Soon Spring will be upon us in Southwest Michigan, so I thought I would take a moment to share some of my own photos on the favorite flowers I look forward to in the Spring:
Tulips make the Spring in Southwest Michigan!
Dandelions up close are a wonder of natural artistry
Even geese like Dandelions…
I am making my Kindle format eBook: Land Contract Homes for Investors available for free download on Amazon for one more day. Today (March 10, 2013) you can click on the image of this book, and go to Amazon to download your free copy of this book today. This book covers the subject of Land Contract Homes from an investor perspective, and gives insight into how to make such an investment successful.
It is the companion book to the first book entitled: Understanding Land Contract Homes: In Pursuit of the American Dream which was released just before this one in December 2012. This first book covers the subject for both the buyer and seller, and
make the subject understandable and offers a basic outline of a Land Contracts use and application.
If you choose to download your free copy of Land Contract Homes for Investors, I would ask that you also click on the ‘Like’ button near the book down load area to share this with others. Additionally, when you are done reading it if you will come back to this link and write an positive review that will help share this valuable information with others, I would greatly appreciate it.
Land Contracts have long been in use in our country as a form of seller financing, however, the potential to the investor has not been fully realized. This book seeks to open some doors of understanding on the potential of utilizing land contracts as a means to further ones investment portfolio, and at the same time help others enjoy the opportunities of home ownership. It is a book that not only discusses the investment potential in an easy to read format, it also discusses the details of the components of the contracts themselves, as well as how to screen a potential buyer, market and sell the homes.
In December of 2012, I published two eBooks on the subject of Land Contracts in a Kindle format on Amazon. The first title was: Understanding Land Contract Homes: In Pursuit of the American Dream. This covered the basics of the subject, bot both buyers and sellers to understand not only the mechanics of how they work, but also how to structure them, where to find them, etc. The second book I released is entitled: Land Contract Homes for Investors and this book specifically serves as an information guide to investors who might consider selling a home on Land Contract.
Both of these books are available on Amazon, and have been selling very well since their release. Today only (February 14th, 2013) I am making available the book: Land Contract Homes for Investors for free on Amazon. One can just click on the link of the book cover image and be take to where you can download it for free. I am making this available to help new investors who want to get a start. I would ask that when you visit the link that you take a moment to ‘Like’ it while there by clicking the ‘Like’ button. Also, when you are done reading the book, if you could return and post a positive review for others to read as well.
Land Contract Homes are an area of interest to many who are struggling with difficult financial times. These books help to provide understanding on how Land Contracts can be used to achieve the goal of home ownership for those who need a period of time to recover their finances. I hope that if you are reading this, you will spread the word to others about my books on the subject, and take advantage of the free copy available today. I wish you the all the best.
This new edition has updated links, and a new cover design as well!
Our community of Battle Creek, Michigan has long had a love of Balloons. There are many events during the summer, and the city even hosted an international competition last year. I attended a ‘Balloon Illume’ a few years ago as part of the Battle Creek Field of Flight, and shot the following video and thought I would share it today:
Two years ago I went to the Battle Creek Field of Flight airshow and shot this video of the night airshow. At the time, I was not sure how interesting the video would be, or even if I would do anything with it. I ended editing it into a video and posting it on my Youtube channel. This turned out to be some very interesting and aesthetic video clips, and when I look back on it, it was a lot of fun.
I hope you enjoy it:
The basics of buying a home in Battle Creek, Michigan are consistent with most any area of the country. The first thing that a buyer should do above any other step is to contact an experienced and knowledgeable local Realtor.
Buying a home in Battle Creek, Michigan
A Realtor is a valuable asset to helping you through the step of the process of buying a home, and can also help you find local lenders that specialize in loan programs that would best suite your needs. The basics of buying a home in Battle Creek, Michigan or anywhere in the financing part require a credit score currently above 620 for most programs, verifiable income, meeting the income requirement guidelines for the given program, and other details such as job tenure.
Sometimes a buyer will have a 620 credit score, but will have overcome a challenging period on their credit history such as bankruptcy or foreclosure in the last few years. Some loan programs will not approve a loan if the bankruptcy has been discharged less than 3 years, or the foreclosure less than 2 years. Other things on the credit report can require explanations, or settlement such as judgments or recent non-medical collections.
Once you have overcome what is needed to gain an approval letter from a lender, you then can begin looking at houses with your Realtor. After you have selected the home you want to make an offer on, note that not only a copy of the pre-approval letter is required to submit with an offer, but also an earnest deposit along with the signed contract and other documents related to the house prepared by your Realtor.
Many first time home buyers do not realize they will need to provide an earnest deposit, which is a sum of money down (usually $500 on most houses under $75000, but can be anywhere from $1000 to $2500). The earnest deposit is held by your Realtor, and deposited into an escrow account once an offer is accepted and it is held until closing, where you are credited for it on the final sale of the home. This money down makes it a legally binding contract in Michigan.
To learn more about the basics of buying a home in Battle Creek, Michigan, give me a call at: 269-441-8182 or visit my website at: www.michaeldelaware.com. I look forward to working with you.
Buying a house is easy in Battle Creek, Michigan. Many first time home buyers come to
Buying a house in Battle Creek can be easy.
me with the look of utter uncertainty about how they would ever go about it. Becoming a home owner seems to consist of so many unknowns, that they do not know where to begin.
A recent example of a young lady that contacted me through my website at: www.michaeldelaware.com was of the same idea. She filled out one of my information forms on the website, and forwarded it to me. I received it and called her within a half hour of her having sent it to me. After a short conversation with me, she soon began to believe that buying a house is easy in Battle Creek, Michigan.
Working with an experienced Realtor can make the home buying process easy.
Here is the timeline on how I worked with her to make her see that buying a house is easy in Battle Creek. She contacted me through the website on August 20th, I called her. I connected her up with a local lender, after assessing her needs. She was pre-approved for a loan by August 23rd, and we went looking for homes.
We wrote a total of three separate offers, and were not successful on the first two, but the third we were successful. We just got the home completed and under contract on September 5th, and she will likely close on the loan and be able to move in sometime between the end of September and mid October.
As a Realtor, I not only helped her see that buying a house is easy in Battle Creek, Michigan, but she also is realizing that it does not have to take a long time to find the perfect house for her and her family!
So, it is true that buying a house is easy in Battle Creek, Michigan, and as a local Realtor, I would like to offer my services to you and your family too. Just take a minute to visit my website: www.michaeldelaware.com and see for yourself.
HUD homes (HUD stands for ‘Housing and Urban Development) are a different type of foreclosure, but a foreclosure nonetheless. There is always strong interest in buying HUD homes in Michigan.
Buying a HUD Home can be a great deal.
I have people call me specifically to find out about only ‘HUD homes’. When I ask them why, they usually answer with the most surprising responses. ‘I have heard they are the best deals’, ‘I heard they have programs where you can take over the payments’ and ‘My uncle says he buys them all the time without a Realtor, so it is cheaper…’ All of these myths are false.
Yes, HUD Homes in Michigan are often good deals, but are they the best? No, I have found that this is not always the case. There can be great deals in HUD Homes in Michigan, but standard bank foreclosures are sometimes better. It is a complete falsehood that buying HUD Homes in Michigan or anywhere can be done by ‘taking over the payments’ and ‘without a Realtor’.
So let’s clarify a few things here. What exactly is a HUD Home? Well, in simplicity it is a foreclosure on a government loan from the Federal Housing Authority (FHA). The government is selling the home off through to recovers losses. That is the simplest description I can offer for HUD Homes in Michigan, or anywhere.
HUD Homes require certain procedures be followed when submitting an offer.
HUD contracts a local asset management company for each US State to sell off the homes, using their guidelines. The homes are listed and sold per a specific system. The asset company contracts local Realtors to list the properties, and they do so per the guidelines of HUD.
When viewing HUD Homes in Michigan, you must be accompanied by a licensed Realtor to see the home, and if you choose to write an offer, it must be done through a Realtor. Like any foreclosure purchase, there are certain requirements that must be included with any offer.
People buying HUD Homes in Michigan must provide proof of funds or proof of financing. This is either an account statement or letter from a financial institution that substantiates that you either have the cash available in full or are approved to borrow the amount you are offering.
You will also be required to present an earnest deposit. This is per the current rule $500 for under $40,000, and $1000 for anything above $40,000. Varying amounts of earnest deposits are not accepted. You must also fill out a precise purchase contract, and accompany documents, through a Realtor, and the Realtor must also sign certain documents.
The initial offer is done through the electronic bidding process online, which the Realtor enters for you. This electronic bid requires that you provide your social security number, legal name, address, and the amount of your offer. If the bid is accepted, then your Realtor is notified through email of your offers acceptance. If it is not accepted, there is no email. There is never a counter offer or negotiations with HUD. You offer is either accepted or it is not. HUD Homes can be viewed at: www.hudhomestore.com.
If you are interested in finding out more, you can contact me through my website at:
http://www.michaeldelaware.com
and I would be happy to get you information on HUD homes in the area.
Selling your home in Battle Creek, Michigan can be challenging if the home is not marketed or price properly. Working with a Realtor that knows the market area, and has a good understanding of many different approaches to marketing is essential to your success.
Selling Your Home in Battle Creek, Michigan requires traditional and modern methods of online marketing.
As a Realtor in the Battle Creek, Michigan area, I have sold many homes for sellers looking to move on for whatever reason. Some sellers need to downsize, others need to find something larger and still others are just trying to get out of a bad situation. Sometimes people experience life changing events in their lives, such as job loss, death of a spouse or even divorce that greatly impact their ability to remain in the home. Whatever the reason, or the circumstances, it is important to have a sound approach to getting the home sold when putting it on the market.
Selling your home in Battle Creek, Michigan requires more today than just putting a sign in the yard, distributing flyers and running print advertising. The market has changed in the world of buyers in the last 5 to 10 years. Distribution of local newspapers in many areas, Battle Creek included, has been greatly reduced in recent years. The printed home buyer’s guide that used to cover Calhoun County has been merged in an effort to cut costs for the distributor to include both Calhoun and Kalamazoo counties. Its weekly distribution was reduced to every two weeks a few years ago, and most recently changed to once a month. So this is not as popular a source of selling a home as it was just 5 years ago as just one example on this.
So what does it take to go about selling your home in Battle Creek, Michigan?It takes
Marketing with a comprehensive online marketing plan is essential to get more exposure for your home to prospective buyers.
working with a Realtor that will not only do the traditional methods of print advertising, flyers and the sign in the yard. Selling your home in Battle Creek, Michigan requires getting your home out there where buyers are looking and shopping: the Internet. And when I say ‘internet’ I do not mean just putting it out there on the Multiple Listing Service, and having it exported to the dozens of listing conglomerate sites out there. These things should be done, but they are still somewhat of a traditional method.
What I have found works is to get the home written about in blogs that I write, and make these known on social medial lines such as Facebook and Twitter. Further, making a video with a good presentation about the home, and uploading and promoting it on YouTube is also a must. Tying in all of these forms of social media together to draw a higher level of exposure for the home is important. Putting it out there where someone may search for it on Google, or Yahoo is equally important.
My website is a vehicle for buyers and sellers in Real Estate.
Buyers of the modern day are searching 90 to 95% of their time online these days, as opposed to just 10 to 15% a decade ago. Traditional methods are giving way to the internet age, and although they serve their purpose to draw some buyers to the home, they are not the only one a seller should concentrate on.
So when I take the approach to selling your home in Battle Creek, Michigan, I use a formula that goes somewhat like this: 25% the traditional methods, 30% the online listing promotion traditional methods and 45% social media through blogging, Facebook and Twitter. Click here to see my Facebook business page. Click here to see my Twitter page. Click here to see my website at
http://www.michaeldelaware.com
, where I have a list of my various blogs in the right hand column near the top. You can also take a look at my Youtube channel where I not only promote the properties I am selling, but I also educate buyers on how to buy a home in the area.
As always, if you are interested in selling your home in Battle Creek, Michigan or anywhere in Southwest Michigan, give me a call at: 269-441-8182 or contact me through my website.
Allegan Michigan has a beautiful boardwalk system in downtown along the river.
There are a few communities that really have beautiful downtown riverfront areas. There are several towns in the Southwest, Michigan region that this is a highlight of the downtown.
Cities such as Battle Creek, Allegan, Kalamazoo and Marshall have beautiful riverfront walkways and sometimes shops along the rivers of their downtown district. Allegan has a magnicent boardwalk and old iron bridge in the downtown district, and Battle Creek with its overlooks, benches and shade trees make for an inviting stroll along the river.
A river going through downtown is a great highlight that not every community can boast, and not all that have them present them in the same way. The ones that do feature them bring a sense of beauty into the district that brings people back for more. There is nothing quite like a seasonal stroll along a beautiful river in a downtown district.
Battle Creek, Michigan has a beautiful riverside walkway in downtown.
