Absolutely! If you are considering a new construction home, you should make Visible Homes your first call. We work with all of Michigan’s largest builders and developments. Most of our clients experience thousands of dollars in savings and upgrades based on our negotiations. In addition, Builders are always informing Visible Homes of their latest promotions and incentives, which allows us to keep our clients updated on the best deals available. Just because you hear something on the radio, or see an advertisement, does not mean it’s the best promotion available.

It is important to make Visible Homes your first call. When visiting a new construction model, the builder will expect Visible Homes to be registered as your Realtor, or they will expect a Visible Homes Realtor to accompany you. So if you are considering a new construction home, contact us today at 734.864.4044 or contact us online.

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Zillow’s accuracy in Michigan is approximately 82%. In many cases an online valuation from Zillow or any other site like Zillow can be off. When Visible Homes determines the value of a home, we use the most accurate and up to the minute data. In addition, we use very specific information for our adjustments which results in a very accurate value.

If you are looking to sell your home, request a free market analysis today!

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The Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) offers qualifying homebuyers with up-to $7,500 in down payment assistance. When using the MSHDA program, you can purchase a home with only 1% down! A big misconception is that this program is only available for low income households. Over the past year, MSHDA has raised income limits which allows many more buyers to qualify. For example, in Washtenaw County a household of 3 or more people can have a household income up-to $108,000.

The assistance from MSHDA is an interest free, payment free second mortgage. As with any second mortgage, there will be a mortgage lien placed on title. However, unlike traditional second mortgages, there are no monthly payments and no interest charges. When you sell the home or payoff the first mortgage in full, then you will be required to pay back MSHDA the amount borrowed. For example, a qualifying homebuyer could use the MSHDA program and purchase a home with only 1% down. If that buyer lives in the house for 10 years and then sells, then only at that time do they pay MSHDA back the money used for the purchase. During that 10 year period, there were no payments or interest charges on the second mortgage with MSHDA.

In some areas you have to be a first time homebuyer, but in many areas you don’t, such as Washtenaw County. However, regardless of where you buy, you cannot own another home at the time of closing on the new one.

Not all Mortgage Lenders are approved by the state to offer the MSHDA down payment assistance program, which is why many buyers don’t ever hear about it from their Loan Officer. In addition, the interest rate is set by the State, as well as the allowable closing costs. Since the interest rate does not vary between lenders, it is most important to work with a Lender who understands how to work with the program. Visible Homes works closely with the #1 MSHDA Lender in the state and can provide you with a referral if needed.

Visible Homes has expert knowledge of the MSHDA program. We screen each home we show our clients, to make certain it will meet MSHDA’s property guidelines. In addition, we make certain the Sales Contract is written in a way that allows our clients get the most out of the program. If the Sales Contract is not written properly, the buyer could have to come up with much more than 1%. Our experience with the program helps our clients avoid costly mistakes.

The MSHDA guidelines vary by county, and in some cases, even by city. To learn more, or to see if you meet the MSHDA requirements, visit our MSHDA site at http://www.MSHDAloan.com or call us at 734.864.4044.

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It is not necessarily true that you have to pay income taxes on the amount forgiven when selling on a short sale. When selling your primary residence, there are temporary laws in place that will make many sellers exempt from having to pay any taxes on a short sale. In addition, Visible Homes always negotiates the deficiency to $0, therefore many of our sellers are forgiven on the debt and are exempt from paying taxes on it. If you are considering a short sale, contact Visible Homes and we will let you know what you can expect.

http://www.visiblehomes.com

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Most buyers want the best deal they can get, and the same holds true for most sellers. It is important to realize that your offer should be based on market value not asking price. If your offer is much lower than the asking price and market value, some sellers may be insulted and may not even counter your offer. However, if your offer is much lower than the asking price, but is a fair market offer, then there is no need to worry about insulting the seller. A BIG mistake many buyers make is assuming they did great because they got the seller to come down substantially, but in reality the seller was just simply overpriced.

Visible Homes helps our buyers understand the market value prior to submitting an offer. Based on that information, our buyers can determine how aggressive they want to be with their offer. This typically includes a lot of factors, such as time on the market, price changes, upgrades, etc. This allows our buyers to make very educated decisions.

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If Visible Homes is representing the seller, we request for the offer to include a pre-qualification letter. Since our seller would be taking the home off the market for the potential buyer, it is extremely important to know that the buyer is capable of completing the transaction.

If Visible Homes is representing the buyer, we strongly encourage the pre-qualification to be the first step of the process. This will allow us to build a home search based not only on the criteria set by the buyer, but the criteria set by the pre-qualification (i.e. price range, property type, property condition, etc.). In addition, most sellers will not accept an offer that does not include a pre-qualification letter.

Visible Homes works with various mortgage lenders and banks. If you need a referral, please contact us today!

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Yes, Visible Homes is a full time, full service real estate brokerage. Our Agents work full time and all of our sellers can expect to receive top notch customer service, which includes marketing reports, showing feedback and weekly updates. In addition, not only will you receive the attention you deserve, but your home will receive the attention it deserves. Because we are part of multiple MLS’s our listings are instantly made available to thousands of other Realtors and their clients. And with our elite marketing program, your home will experience an extremely high level of online visibility, where over 90% of homebuyers look for a home!

Find Out How Much Your Home Is Worth >>
Ask The Realtor A Question >>

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Visible Homes was founded on the concept of making sure our sellers homes are highly visible. For starters, our website visiblehomes.com currently generates over 20,000 property searches per month. Plus, we are part of multiple MLS’s, which makes your listing instantly available to all other Realtors in the area. We also are part of the IDX, which is a data feed that shows your listing on websites of other real estate brokerages, such as C21, Remax, Coldwell Banker and hundreds more. In addition, we are part of the most powerful syndication network in the real estate industry, which allows our listings to be seen on the top real estate websites, such as Yahoo! Real Estate, AOL Real Estate, Front Door (HGTV), Zillow, Trulia and many more. We can say with certainty that your home will get noticed when listing with Visible Homes!

Do you have a question to Ask The Realtor? If so, click here >>

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“Many people who missed the tax credit are still looking for Government assistance,” says Wes McCaig, CEO of Visible Homes. “Many municipalities have established bond programs to help homebuyers with down payment assistance. Because of our expertise with the local and state bond programs, we have had hundreds of potential homebuyers contact us to see how they can use these programs and purchase a home with as little as 1% down.”

Why Buyers Are Choosing Visible Homes
Many assistance programs have guidelines that may vary from traditional mortgage guidelines. “It is extremely important for a Real Estate Agent to understand these programs,” said McCaig. “Just because a property may meet mortgage eligibility requirements does not mean it will be eligible for the down payment assistance program. This can be a costly mistake, especially if a buyer has already paid for a home inspection and an appraisal before finding out the property does not qualify. In addition, if the purchase contract is not written properly, the buyer may not get the full financial benefit of the assistance program.”

Income and Homeownership Requirements
Many assistance programs have limits on household income and are sometimes only available for first time homebuyers. However, each program and area can have its own set of rules. “In areas such as Washtenaw County, it is possible for a repeat homebuyer to have annual income up-to $108,000 and purchase a home up-to $224,500,” said McCaig. “However, in other areas the program may only be available for first time buyers and the income limits may be lower.”

About Visible Homes, LLC
Visible Homes, LLC is a full service real estate brokerage which combines traditional real estate services along with today’s most innovative technologies. Visible Homes is part of the National Association of Realtors, Michigan Association of Realtors, the Ann Arbor Area Board and the Western Wayne Oakland County Association of Realtors.

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