Owner: Seattle Real Estate Working For You URL:http://www.seattlerealestateworkingforyou.com Join Date: Sat, 03 Feb 2007 01:59:23 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: All things real estate related in the greater Seattle area. Home buyers, sellers, investers, loan officers, and looky-loo's are all welcome! Site statistics:Click here
The Advantages of Home Ownership (pt. II) 2007-02-03 00:12:39 Appreciation will be appreciated!
Another benefit of home ownership is the appreciation your home will build over time. Appreciation, especially in our market can either work for you or against you. If you are thinking of pulling the trigger on a home worth $350,000 right now, but think you'll hold on until prices drop…don't. In another year you can bet that the same home will be worth in excess of $385,000. Two years down the line you'll probably pay over $420,000! So in two years, you have a good opportunity of making in excess of $70,000 through investing in your home (minus home improvement costs & interest), or paying that much more for the same house.
With all the "bubble talk" the media is throwing around you'd think appreciation was anything but a sure thing…think again! Appreciation is driven by a variety of conditions that vary by State, City, all the way down to individual neighborhoods. Read our predictions for 2007 and you will see why we b Read more:Ownership
, Advantages
, Home Ownership
The experience of it all...... 2007-02-02 08:00:58 Written by Greg Perry
In 1956, my parents bought thier first house in the small town of Port Orchard, Washington. After owning it for over 50 years, my Dad sold it in 2006.
In 1956, Dad was a welder in the the Bremerton Navy Yard and Mom stayed home with my brother and I. My father was a hard working and a talented welder and he worked every bit of overtime he could because they had a dream of buying a house. They didn't have a lot of money and found a rural house on 2 acres that they purchased on a real estate contract directly from the owner.
At the time we moved in, their family consisted of my brother, David and I. Ron came along when I was 10, Julie a couple of years later. We all have cherished memories of that house on the 2 acres where we grew up. On October 15, 2006, my brothers and sister, our spouses and our children all met for one last time, 2 weeks before the close of the house.
When dad and mom bought that house, it represented to them a dream come Read more:experience
A beautiful Craftsman home East of Market, Kirkland 2007-01-31 06:43:18 This is a 3 bedroom, 3.5 bath, 3,527 sq ft. new construction beautiful Craftsman home. It is located literally steps from downtown Kirkland
and their amazing selection of galleries, boutiques and restaurants. Here are some of the features:
· Chef's kitchen with deluxe custom cabinetry, granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. Everything is absolutely top of the line!
· Upstairs master suite with elegant 5 piece bathroom and a bedroom sized walk in closet
· Master suite has a cozy gas fireplace and a deck with an amazing view. You can see the Cascades, Mt.Ranier, Lake Washington, Downtown Seattle, and the Olympic mountains
· Expansive hardwood floors
· Large study on the main floor
· A huge great room with a nice big gas fireplace
· Media Room (16x20)
· Large covered entertainment sized deck
· Professionally landscaped front and back yard
· Large 3 car garage
If yo Read more:Market
A warmer place to live..... 2007-01-31 01:35:39 Written by Greg Perry
About a year ago, clients Jason and Sarah Lichtenberger puchased a condo from me on the Sammamish Plateau. The condo was very nice, but very, very white. Jason and Sarah have completed a paint makeover and Sarah sent me the following pics. Says Sarah, "With the exception of the kitchen, everything is now a neutral shade of beige rather than the stark white that was there when we moved in. The guest bedroom is still white for now. The kitchen is a deep shade of brick red. I love how much everything stands out now and the warmth of the colors."
Thank you Sarah for sharing your pics. Your condo looks amazing! The Lichtenbergers were referred by Jennie Doyle!
King County Growth Report 2007-01-31 01:08:13
NWREporter February 2007
One of the biggest challenges of the growing strength of the region's economy is the continuing demand for housing and the upward pressure on housing prices, according to authors of the 2006 King CountyGrowth
Report.
Strained housing affordability and traffic congestion seem to be the inevitable consequences of the desirability of King County
as a place to live and do business, the researchers suggest.
King County's number of jobs has nearly returned to pre-recession numbers after 70,000 jobs were lost from 2001-2004. That finding is among details in the comprehensive report issued late last year by King County Executive Ron Sims.
The 144-page Annual Growth report (AGR), supplemented by maps, graphs and tables, provides details on demographics and development in King County. It includes information on jobs and housing units for each of the county's 39 cities, plus profiles for 10 potential annexation areas. The report also highlights residential c
December 2006 Market Stats, King County 2007-01-30 01:14:24 December 2006 had fewer PENDING sales with more ACTIVE listings. There were also fewer CLOSED sales. Median prices continue to rise. The Median price ended the year at $425,000, a 13.6% increase from 2005.
Source NWMLS
King Co.
2006
2005
Y-T-D 2006
Y-T-D 2005
New Listings
1,187
1,487
38,952
40,722
Total Listings
5.423
4.411
Pending Sales
1,623
1,790
29,988
34,115
Closed Sales
1,905
2,407
27,834
31,939
Average Price
$537,477
$467,818
$518,108
$455,774
Median Price
$440,000
$393,000
$425,000
$374,000
Read more:Market
, December
, Stats
, County
, King County
Our 2007 Predicitons 2007-01-29 23:17:01 Written by Greg Perry
We've all heard the stories and worries about the "Real Estate Bubble". But will we experience that "Bubble" in the Puget Sound Region?
Let's look at what drives the Real Estate market:
1. Regional Emplyment.
2. Interest Rates.
3. Available land for building.
Our area's regional employment is exceptional....in fact one of the BEST in the nation. The thousands of new employees that are feeding Microsoft, bio tech and tech companies, the Port of Seatte and local hosptial exansions -- all of which are fueling commercial building and retail -- is the fuel that is driving the Region's economy.
Interest rates have remained historically low and actually dived in December. Most industry watchers conclude rates will remain low.
King County building restrictions and low land availability mean that large home plats can't be built. These large, new construction plats stabilize housing prices by keeping up with the demand of people moving into the regi
The Advantages of Home Ownership (pt.1) 2007-01-28 06:30:17 The first day I owned my home, I dug a hole. A great big hole in the backyard. After I dug my hole I went inside and hammered stuff. Nothing in particular, just started hammering. You see, these are two very simple and WONDERFUL benefits of owning your own home. You can do what you want! The sense of freedom you obtain is worth owning a home by itself, however there are many more powerful and pertinent benefits than digging holes. In this section I'll cover just what some of those benefits are, as well as everything else you need, and want to know as a first time home buyer. So we'll start here.
Benefit #1: You can dig holes and hammer anything you want. Read more:Ownership
, Advantages
, Home Ownership
My Vacant Land and Taxes 2007-01-28 01:32:39 So with tax time fast approaching my wife and I got into a conversation about our land out in Mazama and whether or not our home equity loan's interest was deductible. After doing a little digging I found out that no, in fact its not. The only way that our property out there would qualify is if we have started building a home that we can occupy within two years. The land is considered an investment and all of the interest we're paying isn't qualified as deductible mortgage interest like our primary loan. Boo.
If you'd like tons of exciting reading on this topic check out the IRS website!
Always contact your local tax advisor for your personal situation. Read more:Taxes
Generations of Communication 2007-01-27 02:06:01
I read an interesting article in Inman news this morning, written by Bernice Ross.
The article is about how to seize opportunities going forward in the real estate business based upon "speaking" to the buyers. Some interesting national statistics:
· The median age of Realtors in the US is 50 (you're telling me!)
· 37% of the population was born between 1965 and 1994.
These stats raise an interesting question...Are today's real estate agents meeting the needs of, and communicating properly with generations x and Y? Greg and I often talk about different ways of doing business, each coming from both sides of the spectrum. While Greg is steadfast about face to face communications and telephone calls, I am really trying to push towards blogging, email and text messaging as a way to communicate quicker and more efficiently.
There is nothing that has the impact of a face to face transaction...those are simply irreplaceable. It's a new w Read more:Generations
This is garbage! 2007-02-04 21:17:23 For the last 45 minutes I have been pulling twisting screwing and banging on my garbage disposal flange attached to my old sink. I have done almost everything when it comes to home improvement projects, and quite possibly the most frustrating thing I have ever done is removed my garbage disposal flange. For the mental health of all of you, I am attaching and highlighting the critical part of this process. Apparantly man has invented a do-hickey called the "snap ring". You need to snap the snap ring off before you go any further. Greg was telling me only a few days ago he's had two differen't sellers have their garbage disposals go out when they were in escrow. I didn't think that was a big deal until today. Poor guys. Pay special attention to figure 6-5 below.
Renters will dig deep in 2007 2007-02-05 17:11:51 Renters will dig deeper in 2007
Updated 2/4/2007 11:57 PM ET
By Noelle Knox, USA TODAY
Renters be warned: Landlords are expected to raise apartment rents for a third-straight year in 2007, forcing tenants to turn over a growing chunk of their pay and making it harder to save for a home, a report to be issued today by Marcus & Millichap finds.
With the projected rise of 5% this year, rents would be 14% higher than at the end of 2004, the report says. Over the same period, paychecks are expected to rise 4%, adjusted for inflation.
The widening gap is likely to worsen the crisis for workforce housing, especially in coastal cities, says Hessam Nadji, a managing director at Marcus & Millichap, a real estate investment brokerage. "This is a national trend. We're seeing rents rise in the majority of markets, and we see this continuing for at least three years."
From 2000 to 2004, most landlords couldn't raise rents because so many tenants were leaving to buy houses or condos. To feed
Something to value... 2007-02-06 19:33:42
Written by Greg Perry
In 2003, I attended a real estate and lending Peak Performer's conference in Maui. This was an invitation only conference, and only approx. 250 of the top Realtors and Lenders in the country attended. During this conference much of the content was created around a book called: Built To Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. One of the common denominators that the 50 most successful companies in the last 50 years had were written value statements. These "Built to Last" companies simply state their governing values in words to create value statements to remind themselves of their purpose. These value statements become the soul of a company, and each employee must line up with them, or the employee is not a good fit.
After the conference, I created a value statement for the Working-for-you team. These words hang in our office to remind us daily what we stand for:
1. To have a servant's heart.
2. To negotiate our client's best opportunity
From rags to riches 2007-02-07 19:26:49 by Greg Perry
Maybe just a little exaggeration in the title, but wait 'til ya see the pics!
Sherry Clark, then my son Kevin's fiance, came out to the Kirkland area wanting to rent an apartment. After several apartment hunting trips and a lot of disappointment, I suggested she visit a mortgage lender to see what she could qualify for. She ended up purchasing a 1 bedroom unit for right at $100,000. After negotiating for the seller to pay her closing costs and a 0 down loan program, she got in to the unit for virtually nothing out of her pocket.
Shortly after the purchase, she and Kevin married and started making improvements. Here's some before and after pics:
Bathroom:
Kitchen:
No before pics here, but here's the living and dining room areas:
This was their first home ownership dream come true. Kevin and Sherry had a great time picking colors and materials for their condo and doing the work. Their favorite stores now are Lowes and Home De Read more:riches
From rags to riches 2007-02-07 23:43:41 by Greg Perry
Maybe just a little exaggeration in the title, but wait 'til ya see the pics!
Sherry Clark, then my son Kevin's fiance, came out to the Kirkland area wanting to rent an apartment. After several apartment hunting trips and a lot of disappointment, I suggested she visit a mortgage lender to see what she could qualify for. She ended up purchasing a 1 bedroom unit for right at $100,000. After negotiating for the seller to pay her closing costs and a 0 down loan program, she got in to the unit for virtually nothing out of her pocket with payments about the same as rent.
Shortly after the purchase, she and Kevin married and started making improvements. Here's some before and after pics:
Bathroom:
Kitchen:
Dining and Living room
For Sherry and Kevin, this condo was a dream come true. They spent a little over $10,000 for the improvement materials, and did all the work themselves. Their new favorite stores are now Lowes and Home Depot. The Read more:riches
Something to value... 2007-02-06 19:33:42
Written by Greg Perry
In 2003, I attended a real estate and lending Peak Performer's conference in Maui. This was an invitation only conference, and only approx. 250 of the top Realtors and Lenders in the country attended. During this conference much of the content was created around a book called: Built To Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. One of the common denominators that the 50 most successful companies in the last 50 years had were written value statements. These "Built to Last" companies simply state their governing values in words to create value statements to remind themselves of their purpose. These value statements become the soul of a company, and each employee must line up with them, or the employee is not a good fit.
After the conference, I created a value statement for the Working-for-you team. These words hang in our office to remind us daily what we stand for:
1. To have a servant's heart.
2. To negotiate our client's best opportunity
Renters will dig deep in 2007 2007-02-05 17:11:51 Renters will dig deeper in 2007
Updated 2/4/2007 11:57 PM ET
By Noelle Knox, USA TODAY
Renters be warned: Landlords are expected to raise apartment rents for a third-straight year in 2007, forcing tenants to turn over a growing chunk of their pay and making it harder to save for a home, a report to be issued today by Marcus & Millichap finds.
With the projected rise of 5% this year, rents would be 14% higher than at the end of 2004, the report says. Over the same period, paychecks are expected to rise 4%, adjusted for inflation.
The widening gap is likely to worsen the crisis for workforce housing, especially in coastal cities, says Hessam Nadji, a managing director at Marcus & Millichap, a real estate investment brokerage. "This is a national trend. We're seeing rents rise in the majority of markets, and we see this continuing for at least three years."
From 2000 to 2004, most landlords couldn't raise rents because so many tenants were leaving to buy houses or condos. To feed
This is garbage! 2007-02-04 21:17:23 For the last 45 minutes I have been pulling twisting screwing and banging on my garbage disposal flange attached to my old sink. I have done almost everything when it comes to home improvement projects, and quite possibly the most frustrating thing I have ever done is removed my garbage disposal flange. For the mental health of all of you, I am attaching and highlighting the critical part of this process. Apparantly man has invented a do-hickey called the "snap ring". You need to snap the snap ring off before you go any further. Greg was telling me only a few days ago he's had two differen't sellers have their garbage disposals go out when they were in escrow. I didn't think that was a big deal until today. Poor guys. Pay special attention to figure 6-5 below.
The Advantages of Home Ownership (pt. II) 2007-02-03 00:12:39 Appreciation will be appreciated!
Another benefit of home ownership is the appreciation your home will build over time. Appreciation, especially in our market can either work for you or against you. If you are thinking of pulling the trigger on a home worth $350,000 right now, but think you'll hold on until prices drop…don't. In another year you can bet that the same home will be worth in excess of $385,000. Two years down the line you'll probably pay over $420,000! So in two years, you have a good opportunity of making in excess of $70,000 through investing in your home (minus home improvement costs & interest), or paying that much more for the same house.
With all the "bubble talk" the media is throwing around you'd think appreciation was anything but a sure thing…think again! Appreciation is driven by a variety of conditions that vary by State, City, all the way down to individual neighborhoods. Read our predictions for 2007 and you will see why we b Read more:Advantages
, Ownership
, Home Ownership
The experience of it all...... 2007-02-02 08:00:58 Written by Greg Perry
In 1956, my parents bought thier first house in the small town of Port Orchard, Washington. After owning it for over 50 years, my Dad sold it in 2006.
In 1956, Dad was a welder in the the Bremerton Navy Yard and Mom stayed home with my brother and I. My father was a hard working and a talented welder and he worked every bit of overtime he could because they had a dream of buying a house. They didn't have a lot of money and found a rural house on 2 acres that they purchased on a real estate contract directly from the owner.
At the time we moved in, their family consisted of my brother, David and I. Ron came along when I was 10, Julie a couple of years later. We all have cherished memories of that house on the 2 acres where we grew up. On October 15, 2006, my brothers and sister, our spouses and our children all met for one last time, 2 weeks before the close of the house.
When dad and mom bought that house, it represented to them a dream come Read more:experience
A beautiful Craftsman home East of Market, Kirkland 2007-01-31 06:43:18 This is a 3 bedroom, 3.5 bath, 3,527 sq ft. new construction beautiful Craftsman home. It is located literally steps from downtown Kirkland
and their amazing selection of galleries, boutiques and restaurants. Here are some of the features:
· Chef's kitchen with deluxe custom cabinetry, granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. Everything is absolutely top of the line!
· Upstairs master suite with elegant 5 piece bathroom and a bedroom sized walk in closet
· Master suite has a cozy gas fireplace and a deck with an amazing view. You can see the Cascades, Mt.Ranier, Lake Washington, Downtown Seattle, and the Olympic mountains
· Expansive hardwood floors
· Large study on the main floor
· A huge great room with a nice big gas fireplace
· Media Room (16x20)
· Large covered entertainment sized deck
· Professionally landscaped front and back yard
· Large 3 car garage
If yo Read more:Market
A warmer place to live..... 2007-01-31 01:35:39 Written by Greg Perry
About a year ago, clients Jason and Sarah Lichtenberger puchased a condo from me on the Sammamish Plateau. The condo was very nice, but very, very white. Jason and Sarah have completed a paint makeover and Sarah sent me the following pics. Says Sarah, "With the exception of the kitchen, everything is now a neutral shade of beige rather than the stark white that was there when we moved in. The guest bedroom is still white for now. The kitchen is a deep shade of brick red. I love how much everything stands out now and the warmth of the colors."
Thank you Sarah for sharing your pics. Your condo looks amazing! The Lichtenbergers were referred by Jennie Doyle!
King County Growth Report 2007-01-31 01:08:13
NWREporter February 2007
One of the biggest challenges of the growing strength of the region's economy is the continuing demand for housing and the upward pressure on housing prices, according to authors of the 2006 King CountyGrowth
Report.
Strained housing affordability and traffic congestion seem to be the inevitable consequences of the desirability of King County
as a place to live and do business, the researchers suggest.
King County's number of jobs has nearly returned to pre-recession numbers after 70,000 jobs were lost from 2001-2004. That finding is among details in the comprehensive report issued late last year by King County Executive Ron Sims.
The 144-page Annual Growth report (AGR), supplemented by maps, graphs and tables, provides details on demographics and development in King County. It includes information on jobs and housing units for each of the county's 39 cities, plus profiles for 10 potential annexation areas. The report also highlights residential c
December 2006 Market Stats, King County 2007-01-30 01:14:24 December 2006 had fewer PENDING sales with more ACTIVE listings. There were also fewer CLOSED sales. Median prices continue to rise. The Median price ended the year at $425,000, a 13.6% increase from 2005.
Source NWMLS
King Co.
2006
2005
Y-T-D 2006
Y-T-D 2005
New Listings
1,187
1,487
38,952
40,722
Total Listings
5.423
4.411
Pending Sales
1,623
1,790
29,988
34,115
Closed Sales
1,905
2,407
27,834
31,939
Average Price
$537,477
$467,818
$518,108
$455,774
Median Price
$440,000
$393,000
$425,000
$374,000
Read more:Market
, County
, King County
, December
, Stats
Rats! I did it again! 2007-02-08 22:58:44 Written by Greg Perry
I am a creature of habit. I've driven to and from my office every day for over a decade the same old route. I have a problem. When I take that route now, here's what I see:
You see, 116th Ave NE is closed until summer for construction! How many times will I make the turn to see that sign?
The 116th Ave NE closure is part of the WSDOT Totem Lake Station project. Here's what the WSDOT says about the project:
The End ResultThe completed project will provide improved access for buses, carpools and vanpools to the I-405 HOV lanes. It will also provide Kirkland drivers a new east-west route over I-405, as building the direct access ramps in the median enables WSDOT to extend NE 128th Street across I-405.
Project Benefits• Congestion. The new ramp will carry buses, carpools and vanpools over traffic and directly in and out of HOV lanes. This will provide faster, safer and more reliable service for transit buses and other HOVs by eliminating the need
We've found our identity! 2007-02-08 19:38:55 Written by Greg Perry
Who are we and what do we want to do? Questions we ask ourselves all of our lives. We found it was no different as we started this blog. We had a couple of thoughts as we tried to find our name. Our first thought is that we have used "Working-for-you" for over 10 years and those words are recognized as our brand. The next thought is that Seattle is the landmark city for the region, so we thought we should use "Seattle" in our title and URL. So we brainstormed and our best thinking came up with these:
www.working-for-youseattleblog.com We lived with this name about a day and we quickly realized that it wasn't what we wanted.
Our next great epiphany was to insert the words real estate into the URL.
www.seattlerealestateworkingforyou.com Now here we had a winner....we thought. We had "Seattle", we had "real estate", we had "working-for-you" The first time I shared this URL with somebody to check out the blog, I got writer's cramp with all those let Read more:identity
New School (not old school) Link 2007-02-10 04:26:10 My wife is an elementary school teacher in the Issaquah school district. Since the moment I started creating this blog I have been under an immense amount of pressure to give the Eastside educational institutions props... so I've done just that. Check out the new "school info" link on the right, and be sure to click through to the higher education page. We are blessed to have such great schools in the area. Voters in the area support local bonds and levies, the schools have relatively low class sizes, and they stay current with technological advances in education. (my wife totally digs her "smart board"... a giant chalkboard meets plasma screen technology).
I hope the links provide you with information helpful to you and your relocation (if thats the case). Let me know if you can't find something you might find helpful... after all this is a work in progress!
My wife has pledged a commitment to write an in depth article about the state of the Eastside schools... so STAY TUNE Read more:New School
Kirkland Annexation Meeting March 1 2007-02-12 08:28:40 Written by Greg Perry
The City of Kirkland
is considering the annexation of the Finn Hill, Upper Juanita and Kingsgate areas. If brought to a vote, the approx. 33,000 residents of these areas will decide if they should become a part of Kirkland complete with services such as parks, police and roads.
The Kirkland City Council invites all interested parties to attend a meeting at the Peter Kirk Community Center on March
1, 2007 starting at 6:00 pm for an open house and a presentation and discussion starting at 7:00.
To see a map of the area to be annexed, click here.
To see the decision making flow chart, click here.
To view the most frequently asked questions and answers, click here.
We encourage all affected residents to attend these meetings as they could impact the value of your Kirkland real estate values and your basics services.
Interest-only loans: Good or bad? 2007-02-13 06:04:43 Written by: Ryan Jensen
When I am working with a client, one of the most common questions I hear is "Aren't interest-only loans really bad?" It seems this type of loan, while exploding in popularity, has earned itself a bit of a bad rap. For those of you unfamiliar with the product, an interest-only loan is a fixed or variable 30-year mortgage where the borrower is only required to pay the interest due each month on the principal balance for the first 5 to 10 years. The borrower can pay principal if they wish, but have that as an option. This results in a monthly payment dramatically smaller than a traditional fully-amortized payment.
While I agree that an interest-only mortgage is not the loan to carry on your home for a full 30 year term, it does have it's usefulness in today's market. As home prices have steadily risen over the past few years, more people are finding themselves priced out of the market. This is especially true for many first Read more:Interest
January Eastside Real Estate Stats Are In 2007-02-13 04:57:31 Written by Greg Perry
The JanuaryEastside
real estate stats are in. Some of these numbers may surprise a few people. The statistics are for Residential and Condos in MLS areas 500 (South of I-90 through Issaquah), 510 (Mercer Island), 520 (Bellevue west of I405), 530 (Bellevue east of I405), 540 (Sammamish Plateau), 550 (Redmond through Carnation), 560 (Kirkland and Bridle Trails), and area 600 (No. Kirkland-Woodinville-Duvall).
In January 2006, there were 4834 practicing real estate agents on the Eastside, in 2007 we had 5208, in increase of 374 agents.
In January 2007, the number of ACTIVE listings was greater(2402) than 2006 (2031), but fewer than 2005 (2652).
The ACTIVE inventory median prices jumped from $561,442 in 2006 to $585,072.
The months of inventory available was barely off the all time low of 2.7 months last year to only 3 months of inventory this year.
Market stats compiled by Windermere RE EAST form MLS information. Click on the chart below to enlarge.
Read more:Estate
, Stats
, Real Estate
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