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

We recently highlighted a video from Realtor Magazine outling tips for saving big $$$ on providing energy for your Ann Arbor home.  The US Department of Energy also provides tips from an interactive website - my favorite example is about lighting, they state:

“If every American home replaced just one light bulb with a CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulb, we would save almost six billion kWh per year - enough energy to light nearly three million homes.  We’d also save more than $600 million in annual energy costs and reduce greenhouse gases by the equivalent of nearly 750,000 cars.”

If you thought you couldn’t help make an impact, think again!  Now you can learn even more about saving energy in your homes.

Larry Kaufman from DTE Energy in concert with other energy experts, will be providing tips, suggestions, and general how-tos to help reduce energy costs at an upcoming Energy Savings Seminar!  The FREE event will be held at the Electrical Industry Training Center - Detroit JATC in Warren, MI on Saturday, March 14th from 9am to 11am.

Expect to learn how to cut your energy bills in half without giving up any of the comforts of home!

Register for the Energy Savings Seminar Online.
(You must register in advance)

Ann Arbor home owners - Watch this energy audit video to get ideas for energy efficiency!

The Department of Energy also provides an interactive website that gives you ideas for saving energy for each appliance/system within your home.  Find out how you can easily make everyday - Earth Day!  Here’s a stunning example of how a very simple change can make a HUGE difference if we all pitch in:

From the US Dept of Energy “If every American home replaced just one light bulb with a CFL (compact flourescent light) bulb, we would save almost six billion kWh per year - enough evergy to light nearly three million homes.  We’d also save more than $600 million in annual evergy costs and reduce greenhouse gases by the equivalent of nearly 750,000 cars.  The average CFL lasts 6,000 to 15,000 hours, and when you replace it, you can recycle it!”

Here at Kathy Toth and Team, we always ask for utility information from each seller and upload the information to each MLS and online page for our listings.  Future Ann Arbor home owners/home buyers often want to know how much it will cost to operate a home.

For help with Ann Arbor real estate please contact Kathy Toth and Team or feel free to use our free online Ann Arbor real estate search!

OK, without my Health, Ann Arbor Real Estate does not Matter, Right?

          http://www.motionbox.com/videos/0a9fdfb0181ee6c487

Every cell in our bodies requires energy ― whether it’s delivering nutrients to our brains, pumping oxygen from our lungs to our muscles during power walks, or producing infection-fighting white blood cells deep in our bone marrow. Our body converts calories in food to energy (blood sugar) to perform these and many other functions. So I admit - I am in need of a cooking make over. Thus, the cooking class.

My husband and I took a cooking class which is more vegan than we realized. I got to try almond, soy and rice milk.  This was like a Napa wine bar experience. (Ok, so Larry was not in love with soy.)  Jan cooked during all the classes and we sampled diligently.  Yes, and kale was a new experience.  I even bought some kale at Plum market.  (Don’t ask if I ever cooked it.)

There are many of you making resolutions about diet and losing weight. We just got a head start and had a great time learning new recipes. My family is home for the Holidays and yes, I am trying out another soup recipe today.  We love soups.  My bread maker is on over drive.  I just wish I could evoke the smell for you.

If you are in the neighborhood, drop by for supper.  We can give you a bird’s eye view of the Chain of Lakes or tour you through our area.  Most of the lakes are in Pinckney. (See the bottom of the page for all area tours.)  We welcome you and would be happy to give you a boat tour in the summer or hey, while Kevin is home, you can ice fish any day!

Cheers and Best wishes,

Kathy 

Related post:
Hello To You From The Beautiful Chain-of-Lakes

NORAD has been tracking Santa since 1955

Ann Arbor Santa Claus

NORAD, the North American Air Defense Command has been tracking Santa’s progress on Christmas Eve ever since a misprinted phone number was placed in a Sears Roebuck advertisement. This “wrong number” put boys and girls through to the Commander-in-Chief’s operations “hotline”. The Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup had his staff use their radar to begin checking Santa’s progress from the North Pole and they have been providing this service to kids everywhere ever since.

This year you can also track Santa from your mobile phone using Google Maps for mobile. If you have an iPhone, T-Mobile G1, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, or Nokia phone with Google Maps, just search for “norad santa” to see Santa’s location. (Note that you’ll have to resubmit your query whenever you want to update Santa’s location).

Santa

If you have a supported phone but do not yet have Google Maps, you can download it for free at the Norad website or from the above Google link.

If you’d like also like to follow Santa’s progress on Christmas Eve go to this website http://www.noradsanta.org/ to follow the action.

Kathy Toth and Team

www.KathyToth.com

Keller Williams Realty

hear-no-evil

I am so exhausted from the news negativity!  Walk on the positive side with me and my friend Jay Kinder.Read on and tell me what you think:

    ‘Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!’

The tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one…. Except for those, who in a fresh tempo, were climbing higher and higher. The crowd continued to yell, ‘It is too difficult!!! No one will make it!’

More tiny frogs got tired and gave up….

But ONE continued higher and higher and higher….

This one wouldn’t give up! At the end everyone else had given up climbing the tower. Except for the
one tiny frog who, after a big effort, was the only one who reached the top!

THEN all of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it?

A contestant asked the tiny frog how he had found the strength to succeed and reach the goal?

It turned out …. that the winner was DEAF!!!!

The wisdom of this story is:  Never listen to other people’s tendencies to be negative or pessimistic…. because they take your most wonderful dreams and wishes away from you — the ones you have in your heart! Always think of the power words have. Because everything you hear and read will affect your actions!

Therefore:  ALWAYS be …. POSITIVE!

Part of my Ann Arbor real estate team  is the title company I choose.  I need to make certain that my clients get the best service and advice possible.  So I partner with Tom Richardson of Liberty Title. In this video, he describes what title insurance is.  Simply put, it is information and insurance.

1 Insurance
The insurance portion of title insurance is fairly small. Your title policy basically protects you against a specified category of risks relating to “defects” in the title to the property you are purchasing. These include forgery, mental incompetence of a party, and lack of access to a public right of way or a lien or claim of interest in the property that was not disclosed to you. Your policy covers you for actual financial loss as well as legal fees incurred in defending your title.

(For additional information on title policies, click here to go to links page where you’ll find a link to the American Land Title Association’s Website as well as Liberty’s underwriter’s websites.)

2 Information
Information is the main component of your title work for your Ann Arbor Real Estate. Public records are searched to discover the status of the title to the property–who owns it, any mortgages or liens that encumber the title, the presence of building restrictions or easements that limit the properties use and the status and amount of the property taxes. These records are scattered among county, township, city and village offices. (Over 40 in Washtenaw County!) It is made even more difficult by the fact that documents affecting title to land can be over 100 years old, necessitating a lengthy search through dusty records!

Title research is integrated with your purchase and mortgage commitment documents in a document called the “Commitment for Title Insurance”. The Commitment is a road map to closing. It sets out the specific steps that must be taken (record Deed, record Mortgage, release existing Mortgage, pay taxes etc.) in order to close and insure your transaction. The Commitment also discloses items that affect your use and enjoyment of the property–such as building and use restrictions and easements. The title research and legal analysis contained in your Commitment are a great value - because of specialized experience, LibertyTitle.com can prepare these documents for a fraction of what it would cost to have an attorney do the same work!

If you would like to learn more about this or search Ann Arbor Real Estate, or just request your free EBook..  We are eager to help you with all your Ann Arbor Real Estate questions and needs.

Related Posts:

 Ann Arbor State Bank Plans to Excel During Credit Crisis

Why Review the Preliminary Title Evidence When Buying a Home in Ann Arbor, Michigan?

Words from Dan Elsea, Real Estate One.com State of the Ann Arbor Real Estate Market

Secrets to a Successful Move to Ann Arbor

When Your Neighbor’s Tree Is on Your Ann Arbor Property

Buyer Tip: Get Home Warranty Funded by Ann Arbor Seller

Tips for Ann Arbor Sellers in a Nervous Market

The 2008 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers is the most recent in a series of NAR surveys evaluating demographics, marketing, preferences and experiences of home buyers and sellers.  This survey is based on thousands of responses to a questionnaire mailed to a large, national sample of consumer.  Find below some of the information that I found interesting.

Thirty-four percent of buyers found the home they purchased through a Realtor (unchanged from 2007) and 32% through the internet.  Interestingly enough, still 15% from a yard sign or open house sign:

Eighty-seven percent of home buyers who used the Internet to search for a home, ultimately, purchased their home through a real estate agent.  Find in the table below, what websites people used in their searches.

Click for Larger View

So Ann Arbor Real Estate is still a very local business.  There are a number of services that we offer our buyers and sellers, with our Ann Arbor Area Board of Realtors Local MLS search giving photos, videos, tours and mapping as a top resource.

Our Reator.com is enhanced with showcase listings in Washtenaw County so each seller has every advantage with photos taken by a professional photographer.  Our Keller Williams company site is national so every Ann Arbor, Dexter, Chelsea, Saline, and Ypsilanti seller gets another advantage by cross linking by other agents, individual companies and regions helping search engine optimization.

Email alerts for buyers is another service we offer to help our buyers find the perfect home.  Below, you will find an example of a group of ten homes that have met certain buyer requirements…these requirements are specific for each buyer.  Sample Buyer Email Alert

Other Ann Arbor Area Real Estate sites Kathy Toth & Team uses to direct traffic include:
www.866OwnThis.com
www.AnnArbor-Homes.com
www.GuaranteeTeam.com
www.KathyToth.com
www.WashtenawSchools.com
www.LivingstonSchools.com
www.AnnArborMLSsearch.com
www.HomeSearchAnnArbor.com
www.AnnArborHomeReports.com
www.AnnArborMarketValues.com
www.AnnArborByOwner.com
www.BuyAnnArborHomes.com
www.AnnArborHomeValue.com
www.AnnArborShortSale.com
www.Recyber.com/member/TothTeam

Finally our Ann Arbor Real Estate blog helps promote google juice and creates relationships among lenders, other top agents and the community which is an example of the “Other Categories” of the table and how some buyers may have found listings.

As a final point, a couple other sources would be attending our Ann Arbor Area First Time Home Buyer Seminars and finding our  Washtenaw County Online Buyer Reports.

As stated earlier, 87% of home buyers purchased their homes through a real estate agent.  They may have done some of their own research online, but ultimately, home buyers need guidance during the daunting process of purchasing a home and most people will rely on a Real Estate Professional.  If you or someone you know is thinking about buying or selling a home, we would love to help…we are the Ann Arbor Real Estate Experts!

According to the 2007 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers from National Association of Realtors, the top five sources of down payment money follows:

1.        Savings
2.        Proceeds from the sale of a primary residence
3.        Gift from Relatives or Friends
4.        Sale from Stocks or Bonds
5.        Equity from Residence (continue to own)

I was surprised to learn that 73% of first time buyers are using money they had saved to come up with their down payment on a home.  We see many of our clients as first time home buyers as a result of attending the seminars.

Per the study, 43% of repeat buyers will use money from savings to at least help partially cover the down payment of their new home. Many people get proceeds from sale of primary residence.

For more information on what  how you can buy a home, go to the buyer section for Special Reports and see the Home Buyer Steps.  Also be sure to check when our next First Time Home Buyer Seminar is with free pre-approval.  If you need to get your credit under control, let our lenders help you step by step, like fitness training for your wallet.

Nationally the median down payment by first-time buyers was 4 percent, up from 2 percent in 2007; the number purchasing with no money down fell from 45 percent in 2007 to 34 percent in the current survey. “The study covers transactions through the middle of 2008, so we can assume the down payment numbers have shifted recently because credit tightened and no-down payment loans all but disappeared around the close of the survey,” Lawrence Yun, Chief NAR economist, explained.

Of first-time buyers who made a down payment, 69 percent used savings and 26 percent received a gift from a friend or relative, typically from their parents. Another 7 percent received a loan from a relative or friend, while 16 percent tapped into a 401(k) fund, stocks or bonds. Ninety-two percent chose a fixed-rate mortgage.

Remember to tell any one looking to buy a home about our…

ANN ARBOR HOME BUYING SEMINAR
January 20th at 6:30 pm

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

ann arbor homes

…….

If you are having trouble with your house payments, don’t give up and assume you have to go to foreclosure.  See video below: 

200 N. Main St., Suite 200
Ann Arbor, MI 48107
Phone: 734-222-6600
Fax: 734-222-6632

If a work out is not available, and if short sales are the best option for you, then we can help you move in that direction.  Short sales are where the borrower shorts the bank the full amount owed and the debt is discharged. Let’s explore the possibility of a short sale for your property, avoid foreclosure, and potentially save your credit rating.

You need an experienced agent to assist you.  This is no time to fool around.  Don’t hire any REALTOR.  Like anything, hire experience.  There is no replacement for success and results.  We are aligned with experts including Ron Garber, Indy Mac Consultant, to get your home pre-approved.  What that means is we work quickly to get a response from the loss mitigator to give us their bottom line for acceptance.  The bank gets the house off their books, the seller does not go to foreclosure and the buyer gets a deal. Be sure to ask your agent, “How many short sales have you closed?  How many short sales that you listed have not closed?”

Life is not all lemonade, so let’s try to take the lemons you have and make some lemonade.  If you know someone who wants to buy distressed homes; these are updated weekly.