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.

Thanks Marty for your effort on the 911 center

For those of you that don't know Marty Colburn, he is the city manager of Mason. I would like to give him kudos for his effort on trying get the 911 emergency center next to all of the other county services in Mason. Despite common sense of keeping all the county emergency services together, the is being moved to South Lansing. Marty put a lot of effort into this even though the deck was stacked against him before he started. I hope people in Mason who see Marty thank him for the effort. He still won by showing other governing bodies in the area that his city is organized has a vision for their part of the region.

Parade of Homes provides less homes than years past but doesn't disapoint

I am one of the lucky people that get to inspect homes in the Parade before it opens to the public. Even though there is just shy of 35 projects this year, the ones in won't disappoint. I viewed the homes in Okemos, Haslett, and Williamston this weekend. A couple of the models had been in the Parade before. They were still very nice and some of the decor inside had been changed up. Mayberry's home in Okemos is beautiful and I really enjoyed the counter tops in the kitchen. The cost is still $10 per person or $25 per family. Even Committee members and Home Builder Association Staff pay the fee to enter. Remember, the money helps benefit local charities.
Cindy at the home builders association stated that traffic was steady throughout the weekend, and was similar to last year at this time. "We are excited to see the housing market turning around and there are great opportunities still available for buyers. Be sure to stop by one of the Parade homes to pick up your ticket to see these great projects and support our local charities."
The market does seem to have made a turn, three of the homes I inspected all sold prior to the Parade this year. All of these were over $300,000. If you haven't been to the Parade before, it is worth the time to go around and see what local builders are creating in your town. If you have been in the past, just because there are less homes, don't let that stop you from going this year.
Here is a link to preview some of the Parade homes. http://www.obeo.com/Public/Search/AgentSearchResults.aspx?agent=119692&resultsonly=true&rpp=100 . Take a look and see where you want to start.

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.

Goals, education, and a propserous 2009

Sorry it has been a little while since I have written. This year has really started out with both feet hitting the ground running. I am adding another link that is focused to new construction sales people. This site features podcasts from some of the top sales people and trainers in this field. There is still a lot of good material for salespeople in other fields. You can also search under Jerry Rouleau under I -tunes and subscribe for weekly updates.
Education and training are the keys to my success in real estate. If you look at the top people in just about every field in the world, almost all of them will tell you that they are constantly learning and practicing to continually get better. Setting goals is also a common theme that you will see attributed to success by every reputable coach and almost every self improvement book I have read. One of my goals for my education last year was to read fifteen books, three more than I read last year. I achieved it and have moved my goal to 17 this year. I will be posting my reading list in the next week. If you are interested in a quick worksheet on goal setting, check out my documents link on the side f this blog under 12 steps for setting goals. This is a summary form a talk given by Brian Tracy. I have a link to his homepage under motivation.
Despite what you hear in the media, I really feel that this is going to be a great year. The opportunities are just a little different, but by having clear goals and a plan to follow I am excited to watch this year unfold. If you have any great tips on goal setting please feel free to add them in the comments section.
One last piece of news, I am really excited to be heading to the International builders show on Jan 17th. If you would like more information on the largest trade show in the US for the building industry check out www.buildersshow.com. I hope this year brings you everything you ask for.

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?

Motivation Under Pressure

As I was listening to the Real Estate Guys Radio Podcast a few days ago, Robert Helms the show’s host, said something that has really stuck with me over the last few days. “When God gives you a gift, he wraps it up in a problem, the bigger the gift, the bigger the problem.” The quote is from the show put on I-tunes on 7/8/08. Remember, even if you don’t have an I-pod you can listen on your computer for free, or I think you can go to their website and download it directly at www.realestateguysradio.com.
I haven’t kept up with my posts recently, because I have had a severe back injury that had pretty much kept me bed ridden for a while. If you work a commissioned job, then you know what type of effect this can have on your income stream. Not to mention on the days when you try to talk or meet with a client trying to stay focused through extreme pain to make sure you are doing the best job to serve their needs.
From a personal standpoint spending days at a time not being able to work is not only frustrating, it brings out a great level of anxiety. How is it going to work in the future to keep providing the essential needs for my family should this become a permanent part of my life? Quality of life issues also come into play. I know many people out there are in extremely worse shape than I am, and to you I admire your ability to move forward everyday.
I have written in past posts about the ideas presented from The Secret, Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracey, Napoleon Hill, and other self help Gurus that provide tools for helping people who want to achieve their dreams. Links to most of these guys are on the right side of this page. “When you have clarity of vision, strategy and tactics become self evident.” Russ Gray, Real Estate Guys Radio Co-Host. “Obstacles are those things that scare you when you take your eyes off your goal.” Henry Ford. If you have subscribed to the Quote of the day on the Nightingale-Conant Site you would have seen the last one about a week or two ago. The point being, there is a never ending supply of this positive material that we can be feeding into us combating all the negativity we hear. It is a never ending bombardment about the elections, the economy, gas prices, floods, and many other tragedies every minute. If you listen long enough you would swear that the world is pretty close to ending.
My first week bed ridden, I really just watched TV the first few days the few hours I was awake. The pain meds kept me asleep the rest of the time. All of a sudden it became a frightening experience realizing that what I had written out for goals was about to become next to impossible. Without being able to go out and show houses all of the other necessary activities involved with my job, all that goal setting and planning I have been doing seemed to have just become waste. I really put myself in that true victim mode of why is this happening to me, it’s not fair, and started to allow myself give in to the negativity that surrounds all of us on a daily basis. This is what keeps many people from ever even trying to achieve their goals and dreams. I wouldn’t even play the newly updated Zig Ziglar webcast on my computer because I didn’t even want to be cheered up. If you have ever heard him speak, I don’t care how negative your mood is, his positive energy is so great that you can’t help but have an attitude change after hearing him for even a couple of minutes. During those days that feeling of complete isolation, no one else knows how I feel, and probably doesn’t care began to set in a little. I am sure everyone has been in this situation at least once in their life.
I knew I was heading down the wrong road with where I was going, and also realized that as Zig and many others have stated, we are in complete control what we put into our heads. I realized that no one was going to be able to help me but me. This doesn’t mean that didn’t I need a support system of friends and family, I did to help with my basic needs. Still that only goes so far until you put your head back into the right frame of mind. Henry Ford was right I had taken those obstacles and turned them into walls.
I pulled out my list of positive affirmations that I had written about myself some months ago, and looked at it again. For those unfamiliar with the process, take a piece of paper, and start writing what you are and what you want to become. Put it in first person and write it or say it three times in a row when you first wake up and follow it with some positive reinforcement reading or listening before ever turning on the regular radio, picking up the paper, or watching TV. A few examples off my affirmation sheet are, “I am a great husband, I am a great father, I am comfortable in all situations, I am a great Realtor, I know exactly what I want and am doing everything I can to get it.” I keep this stored in the front cover of my goals three ring binder I have created for myself.
It took me a few days but I realized that I am in a situation that I am not in complete control of, so I need to adjust to work around it. I had stopped doing everything I could to achieve exactly what I want. This was an important realization, many of the things that we get upset about, like a rude comment from a stranger, or friend or spouse for that matter, or getting cut off by another car while driving down the road, only puts us in a negative spiral. This can lead to an entire day of having one bad thing after another happen. Most of the reason I am writing this blog post is to remind myself of this point. When we put something in writing our minds really begin to work on making that materialize into actuality for us. It doesn’t matter whether is positive or negative. How many times have you said “Great, now my day is ruined and had it become anything but that.” Once we set our biases for how we are going to view things, we gravitate towards it and make it a reality. Imagine waking up every morning and saying, “This is going to be a spectacular day no matter what.” Even if small irritations happen, you will be less likely to let them start your negative spiral. Is it going to stop every bad day? No, but it sure can’t hurt to start with a positive mindset instead of a negative one.
You might be reading this and think that this is total nonsense. If that is your mindset than you are right, this is nothing worth taking seriously. For those interested, I would challenge you to make your own list of traits you want. Whether you believe you have them or not right now, write it down and say it out loud every day for at least a month and see if it makes a difference in your life. Remember, keep it in first person and keep at it even if it feels like you are lying to yourself at first. If it makes a difference, I would love for you to post your results on this blog page. This site may be geared towards real estate, but my personal mission statement I wrote a year ago for myself is this. “In being my very best, I will leave a positive impact on every person I encounter.” So spending a little time on goals and self actualization is a good thing. If you are considering buying either a home to live in or an investment property, setting goals is especially important. It is a huge decision, and important to make sure that you are prepared.
Even though I may not be able to be out on the streets everyday, I have been able to rely more on my team in John DeMarco and Mary Jo from KW to help keep the marketing plans moving forward. We are having great success with our new floor plans and pricing. I will go more into that next time.
I have really had a lot of time to put thoughts together both positive and negative, and have run through the gamut of emotions. It is hard to stay focused when so many lines are pulling you as try to move forward, and some days feel like you just failed. It was easy buying into all of the positive speakers when things were going great. How could I disagree with anything they said? The market was great, sales were hot everyone around had a job, that positive stuff was magic. I felt positive and I had nothing but positive things happening all around. Then I thought I was still being positive, and something like this happens. It gets a lot harder to try and agree with all of the gurus and their positivity programs when it seems everything crashes. Most people give up here and go into the victim mode of operation.
When I heard that quote stated in the beginning of the blog, “When God gives you a gift, he wraps it up in a problem, the bigger the gift, the bigger the problem.” All the of reading positive books, listening to every positive speaker, going to positive seminars, writing my affirmation statements finally made sense. I got hit with a big problem, it’s not my fault, and I can’t change it over night. This is not the time to give up on all of this, this is truly my opportunity to prove that it works, and become an example. Unfortunately, I have seen many people get to this point and back out. I watched one of my fathers friends literally whither up and let himself go until he finally passed. Being here now, it is easy to see why. It may sound weird, but I am now excited to have my current situation. This allows myself the opportunity to truly grow into a better person, and find a creative solution to still achieve my goals. Nothing in life ever goes as we truly plan. It is our job to make sure we stay on our course that we have set for ourselves. If you haven’t set a course, do it now. Use the tools out there to learn how to set clear concise goals and go after them. You don’t have to, but at that point life is in control of you, not the other way around. I know I want to set my own future, not depend on someone else to plan it for me.
I hope you all have a great start to your week. Work to keep a positive attitude as you go through your day. Try to pass it on to others around you as you go through your day by holding a door, saying hi walking down the street. You would be surprised the impact one kind word can make to a stranger, it may change the course of their day. As Zig Ziglar’s webcast says. “I hope your week is better than good.” I look forward to your feedback.

Foreclosure relief Home buying Counseling for Mid-Michigan

As I walked into Lance Queen’s office he is just hanging up the phone and states that for the last few weeks he has been swamped with phone calls like that one. It was a person whose home was going into foreclosure. Unfortunately for that couple the sheriff sale has already taken place so there was nothing that the Center for Financial Health could do to help the situation.
“Helping working families and individuals build assets through home ownership” is the Mission statement of this non-profit organization, and when it comes to helping people you rarely find a person as passionate as credit counselor Lance Queen. Lance is a certified counselor for HUD (Housing and Urban Development) and MSHDA(Michigan State Housing and Development Authority). The Center for Financial Health where Lance is employed provides five main services for people; pre-homeownership counseling, post homeownership counseling, money management skills, a home education workshop, and foreclosure prevention. The last one is where he has been the busiest with phone calls in the current market.
His goal in foreclosure prevention is to look the whole picture with the individual through a sit down meeting, try to negotiate with lenders, or in the right circumstances use government programs to help families stay in their home. “The key is people have to call me when they are starting to get in trouble, if they wait until a week or two before Sheriff sale there is really nothing I can do.” This is the message Lance really wants to get out.
Besides the foreclosure work, there are many more programs for people to take advantage of. If someone is considering buying a home the education courses can be invaluable. There are credit management programs to learn how to budget, a four class seminar on the entire home purchasing process, if you have bad credit you can learn how to become mortgage ready again in the future. The skills taught here are what everyone in the future will have to become very adept at. As gas and food increase our Mid-Michigan families purchasing power is eroding fast. These classes can help those who are already well into the crunch, and also help others who want to get a jump on the cycle and start planning now. The best part is, these services are free to Michigan Residents. This is a government sponsored program. You are already paying for it, you might as well use it.
I asked Lance what the advantage was of coming here, instead of going directly to a lender. “The center has no interest in it when you get a mortgage. That allows me to pull credit, assess the situation, and find the best deal for someone. It takes the pressure away from the individual wondering if the lender is really looking out for their best interest. Not all banks have all programs, so we can tell them the right questions to ask when they start interviewing banks for a loan. We may even find money through financial aid and grants in the right situation.”
Lance is very knowledgeable in the banking industry having spent 10 years doing mortgages. I met him when he worked for a bank and knew that he did things right when he worked with people, and him and I know all to well, that there are some companies out there who try to push people into the product that makes them the most money. This has caused part of the problem that the housing industry is currently in. This is really a good fit for him, in the fact that it really allows him to help people with no strings attached. If you need to get a hold of Lance his number is 517-319-1309 and his email is lanceq@centerforfinancialhealth.org.

Doom's Day for Education

This morning at the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce Ryan Doom of the company WebAscender gave a great talk on the value of social marketing on the web. He gave a great example of how the sharing of knowledge verses keeping it a secret helped out a corporation in the mining industry that otherwise would have been in deep financial trouble.

I know that this isn't exactly real estate related, but it fits into the scope of this blog because Ryan and Webascender is the type of company that the Tri-County area needs. It is locally founded and is growing to become an asset in this region. Ryan mentioned that he is a member of the local Technology council that also has members from MC Squared Technology Group and Tech Smith to help educate local workers and bring more talented web designers into the area. This is a great way to help combat Michigan's Brain Drain from the state. Even with the soft state of our economy there are more and more signs of these businesses really starting to grow and be noticed. It was also exciting to see in the paper today the fact that another thirty million in grants are going out in June as part of the 21st century jobs fund. If real estate is to see another growth spurt in the area it is going to take more of these types of companies to grow and gives us large employment growth in the region.

Ryan's presentation covered the importance of social networking and showed the benefits of many of the websites and communities available online. He posted his presentation on his website www.webascender.com and his company could provide some guidance if you are interested in learning more about using Facebook.com, myspace.com, linkedin.com, wiki's, and blogs to as he put it "leverage the world." It is truly encouraging to see people like Ryan who believe in our community and working to help better the region. There has been a lot of exciting things going on in our region that will be covered in the next few weeks. I will be covering a new type of home being built that Mid-Michigan has not seen before, Lance Queen, a local bank expert just moved to a non-profit to help people with home purchasing, and John and Brad have moved to Keller Williams to bring a new level of service to their real estate careers. Again, if you have anything that you would like to learn more about or have a comment in general, please feel free to call me, email, or post a comment here. Have a great day, and thank you again Ryan for sharing your knowledge this morning.

Investor education key for success

An investor friend of mine from Dayton, Ohio informed me last week about a very interesting real estate site. www.reiclub.com is full of information for those of you who are looking to make real estate investing a long term goal. I will be adding it to my links on the the right side of this page. For those looking to make bids on HUD houses, it is going to be a week or two before the site is back up and running. Chapman announced on Saturday that they are turning Michigan back over to Michealson, Connor, & Buhl as of today. The short notice has left current accepted bids up in the air, but after talking with them today, it seems they will have it smoothed out soon. The new site, or old site if you bought or sold these a few years ago will be www.mcbreo.com. If you are interested in learning more about how to bid on these, please leave a question posted here, or email me at brentforsberg@gmail.com.

New Years Resolutions, Education, and real estate

I hope everyone’s New Year was good and you haven’t broken too many of your resolutions yet, it’s still early. One of my goals this year is to read 15 books in either the real estate field or self help type books. Last year my goal was one a month, and I achieved it. Not all of them were in print though, I have used my MP3 player to turn my car into what Zig Ziglar calls, Mobile University. What does this have to do with real estate? If you are thinking about buying a home, or investment properties there is a lot of material out there to help you get a jump start. I have a couple good sources on the side of this blog page. I was looking through I-Tunes, which is free even if you don’t have an I-Pod and the amount of knowledge there is incredible. No matter what your interests are, there is probably a cast that can give you information about it. You can even download podcasts that teach you different languages.

I will be posting the 2007 final market report for Lansing Real estate within a few weeks. If you would like to find out more information about the Lansing real estate market before then, please feel free to call me or leave questions here and I will get answers posted up. My number is (517) 349-9330 ext. 206. I look forward to hearing from you, and I hope you look as forward to a great year in 2008 as I do!

Despite National Gloom, Lansing Real Estate Shows Life.

If you did not get a chance to read the business section of the local paper today, it wasn't great news for the new construction housing industry. The Articles title was "New Home Sales Plunge." It is interesting to see that according to data collected by the Commerce Department, the Midwest saw a decline of 27.6 percent from October to November. I found this interesting since November this year was one of our busiest months. In our community Lakeside, we welcomed three new neighbors that are all in the process of building their homes. I find it interesting that the paper has a quote from Richard Yamarone a national economist that states "This is one sector of the economy that doesn't show any signs of life." It is interesting because the U.S. is still on pace to sell 647,000 new homes this year. It might not be the million homes that we topped a few years ago, and I am not saying that this is a healthy market. I just don't think that it is fair to say that here is no sign of life.
Locally, many of the bankers and Realtors that I have talked to have been very happy with the level of activity going on right now in our market. One builder we work with is putting in five more basements for customers before the end of January. I bring this up, because these are positive spots in our local area that you won't hear about in our main media streams. I know that homes aren't valued as high as they were a few years ago, and if you are a seller that sales are not as strong as they were. Even so, there is life in the real estate market and homes are still selling. The market will come back, and we will see real estate values rise in the future. What this region needs to focus on is job growth and stability. More jobs in the region mean a greater demand for housing helping marketing times and values.

More on Green in Lansing

If any of you have not had a chance to check out the new online Magazine for Lansing, Capital Gains, add this to your favorites. This company has had great success in other markets doing positivie news stories showing what is going good in cities across the U.S. They started this fall in Lansing and are off to a great start. I have linked to an article that they have put together on Green Building and LEED Certification. http://www.capitalgainsmedia.com/features/leed0109.aspx This gives a lot of information on what the different developers in Lansing are doing. There are also many other articles on different neighborhoods and other activities going on in the Greater Lansing area. I will put a link in my publications section on right side of this page.

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.

Market report on Lansing housing supply

I apologize for not getting the investor interview posted, I have had some scheduling conflicts with getting the interview done. I am hoping to record it this week. I have just run a market report for my company using the Realtor multiple list data. I do this every couple of months to try and keep a pulse on our local market. When I ran these numbers in July we had seen a constant rise in the amount of homes available on the market of both existing homes and new homes. This has been right in line with the national numbers that we have all seen on T.V. and in the papers. As of the end of November there were currently 4978 residential properties listed in the MLS. Looking at the amount of homes sold year to date, this means there is currently just over 14 months worth of housing stock available in the greater Lansing area. This is about a month more of supply than was available earlier this year. We are starting to see the market stabilize especially in new construction where permits pulled for new homes have declined more than 40% year over year for two years in a row. For the first time since the early 1980’s we may see less than 600 new homes built in this area. If you are interested in buying a home, it has been over twenty years since we have had this strong of a buyers market. I have many homes that come across my desk daily that would be a good buy, and there have been several that are almost steals. Whether you are looking for a home to live in, or for an investment, now is the time to really start doing your homework and seeing what’s out there. It might not be the best time to flip properties, but if you can buy and hold, it will be worth it in the future. You can start looking at properties by going to www.lansingrealestate.com and clicking on the home search function. If you are interested in learning more about investing I have a few good links on the side of this page you should check out. If you have any questions, please feel free to send me an email at brent@lansingrealestate.com or call my office at (517) 349-9330 ext. 206. Have a great day.

Local Shops offer relief from busy commercial centers

Thursday morning I had my Monthly Mason Economic Development Committee meeting. It was very interesting looking at the goals and objectives for the Mason Area Chamber of Commerce for 2008. As could be expected, one of the topics discussed was new businesses being drawn to the area. No Surprise here, as Michigan’s economy tightens more and more municipalities are fighting for smaller pieces of the economic growth. Mason has really separated itself with its hometown values and buy local campaign. In fact, it is one of the few communities in the area that have more people that work in the community than live in it.
If you haven’t been to downtown Mason in a while, it’s worth the drive. Especially with all of the lights up around the courthouse, you truly feel the hometown spirit when you walk through the downtown. Kean’s store, small restaurants, and quaint bookstore and coffee shop all make this a great destination to spend some time. All of these shops and the others downtown really work hard to show the value of what shopping in a small community has. It is nice to get out of the crowded big boxes for a few hours and enjoy what these types of communities have to offer.
I know this blog doesn’t exactly fit into a real estate website, but in a round about way it does. Keeping our money in local companies helps our communities grow. It will bring more businesses and growth, which directly effects commercial and residential property values. I am not naïve enough to say that shopping at local businesses for everything is even possible. There are many conveniences that come with going to large commercial districts for shopping and some items are now only available through large retailers. Even so, at the malls and other large commercial districts there are still local shops selling many items that the large retailers have. These shop owners are our neighbors and do a lot to support our local community. In Meridian Township the Meridian Area Business Association is a major supporter of the fireworks every year. In every town in this area, small businesses and local community members are investing a lot of time and money into our quality of life. In Mason, a community member and business owner is donating the money to build a long walking trail through out the city, and many charities are supported by individuals who own businesses around town.
As we go into the holiday season, take a few minutes to stop into a local shop and see what they have to offer. There are many unique goods and services that you won’t find in the large commercial districts. It also can make for a great afternoon as it did for my wife and I as we enjoyed a great cup of coffee, wonderful scenery of a small town and the relaxed atmosphere outside of the large malls.

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.

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.