Detroit Real Estate

When selling your Novi home or any Metro Detroit home there are many grades

F is for failing.  F is for Failing to listen to your real estate agent or the market analysis.  If you don't listen to your real estate agent on what homes are selling for and price your home high in this market your home is going to sit on the market.  You won't be selling your home anytime too soon if you over price your house.

D is for De-cluttering your Novi home.  Get rid of the the excessive furniture.  Clear off the refrigerator..  Clear off the counter tops.  Make your home look open and free flowing.  Inviting. D is for dirty.  If your house has marks on the walls, dirty laundry lying all over.  Or smells it is going to make it much hard to sell.  You will have to lower your price to offset a smelly home, a dirty home.  So if you want more for your home spruce it up.

C is for Ceeing.  So I cheated a little on this one.  But turn your lights on when ever you show your home.     A Cheery home will sell.  A dark home won't.  ( Back to the Ds)  Clean the windows, put in a little brighter bulb in areas that are dark, and make sure every light socket has a working bulb.

B is Being available.  So many times as a Metro Detroit real estate agent I can't get my clients into homes when we need to see them.  We can't get in because the sellers are busy or don't want to be inconvenienced.  I have had clients buy a home that we added to the list at the last moment.  Homes that the sellers let us in when we saw  the house while driving thru the neighborhood.  So be available when the buyers want to see it.  You never know who the person is that is going to buy your house.

A is the grade you want.  A is for accepted offer.  Getting from F to A is really quite simple.  Listen to the advice your Novi real estate agent gives.  Or what you read on the internet, sellers tips such as Livonia real estate selling tips.  Or any articles on home selling advice is good.   Read and implement them.  So price your home right, de-clutter it, spruce it up, brighten it up by keeping the lights on, make your colors neutral, make your home available to all buyers and you will be on your way to getting an A.  Getting your Novi home sold isn't really that tough

My favorite description of love is from Captain Corelli's Mandolin: 

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."
-St. Augustine

Russ Ravary Your Metro Detroit real estate agent

 Search Metro Detroit real estate or search Novi real estate listings

Earlier this year I took a Northville home listing.  It was my own fault but I took an over priced home and put it on the market.   I felt sorry for the sellers.  They were wanting to move up and buy a bigger home.

The problem is  they owe too much on their home.  They bought the house three years ago and it needed a lot of work.  The sellers put in a new kitchen, updated the bathroom, and finished the basement over the last three years.  Unfortunately the house is worth less than they paid for it three years ago.  Let alone all the money they poured into the home.

I showed them the recent sold homes in their neighborhood and in all of Northville.  I thought they might want to do a short sale.  With what they owed on the mortgage they might have been able to get out of the house by bringing about $15,000 to the closing table.  Well we put the home on the market and only showed it 4 times in six months.

It is a beautiful Northville homeand it shows well in the pictures on the MLS and the internet.  We even got an offer.  But the offer was for what the house was worth.  What it should sell for.  The Northville home buyers knew the market prices and they offered a fair price.  But my clients rejected the offer.  They wanted and needed more to pay off the mortgage.

Unfortunately the only way my clients could sell the house is with a full list price offer and for CASH.  Yes cash.  Even if there was some home buyer that had no sense and offered full price it would not close.  You see the house has to be appraised.  There is no way that any bank would approve a mortgage on an overpriced house.  They will appraise the house and only loan on the value of the house. 

So if the house is listed at $350,000 and the house appraises at $300,000.  Then the bank will only loan $300,000.  Either the deal goes kapuut or the buyer has to come up with $50,000.   So either you either have to find a very stupid buyer that has to have your house and is willing to over pay for it and has money to pay for it.  They have to have the money to cover the difference of what it is worth and what has been offered.

My clients finally listened to me and pulled their home off the market.  They now realize that it would be next to impossible to sell their home for the price they have to have.  So if you really want to sell your Northville home you have to price it right.  I hope this helps you sell your Northville home.

   Each of us makes his own weather, determines the color of the skies in the emotional universe which he inhabits. - Fulton J. Sheen

Or am I losing it.  I guess I don't understand what some people are thinking anymore.  Metro Detroit has been hit hard but some people just don't get it.  Here are some examples of the craziness.

I have a friend that has been out of a job for over a year.  My wife works at a staffing agency and a job came up that fit my friends credentials to a "T".  The recruiter talked to my friend but she "can't make it in until next week.  She has a hair appointment.   WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!  You're unemployed you can reschedule your hair appointment.  How many job interviews have you been on in the last month.   ZERO!!!!

I have another friend that has been out of work for over a year and a half.  He will turn down work if it is his golf league day or it is poker night out with his buddies.  They are close to losing their house, almost running out of unemployment but fun is more important still. 

Here's another one.  Now I'm a guy so I don't quite get this one.  A realtor friend of mine is just about ready to lose her house.  But she is still going to the hairdresser, still getting manicures and pedicures.   Excuse me if you are homeless it doesn't matter if your nails are done does it? Am I right or am I being a guy on this one.

We have the same craziness in the real estate business.  I tried calling a Metro Detroit real estate agent about a home.  My client had some questions about it.  Do you think he called me back after 2 days, 3 calls and an email?  NO.  I guess he doesn't want to sell his client's house too much.

He's another one.  This one I don't feel sorry for.  It is a FSBO (For Sale BY Owner)  I have called him twice to set up showings for a Northville relocation buyer.  Both times he couldn't or wouldn't have the house available for us to see.  He wanted to set the time for us to come.  My relocation clients have a limited amount of time.  So it has to fit their schedule of seeing employers, future schools, and homes.  This Metro Detroit FSBO doesn't get it.  I guess that is why sometimes Metro Detroit Realtors and lockboxes are needed.  If you are selling a home to have to make it available to show when the buyer wants to see it not when you have time.

Many times when a Metro Detroit relocation buyer comes into town we sometimes see 30- 60 houses in a short period.  Add the stress and confusion of kids, living in a hotel, and trying to get accustomed to the area.  It's a crazy time for the home buyer.  I try to keep the days and times as short as possible for the buyer.  So if a home seller wants us to drive from the far side of a city 10 miles away to see their home 4 hours later rather than accommodating us when we were down the block seeing another home.  Well most of the time the house doesn't get seen.  It usually has to fit into the game plan of 1 or 2 days.

So to any of you crazy people..... before you blow off the only job interview you had in a month think about what you are doing.  Or before you tell the prospective home buyer you're too busy to sell your house think about it.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit real estate agent

Or am I losing it.  I guess I don't understand what some people are thinking anymore.  Metro Detroit has been hit hard but some people just don't get it.  Here are some examples of the craziness.

I have a friend that has been out of a job for over a year.  My wife works at a staffing agency and a job came up that fit my friends credentials to a "T".  The recruiter talked to my friend but she "can't make it in until next week.  She has a hair appointment.   WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!  You're unemployed you can reschedule your hair appointment.  How many job interviews have you been on in the last month.   ZERO!!!!

Here's another one.  Now I'm a guy so I don't quite get this one.  A realtor friend of mine is just about ready to lose her house.  But she is still going to the hairdresser, still getting manicures and pedicures.   Excuse me if you are homeless it doesn't matter if your nails are done does it? Am I right or am I being a guy on this one.

We have the same craziness in the real estate business.  I tried calling a Metro Detroit real estate agent about a home.  My client had some questions about it.  Do you think he called me back after 2 days, 3 calls and an email?  NO.  I guess he doesn't want to sell his client's house too much.

He's another one.  This one I don't feel sorry for.  It is a FSBO (For Sale BY Owner)  I have called him twice to set up showings for a Northville relocation buyer.  Both times he couldn't or wouldn't have the house available for us to see.  He wanted to set the time for us to come.  My relocation clients have a limited amount of time.  So it has to fit their schedule of seeing employers, future schools, and homes.  This Metro Detroit FSBO doesn't get it.  I guess that is why sometimes Metro Detroit Realtors and lockboxes are needed.  If you are selling a home to have to make it available to show when the buyer wants to see it not when you have time.

Many times when a Metro Detroit relocation buyer comes into town we sometimes see 30- 60 houses in a short period.  Add the stress and confusion of kids, living in a hotel, and trying to get accustomed to the area.  It's a crazy time for the home buyer.  I try to keep the days and times as short as possible for the buyer.  So if a home seller wants us to drive from the far side of a city 10 miles away to see their home 4 hours later rather than accommodating us when we were down the block seeing another home.  Well most of the time the house doesn't get seen.  It usually has to fit into the game plan of 1 or 2 days.

So to any of you crazy people..... before you blow off the only job interview you had in a month think about what you are doing.  Or before you tell the prospective home buyer you're too busy to sell your house think about it.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit real estate agent

This is one Metro Detroit home selling tip that most people don't do when they are selling an estate home.  They have an inheritance coming.  But the problem is that the money is tied up in a house.  The worst thing they don't realize is that it is an old house.  Sure to you it may be mom's house, grandma's house, or the house your grew up in.  But to a Metro Detroit home buyer it is just another old house,  or just a plain ugly house that needs lots of work.

All the Metro Detroit home buyer thinks is how much money it is going to cost to replace the carpet or how much to do all the repairs.   Many of them can't afford to make the repairs.  So they won't buy your house.  So that is one less buyer for you.  Here are my tips:

1. Paint it.  Putting fresh paint on the walls will get rid of the old person's smells.  People get turned off by the stagnant smell of an old person's home.  Get rid of grandma's  wall paper.  That will turn off people quick.               
2. Re-carpet it or sand the wood floors.  Most likely mom's or dad's house has shag carpet or some ugly color from the 1970's.  Most likely your parent's or grand parents home is not that large.  It should not cost that much to re-carpet the home.           
3. Get rid of the furniture if it is grandma's furniture.  This is the only case where an empty home is better than a furnished home.  Some people can't get past grandma's furniture.  A young Wayne County first time home buyer can't picture themselves in the house.  They can't imagine living in the house with all that old furniture.                                     

If you take these Metro Detroit home seller tips you will sell the house quicker and for more money.  So if you want to make more money from your inheritance paint it, clean out the old stuff, and re-carpet.  It will make the house worth at least $10,000 more.  Or you can flush some of your inheritance down the drain.

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit real estate agent

Are you going to get run over or are you smart enough to be standing on the side of the tracks.  For all the real estate agents that are doing Metro Detroit short sales and not getting a release of liability for the deficiency for their sellers they may be in trouble in the future.  I am amazed at how many Metro Detroit real estate agents that are not doing this.

Banks like Bank of America is not giving those deficiency release letters out.  It's their policy not to give them out.  So that means sellers can be on the hook for the difference between sales price and the amount they owe.  If your client gets a bill from their old bank for $40,000, $50,000 or $100,000 who do you think they are going to come after.  THE REAL ESTATE AGENT OF COURSE.

I think they are going to go after the Metro Detroit real estate agent that didn't look out for their best interests.  An agent that didn't do their job.  An agent that didn't cover all the bases for their client.

If you are gambling that the bank won't come after your client because of the past history you may have a big lawsuit coming your way in the future.  I think the amount of money you make on 5 Metro Detroit short sales may not cover the cost of one judgment and legal fees.

So if you: 

• can't get a release of liability from the mortgage holder for your client
• you don't you advise your client of the potential liability
• you don't have your client sign off that they are aware they could be deficiency judgment against them

YOU AREN'T DOING YOUR JOB AS A METRO DETROIT REALTOR OR A SELLERS AGENT.  IT'S YOUR JOB TO LOOK OUT FOR YOUR CLIENTS BEST INTERESTS NOT YOUR POCKET BOOK. 

The litigation train may be coming will you be run over by it.  That just my thoughts.  I honest don't know why sellers do short sales anyway in some cases.  Their credit isn't saved if the seller has been late on payment more than 3 months.  A foreclosure and a short sale both are bad on your credit report.  So why take a chance of owing a bank long after you do a short sale.

Russ Ravary your Northville real estate agent serving Wayne, Oakland, Livingston Counties and a little more.