BIG NEWS FOR YOU!!

Realtors working in Barry County list homes on the Grand Rapids Association of Realtors (GRAR) Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This system is used to input homes online so the public and Realtors can search for these specific listings. The GRAR system covers most of Barry, Kent, Ionia and Allegan Counties. Southern Barry County and others surrounding use the South and West Michigan Regional Information Center (SWMRIC) to list properties. THESE TWO WILL SOON COMBINE!

This integration will give you and us a massive amount of data. Not only will it show every single home for sale in our county, it will also give us a wide area to pull data from to properly list your home for sale. Whether it's size, price or location we will better be able to analyze the best price point. If you have ever heard the phrase "Let me check the other system (MLS)," this will be no more.

This larger combination will serve as far North as Manistee County, as far East as Ionia County and South to the Michigan border!

Look for this to take place within the month of June. Stay in contact with us here on the Blog for further updates!!


Thanks!

First Time Home-Buyers set RECORD in 2009!

The number of First-Time Home buyers rose to 47% of all home sales. This is the highest on record since 1981. The previous high was in 1991 and was at 44%. The interesting point about this is that the last cyclical peak of First-Time home buyers was during the last noteworthy economic downturn, with First-Time buyers starting the chain reaction that led the nation out of recession.

87% of 2009 buyers consider their home a good investment, and more than half see it as a better investment than stocks. Twelve percent of buyers own two homes, while another three percent own three or more homes.

When asked where they first learned about the home purchased, 36 percent of buyers said a real estate agent; 36 percent the Internet; 12 percent from yard signs; 6 percent from a friend, neighbor or relative; 5 percent home builders; 2 percent a print or newspaper ad; 2 percent directly from the seller; and less than 1 percent a home book or magazine.