grand rapids michigan

Hammers? Check. Nails? Check. Hard hats? Check. Tool belt? Check. Closed toed shoes? Check. Water bottles? Check. A positive attitude and a willingness to learn? Check and check. This is just a small supply list for volunteers working with Habitat for Humanity around the world, country, state, and city. There are always volunteers working to better a street, neighborhood, and sometimes a whole city. The home at 353 Visser Street SE is the latest project for this group of hard working volunteers and employees. The house, located in the historical Wealthy Street neighborhood, is ready for the windowsills to be installed. This is no easy task, but the American Red Cross of Greater Grand Rapi...

Getting all Cleaned up at Indian Trails Camp

Griffin Properties brought 32 members of the Michigan American Red Cross team together and completed a full day of service at Indian Trails camp in Grand Rapids. Throughout the day, members painted, organized, sorted, moved, scrapped, and sanded around the camp grounds. The team worked very hard to ready the camp for the rush of summer campers coming soon.

Blandford Nature Center Sugarbush breakfast fundraiser on Saturday March 26 from 9AM-12PM.

Hiss. The pancake batter goes onto the griddle. Sizzle. Bubbles appear in the hot mixture. Clink. A metal spatula hits the griddle. Kerplunk. The griddle cooks the other side. Plop. The pancake is frantically dropped onto a plate. Hiss. The process begins all over again. And again. It is not until thousands of pancakes have been cooked and served that both the cooks and the griddle can take a break.

That is the setting for the Blandford Nature Center Sugarbush breakfast fundraiser on Saturday March 26 from 9AM-12PM. The breakfast has also been a huge success with thousands of people showing up for...

Grand Rapids Realtors are undoubtedly downright over joyed. Grand Rapids Real Estate Brokers cell phones are buzzing, Grand Rapids open houses are packed, bidding battles in Grand Rapids are plentiful and sales are up 19 pct in Grand Rapids from the last year from the Grand Rapids vicinity. You got that right -- up 19 %. Grand Rapids Sales of single-family homes alone are up 23 percent. Brings about 8 weeks back to back transactions grew coming from a year before; Feb . saw a 1 percentage point hop. Before that were twelve months straight months of reducing selling. The moderate final sale price, too, is moving in the best suited track. March's $100,491 is bigger than it has previ...

Antiques galore decorate this funky Grand Rapids street 

By Phyllis Rose

Special to the Kalamazoo Gazette / Phyllis Rose.  Kathy Nagy, owner of East Fulton Art & Antiques, 959 E. Fulton St., and her dog, Ellie, are ready to greet customers.

GRAND RAPIDS - What fun we found on funky Fulton Street in Grand Rapids.

The fun started a few steps from the car when I noticed a window full of cookie jars. I'm probably the original "Cookie Monster," so I had to look. Well, it was Van's Pastry Shoppe, 955 East Fulton, which has been baking goodies since 1929.

We had to go in because it's part of history, right? With our history, I got two wonderful sugar cookies with red sprinkles and...

Before & After: The Odyssey of 1346 Logan

It started innocently enough. Daughter Haley was graduating from college and moving back to Grand Rapids in anticipation of starting med school in a year. Housing prices had tanked. Interest rates were low. And if those factors weren't incentive enough, the feds were offering a 10% tax credit to first time home buyers. 

And so, doting parents that we are, Scott & Deb went house shopping. Our goal was to find a home close to the Medical Mile in downtown Grand Rapids. Walking distance was preferred; easy access to the bus line was a secondary consideration.

Scott Kammeraad, his wife, Deb, and children Haley, Colin and Dara renovated a century-old...

Appealing your Property Tax Assessment

Homeowners should take a good look at their property tax assessment.  Just as it's important to make sure your credit report is right, it's a good idea to make sure your property tax assessment is accurate.  

As a start, one important item to check is the status of the Principal Residence Exemption as stated on the annual Notice of Change sent by the Assessor.  If the Principal Residence Exemption is missed the tax dollars that could be saved are likely to be more than any adjustment obtained from the Board of Review. 

If you believe your tax assessment is in error, you can appeal to your local Board of Review, and if necessary, the Michigan Ta...

$8,000  Tax Credit Is Still In Effect Until April For Veteran’s Did you forget about the $8,000 tax credit for military and certain federal employees? A little-known (and mostly forgotten) provision of the Home Buyer Tax Credit bill that became effective on Nov. 6, 2009, is that certain military personnel and Foreign Service employees have an extra year to purchase a home and qualify for the tax credit. There needs to be a signed contract by April 30 and the deal needs to close by June 30.

In addition to that, if they sold a principal residence between Jan. 1, 2009 and April 30, 2010 because they had to relocate at least 50 miles due to “orders”, they qualify for a tax credit, even if th...

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...