1513 White St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104 - Home for sale

If you thought you couldn't afford to live in the Burns Park school district in Ann Arbor, check out 1513 White St.

212 Wolverine, Manchester, MI - home for sale

Check out a great home for sale in the nearby quaint Village of Manchester, located at 212 Wolverine. It's worth the drive!

161 Commons Circle, Saline, MI - Condo for sale

Check out a great condo for sale at 161 Commons Circle in Saline.

Do the right thing

EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW — these words, written above the main entrance to the Supreme Court Building, express the ultimate responsibility of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Court is the highest tribunal in the Nation for all cases and controversies arising under the Constitution or the laws of the United States. As the final arbiter of the law, the Court is charged with ensuring the American people the promise of equal justice under law and, thereby, also functions as guardian and interpreter of the Constitution.

Last week, the Supreme Court issued its decision in a case regarding a gun law in Washington DC. Given that Washington is a district created by the Federal government, it is appropriate that the highest Federal court in the land should ultimately decide the case.
And yet, any decision rendered by the Supreme Court must be interpreted through its chief function “as guardian and interpreter of the Constitution.” So the justices in the DC gun law case (a 5-4 decision that the law was indeed un-Constitutional) ultimately knew that their decision had ramifications well beyond the District of Columbia and its gun law.

Which leads me to my point.

Some are more equal than others

There were four justices who actually decided that the DC gun law WAS Constitutional.

If those four justices made their decision about DC (and ONLY about DC), then they were abrogating their Constitutional responsibility. They KNEW that their decision had to be viewed in their role as “guardian and interpreter of the Constitution,” no matter if they were only deciding a case in a federal district.

On the other hand, if those four justices made their decision about DC with full understanding of their role as “guardian and interpreter of the Constitution”, then they were deciding that the second amendment itself was un-Constitutional – a preposterous argument if ever there were one!

So which is it? Did those four justices abrogate their responsibility as “guardian and interpreter of the Constitution?” Or, did they decide that an Article of the Constitution itself was un-Constitutional?

Either way, they are either so incompetent as to be unfit for the job, or so devious as to be likewise unfit. They don’t deserve to sit on the bench any longer. And yet, we all have to suffer under their decision-making for the rest of their lives, or term on the bench.

A sad day for America and our Liberty.

Golf Course Economics

Regular readers may know already that I enjoy playing golf. Even on a bad day, it’s still a great walk in the park. And while we see Tiger on TV hitting the ball 300+ yards on his drive, I’ve found that the greatest distance in golf is 6 inches – the brain space between the ears. If nothing else, golf is the supreme battle with yourself over control – control of your emotions and your physical body. If you can control the 6 inches between your ears, you can excel at golf.

While playing golf recently, I commented to my playing partner about the changing economics of a golf course.

Think about it.

A golf course is nothing more than an area of finely-maintained lawn. In order to maintain that lawn, it requires regular (daily) mowing – which uses lots of gas or diesel in the mower engines. In order to keep the grass green, and the bugs away, a golf course requires regular application of chemicals – fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides – which are mostly made up from petrochemicals.

We’ve all seen the changes in the price of gas (and a barrel of oil) lately.

So if you’re a golfer, consider how the changes in the price of gas have hit your local golf course operation. It’s likely that we’ll be paying more for the privilege of playing golf in the future.

Lunch with a Friend

About a month ago (May 19), I wrote about my experience at the BloodhoundBlog Unchained conference in Phoenix. The inspiration from the conference is still with me – I’m still working on my list of 30+ “things to do” which came out of my experience there.

One of the presenters at the conference is a fabulous Realtor® from Dayton, Ohio – Teri Lussier. She describes herself as “Real estate professional, social networking participant, Web 2.0 enthusiast. “ Being that we’re both in practice in the general “Midwest”, we struck a chord together at the conference. Her market in Dayton is not dissimilar from my market in the Ann Arbor and Saline area.

Yesterday (June 26), Teri and I met for lunch in Findlay, Ohio – about halfway between Dayton and Ann Arbor.

Our conversation ranged all over the map – follow-up from the conference, what we’ve implemented in our businesses as a result of the conference, family updates, and blogging in general.

The bulk of our conversation, though, was about Teri’s latest efforts at BloodhoundBlog. Project Bloodhound has been launched. The goal of the project is to collect some of the best and brightest comments and answers to questions. Those who will be asking the questions are six new participants at BloodhoundBlog. Their experience as Realtors® and as Bloggers ranges from newbie to experienced pro. Being a regular reader and commenter at BloodhoundBlog, I look forward to watching Project Bloodhound unfold. And with Teri’s guiding hand (keyboard? Mouse?), the project will be fabulous.

Hat’s off to you, Teri!

Market Statistics for Saline - June 2008

If you like my blog, please subscribe! Just hit the "RSS" logo button to your right. Thanks!

You can also visit my new Blog at http://www.salinemichiganrealestate.com/

As you all know, I review our market statistics around the middle of each month.What I'd like to focus on this month is the Saline Michigan real estate market.

The first chart I’d like to review is shown above. I’ve tracked real estate activity for the Saline Michigan real estate market since 1996. There is a definite seasonality to the market – strength in the summer, weakness in the winter. A reading above 25% is a “seller’s” market, while a reading below 20% is a “buyer’s” market.

It’s no surprise to learn that we have been in a “buyer’s” market in Saline since the end of 2004 – more than three years, now.

What’s intriguing about this first chart is the strengthening of the Saline Michigan real estate market since January. What could be the cause of this?

This second chart (above) shows 2 lines. The top line shows the number of homes available for sale (listings) in the Saline area. The lower line shows the number of homes sold each month.
In answer to my question posed above (What could be the cause of this?), the strengthening of the Saline Michigan real estate market since October is a direct result of fewer homes listed for sale. How could this make the market stronger? Well, with fewer homes competing for the available buyers, it’s more likely that any of the homes listed for sale will actually sell during the month. That’s what we mean by a strengthening of the market!

Another interesting observation from the chart is that the number of sales in the Saline area has been rather consistent since 2005! In a previous post, we learned about the three "P's" that you control when you sell. The homes that are selling now, have been selling since 2005, are those that have consistency between the three "P's". Go back and check that post for a reminder.
The final piece of the analysis of the strength of the Saline Michigan real estate market is the months of supply of homes presently on the market.

This table shows the “raw data” that makes up the charts shown above. On the far right hand side of this table shows the “Months Supply” in each price range. Rather than focus on any particular price range, it’s more helpful to understand the overall level of inventory of homes for sale.

As of mid-June, at the present pace of sales of homes in Saline, there are enough homes on the market to supply only 8 ½ months of demand. This is down significantly since February, when there was nearly a 20 months’ supply of homes for sale. In the past few years, it’s been typical to have about 6 months’ supply of homes for sale, so our market is improving toward our average.

If you’re considering selling your Saline home or condo, you owe it to yourself to take advantage of my experience and market understanding. I’d be happy to meet with you! Just give me a call at (734) 476-2063, or send an e-mail, “Vance (at) SalineMichiganRealEstate (dot) com”.