Interview with a Realtor

Builder radio called me last week and requested an interview based on material I had published on the Sales and Marketing Council page through the National Association of Home Builders. Scott Stroud conducted the interview and it was a blast. He did a great job of keeping me moving forward and getting the material I wanted to present expressed in a timely and orderly fashion. I am excited for it to be published and will update the blog when it is. Take a look at the link on the side of my page to builder to look at all of the interviews currently posted and see Jerry and Scott's latest web series for some great sales training material.
On another note, July was the strongest month in real estate I have had in the last year. How great is it to have to manage appointments so carefully because of how busy it is. Let's hope the market continues to grow stronger.

RiverWalk Video Complete

This is the second video on the series MC Squared and I am building for the communities I work in. It has been a lot of fun working on the production of these.

New Listing Just in Time for the Fourth

If you or someone you know is looking for the perfect family home in Okemos, I just listed it.

Ever thought of living in a neighborhood where the kids can play for hours around a pond or in the large park down the street? Of having a beautiful river in your back yard with a peaceful wooded setting? Walking into your home everyday and being welcomed by beautiful hardwood floors throughout a flowing home designed for family and entertainment? This rare opportunity has arrived in prestigious Tacoma Hills. Located on the farthest street back in the community, this home is in a low traffic area, as you stand outside you can hear how peaceful this setting is. Yet it is minutes from the mall and shopping. Your opportunity has arrived, make sure you take it.

First Day at Homeshow Huge Success

Day one of the home show is drawing to a close. The doors are open just ten more minutes and all the vendors I talked to were excited about the amount of people out looking around. MC Squared Technology group and myself shot a short video about the show and posted it to www.lifeinlansing.com. You can view it on the front page. A new twist for the show this year is educational seminars. So far they have had full audiences. The topics tomorrow include; how to build a pole barn, financing options, "green" flooring, outdoor living spaces, and a remodeling seminar. I look forward to seeing you here.

Home Show Ready to Shine

The Booths are almost built, the carpet is getting put down, and ticket sales are about to begin. All that is missing is....YOU! Tomorrow the doors open on the annual Greater Lansing Home Builders & Remodelers Spring Home and Garden Show. You won't be disapointed this year. The hours are posted on the website, and stop by BOOTH 142 to visit us and write your own review of the show. See you there.

Is it time to buy a home or investment property yet? A study guide to reading the market.

In every market there are signs that tell you what the market is doing at any given time. These are called indicators. This post will show the indicators I use for looking at the market and trying to read where it is going. Please remember this data is being provided for you to look at and I am no way offering advice for what you should do. These are my opinions, and should be used to start a discussion only. One point to remember, even in a down market there is still a market. So it is important to find where it is and capitalize on it. The next few paragraphs may be a little too much information, so if you just want a one paragraph synopsis, skip to the last one. Other than that, if you really want to get more in depth with your market, hope this helps.

The first and most important indicator to me is population. If there is population growth, there is a need for housing. According to the “Real Estate Guys Radio,” the Detroit Metro area is getting 2 to 1.5 inquiries of people wanting to move out verses people wanting to relocate here. One of the best ways to track this is talk to a moving company or your local cable service may be of service if you know someone there. They can tell you how many hookups verses cancellations they are getting. Remember, these are not exact sciences, but they will give you an indication of what is going on in the market. Unfortunately, from talking with people in these fields around here, we are seeing population loss in Lansing as well. It is no surprise when you look at another important indicator and one which is very easy to track, absolute employment. This is tracked through the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. If you live in Lansing, search for the Lansing-East Lansing MSA, or Metropolitan Statistical Area. This is usually a few months behind, but I use it to look at trends. Absolute employment shows the actual number of jobs a region currently has. I use this instead of unemployment rate because when someone has been out of work for the allotted time on unemployment, they are no longer used in the statistic from the State as an employable person. If you look year over year for the last few years we are still trending down. Most likely we are going to see annual numbers for 2008 be a couple of thousand jobs under 2007. This is our third year of job shedding in Lansing. When there is a turn around here, things should start stabilizing and the region will start getting healthy again.

We also made history for new houses in our area according to the Greater Lansing Home Builders Association. December of 08 was the first month no single family home permits were pulled in our region. NAHB states builders are in a “de facto moratorium”.

This leads me into tracking monthly permit data from Texas A&M Research Center. Permits for our area are under 300 for 2008 according to their data. This may change a little bit from rural areas that only report once a year. I think you will see this number get adjusted to close to 400 or so for 2008. Even so, this is the lowest result since the early 80’s. It may even be another record book statistic for lowest in history since data was kept. Here is the link to view what the research center has published, http://recenter.tamu.edu/.

Existing home inventory levels in the tri county area also give us a pulse of what the market condition is. Currently there are just over 3800 homes listed on the Greater Lansing Multiple list service. If you take the last 12 months of sales and divide the current number of homes available, it shows that currently there is a 10.5 month supply of houses listed in the Greater Lansing Area. This is down from the last time I ran this ratio.

SO… What does this all mean to me?

First the new home permits levels falling off with no permits being pulled in December is a good thing for our market. Since I started tracking new home permits verses sales in 02, I have watched our inventory grow from around a 6 month supply to over 15 months. When I looked at current sales against inventory levels the end of 2008, we were around 13 months meaning that the market inventory is finally stabilizing. Unfortunately for us in Lansing we may be in for another small downturn before we finally level off and start back up the market cycle. This is based on the current announcement of 1500 jobs being cut in our area in manufacturing. It will most likely mean that we will see a little more erosion in our home values in the market. We need to see a turn around in the jobs market for the region to stabilize. It looked like we were going to see that last year but unfortunately we still had a slight downslide.

Under all of the bad news currently in the Lansing Market, small start up businesses and small entrepreneurs are beginning to sprout up and bring new life to our economy. This is a trend that is being showing up nationally as well. As large companies downsize ex-employees are becoming business owners since they are unable to find work at other companies. I feel that this is going to play a significant role in the revitalization of the Lansing Region. Even though we are seeing articles in our local paper stating that 2009 is going to be a rough year for commercial real estate, small businesses have a great opportunity to get into real estate for their companies cheap.

The answer to the question posed in the title, Is it time to buy a home or investment property yet?, is really for you to decide. What the indicators show is we may be hovering near the bottom now. What will get me to say we have absolutely hit bottom is when I see a year of the employment trend growing. What that means is we won’t know bottom has hit until we are well out of it. The only solace is, everyone finds out that way. It important to use education, and the experience you have gained and from professionals to find what is best for your situation. The real estate market like any other is cyclical. Many people told you in the late 90’s and early 00’s that they could time the stock market and become rich, well, who got the bigger bailout. I am certain that in the long run real estate will be worth more in the future than it is now. Since I believe that, it is time to get educated about the market and get out and find property. Signs of life are starting to show through the proverbial snow. Be careful, but get out and look and see what is going on around you in your market place. If you are not in the Lansing market, use the web links here and through your own research to see what is going on in your market. Deals are available for either investment or for your next home. And remember, once the growth has started it may be too late to get the best deal.

Is a foreclosure your best option?

You watch the news and see many companies downsizing and plants idling. Real Estate has all but been written off by the media. I even read in Newsweek that home builders have all but written off 2009. The word foreclosure is now the new marketing “Buzzword” for Realtors. You hear that word and you think, bargain. All around town I see real estate signs that actually say “Foreclosure” on it like it is a good thing. I had one realtor tell me he received a call on one of his listings from a sign and the first question out of the prospects mouth was “Is this a foreclosure, if it’s not I don’t want to see it?” The foreclosure has really come to the forefront of the current real estate cycle that we are in. The foreclosure market is also the media darling at this time, so is this the best opportunity for you?
Before you jump on the foreclosure band wagon you need to ask yourself a couple of questions. Is this worth the time investment that I will have, and is the money it take to complete the project worth it in the end? We will talk about exit strategies more in the next week. I am sure you have heard that just because something is cheap doesn’t make it a good deal. All over the media it is plastered that you can buy houses 60 cents on the dollar, and I had an investor tell me that he purchased a house for 25 cents on the dollar. So what does this actually mean when you are done. To give you some background on me, the last 6 months I have bought two foreclosed properties. I have a client who has bought 13 through me in the past 8 months, and have showed countless other foreclosed properties in the area. I am stating this because I want you to know that I have experience when dealing with these homes.
This first part I want to discuss is time. For every one of these homes that myself or my client has bought we probably looked at close to 20 in person and at least 50 on paper. I spend at least an hour a day reviewing houses and at least 3 hours a week going into and getting cost for repairs together. Next, it is usually a month to get these homes back to market or in rentable shape. So you need to make a real commitment if you are going to find a deal.
Next, cheap doesn’t necessarily mean a good deal. There are so many hidden costs in getting one of these homes back to market. You need to make sure that if you are doing the estimating you have a good handle on the costs, or you could hire an inspector, but that is going to run you about $300. This may be money well spent if you are going to be making a substantial investment in these homes. It should help speed your learning curve, and could save you thousands in mistakes further down the road. If you have a partner that has been remodeling for years, you will have an advantage here.
If you are looking at purchasing one as a home owner, you need to take extra care. Human instinct draws us towards advertisements like “Good Deal,” “Best Deal in Town,” “Discount,” and of course “Foreclosure.” What actually happens when you buy most of that cheap stuff. If breaks, it has some sort of defect that you may be able to live with but would be too costly to repair, in worst case scenarios, you could end up spending a lot more money to cover the mistake than it would of to put the extra money in up front. This can be a real issue in the foreclosure category.
I am going to give a real example of two houses located in the popular “Colonial Village” community. Both are +/- 1100 Sq. Ft. Cape Cods. One is a move in ready Cape Cod that sold for approx 83K and the other was government owned that sold for around 60K. These numbers I am giving are strictly my opinion, but I feel are an accurate representation of my point. The 83K house didn’t need anything, but lets say you didn’t like the color so you spent 2K to change it. Should be high, but it puts you into the house for 87K. You have the other cape cod that you just picked up for 60k. This home has been sitting with out any climate controls for months causing cracking of the plaster and leaving a lot of deferred maintenance. Here are the numbers off my bid sheet. For kitchen update we had $7500. Redo all floorings we had $2.5 per sq ft. This totals out to $2887. Bathroom we had $3100. Paint/drywall repair $3600. Landscape $1000. New Doors/trim $1900. This was because we needed to replace a slider and put trim through out the house. Mechanicals would have been $2200. The roof and fencing also needed maintenance at approximately $2000. This brings the total of repair to just under $23000. Let’s say it takes you two months to repair it. You will have at least a thousand dollars of holding costs or if you paid cash, lost opportunity cost.
If you add it all together it comes out to $84,000 that you would have effectively has into that home. So as a home owner you would have had two invest two extra months living somewhere else, and would have had close to the same money into your home. If you are really handy around a house (which is not me), this may be a great opportunity for sweat equity. If you haven’t done it before, think out your costs. My old football coach always said, “if it was easy everyone would be doing it.” Same scenario here.
This is not meant to scare you, but just to get you thinking. A foreclosed property may be your best bet. And when you look hard enough there are good deals that need minimal work. Be careful when you hear the word discount. Before you buy the “good deal” take time to assess your skills, and write down what your needs are before just finding a house. In other words, think about your lifestyle first, then find the property that suites that. If you have any questions, please feel free to email, or call me anytime. Good luck in your house hunting!

Stay Warm! Network Online.

After being back in the cold for a few days, I can see why facebook, linked-in and all of the other online networking groups are growing at exponential rates. IT’S COLD OUTSIDE! Lets face it, when the temperature stays in the single digits for this long of a period, it really makes it hard to justify spending a lot of time outside interacting with fellow man. That’s ok, it is forcing to do something that I have been meaning to get done a long time ago. Giving me the time to really make my online profiles shine.
I have had a myspace page for the last year and have a lot of fun connecting with old friends and seeing what they have been up to the last few years. At the builder’s show it was great to catch up with other volunteers on the Sales and Marketing Committee and see what they have been up to in their business. It was exciting to see their networking groups and I have added a couple of links to my blog. Theses guys have written some great articles and have some really good resources to view about the economy today. I will be posting local market numbers by Jan 30.
I have also just started building my profile at activerain.com, which is a site built for the networking of active salespeople in the real estate profession. If you want to find out more about what is going on in the real estate industry go check out the blogs and read the profiles. I will also be building a profile on facebook and linkedin.com. I am excited to expand networking opportunities. I will put the links on the side of this blog as well. Please link your profiles when you get a chance.
One of the most exciting online programs we have going this year is the revamp of lifeinlansing.com. The site has been redesigned and is much more user friendly. TasteofLansing and lansingareaevents.com are all being rolled into the site. We will have online forums and places to review local restaurants and hotspots. We are looking for subject matter experts in different fields that would be willing to write columns, or basically blog for the site in its different fields. There is not a lot in the way of tangible returns, we can’t pay because this is a grass roots effort, and you would have to buy your own food at the restaurants and clubs until they see what great value we have here and start sending us meal tickets to get us to show up. Until then, it should be more than rewarding in the fact you get to influence how people spend their hard earned entertainments dollars. Also, it gives you a chance to really show off your expertise in a particular field, and lets face it, on some level we all love to give reviews and share our experiences.
I am trying to keep these short, so I will wrap up. Stay out of the cold and on your computer (unless you are going out to look at a house). I am really excited to work on my online profiles and connect with people to see what they have going on. I am excited to expand on the web and see who I get to run into. I also can’t wait to show you all the new LifeinLansing.com site. I hope you find it useful and exciting. Please share your ideas and experiences either here, or send me an email. Have a great week.

Real Estate, Investing, and "Bad Markets"

With all that has happened in the last month or so around the world with the credit crunch, banks failing, real estate prices still declining, and of course the great world of politics, I can’t help but think of lyrics from a song artist that escapes me at this time. “It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.”
It is hard to keep a positive attitude on our countries financial future when we hear nothing but doom and gloom around us. One point of this whole mess that really struck home to me was CNN’s top ten most wanted for the cause of the financial crisis. One of the people named on the list was “you,” meaning each of us in the US. It really struck me with the fact that I do have some control with what is going on. I may not be able to bail out a bank, but I can start at home with bailing out my own finances. As with 99% of America I got caught up the notion that the ride we had from 2001 to 2006 was never going to end. Even though I saved what I thought was a good portion of my income, it was no were near the 10% that used to be our nation’s average. I also thought I played by the rules investing in real estate and putting money in mutual funds to help my money grow faster than it would in a savings account. Unfortunately, neither of the investments have shown the return that was expected, and unfortunately opening my IRA and 401K statements have been disappointing to say the least. So what next?
I haven’t written in a while because what’s next is to keep investing. I just finished up an investment home and sold it to a first time home buyer. I made more than I would have with just a regular commission, and still gave the client a great deal on a home. I am not saying that quick turning a home is the best way to make money in this market, but I found a great home that fit one of my clients needs and we took a foreclosed home and rebuilt it to his needs and helped out the neighborhood it was in. I wrote back in January that now is the time to keep moving forward with your real estate investing. People always look for the deal when they go retail shopping. Yet when it comes to purchasing a home or investments in the stock market, we shy away from the markets when they take a major drop. I do not know enough about stocks to know if buying now is a good idea, if that is the investment vehicle you want to use, consult a professional in that area. As far as real estate goes, even in Michigan, which is being written off by most of the country, there is still money to be made in this area.
Even if you are only looking to purchase a home to live in, buying when the market is near the bottom of the trough, (I say near the bottom because no one knows when we are going to see the bottom or when the turn around is going to happen), gives you the best chance of seeing the biggest gains when the market does rebound. This is one of the greatest opportunities that has been seen in twenty years to purchase. I have always been taught, when you don’t know what to do, look at the best people in the industry and follow what they do. Listening to Robert Kiyosaki in an interview on the “Real Estate Guys Radio,” he was talking about how exciting real estate investing is right now. Many of the big investors are currently out buying properties all over the US. These are the guys to follow and study if you want to be successful. I will be adding a few more books to the list I have read recently. These are an excellent source of education to understand how real estate, investing, and goal setting work.
Even with all of the bad news we are being bombarded with everyday, this is the opportunity that the big guys and sophisticated investors of the world have been waiting for. If it is the right time for them, why not have it be the right time for the rest of us?

Home Builder Economic Forecast given at International Builder Show

I am sorry for all of you reading this in Michigan right now. I am currently At the International Builders Show™ in sunny Orlando, Florida. It is a little cool right now because it is in the 60’s. Don’t worry, I’ll do my best to cope. Yesterday we were given the 2008 housing outlook according to the NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) economists. Their news agreed with what I posted a few weeks ago regarding the fact we seem to be moving more homes and with the slow down in building, inventory is reducing. It was nice to hear the validation in the numbers that we are seeing locally. They also gave a report regarding the foreclosure rate and what the numbers realyy mean. I will go into more detail on this next week. They are very optimistic about the outcome the home building industry for the next two years. I am going to try and get permission to post part of the report up to show what they had put together. It is a pay service, so I cannot guarantee anything. If you want to try and find it you can go to www.nahb.com and look for it. I am moderating two Meet the Expert courses at the builders show so I have posted some of the forms that Forsberg Real Estate uses in its day to day operations that I am going to be talking about in Florida. These are mainly Goal Setting and Agent Training forms, but are located on the right side of the screen if you are interested in looking through them. Have a great day.

Market hangover brings valuable lessons

Last night I was at a Christmas party at Dublin Square. I think out of the two hundred or so people there, 199 asked me, “so how’s the market right now? “ I respond with the same generic answer “slow in some segments, but steady in others.” Lately in Lakeside, I have been able to say we have three homes under construction for new neighbors out there. This really seems to open eyes when people hear that comment. They think housing is at a complete stop. The truth is, this market is not dead. We are seeing people still buying nice homes, the difference is, they are getting more value for the dollar. The party of the housing boom is over, and the United States housing market has finally awoken with a huge hangover. Unfortunately, some people got hurt when they fell victim to predatory lending. Others really thought the housing market would never crash and bought more than they could afford because they felt that the appreciation would bring them riches in the future. This is going to hurt for a little while nationally, but hopefully we can take a few lessons from this situation. I know I will be more careful on how little equity I leave in one of my properties so should I need to sell it fast I won’t be in a position to bring money to close. As goods become more expensive and gas prices raise again, this is a good time for all of us to readjust our budgets, and put together a program for a rainy day. A home is still a good investment if you need a place to live, but listening to a Rich Dad tape, Robert explains how a house is really a liability as a personal investment for our future. I did not understand this at first, especially being in the real estate profession. We are taught to show the tax advantages, appreciation values, and all of the other benefits that come on paper from owning a home. These are all true, but after watching the foreclosure rate, it all comes down to the simple fact of how much money is coming in the door versus what is going out. It is unfortunate that so many people are learning this at the expense of their homes.

Goal Setting

As the new year rapidly approaches many people begin to work on their New Years Resolutions, or goals. Goals are something that our office takes very seriously. Through out the year we are constantly reassessing our goals, both within the company and individual employees work and personal goals. A few years ago some of the other agents and myself attended a seminar by a gentleman names Brian Tracy. If you have not heard of him, he is probably one of the best motivational speakers I have ever heard. I have included a link to his website on this blog site, and I am also going to post the notes below that we took from the seminar on goal setting. If you are looking for some direction on self actualization and goal setting, I highly suggest looking through Brian Tracy’s materials. We also have some goal templates that we use in the office, if you are interested in receiving a copy, please email me at brent@lansingrealestate.com, and I will be more than happy to send you one. If you have any tips regarding goal setting please feel free to post them here.
12 Steps:

1) Desire/Need – The force that compels us toward our goal. It is always personal or selfish.
2) Belief – Most important element. You must believe you can achieve. Make your goals challenging so they cause you to stretch yourself (gets you out of your comfort zone).
3) Write it down – This is a way to program it into your subconscious. Write in complete details exactly as you wish to have it. Have a very clear representation.
4) Determine benefit – How will you benefit from achieving your goal? This will help you see more reasons to achieve your goal.
5) Analyze your position – See where you’re at. Where you’re beginning.
6) Set a deadline – What is the latest outside date to achieve goal. You should be able to measure how long it will take to accomplish and measure your success. You should see progress along the way and get a feeling of being a winner.
7) Identify Obstacles – What will you have to overcome? There are always obstacles. Write down what these are.
8) Identify knowledge required – What knowledge do you need to obtain your goal?
9) Clearly identify people needed – THREE LAWS OF RETURN:
1. Law of Return: Sewing & Reaping – more you put in/more you get out.
2. Law of Compensation – Every action gets an equal reaction (get what you give).
3. Law of Service – Can only get success by serving others (go extra mile). More Blessed to give then to receive. More profitable to give then to receive.
10) Take all steps – Make a plan and write down all activities. Prioritize your time – 1st, 2nd, etc. Continually go back and re-prioritize.
11) Clear mental image – Should already have obtained this and should already be in existence. Play the mental picture in your mind daily!!
12) Back plan with determination & persistence – Don’t give up!! Know that there will be setbacks. Winners pick themselves up. Self-discipline is persistence in action.

Happy Thanksgiving

I apologize for not posting in the last week, but I have been out with a severe cold. I will try to post the recap of the Michigan association of planning meeting that I went to last week. Being on the development side of the business, it was very interesting sitting in a class that was designed for governemnt officials on how to design a master plan for a community. I will also have the podcast up of my interview with a first time home investor by Monday next week. I am really excited with these upcoming stories for the week and I hope you find them interesting and educational. If you have any topics that you want covered, please email me at brent@lansingrealestate.com, or post a comment. Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you.

Learn how land planning and Development is done

As development and land use become an ever more heated topic in the United States, many people have questions as to how different decisions are made. Ingham county residents will have a chance to take a workshop to learn how planning and zoning works. This would be an excellent class for anyone interest in learning about board procedures, or just curious about getting involved in our region with development issues. The workshop is being put on by Ingham Economic Development Corporation. This group is dedicated to helping communities and businesses develop through education and links to local, state, and federal funding and other services. I am looking forward to attending this seminar to learn more about the process. The cost of $35 seems more than fair for this course. Here is the Link for Ingham Economic Development if you would like to learn more about them, www.ingham.org/DV/developm.htm . To register for this course, you can contact Susan at spigg@ingham.org or find out more at Lansing area events under the lecture and Seminar section. As always, with any question, or comments, please email me brent@lansingrealestate.com

Go Green Lansing

The green building movement is something relatively new on the American scene. Most people know the term green but do not know exactly what the standard is. In the residential housing industry, you can have the five star energy rating for a home, which means it is energy efficient. This is kind of the beginning standard, then you can get into the types of glues used, renewable finishings, such as bamboo flooring, and many other features that can be used to save energy and be more environmentally friendly. In Commercial buildings, I am aware of Leadership in Energy and Environment Design, or LEED. It is the standard developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. Here is the link if you are interested in finding out more about the standard, www.usgbc.org/LEED/. The National Association of Homebuilders announced that it is going green and is really pushing its new green building courses. In Lansing Gene Townsend announced his new project on the Corner of Kalamazoo and Cedar with its retail shops, condos, and apartments as a green building. I am really excited about this, and I think Gene is going to make a real impact on this town with this. As far as I am aware, this it the biggest green project that Lansing has ever seen. This may be the only true “Green” building in Lansing. This type of project is something that Lansing really needs. I hope that it is a great success for Mr. Townsend, and shows the other developers in the area that Lansing is ready to “Go Green.” (Hopefully that last line does not infringe on any copyright of any certain University)

10/19/2007 Regional Changes in Lansing

As we are constantly reminded of budget deficits, tax issues, and the automotive industry doldrums in the State of Michigan, under the radar Mid Michigan has seen a lot of small start up growth.
Lansing has had an exciting week of announcements. Accident Fund is working on finally coming up with a solution for the vacant Ottawa plant building and bringing it back to a community asset. Pat Gillespie has yet again shown that Lansing has the potential to really shine as an urban core with reclaiming more of the riverfront and turning it into a destination spot for the tri-county area. The entire region has seen some real changes for the enhanced quality of life. Old town just received national recognition from Ikea thanks to the support of the entire Lansing community getting together and voting. The festivals located there are packed with people and activities. REO town has started their Labor Day festival that brings in local and national bands that was truly a great time.
Many of the smaller communities in the area have events that attract hundreds to thousands of people. DeWitt has their Harvest fest coming up and the next few months will be full of Chili cook-offs and holiday celebrations across the region. Over the past decade people have really began to realize how important the fabric of the community is to the quality of life for all of its members. As you drive into the downtowns of our local cities, the streetscapes are being improved and many of the towns are very walk able and full of many exciting small businesses. I am sitting in the downtown Mason coffee shop and bookstore, looking at the town square and admiring the building facades that are all being renovated and the ones that are already restored. Even though its raining, people have been coming in and out of the coffee shop, and quite a few people are walking in and out the of the businesses and shops here.
Right now, downtown Lansing is hard to get in and out of due to the road construction. Next time you go down Washington though, notice how almost every building on the street is either restored, or in the process of being so. All of those second and third stories that were sealed in a metal shell for decades are now being re-utilized into lofts for residents and small businesses. As little as two years ago when you went downtown after five, you would be one of just a few people walking in what looked like a ghost town. Now, there are lines in front of the clubs to get in, the restaurants are starting to get busy, and the coffee shops have people enjoying a cup either before or after they get on with their days. Our region has seen our quality of life enriched with so many different types of activities and the towns all working to make their shopping districts more pedestrian friendly.
I am excited that this doesn’t seem to just be a trend, but a change in our daily lifestyle. As the world becomes more connected economically and many companies are competing for market share in regions and countries that it may not have been possible to do even 5 years ago, people are also realizing how important it is to support and build the local economies, to make sure that we keep the quality of life that we have created here. We have a great balance of businesses that compete on the international, regional, and local level. I hope we continue to see the business growth in the region, and the continued improvement of our cities and towns as we move forward. I really enjoy being a part of the tri county community, and want to know about what you find enjoyable here. Please email me the highlights of your experiences here in Mid-Michigan. What events, festivals, and businesses do you enjoy that adds to your quality of life here? Let me know at brent@lansingrealestate.com and I will get the answers posted. You can also post a response immediately at www.lansingrealestateopportunities.blogspot.com. Have a great weekend, and I look forward to reading what experiences you enjoy in Mid-Michigan.