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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WZZM)- There's a new project going on in Eastown called "Heart work is Hard work."

The American Red Cross and Griffin Properties have joined forces to improve the look of the neighborhood and get important information out to residents.

Volunteers are going door-to-door starting Saturday at 9:00 a.m. They will be hanging blooming flower baskets from each tree in front of homes.

"Heartwork is Hardwork" hopes to offer other ways for community members to volunteer in neighborhoods they may not necessarily be familiar with.

"To be able to really give back to the neighborhoods by providing baskets and giving out good information about the ...

We were lucky enough to celebrate summer with our favorite shops and restaurants of Uptown! We had a chance to enjoy special food, music, entertainment, promotions and sidewalk sales with the convenience of a free trolley service throughout the East Fulton, East Hills, Eastown and Wealthy St. business districts.

Look for another Shop Hop this Holiday Season! Here are a couple of pictures from the event.

Grand Rapids Michigan - America’s Most Stable Real Estate Markets. 

www.cnbc.com 

The Most Stable Real Estate Markets After a year of modest stabilization, the housing market is looking shaky again. For homebuyers and investors alike, there's concern about a double dip. That's bad for the real estate sector and the economy as a whole. Nevertheless, in some markets around America, prices have been stable over the past year.

1. Grand Rapids, Michigan Average absolute monthly change: 0.10% Largest monthly change: -0.26% Smallest monthly change: 0.00% Over the past 12 months Zillow home value index (high): $117,000 Zillow home value index (low): $116,100

Grand Rapids Michigan - America’s Mo...

See what a Sterling Homes and Land Energy Star Plus Certified home has to offer you and your family. 1484 Lawncrest Ct NE

The REALTOR Action Center reported late Wednesday night that Congress passed an extension of the closing deadline for the Homebuyer Tax Credit, the Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act (H.R. 5623). The extension applies only to transactions that have ratified contracts in place as of April 30, 2010, that have not yet closed. The legislation is designed to create a seamless extension; the new closing deadline for eligible transactions is now September 30, 2010. There will be no gap between June 30 and the date the President signs the bill into law.

You are invited to the Grand Opening of "38 Commerce"

Thursday May 27th, 2010 
5:30 - 10:00pm 
38 Commerce Avenue

As a friend and client of Griffin Properties, we would like to invite you to the Grand Opening of "38 Commerce", an exciting new project we are thrilled to be part of. We are pleased to be representing the sale of eight Penthouse Condos being offered at 38. 38 Commerce is the new star of downtown! All new from the ground up, a multi-use project that offers retail space, restaurant with a rooftop bar, office space, 35 modern apartments and eight luxury penthouse condos. Attached to the backside of the building is a new public parking structure that makes the heart of downtown a...

This is a photo from West Virginia, Red Cross. It's a group of volunteers (from GR) that travel to areas in the US where poverty is rampant. The volunteers make much needed repairs to peoples homes. We donated money to help get the workers there.

Jordon O'Neil that heads it up is a friend of ours and is very passionate about what he does. We feel very fortunate that we can help in their efforts.

Last week, we looked at current worries. This week, like the market itself, it’s time to take a more positive view of the near-term future.

For one thing, Greece passed an austerity program last week; and France and Germany backed a bail-out amounting to $41 billion; and the sale of $6.85 billion of Greek 10-year notes went very well. There’s still reason for on-going concern, but the heat was definitely turned down last week.

For another, where the markets expected a rather grim employment report for February, the actual report—released Friday—was rather positive in most ways. Sure, it tallied 36,000 payrolls lost over the month, but the strong market consensus was that we’d see 75,000...

In an odd leap, long-term Treasury yields blew up, Wednesday the worst single day in nine months. The 10-year T-note stopped at 3.88%, a level touched for the fifth time since last June, but the violence of this move threatens upward breakout. Meanwhile, mortgages held fairly well, inside the 5.25% top that has held since August.
     
The peculiar part: big sell-offs like this are driven by good economic news, but that’s not what we got. February sales of new and existing homes fell (new ones at the   lowest pace since stats began in 1963, 303,000 annualized), and unsold inventory rose. 
     
Unemployment claims fell to 442,000 last week, but must drop well into the 300s to mark new hiring....

Mortgage and long-term Treasury rates are falling suddenly today, as the SEC’s fraud charge against Goldman Sachs is tanking the stock market.
     
Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of people. The 10-year T-note has broken below recent 3.80% resistance to 3.77%, mortgages headed toward 5.00%.
     
Interpreting new economic data is trickier than ever, even for professionals, as an odd confluence has tipped public sources into uniform economic cheerleading. The whole country would like not to hear another word about recession, and is hungry for news of recovery. Media tend to supply whatever it takes to sell soap.
     
CNBC years ago dispensed with real news. Bloomberg television was a reliable...