Jules's Blog

This has been by far the strangest summer and fall I can recall since moving to Northern Michigan in 2001. This summer was cooler than normal but mainly dry which was a good thing in my mind.  September was wonderfully summer and warm and here we are in October and it has been less than pleasant...

Now I am sure many of you out there may comment that this is nothing new and I certainly don't proclaim it to be but here is a very simple techniques to get you more sales.  Remember these words: If I could... would you.  These words are the simplest way to get deal.  Here are some examples: • Yo...

This Past week I had the privilege of attending the Michigan the Michigan Association of Realtors convention at the Grand Traverse Resort here in Traverse City. Having the convention here in my hometown was simply a blessing. If you can believe it this is the first MAR convention I have attended ...

It occurred to me that all too often real estate professionals just need to put things in perspective sometimes.  Have you ever noticed that when you get in an argument with your spouse (significant other, etc.) you often loose site of what the argument was really about?   You often get distracte...

It seems that at least once a week or more I get a call on one of our listings and at some point the discussion about foreclosure comes up.  That is not surprising,  The part that surprises me is the amount of misinformation that is out there in regard to foreclosures, how to buy them, where to b...

Even after 20+ years buyers still amaze me.  In a market with record low prices, readily available financing, record low rates and mountains of foreclosures all there for the picking... Buyers are still sitting on the fence waiting.  Waiting for what I ask? It seems that despite how good a buy so...

Even after 21 years in this business it amazes me how many time I get a phone call about a property and the person on the other end sounds terrified to even give me their name.  It immediately tells me I am dealing with a new buyer or someone who has had a bad experience buying a home.  Maybe peo...

Over the past 21 years I have always believed that the best pricing strategy was to make the price appear as low as possible.  For example if I had a property which I felt was worth $150,000 I would list it at $149,000 in the hope that a person would think it was a better value.  I had been taugh...

As a full time REALTOR I am constantly asked a lot of questions about searching for a home on the internet.  For example: "Where is the best place to search for a home?", "Which website will give me the best information?", "Why are so many homes sold when I finally do call on them?" The first thi...

The Michigan Supreme Court recently affirmed a Michigan Court of Appeals decision (Roberts v Saffell) which overturned the lower courts decision that a homeowner was liable for undisclosed (unknown) termite damage.  In the original court ruling the homeowner was held liable for undisclosed termit...