GrandRapids-West Mi Homes Blog

There is enough bad news in West Michgan so we are going to look at some positive news!  The number of active listings in the West Michigan Area have decreased for SIX months in a row. That is very good news!  The Five Star brokers sent this out today--they are choosing to have a good attitude and are looking at the bright side!

What does that mean for the average consumer?  It means that there is less inventory to compete with.  We are by no means out of the woods as we still have a lot of inventory but seeing a downward trend in the number of listings is a step in the right direction!!  Any step in the right direction needs to be celebrated!!

Now I know there will be those of you who will want to point out that the bank controlled numbers are still high!  I will grant you,  that is true but I am choosing to concentrate on the good!!

Here is a chart that shows the numbers:

 

 

My scanner isn't scanning right--sorry for the image being crooked!

News Flash:  4-day Texas Hold'em event is scheduled to benefit the Allendale Band and Choir! 

You may be wondering why the Band and Choir is working so feverishly to raise money!  Did you know that the Allendale Public School Choir and Band was selected to perform at Disney World in the spring 2009?  It is quite and honor that has been bestowed on these kids.  My  own daughter is a part of the Chamber Choir-- I am so proud of her.  If you want to check out a performance, you are cordially invited to listen to their Christmas Concert HERE. 

We have been selling key cards and pastries and now The Allendale Music Boosters are teaming up with the Holland Poker Zone to raise more money.  Here are some of the details:

 

January 3-6, 2009

4-day Texas Hold'em event (Lic #M44217)
All proceeds to benefit the

Band & Choirs’ Spring 2009 Disney Performance

We will be playing cash games, tournaments and blackjack on the following days:

  Saturday, January 3, 12noon - 1am
Sunday, January 4, 2pm - 1am
Monday, January 5, 4pm - 1am
Tuesday, January 6, 4pm - 1am

The Poker Zone offers daily cash games $20 - $300 buy-in all day and tournaments every day!

 

Poker Zone Hours! Monday 4pm – 1am Tuesday 4pm – 1am Wednesday 4pm – 1am Thursday 4pm – 1am Friday 4pm – 1am Saturday 12noon – 1am Sunday 2pm – 1am

Tournaments Every Day! Monday - $30 Turbo 7pm Tuesday - $50 Borgata 7pm Wednesday - $40 Rebuy 7pm Thursday - $30 & $5 Knockout 7pm Friday - $60 & $10 Knockout 7pm Saturday (Double Charity) $30 turbo 2pm & $100 Main Event 7pm Sunday - $60 & $10 Knockout 7pm

 

The  Holland Poker Zone is located at the Holland Outlet Center between Branns and Star Theater.

 For further information see: 

We hope to see you there!

Allendale Public Schools Music Boosters

 

There are people out in the world who don't view the glass as half full.  It is always half empty.  There are people in this world who think that their problems are the worst. .  .no one could have it worse than me!  They wallow in their own self pity.  Have you ever seen someone get so mad about something so stupid and then wondered if they have ever had a  real problem in their life?  If they can get so angry over something so trivial, how are they going to deal with a REAL problem?

This is an incredible story about getting back up again.  The man in this story is THE story about the glass being half full!  The smile on his face is incredible and the determination is immeasurable.  If half the people in the world had half of his determination . . .the world would be a better place!  I applaude him for what he does!  He brings his story to the kids of today.  So many of them have not been taught how to cope with a problem . . he is teaching them!!

If you put his name in the search bar on Youtube, there are several of him in there.  I could have watched them all day long!  I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Allendale, MI High School Presents . . . Holiday Concert 2008 by the HIgh School Choir, Chamber Choir and Band

Each year at this time I press my daughter, when is the Choir and Band Concert this year?  I look forward to hearing the young voices so clear and beautiful.  Of course my daughter is one of them so I probably tend to be a bit on the partial side!!  Ok, a lot on the partial side! 

This year was very special as it was the first year with our new Choir and Band director, Tony Bush.  He did an absolutely incredible job and it was evident how proud he was of his students. So excited in fact that he broke his baton!

 

What also made it so special this year was that the Band, the High School Choir and the High School Chamber Choir all performed together.  For those of you who are wondering what the difference is between the two choirs, the Chamber Choir is an elite group of young adults who possess superior strength with their voices.  Each aspiring singer must audition to be a member of the group.  My daughter has been member of the Chamber Choir for the last two years.  Sadly, this will be her last year  as graduation is six short months away.  This year I listened with tears in my eyes realizing that my little girl has grown into a beautiful young lady.

They performed  in the  Ceglarek Fine Arts Center, which is an incredible facility attached to the main campus of the high school. It opened in April 2005, seating almost 800.  It is a very beautiful facility which has incredible acoustics.  We are so blessed to have our children attend such a wonderful school in an incredible community.  I hope you enjoy the performance of the choir as much as we did!

And now I present to you . .. . .The Allendale, MI High School Band, Choir and Chamber Choir.

 

 

 

Even though this blog was written by a Phildelphia Realtor, everything she said applies to every region including here in Michigan.  As a seller you need to take a close look at your motivations to sell because the competition is fierce.  There are sometimes three years of inventory in any given neighborhood.

Ths is a great blog to help any seller decide what to do.

 

I reblogged a post yesterday about painting cabinets.  I thought this was a perfect post because I made a really drab kitchen, really beautiful last year.  I truly wish I could find the old photos for before and after but I think that was before I had a digital and only God knows where the photos are now.  But I did take a picture of the cabinets in the bathroom that are still there---they looked exactly like them.

In this kitchen, we put in the two windows that are to the left of the sink.  Before that there were no windows there--just another bank of cabinets.  The stove also sat on this wall and dishwasher was to the right of where the stove is now. The window to the right of the sink used to be where the microwave is now and the sink was where the stove is now.  The picture out those windows is way to beautiful to not be able to see all the time.  In my post last week when it snowed, I showed you what I see out those windows.  Check them out HERE.  ~~ I made the pictures pretty big so you can see better.~~

 

 

Before I started, the cabinets were very dark colored old cabinets. In some places they were pretty beat up.  Here is the process I followed to do the cabinets.  First we stripped and sanded all the casings and the doors and primed them. Then I painted the cabinets and doors with an off white color.  After they dried I took a meat tenderizer, screw drive and a butter knife to the cabinets and doors and gave them a stressed look. After they dried,  I painted a dark brown color over the top of the white.  Before it could dry I took a rag (make sure you get one that does not have lint) and wiped it off.  The paint filled the cracks of the cupboards doors, the stress marks AND it filled the grain of the oak which really made it look cool.  I took a close up so you can see it on one end.  Unfortunately, this is where my husband painted sideways when he primed and didn't go with the grain so there is a little affect from that.  After the brown dried I went over them with a clear lacquer.  I chose matte lacquer but my husband liked the shiny-- you can do it what every way you like.

On one wall about 3 feet up there is waynescotting and it is also under the bar.  I did the paint procedure with that also.  I will say that there is a trick to it.  Don't and I repeat DON'T try and do it when it is really hot. If it gets cold in the winter where you are, wait until winter because on the long runs it is hard to get the paint off before it dries.  There are a few places I need to redo because I tried to do it in the summer when it was 90 out.  Our air conditioning couldn't keep up.

My husband rebuilt many parts of the main cabinets.  I don't know if you can tell but the microwave sets out a bit from the other cabinets because the microwave was deeper than the cabinets.  We do need to finishe the trim on the upper part of the cabinet to the left of the microwave.  Everything got new knobs and new hinges and we put in a new sink with a new faucet.  We also retrimmed the whole kitchen with the wide moldings and the decorative tops and painted them white.  My husband did trim work also but a finish carpenter showed him how to do it.

We also put new counters down.  I layed the new floor which is laminate.  It was so awesome to see that ugly linoleum gone.  It also had a drop ceiling with those ugly plastic pieces.  I ripped that out to and my husband put in recessed lighting.  I also installed the ceramic tyle back splash.  And then we installed stainless appliances.  I love, LOVE, my stove that doesn't have a back.  The old cabinets were low and we had to work with that to put the microwave in so it is a little low but with the flat cook-top it looks pretty cool!  I also took the old plain glass out of the china cabinet and bought the bubble glass to put in.  That really made that area look nice.

I really wish you could have seen this kitchen before ---it was  U G L Y!!!!  Really ugly.  The counters were yellow and the cabinets were so dark.  Everything was dark! I am thrilled, extremely thrilled with my new kitchen.  These pictures don't do it justice but I have people I don't know dragged through my kitchen all the time so they can show their husbands what they can do with the old drabby dark cabinets.

As you can probably tell, my husband I are pretty handy people.  We have always done everything ourselves because we couldn't afford to have someone else do it.  When I take buyers looking at houses, I can give them all the possibilities AND I can usually explain how to do it.  Although, there have been many, many times I have went and helped my clients after they purchase a home.  I can always get them going with tile or paint.  My husband has also shown them how to do trim work and many other things.  I am probably a pretty strange women but I know how to roof a house, side a house and  I can sweat two pipes together with the best of them.  I can do minor electrical and I know how to drywall  . . . but I hate it!!  These skills come in pretty handy when helping a buyer to visualize what can be!!!

 

 

This is what I see from my sink:

 

This really shows how painting the cabinets can take a ho hum kitchen and make it look oohhh la la!

 

Jeff Foxworthy would have a field day with Coopersville, Michigan . . . especially this morning! 

You've heard the stories young boys tell about how they got a bruise, a cut or any other wound.  Why is it with boys, it has to be some spectacular thing that happened to them--even big boys!  At Coopersville's East Elementary, 4th grader Drake is going to have a story to tell for a real long time on how he got a cut on his head!  He got kicked in the head by a 6 point buck IN HIS 4TH GRADE CLASSROOM.  He is completely fine, thank goodness, but this kid is going to have a story to tell until he is old.  The best part is he has the proof to tell what happened.  Toward the end of school yesterday, the deer crashed through a window as a 6 point buck but he left the classroom as a 3 point buck.  Can you imagine how awesome it must be to this 10 year old who will have his memento for life.  This is going to be a story he will be telling his grand children someday.

The kids in the classroom are all safe as the deer left almost as quickly as he came.  There is plenty of glass to clean up, but the kids are going to have something to talk about for a long time.  Even their teacher will have something to remember because it was her first year of teaching at Coopersville.

Ok, I have to tell you that Coopersville isn't THAT hick!  This is a true story but we really do have all the regular ammenities.  Things have grown so much since I was a kid.  When  I went to high school as a Bronco, we didn't have an Aribies, McDoanlds or Taco Bell and now we have them all plus a  Burger King, Little Ceasers and several coffee cafe's.  This little town has grown by leaps and bounds in the last twenty years.  But it still has small town values and is an awesome community to grow up in!  And . . . . it's a great place to hunt also . . .just don't do it in a fourth grade classroom!!!!

 

Photo courtesy of FreeFoto.com

 

 

This really shows what a can of paint can do!! 

 

 

JINGLE BELL PARADE

Grand Haven, MI December 6, 2008

It's time for a the parade.  Your hosts will be, well who else would it be, Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus!!!! 

 

Last week my husband and I were dropping off the kids for youth group and decided to venture to downtown Grand Haven, MI  There is something special about the stretch of Washington in that it just so charming.  We grabbed a cup of coffee at Jumpin' Java and then walked down the way a bit where we saw the festive little house designed just for Santa.  I am sure there are many kids who have sat on his lap by now!!

But today is the big day!!!  The parade begins at 6:00 pm but I would try to be there a little early.  The funny thing about this parade is that we are in the middle of an incredible snow storm!!!  Can you say, "Lake Effect Snow!"  Well we got it.  This morning we woke to three foot drifts around our cars.  My husband is out there right now clearing the way so my daughter can go to work!!

But parades must go on!!!  The parade route would be:

Franklin to Harbor Drive, Harbor Drive to Washington and Washington back to Central Park.

Once the parade gets back to Central Park,there will be the grand finale!!!  The lighting of the Christmas tree!!!

It is a darn good thing the salvation army is going to be there to provide hot chocolate because I think there are going to be some major Popsicles out there.  The temperature as I type this is whopping 20°.  Wind shield factor is around 10° degrees.   Check out the beach cam HERE. . . . . anyone want to go for a walk on the pier. . . NOT!!  This is about 1/2 mile from the parade route.

I am going to admit something to all of you.  THAT IS TOO DARN COLD FOR ME!!  I completely admire those of you that can do it because it sure will be something to see!!  I personally can't wait until it's time for the ice sculptures!!!  Now that I won't miss!! 

There is another "cannot miss" during the Christmas season.  The light show, put on by the rotary club now, gained national attention a couple years ago.  A gentlemen in my community put a light show on to music.  But this is a whole other blog so keep watching for that one! Keep checking back!!  Better yet just subscribe to my blog!

God Bless and Happy Holiday and STAY WARM IT'S A BLIZZARD OUT THERE!!!