Serving Baraga, Ontonagon, Houghton, and Keweenaw Counties
SERVING BARAGA, ONTONAGON, HOUGHTON & KEWEENAW COUNTIES, WITH EXTENSIVE VACANT LAND LISTINGS IN IRON AND MARQUETTE COUNTIES AS WELL.
BEAUTIFUL, PEACEFUL, GREAT VALUES ON VACANT LAND AND HOMES.
June 23, 2009
Summer is here--it's 86 outside and is forecast the same for the rest of the week. As you should be able to see from the State Wide Real Estate of Houghton "Streetcam", the Shelden Avenue construction is to our State Wide office. The contractors have been working feverishly to get the project moving. You should see dumptrucks removing the old earth, utilities being run in the new trenches, and new sand being placed in the trench. When the backfilling is complete, they will compact it, pave a few inches of asphalt, and then place the pavers between the newly installed curb & gutter. So, sit back and watch the progress. I'll turn the camera as the construction moves on to our block. And, by the way, we're not sitting by watching the construction--we're busy showing homes & land and writing offers for buyers. Call us for your own personal service.
June 11, 2009
Greetings. Come on up and enjoy summer. Is it going to arrive soon. And, please pardon the static street cam--our webhost is expereincing some problems and as soon as they get them resolved, we'll be back to real time street images. Thanks.
May 20, 2009
Good morning. To no surprise, it was in the mid-30s last night and very cold and breezy; but, today the forecast calls for 88 degrees and sunshine! Wow--we've all heard the cliche that says if you do';t like the local weather, just wait 5 minutes. We're getting spring today. The leaves on our Keweenaw trees are emerging from hibernation, so we're headed for summer. Unlike the rest of the Country, our local real estate market is busy. Now is a great time to explore homes and land that we have for sale, and come on up to find your perfect spot in the Copper Country. We've got great listings for sale, and at some wonderful values. So, checkout the waterfront, recrerational, vacant land, and homes for sale on our web site, and email or call us with questions and to setup some showings. We'll leave the light, and the coffee, on for you.
March 31, 2009
Good afternoon. It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our friend and fellow agent, Rodney DeLine. Rod passed away yesterday, March 30, 2009, at his home in Skanee, MI. Our thoughts and prayers turn to his wife Mary, and their family.
Rod seemed to really enjoy focusing on starting a new career selling real estate. He definitely had a knack for working with people, and he knew how to be successful in business. So, please say a prayer for the family when you think of them. Thanks for the kind thoughts as well.
March 25, 2009
Greetings everyone! Thanks for kicking of 2009 with a great start. Our sales are as expected for the 1st quarter of 2009: still remain strong. We have seen listing and accepted prices drop a little, but all in all our local Keweenaw market remains strong with buyers. I will say that we have fewer buyers looking, but these buyers are serious about purchasing homes and property. So, if you are considering listing your home or vacant land, give us a call. And, if you are in Madison this coming weekend, look us up at the Lake Home and Cabin Show http://www.lakehomeandcabinshow.com/wisc/index.php in the Alliant Energy Center (Mar 27-29). State Wide Corp is sponsoring a booth and we'll be down to staff it Saturday afternoon and evening. It should be a good gauge of how the market is in Wisconsin. We've also added a new Realtor to the staff: Rod DeLine from the L'Anse area. He's owned a local retail business for years in the Copper Country, so you may recognize his name. Give him a call to help him get started--he knows our local market very well.
January 16, 2009
Happy New Year! Thanks for a great 2008. If you have not checked it out yet, we refocused the Officecam for the weekend on our side street. It's the site of the Jibba Jabba Rail Jam Snowboard & Ski Competition. They say when you combine food, trucked-in snow, sweet tricks and a "Mr. T" expression, you've got the Jibba Jabba Rail Jam Snowboard & Ski Competition. The event is slated for Saturday on Houghton's Huron Street, between Rhythm and State Wide. Any snowboarder or skier can participate. Sign-in begins at 10 a.m. Saturday, with warm-up at 11 a.m. and the competition at 2 p.m. The event will last until approximately 7 p.m. and snow fences will be set up alongside the street to allow for optimal viewing. So, sit back with your favorite beverage and watch the construction and competition. Or, better yet, come on down to State Wide to watch and we'll leave the coffee pot on.
December 3, 2008
Where has the summer and fall gone? As you can see from the street cam, the City of Houghton did finish removing the skyways from the street. Martineau and Morris construction did a great job—I hope you shared the progress online. We’ve had a great 2008 year for sales—our sales are up significantly from last year; so, when we say real estate is still selling in the Copper Country or Keweenaw, we mean it. We still have some nice sales pending for the end of the year. One of our new agents, Victoria Baker has sold over a million dollars of production in her first year: congrats Victoria. State Wide Real Estate of Houghton is still the leader in vacant land sales in our MLS by a margin of twice the next firm. And, our single office is leading all other single offices in total sales production in 2008. As we prepare for the holidays, we try to remember to be thankful for all that we have in this country. Please remember to keep our service men and women in mind as well. Give us a call, we’d love to email or show you around the Keweenaw. Happy Holidays.
September 23, 2008
Well, it's been a busy summer. As an office, we're well ahead of last year; so, while the rest of the Country is down on real estate, the Keweenaw/Copper Country is booming. Take a quick look at the office cam as I re-aimed it for a few days as Martineau & Morris removes the skywalk from the front of our building. It should make for interesting web cam viewing. And, thanks to all the voters for nominating State Wide Real Estate of Houghton and Jan Banfield and Dick Walrath for Reader's Choice awards in the Daily Mining Gazette's annual contest. It is an honor to just be nominated--thank-you.
April 14, 2008
Spring has arrived! 72 degrees is a possibilty for tomorrow and Wednesday--so, get out and enjoy it. The snow is melting very quickly--there are patches of grass and dirt all over the place. Now is a great time to look at vacant land as the lack of vegetation and leaves really makes it easier to see the "lay of the land." Here's a link to a business article the Gazette wrote about State Wide of Houghton as part of an advertising package that we purchased.
http://mininggazette.com/stories/articles.asp?articleID=11459
The writer, Kelly Fosness, did a very good job. Thanks for the write-up! We are "going out of the way" to help you buy or sell your property.
March 27, 2008
State Wide Real Estate of Houghton expanded it's territory! The Corporate office for State Wide Real Estate selected the Houghton office to expand into Baraga and Ontonagon Counties. So, look for advertising and more State Wide Real Estate of Houghton signs in Baraga and Houghton Counties. Our office has 39 active listings in Baraga and Ontonagon Counties, so it was a natural extension of the business. As you look at our staff of agents, we have one that is a L'Anse resident, another that lives a mile north of the Baraga/Houghton County line, and all of our agents list and sell property in Baraga and Ontonagon! We also have an extensive portfolio of vacant land listings in Iron and Marquette Counties. So, please call us for State Wide's help in any of the counties that we represent. We look forward to your call. Have a good day.
March 7, 2008
We are still in the grip of Winter in the Copper Country! It is forecast to be 15 below zero tonight in inland rural areas. I keep hearing from locals that this winter is especially cold; I'd say we have not seen the extreme cold, but the average "cold" temp for the winter is lower than typical. On the sunny side, Spring is right around the corner. We're still busy showing homes and land, and listing new property for sale. Right now, State Wide Real Estate of Houghton is leading the the Keweenaw MLS is closing dollars for 2008. And, we still have a pile of accepted offers to close, so we seem to hitting the mark with our hot, local Keweenaw market. Thanks for great start to 2008, and let's keep it going.
February 6, 2008
Welcome to the New Year! And, welcome to MTU’s Winter Carnival week! The snow statues are being finished this evening, so the judging will be in the morning. Dick will be one of the official judges, but come on up and give us your “unofficial” judgment. We’ve been busy in 2008; we’ve got enough under contract right now to go a long way toward matching what we did in 2007. We had a great 2007, and it appears 2008 started very strong. Do not fret the “credit crisis”, price of a barrel of oil, or lack of access to financing. Our local real estate market is strong, and local mortgage bankers would love to process your credit application and approve you for a loan. So, give us a call or shoot us an email—we’ll find your own slice of the Keweenaw for you!
December 20, 2007
Greetings from big snow country in the Keweenaw! We've officially had over 8' of snow so far this fall, and it's snowing right now. Last year at this point we had had zero inches of snow. So, rev up your sled and get the skis and boots out. It appears as though we are in for a typical, average winter of maybe 275” or so of snow. Mt. Ripley is open and running its new east chair—it’s great. We’re all ready for the holidays. Real estate has been good. State Wide Real Estate of Houghton will again finish the year as the top seller of vacant land in our local MLS, ranked by dollars sold. We’ve had a number of closings in the last week, and there are still several to close before the end of the year. And, we’ve already booked a bunch of closings for next year. So, if you are looking to buy vacant land or a home, come on up. We’ve got a lot of really good values at the moment. The Keweenaw awaits you. Give us a call to get out and look for your dream property. Thanks to you for making our 2007 a good year. Warm regards and happy holidays!
October 24, 2007
It that time of year again: fall. Archery deer hunting has been on since October 1st. Craig, Josh and Kevin have been out hunting regularly with their bows. Rifle season opens November 15th. With all these seasons, we'll have hunters visiting the Keweenaw from Copper Harbor to Skanee to Ontonagon and the Porcupine Mountains. In Houghton and Hancock, our traffic will spike well. We tend to just see more visitors on the streets and visiting local restaurants and pubs, and buying everything for the camp. We're looking forward to Thanksgiving and wish everyone a successful and safe hunt. Remember, if you're looking for hunting land for the perfect camp, call State Wide Real Estate of Houghton as we're the number one seller of vacant land in the Keweenaw.
October 20, 2007
Next week is November! Fall colors are passing, and the Keweenaw is getting ready for a great winter season. We've had so much rain they are talking about
Lake Superior returning to more normal low levels rather than the all-time low levels that we have seen this summer. We're still busy showing home and land and writing offers. It's true, there are many more properties for every buyer to choose from this year. But, we are not seeing the gloom and doom in our local real estate market that the national media is writing about everyday. It's been a busy summer: Josh got married and still sells great volumes, Craig is busy listing and selling large chunks of vacant land, and Jan is selling more than ever. Jenny and Cindy keep listing, showing, and selling as well. So, explore our website and email or call us for more details on any listing that is of interest to you. We have sold more vacant land that any other office this year, and we've sold a more homes this year than in previous years. We’d love to hear from you--give us a call in Houghton.
August 21, 2007
Wow--can you believe that it is August 21st already? It seems like it was just snowing on the Keweenaw! Well, it has been a busy summer. State Wide Real Estate of Houghton is holding it's own in the sales locally. We've been busy all summer listing homes, land, waterfornt, and commercial properties. On the flip side, we've had a steady stream of buyers looking for these same properties in the Keweenaw. The great credit crunch seems to have slowed the web hits slightly, but we're still getting a good flow of buyers. We just listed a number of higher quality waterfront, vacant land, and homes in the area. Around all of this and summer activities, we decided to expand our office space. Our main street level buddies, the law firm of Tercha & Daavatilla, retired. With their retiring, we moved to take over their office and expand into it. So, we've been making cosmetic changes to the space to integrate it better with our exisitng space. In the near future we'll have a couple conferece rooms and a couple records storage areas. The space will more than double the footprint of our office. We also opened up some previosuly covered exterior windows, so our office seems huge now. We're still in the process of painting and carpeting, but stop in to check it out. We'll likely have an open house when we're done. The feedback on our new web cams is positive. Check them out--click in the upper right and see what's going on. Send me an email kevin@statewideofhoughton.com with your thoughts on the web cams. Thanks.
STREET & OFFICE WEBCAM
State Wide Real Estate of Houghton is pleased to present the new webcam shots that you see on our website at the top right. One is of Shelden Avenue in front of the State Wide Houghton office, located in Houghton, Michigan . We're calling that view of Downtown Houghton our "Streetcam." The other webcam is a view of our office, 24/7 and 365 days a year. Take a look at the real estate agents working to find buyers the perfect property, or our sellers their ideal buyer. Yes, it's an ongoing human experience that we are sharing with you, so take a look and enjoy watching us work. We're expanding into the neighboring office, adding a couple conference rooms and a whole lot more space. So, enjoy our webcams, click on the thumbnails to view larger images, and go ahead and link and/or use them on your own site if you like. The images automatically update several times a minute, so have fun.
WEB CHANGES
Hi everyone! Greetings from the 80 degree heatwave today--we awoke to snow on the car tops Sunday morning across the Copper Country. The old adage applies: if you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes... We're meeting with our web guru (Scott at corelevel.com) to make a few changes right now. So, look for us to be rolling out some neat new changes to statewideofhoughton.com. We're all about bringing people and places together. Our focus is selling vacant land and homes in Houghton, MI. As such, we criss-cross Houghton, Baraga, Keweenaw, and Ontonagon Counties listing and showing property. We like selling property in MI, so give us a call. We'll leave the web cam on for you.
STATE WIDE ANNUAL CONVENTION
May 6, 2007
Agents from State Wide Real Estate of Houghton attended the Annual State Wide Convention in Petoskey this weekend. It’s a typical real estate convention where a significant amount of time is spent networking and sharing experiences with colleagues from other State Wide franchises. In addition, the State Wide Corporate staff honors agents and offices for the performance in the prior. We are proud to say that State Wide Real Estate of Houghton represented you well in awards. Jan Banfield, Tricia Kirkish, Kevin Liimatta, Cindy Martineau, Josh Stein, Dick Walrath, and Jon Walrath were all recognized for sales in 2006 exceeding one million dollars. Josh Stein ended up as the 2nd top non-owner producer for State Wide overall, as well as being acknowledged for being the company’s “top lister” for his efforts in 2006. Dick Walrath was right at the top when owners were factored into the sales for 2006. Kevin also ended up 9th overall in the rankings for non-owner sales. And, State Wide of Houghton is proud of ending up in 2nd again (two years in a row) for overall office sales in 2006. Overall, the 2007 Convention served to inspire our staff and renew the bonds that we have with each other. Please know that if we seem to have too much fun helping you find the right home or vacant land parcel for you, we really do love the work. It showed by the team effort that our agents put forth in 2006 and at the Convention this weekend. We had a great time just spending a little time together. Our goal for 2007 is to place every Houghton agent in the million-dollar plus group for the year.
KEWEENAW SPRING AND NEW LISTINGS/SALES
April 11, 2007
Brrrrrr....Yes, we had a taste of Spring and Winter returned. Painesdale officially got 68" of snow for the last week. And, Marquette set a new record with the below zero reading yesterday morning--it was the latest recorded below zero temp in any year on record. Houghton County officially received 287" of snow so far this season. Well, after the snow tonight and tomorrow, Spring is going to be around the corner in the Copper Country. Business is brisk as we have been showing vacant land and homes and writing purchase offers. We have many commercial business listings that really make sense when you look at the financial data. We recently listed or sold homes and land in Baraga, Bootjack, Calumet, Chassell, Copper Harbor, Eagle Harbor, Freda, Greenland, Houghton, Hancock, Lac LaBelle, Mass City, & Pelkie. So, check out all of our listings and search the MLS for the right property. Send us a quick email or call us with your questions. We are here to help you buy or sell your own piece of the Keweenaw.
MLS BROCHURE
March 13, 2007
Welcome to State Wide Real Estate of Houghton's home page. We're the number on seller of vacant land in the Keweenaw! We list and sell real estate from vacant building parcels, to large acreage, development waterfront, homes and residential property from small single family to large executive homes, multifamily apartments and commercial property, and businesses. Take a look at our porfolio of quality property; I know that you'll like the range of Copper Country properties that we have for sale. If you want to list with the best, call on of our agents. We'll meet you when you want, where you want. Let us help you buy or sell the perfect property! We're waiting for your telephone call. Keep in mind we're going to print with the Spring 2007 Keweenaw MLS brochure March 30th, so call us to discuss your property and get it listed. You'll want to be included in the 5,000 copies of the MLS brochure to be printed in April.
BEAUTIFUL, PEACEFUL, GREAT VALUES ON VACANT LAND AND HOMES.
February 5, 2006
Hello from big snow country. The snow season started early back in October, and then we had a very dry December . But, we are in the serious cold snap gripping the Midwest, so Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, and Ontonagon are getting a lot of snow now. The snowmobiling and skiing conditions are excellent, and this week is the big Winter Carnival at Michigan Tech University. With respect to real estate, we are busy. All sectors, homes, vacant land, and commercial have been busy. We are showing property all over the Keweenaw.
I'd also like to announce that State Wide Real Estate of Houghton added a new agent last month. Namely, Craig Frank joined the State Wide crew in Houghton. Craig is an avid outdoors enthusiast and would love to talk to you about fishing, hunting, and exploring the western Upper Penninsula. Craig's listings include a host of great vacant recreational properties, as well as some wonderful new residential listings. So, come on up and enjoy our winter festivals, and let us show you some property so you can own your own piece of heaven. We'll leave the light on for you.
BEAUTIFUL, PEACEFUL, GREAT VALUES ON VACANT LAND AND HOMES.
December 12, 2006
Greetings! Happy holidays to you and yours. As the end of the year approaches, the staff at State Wide Real Estate of Houghton thanks you for your patronage in 2006. We've had a great year selling vacant land, waterfront, homes, commerical, and multifamily properties. We've sold them in our four of the counties that we represent: Baraga, Houghton, Keweenaw, and Ontonagon Counties. We expect that we'll sell a whole bunch more of the Keweenaw Peninsula next year. So, give us a call and let's talk about your piece of the Copper Country. We sell it all, so give us a call. Have a happy holiday season.
