Posts

[Sold] Wilcox Park Drive, Eastown

1420 Wilcox Park Drive – $247,500
Experience the beauty of the Arts and Crafts lifestyle married to modern convenience and efficiency with this built-to-last fully-restored 1916 Eastown Craftsman. From this unique location you may walk your dog past St Thomas Parish, through Wilcox Park, and through Eastown neighborhood shopping, restaurants, night life and public transportation. All of these are nearly adequate reasons to leave your brand new kitchen, two new full baths, 2nd floor laundry, third floor master bed/living room, sleeping porch, within the comfort of new windows, electricity, hvac, and roof. Entertain in warmer months from your stocked garage bar with pass-through serving window to your fenced back yard as guests relax on your newly paved patio.

/by

[Sold] Classic Eastown Craftsman

This classic Eastown Craftsman was snapped up a couple of days before hitting the market. Savvy move and wonderful purchase. Congrats Pat and Kristi!

/by

Sold: Historic Eastown Home on Richard Terrace

Congrats to our buyer Brent for picking up this one of a kind freshly renovated historic Eastown Gem on Richard Terrace.

brent

/by

Renting vs Buying in Grand Rapids Michigan | Summer 2015 Update

You think you’re having a tough time looking for a place to buy in this market? Try renting one! Grand Rapids is currently at nearly 100% rental occupancy, the lowest rental vacancy rate in the US. Home prices have been back to pre-crash levels for about a year now, and the market is increasingly competitive if you are looking to purchase. No surprises here!

So, what’s the best route to go? You’re putting all of this effort in…should you rent or buy? Lets take a look at typical scenario in a great rental area, Eastown, a popular Grand Rapids neighborhood near downtown, where there is a high demand and quantity of both rentals and purchases.

The Eastown Comparison:

52 homes recently sold
(What’s currently for sale in Eastown? Glad you asked.)
Average sale price: $131,780
Average #BRs: 3.5
Avg SQFT: 1743

Average Rent for a 3-4 BR 1750 sqft home in Eastown: $1400/month.

Here’s how it looks, running this scenario through the Realtor.com calculator:

eastown-rent-v-own

The Upgrade

Looks like buying in Eastown quickly pays for itself, comparing $1400/month rent to a purchase of a $132,000 home. But what if you’re already leasing a home in that price range, but you’re ready for an upgrade and/or increased square footage. You want a home with a nice bit of land, an entry-level home in East Grand Rapids, maybe a distinctive spot in East Hills, or something in an historic district. Your lender says you can afford a $230,000 purchase price. Here’s how that looks:

erg-or-hh

Try out your own scenairo! Here’s a tool from Realtor.com:

Rent Vs Own Calculator Link

/by

Search by Neighborhood with One Click!

New Custom Feature Added
Search by Neighborhood with one click! You’ve got to try this! 12 Active Hoods, more coming soon. Simply click the “Neighborhood Search” tab on the left.

neighborhood-search

/by

Eastown Environmental Sweep Launches January 2011

The BetterBuildings for Michigan program has launched and it’s coming to Eastown! This three year, $30M American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) supported program uses a community approach to deliver energy efficiency improvements for homes and businesses by providing access to incentives and affordable loans.

>>note updated Meeting Dates and times: It’s now January 13 and 20 at 6 p.m., January 15 and 22 at 10 a.m.

The program was developed by a multi-stakeholder group including the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth (DELEG); Michigan Saves; the City of Grand Rapids; the Economic Development Corporation of the city of Detroit; and the Southeast Michigan Regional Energy Office. BetterBuildings for Michigan will leverage each dollar of the federal funds available within the program with a minimum of five dollars from other investments, thereby leveraging over $150M in private and public funding.

Here’s the link to the Detroit article.

The objective of the BetterBuildings for Michigan program is to create

  • a sustainable energy efficiency market by providing outreach and education to increase demand,
  • a skilled energy efficiency workforce to meet that demand, and
  • the tools for lenders to make ongoing investments in energy efficiency in residential, commercial, industrial, and public buildings.

The City of Grand Rapids, the West Michigan Environmental Action Council (WMEAC) and Eastown Community Association (ECA) will be performing outreach in a portion of Eastown. Those within the outreach target area have access to $1050 in basic energy efficiency upgrades as well as a comprehensive home energy assessment. Based on the assessment, a resident may decide to upgrade to other energy efficiency measures that may be supported by attractive financing up to $12,500. More information can be obtained by contacting the West Michigan Environment Action Council at 451-3051.

Additional information on Eastown Sweep

The targeted neighborhood in Eastown is outlined between Fulton, Fuller, Lake, and Wilcox Park/Aquinas College and includes an estimated 429 homes. This neighborhood will be receiving advance notice of the program and events starting the week of January 3rd this may come in the form of a direct mailing, door2door invitation, or door hangers.

The official program kick off in Eastown starts on Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

Residents will not be able to officially sign up for the program until January 12th.

Information Meetings will be held at St. Thomas Church in the basement community room.

Program sign up meetings:

January 13 and 20 at 6 p.m., January 15 and 22 at 10 a.m.

Door-2-Door Canvassing Events: WMEAC will be canvassing the neighborhood the week of January 17-22 for program information and sign up. Deadline for resident sign up is

February 12th, 2011

Also, starting on January 12th, the WMEAC office at 1007 Lake Drive SE & the ECA Office will become home bases for the neighbors to visit, get more information, and sign up during normal business hours of both offices.

The program website should be available by the official program kick-off on January 12th.

That site will be www.betterbuildingsgr.org

Questions from residents about the program can be directed to WMEAC.

Ann Erhardt

Outreach Project Manager

WMEAC
616-451-3051 x24

aerhardt@wmeac.org

/by