Barb & Sal Dragotta Macomb County Michigan Homes for Sale

That is the Truth: We only report it: We don't understand it: We refuse to really dwell upon it !!

Before this is continued---Have you noticed the Updated Photo of Sal--well at this typing it only appears in once spot on the Blog; don't know what happened, Not going to change any steps that were taken to update photo.

I wanted to use the Brand Car & caught him in a "hurry up mode-mood"--it had rained where he had been for a meet; and true to form for us, when he drove up, I told him about the idea, he stepped out of the car. And as soon as I had the photo lined up--the sun came out, darkened his glasses & shone on his newly cut hair--making him look balder.
I like it-he hasn't seen it--it was edited in Picnik with the "focus" on his face & upper body while the rest was slightly blurred.

Enjoy--I do !

Now, as to that title:
These last 7 days, we have been scrambling between Sal's appointments and the raindrops to spruce up the outside;
...We always do this, but since being on the 'Market" have rushed this job;
...Our Keller Williams Realty name is on the sign;
...Our Realtor[R] name and phone number is front & center;
...Only certain neighbors know that is OUR last name there, so to all others--that is the name of the Realtor[R];
...We have purchased two new fountains for the front & moved 5 others to the side & back yards;

It is a job that I really like doing; It cleans up all the Winder-left-over-dead-growth, & presents a bright, clean look to the year. This Home is on a corner lot, so all areas need to be dealt with.
Everything is completed, except for some yard "Pals" who will be out soon.
...This involved taking down the winter tarps;
...Putting up the New darker netting on the Patio;
...trimming, removing, or otherwise cleaning up the Perennials, Pine trees, & other Bushes;
...Bringing out of storage all the Patio furniture & setting them in place
[except for the Hammock--tomorrow job];
...of course, also changing burnt out bulbs and securing all landscape lighting;

Very efficient job so far; a few stiff muscles; a few New muscles previously unknown. All in all a good week's worth of work. However........



[one fountain changed since photo]


One thing became very apparent during this work-load; Sal was the first to comment upon it; I had to agree.



[photobucket-share]

NO Matter what was the starting time;
NO Matter what was the actual job assigned for the day;
NO Matter who started the job , or whether it was a combination of individual jobs done simultaneously;
NO Matter--Anything;
....We always completed each Day's job within 4 Hours;
...4 Hours that were not part of the plan;
...4 Hours that neither of us could explain;
...Four Hours--no matter the day, the weather, or the job;

Know the conclusion drawn here?

"Boy, are we RIGID"

It this is the New 70s [years of age]
I don't like it--I demand a reassessment--I can work for more than 4 Hours at a time;

We both had careers--we both worked more than 4 hours on every given day;

Sal had a career that took him to many places around the globe;
Sal was at work at GM each "in state" day by 6:30 am--his day did not end at noon, not even at 5:00pm;

When I taught, I was at school[s] anywhere between 7:30 am --4;30 pm;
Most of the time did bring Home projects to grade or plan;

Never in our lives did our vim & vigor run out at 4 HOURS.
Today--we ran out of Job before it was a full 4 Hours--so we pulled a few more overgrown weed-plants;
Sal lined up what he planned to work upon for Friday, and that resulted in my plan to move the ledge rock first so his job would be that much better.

Unless, we are at the 6 hour Realtor[R] training, or taking advantage of other classes; it seems that:
the New Norm for us will be a 4 Hour work day.
That is just wrong.

[Neither of us consider working on the computer or the phone [Sal] as included in this 4 Hour--that can take many hours if we let it]

I am addressing the Physical Labor of Life:
The type of working that makes you tired at night--inducing deep sleep patterns;
Computer work can be tiring, but it also can rev up your Brain--thus deterring Sleep [-but No Sun-burn].

Before going into the Michigan Housing in particular;
it seems important to cover some articles that speak to housing / loans for every state:
...Thursday May 5th, the Macomb Daily presented info. on the 30 year loans;
...see : www.macombdaily.com Sec. C / author Lew Sichelman / "30-year loans: going, going, gone?"

In his article Mr Sichelman addresses the "what ? about dismantling of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
he states that without the government's backing most housing proponents claim that will be the end of the 30-year loan...as we now know it.
These same proponents continue to say that [30-year loan] will become a relic of the past when money was easy to come by and basically cheap to afford.

Others, however, state that America's most-popular Home-loan will still be there for those who can afford it.
This could translate into a 3 Point increase [ ie: a now 5% loan could be an 8% loan rate]

Established in 1934 by the Federal Housing Administration to help stabilize the then shaky market. This popular loan was seen to move into the heights by both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac [created to keep the money flowing for home loans]
The Secondary Mortgage Market is where they "Live"; where they keep the primary lenders flush-with-cash by using the bundling-of-loans and selling to investors world-wide.

Considered the "back-bone" of the Housing Market, with their implicit government backing, these deals- though offering a lower return - did attract cash investors thus being able to subsidize the 30-year loan mortgage making it less expensive [to investors] than they could get otherwise.
The article move on in this direction & presents a Primer in Investing & the 30-year Mortgage in particular.
Great article.



With this in mind, we move onto the Michigan Mortgage scene;
Michigan has been ranked as 1 of the Top Ten states for Mortgage Fraud in the recent years,
An article by reporter/ writer Dave Phillips in www.macombdaily.com Monday May 9th addresses this fact /
page 10 A / "Proposed laws offer tougher penalties for mortgage fraud" .

Mr. Phillips continues by discussing a newly introduced bill by Lake Orion, MI -- State Senator Jim Marleau - R.
This bill is currently being considered by the Legislature;
...would make it a felony;
...would increase the maximum penalty to 4 years in prison [currently it is a 1-year penalty];
...has an effect on every citizen of MI in that it directly impacts small business, homeowners, and banks;
...this is a violation of the Notary Pu;bic Law;
...tougher Notary public penalties for those involved in this fraud or any fraudulent real estate acts;

A Friday Press conference at the Oakland County Courthouse--Co. clerk Bill Bullard spoke to "the Linda Green signature" problem that referenced the name that was signed to several mortgages before it became clear in a 60-Minutes investigation.
He asked "Do we have any Linda Green Signatures in our office" he added that five of these signatures have been found in Oakland County recently with those documents being turned over to the Oakland county Prosecutor's Office.

Sec. of state Ruth Johnson was at the conference and praised Sen. Jim Marleau;
"we started this four years ago, and Senator J. Marleau never gave up."
Sen.Marleau acknowledged that 'the Legislature must keep up with this problem even if and when the measure passes.'

It is hopeful that the bill will be passed into law this summer.
the need is great and too long incoming for those Michigan citizens. affected.

In Macomb County, the recent release of Census results found we have twice a many vacant Macomb Homes than in 2000. Friday-May 6, 2011 / "Census: Twice as many vacant Macomb homes" / pg 1A
www.macombdaily.com Frank DeFrank address this startling statistic; the census shows that nearly 25,000 vacant Homes were found in 2010. this is about 7% of all available housing the the County; In 2000 the rate was 3.5%.

The areas listed [are not the only ones impacted] with high vacant houses are:
...Mt. Clemens --11.4%
...Harrison Twp. --11.7%
...Utica -- 9.9%
...Richmond -- 9.7%
...Eastpointe -- 9.0%
...Chesterfield Twp. - 8.5%

Michigan:
... is ranked 7th in foreclosures--at 1 out of every 324 households;
...has fallen from 18th to 37th in per capita income during the decade;
...Home ownership rates in the state--declined to levels not seen since 1990;

As in all areas faced with high rates of vacancies, the municipalities have to spend more work-hours & funds to keep these properties safe & kept-up.
Some individual areas have passed bills into law requiring the mortgage lenders and / or past homeowners with the job of maintaining and securing the properties; though fines are issued, to find and collect from the absent owners has proven difficult, thus many lenders are taking this job on themselves & adding the cost to the final dollar amount of the foreclosure.

Two Macomb County areas have bucked the trend of increased vacant properties:
...New Baltimore 2000 = 8.6% and 2010 = 6.5%
...Macomb Township 2000 = 5.4% and 2010 = 3.6 %

In Macomb Township even though there are some properties left vacant, it has become difficult to tell where they are; the neighbors around these properties have taken upon themselves the job of maintaining the 'curb appeal'

A final census report has shown that the number of owner-occupied Homes has decreased, while the number of renters has increased from 65,339 to 78,199. Macomb Twp. still has a high rate of owner-occupied housing of 76% - 79%.

The good news in all of this is....we have housing for all buyers in every community in Macomb County.
Those who do qualify--have a choice of dwellings based on their finances.
Do not avoid an entire County based on "Numbers"

The Mayor of Mt. Clemens--Barb Dempsey--has been heard to state that ' the best defense against blight is obvious: "get the homes occupied"
Well, said Ms Mayor, WELL SAID.

Get the Job Done

You grab it:
You run to the garage;
You then "spray" the daylights out of the Kitchen, Mud Room & the Garage/

THEN:  you check the sell by 'date' on the box;
Grab a new bag;
Watch it carefully as it pops.

Most, if not all of us, have had this experience or others like:
...tomato sauce overflow;
..,toilet filling too high;
...son, washing out his underpants and taking the top of the tank off so he "can watch to see when they come back";
...too many other examples to post here.--you get the picture

If Life were only that simple--see a problem; latch onto the situation; finesse the solution;  Follow through.

Humor is always the answer to "how to" deal; 
[ that will differ depending upon the severity of the problem ];
Not too funny as you watch your child "light the straw from the broom" to "smoke like Daddy";
Even less so when you discover you just washed & dried the mouse in the snowsuit pocket;
When you see your child at the classroom door with a bloody face while you are at at PTA meeting and he is 'home with the sitter';

As children get older, the situations simply change to age related;
Add some animals to the mix. & a husband who is traveling for work, and you get the picture;
Looking back, these were all "Small potatoes" in the scheme of things.
So many other families have much harder situations with which they deal.

What though when it is a much greater "situation"?

Today I heard that Detroit has a 47% illiteracy rate;
That was astounding, so went online and did research;  Not much better:
In 2010, Detroit City dropped to 56th place in big-city literacy [the report studied 75 big-cities]
[from the http://michiganliteracynetwork.com/blog/2011/01/19/detroit-falls-to-56th-in-big-city-literacy  ]

Michigan's Adult Population at Level 1 Literacy--Percentages --by County:
checking on:  http://www.michiganliteracy.org.counties.htm 

The Tri-County Plus two more:
...Macomb    13%
...Oakland    13%
...Wayne      30%   [Detroit  47%]

Washtenaw  12%
Livingston      9%

An updated listing from:  http://www.oakgov.com/services_index/education/literacy.html   dated 2002-2011
...Macomb    15%
...Oakland    10%
...Wayne      36%
...Detroit      47%

State-wide in Michigan there are 18% Adults [16 & up] who function as illiterate.

Functional Illiteracy is a term used to describe skills in reading & writing that are inadequate to deal with the demands of everyday life.

Illiteracy--in the strictest sense--means the inability to read or write simple sentences in any language.

How many of the 47% in Detroit are actually unable to read or write ---Illiterate--has not been part of this study.

This is much more than the "Burning Bag of Micro-wave Popcorn", but at the same time leaving the burning bag or the bag belching grey-blue smoke will eventually spread all over your kitchen; causing the problem of greasy-smoke-coated cabinets, walls, flooring, appliances, counter-tops, & depending on the design of the kitchen itself, perhaps migration to other rooms.

You DON"T want to do that
There is no humor in that
You really need to jump on that quickly.

Literacy is vital to all residents of every state--We must demand that our schools change everything that needs to be changes so the students will learn how to read, comprehend and apply that which is read.

Is there any humor here at all;
a little gallows humor may apply in these statements

"the reason for the 47% illiteracy in Detroit, is due to the fact that those who-could-read-the-handwriting-on-the- wall--have already left" 

or " I am an Honors-graduate from college & I can't understand the "small print" that comes with my credit card bill"

and "Wake Up And Pay Attention"  --metro Detroit Authors must take that responsibility [ of down turning literacy rates] upon ourselves and help the cause.  Whether it's in your own house, community or more, authors need to focus on Detroit's detrimental literacy rate."   from: Sylvia Hubbard / Jan. 19th 2011  www.detnews.com 

Various approaches to the situation in which our largest city finds itself, as well as the surrounding counties, but to continue with the "status quo" in facing difficult problems will only 'grow them"---
Think about that silly bag of microwave popcorn that is belching that grey-blue smoke.
You can leave the bag inside & hope
You can grab that bag & run
You can spray an odor-removing product
You can Ignore  or Deal with it promptly.

As burning popcorn clouds the house, [Pun intended]
 
So does ignoring illiteracy in our children;
Our children however, who can text [using strange spellings], play complicated XBox type games & place numerous phone calls--walking & talking.    

A true love of or interest in Reading:
can make horizons brighter;
take us to the heights & depths of life;
introduce areas, cultures, & different life-styles;  
educate us to the most complex thoughts;
simply transport us to realms beyond our experiences;

Spouses, Children and Friends are fulfilling and fun to have around;

Good Books can become  great friends & teachers;
They Don't make demands of you;
They don't judge you;
They can brighten a dull day;
They can warm a cold night;
They can scare away the ghosts of life;
They can take you places you could never imagine

To be Literate and to Love it--- is a great thing--
No burnt popcorn allowed.

   

Michigan areas-- working hard to get the information out to Homeowners, Business-owners, & the public in general.

Macomb County municipalities:
County-wide offering
...Home repair Assistance Program returning;
...The HUD program will make funds available to "eligible" to Macomb Co. homeowners;l
...Needed repairs to homes are the subject of this particular program;
...The purpose is to make homes more livable and to contribute to the overall economic stability of neighborhoods;
...Open to owner-occupants in "One of Macomb's 21 "Urban County" communities;
...These areas are:
Clinton Township
Roseville
St. Clair Shores
Sterling Heights
Warren
...Applicants must have household income at or below specified amounts [ie: family of 4 making $55,850 or below]
...Applicants must be current on their mortgage and property tax payments;
...The loans are deferred until the title of the property is transferred to another owner--at which time are due in Full;
...The funds are limited and applicants are on first-come, first-served basis;
..See: www.macombcountymi.gov/mcped or call 586- 469 - 5285


Sterling Heights Expo;
..."Travel Michigan" manager is the keynote speaker at the Sterling Heights Regional Chamber of Commerce's
"Spring Business Luncheon and Expo": David Lorenz;
...Hosted on May 25th at the Best Western Plus Sterling Inn--Sterling Heights, MI;
...The Expo runs from 10 am -2 pm;
...Spotlighting and promoting Businesses with booths. tables and professionals;
...Luncheon will be served and David Lorenz will speak then;
...The costs are $30.00 for Sterling Heights and Anchor Bay Chamber Members--$40 for non-members.
...registration required: visit: www.shrcci.com or call: 586- 731 - 5400, ext. 10 or 13.


Mount Clemens Ice Rink is transformed:
...The facility will be transformed into multi-sport complex;
...Nick Poliski--presently running the Mount Clemens Ice Rink--was hired to run the Mt. Clemens Memorial Park,
as well as everything that goes with it;
...Poliski's company, RT Arena Management was given a one year contract to manage the baseball
and softball diamonds and maintain recreational programs at Memorial Park.
...the Mount Clemens City Commission had advertised for a company or individual to manage the programs;
...the complex is at 300 N.Groesbeck - North of Cass Avenue;
...Poliski's company was the only one who met the deadline;
...Poliski was hired three years ago to take over the "mis-managed" ice rink;
...all are looking forward to improving the program and promoting full use of all the venues;
...it is the intent to utilize the facility [now housing the ice rinks & concession stands,etc] for use by businesses,
and other events during the year--including: shows, seminars etc.