Detroit Real Estate

If you are buying a Metro Detroit home and getting a Michigan mortgage here is a quick explanation of tax pro-rations. 

Here is my definition of tax pro-rations:

Tax pro-rationsare the amount of money you will owe the seller for the property taxes they have pre-paid.

In Michigan we pay property taxes in advance.  When you buy a Michigan home you will have two taxes to pay.  A winter tax and a summer tax.  Each tax covers a 12 month period.  Winter taxes are due December 1 and go until November 30th of the next year.  Summer taxes are due July 1 and go until June 30th of the next year.

Let's do a scenario of explanation of tax pro-ratios.  Let's say the winter taxes are $1200 a year and the summer taxes are $3000.  So let's say we are closing on Feb 28 2010. 

So the seller has paid the winter taxes on December 1, 2009.  His winter taxes are $1200 a year or a $100 a month.    So he has used up 3 months of his taxes he paid because we are closing on Feb 28.  So he has 9 months of taxes he has paid and not using.  The seller wants his money back.  It is customary for the seller to get his tax money back.  So you owe the seller 9 months of taxes X $100 = $900

Then we figure out how much you owe the seller back for the summer taxes.  The summer taxes are $3000 or $250 a month.  So the seller has used up July, August, September, October, November, December, January, February.  He has used up 8 months of his taxes.  So you owe the seller 4 months back.  4 months X $250 = $1000 you owe the seller.

$1000 summer taxes + $900 winter taxes = $1900 in tax pro-rations you owe the seller.

Of course what tax pro-rations you owe the seller depends on how much the taxes are and when you close on the house.  There is no ''good time" to close.  Tax pro-rations are just a cost of buying your new home.  I hope this explanation of tax pro-rations will help you understand your Michigan mortgage and the closing costs.

Search Metro Detroit homes for sale and get the latest Southeastern Michigan home listingsemailed to you so you don't miss out on the great deals!!!

Russ 

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Michigan Property tax explanation

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My quote of the day: 

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in.  A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.  ~Bill Vaughan   

What else would you expect  as a roadside attraction in Detroit? Yes we have a 80 ft tire.  I guess nobody got around to building the 200 ft car to go with it.

The Giant Tire was originally created by U.S. Rubber (now Uniroyal Tire) as a Ferris wheel attraction for the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair.  The two sides looked like a tire but in between the sides there was the ferris wheel.  Over two million fairgoers  at the New York Worlds Fair rode the tire.  Jacqueline Kennedy, Caroline, and John also took the ride at the World's fair.  It held about 87 riders and another famous rider was the Shah or Iran.  It weighs about 8 tons.

 When the New York World's Fair ended in 1965, U. S. Rubber decided to move the tire to it's present location in Allen Park, Michigan near it's sales office. The Ferris wheel was taken apart in 188 sections and transported by train to Detroit. Since then, the tire has become one of the nation's most recognizable roadside icons and featured in items ranging from maps and artwork to town Christmas ornaments.

They took the 80 ft tire apart in 188 sections and transported by train to Detroit.  Then they reassembled it on it's current site.

I grew up less than a 1/4 mile from the tire.  We used to spend hours in the woods there.  (We called them Ford woods)  There was a swampy woods area right near the tire that would freeze over.  We would skate through the trees and play tag on ice skates in the winter. (Things kids do)  Even then the tire had a fence around it to protect it from vandalism and graffiti.

In 1998, to demonstrate how their NailGard® self-sealing passenger tire worked, Uniroyal placed an 11-foot high, 500-pound nail into the tread of the Giant Uniroyal Tire.

In the fall of 2003 Michelin Uniroyal's parent company renovated the tire as part of a Interstate 94 renovation project.  They spent about a $1,000,000 to renovate the tire.  They added the company website, took down the neon lighting, added new structural beams, repainted the wheel, and added reflective lettering.  Michelin, Uniroyal's parent company, donated the Big Nail to the city of Allen Park, Michigan.

The City of Allen Park put the Big Nail up for auction on eBay, and a short time later, Ralph Roberts of Ralph Roberts Realty placed the winning bid of $3,000, which ultimately helped the Allen Park Historical Society's programs and facilities. 

The Uniroyal tire roadside attraction is located on I-94 just east of the Southfield Rd exit just minutes from Detroit's Metro Airport.

Happy St. Patricks Day (edit/delete)

Here are a few Irish Blessings for all of you.  May today be safe and prosperous for you.  May you enjoy the laughter and friendship of friends and family today.  The Irish always have some of the great Blessings.  Here are seven Irish blessings for you

 May your blessing outnumber the shamrocks that grow, and

may trouble avoid you wherever you go.

  May you always have walls for the winds,
a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire,
laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,
and all your heart might desire.

May you have:
A world of wishes at your command.
God and his angels close to hand.
Friends and family their love impart,
and Irish blessings in your heart!

 These things, I warmly wish for you-
Someone to love, some work to do,
A bit of o' sun, a bit o' cheer.
And a guardian angel always near.

 May you have love that never ends,
lots of money, and lots of friends.
Health be yours, whatever you do,
and may God send many blessings to you!

Top of the morning to you, and the rest of the day to yourself!"

May you have warm words on a cold evening,
a full moon on a dark night,
and the road downhill all the way to your door.

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields and,
Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

May you have a great St. Patricks Day.  There are lots of  great Irish bars and pubs throughout  the Metro Detroit Area for great food and music today.

Baile Corcaigh (Corktown, Detroit) map
Cloverleaf Bar (Southgate)
Conor O'Neill's (Ann Arbor) map
Colleen's Irish Pub (St. Clair Shores) map
Cowley's Old Village Inn (Farmington) map
Chris McGurrin's (Hartland)
Dick O'Dow's (Birmingham) map
Dunleavy's Downriver (Allen Park)
Irish-American Club (Detroit)
Gus O'Connors (Novi)
Gus O'Connors (Rochester)
Irish Tavern (Waterford)
Kildare House (Windsor)
Maggie's Irish Pub (Detroit) map
Mangan's Irish Hut (Mt. Clemens) map
O'Mara's (Berkley)
Patrick O'Ryan's (Windsor)
Sean O'Callaghan's (Plymouth)
Stout Irish Pub (Brighton)
The Blarney Pub (Toledo) map
The Claddagh Pub (Lansing)
The Claddagh Pub (Livonia)
The Fenian's Irish Pub (Conklin)
The Old Dublin (Taylor)
The Tipperary Pub (Detroit)

Russ Ravary

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I'm not...   I'm ready to head for Florida or someplace warm..  It is only January and I am tired of shoveling snow.  I am getting older ( I just turned 50 this year) but I still shovel everything by hand.  I don't have a big walk or driveway but when we get a big snow I have to shovel as it snows.  It is too much to shovel 6 inches at one time.                 

We are supposed to get from 6 to 9 inches of snow tomorrow.  I think I will just hibernate for the day.  Though I do have to go into the office to scan some documents about a home we saw.  I need to get public records on the property to show when it was sold and what is owed on the mortgage.  I need to get all the recent sold comparables for them.  They need to have the information to make a sound decision.  So I will be trudging through the snow to get them all the information they need to make a decision on the Canton home they saw.

Get the fire started honey I'll be home quick.  Nothing like sitting inside watching the fire.

Stay warm, stay safe,  and take your time shoveling.

Russ Ravary

Your Canton real estate specialist

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