Reba's Blog

I've noticed more buyers with all cash offers coming out of the woodwork (so to speak) in the past 3 weeks than ever before. With prices in our area having improved for buyers throughout the past 5 years, it's not surprising to see new buyer activity, but this level of cash coming into play is unprecedented for my past 9 year career in the industry. I'm seeing it from my own buyers (investors of $50-200k properties) and as the listing agent of well-priced properties (in the $400k ranges).

Anyone else seeing this same kind of activity?

With home values having declined upwards of an average 35% in King County between 2007 and 2012, many people are wondering how they can have their tax burden reviewed and potentially reduced. In King County you can go to their website at this link to learn about how to make an application for an assessed value appeal.

I've had several clients in the past few years who are looking closely at this process because of the prices they're paying for distressed homes, which typically are at much lower prices than traditional home sale values. When you've got a first-time buyer who is watching every penny, being able to get the property taxes reduced can help them get a stronger budget after closing time.  The challenge of property taxes that are way out of whack of selling prices too is that it makes it harder for a low down payment buyer to qualify for their loan.

Our area has been getting hammered by a winter storm this past week with a series of snow, then rain, then snow, then ice, then snow, and now warming temps but with lots of snow still on the ground. This makes for many dangerous situations both on the road and off - reason being the abundance of our massive trees and ice weighing them down.  Many large roadways and highways are currently off limits due to downed trees.  You can check at this link to the WSDOT to find out which roads are closed and what has been re-opened.

Big trees are also a danger to homes since some of these trees are falling over entirely, or large branches are falling off them.

So, at a recent holiday party a client of mine threw I learned that during his major remodel the concrete framed building did actually allow some noise and vibration through the walls - that's because they were installed a new hung ceiling which required about 500+ screws into the concrete. Yeah, apparently the vibes went out toward 4 floors each direction.

One thing I noticed at the housewarming though was that in adding the dropped ceiling, they hadn't added a full audio system throughout the home.  That got me wondering about all these new high tech systems going into houses because my boyfriend just installed one in our house and the sub-woofer will, on occasion, startle the heck out of my two Jack Russell Terriers.  I couldn't imagine having this in a condo project without ticking off a neighbor.

Just as I was considering some of these issues, this article via Inman showed up in my inbox and it had a wonderful list of things that a condominium owner can do to mitigate the sound problem when installing these kinds of systems.  It might be some expense, but better this than a fine from your HOA when you bother the neighbors.

No Fluff Savvy Home Buyer Seminar January 28, 2012

01/28/2012
10:00 am - 12:00 pm

Forza Coffee - Tacoma

Please RSVP to Classes@TeamReba.com by 01/26/2011 with your name, phone number and email for confirmation.

If you’ve been wondering what the state of the real estate market is like in the Pierce and King County areas, now is your chance to get a No Fluff reality check. We’ll have Team Reba real estate brokers and a local mortgage lender (Jerry Rutherford of Legacy Group) on hand to help you learn how to navigate today’s new realities of buying real estate. On the agenda will be 3 major topics:

1) Credit repair, how credit is scored, what to look for in your credit report,

2) Lending products and options for buyers/refinances in today’s marketplace, including loans that allow for modifications to a property (FHA 203k loans) for those “less than perfect” purchases, and

3) An explanation of the real estate purchase process as well as an overview of today’s marketplace and the types of transactions most commonly seen. Including, short sales, bank owned and “traditional” real estate sales.

We hope you can join us and we look forward to seeing you there! If you can’t make it, or this class might be better suited for someone you know (friends, family, or colleagues), again, please feel free to forward the invite – all are welcome. Coffee/Tea/Snacks available for purchase at Forza Coffee. Class is held in the conference room at the back of the shop.

Café Forza located at 2209 N Pearl St, Tacoma 98407

No Fluff Savvy Home Buying - Level I January 21st, 2012 01/21/2012

10:00 am - 12:00 pm RE/MAX Metro Realty office at 2312 Eastlake Ave E, Seattle WA 98102

RSVP to Classes@TeamReba.com by 01/19/2011

If you’ve been wondering what the state of the real estate market is like in Seattle and the general King/Snohomish/Pierce County area, now is your chance to get a No Fluff reality check. We’ll have Team Reba real estate brokers and a 30+ year veteran local mortgage lender (Eric Aasness of Wells Fargo) on hand to help you learn how to navigate today’s new realities of buying real estate.

On the agenda will be 3 major topics:

1) Credit repair processes, how credit is scored, what to look for in your credit report,

2) Lending products and options for buyers/refinances in today’s marketplace, including loans that allow for modifications to a property (FHA 203k loans) for those “less than perfect” purchases like cosmetic fixers, bank owned or short sales, and

3) An explanation of the real estate purchase process as well as an overview of today’s marketplace and the types of transactions most commonly seen. Including, short sales, bank owned and “traditional” real estate sales.

We hope you can join us and we look forward to seeing you there! If you can’t make it, or this class might be better suited for someone you know (friends, family, or colleagues), again, please feel free to forward the invite – all are welcome.

Coffee/Tea available onsite.

REMAX Office Address: 2312 Eastlake Ave E Seattle WA 98102

According to the story posted on DSNews, many people aren't responding to these events, but they are actually quite helpful and useful to those that go. If you know of anyone struggling with their mortgage and they've got a BofA loan, it might be worth encouraging them to go if an event is held in your area of the USA.

Besides the big events that are being held, there are also several offices in the WA area where loan modification meetings can be set up for BofA customers, as well as many more around the country.

I just tried to schedule some showings for a new client who is in a HURRY to buy a home so they can not only get out of a limited 2 month corporate housing option, but because the wife is pregnant and they don't want to move while she's in 3rd trimester. Our goal of buying a home within a month means we're out SERIOUSLY shopping.  If you don't make your home available today, we may choose not to come back. Unfortunately, the first place I called for our tour won't be available to us because of a child's birthday party.

Look, I'm not against a kid having a birthday, but especially when it's the first one for a kid and they won't remember it anyway, it's likely not that important that it be at your house - particularly if you have a goal of selling your place.  This house has been on the market for 126 days already and is likely about to be on for quite a bit more since we now won't be seeing it this weekend. 

I'd like to make the suggestion, sellers, that if you want to sell your house - you might consider the weekend birthday parties to be held offsite. Not only does going to the local party spot for kids make your home available to buyers, but it also means you don't have to worry about clean up and there is plenty for the visiting children to do too! :)

Perhaps this is something that the listing agent could have discussed up front with you.... good communication between you will help illuminate priorities.

In discussions with my sellers, we talk about the "decision tree" when it comes to showings.  If your goal is to sell you have to treat each call as a decision tree.  A buyer's agent will call and ask to show and you have a choice... say "yes" and get an opportunity, or say "no" and risk the buyer never coming back. If a seller is home and they're in the middle of something - like giving kids a bath, I tell them to ask the agent on the phone if they are the only house they're coming to see or if they're part of a tour.  If possible, ask to be put at the end of the tour to accommodate the time you need to finish.  Or be first to get it over with and continue on with your personal plans.

Most clients, once I explain the scenarios, choose to be as flexible as possible so as not to turn away buyers unnecessarily.

One of the benefits of being on a variety of email lists is that I get some pretty interesting information that is sent directly to me.  Granted, there is a lot of fluff out there, but on occasion I really enjoy an article or I find it to be so extremely useful that I am compelled to pass it on.

I've always been interested in saving energy - at least once I got past my parents always telling me to "turn the light off when you leave the room!"  LOL!  Actually, I was buying the highest MPG cars, recycling, and buying energy efficient products before they were going mainstream so it's something I look for regularly in my personal life.

With the economy continuing to struggle along, I think more people are looking closely at their energy bills and trying to find ways to improve their position - a noble goal.

Here is an article that gives a lot of practical advice on how to plug spots in your home that are leaking energy - which = $$$$.

As part of the 1st time home buyer classes that I teach, I'm always looking for new tools to share with people.  One of my contacts at a lending organization, Paul McFadden of The Legacy Group (an Active Rainer!) sent me a newsletter recently that had a little tip that I think could use a bit more promotion.

There are two ways you can go about getting off pre-screened credit offers:

1. Opt out for 5 year increments - go to www.optoutprescreen.com and you can pick the 5 year removal option.

2. Opt out permanently - but you have to mail that one in but you'll get the details for doing so at the same site.

Hope some of you find it useful!  I know I'm planning on doing at minimum the 5 year option. :)