About Mackinac County, MI

This week I'll be holding a social media training event for the Water Wonderland Board of REALTORS. In preparation for my trip to Gaylord on Thursday, I asked some questions of the board AE Jeannie Rizzardi regarding what was going on in their market. I did this in part so I had a feel for the outlook and mindset of the members, and in part so that I could have some material for examples.

One of the items that came back in a response from Board President Cheryl Schlehuber was regarding the new Mackinac Straits Hospital and Health Care system in St. Ignace. Cheryl said: "We have a brand new Hospital and Health Care system with is the first of its kind in the nation, combining the previous county hospital with the Tribal health care. Opened on the north side of the city in May of this year."

This, to me, is a perfect topic for a community Real Estate blog post. People of all generations care about health care, and Boomers and Civic generations are increasingly making real estate purchase decisions based on the availability of quality health care. Not to mention job growth that comes with this type of new venture. So what would a post look like?

The new Mackinac Straits Hospital and Health Care system in St Ignace is now open! This first in the nation combination of our previous county hospital and Tribal health care is a welcome addition to our community. Not only do residents and visitors throughout the Straits area have access to state of the art medical facilities, but it should also add to our economic base with new employment opportunities.

The activity at the Hospital and Health Care System are contributing to a positive buzz about the area that includes redevelopment of some downtown waterfront property that should be a fabulous location.

On the real estate front, we're seeing a tremendous increase in business over the last six months. There seems to be a real increase in confidence regarding values of properties in the region. Home sales are actually up 38% year to date!

Realtors don't need to think of themselves as a blogger, but as a one man/one woman chamber of commerce. We're in the business of selling community. The best way to to that is to share the love- share what you love about your community, share what is happening, who is doing good things, your favorite events, tips and recommendations.

Share the love.

The common misconception about Buyers Agents is that we take people out to look at a few homes, write the offers, then sit back and collect a paycheck.

Misconception? What an understatement!

Take for example what goes on behind the scenes before we ever step foot in a home with our buyer clients:

• Talk with the buyers about their wish list / want list / must have list in a home.
  
  
• Sort through all of the thousands of listings in the various MLS databases, narrowing
  down only those that fit the buyers criteria.
  
  
• Research the property taxes on the properties. (I'll let you know about the importance
  of this in a separate post.)
  
  
• Check the ownership of the home (looking for conflicting information in public records)
  
  
• Sifting through the comments and photos to ascertain whether a home meets your financing
  criteria (Will the condo be HUD approved? Will the home pass FHA or VA muster?)
  
  

A good buyers agent will spend hours behind the scenes working in the buyers best interests before they ever step foot into a home. But you the buyer don't know that, because we don't give you a detailed invoice of work performed like other professionals do. The list above is only a snapshot of what a buyers agent does for you. The list goes on and on during the process of purchasing your home.

How do you know if we have done a good and thorough job for you? When you get to the closing table thrilled with the purchase of your new home, with as little stress as possible, and without any surprises. We willingly take on the stress and sleepless nights so that you don't have to.

Greetings from Michigan's Upper Peninsula, yes, where "Yoopers" live, work and play. If you're from Michigan or the surrounding Great Lakes States, you probably know right where we're at. If you're from anywhere else, you may have never heard of us or you actually found us and traveled here on vacation. We're 50 mi. south of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Canada, 300 miles due north of Detroit, smack in the middle of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron and connected by the famous Mackinac Bridge. The city of St. Ignace was founded in 1676 so we've been around a while.

I love to travel and am always interested in stories of how people end up where they do, whether it's was on vacation, job transfer or have roots there. how they found it and so on. I volunteer in the tourism business so I'm really amazed at how many people have never heard of or crossed the Mackinac Bridge. That's incredible to us because it's so massive and such a big part of Michigan's travel structure and history. It links the two peninsulas of Michigan. The Big Mac just celebrated it's 50th birthday and it was a pretty big deal. The area is steeped in history, much, the foundation for our entire country.

If you can't tell, I love this place and I love the northern Real Estate business. I'm happy to share information about our area and encourage people to visit here or move here too! Our summer weather is probably the best in the country. We don't have tornado's, hurricanes or floods, just an occasional snow storm (which we prefer to watch from inside in P.J.'s). Having the opportunity to live and work in this Great Lakes Region is a privilege for me and I don't take it lightly.

The Straits of Mackinac is one of the most gorgeous places in the world and I encourage you to experience it yourself. This 4 season area has many festivals, car and truck shows and activities to entertain people from all walks of life. Check out our local St. Ignace Chamber of Commerce for a calendar of events and more.

We live in an area that will continue to be popular and values here should be of interest to many people. We've got what a lot of people want, woods, water, small town community, museums, history, waterfront restaurants, shopping, casinos and more. The prices are still affordable and the scenery and lifestyle only gets better.

U.P. Cheryl,

Mackinac Properties Real Estate and Vacation Rentals

cheryl@mackinacproperties.com

Before foreclosure homes became an everyday occurrence in our real
estate market we used to conduct business in ways that I really miss.

Parts of my job that I wish would make a comeback are (in no specific order):

Presenting an offer to purchase face to
face with the sellers and their agent.

Receiving a response to an offer to purchase
before the next full moon.

Homes that didn't have to be de-winterized
prior to inspecting.

Homes with the lights on. (Especially the
porch lights!)

Lockboxes that actually had keys inside of
them.

Closing celebrations that involved all parties
to the transaction.

I'm selfish. I'm anxious for the turn around in our real estate market for more than the
sheer benefit it would bring to our state and economy.

I want the "olden" days back.

© Kris Wales RE/MAX Advantage 1, Inc. Chesterfield Township Macomb County MI