That is what I was asked at the end of a recent closing.

Well not exactly.

To Quote: "So you didn't do anything different than any other agent would have done".

That set we back on my heels and before I could gather myself to answer we were walking out the door.

So let me take a shot a how I wish I could have answered.

To start; I showed Bob all condos that matched his search criteria.

I didn't start with my listings because I don't carry any listings.

I didn't follow up showing him my company's listings because my company doesn't carry any listings.

I start by showing all my clients all listings from all real estate agents without exception.

At the time of writing the offer I not only tried to talk Bob into making a lower offer than he chose, I also tried to get him to sleep on it and make a decision the next day.

As it turned out, the seller accepted our first offer which means we bid to high.

I always do my best to point out any negative aspect of any property.

The home inspection revealed some very minor issues with three appliances.

Bob decided this was unacceptable and wanted the seller to repair the items.

To keep Bob from shooting himself in the foot by opening the contract over $200 and loosing his home to a possible backup offer, I went to investigate the issues on my own.

It turned out that the dryer simply needed the breaker turned on.

The microwave needed a $40 motor for the turntable which I personally purchased and replaced.

At the advice of Max's of Traverse City I removed a part from the dish washer and took it to Max's for testing and it checked out OK.

So re-installed the part and arranged an appointment for the repair man to come and fix the problem and I personally paid for the $100 repair before the closing.

I mention "before the closing" because if the deal didn't close I would have been out the $140.

I am confident that my service to Bob was quite different than most other real estate agents.

I'm sure when folks first meet me some think; this guy does not look like a real estate agent.

Sorry, I don't even own a suit.

I have ruined enough nice clothes to learn that fancy clothes are not compatible with my level of service.

How many agents will you meet who have a tool box and a ladder in their car?

Or a probe for finding septic tank lids and a shovel to dig them up?

I am the guy in the crawl space, in the attic, on the roof, walking through wet grass and picker bushes looking for property lines, encroachments, debris etc.

So other than being one of the few Exclusive Buyer Agents in Michigan, who does not list property or work for sellers, I am sure I am quite different than most real estate brokers.

The first six months have come and gone and the numbers are in for Traverse City homes in Grand Traverse County.

In the first half of 2009 there were 420 residential sales, and in the first half of 2010 there have been 544 residetial sales.

That is about a 30% increase in sales.

The average sold price in the first half of 2009 was $176,584 and the average sold price in the first half of 2010 was $186,201.

That is about a 4.55% increase of the sold price.

This was a suprise to me because although the first quarter of 2010 showed a 40% in sales, there was an 8% decrease in sold price.

Could things be turning around for the Traverse City and Grand Traverse County real estate market?

Although I have been having some fun with this buyers market, I certainly hope so.

Larry Raspbury

Traverse City's Exclusive Buyer Agent.

Some folks reason that it is foolish to throw away money on rent when they could purchase a home.

Recently while showing a young man homes I talked him out of buying a home when he mentioned his job may force him to move in a few years.

If you are not sure you will stay in your new home for at least five years, there are some facts you should know.

After five years with a mortgage of $100,000.00 at 5% interest you will have paid $32,209.20 in monthly payments and only 8,017.71 in principal.

BUT you will have paid $6,750.00 in Taxes, $1,500.00 for homeowners insurance, about $1,500.00 for closing costs you paid for your mortgage, and that doesn't include the expenses for all repairs and updates to the property.

One could argue that you will acquire equity by the increase in property value over the years but that is no surety in this market, and consider the fact that things like your roof, furnace, paint and all other mechanicals will be five years older.

Besides we're not done.

Then comes the burden of selling your home and the possibility of having to pay for two homes until your homes sells and that means paying non-homestead taxes on one of your homes which are considerably higher.

You will be required to pay $860.00 for transfer tax, $655.00 for title insurance and as much as $7,000.00 for commission.

I don't need to do the math for you to realize you could lose money when buying and selling a home in less than five years.

Have I talked you out of buying a home?

Larry Raspbury

Traverse City's Exclusive Buyer Agent

Military members, some members of Foreign Service serving outside the United States and some members of the intelligence community have an extra year to purchase a primary residence and qualify for the first time home buyer and repeat home buyer tax credit.

You must purchase by April 30th 2011 and close by June 30th 2011.

You or your spouse are eligible if you have served on a qualified official extended duty service outside the United States for at least 90 days during the period after December 31 2008 and ending before May 1st 2010.

In many cases the repayment requirement is waived.

You can read the full article at http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=215594,00.html 

"National Association of Realtor's annual Legal Scan, which compiles data on industry lawsuits, revealed that in 2005, 24% of the thousands of real estate sales transaction lawsuits were regarding alleged agent violations of disclosure laws, and 20% of the lawsuits were related to real estate agency laws. A large share centered around dual agency, a practice, the by it's nature, only breed more distrust between real estate consumers and real estate brokers. Even the slickest justifications for it leave consumers bewildered, and it does not pass the smell test"

"For these reasons, state that truly care about their real estate consumers do not allow dual agency. Exclusive buyer agents, who represent buyers, never sellers, enable all home buyers to have separate, equal, and independent representation in those states"

To view the entire article go to http://www.americanhomeowners.org/AHF/Home%20Base/March2010.htm#Real_Estate_Disclosure_Improves__

Larry Raspbury
Traverse City Exclusive Buyer Agent.

What you may not know when you search Traverse City Real Estate for sale; all MLS (Multiple Listing System) info comes from one source. It makes no difference if you are searching the MLS on Realtor.com, Yahoo, Homes.com etc, they all get their MLS info from Traverse Area Association on Realtors. The major difference is how much info you will receive. Many contain thumbnail info designed to get you to call the seller's agent. When you click on "Search Traverse City MLS" at the top of this site, and pull up a thumbnail listing, you are able to click on the address and receive decent info. When you click on "Daily Auto Updates" MLS search of all Traverse City Homes for sale, Condos for sale, and Waterfront for sale" on this site, not only will you receive Full Professional Listing Sheets automatically in your email, (which contain links to additional info) my MLS search criteria form provides us very detailed real estate search criteria eliminating hundreds of Traverse City homes for sale that are of no interest to you. My multiple listing system updates every fifteen minutes so listings are sent out of the source system before they are on other search engines including TAAR. (Traverse Area Association of Realtors). And unlike other search engines, I can send foreclosures ONLY. TAAR sends the listings to Realtors before they are upload to other sites. It is a professional courtesy that allows Realtors an edge and if you sign up with me I can pass that edge on to you. Also be aware that many sites are just not updated like TAAR and you may be searching Traverse City listings that have long since been sold or expired. Traverse City Real Estate for sale Listings are sometimes left there to get you to call the seller's agent. The best Traverse City MLS service available is provided by filling out my "Daily Auto Updates" form. You will receive Traverse Area updates much faster than you could possibly have time to search the MLS on your own because the Traverse City MLS is updated every fifteen minutes. You will receive full listing sheets and I am available to provide valuable follow up info like SEV, market history such as how long the home has been on the Traverse Area market, what price changes have taken place and more. Go back to the top of this page and sign up to for "Daily Auto Updates" and let me show you how easy searching the Traverse City MLS can be.

Larry Raspbury, Traverse City's Exclusive Buyer Agent

The Federal Housing Administration which is part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development has launched a not so new program called the FHA 203k mortgage.

It is a traditional FHA mortgage combined with a construction loan.

It has been around for a few years but many mortgage brokers either don't know about it or are unwilling to jump through the hoops required by the FHA underwriters.

I have been through one FHA 203k in 2009 and it was not a cake walk by any means. If not for the amazing persistence of my clients Jessica and Branden and Corbin Buttleman (The Traverse City branch manager of Bank of America) it may never have happened.

It is not for the faint of heart.

But after the blood, sweat and literal tears and ten weeks, it was worth it in the end.

Jessica and Branden have completely rehabbed there Traverse City home and in a short amount of time they have acquired equity.

If you are considering a FHA 203k mortgage be ready for two months of enduring a series of forms and more forms and just when you think your done, more forms, multiple construction estimates, inspections and appraisals before and after the closing.

The construction loan is calculated to include all construction costs but the FHA does allow the new owner to do much of the work themselves (oh yah, more forms) so if you have the skills and thick skin lets go for it.

You can get more details by clicking on the link above.

Larry Raspbury Traverse City's Exclusive Buyer Agent

Today I was reading in Broker Agent Professional • Premium Real Estate Success Information March/April 2009. I know I'm a little behind.

In the section "Ten Tips from Ten Experts", "Industry icon Floyd Wickman"  advising Real Estate Agents wrote, in Tip #1:

"...Next get all buyers and lookers into the office to be qualified, and sell them on the benefits of the office like you never have before.

"Last, sell in-house listings first."

Emphasis is mine but this was Mr. Wickmans final advise to seller's agents.

I don't like being sold do you?

This is what I try to explain to folks; that as an Exclusive Buyer Agent I (nor anyone in my company) lists property so there is never the temptation or (as you read above) the deliberate attemp to stear you toward more profitable lisitings.

Larry Raspbury Exclusive Buyer Agent

Someone told me I am supposed to write about myself in my blog.

I would rather write about the market and procedure but humor me.

I started in a small office in Kingsley which is about twenty minutes south of Traverse City. It was just me and my Broker Debbie Schnieder who is still the owner/broker of Paradise Realty.

I love small town Northern Michigan and enjoyed coming to work especially when my wife Sandy worked in the same small building for a printing design company.

I was told by everyone in the business that if I wanted to make a living I would need to work with sellers and acquire as many listings as possible.

That requires selling and my brain is not wired to sell especially when it comes down to a Dog & Pony show.

After trying my shot at a few listings it became clear to me that my passion was working with buyers.

I took a worthless class and became an ABR (Accredited Buyer Representative)

Whooptie Do.

I don't even place it in my profiles anymore.

As I said I love small town Northern Michigan but I got an offer to join the team at Help U Sell (with my wife Sandy) in the big city (Traverse City that is) as the teams designated buyer agent.

It was a pleasant change and I had a window at my desk with a view of the parking lot. (It was a nice parking lot).

I wanted to be an Exclusive Buyer Agent but there was no broker in town that didn't own a company that listed property or didn't work for a company that listed property.

FYI: A Real Estate Agent must work for a Real Estate Broker until they earn there own Real Estate Brokers License.

Soon the owners of Help U Sell decided to split and the whole team moved to Remax.

So with the clout of the Remax name and the company's outstanding reputation in Traverse City I decided to give listing Traverse City Homes another try.

Fifteen months and $25,000 in advertising later I decided "WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING

I had the required time and sales to get my brokers license so I did my best to stay awake through the 120 hours of Real Estate Broker classes, passed the obnoxious (pick the MOST correct answer) test.

I started my own Real Estate Company in 2004 called Paradigm Realty and have never looked back.

Well I soon discovered that many people couldn't pronounce it or spell, or new the definition of Paradigm so I recently changed my company name to Traverse City Buyer Agent.

I would not have known these things either if I hadn't barrowed the name from my father-in-laws company "The Paradigm Group". I just thought is sounded cool.

From the start it was my dream to start my own company and work from home with Sandy.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Larry Raspbury, Traverse City's exclusive Buyer Agent

Its a great day in Traverse City Michigan. For home buyers that is.

Some folks don't understand how taxes are calculated in Grand Traverse County so I thought I'd take a moment and explain what it will cost to rent your home from the State of Michigan.

A few lines above this blog is

Hello Traverse City!

Another year has gone by and the numbers are in.

In 2008 there where 1001 homes and condos sold in Grand Traverse County.

This year there was a whopping 1049 homes and condos sold.

Hallelujah the recession is over in Traverse City. lol

Not much worth calculating but that's a 4.6% increase.

Well, that's more than my IRA increased. lol NOT

The record year for homes sold in Grand Traverse County was 2005 with 1360 homes and condos sold so that's still a 22.9% decreas in sales since our banner year.

In 2008 the average sold price for Traverse City homes and condos was $175,164.00

In 2009 the average sold price for homes sold in Grand Traverse County was $169,469.00

So although there was a 4.6% increase of real estate sold in Grand Traverse County, there was a decrease of 3.2% of the average sold price.

These numbers are a result of a search that I (Larry Raspbury Broker/Owner of Traverse City Buyer Agent) gather from the data provided by the Traverse Area Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service and does not include (For Sale By Owner) sales.

If you would like a market analysis of Leelanau, Benzie, or Antrim counties, or any subdivision, just email me or give me a call.

Goodbye for now and have a great 2010

Larry Raspbury

Traverse City's Exclusive Buyer Agent