Ayre/Rhinehart Bay Newsletter June 2011

R E A L E S TAT E N E W S L E T T E R
AYRE/RHINEHART BAY
A Publication of Ayre/Rhinehart Bay REALTORS, 1008 Adams, Bay City, Michigan
A yr e /Rhine hart Bay Gi ve s B ac k
The agents at Ayre/Rhinehart Bay Realtors have always been active in the community. Here are just a few stories of
what they have been doing the past
month in the Bay area.
On May 8th, Melissa Beckrow and her
mom, Perry Woodard Conway, joined
100 other supporters in a 5K walk/run
on the Riverwalk in Bay City to benefit
“One World, One Future”. One World,
One Future is an organization devoted to
ending the illegal practice of Human
Trafficking that not only takes place in
third-world countries, but even in our
own state of Michigan. Melissa’s friend,
Miss Michigan 2010 and Bay City native,
Katie LaRoche is the president of the
organization.
Dwight during his shift at the Helen
Nickless Free Clinic
Ayre/Rhinehart Bay was also a sponsor at
the recent Auburn Area Relay for Life
held at the Auburn City Park on June
25th and 26th. AR Bay’s “team” was the
“Amazin’ Grace” squad. Ayre/Rhinehart
believes in giving back to the community
that has provided all of us with a great
place to live and work. Our clients are
our friends and if you have a “Health and
Wellness” cause, be sure to let us know
so that we can help in some small way.
Melissa and her mom, Perry wearing
their “One World, One Future’ shirts.
Dwight McCulloch has been busy this
spring listing and selling and volunteering. Dwight collected food at the annual
Postal Letter Carriers food drive at the
downtown Bay City Post Office. The
weather was not good, but that did not
stop the supporters who stood on the
sidewalk and collected the donations.
Dwight also devotes time at the Helen
Nickless Free Clinic where he was recently photographed. In 2010, Dwight
received the Ambrose Reif Award for
Volunteerism.
AR Bay is Featured
Agency on Realtor.com
Sellers who list with Ayre/Rhinehart Bay
get preferential treatment on
Realtor.com. AR Bay has contracted to
get maximum photo exposure, web links
and easy buyer contact that results in
more online activity. Featured Homes
get more hits, longer interest and more
inquiries than non-featured homes and
that means more sales for homeowners!
Mid-Summer 2011
Home Searching Can Be Fun!
The new www.arhousebay website will
have a new map search that will make
looking for homes so much easier. Just
click on the map for a circle or draw a
line by clicking and moving your cursor to make your own boundaries. The
available properties in the region will
be displayed on the screen. The developers have spent months to innovate
this tool and it is in the beta testing
stage. Contact your AR Bay agent to
learn more.
“Like” us on Facebook!
Ayre/Rhinehart Bay has their own
Facebook page. Click on us and “like”
us to keep up on the latest goings on at
the office and with Bay County real
estate. You can never have too many
friends! By the way, the average Facebook user has 130 friends!
Thanks to Alan Flood of the Bay County
Museum who dug up this photo of the
building that we are in. Not the Monarch
gas station, but the Swift’s Premium building on the left. This picture is from the
1920s and that is as far back as Alan could
find information on 1008 Adams. Swift’s is
still in business today and we still have
some “hams” at the old building, too.
Contact AR Bay @
Office: (989) 892-4800
1008 Adams St., Bay City, MI 48708
www.arhousebay.com
Ayre/Rhinehart Bay...Busy Times!
Bill Branigan
Gets His 30,000th
YouTube Viewing!
The saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is true. So what is 30,000
virtual tour viewings of listings, each
filled with dozens of photos, video,
subtitles and background theme music
worth? Bill Branigan’s video channel on
YouTube is “BayCityRealtor” and buyers have tuned in to see his presentations in fantastic numbers since he has
begun publishing his virtual tours just 2
years ago. Exposure is critical to the
successful sale of homes and a professionally developed virtual tour is
“priceless”!
Cheaper to Own than Rent!
The recent increase in monthly rental
prices has led to an unusual housing
situation... it is often less expensive to
own than to rent! The number of foreclosed properties that led to displaced
families and the increased requirements for loan approval (higher credit
scores, bigger down payment, etc) has
created a demand that outpaced supply. Rents have increased as investors
purchased homes, renovated the properties and made them available for
leasing. Quality, single family homes
with basements and garages can
quickly be rented at $700-$900 plus
utilities in Bay County.
A recent poll conducted by the National Association of Realtors and Harris Interactive makes it clear that home
ownership matters. The poll showed
that there is a strong correlation between people owning a home and being more satisfied with their quality of
life, satisfied with their family-oriented
environment, being more in tune with
local news, voting in local elections and
volunteering time for nonprofit and
charitable organizations.
Contact your Ayre/Rhinehart Bay
agent to find out the latest trends in
local real estate opportunities.
The House That Built Me
If you have listened to country music
the past year, or have seen any of the
country music award shows (there
seems to be one every month!), then
you probably have had a chance to listen to or have seen the video of Miranda Lambert’s, #1 song, “The House
That Built Me”. The song tells the
story of the connection the singer had
with the home that she was brought up
in and the role the home played in her
development to where she is today.
The unique thing about the song is
that the songwriter, Tom Douglas,
worked as a commercial real estate
broker in the 1980s and 1990s. He got
the inspiration for the song from the
home that his father built on a vacant
lot in Atlanta. He moved there when
he was 5 and it was the only home that
he knew as a child. He said “it meant
everything to me”. Now, we can’t say
that the Ayre/Rhinehart Bay real estate
agents can write a hit country song, let
alone remember the words to one, or
sing it on-key, but we can say that we
will be passionate about what we do.
And we do “love” our buyers and sellers. Thank you all!
A View of the Subprime Mess
The current economic problems facing
the United States, and much of the
world, are traced to the collapse of the
real estate market which started 5
years ago. The initial bout of foreclosures took place because of the subprime mortgages that went bad. It is
commonly believed that the reason
why homeowners got subprimes in the
early 2000s was to purchase a home,
but that is not totally the case. It was
really about cash-out refinancings, says
author, Bethany McLean. As much as
3/4 of the subprime business during
the boom was done by people who
wanted to take the equity out of their
homes with the assumption that home
prices would go up. These loans were
more about financing consumer spending than contributing to home ownership. Bethany states that “people were
living beyond their means and had
more credit than they could handle”.
This is an insightful look into the topic
and one that is meant to caution government leaders and mortgage lenders.
Ayre/Rhinehart Bay and the
Local Bay County Market
The Ayre/Rhinehart Bay agents are off
to a great start. Very good listing and
selling activity is happening every day.
May was a time for closing deals that
were pending through the association
with Harris Bush. A total of
$1,162,800, that included 8 sides, were
closed by AR Bay agents to finalize
accounts.
The Bay County Realtor Association
published the year-to-date statistics
which showed that the average residential sales price was $68,449 as of
July 1 vs. $69,846 in 2010 . A total of
725 properties were sold vs. 701 in
2010. The northeast section of Bay
City saw a 14% increase in the average
sale price this year. While Essexville
(down 18%), Hampton Twp. (down
9%) and Williams Twp. (down 11%)
suffered the biggest drops in the first 6
months of the year. Condos are selling
at a 14% increase over last year.
Ayre/Rhinehart Bay Activity!
5601 Meadowview, Condo, SOLD! $197,500
2116 Center Ave., SOLD! $329,000
0 Nine Mile Rd., Auburn, SOLD! $18,500
241 Jennison, Condo, SOLD! $269,900
4511 W Lewis, Monitor, SOLD!, $104,900
2894 Lapan, Pinconning SOLD! $100,000
6222 Fairway Pines, SOLD! $114,900
510 Venice Ct., SOLD!, $134,900
2396 S Huron, Kawkawlin PENDING! $81,000
2157 6th, Bay City, PENDING!, $123,900
7382 Ryan, Frankenlust, PENDING! $169,900
400 Virginia, Auburn, PENDING! $189,900
510 Willow Bend, PENDING! $149,900
1549 Wedgewood, PENDING!, $389,900
2142 5th, PENDING!, $99,900
5007 Candace Dr., PENDING!, $80,000
1110 Carrie Lynn Lane, New Listing, $400,000
4266 Hushen, New Listing, $84,900
0 Beaver Rd., 140 Acres, New List, $1,200,000
1111 N Water St. #204, Condo, $495,000
1589 Tower Beach, New Listing, $134,900
521 Park, Bay City, New Listing, $138,700
237 Donahue Beach, New Listing, $199,900
3055 Sherwood, New Listing, $279,800
821 Pine, Commercial, New Listing, $450,000
2100 S Jackson, New Listing, $129,900
1019 Shady Shore, New Listing, $332,000
5821 Avalon, Pinconning, $169,900
5974 Red Feather, NEW PRICE, $136,900
707 Webb, Bangor, $79,900
1705 W Thomas, New Listing, $78,900
1808 James, New Listing, $87,900
5432 N Seven Mile, NEW PRICE, $108,000
1012 5th St., Bay City Historical, $279,000
1123 Nantucket, Bangor Condo, $72,500
45 Sharlear, Essexville, $99,900
1215 State St., New Listing, $32,150
1100 Fraser, Bay City, $69,900
204 Park, Bay City NEW PRICE, $47,500
223 Jennison Place, Luxury Condo, $269,000
225 Jennison Place, Luxury Condo, $264,900
0 W Townline 16 Rd., Land $25,000
Hoyle’s Marina Boat Slip, $7,250
2023 7th, Bay City, NEW PRICE, $75,500
5432 N Seven Mile, Log Cabin, $111,700
508 Willow Bend, Auburn Condo, $149,900
7 Lots on Stephanie, $24,900 each
3 Lots on Stephanie, $26,900 each
4 Lots on Stepahnie, $30,900 each
2 Lots on North Union, $27,900 each
Look for the Ayre/Rhinehart Bay
REALTORS sign all around town!