Home Repair Services in Grand Rapids, Michigan is a great resource for homeowners. They offer many different classes to educate homeowners on remodeling and finance. The mission of Home Repair Services is to strengthen vulnerable Kent County homeowners because strong homeowners build strong communities. They believe that home ownership encourages personal responsibility and builds value, dignity, and pride. These are essential components for community vitality.
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The real estate story of Grand Rapids, MI in 2014 is quite similar to 2013. The inventory of homes for sale has remained low and prices have been steadily increasing. It has been a great market for sellers and a competitive market among buyers. Interest rates have remained low. It is suspected that sales are slightly constrained because of the limited inventory. Year-to-date, new listings are down by 7.4%, and the number of housing units sold is up 2.8%. The average sales price is up 6.7% this year, growing from $152,833 in 2013 to $163,171 in 2014. Due to increasing sales prices, the volume of home sales is up by almost 10%. If one of your future goals is to purchase a home, it’s never too early to start preparing yourself financially. One of the major factors that goes into getting approved for a home mortgage is your credit score and credit history. Your credit worthiness will determine what loan terms you qualify for. The following are steps you can take now to prepare your credit for buying a home in the future. 1) Establish Credit- In order to have credit, you need to start somewhere. For me, that was a credit card with a very low balance as soon as I turned 18. As you use it and make payments, you will be establishing credit. I'm not sure what it is about Asian food, but I LOVE it. My brother has the addiction too, so we usually go out to lunch weekly. Over time I have became quite the connoisseur of Asian restaurants around the Grand Rapids area. Here is a collection of some of my most notable places. Shanghai Ichiban- Atmosphere is the name of the game here. Beautiful decor, sculptures, and even an indoor Koi pond welcome you. The restaurant is divided into two areas, one is Japanese hibachi and the other is Chinese. The Chinese side is a typical nice restaurant experience. The Japanese hibachi is where this place shines. The chefs cook the food in front of you and perform various tricks with cooking utensils, fire, napkins, etc. It's entertaining and the food is delicious. Hibachi is a bit more expensive, but totally worth the experience. Studies show that summer is the peak season for home break-ins. Why? Because people tend to open the windows and forget to close them when they leave. They forget to lock the front door while working out back in the garden – often leaving purses, wallets, and other valuables out in plain sight. But regardless of the season, you can learn how to boost your home security. • Kick proof your doors – Most doors, whether solid wood, fiberglass or steel, are resistant to hard blows. The problem is the door jamb area near the lock’s strike plate. You can strengthen these areas on exterior doors by using a one-inch long deadbolt lock and a reinforced metal box strike, which costs about $10. Use three-inch long screws to mount them so they lodge in the framing beyond the door jamb. (And don’t overlook the door that leads into your house from the garage.) It has been all over the news since yesterday. Zillow announced it is purchasing Trulia for 3.5 billion dollars. Zillow is both friend and foe to Realtors, and the recent announcement is causing a stir among Realtors and local associations. Zillow.com is one of the top national real estate websites and consumers seem to love it. Zillow receives listing feeds from many of the local Realtor associations of homes for sale. They also include FSBO's (For Sale By Owner), "pre-foreclosures" (in parenthesis because the information tends to be wildly inaccurate), and past sales. Consumers like Zillow because it is user friendly and the information is very robust. The website is popular for it's "zestimates" which estimates the approximate property value based on a number of factors. Though the housing recovery is trucking along, that doesn't mean real estate scams have gone away. Home owners have been duped out of an average of $4,000 to $5,000 from scams, but even five-figure losses aren’t uncommon for those who have fallen prey to fake loan modifications and other housing fraud. Highlighted here are four of the most common real estate scams today: 1. Rental scams: Scammers illegally pull online listing information from a home for sale and re-post it as a rental on another site, such as Craigslist. They’ll often ask for money upfront, in the form of a security deposit or broker fee, from prospective tenants. Scammers often advertise the home at a low price and collect application fees from several prospective tenants in order to hold the property for them. Sometimes buyers are anxious to look for a home and want to get started right away. However, the first step in the home buying process is getting pre-approved for a loan. Before issuing a pre-approval letter, a lender will check a person's credit, income, debt, and assess their overall financial position. From there, the lender can state that you qualify for a loan up to a certain amount and issue a pre-approval letter. A pre-approval letter is a necessity for the following reasons: Ok, so I am waaaay behind on posting this one. Festival was almost two weeks ago, but this girl has been very busy. Either way, so what is Festival of the Arts all about? Well art, of course, but food is a big part of it too. Festival is a three day event that always takes place in early June. It is a celebration of local art. There are multiple stages set up and musicians of all sorts can be found. The variety ranges from rock bands to folk to gospel. Dancers perform, adults and kids alike. Artists set up shops and sell their goods. There are a bunch of activities for the whole family. And then there's the food. There is no better place to go if you want meat on a stick or various types of ethnic food. It is a fun and exciting weekend where everyone is welcome to join in the festivities. Please check out my photos below.
So far 2014 has been a crazy year. The real estate market cooled a bit this winter due to the massive amount of snow that dumped on us. It was definitely the worst winter I’ve seen in my lifetime. Sales are down this year so far by 23% compared to the same period last year. Although sales are down, the market is still hot overall and prices have continued to go up. The main reason for the decline in sales is there are not enough homes for sale. Listings are down by 27% YTD. There are a lot of buyers out there that are ready, willing, and able to buy, but cannot find the right property. |
Lisa VanderLooGreat info on everything real estate. Categories
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