Tiny House Guy: Crazy or Genius?

Have you seen this tiny house guy, Jay Shafer? More

importantly have you seen his tiny house?! He lives, and according to him THRIVES, in a 96 square foot house that he built for himself. WHAT?!

You read me right – NINETY SIX square feet. As he says the plumbing is rough, the bathroom is challenging, and it’s tough to make the bed, but otherwise, the significant downsizing is well worth it. How significant is the downsizing? Tiny House Man Shafer grew up in 4000 square feet. He knows what he’s missing, and he says he misses nothing.

My immediate reaction was LUNATIC! Where do you….?  How do you….? Why would you…..?

Then I heard a friend’s (annoying) voice tell me I am projecting my perspective onto Shafer. I opened my mind and listened to what the Tiny House Man had to say.

The average home emits 18 tons of greenhouses gases – A tiny house is significantly more green.

Houses have been growing in size for the last 50 years, creating waste and stress – Bigger mortgages and less free time to care for and enjoy our sprawling pads. Insert any economy and real estate concerns here.

Quality over Quantity – Shafer says he couldn’t afford to put the quality materials and features in a house of more conventional size, so he decided to instead sacrifice the space.

Value – A tiny house costs more per square foot to build than a conventional home, but ends up less at the end, of course. And according to Shafer’s statistics, a 1200 SF house appreciates at a higher rate than one over 2000 SF. This is pretty consistent with what we see in traditional house pricing.

And this is what he said that REALLY got me. (The words are right, but I might not have the “quote” exactly right.) …

Excess is burden not luxury.

Now that Shafer’s married he has built a larger tiny house for his family. He believes that everyone needs their own private space and although his own needs are bare minimum, hence the rough plumbing, but he designs tiny houses based on individual needs. Do you think you could live tiny?

New Program To help homeowners avoid foreclosure

Well good morning Wednesday. I am very glad to bid Tuesday goodbye. Monday was so fun, Tuesday was bound to be a disappointment regardless of what it delivered. What it did deliver was a dead car that had to be towed and everything that comes with it. Canceled appointments and the inability to run and get lunch, or a cappuccino, or Adam Lambert’s CD that I really wanted to pick up, having been dazzled and glittered at his Monday night performance at the Chesaning Amphitheatre. There was one bright spot in Tuesday, though, that came across my desk. It looked like this…

LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today announced that the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), along with banks, credit unions and nonprofit counseling agencies, will launch a statewide program to help eligible Michigan homeowners avoid foreclosure by participating in the state’s new $154.5 million Helping Hardest-Hit Homeowners Fund.

Whoa! I am loving the Governor right now! This money is part of the $1.5 billion that President Obama announced back in February would be used to fund "innovative measures to assist families in the states that have been hit hardest by the aftermath of the housing bubble."

Despite the controversy surrounding the whos, hows, and whys of the foreclosure boom, many hard working responsible home owners have been victimized. Those are the folks being targeted by this new program.

Those who may be eligible include Michigan homeowners who are currently receiving unemployment compensation, homeowners who have fallen behind in their mortgage payments or taxes due to a temporary layoff or medical emergency, and homeowners who can no longer afford their mortgage payments due to lower household income.

This is good news for all of us. Just like the big businesses whose failure would negatively impact everybody, regardless of how we felt about their financial success – the success of homeowners in keeping their homes is crucial to the repair of our economy and the wellness of our neighbors and communities.

And KUDOS to those in charge for hatching this great plan right on the heels of the Home Buyer Credit closing extension! It almost feels like someone in charge is sensible and CARES doesn’t it?

Applications just started being taken this week so keep in mind this is a new program. It’s likely to be slow and frustrating but apparently MSHDA is hiring extra help to assist in the processing of the applications. So if you are having difficulty making your payments, call your mortgage servicer right away to see if you qualify for the program. And tell everyone you know about it. It’s easy to complain and grumble about government. "Where’s MY bail out?!" Well, here’s another piece of it. It’s up to YOU (me, him, her, us) to place the call and make it happen.

Now back to Adam Lambert… I was fired for attending the concert. Do you think that’s fair?  I saw many of you, my crazy fun buyers past and present, at the show which was very cool. I’ll just keep showing up to work and see if anyone notices. Shhhh. Don’t tell.

Help For Homeowners

Michigan State Housing Authoritiy is offering help for struggling homeowners. They have announced $154.5 million dollars set aside to assist unemployed and under-employed homeowners.

Governor Granholm, MSHDA Announce Helping Hardest-Hit Homeowners Fund to Combat Foreclosure

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 7, 2010Governor Granholm, MSHDA Announce Helping Hardest-Hit Homeowners Fund to Combat ForeclosureLANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today announced that the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), along with banks, credit unions and nonprofit counseling agencies, will launch a statewide program to help eligible Michigan homeowners avoid foreclosure by participating in the state’s new $154.5 million Helping Hardest-Hit Homeowners Fund.Those who may be eligible include Michigan homeowners who are currently receiving unemployment compensation, homeowners who have fallen behind in their mortgage payments or taxes due to a temporary layoff or medical emergency, and homeowners who can no longer afford their mortgage payments due to lower household income.”The Helping Hardest-Hit Homeowners Fund is a helping hand to our friends and neighbors,” Granholm said. “This fund will allow families to stay in their homes and stabilize neighborhoods throughout the state. I want to thank the mortgage servicers who are teaming up with MSHDA to help us keep the dream of home ownership alive for thousands of Michigan families.” Lending institutions in support of the program include the Michigan Bankers Association, Michigan Credit Union League, and Michigan Association of Community Bankers. The Helping Hardest-Hit Homeowners Fund is designed to help as many as 17,000 Michigan homeowners avoid foreclosure, including 11,000 homeowners who are currently unemployed and struggling to pay their monthly mortgage. The Michigan State Housing Development Authority is adding additional staff to review and process completed application packages after they are submitted by mortgage servicers, announced MSHDA Interim Executive Director Gary Heidel. “We are going to distribute these funds as quickly and efficiently as possible, because we know the devastation that can come from a home foreclosure,” Heidel said. “The message we’re giving homeowners is to call their mortgage servicer immediately if they believe they are at risk of losing their home so that they can determine if they qualify for this program.” The Michigan State Housing Development Authority will begin accepting applications from mortgage loan servicers beginning July 12. Final approval of an application is expected to occur within 48 hours of receipt of a complete application package. The Michigan State Housing Development Authority anticipates it could take 12 to18 months before the state’s hardest-hit fund is entirely distributed. Eligible homeowners can obtain more information regarding the Helping Hardest-Hit Homeowners Fund by calling 866-946-7432 or visiting www.michigan.gov/HardestHit

In February, President Obama announced $1.5 billion in funding for innovative measures to assist families in the states that have been hit hardest by the aftermath of the housing bubble. The Michigan State Housing Development Authority is one of five state housing finance agencies sharing the funding.

Contact your lender or MSHDA as soon as possible for more information.

Where’s the Search Box? Bring Back The Search Box!

Good Lord! Change is good Y’all!

What’s our name? CHANGINGstreets.com. Not STAYTHESAME.com! Right? Right! We’re constantly evolving – not just changing WITH the market but AHEAD of the market. The same is true for our website. I get it – you loved our old one. So did we. But it wasn’t working for us anymore. We were limited with what we could do for you and we don’t like limits. Or being told what we can and cannot do for you. The new website gives us more freedom and gives you more services. It’s GOOD I promise!

Here’s the deal – my favorite feature of the old website was being able to simply plug in an address or partial address into the search box and being able to quickly find info on a specific property. Guess what I found out – that was your favorite feature too. Buyers, Realtors, and Loan Officers are all yelling at me. My own family is yelling at me! “I can’t find anything! I miss that search box!”

To them I say, “Hellloooo. It’s right there under your nose.”

So there’s your homepage right? Click ADVANCED SEARCH. In about the middle of that page is a little box that says “address/zip”. Plug in the address and voila! The improvement in this case, new site vs. old, is that NOW in addition to school district and area, you can search by MAP and SUBDIVISION! That’s huge!

I remember one day walking into Target and EVERYTHING was different. I was ticked! I knew Target like the back of my hand and shopped blind folded on auto pilot. The new layout made me think and I hated it. That was years ago and now I love it! I got used to the new arrangement and things make sense to me there. Oh no doubt they will eventually change again and I’ll be irritated all over again. But we will get used to it and understand it in the long run.

So stop yelling at me y’all! If there were no change, you wouldn’t be able to look at a map on our website and see all the houses for sale in a certain area. And you wouldn’t be able to buy milk and refrigerated items at Target.

What do you miss about the old site? What would you change about the new one if you had the chance?

People Moving to Oakland County

Where are the new residents of Oakland County coming from? All over the country and places your probably wouldn’t expect.  Our resident King of Useless information Buddy Kane, dropped some science on moving trends and here are the top 10 metro areas our new neighbors hail from and the number that moved to Oakland County in 2008 (Buddy is working on 2009):

1. Phoenix, Arizona 274 people, summers are much better in MI.

2. Los Angeles, California 255 people, they must like the tax situation better here…yikes.

3. Dallas, TX 246 people, Kwame told them it was cool here.

4. San Diego, California 183, I have no idea.

5. Orange County, California 153 people, the real housewife’s made them do it.

6. Las Vegas, Nevada 125 people. All I can think of is the picture of James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and whoever else it was at the soda counter…

7. Atlanta, Georgia 83 people. I get this, one word FREAKIN”TRAFFIC!

8. Charlotte, North Carolina 81 people. The South.

9. Fairfax Virgina 79 people. Military?

10. Memphis, Tennessee 70 people. Did you know that Memphis is in Shelby County and that Shelby County Tennessee is named after a Governor from Kentucky?

11. Honolulu, Hawaii 65 people. ” What Bro, I can buy a house for $70,000. Aloha”

Most lists go to ten, ours goes to 11. That is the way we roll at ChangingStreets.com, we even do useless information better than the other guys.

Maui May Sales Stats

The Realtors Association of Maui released May statistics last week and results seem to run right in line with our Maui Agent Bob McCollor was recently predicting.

The number of units sold in Maui for May 2010 made a strong jump from May of 2009.  However, as we mentioned before, the Hawaii market has seen a rise in foreclosures which means many of these homes being sold are at significantly reduced prices.

Typically in a recovery phase of any real estate market, the number of sales increases before the prices start to come up. That only makes sense since the low prices from bank owned foreclosures and aggressive, motivated sellers is what causes the resurgence is home buying.  In Maui’s case that added up to a 49% increase in the number of single family homes sold, with a 9% decrease in the median sales price.

What does this mean for Maui Buyers and Sellers?

If you’re a seller and you don’t really NEED to sell – now is not the time to be on the market. Unless you are willing and able to compete with the low price and high quality that is abundant in the market right now, you need to be realistic about your very low chances of selling.  On the flipside, properties priced and presented properly are looking at only about 132 days on the market.  That figure includes a high number of short sales whose extended negotiation and closing times make that days on market average look even longer than it is.

For buyers it means BUY NOW.  The inventory is abundant, high quality, and priced nice.  But as the amount of property sold continues to rise, eventually so will the interest rates and prices and we’ll be kicking ourselves saying, "Can you believe what we could have gotten that for 2 years ago?!"

Hot Deals and Cool Rates Make Now the Time to Buy In Hawaii

There have been signs of the economy slowly coming back to life. We’ve seen good some good things happening in our own neighborhoods. I know that the real estate market operates in cycles and that things will eventually be good again. But STILL I am surprised when I see big things happening.

Contemplating my trip last week to Mackinac Island I really had prepped myself for some sadness. Like all the stores that have closed down in Courtland Center, I was sure I was going to see some signs of failing commerce. I didn’t really expect to see the windows boarded up at Ryba’s Fudge Shop, but I knew there’d be something. I was wrong. What I found was all new residential housing going up! Big beautiful estates and charming upscale neighborhoods. The clear cutting of the trees disturbed me, I admit, but those feelings were trumped by joy that money was being invested in Michigan by investors and spent by buyers scooping those properties up. People are getting comfy with their money again and not afraid to spend it.

This isn’t just happening in Michigan, though, nationally we’re seeing increased consumer spending and dips in foreclosure. I said “nationally” but guess what state actually saw an increase in foreclosures last month. HAWAII! I know, can you believe it?

So I talked to my friend Bob who has been involved in Hawaii real estate for over thirty years and he explained that it takes awhile for trends to make it to the Islands, and that they are just now experiencing what the rest of us are finally starting to recover from.

“In 30 years I believe this is the fifth downturn I’ve gone thru here in Hawaii.  When a recession hits, Hawaii is the last to feel it and the last to recover – economic changes always seem to move westward.  So for foreign Buyers and Buyers on the mainland, this is good news because they can start to experience the recovery on the mainland and still be able to take advantage of our lower market values here.”

Makes sense. As our ability to spend is rising, so are the prices of the homes for sale. But in Hawaii, and other areas just now starting to decline, the prices are actually going lower, making it a good time to invest in those areas.

With interest rates in Hawaii at 4.71% for a 30 year mortgage and foreclosures there on the rise, there are incredible opportunities for second homes and investment properties to be had. Can you think of a better place than Hawaii to invest in a vacation home?

If you would like more information on the Hawaii market you can call Bob McCollor @ 808.283.8137 or browse the inventory here.

May Home Sales For Oakland County…UP, UP, UP

The year over year home sales increased in Oakland County for the month of May, the numbers are outstanding. Unit sales were up 19%. Average price increased 8%, pretty darn good numbers.

Oakland County homes sold in May of 2009 totaled 1033 and 1219 homes were sold in May of 2010.

The average list price of a home sold in May of 2009 was $156,755 vs. $170,473 in May of 2010.

The interesting part is that there is real market growth here, not just investors. Homes priced over $300,000 rose 40% from 105 units in 2009 to 147 in 2010. This segment grew in proportion to the overall market, great sign.

This information was compiled using closed sale information from Realcomp.

Ban the Cell Phone Ban, Man!

There is so much on my mind today I am having a tough time sorting it all out. I suppose the stuff that is not related to real estate I could cross right off the list but everything is related in my mind today from the unscrupulous Countrywide bankers to the midwest tornado victims. But first… the cell phone bans.

It is now illegal to text while driving in the state of Michigan. This boils my blood. Maybe not so much at the law but at the NEED for this law.

Text messaging causes distraction while driving which can lead to impaired driving, mistakes, crashes, and death. All true.

On occasion somebody’s going to do something stupid/absent minded/make a bad judgment call and use something improperly. Food, for instance, is misused every day. People die every day from complications associated with over eating. Are we going to tell people what they can and cannot eat? Too much of a stretch? What about eating while driving? I bet there is a statistic for accidents caused by driving one handed with food in the other or frazzled moms blowing on fries and passing out the food out of the McDonald’s bag to a car load of kids. So do we ban eating and driving? Ever spilled your coffee on your lap while driving? That’s a pretty big distraction. What about smoking and driving? Taking your eyes of the road to light the cigarette, flick it, again – driving one handed. Those are all big distractions. You know what? So is fiddling with the radio. We should just stop manufacturers from installing car stereos. So we’re super safe.

I have texted while driving without thinking of it any more seriously than glancing at the map or the gps.Awareness has taught me otherwise and I no longer answer quick messages while driving. I pull over if something needs my attention. And I’ll send a quick “confirmed!” or something similar at a red light. As adults and experienced drivers we should be able to handle managing our own cell phone usage! Teens and novice drivers should have restrictions. 

Anyway, it is what it is, and we now have this texting ban. I’m sure we’re all safer in the big picture. What has me the most cheezed though is that there are some who are trying to get cell phones completely banned from driving. I believe our friends in North Carolina already have that piece of nonsense in place. Stupid Oprah of all people is getting folks fired up. Now Ohpry, when’s the last time you had to drive yourself OR make a phone call to handle any appointments or obligations of your own? This isn’t an all or nothing issue. The logical solution lies somewhere in the middle.

Do you have any idea how much I drive and how much my phone rings and chirps and beeps, as a real estate agent? I would never get any peaceful time with my family if I waited until I was not driving to answer all my calls. I realize there is hands free and they will probably not mess with that, but it doesn’t change the fact that call phone bans are stupid. 

That’s my opinion. What’s yours?

Apparently I was able to focus once I got on a roll. You’ll have to come back later to read my Country Wide Mortgage got burned for deceiving people celebration post! It’s much more upbeat!

Americas Sports City and More.

Detroit has been Rock City, Hockey Town, the Motor City; but the reality is Sports City. If you live in Metro-Detroit you could have driven to;

The Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals, Stanley Cup, WNBA Finals, Frozen Four, Final Four, MLB All-Star Game, Ryder Cup, US Open and a Lions game all with in the last six years.

That is ridiculous, sports heaven and no other town in the world even comes close. Los Angeles is close, Philly may add the Stanley Cup Finals this year to World Series and US Open. But nobody else has all of these.

Entertainment in Metro Detroit is awesome. No big band does a major tour and doesn’t include Detroit. The Fox and Opera House downtown are always offering first class programs. The restaurant scene is very strong, even after the economic downturn. And forget about shopping, Somerset still reigns as one of the countries best and most profitable malls.

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