This blog will cover a variety of items both real estate related and personal. I hope you enjoy.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Burt Lake SandBar. GPS: 45.478700, -84.705920
There is a sand bar on the northwest corner of the lake where my family and many others park our boat and hang out in the fun. There is every size boat from new to old anchored in. We put out the WaterMat, grab a football and play for hours. One nice feature of this area is that it is adjacent to many acres of land owned by the State of Michigan so we disturb no one on shore.
If you are out and about on a sunny Sunday afternoon and see the "My teaM" boat anchored, stop by and say hello. If you don't know where the sand bar is, set your GPS for 45.478700, -84.705920
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Chocolate Milk Gives Athletes Leg-up After Exercise
Chocolate Milk Gives Athletes Leg-up After Exercise, Says University of Texas at Austin Study
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Ex-Lion Chris Spielman has strong message for college athletes From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110531/SPORTS0203/105310392/Ex-Lion-Chris-Spielman-has-strong-message-for-college-athletes#ixzz1PRqitD3z
Ex-Lion Chris Spielman has strong message for college athletes
The Detroit News
Sunday, June 12, 2011
An MLB Umpire Helped This Kalamazoo Wiffleball Team
My Blog is about good things that happen both in real estate and in the world. I really don't write enough about the latter but I thought this was a good story from Deadspin.com. billy
How An MLB Umpire Helped This Kalamazoo Wiffleball Team Win Its Game
Jack Dickey — The Kalamazoo Wiffle League is the No. 1 competitive wiffle league in the nation, one of its players tells me. This becomes apparent when you see Steve Everett's leaping catch below, and even more so when you see the lengths the wifflers went to verify the call. At stake were the tying runs in the last inning, after all. So they phoned an MLB umpire. Who wouldn't?
The scene: On Monday, the league's two best teams—the 10-1 Industrials and the 10-2 Friars—met for a doubleheader at Oshtemo Township Park. The Industrials took the first game, 1-0, but our dramatic scene takes place in the second game, top of the sixth and final inning, two out, men on first and second for the Friars, who are down 6-3, with Kevin Marszalek up.
This is why it pays to have 6-foot-6 left fielders like Steve Everett, who made the catch here. When the left field foul pole is 82 feet away, you want height. However marvelous the catch, there had to be a morning after. Or at least a beat after. Everett caught the ball and then carried it into home run territory. The Friars thought it was a home run; the Industrials thought it was an out. Ryan Winfield, another player, joked that the group should phone Tim Welke, an MLB umpire since 1984 and a Kalamazoo native.
So Everett called Welke.
Actually, Everett said, I think I have Bill Welke's card. Bill—Tim's brother—has umpired in MLB since 1999, and his son is an athlete at Marshall High School, where Everett works as an athletic trainer. (The school is about an hour outside of Kalamazoo.) When else could an umpire's card come in handy?
Everett recapped the call:
Luckily, the card had his cell phone number. I then called Bill Welke not knowing what to expect. He answered, "Bill Welke."
Steve Everett - "Bill Welke. Hi, this is Steve Everett, the Athletic Trainer at Marshall High School"
Bill Welke - "Hi Steve, how's it going?"
S.E. - "Good. I have a baseball related question for you."
B.W. - "Well, you're talking to the right guy. I'm actually in San Diego with four other baseball umpires. Here, let me put you on speaker phone." (He places me on speaker phone and says "Go ahead." I then explain the situation to him and the other umpires.)
After Everett explained the situation, Welke delivered his ruling: "If a fielder catches a ball, then goes out of bounds it is then ruled a catch (out), and if there are runners on base, the runners move up one base. Right guys?" The other umpires—on that day, Tim Tschida, Jeff Nelson, Mike Estabrook, and an unknown replacement—agree with Bill. And, for the record, so does Rule 7.04(c).
The two runners advanced their base harmlessly—on paper, that is—while the Industrials won the game and swept the doubleheader, strengthening their hold on the league's best record. Later that night, the Rockies and the Padres played a game. Bill Welke was third-base umpire. There were no controversial plays, no tying runs up in the ninth, no circus catches. The biggest call Welke made all day was for 12 dudes in a wiffleball park halfway across the country.
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Homestead Exemption Applications
Proration Legislation up in Senate Finance Committee
Legislation has been re-introduced this legislative session to provide much needed property tax relief to Michigan homebuyers. Senate Bill 349, introduced by Senator Dave Hildenbrand (R-Lowell) allows buyers to take advantage of the Principal Residence Exemption even if they purchase a home after the May 1st filing deadline.
Under current law, homeowners may file a principal residence exemption on their primary home in Michigan. This exemption provides significant tax relief to those citizens that choose to call this state “home.” In order to claim this exemption, one must file the principal residence affidavit with their local government by May 1st. Buyers purchasing homes after the May 1st deadline, are hit with up to an additional 18 mills of non-homestead property taxes until the following year. This additional property tax burden is standing in the way of new homeownership and otherwise taxing those people that have declared Michigan their home, though they purchased after the deadline.
This legislation has become particularly important since “non principal residence” properties, specifically foreclosures, have flooded Michigan’s real estate market in recent years. The current situation prices buyers out of homes by forcing them to qualify for a mortgage at the higher tax rate. Those buyers that are able to purchase after May 1st are consequently stuck with a significant tax burden for the remainder of the year despite making that new purchase their principal residence. This bill would alleviate some of that pressure by prorating the tax liability for those who purchase a home after May 1st.
The legislation is up for consideration this week in the Senate Finance committee. We will keep you updated as this bill makes its way through the legislative process.