West Bloomfield, MI

Upper Straits and Lower Straits lakes are two beautiful Michigan lakes with great Michigan lakefront homes that are located within 40 minutes of downtown Detroit.

Upper Straits Lake Oakland County MI

Upper Straits Lake information

• All sports lake Yes
• Private Lake Yes
• Size 323 Acres
• Max Depth 96 ft
• Public Access No
• Public beach No
• Wake restrictions Unknown
• Lake Association Yes (see below)
• Water source Unknown

Search Orchard Lake lakefront homes for sale

Search Upper Straits Lake waterfront properties for sale

Location of Upper Straits Lake

Upper Straits Lake is located in Oakland County MI. Upper Straits lake is in Orchard Lake Village and in West Bloomfield Twp. Upper Straits Lake is north of Pontiac Trail and south of Commerce Rd. Upper Straits Lakeis east of Haggerty Rd and west of Pontiac Trail.

Upper Straits Lake real estate and home styles

Upper Straits Lake has quite a few upper end homes. There are homes listed at over 3.5 million dollars right now. Upper Straits lake waterfront home stylesrange from 800 square ft ranches to 8000 square foot colonials. There are bungalows, ranchs, contemporary, and colonials that sit on the lake. Upper Straits Lake lake lots are very pricey so that is why even the smallest houses are worth a lot of money.

Upper Straits Lake Map Oakland County MI

Lower Straits Lake information

• All sports lake Yes
• Private Yes
• Size 236 acres
• Maximum Depth 22 feet
• Public Access No
• Public Beach No
• Wake restrictions Unknown
• Water Source Middle Straits Lake

"Doesn't that look like a great place to relax on a Saturday afternoon?"

Lower Straits Lake is accessible to the public via a township owned public access ramp on Middle Straits lake which has parking for 10 vehicles.

Lower Straits Lake Map

Lower Straits Lake real estate

Lower Straits Lakefront homes for sale in the last year range in price from $64,000 all the way up to 3.2 million dollars. The lake has a mixed bag of lakefront properties. There are 600-7100 square foot lake homes around the lake. Lower Straits Lake homes are:

• ranches
• cape cods
• colonials,
• split levels
• Tudors

The majority of the homes on the lake are ranches and colonials. Upper Straits waterfront properties range in age from the 1930's to 2002. Years ago Oakland County Lakeswere a resort destination for Detroiters. So the homes were small. Then over the years the lake homes have been added on to, or torn down to build a bigger and better new home will all the new amenities.

Many of the older homes have no basements, but some of the newer ones have a walkout basement. The homes range from 1 bedroom to 6 bedroom homes, and 1 bath to 3+ Bathrooms. Some of Lower Straits waterfront properties have no garages and some do. Click on one of the searches below to find your lake home

If you want the latest Oakland County lakefront foreclosures and lakefront listings emailed to you so you don't miss out on the great deals join my Oakland County Lakefront homes for sale VIP club

Feel free to call me with any questions or to see any Metro Detroit Lakefront home

Russ Ravary your Oakland County lakefront Realtor

photo courtesy of RealComp II ltd

There are currently 66 West Bloomfield foreclosures and 41 Bloomfield and Bloomfield Hills foreclosures. When you go out to look at Metro Detroit foreclosures you need to know the market. So many Michigan home buyers think that they can go out an low ball a foreclosure, after all that is what the newscasters are saying.

I have pulled the last 45 days of West Bloomfield and Bloomfield foreclosures. Here is what they were in the table below.

DOM stands for days on the market. Look at that column. There was one foreclosed home that sold in a day and it sold for $12,000 over list price. What that tells me is that home was in decent or good condition and was under priced. That homeowner got a deal most likely.

Banks are many times underpricing the list prices in order to sell the homes quickly. They want to sell them in 60 days and what better way to do that then price them below the Metro Detroit real estate market. 16 OF THESE BLOOMFIELD AND WEST BLOOMFIELD FORECLOSURES SOLD AT OR ABOVE LIST PRICE. 16 OUT OF 38 HOMES IN THE LAST 45 DAYS! That is almost 50 percent of them!

Whether you are my client or another agent's clients I hope this helps you. Because an educated client will make good choices. There is going to be some fool out there bidding on these foreclosures at 25% and 50% below list price, and they are going to lose the house. That Oakland County home buyer is going to get frustrated.

But if you know the market and know what is happening you are going to be able to win the bid. I know my wife would be upset if she finally found the house she wanted and then lost it because I was trying to steal it and I lost it by being cheap. They key to buying the house is to bid right. Sure you might low ball the house if it has been on the market for 120 -150 days. Then you may have a good chance at it. But if the foreclosed home just came out and is under priced compared to the other homes you have been looking at. And it is nicer. Then be prepared to pay list or over list to get it.

Look at the one on Victoria Drive in the table below. It was a 4000 square foot house built in 2006 listed at $240,000. Sure there was somebody that probably bid $250,000 for it. But the guy that bought still got a deal at $351,000 and he owns the house!

That is the bottom line. Get the house you want at a good price. Bid smart! Look at the market around you bid to get the house and still get a deal.

If you would like to have foreclosure listings emailed to you join my Vip Metro Detroit foreclosure club. I can send whatever city you want either daily, weekly, or monthly. Just let me know. Or feel free to pick up the phone or email me with questions.

Russ Ravary Your Oakland and Wayne County real estate agent.

Comps and listing information was provided courtesy of Real Comp II Ltd. Homes sold above were sold by various member Realtors

Oakland County Lake information

Oakland County has over 320 named lakes. Some are what I would call a large ponds. There are many all sport lakes to enjoy whatever you like including:

• waterskiing
• fishing
• tanning
• playing in the sand
• jet skiing
• sailing
• floating in the lake
• wake boarding
• boating
• knee boarding
• swimming

The Largest Oakland County lake is Cass Lake at 1282 acres. Whether you are looking at purchasing a small 800 square foot range or a 7000 square foot mansion on the lake Oakland County lakes have it all. Oakland County Lake properties are ranging from $100,000 up to 10 million dollars. It just depends on what lake you like or what type of home you want.

Right now there are 120 Oakland County Luxury lakefront homes for sale over $1.000,000 they have been on the market an average of 300 days.

There are 45 Oakland County waterfront homes for sale between $600,000 and $700,000 they have been on the market of 307 days.

147 Oakland County waterfront properties currently for sale in the $400,000 to $600,000 rangeo and have been on the market an average of 247 days.

In the $200,000 to $400,000 lakefront homes range there are 287 homes currently for sale that have been on the market an average of 219 days.

And in the under $200,000 lakefront properties there are 133 properties that have been on the market an average of 187 days.

What is interesting is that 479 Oakland County Lakefront homes have sold in the last year after being on the market an average of 167 days. Which means there is almost 1.7 year supply of Oakland County lakefront homes.

Whether you want to live on the south side of Oakland County or west side of Oakland County you can search any of the cities below for lakefront homes.

Or just call me on my cell at (313) 310-9855 or email me to talk about what you want in your lake home.

Russ Ravary your Oakland County Lakefront real estate agent

If you work for yourself, you may be trying to put a little money away here and there to make sure you have some money down the road when you retire. But just putting money in a savings account may not bring enough of a return to have the money you need when you are ready to retire. Instead you need to look for a way to make your money grow from now until you are ready to retire so you have a nice little nest egg waiting for you.

This is when you want to set yourself up with a Roth IRA. This is an independent retirement account that you can set up for yourself and then fill with various investments that will hopefully gain a great return on your investment dollars.

First you need to decide how much you are investing. Some of this will depend on how much income you can spare to put away each month. Another part of it will be what the law allows you to invest each month, as there are caps on contributions to many retirement accounts.

Knowing how much you have to invest monthly is also important to know what you can buy. Some real estate investment trusts (REITs) have certain levels that you have to buy in at and you will need to know you can meet the minimum buy in.

One you know what you are going to invest on a monthly basis, it is time to figure out what you are going to be investing in. This is when you need to do a lot of research. There are plenty of real estate mutual funds and REITs out there and each of them have different pros and cons. In order to pick the one that will be best for your investment plan you will need to research all the ones that interest you and then narrow down to the ones you think would be the wisest to buy.

When it comes to research, it's easier if you can do it all in one place. This is something you can do when you are using REITBuyer.com. REITBuyer is the first and only online brokerage that specializes in real estate mutual funds and REITs. So, their website is focused on having all of the information you need in one place to make it easier for you to choose the funds you want to purchase as well as being able to purchase and monitor them in the same place.

A final note on a way to see those retirement dollars really grow in real estate mutual funds and REITs - compounding. When you get dividend checks from the REITs and real estate mutual funds, you need to make sure you put them back into your investment. While it may not seem like those dividend checks are a lot, if you roll them back into the investment you can really begin to see a snowball effect of your retirement growing into a very large next egg.

REITbuyer.com, a website designed to educate investors on REIT buying and investing in Real Estate Mutual Funds. Whether you are a savvy investment guru or a new investor looking for guidance, Reitbuyer.com has everything you need to be successful. Visit http://www.reitbuyer.com for more information.

This is the third part of a series on the Open House at Henry Ford West Bloomfiled Hospital.  From the time I entered the demonstration kitchen and the Living Well Shoppe, I was hearing about Henry's cafe. Actually I didn't need any convincing to set it as one of my destinations.  I had heard that Matt Prentice (founder/owner of Matt Prentice Restaurant Group) is the culinary director of the Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital and he and a team of twenty chefs developed the menus.  Located at the end of Main Street near the atrium, I was impressed with the variety and presentation in the seven food stations.

I was lucky enough to see Carole Benson, manager of Food and Nutrition who supervises Henry's and Caribou Coffee.  I have known Carole from her previous position with the Matt Prentice Restaurant Group as Catering Manager for Coach Insignia and she graciously gave me a guided tour of the facility.  We spent a lot of time at Henry's where I was very disappointed that they were not open for business as I would definitely have sampled the sushi, dessert and more I am sure.

Matt Prentice worked for two years to develop the recipes for the food which is both tasty and healthy and designed around an organic lifestyle.  The food at Henry's Café is exactly the same food that will be served to patients who can order healthy meals of their choice any time of day.  For those attending the culinary classes in the demonstration kitchen, they can visit Henry's and purchase the same food they just learned to prepare. 

The patient menus are completely changed every two weeks to adjust to the produce that is available organically with an emphasis on local when possible.  The menus offer kosher, halal, organic, whole grains, vegetarian and gluten-free. The food is not fried and has no added salt or processed sugar.  It may sound boring for those of us who are not patients but, I assure you, it was far fom that.  Now that menus have been created and staff hired and trained, Matt Prentice remains a consultant for Henry Ford Hospital System and committed to maintaining what he has developed which is far beyond the ordinary.

I have spent time in hospitals the past couple of years with family members who were ill and, as I walked through Henry's Cafe, I kept imagining what it would be like to have this food available to me in those situations--including eating it while relaxing in the lovely atrium.  Since Henry's is also available to the community, I know when I am in the area, it will be worth a stop - particularly since my appetite was not quenched when I could not get any samples on my recent visit.  This may be the first hospital where the local neighborhood stops in for a carry out.

Also check out the welcome to Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital and the Demonstration Kitchen.

West Bloomfield Realtor selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan.  TishHouse sells Houses - selling Oakland County Real Estate with RE/MAX Showcase Homes in Birmingham, Michigan. Helping People in a challenging market by specializing in Short Sales. See what my clients have to say about my extraordinary customer service.  Follow me on Twitter.