Local Real Estate News

• Grand Rapids tops Forbes list of the best cities for raising a family

  Apr 5, 2012 - GRAND RAPIDS, MI - If not on the fast track to a life of "glitz and glamour," at least Grand Rapids has a quick commute to "a solid job that lets you get home in time to see the kids." That's just one reason Forbes has named Grand Rapids...

• Fixes aimed at Kent County's leaking septic tanks

  Mar 13, 2012 - GRAND RAPIDS - A partnership with the Grand Rapids Association of Realtors and a public education campaign are the keystones of a recommendation approved Tuesday aimed at reducing the amount of septic tanks leaking sewage into drinking...

• Is the Grand Rapids downtown real estate market coming back to life?

  Feb 14, 2012 - GRAND RAPIDS - The commercial real estate market is starting to pick up steam downtown after spending several years in the doldrums, according to area agents. Stan Wisinski, of NAI Wisinski points to their recent sale of the West Michigan...

• Grand Rapids Association of Realtors reports housing prices were on the rise last month

  Feb 13, 2012 - GRAND RAPIDS - Housing sales in the greater Grand Rapids area picked up in January when compared to January sales one year earlier, according to the Grand Rapids Association of Realtors (GRAR). Pending sales were up 6.3 percent while...

• Grand Rapids real estate market showing signs of recovery

  Jan 11, 2012 - GRAND RAPIDS - West Michigan's housing market began making a comeback last year, according to early reports from local real estate and homebuilding groups. While foreclosures remained historically high, statistics show fewer homes went...

• Grand Rapids real estate market showing signs of recovery

  Jan 1, 2012 - GRAND RAPIDS - West Michigan's housing market began making a comeback last year, according to early reports from local real estate and homebuilding groups. While foreclosures remained historically high, statistics show fewer homes went...

• Pair arrested for Open House thefts

  Dec 2, 2011 - GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Two men are under arrest for allegedly stealing items from homes for sale during Open Houses. Matthew Donald Vanhouten, 27, and Jeffrey David Burdick, 31, face charges after an investigation by both the Kent...

• Police: Suspects in Kent County open house thefts arrested, property recovered

  Dec 2, 2011 - KENT COUNTY - Sheriff's detectives have arrested two suspects in thefts at open houses when real-estate agents are showing houses for sale. Matthew Donald VanHouten, 26, is charged with first-degree home invasion and larceny in a building....

• Thefts continuing at GR open houses

  Nov 18, 2011 - GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - The Grand Rapids Association of Realtors is warning residents about a continuation of thefts occurring at open houses. GRAR began receiving reports in March. The latest thefts occurred this past weekend. GRAR...

• Sunny days for home sales in Kent County

  Nov 11, 2011 - It may have been snowing Thursday, but sunny weather for much of October pushed activity in the Kent County area housing market up 18 percent compared to a year ago. Five Star Real Estate agent James Goetzka said the good weather helped...

• RealtyTrac releases October foreclosure data: How did Michigan fare?

  Nov 10, 2011 - The number of West Michigan homes receiving foreclosure filings last month surged over September, but for the most part remains below year-ago levels. The local data mirrors the state and national numbers, according to California-based...

• Kent County renters can access free legal information thanks to Cooley Law, area nonprofits

  Oct 19, 2011 - GRAND RAPIDS -- Renters in Kent County have access to free legal information about their rights and responsibilities thanks to a partnership between the Thomas M. Cooley Law School and area nonprofits. The Tenant Law Project taps specially...

• Lakeshore home sales down slightly in September, but average sale price surges over last year

  Oct 15, 2011 - Lakeshore home sales from Saugatuck to Muskegon during the month of September were down slightly from a year ago, but the average sale price surged. See full article at the MLive website

• Home building in Ottawa, Muskegon counties on the rise

  Oct 13, 2011 - More people are building homes in the Lakeshore region than a year ago. Housing starts through the third quarter in Ottawa and Muskegon counties grew more than 14 percent over last year, according to Ada-based Builder Track. In Ottawa...

• RealtyTrac: Foreclosure filings down for 12th month in a row, but will it last?

  Oct 13, 2011 - For the 12th month in a row, nationwide foreclosure activity was down compared to the month prior and the year prior, and many West Michigan counties saw similar drops. However, signs indicate that decline may soon be over, according to...

• Grand Rapids area homes sales rise in September along with home prices

  Oct 10, 2011 - GRAND RAPIDS - Local home sales in September continued to outpace last year for both completed sales and purchase agreements. There were 711 homes sold in the Kent County area, up 13 percent from last year's 629, according to data released...

• Land contracts can help people with poor credit buy homes

  Oct 2, 2011 - Long-term interest rates remain at record lows, and there are no indications they will rise anytime soon. But because of strict lending requirements, potential home buyers must have pristine credit to take advantage of those low rates. ...

• RealtyTrac: Number of Michigan homes receiving first notice of foreclosure increasing

  Sep 15, 2011 - A nationwide surge in the number of homes receiving default notices means banks are starting to work through the log jam of paperwork, according to a national tracking firm. Default notices are typically the first step in a foreclosure...

• Grand Rapids Housing Market Tightens

  Sep 14, 2011 - There are new signs that the housing market around Grand Rapids is tightening up. The Grand Rapids Association of Realtors says there are 35% fewer homes for sale this August compared to last. It means for the first time in a long time,...

• 7 schools in Grand Rapids, Forest Hills, East Grand Rapids ranked Michigan's best

  Aug 26, 2011 - KENT COUNTY -- The Grand Rapids and Forest Hills school districts each have three schools ranked at the "best of the best" category in Michigan -- the 99th percentile, according to a new state list. See full story at the MLive website

• Newsweek/Daily Beast rank Michigan No. 1 for job creation potential. Huh?

  Aug 26, 2011 - Newsweek and its affiliate web site The Daily Beast, in their never-ending stream of top-whatever lists, has just named Michigan as No. 1 on the list for booming states for business. It was rather alarming to click on the "Next" button...

• Report shows buyers getting huge discount on foreclosed homes in Michigan

  Aug 25, 2011 - If you buy a bank-owned property in Michigan, you are paying about 46 percent less than you would for a traditional property. If the home is still in the process of foreclosure and you buy it through a short sale, you're paying about 14...

• Grand Rapids bucking national home sales trend

  Aug 23, 2011 - (WZZM)- New home sales in 2011 are shaping up to be among the worst in 50 years. The Commerce Department says new home sales dropped nearly 1% last month to a seasonally adjusted rate od 298,000 homes. That is less than half of what...

• National Realtor Assocation tour stops in Grand Rapids: Tax changes and the impact on homeowers

  Aug 23, 2011 - See photo coverage at the MLive website

• Martin Luther King Jr.'s fight against housing discrimination recalled as national memorial is dedicated

  Aug 20, 2011 - As a Realtor, Pat Vredevoogd Combs credits Martin Luther King Jr. with sparking the changes that led to laws against housing discrimination. "There were so many things that were wrong with the system before he stood up and gave his speech...

• HOME OWNERSHIP MATTERS Press Conference coming to GRAR August 23

  Aug 19, 2011 - Realtors Address Issues That Hit Home in Michigan WHAT: Home Ownership Matters Press Conference WHEN: August 23, 2011, 12:45 p.m. EDT WHERE: Grand Rapids Association of Realtors Auditorium ...

• Blue Star Trail will allow bicyclists to ride from South Haven to Saugatuck

  Aug 17, 2011 - SOUTH HAVEN - When the Blue Star Trail is finished, bicyclists will be able to ride from Kalamazoo to South Haven and up the coast to Saugatuck. But completion of the route still is years away. Construction has begun on the paved, 10-foot...

• Sleeping Bear Dunes Voted 'Most Beautiful Place in America'

  Aug 17, 2011 - Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, tucked away in the northwest corner of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, won the title of "Good Morning America's" Most Beautiful Place in America. Tens of thousands of viewers voted online for this...

• Grand Rapids area home sales surge in July along with average sale price

  Aug 12, 2011 - Home sales in the Grand Rapids area spiked 27 percent in July when compared to last year, a bright spot of positive local news amid national economic turmoil. Throw in pending deals and activity was up 40 percent from a year ago. "On the...

• Kent County Land Bank program launches plans to buy, revitalize vacant homes

  Aug 8, 2011 - Kent County's Land Bank Authority is advertising for an executive director and about to buy its first few vacant homes in an effort to revitalize abandoned real estate. This week, the county's Board of Commissioners is expected to purchase...

• Wyoming is solicited to become a Next Michigan Development Corp.

  Jul 25, 2011 - WYOMING - As city officials work with developers to find a user for the former General Motors plant property on 36th Street SW, they might have an ally in a new state law that brings more tax incentives to the table. Wyoming is among...

• Report: GR 'Top 100 Places to Live'

  Jul 20, 2011 - GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - It has made the Top 100 but could become a Top 10 nominee with your help. RelocateAmerica has named Grand Rapids as one of the Top 100 Places to Live in 2011. This is the organization's 14th annual listing of...

• US News: Spectrum Health one of best

  Jul 19, 2011 - GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Spectrum Health has been ranked as one of the best hospitals in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report. The facility was nationally ranked as among the top 50 hospitals in diabetes and endocrinology...

• West Michigan cities find ways to help restore homeownership

  Jul 11, 2011 - WYOMING - When a "For Rent" sign went up across the street from the Bluebird Avenue SW home they've lived in for 40 years, Tim and Merva Keena were curious. When the neglected and vacant two-bedroom home went into foreclosure, they were...

• Unemployed homeowners facing foreclosure may get more time under new federal requirements

  Jul 7, 2011 - Unemployed homeowners with mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration may now be eligible for a 12-month forbearance on their loans instead of four months, the Obama administration announced today. The administration also...

• 16,600 more people in West Michigan have jobs this year than last year

  Jun 24, 2011 - More than 700,000 people in West Michigan were gainfully employed last month, a boost of 16,600 over the same time last year. The bulk of those job gains came in the Grand Rapids-Wyoming area, where the number of employed people jumped by...

• West Michigan has 6 charter schools converting to Schools of Excellence

  Jun 22, 2011 - GRAND RAPIDS - Six West Michigan charter schools were among 12 in the first round of schools to convert to Schools of Excellence, according to the Michigan Association of Public School Academies. The state's Schools of Excellence program...

• Cherry Park: Historic place to play

  Jun 20, 2011 - GRAND RAPIDS - Darja Duke was full of energy as the Baxter neighborhood girl ran up the slide at Cherry Park, turned at the top and slid down again, giggling the whole time. Standing nearby, Andre Jones, 22, said he often brings his 5-year...

• West Michigan sees increase in foreclosure activity in May

  Jun 16, 2011 - Foreclosure activity in West Michigan last month was higher than April, but lower than a year ago, according to data released today. Kent, Ottawa, Muskegon and Kalamazoo counties all registered gains in total filings from the month before,...

• Court ruling gives hope to homeowners facing foreclosure

  Jun 4, 2011 - Brian Geister could see the end, and it was not pretty. In 2008, after having his pay cut nearly in half to $8 an hour, he was facing foreclosure on his Stanton home where he lived with his wife and two children. He tried desperately to...

• Grand Rapids named 'Person of the Week' on ABC's 'World News Tonight' for Rob Bliss' Lip Dub video

  Jun 3, 2011 - GRAND RAPIDS - Grand Rapids and Rob Bliss' Lip Dub video are expected to be featured tonight on ABC-TV's "World News Tonight" with Diane Sawyer. Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell was interviewed by ABC-TV this morning while attending the...

• Falling condo prices in Grand Rapids draw wave of homeowners downtown

  May 29, 2011 - GRAND RAPIDS - Eleven years ago, Paul Becker and Eve Rogus got married, raising their blended family of five children in a large house in East Grand Rapids. But those children grew up and moved out. And the couple, both in their 50s, no...

• Foreclosures still make up significant portion of West Michigan home sales, according to RealtyTrac

  May 26, 2011 - Distressed properties continue to make up a significant portion of home sales in West Michigan. More than half of the Muskegon County homes sold in the first quarter were in some stage of foreclosure, and in most other West Michigan...

• Expired credit still skews home sales in Grand Rapids

  May 12, 2011 - Deals were closed on 782 homes in the Grand Rapids area last month, down 25 percent from April 2010, showing the market still is feeling the hangover effects of the home buyer tax credit. Add pending deals into the mix and activity was...

• Fair housing luncheon speaker: Your zip code should not determine your future

  Apr 29, 2011 - When Ron Sims was the chief executive for King County in Washington state, he crunched some numbers, combined it with geography and came to a startling conclusion: Your zip code told a lot of things about your life and your future. "We...

• Grand Rapids area home sales lower than last year, but inventory is starting to balance.

  Apr 12, 2011 - Homes are being sold in the Grand Rapids area this year, but the totals cannot compete with last year, which was fueled by the federal home buyer tax credit. Deals were closed on 652 homes last month, down 26 percent from March 2010,...

• Millions in federal funds help rehab abandoned homes in Kent County

  Apr 6, 2011 - GRAND RAPIDS - What's it worth to keep neighborhoods from crumbling? Kent County officials plan on spending some $5.6 million in federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program money available since 2008. So far, the county's program - which...

• A view from the sky: The golden era of Grand Rapids' downtown construction

  Mar 29, 2011 - GRAND RAPIDS - Behold the end of a golden era of downtown construction. With more than $1 billion invested in new residential, office, educational, medical, retail and, yes, parking spaces, the economic impact of the projects - some of...

• Census 2010: South Beltline is credited with spurring major growth in Kent County

  Mar 25, 2011 - How could population in the Grand Rapids area grow so much in a state that shrank in population during the past decade? Check out M-6. New houses, offices and shopping centers popped up along the highway soon after it opened in October...

• Census shows vacant homes, apartments on the rise in West Michigan

  Mar 24, 2011 - GRAND RAPIDS - There are a lot of empty houses and vacant apartments scattered throughout the U.S. Census figures released this week. The statewide numbers shout out the fact that one in seven housing units in Michigan were vacant last...

• After 30 years leading ICCF in Grand Rapids, president says housing need is as strong as ever

  Mar 21, 2011 - GRAND RAPIDS - Fond of reciting bits of wisdom from the past, Jonathan Bradford shared insight of his own while driving by a block of houses built in the 19th century. "As sure as the sun rises in the east, it is a given that older...

• Recent Open Houses Targeted by Thieves

  Mar 16, 2011 - KENT COUNTY: REALTORS and homeowners selling a house in West Michigan should be on the lookout. Several incidents over the course of the last month led to alerts by the Grand Rapids Association of REALTORS for activity like vulgar phone...

• Grand Rapids area home sales lower than a year ago, but average price continues to climb

  Mar 11, 2011 - Just over 5,270 homes are for sale in Grand Rapids right now, one of the lowest months of inventory since 2005. "We are getting back to what you might consider a normal market," said Julie Rietberg, CEO of the Grand Rapids Association of...

• Housing, retail plan on south edge of downtown Grand Rapids takes step forward

  Mar 4, 2011 - GRAND RAPIDS - A vacant block south of downtown could become the first phase of a bustling residential and retail district anchored by a grocery store if plans go forward as expected. On Thursday, the city's Brownfield Redevelopment...

• Grand Rapids Association of REALTORS® releases January home sales data; activity was up

  Feb 18, 2011 - Potential home buyers were busy last month in the Kent County area, signing purchase agreements on 750 properties, up 7.4 percent from a year ago. That's according to data released Friday by the Grand Rapids Association of Realtors. Under...

• REALTORS ® use Grand Rapids Public Schools as selling point

  Dec 28, 2010 - GRAND RAPIDS - When parents of young children buy a home in a new city, one of the first questions they ask their real estate agent is "How are the schools?" Local Realtors have been doing their homework, boning up on all the recent...

• Lola Audu named first black president of Grand Rapids Association of REALTORS®

  Dec 23, 2010 - GRAND RAPIDS - Lola Audu doesn't think her colleagues at the Grand Rapids Association of Realtors were thinking about the color of her skin when this month they elected her the first black president of the 117-year-old organization. She...

• November home sales rise in the Grand Rapids area

  Dec 1, 2010 - Home sales in the Grand Rapids area were brisk in November, coming in 9 percent above last year; while the average sale price remained stable. According to data released Wednesday by the Grand Rapids Association of Realtors, 732 homes were...

• Real estate expert has faced racism, foreclosure crisis with resilience

  Nov 29, 2010 - Doretha Ardoin is considered by many to be one of the best. She is an award-winning real estate agent who has been helping clients make wise home selling and home buying decisions since 1978. "I worked for all the best," said Ardoin, 56,...

• Average GR home prices continue surge

  Nov 2, 2010 - GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - The average single family home price for last month in Grand Rapids was $115,783, up 5.4 percent compared to October 2009. Year to date, the average single family home price was $115,492, up 7.4 percent...

• Grand Rapids home sales drop 28 percent in October

  Nov 1, 2010 - GRAND RAPIDS -- Home sales in the Grand Rapids area tumbled 28 percent in October from a year ago, but the average price of a single-family home shot up 5.4 percent. The Grand Rapids Association of Realtors today released its monthly sales...

• Survey finds 43.5 percent of Michigan residents want temporary halt to home foreclosures

  Oct 14, 2010 - GRAND RAPIDS -- Attorneys general from all 50 states Wednesday announced a joint investigation into allegations that banks and mortgage companies are using improper practices to foreclose on homes. This heightened interest in new poll...

• Good news and bad news on Grand Rapids area home sales

  Oct 2, 2010 - Home sales in the Grand Rapids area last month were 25 percent lower than a year ago, while the average price came in 5 percent higher. The drop in sales still reflects the hangover from the home buyer tax credit, which early last year...

• Grand Rapids area home sales drag in August in wake of expired incentives

  Sep 1, 2010 - GRAND RAPIDS -- Home sale prices dipped in August but inventory was down, according to figures released Wednesday by the Grand Rapids Association of Realtors. The average price of a single-family home in August was $114,858, down 2.2...

• Grand Rapids area home sales drag in August in wake of expired incentives

  Sep 1, 2010 - GRAND RAPIDS -- Home sale prices dipped in August but inventory was down, according to figures released Wednesday by the Grand Rapids Association of Realtors. The average price of a single-family home in August was $114,858, down 2.2...

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