Ann Arbor  Short Sale seller is happy.    Ann Arbor Gallery Park Condos are a super place to live and Nicole Holmes is happy to be able to work in Chicago and sell her wonderful place in Gallery Park Condos: Ann Arbor, MI 48103.  She was one of the many Michigan sellers with mortgages that are upside down.  48 percent of those folks with mortgages in Michigan owe more than their house is worth.

“I am so thrilled to be able to sell my place after being a landlord.  Working with the Ann Arbor Real Estate Experts Kathy Toth Team made it as easy as possible”.  “They made a great video of Gallery Park if anyone wants to get an idea of how nice the condos are”.

“Kathy also wrote a book called Should I Short Sale My Home? If you are thinking of doing a short sale in Ann Arbor, MI, hire someone like her who knows how to negotiate with the lenders.” 

If you are looking for any condos in Washtneaw County - Ann Arbor, Chelsea, Dexter, Saline, Ypsilanti, look here.

We salute our service men and women for doing an incredible job keeping us safe.

However, while they are out there doing their duty the last thing anyone would want is their judgement clouded by the worry of a short sale.

Members of the military who find themselves in a short-sale situation now have a new tool via the Homeowners Assistance Program (HAP) through the Department of Defense (DoD).

Recently thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Congress expanded the Homeowners Assistance Program so that now neaerly every military personnel involved in a short sale so that they can obtain financial help from the program is they are upside down in their loan to value when they must sell due to a mandatory permanent transfer.
Authorized under Section 1013 of the Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act of 1966, HAP is a law that is managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers “to assist eligible homeowners who face financial loss when selling their primary residence homes in areas where real estate values have declined because of a base closure or realignment announcement.” – The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act expands the legislation temporarily for DoD employees due to the finance market driven recession.

Those who can apply for assistance include:

• service members and DOD employees who are wounded, injured or become ill when deployed;
• surviving spouses of service members or DOD employees killed or died of wounds while deployed;
• service members and civilian employees assigned to BRAC 05 organizations; and
• service members required to permanently relocate during the home mortgage crisis.

The assistance is limited to employees who were reassigned within about a 5-and-a-half year period between 2006 and 2012 and the house being considered must have been the applicant’s primary residence. Some of the criteria for eligibility include:

• Permanent reassignment requires move of more than 50 miles.
• Reassignment ordered between 1 February 2006 and 30 September 2012.
• Property purchased (or contract to purchase signed) before 1 July 2006.
• Property was the primary residence of the owner
• Owner has not previously received these benefit payments.

Now, how about if you are on the other end of a transaction where you are the buyer of a house where the HAP program has been used?

Well, here is how it works – the use of the program requires the assignment of the contract to the Department of Defense, via the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In short, the seller conveys the house over to the USACE and then the purchaser buys the house from the USACE all at the same time at the same closing table.

So this means that for military personnel in Ann Arbor and the rest of the nation there is help if you are in a short sale situation. More information on HAP can be viewed here.

Click here to search Ann Arbor Real Estate using our complimentary Ann Arbor Real Estate MLS Search service. Alternatively please contact Kathy Toth and the team if you need more specific assistance in your Ann Arbor Real Estate needs.

www.KathyToth.com
Keller Williams Realty

The news is hot of off the press and it is big and exciting!

The National Association of Realtors have released their monthly sales data offering for September 2009 and the news is fantastic.

Existing home sales in September bounced up steeply as first time homebuyers took advantage of the tax credit and were snapping up properties left, right and center! The increase was in five gains for the last six months!

Here are the numbers:

Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – jumped 9.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million units in September from a level of 5.10 million in August, and are 9.2 percent higher than the 5.10 million-unit pace in September 2008. Sales activity is at the highest level in over two years, since it hit 5.73 million in July 2007.

Lawrence Yun, cheif economist for NAR says that first time homebuyers of course boosted these figures dramatically and that in some areas price stabilization has been seen. A seperate study showed that in September 29% of figures were from distressed sales.

To continue the good news, this level of sales activity has effected inventory:

Total housing inventory at the end of September fell 7.5 percent to 3.63 million existing homes available for sale, which represents an 7.8-month supply at the current sales pace, down from an 9.3-month supply in August. Unsold inventory totals are 15.0 percent below a year ago.

Locally in our region, existing-home sales in the Midwest jumped 9.6 percent in September to a pace of 1.25 million and are 7.8 percent above a year ago. The median price in the Midwest was $147,600

Remember if you wish to purchase a home and if your are a first time homebuyer there is still time to be eligble for the tax credit!

Click here to search Ann Arbor Real Estate using our complimentary Ann Arbor Real Estate MLS Search service. Alternatively please contact Kathy Toth and the team if you need more specific assistance in your Ann Arbor Real Estate needs.

www.KathyToth.com
Keller Williams Realty

It’s that time of year again, Winter is nearly here and one question is on every homeowners mind, “am I ready?”

Well, this month is Energy Awareness Month and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) recommends making energy-efficient upgrades as a way to prepare for the season. This is great advice!

Many remodeling companies are offering what they call, “Weatherization plans” – that is programs to remodel your home and leave it more energy efficient than before! The cost is often also at least in part paid for by the state or federal government.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), on average, weatherization reduces heating bills by 32 percent and overall energy bills by about $350 per year at current prices. The DOE estimates that 56 percent of the energy use in a typical U.S. home comes from heating and cooling, making it the largest energy expense for most homes. This is where energy audits come in – read more here on Energy Audits in Ann Arbor. – an audit can identify problem areas in a home so those areas can be attended to first.

With energy prices rising consumers and homeowners have become more aware and want to become more energy efficient.

With winter around the corner attending to those small ‘odd jobs’ around the house – new door seals and a heating system which has been properly serviced can help save a lot of money.

For those who are looking at purchasing a home, a weatherization program would be a great project for a new homeowner to undertake before the winter season properly sets in.

Remember if you wish to purchase a home and if your are a first time homebuyer there is still time to be eligble for the tax credit!

Click here to search Ann Arbor Real Estate using our complimentary Ann Arbor Real Estate MLS Search service. Alternatively please contact Kathy Toth and the team if you need more specific assistance in your Ann Arbor Real Estate needs.

www.KathyToth.com
Keller Williams Realty

So where do you want your homes exposed? As a seller, your home needs to be on REALTOR.com since consumers go there the most.

To get the most exposure for your home, you need your agent to have an enhanced web presence like the shot below from a Dexter home seller.

As an agent you need to provide the showcase, a tour and as many photos as possible.

As a home owner, you need to request to see how many visits your agent draws so you can find out if your home will get the best exposure. The report below shows my realtor.com site generates about 20,000 visits per week. My other sites generate sizable traffic, but more importantly they generate inquiries or leads for my sellers. Other sites include:

Finally, I provide other data so the Ann Arbor Area Real Estate seller knows and I know how many eyeballs have looked at the tours like below. It shows 1515 visits in April 2009 for this home.

If you think this is interesting, let me know. We have other reports we share with our Washtenaw County real estate clients. Keeping our Ann Arbor Real Estate sellers informed on market activity is critical in the changing market.

Click here to search all listings in Michigan with pictures and tours – FREE!

Click here to search all Ann Arbor area Michigan homes
and condos with pictures and tours – FREE!

Kathy Toth and Team

www.KathyToth.com

Keller Williams Realty

Social Networking is the latest craze to hit the internet and has even touched the realms of Real Estate. You will always meet people who you share at least a couple of common interests with and this is why social networking is so great. Here at the Kathy Toth Real Estate team in Ann Arbor Michigan, we are members of handful of social networks and we have even created a few specialized networks for our personal friends and our real estate clients. Here are our favorite social networks – Check them out!:

YouTube

There are way more than 100 million active viewers utilizing YouTube video on a regular basis.

YouTube

YouTube is the market leader when it comes to online video content and they are continually offering new features that keep viewers coming back over and over again. YouTube combines social networking with entertainment, education, online training, music videos, CNN political debates, business training and this is only a few examples. If you are already a YouTube member please, add yourself as a Subscriber to our account. To become a subscriber login into your YouTube account and then Click Here to watch Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County community videos and subscribe.

Facebook

Facebook

•An average of 3% weekly growth since Jan 2007

•Active users doubling every 6 months

Twitter

If you already know what a Tweet is you should connect with us on Twitter!

Twitter

MySpace

Many people think: “Isn’t MySpace a website for school kids?”

Myspace

ActiveRain

If you are a real estate agent or if you are in any way connected to the housing market you will

Activerain

want to be part of a growing online real estate community.

ActiveRain is ideal for real estate agents, real estate brokerages, inspectors, appraisers, lenders, bankers, decorators, home stagers, title agents, closers, attorneys, insurance agents, auctioneers, financial planners, real estate trainers, accountants and even consumers will benefit from the connections made from this online real estate community. Follow the link to join the Active Rain community.

If you are an Ann Arbor Area Seller, is your home exposed on these sites? Our next post is about Radio networking and exposure…

Subscribe to our RSS feed to keep up to date on our local real estate news in from our Ann Arbor Real Estate Experts in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Or as mentioned, follow us on Twitter for more regular updates.

Click here to search Ann Arbor Real Estate using our complimentary Ann Arbor Real Estate MLS Search service. Alternatively please contact Kathy Toth and the team if you need more specific assistance in your Ann Arbor Real Estate needs.

www.KathyToth.com
Keller Williams Realty

We’ve been running our Ann Arbor real estate blog for several years now.  You’ll find a wealth of information here – Ann Arbor community news, Ann Arbor real estate news, help for distressed Ann Arbor property owners, University of Michigan happenings, Chelsea real estate listings, Dexter real estate news, Ann Arbor green living - the list is endless.

If you enjoy our news but do not like reading online, sign up to receive our posts by email.  It’s a free service and one that you can set and forget.  It’s as easy as clicking the link below, filling out your email (which we keep private) and verifying the message in your inbox.  Once verified, you’ll get Ann Arbor article updates as we release them.

This is a fabulous way to keep up with local Ann Arbor happenings.  If you have suggestions for Ann Arbor blog articles – we’d love the hear them!

So, come on – subscribe to the Ann Arbor Real Estate Blog today!

Lindsey D. Toth

Dietetic Intern, Frances Stern Nutrition Center

M.S. Nutrition Communications Candidate, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University

http://www.HealthyBlogSnack.com

Lindsey.Toth@gmail.com

So you’ve finally started your own website or blog.  Congratulations!  You’ve taken advantage of a wonderful marketing opportunity the www provides, and put your name out there as an expert in the field of dietetics.  Getting started is half the battle.  Problem is, the other half is getting people to read what you have to say.  Let’s face it, blogging may be fun, but it just doesn’t seem worth it if there’s no one there to hear your cries of “Eat leafy greens!”  So how do you increase traffic to your site?

A month ago, I was asking myself this same question.  I finally had my first website and blog up-and-running, and couldn’t wait to start posting.  Too bad I only had two subscribers – and I’m pretty sure mom and dad don’t count.

 As I write this article, the one month anniversary of HealthyBlogSnack.com approaches.  Within that one month, I went from zero readers, to over 1,200 site hits and 152 regular subscribers – all thanks to social networking.  I experimented with every social networking site under the sun, tracked my site’s statistics, delved into the realm of social networking research, and played with titles and keywords to find the most effective ways to increase traffic.  I’ll share some of the tips and tricks I picked up from my experiments and research to help you tweet, poke, and ping your way to increased site traffic!

1.      Spread the Word

If you aren’t social networking, I think by now you know you should be.  Get out there and make profiles on the big social networking sites.  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and MySpace are good places to start. Others that may help you spread the word outside of your own social bubble are Reddit (one of my favorites) and De.lic.i.ous.  Most of these sites offer a status update area, where you can let the world know what your latest post is about (Facebook, Twitter), or even applications that link your blog directly to your profile (LinkedIn).  The more visible you and your blog are, the more traffic you’ll get.

2.      Updating, Update, Update Your Status

Every time you post, let the world know!  I found that on average, I had 70% more traffic on days I updated my social network status with a link to my latest post, than on days I didn’t.  For ease of updating, use a service like Ping.fm to collectively update all of your social personas in one swipe.  It will even automatically crunch your big links down into more manageable ones for you.  Experts have found (and my experiments concur) that for optimal visibility, the best time of day to update your status is 3:00pm.  This tends to be one of the busiest times of the day for social networking sites, as everyone is checking their favorite networks one last time before they head home from work.  This makes it a perfect time to update your status with a link to your latest blog post.

3.      Tits, Tots, and Terriers

Ok, so while this marketing trio may not be so applicable in what we do, the concept still applies.  A post about those chocolate dipped strawberries you made titled, “Chocolate Dipped Strawberries,” is just not going to get the same amount of traffic as the same post titled, “Deliciously Decadent Berry Aphrodisiacs.”  Sex, babies, and puppies sell.  Remember this when choosing titles and keywords, people will be more likely to find you in a search, and more likely to check out your site because of your intriguing titles.

4.      What’s in it for ME?

Remember, people didn’t come to your site to hear about your cute niece Suzie and the latest family BBQ.  You are the health, wellness, and food expert, and they came to hear about what you can do for them.  When writing, always ask yourself if there’s something in it for the reader.  If not, chances are they aren’t going to stick around as long term subscribers.  Recipes, diet tricks, power foods, etc.  Make sure what you’re posting about is relevant to and useful in your readers’ daily lives.

Now let’s get out there and improve our social networking scene.  Tweet me @NutritionTalk (c’mon, set up that profile – www.Twitter.com) to let me know how social networking has helped you.  Your blog will be an online hot-spot faster than you can cry, “Eat leafy greens!”

For Ann Arbor Real Estate information, call 734-669-0337 or tweat us  @ AnnArborRealtor

Real estate technology has come so far these days it’s almost impossible to keep up with!  We use all kinds of cutting edge technologies to ensure our Ann Arbor real estate buyers and sellers get the best service available.  Aside from various iPhone real estate applications, our Ann Arbor real estate blog, Free Michigan MLS access and many useful Ann Arbor real estate reports we also use time saving mobile technologies in our car!  Take a look as my husband Larry demonstrates Voice activated GPS Navigation (I’m holding the camera )

The Ford Voice activated navigation system gets us where we need to go and allows us to easily phone clients on the fly.  I can select a number from my phonebook and answer calls by pushing a button on my steering wheel!  The video interface is large enough so that you feel comfortable driving and button pushing at the same time… promise, no accidents!

Savvy Michigan homeowners are battling all-time-high energy costs by incorporating building techniques to make their homes more energy efficient. As more people begin to struggle to meet rising utility costs, these practices are expected to grow in popularity.

Just as current Ann Arbor homeowners are renovating with energy savings in mind, new home builders are seeing increased demand for green buildings and energy-efficient homes.

Here are some ideas for how you can reduce your energy consumption – and costs – this winter by selecting building materials and appliances that promise to improve your home’s energy efficiency.

1. Use Highly Rated Energy-Star Appliances: This is not a new idea, but as costs rise, Ann Arbor real estate buyers are looking at the yellow energy-consumption tags on new appliances more seriously. Retailers know that buyers are paying more attention to the higher-rated appliances, and this could lead to more advertising and discounts for such products.
2. Consider How You Heat Your Water: Most homes have a traditional tank-style water heater. However, with rising heating costs, this practice may change. Other options for heating water in your home include solar heating and tankless water heaters.
   ~Solar water heating requires a significant upfront investment, but once it is installed you no longer need to pay for heating the water. Installation includes a pump, plumbing through which the water circulates for exposure to the sun, and possibly large glass tanks for storing the hot water.
   ~A tankless water heater has no storage tank and the water is heated as you need it. Heating water on demand is much less expensive than heating water and storing it until it is needed.
3. Supplement Your Electricity: Installing photovoltaic roof shingles instead of standard asphalt shingles lets you use the sun’s energy to generate supplemental electricity for your home. A wire is pulled from each shingle and connected to the home’s power grid. You might not be able to generate enough electricity to meet all your needs, but with rising costs, every bit of savings can be a huge help during the middle of our freezing Michigan winters.
   ~If you are considering a new roof or you are building a home, consider using this roofing material to decrease your utility bills.
4. Consider Your Home’s Placement: If your home was built 50 or more years ago, it probably is already more energy efficient than most new homes. This is because central air-conditioning was not prevalent in the past. To keep homes cool in the summer, windows were located strategically for cross-drafts. Also, the largest windows were designed to receive the morning sun, thereby helping to heat the home.   As energy prices declined, many homes were built without these considerations. However, today’s builders are beginning to return to traditional building practices in order to have more energy-efficient homes.
5. Consider Your Window Treatments: Whether you live in a new or old home, or are building your home, you can control your window treatments. What you put on your windows can make a serious different in your home’s heating and cooling costs. Light- and heat-filtering blinds and heavy draperies may significantly reduce the need for continuous air-conditioning.

Hopefully, this information has given you some ideas for countering rising energy costs. By using one or more of these suggestions, you can make your Michigan home more energy efficient. If you decide to sell your home in the future, these updates may make your home more attractive to buyers.

The US Department of Energy has a very informative website which includes a Consumer’s Guide to Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.  There is a ton of great information available.

Related Links
See What Ann Arbor is Doing to GO GREEN | Click here
Ann Arbor Green Building Continues on Downtown Projects