If You’re Short on Cash Don’t Ask About Buying a Lake Orion or Oxford Home on Land Contract

If You’re Short on Cash Don’t Ask About Buying a Lake Orion or Oxford Home on Land Contract I probably get 2 or 3 calls or emails per week asking about buying a home in Lake Orion or Oxford MI on land contract. Often times these callers want land contract terms because they are unable [...]

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The Difference Between The Deposit and Downpayment

The Difference Between The Deposit and Downpayment I recently wrote an offer for a buyer client where the earnest money deposit (AKA good faith deposit or just plain deposit) was $10,000 and the downpayment amount I wrote in the offer to purchase was $70,000. Pretty straight forward- they were putting $70K down and the $10K [...]

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Considering a Condo? Figure the Association Fee in Your Pricing

Considering a Condo? Figure the Association Fee in Your Pricing If you have been pre-approved to buy an Oakland County MI home for X price as long as the property taxes don’t exceed Y doesn’t mean you can qualify for a mortgage for the same price condo. Condominiums in Oakland County MI tend to have [...]

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The Best Loan Officer Isn’t Necessarily The Cheapest

The Best Loan Officer Isn’t Necessarily The Cheapest If you are shopping for a loan officer for your Oakland County MI home purchase, you need to get a good faith estimate and have him/her go over the figures with you. If you get good faith estimates from more than one loan officer and one of [...]

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Thinking of Buying a Short Sale Listing? A Few Things to Consider

Thinking of Buying a Short Sale Listing? A Few Things to Consider The amount of short sale listings in the North Oakland County and Lapeer MI area have been on the rise over the past several months. I believe this is happening for a variety of reasons. More agents and attorneys are pushing the benefits [...]

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The Perfect House May Not (Probably Not) Exist

The Perfect House May Not (Probably Not) Exist Even with the low inventory in North Oakland and Lapeer County MI, I still consider this a buyer’s market. Prices appear to have stabilized, and in some areas prices look to be increasing a bit and inventory is pitifully low, BUT prices are still low as are [...]

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Lake Orion and Oxford MI Housing Inventory is Low but There are Still a Few Gems if You Look

Lake Orion and Oxford MI Housing Inventory is Low but There are Still a Few Gems if You Look The housing inventory in Lake Orion and Oxford MI is currently low. A couple years ago there was about a year and a half’s worth of inventory. Now there’s about a 4 month inventory, and after [...]

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Could Incomplete MLS Listings Be To Blame For Bad Appraisals?

Could Incomplete MLS Listings Be To Blame For Bad Appraisals? I was reading a letter from our outgoing board president, John Burt, published in our monthly board publication. In the letter he writes about appraisals and mentions that appraisers read the remarks we put in the MLS profile sheet. He goes on to write: “That information [...]

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Oxford Lakes, Oxford MI- More Distressed Sales But Prices Still Stabilizing

Oxford Lakes, Oxford MI- More Distressed Sales But Prices Still Stabilizing In 2010 there were quite a few more sales in Oxford Lakes than in 2009, but there were also more distresses sale – short sales and foreclosures. In 2009 foreclosures and short sales made up 44% of the total sales in Oxford Lakes and in 2010 they [...]

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What is a Redemption Period?

What is a Redemption Period? In Michigan, once you get behind enough on your house payments for the bank to take action (usually after a few months- sometimes longer) you will receive a notice of foreclosure. On that notice there will be a date for the sheriff’s sale. That usually takes place within 30 days [...]

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