Existing-Home Sales Increase 5.1% in February

Scott Bohlen mentioned some national stats in Tuesday’s sales meeting – here’s the link to the Wall Street Journal’s article – http://tinyurl.com/de87hr. Among the findings, a Realtor survey showed that first-time home buyers accounted for half of last month’s sales nationally. There is also a video posted within the link above you might want to check out.

Odds & Ends

A Livingston County Press & Daily Argus headline on Sunday was “Home sales are up as value falls”. They reported the median sales price of a home in Livingston County was $132,000 in February, down more than 23 percent from the same time in 2008, according to Realcomp. There were 2,772 houses and condos on the market as of Feb. 28, compared to 2,882 the same time in 2008, according to the Livingston County Association of Realtors. Link to the article here: http://tinyurl.com/bfmhqf.

The New York Times ran the story “Thoughts on Walking Away From Your Home Loan” over the weekend. You can find the story, and interesting comments by the readers (over 100 on Sunday morning) at http://tinyurl.com/acrxan.

This Oakland County Press article gives some tips on avoiding foreclosure – http://tinyurl.com/bw6ksh. Article mentions foreclosure prevention counseling available from the Oakland Livingston Human Service Agency at (248)209-2692.

Have difficulties writing ads (print or web)? I found this service on the web http://www.writemyads.com/pub_why_it_works.go. Annual price is listed at $120/agent if you are interested.

January Home Sales – Statistics

Per Realcomp, 2009 (1/1/09 – 1/31/09) single family home sales – stats:

• Livingston County – 99 homes sold, down 13.1% from prior year. Average sales price $155,112, down 22.7% to January 2008.
• Washtenaw County – 115 homes sold, down 28.1% from prior year. Average sales price $159,553, down 27.7% to January 2008.
• Oakland County – 716 homes sold, up 14.1% to prior year. Average sales price $129,600, down 31.6% to January 2008.

1/12/09 – News of the Day

What did you learn last week? If you hung out at the Brighton office of Preview Properties.com last week, you learned:

2008 (1/1/08 – 12/31/08) single family home sales – stats:

• Livingston County – # of home sales up 9.4% to 2007; average sales price down 15.3% to 2007.
• Washtenaw County – # of home sales up 4.8% to 2007; average sales price down 15.4% to 2007.

Bob Bohlen shared information from Suzanne Somers book “Breakthrough: Eight Steps to Wellness.” 16 doctors on the leading edge of their fields were interviewed regarding anti-aging. The eight steps include: 1)BHRT – get biodentical hormone replacement therapy, 2)avoid chemicals and detoxify your body, 3)take nutrition seriously, 4) create a healthy GI tract, 5) avoid all pharmaceuticals possible, 6) supplement your diet, 7) exercise regularly and 8) get proper sleep. Photo credit to Phil Konstantin, found on Wikipedia.

Chris Bonish shared a few secrets on how to archive your documents electronically. He suggested using free software Copernic (get at http://www.copernic.com/en/downloads/index.html) as a desktop search tool.

Tim Furlong gave us some tips on focusing on the right things in 2009. Some of his suggestions:

1. Ask yourself “what have you stopped doing that you need to do again?”
2. Dream big – don’t dream small
3. Borrowing from the “Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch – are you going to be a Tigger (cheerful, outgoing, competitive in a friendly way and completely confident in yourself) or an Eeyore (pessimistic, gloomy and depressed) today?

Monday starts the ~9:15 a.m. support group for improving your health – please join us in the conference room!

Livingston & Washtenaw County Stats – Oct. YTD

Single Family Homes – Units Sold through Oct. 31

Livingston County: units sold up 8.6% year to date. 1,426 sold in 2008 compared to 1,313 sold in 2007.

Washtenaw County: units sold up 6.5% year to date. 2,395 sold in 2008 compared to 2,248 sold in 2007.

Single Family Homes – Average Sales Price through Oct. 31

Livingston County: average sales price down 14.4% year to date. $196,973 in 2008 compared to $230,096 in 2007.

Washtenaw County: Average sales price down 14.4% year to date. $225,072 in 2008 compared to $262,794 in 2007.