Z-Home Ready to Reckon

May, 2013

By Virginia

Z-Home Ready to Reckon

Z-Home, which recently sold the last of their 10 units in Issaquah Highlands, was sponsored by the City of Issaquah, and developed by Seattle’s townhome builder Matt Howland and Ichijo USA, in partnership with Built Green, KingCounty, Puget Sound Energy, Washington State University Energy Program and Port Blakely Communities.

The idea was to use smart design and cutting edge technologies to radically reduce environmental impacts in measurable ways. Z-Home hoped to prove that homes that use zero net energy and 60% less water, emit net zero carbon emissions, have clean indoor air and use only low-toxicity materials are possible and scalable to mainstream home production.

They’re coming up on their first post-occupancy evaluation and plan to share it publicly. Meantime, check this link for great information about buying “greener” homes, and thinking about remodeling/retrofitting: http://www.z-home.org/buying.php#. King County’s website also has most of this http://www.varley.net/online/ information, and here’s a link to their fabulous Eco-Cool Remodel Tool, which also has a list of “green” remodeling contractors.

green homes, sustainability, z-home

Mar, 2013

By Virginia

Rent or Buy?

Renting makes total sense if you are here for a while, or want to check out the different neighborhoods before committing yourself. Buying in the Seattle area, according to the latest study by Zillow, makes sense if you are planning to stay in the home for at least 4 years.

Remember, when you sell your house or condo your total closing costs will usually be between 8% and 9% of the sales price. Closing costs include real estate commissions, excise tax (sales tax), title insurance for your buyer, and half of the cost of the escrow company that closes the transaction.

Let me know if you’d like a sample breakdown of what closing costs would be on your property.

buyers, Rent vs. Buy, rental, Seattle

Mar, 2013

By Virginia

Snapshot of the Seattle Housing Market

To compare the most recent full month, February 2013, with February 2012 I looked at total sales within the city of Seattle (condominiums as well as single family homes) and saw that the number was up 22% year over year! 438 homes sold in February 2012; 535 in February 2013.

I was curious about short sales and foreclosures, because it seems like there aren’t very many bank-owned properties on the market right now.

In fact “distressed sales”, which is what we call short sales and foreclosures, were 32% of our market a year ago February. This past month they were only 20% of the total.

Last year the bank-owned distressed sales were more than double the number of short sales. This year, the bank-owned were actually fewer than the short sales.

The brokers in my office are speculating why this is. Is it possible that the banks are delaying foreclosures, and trying to work with sellers to permit them to do a short sale rather than be foreclosed on?

Or are our housing market AND local economy generally improving enough that fewer people are falling off the edge? That’s my hope!

If you are wondering if you can sell your house or condo without it being a short sale this year, please contact me! I’ll help you figure it out, and can refer you to a good attorney to help you decide on your best option.

distressed sales, foreclosures, seattle housing market, short sales

Jan, 2013

By Virginia

The Low Inventory Effect

If you’re thinking of selling your Seattle home or rental property, the Low Inventory Effect means that the market is more in your favor than it’s been for several years:

More buyers looking for a place
Only about half or two-thirds as many homes on the market as there were a year ago

And that means that your odds of receiving multiple offers are high. Multiple offers mean…

Buyers may do their inspections in advance, so they don’t have to have any strings attached when they present you an offer
Buyers will most assuredly get a strong pre-approval letter from their lender, and be ready to close whenever YOU want, whether it’s sooner or later

But it doesn’t mean that you have a license to over-price: overpriced homes will still linger on the market, just like ones in poor condition or in a painfully noisy location.

Click here to see some statistics on Seattle as a whole, and northeast Seattle, in particular.

On the other hand, if you’ve been thinking about buying a home or rental property, it means you have work to do, and quick:

Gather your income and asset information (pay stubs, income tax records, bank statements for ALL your accounts)
Contact a couple of different banks or mortgage brokers to find out what purchase price you can be pre-approved for. (Call me if you want referrals to bankers I highly recommend.)
Get more than one quote, and get familiar with the terms they’re offering.

Remember, if you’re thinking about buying a rental property, you can use your self-directed IRA or 401K funds to do this, but it takes time to set up.

Keep track of the neighborhoods you’re interested in, so you know what to offer when a place comes on the market. If there are 3 “pending” sales in the area, and a new property comes on the market, you need to know if those 3 were bid higher (and if so, how much), before you can accurately assess the value of the new one (contact me, I can help with this).

As of January 2013, we are at the approximate equivalent of June 2005 prices. We are still quite a bit lower than our 2007 peak prices.

Dec, 2012

By Virginia

What is it about Pink Bathrooms?

What is it about those pink bathrooms?!

Mostly, I guess, it’s that they are so shockingly different from anything we’ve created in a long long time. They make my clients laugh, but guess what – everybody looks good in the mirror in a pink bathroom.

In Seattle the Pink Bathroom is iconic in late 1940’s and 1950’s brick ramblers. As it turns out, they were popular all over the U.S.in that period – read Save the Pink Bathrooms’ nod to Mamie Eisenhower for starting this post-World War II color trend.

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Save the Pink Bathrooms is doing their part to reverse the demolition trend by supplying links to pink-tile suppliers.

For me the Pink Bathroom is the symbol of the well-built 50’s house in our area: what are the odds, I asked my fellow agents, if you find a house that has a well-preserved Pink Bathroom, that the house is solid as well? “Extremely high!” was the unanimous response.

Then, what to make of Kohler’s brand NEW Pink Bathroom featured in Rebecca Teagarden’s recent Pacific Northwest article? Gorgeous, slick, and definitely 21^st century!

bathrooms, inspiration, pink, Questions, Tips

Dec, 2012

By Virginia

New eBook: True Confessions of a Real Estate Investor

Download the eBook here.

Investing in residential real estate can be complex, risky, and confusing…but it can also be very financially rewarding.

I made this guide for anyone who is thinking about buying a residential investment property to rent out but isn’t sure buy viagra online whether to take the plunge.

It contains lessons learned first hand by actual real estate investors I have worked with over the years

There is a lot more to consider before investing and I can help talk you through it if you get in touch. Windermere has had several investment seminars this year, and there’s a great deal of good information I’m happy to forward to you.

But if you learn only these 5 things about real estate investments this year, you’re off to a good start!

Nov, 2012

By Virginia

Paid His Mortgage Off Early

Should you pay yours down faster? Yes! No!

The truth is, it really depends on a lot of different factors, so the answer is different for different people. The simple fact is that if you have an interest rate of 4.5%, paying off extra principal is like EARNING a guaranteed 4.5% on that amount of money, and these days it’s not easy to find a return like that on a small investment.

But then it gets complicated: should you set it up so that your lender draws half of the monthly total out of your account every 2 weeks instead of a full amount once a month? (That will get you one extra payment per year.) Should you do it yourself? Is it better to do this at the beginning of the loan, or in the later years? And what about the impact reducing the principal has on those income tax deductions you’re expecting to take every year for the foreseeable future?

Read this article by Jack Guttentag, finance professor emeritus at the Wharton School at UPenn, for his encouraging take on early payoffs.

And then, check out why Jonathan Fahey for Huffington Post says “Wait a minute!” It may not be in your best interest, ESPECIALLY if you have adequate income and the self-discipline to do something else with the extra money you might otherwise be tempted to give to your mortgage lender every month.

Another option that many of my clients, friends, and family members have wrestled with is whether to get a 15 year loan or a 30 year loan. If you’re considering that now, while we’re seeing advertised rates of as low as 2.75% for 15 year fixed-rate mortgages, I recommend going to Bankrate.com and filling out their form to generate their automated evaluation of your situation, and THEIR recommendation. It’s fun to talk to a machine (and it doesn’t require you to enter your email address or commit to anything), and it lets you be honest about what you have in savings, in retirement funds, what your cash flow is like, how soon you hope to retire, and a few other factors that will make a difference in the recommendation.

One couple I know who chose a 15-year mortgage is just getting ready to swap their paid off house for a fabulous house with grounds and a pool in a less expensive state. Another couple ended mortgage payments a while back and bought land outside of Santa Fe. Just for the record, though, the guy in the photo is not one of them!

mortgage, pay off, Seattle, Tips

Nov, 2012

By Virginia

The best thing about living in a house?

You can have a milkman! With crack of dawn delivery of milk, eggs, butter, coffee, cream, cheese, and now bread and bagels, who even needs to leave the house?! Just joking. Of course you want your vegetables, your fish, your nice juicy steaks.

But those days when you’re just too exhausted to contemplate stopping at the grocery on the way home – or going out to the grocery – it is nothing short of wonderful to step onto your front porch and find the Smith Brothers Dairy box filled with fresh, local supplies.

Smith Brothers has been saving the day at our house for over 15 years, and just keeps adding to their product line. We started with milk – really, who wants to lug gallons of milk around along with all the bags of groceries? Then coffee, then eggs, butter….pepperjack cheese, Greek Gods honey yogurt, sour cream, whipping cream.

This time of year we sometimes add Cougar Mountain chocolate chip cookie dough to the delivery, or eggnog, or pumpkin bread.

Smith Brothers delivers all over the Puget Sound area – to some 45,000 homes weekly. They’re located in the Kent valley and have been delivering farm-fresh dairy products since 1920.

Milk comes from the farm to your fridge in 24 to 48 hours. “When it comes to milk, it’s all about freshness,” says Smith Brothers Farms’ Todd Behan, a fourth-generation family member who oversees operations.Coffee comes from Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie, bread and muffins from Alki Bakery or the Bread Garden, bagels from Seattle Bagel Bakery, and cheese from Tillamook.

It’s easy to set up an account online, and then you can either have a regular order or you can email (getmilk@smithbrothersfarms.com) or phone in (1-877-milkman) a different order each week.

inspiration, milkman, Seattle

Nov, 2012

By Virginia

Investor Properties – What are you looking for?

You’re invited to a free real estate investment seminar that my Windermere office is hosting on Thursday, November 8 at the Mt Baker Community Club from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.

What investment properties are you looking for – and what can you actually find? Our market has been tumultuous the last 4 or 5 years – with prices falling month after month, year after year, then increasing in some areas, then falling again as delayed foreclosures finally moved through the system and came on the market.

As different neighborhoods have re-stabilized at different rates, prices have made amazing jumps. Where $70,000 might have bought you a fixer somewhere in the outskirts of Seattle a year ago, now it might take $140,000, and be in a different part of town.

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Condominiums are still the cheapest, but often times the riskiest, since you need to know exactly what’s going on in the building as a whole (both structurally and financially) to make an informed decision about what to pay.

The least expensive properties are still the bank-owned (also known as REO’s), followed by short sales. But the occasional non-distressed property can also present you with a wonderful value opportunity – in better condition, with the utilities on, and a quick decision-making process. These can be rental properties quickly, without the big headache often accompanying short sales or dreadful-condition REO’s, and may have much less deferred maintenance. Their low prices are due to their proximity to distressed properties, rather than the condition they’re in.

Contact me for more information about specific properties, or about estimating rental incomes. And I hope to see you November 8 at the Mount Baker Community Club! Come share wine and appetizers with us, and have a chance to review some of the basics regarding real estate investments. This isn’t a sales pitch, just generally good information from a property manager, a lender or two, info on self-directed IRA’s, an accountant, etc. as well as an opportunity to ask questions. See you there!

free, investor, Seattle

Nov, 2012

By Virginia

Steps to Buying for First Time Home Buyers

The Steps to Buying guide is now a downloadable ebook. Topics inclue a quick intro to short sales & foreclosure properties, Earnest Money, Making an Offer, and more.

This is a great intro to home buying for people who have never done it before and need some info to get started. Get it here and share it with your friends!

buyers, ebook, free, Questions, Tips

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Z-Home Ready to Reckon

Rent or Buy?

Snapshot of the Seattle Housing Market

The Low Inventory Effect

What is it about Pink Bathrooms?

New eBook: True Confessions of a Real Estate Investor

Paid His Mortgage Off Early

The best thing about living in a house?

Investor Properties – What are you looking for?

Steps to Buying for First Time Home Buyers

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