Studio Four8, Author at Ann Arbor Real Estate

May 19, 2021May 19, 2021

Is there a Housing Crisis in Ann Arbor?

Studio Four8 explains why we think the current market that we face is not a housing crisis in Ann Arbor.

Ep 1 | Appreciation Rates in Ann Arbor

Dan Kurylo jumps into the appreciation rates in Ann Arbor

Transcription:

Hi there, it’s Dan Kurylo Studio Four8 at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Snyder & Company realtors, Now I’d like to talk to you about one of the reasons that what were facing right now is not necessarily a housing crisis.

Housing Crisis of 2008

Now if we look at the 2008 housing crisis, that was an issue of affordability. People had become priced out of their homes and appreciation before the 2008 crisis was very high. The 6 years preceding the average appreciation was anywhere between 6.5% and 12.4%. Whereas if we look at this 6 years preceding where we are now in 2020, well, the highest rate of appreciation for 6.4% and the lowest was 4.4%. So much more modest appreciation, meaning people are able to afford their homes. Housing hasn’t become priced out for people and what we’re looking at is not necessarily a housing crisis. Once again I am Dan Kurylo for Studio Four8 at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Snyder & Company realtors and be sure to check out some of our other videos.

Ep 2 | Harder to Get a Mortgage in Ann Arbor

Sara Maddock explains the differences in the ease of obtaining a mortgage across the years

Transcription:

Hi I’m Sara Maddock with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Snyder and Company Studio Four8. I wanted to tell you about one of the indicators that lets us know that the covid-19 impact on real estate is not the housing crisis that we saw back during the Great Recession.

Harder to Get a Mortgage

One of the biggest differences is in how easy or un-easy it is to get a loan these days. In fact, by some estimates, it’s 6 times harder to get a mortgage loan than it was back then. Frankly, we think this is a good thing. There was an old saying that at that time during the Great Recession and prior to the great recession leading up to it, all you had to do to get a mortgage was pass the mirror test. So in other words if you could fog a mirror held under your nose then you could qualify for a loan. Well banks realized that it is a good idea to only give large mortgages to people who can actually afford them. Right? Earth Shattering. So nowadays we haven’t seen the no-doc loans, the hundred percent loans that we were seeing back then and that’s a good thing. Because again that means that today’s home owners are far less likely to default on their loans if there’s a little bit of a dip in the market.

Ep 3 | Low Inventory Levels in Ann Arbor

Jeffrey Post talks about Inventory levels in Ann Arbor

Transcription:

Hi this is Jeffrey Post with Studio Four8 Partners, part of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Snyder & Company realtors. I want to talk to you today a little bit about home Inventory. I want to talk to you in respect to the Covid pandemic that was coming out of and the housing crisis of 2008. Inventory is a deciding factor in whether it is a buyer’s market or seller’s market. A seller’s market, typically, is when inventory is less than six months worth. A buyer’s market tends to be when inventory is greater than that.

Lower Inventory

Statistically, if you go back and look at the levels of inventory that existed in 2008/2009 and in 2010 up somewhere close to 2 to 11 months of inventory. At the present time, right now, we’re closer to 2 and 1/2 months inventory. So it’s particularly strong if you are a seller looking to list your property. I might add as a little caveat to that, that interest rates are particularly low right now. So there is a good advantage for buyers as well to be out there looking. I’m Jeffrey Post, hope that’s helpful.

Ep 4 | Unused Equity in Ann Arbor

Todd Waller explains the differences in the use of equity

Transcription:

Hey Folks, Todd Waller here with Studio Four8 Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Snyder & Company realtors in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Continuing our little series here on this is not a housing crisis in Ann Arbor that we are currently experiencing. If you’ve been following along we’ve been comparing our current state of the real estate market to what happened prior to and during the crunch back in 2008 and forward. So this little clip is about home equity that has been pulled out homes prior to the Crunch and prior to the pandemic here now.

Home Equity

Prior to the crunch in 2008 the years 2005 to 2007 saw 824 billion dollars pulled out of home’s equity. Again that is 824 billion, with a B, pulled out of home equity at that point in time. Here in 2020, let’s go back 3 years, 2017, 2018, 2019, only a total of 232 billion dollars have been pulled out of homes equity. That’s almost a swing of about 600 billion dollars worth of equity. So the point here is that we’re not as leveraged right now as a market as we were back in 2008. This is a good, good, sign. That means people are keeping their money in their pockets, in their saving accounts, and in their homes which is a great place to be. Again Todd Waller here with Studio Four8 Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Snyder & Company realtors in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Thanks so much!

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May 19, 2021May 19, 2021

Curb Appeal | Selling Ann Arbor Homes

Studio Four8 discusses a few overlooked things you can do to give your home greater curb appeal.

Curb Appeal | What Can You Do to Make Your Home Stand Out

The studio discusses ways to increase the curb appeal of your home

Transcription:

Hey folks, it’s Studio Four8 with a video about: curb appeal. It’s that time of year some sellers are getting ready to come to the market and we want to get across to you just a few items that we think a lot of folks overlook when they get their homes ready to bring to the market. Curb appeal is a huge factor, you can never make another first impression. Right, Jeffrey? Right, were my props a give away, Todd? Well they help. No it’s too true, we all know from having buyer’s in our cars when you pull up to the house the buyers are already starting to assess things.

Gardening

So we wanted to talk a little bit about some of the things that are maybe obvious to everyone, maybe not so obvious to everyone. I’m going to talk a quick minute about the gardening part. We all know that mulch sets a really nice table, it’s a beautiful blanket to put out. So you’re going to want to do that. You want the grass cut, you want the edges also done after you cut the grass. Bright flowers when you’re in a spring climate, that’s great, it really pops. One of the things I find that people don’t routinely recognize: our hedge rows. Hedge rows in front of the house, they kind of stick up and oftentimes they come up halfway up the window. This is not what you want, what you want to do is you want to trim those back to just below the lower sill of the window. Why this is especially important is the higher your house sits up, the shorter it looks, because the hedges will start to creep up in front of the window. It’s also not the best thing to look out at from the vantage point of the inside. So get your hedge trimmer, get your pruners, and get those hedge rows down.

The Importance of Lighting

Those hedges cut down light coming into your home, which not only doesn’t look good from the inside but it’s not going to help you for photos. What also can help, our screens. Window screens cut down on the amount of light coming into your home. From the outside, your shiny windows can look kind of matte and dingy, even if they are perfectly new and clean. Get rid of the window screens, clean up the windows, everything is going to look a lot brighter from the inside. From the outside it’s going to help your home look a little bit more attractive. Same thing goes for any outside type lighting features that you have. If you’ve got sconces or anything else out in front of the garage, next to the front door, make sure they’re clean. Make sure you’ve got new matching light bulbs.

New Perspective

Sometimes we overlook these as homeowners who stop seeing your house the way a buyer might see it. So a piece of advice has to drive up to your home, try to see it from a new perspective or the perspective of a purchaser. Walk around the outside. Walk up to the front door, does your front door need paint? So you need to replace some hardware that maybe doesn’t open very easily or is flaking or peeling? Do you need a new door mat? Just his little details, get the cobwebs out, get the bird’s nest down, walk around to the back of the house. What is the buyer going to see when they get out there? Are they going to see toys scattered all over the place? Are they going to see garden tools rotting under your deck? Old piles of wood? Again, see that fresh perspective. You want to stage the exterior of your home no less than you were the interior of your home.

Gross Gutters

When folks are approaching that front door and they’re coming from the street to the driveway up to the front door, let’s take a look at those gutters. Like gutter gardens- they’re not in vogue. I don’t know if they ever have been. So let’s make sure that in the spring time and in the fall the trees are giving off a whole bunch of stuff like seedlings, flower petals, stuff like that. Let’s make sure our gutters don’t hold on to those items. Get someone up there either with a powerhouse or someone with a ladder to scoop all of that stuff out and just get it out of there. Again, the idea here is that that first impression is gorgeous, it’s beautiful, its a reflection of what folks will experience when they come inside your home.

Well this is Studio Four8 just with a few reminders to folks who are thinking about getting their homes ready for sale. Curb appeal is a huge point, we wanted to highlight some of the topics folks might overlook because we live in our homes and we don’t necessarily see these items.

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May 19, 2021May 19, 2021

The Average Cost to Sell Your Ann Arbor Home

Studio Four8 dives into what the average cost to sell your Ann Arbor home.

The Average Cost to Sell Your Ann Arbor Home

Studio Four8’s Insight into lesser known fees associated with selling your home

Transcription:

Hi, I am Jeffrey Post, Sara Maddock, and Todd Waller and we are Studio Four8 partners with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Snyder & Company in beautiful Ann Arbor Michigan. Today we wanted to talk about what it costs to sell your home, what are the seller costs?

You are probably aware there’s usually commission involved with selling your home, but what are the other fees that you may not be aware of that are unavoidable, like taxes, when you’re getting ready to sell your house. Definitely, and so as Sara pointed out, setting commission aside, there are unavoidable costs associated with the sale of your property.

2% On Top

What we’ve found over time is that the costs associated run to the average of about 2%. So putting aside the commission that you’re paying the Realtors, add about 2% to that total cost and it’s roughly about what the cost of sale will be.

Now some of those costs. . . What do we have guys? We’ve got transfer fees, title insurance, recording fees, there’s also revenue stamps that the county has there as well. Could be HOA fees, a lot of companies charge to transfer their paperwork from one home to the next.

Proration Of Taxes

One of the things that you may not be familiar with but is a standard practice here in Southeast Michigan specifically, is the proration of taxes. So the owner of the property, that would be you, presumably, if you own the house, you’ve already paid your taxes for the year and you’ve got two different payment periods, right? There’s one in December and then there’s one in July. So if you sell your home at any point during the year you will be refunded the money that you already paid for those taxes because those taxes run a full 12 months. So your December payment goes from December to the next December and your July payment goes from July to the next July. If you sell anywhere in between there, you were refunded the amount that you pay for but haven’t utilized.

Occupancy

On rare occasions there might be an instance where your closing time and the buyer’s closing time might not line up perfectly, and there might be a rent back situation. In that case there could be an additional cost of the buyer renting back to stay there, or you renting back to stay there longer than the closing time they were expecting.

Liens

Also if you have any liens on your property, perhaps unpaid taxes, perhaps work that was performed on the house that you haven’t paid off yet, all of those liens are going to come up during the title search process and you’ll be expected to pay off those fees at closing. There could be road assessments, again HOA fees, and so on.

One of the tools that we use is a calculator, an online calculator. One that I like is actually produced by Liberty title company. We will put the link for that down in the body of this content. Basically you can get on that, plug in what your remaining mortgage balance is and mostly it’s self populates and you can kind of get an idea of what your total closing costs will be.

Liberty Mortgage Rate Calculator

But really we would be happy to come out, evaluate your situation, and give you a really good idea and a sense based on what are the taxes, what are the HOA fees, what are the assessments- all those things, so that you can have a really good idea of what it’s actually going to cost you to sell your house.

Because at the end of the day, what’s more important isn’t just selling your house, it’s the net proceeds of the house that you’re selling when you walk away. Bottom line baby. This is Studio Four8 with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Snyder & Company here in beautiful Ann Arbor. Thank you so much and if we can ever be of assistance to you know how to reach us. See Ya!

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May 19, 2021May 19, 2021

How Long to Sell My Ann Arbor Home

Studio Four8 dives into how long you should expect it to take to sell your Ann Arbor Home.

How Long to Sell your Ann Arbor Home

Studio Four8 Talks about how long it will take to sell your Ann Arbor home

Transcription:

Hey Folks this is the Studio Four8 partnership, this is Todd Waller, Sara Maddock, and Jeffrey Post. Today,

we’ve got a question for you that we think you might want answered, at least it’s a question we frequently get or at least walk through frequently with sellers. That question is: How long is it going to take to sell the house, from the time that I sit down with a realtor, to the time I’m walking away from the closing, how long is this process going to take?

Urgency

One of the first things that we do is sit down, actually kind of with a process map, because the first question you want to ask is: Is there an urgency to sell the house? Maybe somebody’s being relocated very quickly and the timeline needs to be shortened up.

Condition of your Home

So once we understand that, we can set in motion certain things that we need to look at when we tour the house. Are there updates that need to happen, is there painting that needs to happen? Some people think staging a house is actually bringing furniture in, I always say staging a house is oftentimes putting things away. We all have things to put away, right? So there’s an initial consultation that takes place. Sometimes I’ll go back to a house once or twice to follow up and be like: you’ve gotten this far let’s do this, let’s do that. So that part of this process can vary a lot depending on if your house is already show perfect, it’s ready to go from day one, or there is a lot of work that we need to do.

Marketing

So that’s kind of a variable there, but from that point we would get ready to take professional photography, professional videography. Now we can just walk into the home with an iPhone camera and snap some pictures, and do it. We see this all the time- unfortunately. Our process as a studio is to hire a professional photographer, professional videography, whatever the property demands as far as our marketing goes. That does take a couple of days. We want to be ready to go, to coordinate everybody’s schedules, and then it takes a photographer a couple, 2 to 3 days to process the photos, to edit them, and to upload them to the website.

While that’s happening we’re behind the scenes working on ad copy, social media platforms, all the other marketing materials and portfolio that we’re going to use to market the home once we get those photos back. Then once we have all of that, it’s time for- We call it the MLS launch.

MLS Launch

So, the fun part in our day is when we’ve got a home coming to the market- is launch day. So now we’ve got all of the digital marketing materials together, we’ve got the photos, we’ve got the virtual tour, we’ve got the video, we’ve put it all together. We enter that profile sheet into the multiple listing system. You may have heard it as the MLS, called the real estate database, whichever you call it- it’s the database which feeds all of those websites out there. Zillow, Trulia, realtor.com, homes.com, we’re entering your information and the digital marketing into that particular platform to launch.

So now we have the consultation, we’ve had the digital photos and videos squared away. Now we’ve had the MLS launch, how long are we going to be on the market at that point in time? If we’re selling it, it takes a day. but it’s really important, as Todd says, when we hit go- everything hits go. Our printed media, our online media, we set it all up so there’s nothing missed, it’s all going out at the same time.

Cash or Finance?

From there it really depends on whether their cash offers or Finance offers. Cash offers, because there’s not an appraisal process or an underwriting process can take a shorter amount of time. Generally within that time frame you’re going to have things like attorneys review of title, an inspection, so you’re going to be sitting outside of probably 21 days at a minimum with a cash offer, If somebody’s really urgent. but otherwise with a typical lender it’s going to be 30 days to maybe 45 days.

60 Days

So how long it takes to get the offer, we’re in a seller’s market in the Ann Arbor area that could be one day it could be about 2 weeks. Obviously when we do that initial consultation will talk to you about your house, your price point, your location, all of which impact what we expect the timeline for getting the offer is. but that’s basically, we’ve got the initial consultation, prepping the house for sale, getting the marketing materials ready, MLS launch day, showing the home, and obtaining the offer. So from start to finish in a typical transaction, if you counted, 60 days from the time that we first came to your property to the time that you are walking away from the closing table. If you think about 60 days, probably give or take a couple of weeks.

Anyways thank you so much for listening, this is Studio Four8 partners and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Snyder and Company realtors and we would love to talk to you about your home, your timeline, and your home selling goals this year.

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May 18, 2021May 18, 2021

Ann Arbor Real Estate Market Update | April 2021

Every month Todd Waller dives deep into the previous month’s real estate market stats and delivers exciting insights into the status of the Ann Arbor area real estate market. Subscribe to the Studio Four8 YouTube channel and never miss an update again!

Ann Arbor Real Estate Market | April 2021

Transcription:

If you are looking for the 2021 update of the Ann Arbor Marketplace this video is for you.

Hey thanks for stopping by, my name is Todd, I’m with Studio Four8 at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Snyder and Company Realtors and I got the numbers here for the Ann Arbor Marketplace. Specifically, the city of Ann Arbor, homes that have sold in the month of April 2021. This includes both houses and condos. So let’s get right into those numbers, shall we?

Average Sales Price

The average sales price for a home in April of 2021 was $479,627. That is up 32.48%. If this is the first video you have seen this year talking about real estate numbers, let’s just go back and cover what’s going to happen in the next few months with these percent differences. These percent differences are for the same month, but one year ago. If you remember, about a year ago, we kind of shut everything down while we tried to figure out what to do with his covid-19 pandemic. So a lot of these percent changes are going to be really incredible but that’s compared to very little in the way of inventory and business that happened last year. So while the average sales price is up almost 33% compared to April 2020, kind of not surprised by that. The median sales price is also up, it’s up 18% to $383,500. Again, these are houses and condos inside the city of Ann Arbor.

Days on Market

Days on market did decrease, it went down to 23 days on Market as an average, that is a 18.63% change downward from where it was last year in April of 2020. The number of properties sold in April of 2021 was up almost 60%, 59.54% to 209 units sold in April 2021 in the city of Ann Arbor.

Sold At/Above List Price

The last thing, the last little stat I’ve got here, is something relatively new for us at least, percentage of properties in April 2021 that sold at or above the list price. Meaning the sellers accepted an offer that was above what they were asking, or at least asking price. The percentage of Ann Arbor properties that sold at above list price was 44.02%, so 44% of those 209 properties that sold in April 2021 sold at or above list price.

If you’re a seller or you own property in this Ann Arbor Real Estate Market and you’re thinking about selling in this Marketplace to take advantage of some really great numbers, let’s have a discussion about that. I would love to be your resource and provide that information on what it looks like to potentially bring your property to the market, as well as help you find a place to move to. If you’re moving across town or across the country I can help you out with that one. This is Todd with Studio Four8, we’re here to recreate real estate.

Ann Arbor Real Estate Market Sharable

Ann Arbor Real Estate Market Snapshot — This month’s sharable graphic version of Ann Arbor’s Real Estate Market stats

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April 19, 2021October 21, 2021

Luxury Ann Arbor Home | 2110 Hollow Oak Dr, Ann Arbor, MI

Stunning, grand, exquisite – take your pick, this beautifully planned and custom built Pheasant Hollow luxury Ann Arbor home epitomizes these descriptives and more. Perfectly placed on over 3/4 of an acre backing to protected woodlands, you can start checking the boxes for just what you have dreamed about. Step inside this 5 bedroom/5 bath open and gracious floor plan with all the best amenities front and center from top to bottom. Cathedral ceiling entry flows seamlessly into great room, dining room and study with your first floor primary en suite just steps away. A true cook’s kitchen is the definition of this granite and stainless finished space, with your private patio attached just waiting to serve up summer meals! Upper level lives large with 4 sunny bedrooms both en suite and jack and jill, and extra landing space for cozy book reading. A fantastic lower level walk out is fill with gems including a private wellness area, wine cellar and tasting room, media and entertainment space, full wet bar/kitchenette that rolls right out to your landscaped patio with firepit. With a yard designed for fun and activity, the best of the city minutes away, and low township taxes – let’s face it, this luxury Ann Arbor home does, in fact, have it all!

List Price: $945,000

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April 7, 2021October 21, 2021

Geddes Lake Condo | 727 Peninsula Ct, Ann Arbor, MI

This Geddes Lake Condo with a pond view is ready for you to call it home. With 1,515 square feet of space, this is one of the larger units in Geddes Lake. Laminate flooring greets you, as the view of the pond through the sliding door pulls you deeper into the condo. The updated kitchen features newer cabinets, granite counter tops, and marble backsplash. Of the three bedrooms upstairs, two overlook the pond. The Geddes Lake Condo association features tennis courts, community pool, clubhouse, walking trails and playground. Conveniently located along Huron Parkway, biking to Gallup Park or Huron High School is a breeze. Give yourself easy access to North and Central Campus from this prime location.

List Price: $275,000

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Ypsilanti home for sale

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March 24, 2021October 21, 2021

7070 Munger Rd, Ypsilanti, MI 48197 | 2 Story Cape Cod

Your own slice of paradise! Turn down the driveway along the fence, and this beautiful Ypsilanti home for sale on nearly 6 acres will take your breath away with its mature trees, landscaped beds, and private natural beauty. Very well-maintained brick home with 2 bedrooms and full bath on the first floor, plus 2 BR and full bath upstairs. Fully finished lower level walkout with 3rd full bath, nice laundry area, kitchenette and large family room gathered around a wood-burning stove. Kitchen and dining with bay window overlooks the amazing yard and pond – all appliances included, updated lighting. Off the *cleanest* 2+car garage is a 3-season sunroom. Additional 2-car detached garage AND a garden shed with cute porch and electricity! Situated in Pittsfield Township (=close to Ann Arbor), with a Ypsilanti home address and Milan schools, this location is perfect for those who want to live in the country but enjoy proximity to town and transportation. Energy efficient electric grid heat throughout.

List Price:

$375,000

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June 4, 2019June 4, 2019

How long will it take to Sell your Home?

Join Studio Four8 partners Sara Maddock, Todd Waller & Jeffrey Post as they explore with you the process of Selling your home.

More videos from the Studio here: https://www.studiofour8.com/video-from-the-studio/

May 21, 2019May 21, 2019

Average Cost of Selling A Home

Join Studio Four8 partners Sara, Jeffrey and Todd, as they discuss the average costs to sell YOUR home!

More videos here: https://www.studiofour8.com/video-from-the-studio/