As Labor Day Weekend has come to an end, we are reminded once again why West Michigan is such a great place to live. One of the great things about West Michigan and the Grand Rapids area is that we are only a small car ride away from Lake Michigan!! Recently, Good Morning America came out with a list of the 'Most Beautiful Places in America and the #1 most beautiful location was Sleeping Bear Dunes. Sleeping Bear Dunes is about a 2 hour car ride north of Grand Rapids and not only offers a beautiful scenery but the National Lakeshore will keep even the most adventurous outdoors enthusiast busy with hiking, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, skiing, snowshoeing and more. See ABC's article here http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/best_places_USA/sleeping-bear-dunes-michigan-voted-good-morning-americas/story?id=14319616. 

We'll let these descriptions and pictures speak for themselves but it's just another reason why West Michigan is one of the top place to live!

Every appointment we go on to present a Strategic Price Analysis to a seller we always make sure to present them with the honest market value rather than the number they want to hear. We feel it's best to be completely honest from the beginning so expectations can be set but quite often the seller believes the homes is worth much more than others that are selling around it. Trulia recently came out with an interesting article explaining that the best way to increase your odds of a successful sale is to price your home at fair market value. To avoid the temptation to overprice in order to get an unreasonable price, here are the Seven Deadly Sins of Overpricing:

1.) Appraisal Problems- Even if you can find a buyer at this inflated price, the buyer is still more than likely being financed to pay for the sale of their home purchase. If your home won't appraise for the purchase price the sale will most likely fall.

2.) No Showings- Today's buyers are well educated about the real estate market. If your home is overpriced they won't bother looking at it, let alone make you an offer

3.) Branding Problems- When a new home hits the market, every agent quickly checks the property out to see if it's a good fit for their clients. If your home is branded as "overpriced", reigniting interest may be very difficult.

4.) Selling the competition- Overpricing helps your competition because you make their lower prices seem like bargains.

5.) Stagnation- The longer your home sits on the market, the more likely it is to become stigmatized. People may immediately wonder, "what is wrong with that house?"

6.) Tougher Negotiations- Buyers who do view your home may negotiate harder because they see it has been on the market for a very long time and because it is overpriced compared to the competition.

7.) Lost Opportunities- You will lose a percentage of buyers who are outside of your price point. These are buyers who are looking in the price range that the home will eventually sell for but don't see the home because the price is above their pre-set budget.

Most buyers look at 10-15 homes before buying one so setting a competitive price at the beginning will help it sell and sell FAST.

This week Grand Rapids held its second annual music event known as Rock the Rapids. For this music festival lasting Monday to Saturday, groups from every genre come from all over the country to entertain West Michigan. These bands included Lynyrd Skynyrd, Stone Temple Pilots, Wayland, Willie Nelson, Alice Cooper, Blake Shelton, Bombshel, Ludacris, Due Dilligence, T Pain, and many more! Rock the Rapids is designed to serve our community by providing affordable concert tickets for well-known artists while raising funds for local organizations such as John Ball Zoo. During Rock the Rapids, many other free activities were going on at Festival Village and also The Melting Pot set up at Rosa Parks Circle. One thing Grand Rapids knows how to do and can do it well is bring people together and this event once again proved it!

M-Live's Relocate America Top 100 Places to Live in 2011 is in its 14th year of identifying the best places to live in America.  The research and editorial team spends months researching which communities are well positioned for economic recovery, already experiencing strong economic recovery or have proven over all economic stability.  Factors such as employment, education, community, leadership and overall quality of life are all used when determining who will make the Top 100.  I am so excited that Grand Rapids was rated number 2 for 2011.  What an honor to us who already live in the Grand Rapids area as this is more proof of our strength in economics which includes Housing.

M-Live's Relocate America Top 100 Places to Live in 2011 is in its 14th year of identifying the best places to live in America.  The research and editorial team spends months researching which communities are well positioned for economic recovery, already experiencing strong economic recovery or have proven over all economic stability.  Factors such as employment, education, community, leadership and overall quality of life are all used when determining who will make the Top 100.  I am so excited that Grand Rapids was rated number 2 for 2011.  What an honor to us who already live in the Grand Rapids area as this is more proof of our strength in economics which includes Housing.

Read M-Lives article here for the full story: http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2011/08/grand_rapids_ranks_no_2_on_rel.html

Our company, Coldwell Banker AJS-Schmidt, has been selected as one of "West Michigan's 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For"!!! This has been their 6th straight year being honored and we are so happy to be a part of it. Congratulations to all of our colleagues at Coldwell Banker.

Programs certifies Coldwell Banker Sales Associates to work with Luxury Properties

Grand Rapids, MI 3/28/2011- Howie Boeve, Associate Broker, of Coldwell Banker AJS-Schmidt has earned Coldwell Banker Previews International Property Specialist designation. To date, only 8% of more than 97,000 Coldwell Banker sales associates have been awarded this designation.

Coldwell Banker Previews International is a comprehensive marketing effort designed specifically for marketing luxury residential properties to affluent buyers worldwide. Through the success of this initiative, Coldwell Banker Previews International is a world leader in the marketing of luxury homes.

We're very excited and ready to dive into this market!