Of the five cities we are looking at, Ann Arbor experienced the most gentle increase in sales price and $ per SQ FT. Why? First time buyers have their budget limitations, and also have options outside of Ann Arbor. While the average starter home costs around $444,000, the most desirable neighborhoods (Old West Side, Water Hill, Wildwood, Northside, Dicken, Eberwhite) start around $500,000, which is a lot of money for younger buyers without existing home equity.

Like most people, I do much better about following through on my goals if I write them down. Better yet, if they are published on a blog with my name in the URL, the conversion rate really spikes.

Without further ado, here are my goals for 2026.

Friends,

And just like that… 2025 is over. 

As I scrolled through my iPhone camera roll, Google Calendar, and Strava log, I couldn’t help but wonder…

will this Year in Review be remembered as a bop, a flop, or get recycled into AI slop?   

We are seeing fewer bidding wars, which means fewer insane offers that include waived or “informational only” inspections.

Here are some wild stats from the height of the bidding wars era.

From Oct 2020 - Oct 2022, there were 590 single family home sold on Ann Arbor’s West Side. 349 of those homes were sold within 7 days of hitting the market, with the average selling price at 5.84% above the listing price.