Saugatuck Real Estate | Pat and Pam Murphy, Realtors

Recent weeks have brought positive data about housing.  Many indicators are pointing up and even the most ardent housing naysayers aree that we've likely seen the bottom!!!!

In past cycle bottoms, home building has quickly rebounded.  All that was required of government was to get out of the way.  This time is different.  There are many obstacles to a real housing recovery, from harsh appraisals to unfair credit requirement.  Pulling the pieces together to jumpstart the industry will require leadership from the adminstration and this is not a politically movtivated critique.  Issue to be resolved include fleshing out the long term plan for dealing with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, how best to eliminate foreclosure delays and more clarity about the new rules for pooling mortgages into bonds among other nagging housing stumbling blocks.

The point is the same:  Let's get housing moving!

All these obstacles limiting access to mortgage credit even among creditworthy borrowers contribute to weakness in housing demand. 

Leaders are finally agreeing on something we in home building have always asserted, there can be no general recovery without fixing housing first. 

Call me today to chat about how the market here in Saugatuck/Douglas is springing back quite nicely in the last month.  And to talk w/a Builder in the area on new construction, my husband, Pat, of Patrick Murphy Builders LLC  can also tell how permits for new homes have started to make a come back. 

Let us turn our thoughts to Spring and warmer weather of Summer and having an opportunity to enjoy a home along the Lakeshore of Lake Michigan!!!!

Pam

It's always possible for the process of decorating a home to have a beginning, middle and an end!

A plan is conceived, walls are painted and carpets laid, furniture and accessories placed, art displayed.  For some the result may be the fulfillment of a dream - a perfect background for their busy lives - and they won't change a thing!

In fact, I kinow people who take extraordinary comfort in the familiar, replacing faded wallpaper with the same pattern and recovering worn upholstery in fresh but identical fabric.

Yet, for me, there's no such thing as a home being finished.  I don't expect my house ever to feel completed because my curiosity will continue to be stirred! 

COMPLETE BUT NOT "FINISHED!"  -  a word I cannot utter when it comes to decorating a home.  Can't stop buying photographs, a passion that finds me shifting art from wall to wall each time I fall in love with a new work!

The thrill of the chase keeps these particular rooms lively, provocative and yes, gloriously unfinished. Check this site out for great ideas. Pinterest (online pinboard)

Because for those of us who are always looking at our wonderful art galleries here in Saugatuck/Douglas, and antiques at the wonderful Antique Pavilion and surrounding areas of art galleries, pottery pieces and just over load of new/old ideas for your home, there is always another space for a treasure or an idea you discover, here in the Art Coast of West Michigan!!!

Our silent and live auctions that are being planned as I write this blog, around the area of Saugatuck/Douglas.  All will be coming up starting this Spring through wonderful venues such as our gems Saugatuck Center for the Arts and Ox Box, just to mention a few.  You will find original pieces of artwork from oils, watercolors, handmade jewelry, glass works, pottery and yes, creative one of a kind Bird Houses made by an local artiest that incorporates his treasures that he finds in the area. 

And don't forget our wonderful culinary cuisine found at my family's local restaurant located, here in Saugatuck, Wicks Park Bar and Grille!

Shoot me an email today, so I can start showing you and telling you about the wonderful area of Saugatuck/Douglas I live in.  Dream your dream of owning a 2nd home, building your dream home, Patrick Murphy Builders, LLC or just thinking about a great place to retire!!!!

your friend,

Pam

The change in Winter Weather  elicits two simultaneous yet diametrically opposite impulses: 

stay in and get cozy-I'm envisioning my family, all in pajamas, watching a movie and cooking up something hot and sticky-or dress up and shine and hit the town.  It is the latter desire-for glamour, beautiful objects and dreamy faraway places-that inspire me in this Holiday Season of December and January!!!

This year has been rough in many ways, and so we bid it goodbye with a sense of fantasy and folly. 

From traveling to our different families homes to celebrate the Holidays or jetting off to far away, warm places to get rejuenated from the cold, or experience gastronomic  food from our tables to restaurants and chefs from afar-or stepping into our grandest homes all decorated for the Holiday Season.  And don't miss

"The Wish List" whether from the smallest childs hope to get that special toy on Christmas Day or, I think, everyones wish for Peace in our hearts and throughout the world!

Merry Christmas from "The Murphy's" here in Saugatuck/Douglas Michigan.  From our family restaurant, Wicks Park Bar & Grille, "where good friends gather" We hope you want everything we do. 

Here's to a stupendously happy 2012!!!!

Pam

What is the greatest gift you've every given?  You're making a list and checking it twice...

but you still don't know what to get for Uncle Bruce or even (yikes!) your spouse!  Fret not. 

How about the gift of just being together!!!  That's why I Love Thanksgiving!!! No presents just being together as a family without the fan fare!!!  Spending the Holidays, here, in Saugatuck/Douglas, or any where for that matter should be a time of sharing and giving to one another. 

There will be enough time after Thanksgiving for buying that outdoor grill for Uncle Bruce or seaform chocolates for Aunt Betty.  But until then, enjoy Thanksgiving and all of your blessings!

Happy Thanksgiving,

Pam

Don't forget to take gram and poppy out to your favorite restaurant this Holiday, Wicks Park Bar and Grille!

Have you ever been secretly relieved when a drop of wine dribbles onto the fabric of a new chair or a pristine appliance acquires its first tiny scratch-

because you've finally been liberated from worry?  If so, then you appreciate why in some cultures, artists deliberately incorporate a small flaw into their creations.  It is through this flaw, they believe, that the spirit enters.  Perhaps it is through flaws that spirit enters our homes.  There is a movement in design that says living well is more important than looking perfect.  Imperfection means that rooms are lived in, and that is what design is all about.

Of course, we are not talking sloppy or careless; quite the opposite.

My style is more "love it" gotta have it, find a place for it than by the book, I admit giving up on a fight with the family dog, Marley, instead of keeping him off my velvet covered sofa, I simply drape a blanket over it.  Before company comes, I just get out the lint roller!!!!!

Here's to living with spirit in our imperfectly perfect homes!!!

Pam

Autumn is upon us!  Having four distinct seasons reminds us of how quickly the arrow of time, the arrow of our lives, passes! 

The bright brilliance of fall's colorful leaves, the rawness of winter's cold and snow, the awakening of hibernations, and the warm embrace of summer, all move efficiently without any effort to answer our please to pause, to "suck the marrow" out of life.  This relentless passage of the seasons reminds us that change happens whether we're ready or not!

Unlike a storm that can overwhelm us, the steady progress of time is something for which we can and must prepare.  That applies as much to real estate as it does to our personal and individual business lives.  We have learned how the government, lenders and others affect real estate and we are adapting.  Questions tor ask yourself, where do I want to be in 10 years or do I want to restire now and where???  Do I purchase a 2nd home for my family to enjoy for years to come or do I just sit and wait for something different to happen with my job?

We are writing our future and that of our children and grandchildren.  We are seizing the day-- and the season!

Call me today, I will be happy to discuss w/you on your  buying or selling needs  here, in the Saugatuck/Douglas area and along the lakeshore.

With owning 3 businessess in the area, who is better qualified then talking about the area and property values.

Thanks,

Pam

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