% to $110,574, over January 2010 ($105,714), the first increase since November 2009. The total number of single-family homes sold in February was 930, up 16.1 percent from last month and up 25.5 percent compared to February 2009 (741). Dollar volume of single family homes sold was up 45.6 percent compared to last month. These numbers while promising,  will be impacted by the $8000 Tax credit  coming to an end.

The number of total active residential listings rose to 7,935 in January. This coupled with the increase in February sales, lead to
a decline in the months-of-inventory level to 8.5 months in February, down from 9.5 months in January 2010.

John Postma, President of the Grand Rapids Association of REALTORS, commented on the market, “We’re continuing to see small improvements in the market,” said John. “The average ‘days on market’ is going down, while the average selling price, median sales price and the percentage of the listing price compared to the sales price all continue to show stability or improvement. In certain segments of the housing market, we’re seeing a shortage of homes.”

If you are thinking of putting your Grand Rapids home or condo on the market and would like to know what it would sell for, please visit the Home Evaluation section of this website and fill out the form. There is no cost and no obligation for this service. We will get back to you within 24 hours with a detailed report on your home’s market value and your costs to close.

Our websites enjoy top search engine placement and our listings receive a great deal of market exposure to local and out of town buyers. Visit our Grand Rapids Grand Rapids Homeseller page for more information on our proactive marketing and let us know how we can help.