When is it a valid short sale?

October 24, 2012

I own and operate a web site called MIShort Sales.net which one can get to using .net or .com at the end. It is an informational site that explains the short sale process and hopefully answers a bunch of common questions. It has lots of links to very good articles on various topics, such as the impact on your credit of a short sale and comparisons of the consequences of a short sale vs. a foreclosure vs. a bankruptcy.  It also gives the reader a good idea of the timeline and processes that one must expect to go through in order to do a short sale.

One of the key ideas behind the short sale process is that of the “hardship” that the sad face rain cloudhomeowner faces that has caused the need to sell. There are many valid reasons that will justify the lender granting the mortgage holder relief – a layoff, illness, divorce, and more. All of them somehow point back to a loss of income by one or both of the homeowners involved. I get those stories of life’s travails all the time. You can read a more complete list of justifiable reasons for a short sale at the web site. Something as common as a loss of overtime at work can become a hardship justification.

I also get a lot of calls from people who have already made other life decisions to move on, whether that was required or not, and who now just don’t want to continue paying for the mortgage on the old homestead that they’ve left. Some are retirees who’ve moved to their retirement home (usually in some warm clime) and just don’t want to keep paying for their old home. Some are people who’ve accepted new jobs somewhere else and moved, initially renting out the old home because they were underwater on it. Now they’ve tired of the whole absentee landlord routine and perhaps the monthly drain that the old home still has on their finances. They have very marginal cases (if any) for justifying a short sale. In many cases they have already been turned down for a short sale by their lenders.

In those cases, I have the would-be sellers talk to my short sale partners at Nationwide Loan Help. I don’t do the lender negotiation and legal side of the short sale, that’s what I use Nationwide for. They have a staff of negotiators and more importantly they have lawyers on staff. It’s my feeling (and the feeling of my company’s legal counsel) that short sale negotiations quite often cross into the territory of giving legal advice, which I am not qualified to render. It may well be that trying to negotiate a deed-in-lieu is the best path for some of those homeowners; or it may just be that they need to find a way to bring some money to closing. They really need to look at whether they are in a “I don’t want to” or “I can’t afford to” situation. We can explore the” I can’t afford to” cases for possible hardship justification. The “I don’t want to” situation just isn’t going to get any sympathy from the lender or from us.

So, before you call about a shot sale, go read the material at the MI Short Sales Web site and take a good honest look at your situation. If life has dealt you an unexpected blow that has really left you unable to continue to make your payments, give us a call. I can help you.  However, if you’ve made conscious decisions to move on and abandon your obligations, because it just isn’t convenient to keep paying anymore, I probably can’t help.  Call your attorney and your financial advisor and get ready for the credit impact of a foreclosure.

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Posted by Norm Werner

When is your credit score not THE credit score?

October 4, 2012

Everyone has credits scores – multiples of them because there are multiple different credit rating companies, each with their own credit scoring approach. Now a report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) states that consumers may also have different credit scores from the same rater, depending upon who pays for the report. A story on the RealtyTimes Web site reports on a recent study done by the CFPB.

Lots of people use credit scores for a great variety of reasons, obviously usually having to do with extending credit; however, in real estate they are also used as a part of the vetting process for would-be renters. Usually I advise people looking ot lease to go to one of the free credit report sites and pull their free credit report. Those reports don’t usuascoringlly include a credit score, which the sites charge extra for; however, they do provide documentation of the current state of the credit of the would-be renter. Most landlords will accept just the report and not demand a credit score.

It is a bit disturbing to read that a potential creditor might get a different credit score if he/she pays for it than you would get if you paid for it yourself. The CFPB report puts the chances of that at up to 19 to 24% of the time. So, almost a quarter of the time a creditor might see you in a different risk category that you saw yourself in when you pulled the report – usually towards the low side, by the way. That’s disturbing. You may still get rejected for credit and not even know why.

So, what is a good credit score? I guess that depends a little on who is asking and what criteria they are using. At the site credsitscorereange.net a poor credit score is shown as between 340 – 619, a fair credit score is between 620 – 659, a good score in the range of 660- 749 and an excellent credit score between 750 – 840.

 

Here’s another credit score range from oskie.com

Between 700 & 850 = Very good or excellent credit score

Between 680 & 699 = Good credit score  The Average American Credit Score = 682

Between 620 & 679 = Average or OK score.

Between 580 & 619 = Low credit score

Between 500 & 579 = Poor credit score

Between 300 & 499 = Bad credit score

 

I think it’s valuable to see that the U.S. Credit Score Average is 682. So, if you are above that you should be in good shape. Below it, watch out!  What credit score do you need to buy a house? Most lenders want to see a 620 credit score or better for an FHA, VA or USDA loan. For a “conventional loan”, not backed by one of the government bodies, at least a 650 score is what the lenders want to see.

The advice for consumers that came with this article was fairly consistent with past advice – consumers should check their credit reports at least once a year and should aggressively work to clear up any mistakes or old issues that have lingered on the report after the issues were cleared up.  It is probably worth the $10-15 once a year to pay to see what the company is reporting as your credit score, even if it might be a little off compared to what they would report to a potential creditor.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide…

September 29, 2012

There was an old 1960’s song that had the line “nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide…” It was done by Martha Reeves and the Vandelas (click here to hear and see the song on YouTube). I thought of that song as I was thinking about the current tight real estate market. There’s almost literally nowhere to go if you are forced out of your home through foreclosure or because of a short sale. The rental market is extremely tight right now; or at least it looks that way.

As a Realtor®, I get calls all the time from people looking for a place to lease or rent. Usually these are people who’ve just gone through an event that forces them to rent for a few years, which they repair their credit. I try to help, but often I have to advise them to get in the car and start driving the streets. That’s because, with the market so tight, landlords are just throwing a “for rent” sign in the yard or window. The landlord avoids having to pay any commission on those rentals; however, renters who deal directly with the landlord take a risk by not having the advice and negotiating help of a Realtor.

One issue that would-be renters don’t realize is that they will need to provide financial information, including a credit check, to the landlord, so that he/she can make a decision on whether to rent to them or not. Landlords are looking for good renters whom they can count on to be there with the rent every month. They don’t want deadbeats in the place that they later have to evict.

Quite often I will have the would-be renters write a letter to the landlord explaining the situation that brought them to this point and also explaining why they are now a good rental risk. This usually applies to someone who may have had a temporary setback in life that caused them to lose their house, but who still has steady employment and a reasonable current debt load.

Things that landlords generally don’t like to see include bankruptcies, someone with temporary or part-time employment only or people whose current debt load is more than 50% of their monthly take-home pay. Those are red flags for a landlord and may point towards problems ahead. People with those things in their lives may be best off in an apartment setting for a while.

If you find yourself in the unfortunate situation where you need a place to live for a couple of years as you get your life back on track you can’t be too picky in the current market. You may also have to make some hard choices, especially as far as pets are concerned. Trying to find a place that will accept your 100lb Great Dane along with you is a BIG challenge.  Some landlords will also accept small to medium dogs but not cats. You just have to live with that, it’s their right to refuse to rent to you on that basis alone.

So, it’s not that there’s absolutely nowhere to run to, but temporary places are harder to find. Call me and let me know what area you need to be in and I’ll look for you. In the meantime, get your credit report ready and write that letter to the landlord explaining why you’re a good risk for him/her to take. I’ll find you a place to hide, but you’ll need to help me convince the landlord that you are not a risk to run.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Short Sales still a fact of the current market…

September 22, 2012

I had another short sale closing this week and have had more inquiries about short sales lately. Short sales are still a significant part of the current market, although, like foreclosures, they have declined as a percentage of total sales.

Just about the only thing that most people know about short sales is that the sale of the house is done for less than is owed to the bank. In other words, it’s a sale of a house that is “under water”. There are lots of misconceptions about short sales and some mis-information out there about them, too. I have created and run a Web site just for short sales in Michigan called mishortsales.com. There is lots of good reading material there about the process and the potential consequences on a person’s credit and taxes. If you or someone that you know is contemplating a short sale, that would be a great site to visit to find out more about this alternative to foreclosure.

I get asked a lot, “Can my family just buy the house in the short sale and rent it back to me?” The short answer is NO! Due to the amount of fraud in the early days of this recession, lenders all require the buyers and sellers to sign an affidavit that specifies that none of the parties in the sale are related in any way. That means that neither your relatives nor your in-laws can be a party to the sale. The way the affidavit is worded, even a family friend would be excluded. The bottom line is that you are not going to be in the house when it is all said and done. It’s gone. You’re out. Deal with that and get on with life.

There are lots of other questions that I get asked about short sales and they are covered in the FAQ section of the mishortsales web site. One of the big points that I try to get across at that site and help people understand is that a shot sale is way better than letting the property go into foreclosure or declaring bankruptcy. There are great articles to read about the credit and tax consequences of the various alternative routes that can be taken.

Another point that I make there is that this is a process that involves both real estate issues and legal issues related to negotiating with the lender(s) involved. I’m a Realtor® and I can take care of the real estate issue; however, I am not a lawyer, so I engage the help of a company that specializes in short sale negotiations and has lawyers on staff to help with those aspects. People considering short sales should understand how both sets of issues – real estate and legal – are going to be handled and by whom. I’m also not a CPA or financial advisor, which is why I have links to articles on the mishortsales.com website by people who are experts in those areas and can help you understand some of the financial and tax issues involved.

One aspect of short sales has remained fairly consistent – they take a long time. I normally advise people looking to do a short sale that they should plan on at least three months and as much as six months (sometimes even more) for the short sale process. Even though the banks have been doing these short sales for years now, they are still way understaffed and the internal process within the banks way to convoluted and committee oriented. It can take weeks to even get an answer to the simplest question or request.

And during this time, the crazy thing is that the bank can be pursuing a parallel course of foreclosure. Even though you have an accepted offer for the sale in-house they will often continue that foreclosure process, which can be confusing for the sellers, because they are getting two different sets of letters and communications from two completely different groups within the same bank. The problem is that the two different bank groups don’t talk to each other and don’t know what the other group is doing. Crazy? Yes!

So is a short sale right for you? Is it the right thing to do in your circumstances? Only a meeting with your Realtor can tell. You can read about the process and the things that you should have in order to pursue a short sale on my web site. Also on that site are some guidelines about what the expectations are on the banks, in terms of the reason (most often call the “hardship”) that they should accept as your justification for the short sale. Read the stuff there and then give me a call. We’ll discuss your situation.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Great weekend and good times had by all…

September 17, 2012

We had perfect weather over the weekend for the Home Tour and the Car Show. The Car Show drew a record number of cars on display and had a very good spectator turnout. The Home Tour also did well on a cool fall weekend. Some past Home Tours have been too hot, especially since many of the historic homes on the tours do not have central air conditioning. From what I could tell the Tractor Show had a good turnout, too. I didn’t get to see any of the Duck Race events, but the Rotary Club of Milford always does a good job with that.

So, now, it’s on into autumn.  Football is in full swing at all levels and the air is starting to crisp up a bit. I tend to measure the passing of another year by Halloween. I’m not sure why, but that’s the last holiday of the year where we can normally still sit or stand outside to give out the candy to the kids that come by.  Since we live in the Village, we get lots of Halloween trick-or-treaters. Many family from outlying areas in the Township will load up a van with kids and bring them into the Village to trick or treat; that’s fine with us. Hopefully we’ll have a crisp, but not cold, evening for that holiday.

We also had a birthday party over the weekend. Our only granddaughter turned 8 this year. This was the family party, since she is “too old” to have family at her real birthday party with friends. It’s funny how that happens. Her mom told us that she no longer has “play dates” with friends; now they “hang out together.” How fast they grow up!

The real estate sales data for last week is posted. I noticed a decline in sales, which had been running in the range of 70 to 80 sales a week, down to just over 50 last week. Distressed ales were generally down again, with the three markets in Livingston County that I track – Brighton, Green Oak and Hartland- showing n9t a single distressed sale. I’ve added the ability to see the sales data for the entire 9 township market on a weekly basis as the month progresses. Several markets are now running consistently above $100/Sq. Ft., which is another good indicator of the recovery that is under way.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Things are looking up in the Milford market…

September 11, 2012

I took a look back at the last three years’ worth of sales data that I’ve collected for the Milford market for the month of August. Several things jump out. Distressed sales have fallen dramatically. The size and prices of houses that are selling have greatly increased. The SEV multiplier that people are getting for homes now has dramatically increased. And the sales price per square foot has increased quite a bit. We are now back over $100 per square foot, after languishing well below that value for the last few years.

2012 August

Percent Distressed Sales – 5%

 

  Listed   Price Sold   Price %   sold/

Sold

 SEV   value  SEV factor DOM Sq.   Ft. $/SF   listed $/SF   Sold
Ave

$279,530

$274,977

98

$111,965

2.4540

69

2,387

$119

$125
Med

$244,900

$245,500

97

$104,525

2.4855

49

2,153

$108

$108

 

2011 August

Percent Distressed Sales – 38%

 

  Listed   Price Sold   Price %   sold/

list

 SEV   value  SEV factor DOM Sq.   Ft. $/SF   listed $/SF   Sold
Ave

$241,819

$225,044

95

$113,460

2.1348

108

2,356

$103

$96
Med

$207,450

$190,000

94

$96,700

1.9008

88

2,253

$101

$94

 

2010 August

Percent Distressed Sales – 54%

 

  Listed   Price Sold   Price %

sold/

list

 SEV   value  SEV factor DOM Sq.   Ft. $/SF   listed $/SF   Sold
Ave

$125,000

$116,000

98

$96,570

1.5993

36

1,344

$93

$85
Med

$153,659

$147,200

97

$98,829

1.4779

83

1,755

$88

$83

 

What all of this points out is a greatly improved market in Milford (Village and Township). If I run the numbers from the other eight markets that I track they show similar, if still somewhat uneven, improvements. What this is telling me is that we have indeed turned the corner locally in the real estate market. Bigger houses are selling again and for better prices. The low DOM numbers are also indicative that we are in a seller’s market with low inventory. Homes are selling relatively fast and at 98% of asking price, they are selling for what the sellers want to get.

In our hey days (some might say in our crazy, real estate bubble days) Milford normal properties in good condition were selling for between $124 to $144/Sq. Ft. Luxury homes were well over $200/Sq Ft. We have a ways to go before we get back to that level, if we ever do again.

Appreciation in this market is running about 6% so far this year, which is above the historic average of 4%, but which is indicative of the tightness of the market. Demand is outstripping supply right now. That has builders putting up new-builds as fast as they can in several areas.

So, is the market back, or is this just a temporary uptick? We’ll see how thins progress as we head into the slower real estate seasons of the late fall and early winter holiday seasons. My gut feel is that there is a pent up demand that is still not being met – there are people who want to sell who are still trapped in underwater homes and there are buyers frustrated by not seeing anything that they want to buy.

As values appreciate more and more would-be sellers will reach at least a breakeven point and get on the market so they can get on with life. Then buyers will have more to choose from. Things might also benefit from getting past the uncertainties caused by the upcoming presidential elections, no matter which way it goes. I think we’ve turned a corner and I don’t see us sliding back into a housing recession; however, things need to continue to improve before we will get back to a more normal, balanced market.

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Posted by Norm Werner

A marketing report from Real Estate One

August 31, 2012
Real Estate One
Norman, W Werner

Norman, W Werner

248-763-2497

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This little marketing report is generated by my company and sent oout via email to some of my clients. I though you might enjoy it, too. It has a couple of nice charts about the Michigan market.

 

Michigan Monthly Market Update – August 2012

July pending sales jumped up from June’s pace, proving once again that our recovery is moving in the right direction but not in a straight line. Some months are moving up quickly, others just a bit, but so far, always up! The overall Months Supply of Inventory (MSI) for Southeast Michigan hit a five-year low at 4.6 months and NW Michigan was also at a five-year low of 9.1 months.
MSI Chart

The average MSI is the industry standard index for following the market direction, but to get to the true index number we look at the MSI in the market segment where the majority of buyers are, those homes on the market less than 90 days.

Value Chart

The pattern follows the same trends as the overall MSI, falling to the lowest levels during the market decline, and clearly showing a sellers’ market, which explains the multiple offers we are seeing in the under-90-day market. Low inventory is also helping fuel the rising price trends shown in the following charts with values picking up speed since the beginning of the year. Price per square foot is not a pure indicator of appreciation, but it does filter out some of the distortion found in median values as an indicator of general value trends.

Appraisals have been a challenge for the past 18 months as appraisal standards struggle to keep up with rising values. Although there still are many issues, the good news is we seem to have turned the corner with appraisal shortfalls shrinking daily. More and more appraisers will take into consideration the details on multiple offers in their evaluations, so if you’re in a multiple offer situation, and your Realtor is able to obtain information about those multiple offers, they should include them in their comparable presentation to the appraiser.

This month was a particularly strong month for our family of companies, with the best market share gains across the board of any month so far this year.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Seeing good trends in the data…

August 29, 2012

I track sales in 9 local real estate markets that surround (or are near)  Milford – Milford (Village and Township), Commerce Township (to include Walled Lake and Wolverine Lake), Highland Township, White Lake Township, West Bloomfield Township and Lyon Township and South Lyon in Oakland County;  plus Green Oak, Brighton (Township and City), and Hartland Township (and Village) in Livingston County. I’ve been tracking these same nine markets for a about three years and five of the nine for several years longer.

Basically I show the sales data every week and report the following statistics – Whether the sale was a distressed sale (a foreclosure or short sale), the listed price, the sold price, the percentage of sold verses listed prices, the SEV for the home as recorded in the Public Record Database at the time of the sale, the SEV multiplier that the sale price represents (SEV is supposed to be ½ of the market value, but these days homes are selling for 2.2 to 2.5 times the SEV, which indicates that the assessors overshot in the down direction), The number of days that the home was on the market (DOM), the Square Footage of the home as reported in the MLS and the listed value per Sq. Ft. and the Sold value per Sq. Ft. For each market I show the Averages for those values and the Median value for the data.
As I looked at the data yesterday when I posted it for last week, several things jumped out at me. One is that this is one of the few times in the last few years that distressed sales as a percentage of all sales has been below 50% for all nine markets. There are still some hovering at mid- to high-40% levels, but there is also one that has remained at 0% all month, so far (Milford). The days on market (DOM) numbers are down on average across the board, indicating that properties are selling faster. Perhaps the most important is that four of the nine markets have broken back through the $100/Sq Ft Average barrier. To me that’s a significant figure, sort of like the Dow has “barriers” at 12,000 or 14,000.
In housing in this area, when the bottom dropped out of the markets we dropped from sale values in the $124-144/Sq Ft ranges during the peak in the markets that I track down to markets that were averaging $70 – $80/ Sq Ft. Admittedly much of that severe drop was due to the high percentage of foreclosed houses in the sales mix during that period; however, it did impact the market values of all houses on the market. So we are not back to peak levels and may not get back to that level for a decade or more (if ever); however, we are getting closer to market values that will allow many who have been sitting on the sidelines to consider listing their homes.
Not everyone bought or refinanced and took out equity during the bubble years; however, even those who were financially conservative and may have had a big down payment when they bought found themselves under water when homes values fell as far as they did in the recent recession. I see articles that the housing market is back to the value levels of this year or that and I’d say that we regressed back into the mid 1980’s somewhere, so far as lost value went. A few of our local markets lost 30-40% of their 2006 values and a very few actually lost more than 50%.
Now things are trending back up. If we get back on the historic home appreciation curve of 3-4% per year it will take us a decade to get back. I suspect that the lack of inventory in the market will drive a faster recovery, at least until the market reaches a new supply and demand equilibrium.  The data that I look at each week certainly seems to indicate that. If you want to see for yourself, go to http://www.movetomilford.com and click on the choice “ What have homes in this area sold for?” There is data there for all nine markets going back three years and for some of the markets going back further. The data that I collected has changed a bit in format over the years, but you should still be able to compare some key metrics.
And if you’re ready to see what your home is worth on the market today give me a call. I don’t charge to do a Market Analysis for you and you might just be surprised that you can take your plans off hold and move on with life by selling now and moving to take that new job or moving to that retirement home or that place closer to the kids. Maybe it’s time to look at that move-up house that you’ve been dreaming about but felt that you couldn’t afford. You just won’t know until you see where you are on your current place.

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Posted by Norm Werner

New short sale information available

August 11, 2012

Distressed sales – foreclosures and short sales – still make up about 40% of the local southeastern Michigan real estate market sales (higher in a few of the markets that I track and lower in others). Of that 40% the majority in this area are still foreclosures, with short sales tending to be prevalent in the lower end of mid-range of the market – the $100K to $300K segment – right now.

Short Sales occur when a homeowner sells his/her home for less than what is owed to the bank on the mortgage balance. Bringing money to closing is one obvious way to deal with the situation, albeit not a very popular way.  A homeowner who makes up the difference themselves by bringing money to the closing table is selling short, but it is not recorded as a short sale, since the bank got what it was owed. In the sales that are officially reported as a “Short Sale” in the local Multi-list Service, the bank has agreed to take less than the amount owed on the mortgage. There are credit implications to an official short sale, as well as many other possible implications. You can read more about those implications at my web site www.mishortsales.com .

A recent article on the RealtyTimes web site focused upon short sales and had links to two good short sale readings – one posted by the National Association of Exclusive Homebuyer Agents on the “51 Critical things that you need to know about short sales” and the other a pointer to the web site of a homeowner who when through a couple of short sales herself and decided to write a book about it. You can buy the eBook on that site. Go to http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20120809_shortsales.htm to read the Realty Times article or you can just access the links below.

Reports 51 Critical things you need to know about short sales (a sizable PDF file of 16 pages)  –

http://www.exclusivebuyeragentsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/20120621NAEBAShortSaleReport.pdf

and

The web site for the lady who wrote a book about her experiences with short sales –

http://www.ahomeownersguidetoshortsales.com/

As I emphasize on my short sale web site, no one really likes having to do these short sales. Short sales are generally better, in terms of credit impact, than foreclosures or declaring bankruptcy; but, they are often frustrating for all of the parties involved. The most apparent “winner” in these transactions is the buyer of the short sale house; although the frustrations and long waiting periods involved can certainly dull the thrill of that victory. Short sale buyers may also be passing up the opportunities on other homes while they wait; thought many continue to “shop” while they are awaiting an answer.

Statistically, the majority of short sales actually fail to close. Many don’t happen because the lenders often pursue the foreclosure process in parallel with the short sale process and the foreclosure happened first. You might think that the bank’s foreclosure department would know that the short sale department is pursuing a sale, but you would be wrong – most banks are so silo-ed in their organizational structure that those two departments almost never talk to each other. During the process it is not unusual for owners to get two letters from the lender the same day or week  – one from the short-sale department of the lender and the other from the foreclosure side of the house.

Low appraisals also contribute to the failure of many short sales, which generally means that the sale price, even if set below what is owed to the bank still does not reflect the value that has been lost in the current recession. Some are also lost because the would-be buyers have grabbed a little too far for the brass ring and can’t really afford it once their “mortgage pre-approval” gets to the underwriters.

For owners the goal is a full release of the loan obligation of the mortgage and any future recourse by the lender. In between replies from the lender that range from  “No” we won’t do it to a full and complete release of the obligation to the lender is an array of options that the lender might pursue, some of them almost as onerous as a foreclosure might have been. That’s one reason why sellers need the assistance of a short sale real estate team to help with the negotiations.

So, if you are contemplating doing a short sale in the southeastern corner of Michigan read these items and/or go to my web site – www.mishortsales.com for even more on the process and possible outcomes and consequences. Then give me a call and we’ll discuss whether a short sale may be right for you and your circumstances.  If you are a buyer who believes that a short sale provides you with the best opportunity to get the most house for your money, call me and let’s discuss what’s involved in the process of buying a short sale house and whether it’s right for you.

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Posted by Norm Werner

July is in the books and the stats are up…

August 1, 2012

I’ve just completed updating the sold real estate stats for the markets that I track locally – Milford, Highland Commerce, White Lake, Lyon &; West Bloomfield in Oakland County; and Green Oak, Brighton and Hartland in Livingston County. So how are we doing so far in 2012?

Did more homes sell in Highland or Milford in July? How about year-to-date? Is the median home price higher in Commerce or Lyon? How about the cost per square foot? Which market had the most New-Build sales in July? Is Brighton on average more or less expensive than West Bloomfield in terms of average cost per sq ft for a home? If I was looking for a lower cost (average sale price) home market, would I look in White Lake or Highland? Which market had the shortest days-on-market for July? How about year-to-date? Which market had the least amount (%) of distressed sales – short sales and foreclosed sales – during July? How did July compare to June in those markets?

You can find the answers to those questions and more at my site www.movetomilford.com under the choice “What have homes in this area sold for?” While you’re there you can also check out what events are coming up in the Milford/Highland area or find a referral to a local business. If you want to know lots more about Milford, just choose the “Click on Milford” button at the top of the page for everything about Milford.

I live and work in Milford, Michigan and think it’s the greatest place in Michigan to live. There’s always something to do in the area for the whole family and lots of great restaurants to visit. The shops downtown are still useful for shopping for more than knick-knacks (although we have those, too). Soon we will be hosting Milford Memories, one of the largest Street festivals in Michigan; followed by the Milford Home Tour and the Milford Car show and the Tractor Show on the third weekend in September.

So study the real estate stats and learn more about Milford and when you’re ready to Move To Milford give me a call, I can help with that.

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Posted by Norm Werner

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