Michigan Real Estate

Announcing my new website ...

Experienced Home Loans is a website dedicated to the people of Michigan. There has been enough negative talk about Michigan in the national media, local media, and among those who live here. I say enough is enough, it's time to be proud of Michigan!

Before telling you more about this exciting site, let me give you a brief background of myself that may explain a lot. I'm senior loan officer at a prominent bank. I got into the business with intentions on doing most (if not all) of my business over the Internet, and that is exactly what I've done. I have been writing loans all over the country. I've written loans in California, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, New York, New Jersey ... you get the picture. Not much in Michigan though.

At one of our sales meetings towards the end of the year, everybody was down in the dumps, business was getting slow, and everyone was becoming more interested in the Internet and how to draw more business in from outside the state. I started to share some of my ideas, and as I did, the idea that I wanted to focus exclusively on Michigan hit me like a bolt of energizing lightening!

First of all, I like it here. It's my home. I like the outdoors, the lakes, the snowmobiling, and the culture. I'm a banker. I have a degree in finance and I trained on Wall Street, but you know what? I don't wear, no, I don't own a red "power" tie. I don't even own a suit that fits me. Gasp! On a Saturday afternoon, I'm wearing jeans, a sweatshirt, boots, and a Lion's cap. I'm just a regular guy. And that's the amazing beauty of our Michigan culture! Nobody expects us to "look" or "play" our roles all the time. Nobody cares! We leave that hoopla for LA/Hollywood and New York.

We have one of the more, if not most relaxed cultures in America!

So while my competition moves to gain business outside Michigan, I'm moving to gain business inside Michigan! My start is the website. Yes, it's generally a mortgage website, but isn't that what you'd want if you're looking for a mortgage? What's different starts with its theme. Say what you will, but Detroit is the heart and soul of Michigan. We love cars! We love trucks! We love horsepower!

Next, you'll find a section dedicated to real estate listings in Michigan. Yes, I know there are approximately 10 million places to list your home today on the Internet, but how many of those are hosted by someone dedicated to the success of Michigan? Just one that I can think of ... Michigan Realty Listings. Oh, and by the way ... your listings are free! Just sign up and go for it! And while it may be in beta stage now, don't let that stop you from posting your listings. This is a community effort, we're all helping each other.

Let me just say it. Please post your listings on my site. It would really help me make this successful, and I want you to know that your feedback is invaluable too, so please email me any thought you may have.

You will benefit too! It'll provide you with additional links back to your main page, increased exposure of yourself and your properties, and lot's of good karma. I promise.

I have a section dedicated to the many fun things Michigan has to offer (facts and trivia too). If you have any ideas, or stuff you think should be added, just let me know. Send an email (via "contact" on the site). And don't let a "commercial" idea stop you. If it represents Michigan well, I'll put it on the site - free. I can't stress this enough - this is about the community! It's about Michigan! I make money helping good people get good loans, not selling web space.

Since I'm still in beta format, please be patient because many more things are coming. Remember, I'm a banker, not a web master. I have some special ideas that will really help Realtors, and I have some awesome ideas that will help Independent Sellers too. You two aren't in competition with each other. Get over it. We all live in the same community, so let's band together, do business with each other, and turn this economy around!

Experienced Home Loans

Michigan Realty Listings

Disclaimer: This website and everything related to it is the personal creation of Michael Todd and is not sponsored, endorsed, or implied to be sponsored or endorsed by Flagstar Bank in any way. I choose to be a Senior Loan Officer at Flagstar Bank because I believe in the bank, I believe in the way they do business, and I believe they offer the single best platform for offering straightforward, no pressure mortgage advice in the country. You can find my Flagstar Bank sponsored website here.

'07 home-price fall is largest in 20 years

Largest drop in 20 years? What's everybody waiting for? My guess is everybody's waiting until prices are heading up. Of course, nobody will notice an upward price trend until it has become, well, a trend. And we all know what that means ... people must be waiting to pay higher prices. - MT



Prices of existing homes plummeted nationally through 2007, ending the year down 8.9% -- the largest decline in 20 years, according to data released Tuesday.

In comparison, home prices fell 2.8% during the 1990-91 housing recession, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.

"We reached a somber year-end for the housing market in 2007," said Robert J. Shiller, a Yale University professor and chief economist of MacroMarkets LLC. "Wherever you look things are bleak, with 17 of the 20 metro areas reporting annual declines and the remaining three reporting flat or moderate growth rates."

In metro Detroit, home prices fell 13.6% through the end of December compared with a year ago.

Cindy Kozlowski, a real estate agent with Max Broock Realtors in Rochester, said the 13.6% figure sounds a little higher than what she's been seeing in Oakland County's upscale neighborhoods.

"I'd say it is between 8% to 10%. They are factoring in the actual Detroit area, which is a completely different market," she said Tuesday. "They have more foreclosures than we have in Oakland County."

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Zell Sees Start of Housing Recovery

I agree with Zell. It's almost like people feed off of negativity today. I'm not saying the real estate market hasn't been hit hard. I'm saying it's been getting hit hard for going on three years. The market decline may only be 3 months old to the general media, but for the rest of us, housing has been in decline for 3 years. - mt

Zell Sees Start of Housing Recovery in the Spring

The US economy will avoid recession as the housing market begins to recover this spring, according to billionaire investor Sam Zell.

Speaking on "Squawk Box" this morning, Zell attributed much of the current economic troubles to fear-mongering and politicking by Democratic presidential contenders Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

"Obviously what we have going on is an attempt to create a self-fulfilling prophecy," said Zell, chairman of Equity Investments Group and owner of the Chicago Cubs, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and other companies. "We have two Democratic candidates who are vying with each other to describe the economic situation worse.

"The reality is that if you live on Wall Street and you're in the credit markets the world couldn't be worse. If you're a farmer and you're getting $25 for your wheat, you're having a great time. If you're a CEO and you've got a balance sheet that's bullet-proof, you're in a great position. This whole thing is way out of control, way out of hand."

Zell said that although he doesn't try to pick bottoms in markets he believes housing has hit its nadir and will turn around this spring as inventory clears out.

As for the credit situation, he projected that once markdowns are out of the way banks will begin to regain their footing.

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