Macomb County Real Estate - Macomb Michigan Homes for Sale

So after reading my post from yesterday I decided it may have been a bit negative and perhaps I should listen to my good friend, "The Real Estate Therapist" Tamara Dorris.... to start Thinking Positive Thoughts again. Especially, after reading her blog post Attitude of Gratitude. In it she talks about what you think and say being sooooo important.

Okay now that I have slapped myself around and I am thinking positive thoughts again I can start writing.

Back in the late 90's ED and I joined Amway also know as Quixtar. Let me tell you that is a group of Positive People. Our group leader at the time suggested we not listen to the news, not think negative thoughts, stay away from bad seeds, build a dream board (stuff you really want) listen to motivational tapes and read positive books. Do you know why? So we were always thinking positive thoughts because they knew every time we even mentioned the word Amway people would freak out, it was crazy. Well today we no longer have a group but we still use many of their fine products and the lessons we learned. It really is a great company.

But you know Amway really helped Ed and I build alligator skin against the negative people we had to deal with daily. People that we were trying to help that could not get past the negative they heard. Well today we are dealing with the same thing. Everywhere you turn the media, the congress and even the president all talk negative. Even I have fallen into it and I of all people should know better as the owner of a real estate company. I need to stay positive to help my sellers and my agents.

Now we all could learn a ton from Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos the owners of Amway. They built a huge company from their garage in the 50's that is still around today. They managed to run a positive company with negative all around them.

So here's my bit of positive for today - Real Estate Sales in Macomb County were up in 2008. Yep, there were 6794 homes sold and 1285 condos sold. You know what? Last time we saw those numbers was 1994 - 6806 homes were sold and 1037 condos were sold. I guess we are heading back up again.

On February 10th,  President Obama hopped aboard Air Force One and made a stop in SW Florida. The purpose of his trip was to sell his stimulus package, to the folks of the hard hit Florida real estate market. But as Linda Flack recently stated their real estate market has actually hit bottom and not doing that bad.

Then he jetted off to Denver Colorado to sign the economic stimulus bill. Why Denver? Well according to the media the President went to Denver because they are a "green" state. Plus as Jim Luz recently reported on his blog, Denver was named 1 of 12 Solar America cities.

The next day the President headed off to Mesa Arizona to sign the Housing Bailout. Meza like Florida is experiencing huge amounts of foreclosures and falling values. Hey what better place to sign the bill.

Hey President Obama what about Detroit, Michigan???

Remember us? Back in the early 1900's we put tons of people to work building automobiles. We are also the state that shifted all our plants during the wars from automotive to tanks to help out the country. Loads of people black and white came here to work. Our state was the true melting pot of America. Everyone came here to work immigrating from all over the world. You may know us better as "The Motor City Capital of the World" people usually refer to GM, Ford and Chrysler as the Big Three. We were once a thriving manufacturing state.

In case you forgot we are having some financial problems here. Remember back in December when the auto execs came to Washington and were told to come back when they had a better plan? I'm sure you remember when you and many lawmakers chastised the auto execs for using their private company planes when they came to Washington?  BTW the United States of America is having some HUGE financial problems too, so perhaps you should park Air Force One and just sign the bills in Washington. Besides saving the tax payers some money it would be the "green" thing to do.

I don't mean to be disrespectful President Obama but Michigan unlike Mesa and Fort Myers is hurting pretty bad in terms of employment and housing. So why not stop here in Michigan? Oh yea just in case your staff forgot to tell you Michigan's unemployment numbers look pretty bad compared to FL, CO and AZ, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Now you may not know this but Michigan unlike the other states did not have all kinds of second homes being bought and sold for profit or speculators buying up pre-construction developments, doubling their prices. Nope we simply had middle America moving their families. Those same people that work in and around the automotive field.

As you can see from the chart below our sales prices did not double in 2003 or 2004 like Florida and Arizona. But they did come down quite a bit. From what I have read Mesa like Fort Myers is back to 2003 prices. So the way I figure less people were  effected than here where bank foreclosures have put us back to 1997 - 1998 prices. Check out my Tale of 2 Condos to see what I mean.

Well that's all for now I just thought I should share with you and the rest of the country what's been happening here in Mitten state since you did not stop by.

When the media reports on the US real estate market, does the report accurately reflect your area? Does the media tell the Real Story?

Let's take a look at the Tale of 2 Condos.

Back in November of 2003 we purchased a 2 bedroom condo in Washington Township, MI. At the time the condos in the complex were selling between $120,000 - $125,000. However, since we purchased a HUD foreclosure we only paid $105,000.

Then a few months later in May of 2004 while on vacation in Florida, we found another HUD foreclosure in Lake Suzy, FL. This was also a 2 bedroom condo only we paid $57,000 for this one but at the time the condos were selling between $70,000 - 75,000.

Now mind you both condos were experiencing a minimal growth rate for several years and both units were comparable for the area. Then all Hell broke loose.

The condo in Washington started to increase in value and were selling between $125,000 - $127,000 at the peak. Then they started to drop in value. It's now worth much less due to the bank owned condos that have driven the market way down. As of today condos in this complex are selling for $55,000 - $65,000. Thanks to the banks.

Whereas the condo in Lake Suzy went way up and in 2005 we saw condos in our complex selling between $140,000 - $150,000 at it's peak. Then they too started dropping in price and are now selling between $70,000 - $80,000. Pretty much what they were selling for when we purchased it back in 2004.

The Florida market like many other states was a speculative market. It was driven way up and similar to musical chairs, the last one standing lost. However, we did not see this in Washington Township, Michigan.

Now to recap the Tale of 2 Condos - our Michigan condo has dropped back to what they were selling for in 1991 and the Florida condo to 2004 prices. Both states are listed as top foreclosure states. Here's a tour of these 2 condos.

Remember when the media reports the real estate market, what they tell us is NOT a true picture of the countries real estate market. It is an average or snap shot of several markets combined.

How's your market compare???

Every year we travel from Michigan to Florida via car so we see first hand the horrible conditions of Michigan roads. Yes, I know the snow and salt do damage. But why can't they just do it right the first time? Two words Government and job security.

Case in point - M-53 aka Van Dyke Freeway aka Christopher Columbus Freeway. When we moved out to Washington Township 11 years ago I remember orange barrels along M 53 and every year they seem to return to the same place. They close the road and resurface a few miles, then return the next year cut out bad sections, then return the next year to place asphalt in the holes they created by fixing the bad sections. Then we drive on a road that feels like we're on a rickety wood roller coaster. Can they for once get it right so we can have a nice road to drive on without seeing those dreaded orange barrels???

Well folks in case you missed it the Macomb County Road Commission has a $40 million dollar project that will begin in March of 2009. So be prepared to see orange barrels for about 9 months. MDOT plans to resurface 9 miles of M 53 from 18 Mile to 27 Mile with asphalt, add a new bridge and create two round abouts at 26 Mile and M53. Funds for the project will come mostly from the federal government, actually about 80%, and an additional 20% from the state of Michigan and a small amount from Sterling Heights.

But have no fear I'm sure they will return to the same strip of land next year for their job security. How do I know? Well Gov. John Enger's Build Michigan II has been fixing this same stretch of road since 2001 and it was supposed to provide a 10 year fix. 

• $3.1 million for 28 Mile to 31 Mile 
• $12 million for 18 Mile to 23 Mile 
• $12 million for 23 Mile to 27 Mile

Do you know why the stimulus package includes so much money to repair the roads? They actually never repair them.