Kris Wales - Macomb County MI real estate blog & homes for sale search site

Our local real estate market has some of the best buys that I've seen in over 10 years, and condominiums are no exception. In fact, I think condo prices are the best bargain out there in Macomb County right now.

The prices have come down so low that even the most elegant of condos is now reaching into FHA financing loan limits range. Many people are starting to realize this and have inquired recently as to whether a condo in our area can be purchased with an FHA (or VA) mortgage. The answer is a resounding yes. Keep in mind though that not every condo complex is HUD approved and a bit of background work should be done by your agent or mortgage lender prior to making an offer on one of these great buys.


When I have a buyer client that wants to purchase a condo and is using an FHA or VA mortgage I do my homework ahead of time prior to viewing them. One of the resources that is available to all of us is the HUD website that has a list of approved condo complexes.

You can search using a city or a zip code and the approved list will be shown.

Here is the link to HUDs search site for approved condos. If the complex is on the approved list you can then proceed with some reassurance that your FHA (or VA) mortgage will proceed without any glitches for this part of the process. If it is not on the list you can still talk with your mortgage lender and buyers agent about a "spot approval". ( Please feel free to call me or your mortgage lender to ask about spot approvals and what they entail.)

Talk to your buyers agent about this before you start viewing condos. Having as much information as you can ahead of time will help to make sure your purchase proceeds smoothly and with as little stress as possible for you.


~Kris Wales~ A partner for your real estate needs in Macomb County MI

More real estate and local articles about Macomb County MI can be found here.

Mr. Ernie Harwell, the voice of the Detroit Tigers, and beloved by many across our nation, turned 91 years young yesterday.

Happy Belated Birthday to you Mr. Harwell, and thank you for all of the pleasure you have brought to so many of us.

For a real treat, listen to this audio of Mr. Harwell explaining how his special baseball calls came to be.

The beginning of the year is always an exciting time for us in the real estate industry. We look forward to taking on the challenges that each year brings and also look forward to analyzing how the first month of the new year compares to the previous year.

I couldn't wait until the end of the month to take a side by side peek at what the home sales are looking like in Macomb County MI so far this January.

The number of homes sold in Macomb County during the first 2 weeks of this year has risen by 29 homes sold, but the bank owned homes (foreclosure - distress sales) still rule the roost so to speak.

Even though 210 homes sold during this period, only 57 of them are not foreclosures.

I can talk about how pricing is key until I feel there is nothing more to say on the subject, but the proof of the words are in the numbers above.

If you are a homeowner who truly needs or wants to sell the best advice I (or anyone else in this industry) can give you is to be ready to price your home competitively. Whether we like it or not, the foreclosures are selling at a greater pace. 57 of your neighbors in Macomb County took this advice seriously and have sold their homes within the first two weeks of the year in spite of the amount of bank owned homes on the market.



~Kris Wales~ A partner for your real estate needs in Macomb County MI

If you'd like to read more about real estate in Macomb County MI please visit me here.

**All homes sold data courtesy of Mirealsource™ and it's participating brokers and real estate agents. Information is thought to be reliable, but not guaranteed**

During my chat last week with Mike Caira of Great Lakes Mortgage Funding I asked what he had been seeing and experiencing in regards to FHA mortgages lately and the processes in underwriting the loans.

One area that he brought up (along with the condition of the property part of the process) was the way in which underwriters are looking at the value of the home that is being purchased in our Macomb County area. Mike stated that the underwriters of FHA mortgages want to see:

3 sold comparable sales less than 90 days old and 2 active comparable listings less than 180 days on the market.

Please keep in mind: An appraiser will look at the full listing history to determine if the comparable home has been on the market for more than 180 days. All agents should be doing the same thing to ensure accuracy and integrity of the data that they are reviewing.

If you are a buyers agent representing your client in an FHA transaction please search for comparable sales with the above guidelines in mind before submitting your offer to purchase to the seller.

Likewise, if you are representing the seller in marketing their home for sale keep those guidelines in mind.

Using what has sold 6 months ago will be outdated as far as a usable comparable sale to an FHA underwriter and appraiser.

If you'd like to read more about FHA mortgages and articles for first time home buyers in Michigan please visit me at Chataboutmacomb.com If you have specific questions about FHA mortgages that you would like Mike Caira to answer he can be reached at (586) 532-0600.

~Kris Wales~ A Macomb County MI real estate agent

Try to imagine what a subdivision of these homes would look like
in your neighborhood :

An inventor named Buckminisiter Fuller started thinking about the design for this
home in the late 1920's, and in the years during WWII the US Army commissioned
him to build and send these homes to the Persian Gulf. Mr. Fuller had bold ideas
to mass produce these homes for returning veterans to help ease the housing
shortage after the war, but his homes never came to fruitiion.

This Dymaxion home has been donated to The Henry Ford museum in Dearborn MI
and was lovingly restored to be exhibited there.

One of the unique (and ahead of it's time) features that I found so interesting was its
inner gutter system to capture rain water for recycling. In the picture below you will
see that the home is wrapped inside with aluminum sheets and has a gutter system
that lays just below those sheets. Any rainwater entering the home was funneled into
those gutters, then drained to a catch-all outside of the home to be reused by the
homeowner for lawn watering or clothes washing.




Imagine, in early 1940 someone was thinking about the environment and how to recycle
and reuse our natural resources!

Unlike the Lustron homes that were produced during the late 1940's, the Dymaxion
homes and the dreams of Mr. Fuller to mass produce these homes never came to pass.
What a shame. I would have loved to see what a subdivision of these homes looked like
in my area. The homes were right around 1000 square feet and had 2 bedrooms and
2 baths. (Unusual during those years to have 2 full baths!)


Below is a photo of what the living room and dining room looked like.





Have the winter blahs? Take a day trip to The Henry Ford museum in Dearborn MI.

The Village is closed now until around April, but the museum is open and is filled with treasures
and exhibits. There are 2 restaurants in the museum, plenty of parking, a coat check area at
the main entrance, and lots of family fun and "oohs and aahhs" to be had!

~Kris Wales~