About Kent County, MI

Thinking about buying a home in Grand Rapids Michigan? Get yourself financially qualified by a lender, your first step.

Buying the home of your dreams club be one of the best opportunities of your life or a emotional roller coaster without a lender pre-qualification letter. Seller's will view your offer as legitimate with a pre-qualification letter. Without this step being done your offer will only be viewed with skepticism by the seller's

Flexit Realty offers professional buyer agents living neighborhoods just like yours. Take a moment and view our buyer agent video. It will help you with a few other home search opportunities.

Give Flexit Realty Buyer Agents a call for personal home buying help.

If you have difficulty playing this video here is a direct link to YouTube to see the video. Flexit Realty Buyer Agents

Video Advertising can be very powerful in today's world of cross channel media.

Think of attracting clients within your real estate market with targeted advertising that talks to them. Commercials are immediately sniffed out by consumers. A low key, quick video between 45- 2 minutes 30 seconds, solving a problem they might have is dynamite!

I just produced a video for my real estate market, Grand Rapids Michigan. I have a series of videos coming out that address the service offered by my company. These videos coincide with the launch of a new website. Making the whole package new for the consumer.

Do you think targeted video advertising can help your business in your real estate market?

Click the Like Button if you enjoyed the video. Hopefully this showed you a way to connect with more clients in your real estate market.

One of the more popular forums on Facebook for REALTORS in West Michigan is a group that allows agents and other interested parties to trade information about clients who need to rent their homes or would prefer to rent a home rather than an apartment in the greater Grand Rapids, Mi area. There just don't seem to be enough homes to rent!

At Audu Real Estate, we have seen an escalation in the number of requests for homes to rent within the past 18 months. The reasons are varied:

1. Potential renters don't want to become potential buyers because they are scared of loosing home equity.

2. The potential renter may have lost a home or has credit issues and is ineligible to obtain a mortgage.

3. The potential renter thinks their job may require them to move, so they don't want to be 'stuck'.

4. The potential renter doesn't want to live in an apartment & would prefer a home setting.

As a result, we've seen rental rates increase. I've heard predictions which indicate that there will be a 3-6 percent increase in rental rates during the next year. This news has not escaped the attention of some major deal makers across America. In fact, a recent Bloomberg Businessweek article entitled 'Your Next Landlord Might Wear Pinstripes' highlights a significant rise of interest from institutional investors who are looking to beef up their portfolios by purchasing homes and turning them into rentals.

Last year in the fall, the Administration asked for public comment about the idea of renting out a growing inventory of foreclosed homes. Earlier this month, Fannie Mae, the government controlled mortgage agency initiated a program to allow qualified investors to bid in bulk for foreclosed homes as long as they maintained them as rental for a period of time.

So why are investors interested in a housing market that has seen some dark days? Well, it's all about opportunity. Today the US home ownership rates is about 66%. While that is one of the highest rates in the world, it is still below the peak of 69.2 percent recorded in June of 2004. Many Americans remain skittish about the prospects of home ownership even as the facts seem to indicate that this may be exactly the time to buy a home.

For starters, interest rates are insanely low. I'm hearing rates below 3.4% on 15 year mortgages. The inventory in West Michigan is actually pretty good. We're showing homes which would have retailed for 50-60% more just a few short years ago which have been totally re-vamped and are in move-in condition. I'm talking about homes priced in the $40,000 - $75,000 range that could easily have retailed for 3-4X that amount in the past. With today's interest rates, the mortgage amount would be significantly below the rental rate for a similar home.

Investors are interested in these homes because of the cash flow potential. Single family home rentals tend to fetch premium rates and can retail for 3-5% higher than apartment rentals. And, this is not about a quick turn around. Most investors expect to hold on to these homes for five years or more.

Think about that! I just attended a forum on commercial real estate that indicated that the residential market in West Michigan could be poised for a surprising rebound within the next 3-4 years due to several factors including an uptick in manufacturing, more hiring for jobs and a work-force that is fairly well trained and prepared to meet the demands of today's emerging economy.

If this proves to be correct, homeowners who have had a few years of dreadful travail may find themselves once again smiling on the way to the bank. The question is...who will be the homeowner. You...or a corporation?

The first month of 2012 is already over. Wow, it's hard to believe. Time flew by! For some agents in West Michigan, the year roared into focus with sales and business. For others, the past 40 days have been fraught with worry about the future and if they will survive another year. Many agents left the business when the dues billing for the local MLS came in January. However, for those who have chosen to stay, you have a choice...

The choice to simply exist in limbo without a sense of purpose or direction OR the choice to do things differently with regards to your real estate career. If you've been thinking about your career or if you've realized that you must do something different in order to thrive, take a minute to watch the video. There is another way and you owe it to yourself to find out if this is a solution for you.