Real Estate Market Trend Predicted to Continue
/in SE Michigan /by Tracy WillisRealtors and brokers predict that Metro Detroit home prices will continue their record-breaking trend into the fall and holiday season. Virtual home inspections and online home purchases are likely to return to in-person showings and open houses. In June 2021, single-family real estate sales shattered records with median sales prices at their highest levels ever, and the number of homes available for sale rose for the second straight month. According to Realcomp, the median sales price rose 18.4 percent to $244,000 for single-family homes. Home showings also increased in June, and the average time on the market went from 60 to 22 days.
Challenges Continue With Traverse City’s New Construction Market
/in Northern Michigan /by Tracy WillisHomeowners who want to build in the Traverse City area are facing hurdles. They need to come with cash, a buildable lot, a contractor with a pool of skilled tradesmen, and then more cash to offset the increase in building materials. There has been a 250% increase in lumber prices. The annual average increase is between 3 and 7 percent. Many construction companies are booked months ahead. Those that are available for work are struggling with supply chain issues. Workforce issues also contribute to construction delays.
Detroit Landlords Are Given An Ultimatum
/in Detroit /by Tracy WillisDetroit Mayor Mike Duggan has given bad landlords an ultimatum. If they don’t clean, sanitize and restore damaged properties from last month’s flood, they’ll be fined $250 a day. The effort may not be enough in the face of the myriad of difficulties renters face. Year-long delays with home repair grants programs, mortgage challenges, over-assessed properties and a tax foreclosure operation have made things hard. For the first time in 50 years, renters outnumber homeowners, but with a high poverty rate and scarce renter’s insurance, renters are struggling after last month’s floods. They don’t qualify for most home repair programs, nor were they protected when their landlords were foreclosed and their homes were put on the auction block. Many Detroit landlords don’t keep their rental properties in good repair. Experts believe that renter-focused policies is the answer.
New Mixed-Use Development Coming to Ferndale
/in SE Michigan /by Tracy WillisFerndale’s Rosie O’Grady site is slated for redevelopment. The Ferndale Planning Commission has approved plans for a mixed-use development on the site. It will become the home to an Atlantic and Pacific seafood restaurant, a Mexican barbecue restaurant, office space, and 11 second story apartments. The one or two bedroom perimeter apartments will have balconies along with hot tubs and natural gas fire places. Apartments in the center of the building will have glass walls facing a private courtyard. The apartments are a requirement by the City and the zoning requirements in the Central Business District.
Mystery Buyer Is Snagging Detroit Properties
/in Detroit /by Tracy WillisAn unknown entity or entities is purchasing well known Detroit properties. The Film Exchange Building at 2310 Cass Ave. and its parking lot sold for an estimated $8.75 million. The Bookie’s Bar & Grille building at 2208 Cass Ave. sold for an estimated $4.2 million. Both LLC buyers list their addresses as PO boxes, a tactic frequently used by the Illitches who are in talks with Stephen Ross for his Detroit Center for Innovation Project with the University of Michigan. Two other properties at 135 West Montcalm and 231 W. Elizabeth St. have also sold and list a Troy PO box address. All of these properties are within the footprint that Stephen Ross is targeting for his project.
Possible New Location for the Detroit Center for Innovation
/in Detroit /by Tracy WillisBillionaire Stephen Ross and Christopher Ilitch, president and CEO of Ilitch Holdings, are in talks about building the Detroit Center for Innovation within District Detroit. District Detroit is comprised of Ilitch-owned properties around Little Caesars Arena. This is a change from previous plans for a 14-acre Gratiot site where the half-built Wayne County jail once stood. The size and scope of the project at the new site is unknown. The project could be in within walking distance of a multifamily residential or mixed-use development that Ross has planned at Charlotte Street and Third Avenue.