GrandRapids-West Mi Homes Blog

 

 

 

Listed below are the marketing reports for the month of November for the Allendale, MI area.  These are home sales and listing statistics for homes in the Allendale school system.  These marketing statistics also reflect the homes available for those attending Grand Valley State University.  Many out of state buyers are choosing to take advantage of our market and are purchasing homes for their children who will be in the Allendale area for 4 years. 

 

 

 

This link is not working again.  But I will get it fixed!

Click HERE to search for Allendale, MI Homes

Homes Currently for Sale in Allendale, MI as of 11/28/09

Total # of Listings	89
Lowest Price Listing	$59,900
Highest Price Listing	$695,000
Average Price	$173,026
Avg. Price/SqFt	$123.06
Avg. Days on Market	123

 

Homes  Sold in Allendale, MI in November

Total # of Listings	3
Lowest Price Listing	$132,000
Highest Price Listing	$151,000
Average Price	$139,500
Avg. Price/SqFt	$104.67
Avg. Days on Market	66

Homes Currently Pending a Sale in Allendale, MI as of 11/28/09

Total # of Listings	6
Lowest Price Listing	79,900
Highest Price Listing	$219,900
Average Price	$148,329
Avg. Price/SqFt	$107.50
Avg. Days on Market	30

 

Keep your dog alive-read this post!!  I did not know gum could kill a dog!

 

Being married is a wonderful thing.  I myself have been married almost twenty years!  But  . . .there is one bad thing about being married for a women-- on some level you give up part of your identity.  On Facebook it's all about your identity. Finding friends that you haven't seen for years is more difficult when your last name is changed.  I know what a good friends name was when we were seventeen, but there's a good chance that her name has changed.  How do you find those people on Facebook?  Better yet, the question should be; how do you make yourself findable?

The answer is really quite easy.  Two weeks ago I went into my Facebooks settings and added my maiden name.  Now I am, Tami Bursma Vroma.  Since that time, I have had five old friends find me just because I added my maiden name.  Now I am reclaiming my old identity and more friends from the past are finding me.  One can never have enough friends!

I  just couldn't resist sharing these beautiful pictures with my friends at AR.

When you think there is nothing positive and things seem to all be going wrong, you have find something beautiful in the moment.  This is my moment!

This is my home in Allendale, Michigan.  I live up against state land.  I was typing away here on Active Rain and I happened to look out the window and I see this incredible picture.  I just took these pics 5 minutes ago.  It is the most beautiful kind of snow.  The big, fat, heavy flakes that stick to everything can be pretty incredible eye candy.    There is no wind and this is our first big snow. I love the cozy feeling when it snows like this.   Man I hope my husband got the snow blower fixed!!

This is a lilac tree in my front yard.

 

 

This is what I see from my kitchen windows.  Behind the tree line about 5/10 of a mile is the Grand River.  You can see my horses off to the right.

This is a random picture of the fence post.

 

This is what it looks like from my front window.

 

 

This is my horse Scout.  He thinks I could not have possibly walked out here for anything but to give him a treat.  I forgot the treat :-((

He is a tennessee walker.

 

 

Lastly, I had to give the others fair billing.  The black one on the left  is Joey my husbands horse and he is a Tennessee Walker  The other one is my daughters horse, Dakota he is Morgan/Arabian.

This is for two friends of mine, one a new friend Marian Goetzinger another an old friend Deb Murray, who are in the position that they have to decide when is the best time to put their dog ddown. Is there ever a right time?

One of them just put a dog down that she rescued, a little yorkie named Pixie. As fate would have it, just a few months later, she may have to put down her beloved boxes named Willow.

Putting a dog down, a beloved friend, is one of the hardest things to do. I remember when our golden retriever got sick. He was the neighborhood dog. All the kids who couldn't have a dog, called Buddy theirs. Brianna, who lived directly behind us, couldn't have a dog because of allergies in the home. She was as heartbroken as our own children.

I remember praying that I would just wake up and he would have passed in his sleep. But no, my husband and I had to make the dreaded decision. They made the last appointment for us at Georgetown Animal Hospital in Hudsonville, MI and they closed the clinic down. We took him home to Conklin, MI to bury him because we lived in a sub-division. Our little maltese/shitzu went into mourning and we thought we were going to loose her to-she stopped eating. The next day a beautiful bouqet of flowers arrived from the vet clinic, in addition to flowers and cards from all the neighborhood kids.

So this is for you Deb and Marian. Please click on the link Dogs In Heaven.

 

Dogs In Heaven?

Lindsey and Willow about 5 years ago.

 

 

I don't claim to have written this. It has been around since before there was an internet. It gives me peace everytime I loose one of my companions. I hope it gives Marian and Deb a little peace in their hearts!

 

If you are relocating to West Michigan and have pet, please feel free to call me. This is one vet clinic I could not recommend more highly:

Georgetown Animal Hospital

2856 Port Sheldon St

Hudsonville, MI 49426 (616) 669-3612 No Web-Site

 

Want to meet for coffee?!?!?!?!?!?

Beans to Brew Cafe at 6177 Lake Michigan Drive in Allendale, Michigan isn't your average run-of-the-mill coffee shop!! It is special in so many ways!  Marcia VanderMolen, who owns Beans To Brew with her fiance Jim Wood, has been the propritor for two years but it has been in the Allendale area for about 10 years.  She says it has the atomosphere of the show Cheers in that it seems you can always run into someone you know .

~~Chocolate is an Essential Nutrient~~

As you walk in the door you can almost feel the four walls calling you, "come in, sit down, relax with your friends have a cup of coffee".  And if that isn't enough, the comfy sofa off to the side says, "bring a book, read and have a Raspberry Cloud".  The coffee house is comfy and welcoming from the second you walk in the door.  The quotes stenciled around the walls are so whimsical and fun.

 

~~Life's to Short for Bad Coffee!~~

 

The Signature coffee's are the best.  If these coffee names don't make your mouth water, I don't know what will.  How about a Milky Way, Sugar Daddy, Caramel Decadence, Snow Cap, Kahlua Mocha or a Mocha Blanca?  Or if you are one that watches your sugar like I am, try the Catwalk Skinny, Nutty Buddy, Chocolate Lovers Latte, Leprechaun, French Kiss or a Coco Beach.  Am I making you thirsty yet? . .  .Don't worry, Beans to Brew is ready to serve it up with a smile.

 

 

                                                                     ~~Lifes is too Short, Eat Desert First~~

But wait . . .    They also have a complete menu, from sandwiches to paninis, salads, desserts and pastries.  On this particular visit they had recently introduced the Laker Club with ham, turkey, lettuce and tomato with ranch-mayo dressing on a wheat tortilla.  Are you hungry and thirsty now?

 

Beans to Brew is a favorite place for friends to get together, laugh and enjoy themselves.  On this particular day, I walked in to find my neighbor who lives behind me enjoying coffee with her friends.  Their laughter was contagious and I got an opportunity to apoligize to her for my leaf burning from the week before--truly I wasn't trying to smoke her out!!! 

 

                 ~~A balanced diest is a cookie in each hand~~

 

 

 

It is also a warm and welcoming place for business people to meet their clients, which is what I was doing that day.  Like so many, I work out of my home so I land at Beans To Brew on a regular basis to search for homes in West Michigan with my clients or discuss our next plan of action to get their home sold.  Beans to Brew is a perfect place to meet for a business lunch as they provide free wireless-- a must in today's technological world.

                   ~~Eat well, laugh often, and love much~~

 

Marcia is getting married on November 30, 2008 so stop in and say congratulations!

To celebrate she is offering a free cinnamon role with the purchase of a double or triple signature drink. To get your cinnamon roll, all you have to do is print this blog and bring it in for your free cinnamon roll.  Offer good  through the end of the year--December 31, 2008.

Hours are:   Monday - Thursday 7-7, Friday 7-6 and Saturday 7:30-4  CLOSED  SUNDAYS  Phone:  616-895-9099

**Update: Beans to Brew has been a fatality of the economy and closed its doors 12/30/08.

 

I apologize for the long post--but it is an easy read.  I truly tried to shorten it up-but I just couldn't figure out what to cut.

~~~~~~~~ How a trail ride parallels Life~~~~~~

We are home from our vacation. The "we" would be me, my husband Ed, our dog Hailee and our two horses, Joey and Scout. Last Saturday we set out for Shawnee National Forest with our riding buddies, Jim & Karen and Deb and their three horses.

This was my first vacation since I started real estate five years ago, that I actually did relax. Usually, I would sit and worry that I was letting someone down or I wasn’t there for them but now I have an incredible assistant at home who was my eyes and ears. Other than texting occasionally, I all out enjoyed my vacation.

In fact, while visiting a local tack store (that’s what us horse people do when it rains on vacation-we go to tack stores) I found a decal that speaks the very essence of my belief in life. “Life is a journey, enjoy the ride.” It really got me to thinking about how much this week was a lot like life.

If you have ever ridden a horse in the Shawnee National Forest you know that it is some of the most beautiful riding to be found. At the same time, it can be a little treacherous and isn’t for the novice rider.  What we encountered out on the trail had many parallels to life.

There are some average hills and then some really big hills. Don’t we all have those times in life when we are climbing a mountain? Then there were times where we had to navigate some really rough rocky terrain. There were times we wondered if we should go back. Do you ever wish in life you could have a redo? But if you persisted with patience and let your horse pick his way, things ended up pretty good. Did you ever notice that if we would let The Almighty guide us through the rough times, we would be much better off instead of thinking we know the correct steps to take?

Another obstacle we had to get through was the mud. Just like life, all the paths were not muddy but when they were, they could suck you in and bring your  horse to its knees.  We could have chosen not to go riding because there were muck holes.  What we did was to go out anyway, work our way through the “sticky” parts and enjoy the rest of the incredibly, gorgeous beauty of the forest? What we saw were rock formations and waterfalls and babbling brooks straight off a Hallmark card.  Do you allow life to suck you in so you can't see the many beautiful facets of it?

In addition to navigating all the rocks, mud and briers, we also had to figure out where we were?  There were miles and miles of trails out there. Where are you in life—what are your expectations?  Have you designed a map? If you don’t know what you want or where you want to go, how are you going to get there? There were times when we had to decide which path to take to get us to our destination. There were times we didn't choose the right path and we didn't get to the destination we had in mind.  But we usually found ourselves in yet another area of the forest that had something for us to see.  Do you accept that fact that you will make wrong turns but that you need to find something in the moment to enjoy anyway? Sometimes the path we have chosen is not the one HE has chosen for us?

I was in luck because I was with people who are not directionally impaired.  In the middle of a forest it is easy to get lost.  I was the follower for this trail ride—unless you count the times I just gave my horse his head. He always gets us home.    Do you know when to lead and when to follow? We are all weak at some point, but if we have our friends and family to support us, we will all get through--God will get us through. 

At one point we were told we could take a short cut to get back to camp sooner. Well that right there was a big life lesson. It doesn’t always pay to take the short-cut. What we found was a trail that was not maintained. We got seriously scratched up by briers. Jim looked as though he had been through a war—his entire arm was covered in blood. I had been right behind him and he tried to protect me from the briers. Once we realized we were in trouble we had to decide if we should go back or deal with where we were at and make the best of it. If we were half way, should we just keep going?

We chose to keep going but abandoned the trail and found it pretty easy to ride through the forest instead of the bramble. You know that old saying, “you can’t see the forest for the trees”? In this case it should have been, you can’t see the forest for the bramble”. But the point here is we all make mistakes. Admit you are human and do the best you can to correct your mistakes and apologize.

One of the very coolest things we did was to ride through One Horse Gap. It was a crack between two huge formations that you could ride one horse through . . .literally. The walls on each side were about 15 feet. In order to get through we had to pull our feet out of the stirrups to get through. It was one of the rockiest paths we had to take to get to it but it was one of the coolest things we did. If that isn’t the way life is than I don’t know what is!

As I have said the riding was beautiful. It was easy to gaze around in wonder only to find yourself starring over a cliff—and I mean a cliff—as in 15 stories down. But what you saw when you carefully looked down was just incredible. Sometimes you just need to take a chance because you never know what may be around the bend or just over the hill. If you proceed with caution, it may very well be worth it!

Every night and afternoon we would all make it back to camp to do a tick check. The ticks were horrendous. We all said the state animal is the tick and the poison ivy was the state plant. But every morning we would get up at dawn and do the whole thing over again. Were we nuts? Are some of you wondering why in the heck we CHOSE to do this for our vacation?

Collectively, as a group we have been told a child would die and didn't, that both of our children were gravely ill and could die and didn't, we have dealt with bi-polar disorder, loosing a parent & caring for the one left, divorce, lupus and this list goes on. As I write this one of our group was not with us because of a broken pelvis and broken ribs. What we have figured out is that  if you put your energies into the negative, you could possibly loose your mind.

But if you choose to look at the good part of the trail . . . . . . Indian Kitchen with its pool of beautiful water, or Owl’s Bluff where you can see for miles, or Stone House where you can walk in a cool cave, or Natural Bridge where you can walk under tons of rock, the Gap, or the old cemetery with markers dating back to the 1800’s or Garden of the God’s where all you could do was stand in awe.   If we wouldn’t have went through the mud, and the rocks, and the briers, we wouldn’t have seen that child survive, or the children get better, get married, had our first grand child be born, or cried as our daughter graduated from high school, or watched our son run in his first track meet with titanium rods in his back. And we would not have had the fellowship of some pretty incredible people! 

As I am writing this post and putting in the tags, something dawns on me.  Do you realize the word trails and the word trials both have the same letters and only two letters are switched.  I guess you could look at life as filled with trails or filled with trials.  The order you put the letters is up to you!!

“Life is a journey, enjoy the ride!”

 

The Horse Girl ~~ Tami Vroma

www.LiveInWestMI.com

 

This post was written driving back from vacation last summer.  I knew I didn't understand Active Rain and I wanted to wait to post it because I felt it was something special!  I wanted to be able to do it right!  I think I can now!

**There is suppose to be a frame here with more pics- I'll fix it when I get back from church**

 

For those of us who are dedicated bloggers, we sit at the keyboard for hours.  By the time we’re done with our post, our hands are aching and our fingers are tingling.  Don’t you wish you could rub a magic lantern and ask the genie to make it so you could speak the words, and have them appear on the page?  But that’s only for fairy tales and fairy tales aren’t real . . .are they????

Did you know that almost everybody has speech recognition on their computer?  Right now, I am speaking these words instead of typing them.  My hand does not hurt—in fact, it isn’t even touching a keyboard. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “how much does this cost, because in this economy I can’t afford anything”. Want to know how much it cost? It costs nothing.  Yes, you heard me right--- that’s $0.00, nadda, zilch!!

First ask yourself if you have Windows XP or Windows Vista. If you have either one of these,   voice recognition software is included.  All you have to do is set it up. You will need a microphone, but the one I’m using right now,  is just my web cam  microphone. It is by no means perfect, but for the most part, I would say it’s probably 90% accurate. The more you use the voice recognition software,  the more accurate it is.

 

The best thing about it, is that it’s easy to install.  First make sure all of your updates are done on your computer.  The rest I will show you how to do in this video below.

Note: If you have problems, see the bottom of this post--after the video.

 

 

 

To train the microphone, just click on tools on the language bar that should be on your screen somewhere.  You can move the language bar by moving the pointer to the left side and dragging it

If you are having problems with the language bar being greyed out when you go to Regional Language Options in the Control panel, you can call CCS Computers and they will help you for a small fee.  Unfortunately, most computer geeks can not figure it out.  Before you call, make SURE you have done all your Windows updates as that will sometimes solve it.

CCS Technologies  in Coopersville Michigan  is 616-997-8808 Ask for Karen  If you ever need reasonable computer repair, they are the cats meow!!

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If you are looking for homes in West Michigan or Greater Grand Rapids - Please go to www.LiveInWestMi.com to set up your own home search

 

Awesome Commercial Real Estate Book!

 

It is 6:00  pm and it is darker than pitch here in Allendale, MI.  I don't know about you but this is the hardest time of the year for me!

If it was summer, I would be thinking, maybe I'll go for a ride on my horse.  Maybe I will go mow the lawn or go take a dip in the pool  I would have another 4 hours of daylight!!!

Being the eternal optimist that I am, I have decided to look at it another way!!  I only have 33 more days until December 21, 2008--the shortest day of the year.  Which means that on December 22, the day will be longer than it was on December 21.  Just a few precious minutes longer, but hey WE ARE ON THE UPSWING THEN!!  I live for the upswing!!

And here is another way to look at it . . I have all those dark hours to sit in front of this computer and get to know all of you and figure out this whole Active Rain thing.  By the time the longer days role around, I may even have figured out the listing router.  My outside blog might be working.  Dare I say . . .maybe I will even get a lead from all my work in the dark.  See . . the dark is a good thing  . . . it keeps me working . . .right?!!??!?

I can make it until then--I know I can. It really isn't that bad when you consider that it is only a paltry 7 weeks that it seems like there is more dark than light. It is only 33 more days and it will be getting lighter every day!!!

                                                                           

                                                                              Do I hear an AMEN?