"Earnest money deposit" or "good faith deposit" is the amount of money that you put down as a gesture of good faith.  You see you have to put down what the call consideration.  A legal contract is made up of three things.  Offer -what you put down in the contract and sign Acceptance - What the seller agrees to and you agree to. Consideration - something of value.  Money, a check.  In Metro Detroit real estate it is usually $500, or $1000 or more that the real estate company or title company holds. If you have any questions about Metro Detroit real estate purchase agreements feel free to call me on my cell (313) 310-9855. 11/01/2009

CMA is real estate abbreviation for "Comparative Market Analysis." A CMA is a marketing report prepared by a real estate agent providing data comparing your home to similar homes in the marketplace that are close to yours and that have sold recently (within 6 months or a year).  The realtor also shows you what homes are for sale now.  The reason why you need one is so that you can compare your home to homes that have sold and the ones for sale.  That way you can price your home correctly.  Real estate agents always say "Price it right" and it will sell!   And it is true!  A Metro Detroit home that is priced right will sell faster than one that is over priced for the market.  The agent should ask you basic questions about the home.  Then the agent will pull all the homes in your area and... 09/20/2009

If you really want to be a smart Oakland County first time home buyer listen to what advice your Oakland County Realtor is offering.  Too many times the advice of the Realtor gets ignored.   Stop thinking you know more than your real estate agent. The best Metro Detroit real estate agents live with real estate 7 days a week, 12 - 14 hours a day.   They talk real estate, they blog real estate, and they think real estate.   They are constantly working with other real estate professionals, bouncing problems off their brokers and fellow agents.  There is usually over a hundred years of experience in any real estate office.We sometimes see over a hundred houses in a week so we know what we are talking about.   As a real estate agent we see so many different problems and get them worked out. ... 08/18/2009

West Bloomfield now requires the registering of vacant homes. This is not exclusive to West Bloomfield as other municipalities are searching for revenue. This is what I just received from the North Oakland County Board of Realtors: Vacant Home Ordinance   Recently the Township of West Bloomfield, as well as other Oakland County municipalities, has enacted an ordinance which requires that "vacant" homes MUST be registered with the municipality.   There are fees involved when registering such a property, as well as fees involved when such a property is not registered. If the fees become delinquent, they could become a lien on the property similar to assessments for weed cutting, garbage, etc.   For example, the West Bloomfield ordinance contains many requirements which you should be aware... 07/31/2009

This is good news for those who have lost their jobs; business ownership is one option    Warren, MI-Dryer Vent Wizard, a nationwide dryer vent cleaning company with over 50 franchisees in major markets throughout the U.S., is looking to open in more areas soon.  They welcome inquires about owning one of their Dryer Vent Wizard franchises in the United States. Dryer Vent Wizard services clothes dryers owned by homes and by commercial businesses. Poorly maintained dryer vents often cause dryer vent fires and make a dryer cost more to operate. Each franchise is owned and operated locally in a market in which they serve.   Dryer Vent Wizard is a professional service company who provides top quality service to all customers, setting a goal for 100% customer satisfaction.  They work to educa... 06/23/2009

I love it Fiat has 35% ownership of Chrysler, and the union and the US government has the rest of the ownership of Chrysler.  Whether you live in West Bloomfield, Northville, or Troy it should be an interesting run and I hope they make but........... I doubt it.  Chrysler is banking on a bunch of white shirt politicians to efficiently run Chrysler when they can't run the US without deficient.  It should be interesting. I can see it now they will be holding hearings on why the Chrysler Labaron didn't make it.  Or soon they will be outlawing strikes for the union workers.  They did it to teachers and air traffic controllers... What makes you different union employees?  It should be interesting. But instead of high ups from Chrysler touring the plant there will be junkets from your every s... 06/10/2009

It was sunny, warm in Michigan but I am going off on a tangent here.   I got a call from a close friend about buying foreclosures.  He has been laid off and is collecting unemployment.  He has some money in the bank that he is thinking about buying metro Detroit foreclosures.  He wants to fix them up and then sell them. As a Metro Detroit real estate agent I have to say....PROCEED WITH CAUTION.  The reason I say this: Don't spend your rainy day money to take a gamble on making money.  This is not the economy to be taking chances with your cash that you may need. It is very possible that our Metro Detroit real estate home values may drop.  So you could buy a home fix it up and then it could end up being worth as less than the price you have into it.  I know many experienced investors tha... 05/21/2009

I happened to call a internet lead this morning.  But I was 3 days to late.  They had put in an offer on a Michigan Lake home last week.  He was so proud of putting in an offer and that he was going to get the home.  He just kept rattling on.  I had to hide my disbelief when he told me his real estate agent told him that the short sale offer would be accepted in 2 weeks.  WHAAAAAT???????????  Is this real estate agent from the same planet I'm from?  Has this agent ever been involved with a short sale before?  I can't believe any real estate agent would tell a client that a short sale will accept in 2 weeks. Do you know the reason why the agent said the bank would accept the offer.  Because the home buyer offered over full price. Really they covered full price and then added concessions ... 05/14/2009

Upper Straits and Lower Straits lakes are two beautiful Michigan lakes with great Michigan lakefront homes that are located within 40 minutes of downtown Detroit. Upper Straits Lake Oakland County MI Upper Straits Lake information All sports lake           Yes Private Lake              Yes Size                           323 Acres Max Depth                96 ft Public Access            No Public beach              No Wake restrictions      Unknown Lake Association       Yes (see below)  Water source             Unknown   Search Orchard Lake lakefront homes for sale Search Upper Straits Lake waterfront properties for sale  Location of Upper Straits Lake Upper Straits Lake is located in Oakland County MI.  Upper Straits lake is in Orchard Lake Village and in West Bloomfield Twp.  Upper Str... 05/02/2009

There are currently 66 West Bloomfield foreclosures and 41 Bloomfield and Bloomfield Hills foreclosures.  When you go out to look at Metro Detroit foreclosures you need to know the market.  So many Michigan home buyers think that they can go out an low ball a foreclosure, after all that is what the newscasters are saying.  I have pulled the last 45 days of West Bloomfield and Bloomfield foreclosures.  Here is what they were in the table below. DOM stands for days on the market.  Look at that column.  There was one foreclosed home that sold in a day and it sold for $12,000 over list price.  What that tells me is that home was in decent or good condition and was under priced.  That homeowner got a deal most likely. Banks are many times underpricing the list prices in order to sell the hom... 04/30/2009

 Oakland County Lake information Oakland County has over 320 named lakes.  Some are what I would call a large ponds.  There are many all sport lakes to enjoy whatever you like including: waterskiing fishing tanning playing in the sand jet skiing sailing floating in the lake wake boarding boating knee boarding swimming  The Largest Oakland County lake is Cass Lake at 1282 acres.   Whether you are looking at purchasing a small 800 square foot range or a 7000 square foot mansion on the lake Oakland County lakes have it all.  Oakland County Lake properties are ranging from $100,000 up to 10 million dollars.   It just depends on what lake you like or what type of home you want.   Right now there are 120 Oakland County Luxury lakefront homes for sale over $1.000,000  they have been on the mar... 04/25/2009

If you work for yourself, you may be trying to put a little money away here and there to make sure you have some money down the road when you retire. But just putting money in a savings account may not bring enough of a return to have the money you need when you are ready to retire. Instead you need to look for a way to make your money grow from now until you are ready to retire so you have a nice little nest egg waiting for you.   This is when you want to set yourself up with a Roth IRA. This is an independent retirement account that you can set up for yourself and then fill with various investments that will hopefully gain a great return on your investment dollars.   First you need to decide how much you are investing. Some of this will depend on how much income you can spare to put a... 04/19/2009

This is the third part of a series on the Open House at Henry Ford West Bloomfiled Hospital.  From the time I entered the demonstration kitchen and the Living Well Shoppe, I was hearing about Henry's cafe. Actually I didn't need any convincing to set it as one of my destinations.  I had heard that Matt Prentice (founder/owner of Matt Prentice Restaurant Group) is the culinary director of the Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital and he and a team of twenty chefs developed the menus.  Located at the end of Main Street near the atrium, I was impressed with the variety and presentation in the seven food stations. I was lucky enough to see Carole Benson, manager of Food and Nutrition who supervises Henry's and Caribou Coffee.  I have known Carole from her previous position with the Matt Prent... 03/06/2009

Cass Lake Real Estate MI Cass Lake is Oakland County's largest lake with a surface area of 1280 acres.  Cass Lake is an all sports lake which gets busy on the weekend.  The deepest spot is 123 ft deep, about .3 mile by 1 mile wide. Cass Lake was named after Lewis Cass a early Michigan govenor.  There is a public state park (Dodge State Park #4)  There are boat launches and a parking lot that can accommodate in excess of 80 vehicles with boat trailers. Cass Lake Lakefront homes for sale       Price   Address Bed Bath   Sq Ft           $139,000     COSHOCTON DR 2 1   874         $139,900     WILLOW BEACH ST 2 1   800         $185,000     LALOND AVE 3 2   2140         $199,900     WILLOW BEACH ST 3 2.1   2040         $219,000     LINWOOD ST 2 1   1498         $225,000     WILLOW BEACH ST 3... 03/06/2009

The main lobby of the Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital includes a 90-seat demonstration kitchen where anyone is welcome to learn how to prepare healthy meals.  Patients suffering from health conditions like cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other diseases can sign up for cooking classes along with their family, friends and the local community.  In partnership with Schoolcraft College, Henry Ford has created the world's first culinary institute for health care During the Open House of the new Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, I was lucky enough to find Dr. Bruce Muma, Chief Medical Office at the Hospital.  Dr. Muma was in the demonstration kitchen speaking with visitors about the organic fresh produce and the goal of the hospital to promote healing food (no deep frying) while mai... 03/05/2009

I heard about the new Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital a couple of years ago when I was listing a home about a mile or two of the new facility. Since the market was declining and the home wasn't selling, the owners were encouraged with the future possibility of keeping their home to lease. The opening of this anticipating the new positions that would be created upon completion. That day has finally come with the opening of Henry Ford West Bloomfield on March 15. There was no hesitation when I heard about their open house. Not only was I curious to see what real estate opportunities it might bring to the community, I had heard about it's approach to "Healthy Healing", Eco Friendly philosophy and treating their patients like guests. No surprise when I learned that a former Ritz-Carlton... 03/05/2009

Repeated failure is what inspired high school dropout Bill Bartmann to achieve great success.   Bill Bartmann is worth hundreds of millions of dollars-and most people have never heard of him. It is quite possible that this entrepreneur started off with less and has overcome more than any other person to appear on the Forbes 400 list. After the roller coaster of events that have defined his career, Bartmann started the Billionaire Business School. His seminars and workshops aim to show people that they, too, can follow in his footsteps, regardless of how much money they have or any obstacles that may stand in the way. Bartmann was one of eight children, born to a father who never earned more than $6,000 a year as a janitor and a mother who cleaned houses in an attempt to make ends meet. ... 01/20/2009

Positive News!  50% commission on every sale (most expensive advertising package for our customers is the premium @ $199 /MO) as long as the business owner uses our service, you will receive 50% commission every month on a residual basis.  Example: you sell a premium package in January - you receive $100 , your business client is still using the services in December, you have earned $100 a month every month for a total of $1200 for an advertising package you sold one time in January.   Account Executive Bi-Weekly Pay - Brand Builder Weekly Pay  Account Executive: www.abneyglobalnetwork.netClick the "Get In Now" button and receive a password protected back office and start reviewing additional videos and start receiving information from LocalAd Link Corporate.  LocalAd Link is a debt fre... 12/19/2008

Unfortunately, 4 out of 5 small business fail within their first year because there are so many things to focus on, including a business plan, a place of operation, hiring help, building a client base and marketing, just to name a few.  Marketing can be very expensive, especially if you are using billboards, TV and magazines.  But, have you thought about the power of internet marketing?  Internet marketing is free, or relatively inexpensive and much more effective.   What happens when you are watching your favorite TV show and it comes time for a commercial?  If you're like most people, you use this time to go to the refrigerator; when you're listening to the radio, you change stations; postcards and sale ads received in the mail usually end up in the trash.  TV, radio and direct mail a... 11/08/2008

Are You Setting Your Child Up For Failure?    Jeffrey Taylor of College Funding Resources continues to be a reliable source for College Planning solutions especially in troubled times.   The stock market is falling then rising.  Property values have fallen.  But college tuition costs are rising! What you do now will determine your child's ability to attain a higher education. Will you and your child be prepared?   Let's face it. Colleges have to meet payrolls, run multi-million dollar facilities, and keep the best talent possible. All of that costs millions of millions of dollars and your tuition dollars fund those expenses. Higher tuition costs aren't going anywhere but up!   The best thing any parent or student can do is to take a proactive position to ensure that you get the maximum ... 11/04/2008