About Benzie County, MI

TC's Century 21 Northland is expanding its reach again. Less than three months after taking over the former Suttons Bay office of Century 21 McCoy (which closed after cutting ties with the Century 21 franchise in May), Northland has announced its acquisition of Century 21 Sleeping Bear Realty, which boasts 18 agents and offices in Frankfort, Beulah and Empire.

Sleeping Bear Realty has been under the ownership of Suzy Voltz since 1976. Voltz will stay on as an agent in the Frankfort office, but says she is pleased to hand off the management of Sleeping Bear to "younger, active folks" so she can spend more time with her customers and clients, and slow down in her later years.

"Century 21 Northland is on the cutting edge of new technology, which will assist our agents, and it has very high ethical standards, which match our mission as well. I'm looking forward to our new alliance," says Voltz.

"We couldn't be more pleased with this acquisition," says Brad Platt, sales manager and co-owner of Century 21 Northland. "Frankfort, Beulah and Empire represent a very desirable region in northwestern Michigan, and its popularity is ever growing. Suzy and the team at Century 21 Sleeping Bear have done a wonderful job in becoming dominant in market share, and growing into that region has always been a part of our business plan."

Jon Becker - Century 21 Northland

www.c21jb.com for Grand Traverse area real estate listings

I somewhat regularly post the best deals I come across in my Unreal Deals Blog. My latest find looked great on paper and I was excited to feature it:

“My newest UnReal Deal is all about the acreage.

Turns out on paper isn’t real life, and I should have toured it before I featured it. Yep, it’s got all those acres, and the house, and the barn, but the house is as bad as the agent let on in his comments. The deck has…let’s call it debris… an inch thick on it. The former owner sold all the top soil off of the land, and allowed contractors to dump old concrete and road construction debris out back.

Don’t take this to mean the agent was dishonest in describing the property. By no means did he sugar coat it, but by getting caught up in the specifications of the property, I rushed to judgement. This might still be an OK deal for the right buyer, but it’s not as UnReal as I had thought.

This is similar to the realization that many buyers face when looking at foreclosed properties- they compete on price alone. Condition and history are unknown. Nobody is loving them, keeping them feeling like a home. The good news for buyers is that more and more sellers are taking competitive stances on pricing, bringing well cared for homes into the mix with foreclosures.

If you’re in the market, don’t limit yourself by telling your agent you’re only interested in foreclosures. Just because the bank owns it, doesn’t mean it’s the best deal.