About Midland County, MI

Midland, Michigan, Ayre/Rhinehart Realtors, Jane Heiss-Armitage Housing Market -

The housing market shows signs of a little recovery, the interest rate is below 5.5% and there is still the $8000.00 first time home buyers tax credit out there which needs to be closed by November 30, 2009.

Also the most active markets are usually in June, July and August so people can be in before school starts in September. Our office showings are up and the number of houses on the market is increasing as people decide to move.

I think it is to early to say we are in a recovery, but signs of bottoming out are looking better.

Enjoy your day !

Ayre/Rhinehart Realtors, Midland, Michigan - Just to update you on what is happening in the Midland, Auburn, Freeland, Bay City, Sanford areas, Summer is here, it is getting warm (finally) .

1. Midland has taken one of the top ten spots of "Best Tennis Town in the U.S." and now the voting is on thru Sunday the 26th of July. go to www.midlandtennis.com to vote. The vote is very much appreciated. The grand prize is $100,000.00 to the community. What a great thing ! Help us out ! Go Vote !!

2. Dow Gardens look terrific, they have a brown bag lunch and music on special days www.dowgardens.org

3. Always something happening at Chippewa Nature Center. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

4. Emerson Park has softball and fastpitch tournaments throughout the summer.

5. Go see a LOONS game.

Enjoy,

Midland, Auburn, Bay City, Freeland home sales are up! Home sales are up from last year in Midland County - showing show that we almost had as many showing in June of this year as in 2007 which is great. The previous month (May was higher than any previous May, which is wonderful. The market is very active and before to long we should make the curve to an even market again.

The $8000 first time homebuyer credit needs to be closed by November 30, 2009, so give me a call and we can get the ball rolling so you don't miss out !

Homes Sales in Midland, Michigan, The latest statistic for Midland County Repo's is from January thru June 2009 they went from a high of 39.5% down to 21.9% in June, I'm sure we will still see another surge of them on the market but it seems the market is making some headway. Midland is the home of Dow Chemical Company and Dow Corning Corporation Headquarters as well as Hemlock Semi Conductor in a neighborhing town of Hemlock, Michigan. Let's hope this continues.

Well to those in the industry it was only a matter of time till that one of the greatest incentives to buy right now is slipping away. That's right, Low Interest Rates! Unfortunately we are seeing interest rates on the rise again and where they will stop is anyoneguess. I have had many lenders inform me they would not be surprised if rates were above 7% to 8% this time next year.

Now if you do not know the golden rule, here you go. It is the 1 to 10 ratio.This means for every 1 point interest rates go up, you lose 10% of buying power.

Example- Lets say you were qualified to buy a $150,000 house right now at 6% interest. If and when rates go up, say to 7%, you will only qualify for a $135,000 at the same payment as the $150,000 house. (Bummer isn't it!)

So if you are a Real Estate professional reading this blog, this is a great way to motivate potential clients or those who are SITTING ON THE FENCE.