In August of 1979, my
husband and I bought our
first home in Auburn,
Alabama.
It was a brand new home with 1300. S. F. for $39,000. We went FHA, and
my
parents, and grandparents helped us with the down-payment of 3%. It was
a cute
little house, with a corner fireplace, huge master-bedroom suite, walk
in
closets and I loved it. I never wanted to move.
In December of
1980, we had our first baby there, Christa,
who is now my Partner is Real Estate. In August that year, my husband
was
“called’ to Michigan. There were skid markets all the way
from the South to the
Mid-West with me dragging my feet.
When we
arrived and I shared with our Realtor what we were
coming from and what I hoped to find in a home.
She said,
“Well,
that will cost
$100,000. to buy in Ann Arbor.”
We
were paying $350.00 per
year in property
taxes in Auburn,
AL
and the taxes here were around $2,200.00 contributing to the lesser
amount of home we could buy.
After looking
for a month, in August of 1980, and HATING
everything we could afford, we moved in to a townhouse apartment, that
is
now a
condo conversion and sells for $160,000.
.
After
about 9
months of living there, our Realtor called us
to tell us, she thought she had found us a home that was listed at
$69,000.00
with a $3000.00 decorating allowance. The family was moving to TX. Mr.
Seller
was already there and school was out so Mrs. Seller was anxious to join
him.
They had reduced the home from 100K to 69K. So we took a
look…
Yuk, orange
and brown bold vinyl wall
paper, dated kitchen, brown
carpet. But, we bought it. I hated paying rent. The best news of all is
that
the owners would accept an 11%
land contract. Interest rates at the
time were
18%. So we
moved in, re-carpeted, painted the whole house, painted the
kitchen
and lived there for almost five years and one month shy of when the
land contract was due. I
sold it
by owner for full price. We made 36,000 on the house.
Then we moved
(can you believe this?) down the street into a
four bedroom home, where we also stayed for also 5 years.
That home was
in move
in condition. (It was hilarious to see our friends walking the swing
set down
the street.)
We loved it there and would not have
moved but baby number
5 was
on the way and we couldn’t get everyone around the kitchen
table in the nook.
We bought the home for $110,000.
Five years later, I sold the house
myself in one hour,
to another neighbor who lived on a street a block over. She
was helping her
daughter
with her paper route, when we put the sign in the yard. Then we were
able to
purchase a lot and build the home we are still in Saline, MI.
Ann
Arbor
has always had issue with “affordable
housing”. Many
people could not
afford to purchase homes in Ann Arbor so they would
start out in Ypsilanti,
Manchester, Milan or other smaller communities around Washtenaw
County.
Guess What?
Ann Arbor
is now affordable.
In the
1980’s, Michigan
and the rest of the country were going through a recession. Housing
prices were
coming down. It afforded us the opportunity to own a home in Michigan.
I grieve
everyday when I have to tell my sellers that their
home prices have come down. I have turned down so many listings that I
know I
can not sell for what they owe or want. It was getting so bad, I had
even
considered taking them over-priced and doing what many Realtors do,
keep asking
for price reductions. But, it is just not my nature to not tell them
the truth.
Bottom line
for us in Michigan, this has allowed many home
buyers to
purchase their first homes in Ann Arbor. Had it not
been for the recession
when we moved here, I may still be renting.
In
the midst of the current market conditions, there is a
silver lining for buyers.
There
is
“affordable
housing” in Ann Arbor
and Washtenaw
County.
***Photos courtesy of Flickr,
KCkellners for carpet,
RusselljSmith swing and SusannaK’s ugly wallpaper***
Missy Caulk & Team can be reached at 734-216-2822 or email: Missy@MissyCaulk.com
Pittsfield Township is inviting all the residents to attend any of the upcoming Neighborhood Watch Program meetings. They are being held every Wednesday starting April 1st from 6:30 to 7:30 P.M. throughtout Pittsfield Township. 
