Your Local Real Estate Expert - Michael Perna Michael Perna

There are many great Metro-Detroit area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home,click here for a FREE Home Price Valuation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at 248-886-4450 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions. Hot Off The Press!!! The State of Michigan recently announced that if you have sold a home in the last four years; you are are eligible for a 75% rebate on the transfer tax that was required at the time. Currently, we have discovered 217 refunds for our past clients that total up to $226,837 in refunds! The best news for you, is that we are not done yet. Don't worry if we have not contacted you yet, we're still working hard for you.  We would love to help your friends and family with this as well, if you know of anyone who has sold a home in the last four years, please let us know (248) 886-4450. The Perna Team would be happy to research on their behalf. We will also prepare any necessary documentation you need which usually includes 6 documents going to 4 different places. Luckily, this all will be done for you. Call today or fill out the form so you can get paid (248) 886-4450. We would love to hear some success storied from people who have received their refunds. Reach out if you believe you might qualify for this refund.

There are many great Metro-Detroit area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home,click here for a FREE Home Price Valuation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at 248-886-4450 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions. Happy New Year, everybody! The holidays are over, which means we are back to business as usual. For the Perna Team, business looks like trying to bring as much value to our clients as possible. The start of the new year also means that tax season is near. You have your one and only opportunity to fight your taxes coming up sometime in the next 30 to 45 days, depending on which municipality you're in. When you get your tax bill in the mail, you'll see your new Taxable Value and your new State Equalized Value. If you flip to the back or go to the second page, depending on the city, you will see the phone numbers, the days, and the times you can use to reach the people you need to in order to fight your taxes. To make this a success, what should you bring with you? First, you need to bring a letter with you that states that you're fighting your taxes. We have a pre-made copy of that letter we would love to share with you. Just give us a call or shoot us an email at any time. In addition to that document, the city assessor's office is also going to be looking for three very specific comparable properties. There are a lot of criteria they go off of; for instance, they will not accept bank-owned properties, appraisals, short sales, or distressed sales to determine the value of your property. The Perna Team knows exactly what you need in order to successfully fight your taxes, so don't hesitate to reach out to us for help. We'll get you the three comparable you need to give you the best chance at getting your taxes lowered in 2016. We would love to help you save money this year!

.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; height: auto; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } There are many great Metro-Detroit area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Valuation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (248) 425-5082 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions. Today, we have some great news for you. Over the last few weeks, interest rates have been coming down. If you've received a home loan sometime in the last few months, you've probably noticed that rates are hovering between 4.25% and 4.4%.  Let's say you have a $200,000 home loan with an interest rate of 4.25%. Your principal and interest payment would be roughly $989 a month on a 30-year fixed mortgage. Recently, I've seen closings with interest rates as low as 3.6%!  If you locked in this rate now, instead of the 4.25% rate, your monthly payment would only be around $907, for a savings of about $80 a month! Over the course of a year you could save $960, and about $2,000 over two years!  If you have an FHA loan, we have some good news for you. FHA has lowered its basis points from 1.35% to .8%! This means that if you got an FHA rate sometime in the last three years, you're probably paying $120 to $150 a month in mortgage insurance. You could have it reduced to $65 to $110 a month if you refinanced! This is a $50-a-month savings per loan, which is fantastic. FHA also offers something called FHA Streamline, which allows you to obtain a loan without having to deal with appraisals, credit checks, and underwriting, all for $300. We have several lenders we can refer you to if any of these opportunities interest you. Give us a call or shoot us an email - we would love to figure out whether now is the best time to make your move and discuss your options. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; height: auto; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } There are many great Metro-Detroit area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Valuation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (248) 425-5082 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions. 5 More Questions to Ask a Prospective Agent Welcome back, everyone. Last time we gave you 5 questions that agents hate to be asked. The reason they hate to be asked these questions is that it requires them to be honest about their business and business practices. We are back again with 5 more questions for you to ask your agent, so you can determine if they will be able to meet your needs.  6. How many of your pending contracts close escrow? This is more of an intricate question and speaks to Real estate is not a one man job anymore. minimizing the hassle of a transaction. If you are hearing numbers that are 95% or above, that is great. Our team's average is 96%. Anything less is not effective and probably won't lead to a very smooth sale.  7. What is your list-to-sale ratio? This is of supreme importance when you are selling a home. The national average is 92%, but an experienced team of agents like ourselves have a 98.2% average. We can get you more than 6% more money than an average agent.  8. How will you attract buyers to my property? Your agent must have a written, applicable marketing plan. Putting a sign in the yard and putting it on the MLS isn't a plan. A plan must be a written, repeatable system that is in place, like our 151 point marketing system. 9. Do you assist with staging a property?  A few small moves can result in thousands more for your home sale. A certified home-stager, like the ones we work with, can sae you thousands with investments of only hundreds.  10. How many homes have you sold in the last 6 months, the last year? For sellers ,this figure shows a track record of success. If you're a buyer a high number tells you that this agent may have access to some homes that are not on the MLS. We personally get about 5 deals a month from homes that aren't publicly listed.  Thanks for reading, If you have any questions, you can always give us a call or send us an email. We would be very glad to help. 

.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; height: auto; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }  There are many great Metro-Detroit area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Valuation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (248) 425-5082 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions. What You Should be Asking Your Prospective Agent Today we want to share with you 10 questions that real estate agents hate to be asked. These are great question to ask agents before hiring them, because it forces them to be honest and their answers will determine how good of an agent they are. We will cover the first 5 this week, they are: 1. Are you a full time agent?  This is a very important question to ask. You want to make sure the agent has the experience to handle all the issues in your real estate transaction.  2. Do you have a team to support you?  This is also very important, especially if you are buyer. If the right home comes up and there is no one else to help you besides your primary agent, you could miss out on the best homes in our market, which are typically selling within 24-48 hours. We have 13 buyer representatives that are always available to assist you with getting into homes and helping make offers. Real estate is not a one man job anymore.  3. Are the members of your team specifically trained for certain tasks?  It's important that each member of the team has a specific, defined role. A closing coordinator may not be the best negotiators. A good negotiators is not necessarily the best at marketing. Each person should know their job and be trained well to help close a transaction quickly and smoothly.  4. What level of communication can I expect?  This is of the utmost importance. For our sellers, we communicate with them a minimum of twice a week. For buyers, we will keep in touch at all times to let you know about new listings that match your criteria for a home. We cater to your communication needs and can communicate with you however you would like.  5. How do you rank in your firm, locally and nationally?  This is a great question to ask to gauge experience. If you work with an agent in the bottom 20%, they don't always have the pedigree to get your home sold or bought correctly. Our team is #2 in Michigan and #12 nationally. Thanks for checking out our first set of questions. We will be back in a few weeks with the final 5 questions, so stay tuned! If you have any questions in the meantime, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We'd be glad to help!

There are many great Metro-Detroit area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Valuation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (248) 425-5082 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions. Detroit Metro Real Estate Market Update for Fall 2014 Thanks for joining us again. We are excited to bring to you another market update for Metro Detroit. We have been seeing some exciting trends lately that have us very excited for the present and the near future.  One great trend we have seen from the past month is that interest rates are holding steady at historic lows. This is a great sign, as rates have remained steady for 40 days now. This has resulted in a continuation of buyer interest as we head into the fall, which is great for home sellers.  For home buyers: We are seeing sellers continually trying to take advantage of the fact that we are in a buyers market and have such low interest rates. Homes are continually being put on the market, making our market very even-keel.  Home prices aren't going up or down right now, but most economists are predicting a 2-4% average price reduction in the next year.  You want to purchase now if you are ready as opposed to waiting until next spring. Even if the average price is lower, the expected rise in interest rates will offset the savings, and actually make a home more expensive.  For home sellers: You do want to have your property on the market this fall and through the new year while interest rates are low and before they creep up. If you have any questions about the market, or what you need to do in order to have a smooth transaction, give us a call or shoot us an email. We'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.