Donna Tashjian's Blog

After years of nothing but negative reports about the housing market, it is hard to believe recent news about the “housing market rebound” and “why now is a great time to buy or sell a home.” However, the reality is that the housing market has recovered remarkably quickly and created unique oppor...

How to Separate The Short Sale Myths from the Reality?   It used to be that if you were facing foreclosure, it was difficult to find information about what to do. Today, distressed homeowners have the exact opposite problem. There is information everywhere, but it can be almost impossible to tel...

  For real estate agents, experience brings a number of advantages. With experience, agents gain deep market knowledge, stronger negotiating skills, a wider professional network and more. According to a recent study in the Journal of Housing Research, these tools could mean the difference of $25...

Are home prices near their 2006 peak? Did you know that in many markets, home prices are near their 2006 peak prices? In our market, home prices have drastically improved and look to continue improving. So if you or someone you know has been waiting to sell your home, especially if the home was ...

Facing Foreclosure? You Have Options!   A lot has changed since you bought your home.   If you or someone you know is among the 10 million homeowners who are falling further behind every single month because of an unmanageable mortgage payment, then that weight may feel unbearable. But there is ...

Fending Off Foreclosure—Real People~Real Crisis~Real Solutions   There has been much news over the past few years about the difficult times that homeowners have had as a result of the financial and housing collapse. Many homeowners lost their homes or collapsed under the weight of an unmanageable...

Today’s real estate market in Grand Rapids, MI is very different than it was a year ago. Prices have increased rapidly over the past 6-8 months as part of a steady recovery we’re seeing take place across the nation in real estate. If you or someone you know has a home in which they owed more on t...

Don't Let Time Run Out! The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act was passed by Congress in 2007 in an attempt to provide some relief for the millions of homeowners who found themselves owing more on their mortgage than the property was worth as a result of the collapse of the housing and finance ...

Short sales have become increasingly common since the mortgage crisis of 2008. In fact, they accounted for 22 percent of all residential sales in 2012, according to the 2012 U.S. Foreclosure and Short Sales Report by RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties. But how do you kno...

Been thinking about selling your home? If you’ve been thinking of selling your home, but don’t believe it is worth enough to cover what you owe, you might be pleasantly surprised. The reason? Prices have gone up significantly during the last year! This simple fact has helped a market that only ab...