Tuesday, December 29, 2009

#1 In Washington!!!


I have said it before and I'll say it again, "My office is really cool." At our weekly sales meeting today, my broker announced that Windermere Professional Partners is now the #1 Windermere office in the entire state of Washington. Holy cow. I knew we were the big rising star in Windermere, but I wasn't expecting it to happen so fast. Especially in this market. We are selling more homes than far more established offices in Downtown Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, etc. The affordability factor in Pierce County is definitely a factor, but I've got to give a big congrats to my broker, who has worked his butt off to improve our training, customer service and market knowledge.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all!!!! And, to all a good night.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Website of the Week

If you read the previous post, then you will know a little about WordPress (if you didn't already). My website of the week is related to it. It's called StudioPress.com and they design and sell themes, aka templates, for WordPress blog-sites. Their designs are very elegant and also very functional. Check them out. You never know when you are going to start your own site...

StudioPress.com

Transitions... WordPress...

So, I have been thinking about reworking my blog and using WordPress. I have mostly been thinking about this, not because I am unhappy with my current host (not thrilled with them either), but because it means I can think about something besides the NUMEROUS and frustrating short sales I have going on right now. I know, I know... I should be happy to have the business, but short sales can even test the patience of really patient people like me. We are just going to have to cycle through this. Hang in there clients! I am looking out for you.

This brings me back to WordPress. I attended a very interesting tutorial on the system today and was so impressed with what it offers. There's definitely a bit of a learning curve for a non-techie like me, but I like the idea that I can become a better techie because of it. Has anyone had any experience with WordPress? It very seemlessly allows you to create a "blog-site", my new term for blog based websites. I could provide video clips, rotating photos, more dynamic graphic design to my blog. Very interesting...

Thursday, December 10, 2009

New Windermere Professional Partners Website


My office just debuted it's new website: http://www.windermerepropartners.com. Not that I want to direct you away from my website, but it's got a lot of useful information. I especially like the "Open House Search." Now that so few agents advertise open houses in the newspaper, the web is becoming the go-to place for that info and I think there has been some confusion about the best place to go for the listings. The new Windermere Professional Partners site allows you to search specific areas for ALL open houses, not just our offices. If an agent has placed the open house times on the Multiple Listing Service site, then it will automatically sweep over to my office's website. It's very convenient and super easy to use.

My office is so cool. : )

The Weather May Be Cold, But Condos Are Warming Up

This week The Esplanade, a new upscale condo development in downtown Tacoma, has its grand re-opening after going through the foreclosure process. The bank is now selling off it's condos at greatly reduced prices from where they were a year ago. In fact, one of my clients put in an offer on a sweet 1 bedroom. This is the first new construction or condo conversion I've sold in almost 3 years and I sell more condos than the average agent. So, I got to thinking about the condo market in Tacoma...

Three years ago there were numerous new construction and condo conversions for sale in Tacoma. One might even call it a glut of condos. Developers were asking astronomical prices for many of these condos. At least, I felt they were astronomical. They were not much less than prices I had seen in West LA before I moved up here in '06. Except, and I love/hate to say it, Tacoma is not LA. It's an awesome place to live but the circumstances that keep West LA prices so high just don't exist here. We don't have a large population of singles and couples (childless or empty nesters) earning well into the 6 figures. In LA that's very common due to the high cost of living. We also don't have an industry like Hollywood attracting talent and executives who demand staggeringly high compensation. (We don't have the bad attitudes that go with it either!) Finally, we don't have the enormous amount of foreign money found in West LA. I lived in the West LA area for 17 years, including 6 years in my Brentwood condo, and a big percentage of my neighbors were from the Middle East, Asia and South America and they had paid cash (big bucks) for their condos. When Tacoma developers started asking sky high prices for condos there just weren't enough buyers who either could or would pay the prices.

Now, combine that with a mortgage meltdown and a provision that condos developments with less than 50% owner occupancy could not qualify for FHA approval, therefore buyers couldn't get a loan, and we had almost total stagnation in the Tacoma new construction condo market.

Good news! It's warming up. A few things have happened... Some developers were able to slash prices dramatically and that allowed enough cash buyers to come in and get the condo developments FHA approved. Some condo developments went into foreclosure and are now back on the market at greatly reduced prices. But, best of all, FHA is starting to loosen up their restrictions on owner occupancy rates for new construction. Just yesterday 505 Broadway closed 5 units.

In fact, since November 1, there have been 23 total condo sales (new and existing) in the city of Tacoma.

Now if the weather would just warm up a little...

Monday, November 23, 2009

Finally, A Busy Open House

I held my townhouse listing open yesterday afternoon and expected to have plenty of time to blog because, let's face it, open houses have been REALLY SLOW the last couple of years. Needless to say, I was pretty pleased to have a nice turnout. And real buyers to boot. The $8000 first time home buyer tax credit is definitely moving the under $300,000 housing market. Hopefully it won't all fall apart when the credit ends next April.

I thought I'd crunch some numbers for housing sales in area communities. Below are the active vs. pending sales percentages. I derived these percentages by dividing the number of active listings into the number of pending listings (homes with offers accepted). For example, if a community has 200 actives and 25 pendings, that equals 12.5%. Here's what the percentages mean:

0%-45% is a buyer's market
45%-55% is a neutral market
55%-100% is a seller's market

What does that mean for local communities? Here are the percentages for some:

Gig Harbor 19%
North Tacoma 21%
Lakewood 29%
University Place 20%
Spanaway 55%

Basically, this is telling me that houses are selling. With the exception of Spanaway, it's still a buyer's market but the buyer's are buying when they see a good deal. Spanaway is a borderline seller's market and I'm not surprised because it's median home price is perfect for first time home buyers.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

A funny thing happened on the way to Hollywood...

My real estate career got busy again. Go figure. It turns out that it's next to impossible to get a film financed right now. The banks have stopped lending, just like they've stopped everywhere else. Meanwhile the first time home buyer tax credit has been doing wonders for the real estate industry. It's not exactly gang buster business, but it's a good start.

Last weekend the National Association of Realtors held their annual convention and Lawrence Yun, the NAR economist (and one of the most respected economists in the country), gave a talk on the state of the real estate market. He feels that the pendulum has swung too far and that many homes are selling greatly under value. I love this news simply because it means we have nowhere to go but up. Not that I don't expect plenty of hiccups along the way, but I think we may have made the turn. I'll crunch some numbers for Pierce County and post them tomorrow. Expect to see good news for the under $300,000 range.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Bad, bad blogger

Okay, I've been a bad, bad blogger. Neglecting my blog for weeks on end. I'd love to have an exciting excuse, but no... My "excuse" is that I have had my faith in the real estate business tested. I see signs of recovery, ABSOLUTELY, but is it enough to keep my business going? Two weeks ago I went back to LA to interview for motion picture work, my old job. Sounds glamorous, but I know it's not. It is lucrative, though. In the last year I have been ranked in the top 6% of all agents in Pierce County, but it's still not a steady income. I'd love to be all RAH RAH right now, but that's not the case. Do I give up my years of hard work in real estate and go back to Hollywood? aka Crazywood?

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Will Ferrell and the Eye Socket

As many of you know, I am a vegetarian. So, tonight I was watching MAN VS WILD and came across an interesting (at least to me) question... Why is Will Ferrell eating a reindeer eye socket any weirder than me eating tofu? I have been a vegetarian for about 5 years and have received no end of questioning and criticism. Like somehow eating vegetables and brown rice is a bad thing.

Tonight I was watching MAN VS. WILD with guest star Will Ferrell and they had to cook dinner. Dinner, of course, is northern Sweden road kill, a reindeer. They toasted the head over a fire and eat the eyes. BLEH!!!!!! Tofu is grosser than this? I think not!! How can this, IN ANY WAY, be nicer than eating an apple, pinto beans, peas, and who knows what else.

Will Ferrell, by the way, is a Trojan. I hope he sees the light soon... Or, there is always East LA road kill...

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Can I Help You?

This is my final week of Census address canvassing. My feet are tired. My stamina is increased. I am still frustrated with the plethora of unfenced dogs roaming Gig Harbor.

One of the things I have pondered during my Census experience is the use of the phrase, "Can I help you?" Other than being polite when a store clerk asks me that question, I have never given it much thought. I have heard it MANY times while address canvassing. Today, I was standing in front of a house in a fairly upscale neighborhood, verifying the address, and a woman in a van pulled up next to me and said, "Can I help you?" I wasn't in distress. I didn't look like I needed help in any way. What she was really saying is, "Why are you in my neighborhood and what are you doing?" It had absolutely nothing to do with offering me help. If I had been on private property I would have completely understood that, but I was standing on a county road in a populous area. I don't exactly look like I am casing the neighborhood and I carry a large book bag that says CENSUS.

Earlier in the day, I had a discrepancy with a street name and some addresses (was it 79th Ave or 79th Ave Ct?). No big deal. I knocked on the door of the only home on the street that looked like anyone was home. Dogs barked (of course) and I could see a lady approach the door. The door jiggled and the latch turned. She locked it! Didn't even answer. This is a nice neighborhood and, honestly, I do not look threatening. It was the non-verbal equivalent of "Can I help you?" Have we become more paranoid or am I just more aware of it now. The lady obviously felt safe enough to leave her door unlocked, but became frightened? unfriendly? when I dared to ring her doorbell?

And, I may never know if it was 79th Ave or 79th Ave Ct...

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Explaining the new credit card legislation

Here is a post from an MSNBC.COM blog regarding the new credit card regulation passed by Congress yesterday. I was pretty confused, and apparently mislead, about how the legislation will affect credit card holders. This blog post helped clear things up.

http://redtape.msnbc.com/2009/05/dispelling-confusion-over-credit-card-legislation-.html

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

WSJ House of the Week

Every week the Wall Street Journal website picks a "house of the week." As you can imagine, they don't pick houses in lower price points (like under a couple of million). The houses are always interesting, but the house this week got me to thinking. The sellers are the parents of 4 competitive snowboarders. They are selling to better accommodate their kid's training schedules. The asking price? $8.495 million. Check it out. It's not exactly decorated like a teenager's hangout. Who the heck lived there?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124205330348006895.html

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Sci Fi vs Art

As many of you know, I am a bit of a Star Trek fan. Not a die-hard Trekkie, but I love my Trek. Now, in case you haven't guessed, this is not a real estate related post. Sometimes I have to think of other things. : ) Therefore, I was watching Star Trek: Next Generation tonight on Tivo and I started to think about the impact of Star Trek.

First of all, I LOVED the new Star Trek movie. Really fun. Star Trek is always fun! But there is a bigger reason (more than fun) for Star Trek to have been a constant in my life since I was a small child. I think it's creativity. I am the product of a "creative" education. I went to film school. Not just anywhere. I went to USC, the best film school in the country. (Maybe the world, but students in Prague would argue that.) Schools today put so much effort into teaching science and math, and I think that's great, but they also need to develop the creative side of the brain. "Creative" progams in schools are being slashed or eliminated and I think that's a tragedy. Ask any die-hard Star Trek science geek what inspires him or her and he/she will say the "creative science side." The transporter beam, Vulcans, warp drive, the food replicator... All products of a creative mind. Our own President, as the story goes, looked at his wife's jewel encrusted belt and called the jewels dilithium crystals.

I am not stating anything profound here. Just remembering that it often takes someone thinking REALLY, REALLY far outside of the box to find something truly interesting and challenging that encourages us to meet those challenges. If we don't encourage creative thinking then how can we expect the science to catch up? Creative thinkers set goals for science. These thinkers don't care about boundaries, sometimes to their detriment and we need them. The creative, pie-in-the-sky ideas makes us aim higher.

Now I need to apply my creative thinking to real estate...

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The Reality of Foreclosures

It seems like every real estate company you drive by these days has a sign out in front saying "Foreclosure List Available." One office in Gig Harbor put one of those signs out last month and had over 100 walk-ins asking for the list. There are foreclosure tours (be wary), articles about grabbing a great foreclosure deal and just all kinds of talk about foreclosure opportunities these days. Recently my office put together a list of pre-forclosure homes because it's such a hot market. This information is all public record because the home's auction date must be registered with the county and made public. I was scanning through the list yesterday (all 70 pages) and, while many agents see opportunity, I have to say I just felt a bit depressed. Looking at all of the names and homes made it much more real and personal. I recognized a few names of people I didn't even know were in such trouble. The truly sad part is that the majority of people on the list are only about $15,000 behind in payments and fees. I don't know everyone's situation and why they are losing their home, but that seems like a small amount to lose a home over. Hopefully some of these folks will be able to sell their homes or work out a new payment schedule with the banks before the auction dates.

So, where are all of these soon to be foreclosed properties? Primarily in East Tacoma, Spanaway and Puyallup. Not so much in North Tacoma, UP or Fircrest and practically none in Gig Harbor.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Why a 14.5% drop in home prices isn't so bad

The headline in today's News Tribune is PIERCE COUNTY HOME PRICES TUMBLE 14.5%. Very true. They have fallen significantly over the last year. Now my question is... how quickly and how high did they first climb? In January 2004 the median home price in Pierce County was $188,000. Prices peaked in July 2007 at $294,000. That is an increase of 36.1% in 3 1/2 years. Whoa! That's insane! In 2004 prices increased 13% from January to December. In 2005 it was another 14% increase, followed by a 6.5% increase in 2006. Our market spun way out of control (for many, many reasons) and what we are experiencing now is a necessary market correction. Is that a bad thing?

Unfortunately, if you bought in 2005-2007 your home is probably not worth what you paid for it. If that's the case, I feel your pain. I bought in Sept 06. I could cry in my beer (or, in my case, white wine), but the thing is, unless you absolutely have to sell right now, just wait it out and the value will go up again. It won't go up as quickly because that perfect storm of market conditions/lending/appraising, etc doesn't exist anymore. I am looking forward to the day, which is coming, when our real estate market is stable and boring again.

FYI- The stats and numbers were sourced through the NWMLS and Trendgraphix.

Monday, May 4, 2009

I love dogs, but...


As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been address canvassing for the 2010 Census for the last few weeks. I am not supposed to say where, but let's just say that we canvass near our homes and you can kinda figure out what town I live in from this blog. Anyway, as a Realtor I have always been careful about looking for loose dogs when I am out previewing properties. You never know when a neighbor's unleashed dog will get a little territorial. Well, the Census work has given me a whole new view on the serious nature of this problem. The area I have been canvassing is both rural and suburban and I am astonished at the number of dogs just running around. (And every SINGLE one has barked at me.) It was cute for about 2 days and now it's just plain frightening. I have been growled at, snipped at and plain old threatened by a large number of dogs. My theory is that the book bag and hand held computer I carry must somehow look threatening. A golden retriever even growled at me.

The real (and serious) reason I am writing this is after being growled at and followed in a threatening manner by a pit bull today I realized how little county law enforcement is doing to protect people. After the pit bull threatened me, I happened across a neighbor and mentioned the dog. The neighbor told me that the dog is always loose and a danger to children. It bit someone and they called law enforcement (I am assuming either animal control or the sheriff) and they were told that there were too many loose running dogs for them to handle so they wouldn't do anything about it. Does a child have to be mauled to death before someone gets the message? I love dogs. But, dogs need need to be fenced in or leashed. Invisible fences are a great invention. I would love to hear what people think about this. Am I over-reacting? I don't think so.

By the way, I have a whole new respect for the mailman I had growing up. He didn't have the luxury of delivering mail from his Jeep. He had to walk it, dogs and all!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Heck yeah, houses are selling

Yesterday I thought I'd take a look and see how many homes are currently pending in Pierce County. The number might surprise you. There are 6214 active homes for sale (no offers on them) and, drum roll please... 1835 houses pending (under contract)! That's a lot of homes for this "down" market. Now, the reality is that a VERY large percentage of the pending homes are either bank owned or short sales and short sales, especially, spend a long time in escrow, sometimes as much as 3-5 months. I thought I would break down the pending homes in several parts of Pierce County. By the way, I have included condos in these numbers.

Tacoma 1921 active & 527 pending
Gig Harbor/Fox Island 786 active & 137 pending
Lakewood 321 active & 94 pending
University Place/Fircrest 218 active & 52 pending
Spanaway 325 active & 173 pending
Puyallup 818 active & 303 pending

As you can see, Spanaway is no longer a buyer's market, it's even. This is due to a couple of factors: affordable inventory for the average buyer and quite a few bank owned properties in the area driving prices down. As opposed to Gig Harbor where homes tend to be more expensive (fewer available buyers) and there are not nearly as many bank owned and short sales.

Stay tuned, the traditional strong housing season is just getting started...

Website of the Week

This is a very cool website if you are wanting to redecorate your home and are struggling for ideas. It's called getdecorating.com and it has thousands of photos of professionally decorated rooms and exteriors. You have to be a member to view all the photos, but it's only about $16 for one month. They have photo galleries for every type of room, plus window coverings, doors, etc. One of these days when I get a few bucks in the bank...

http://www.getdecorating.com/

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Open Houses this weekend

I will be hosting two open houses this weekend and please feel free to stop by.

Saturday's (May 2) is a sweet NE Tacoma 2 bedroom condo with sweeping views of Tacoma Harbor. Totally updated by the current owner. Click here for a preview. I could hang out on that deck all day!

Sunday's (May 3) is a beautifully updated craftsman in the North End of Tacoma. Charming!! Plus it has a great yard, sports court and deck. Click here for the preview.

They are both awesome listings and well worth the visit!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Website of the Week

If you need a good dentist here you go!

John Hodges, DDS click it

Buyer's market?


This graph shows the Pierce County housing market up to $250,000 from January 2008 through March 2009. Whoa Nelly! Things are picking up! The little triangles represent pending sales and they leapt up in March. As of today, the standing inventory for homes for sale under $250,000 in Pierce County is below 7 months. 6 months is considered a neutral market. The "buyer's market" is gone in Pierce County in this price range. In fact, several agents in my office have experienced multi-offer situations repeatedly. It has been bank owned properties and short sales driving this improvement in pricing. Improvement? I know, I know. But even though prices have dropped and it is bumming sellers out, it's the only way we are going to see a turn around real estate. I am very curious to see how April turns out. Stay tuned...

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Blister in a blister

As I mentioned earlier, I have been hired to address canvass for the 2010 US Census. It's been really cool and I have learned sooooo many nooks and crannies in Gig Harbor and Fox Island. What I have also learned is that you can have a blister in a blister. Not kidding. I have walked a tremendous amount of area in the last two weeks and developed a blister on my little left toe. I have monitored it and a few days ago, at the recommendation of a friend, popped it. Today, after 5 hours on my feet, my blister returned. I popped it again and found, AGH!!!, another blister under it. This is not right!!! The really funny/odd part of it is that more than several people, while address canvassing for the Census, have thanked me for my work. I really appreciate this, though I would first remind them that a) I am being paid and b) I am not being sent to Iraq or Afganistan. The Census is part of our Constitution, so I totally appreciate their thanks, but, funny enough, my FEET appreciate it more!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

$8000 First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit

There has been a tremendous amount of talk regarding the first time homebuyer tax credit for 2009, as you can well imagine. I think there is also a lot of confusion. The National Association of Realtors put together a good FAQ for it and you can click here for the link. It helps clarify how the credit is given. For example, if you qualify for the tax credit then next year when you file your taxes you will first have to see if you owe the IRS any money. Say you owe them $1500, then that would be deducted from the $8000 tax credit. So, instead of writing the IRS a check for $1500, you would receive a check for $6500.

One thing that I have not seen clarified anywhere is if the first time home buyer co-signs with someone else who is not a first time homebuyer. For example, a buyer who must co-sign with a parent in order to qualify for the mortgage. This is extremely common and, from what I understand, doesn't qualify for the $8000 tax credit. The lesson here is to consult with a tax expert if you think you may not qualify.

WASHINGTON STATE FIRST TIME HOMEBUYERS READ HERE!!!!

On April 16, the Washington State Senate passed an ammendment making Washington one of only a few states that will allow you to use the $8000 tax credit for your downpayment. How does it work? First they created a $25 million fund. The buyer "borrows" $8000 from the fund to make the down payment and signs over his/her federal tax credit to the fund. When the buyer files his/her 2009 taxes the $8000 credit is delivered directly back to the fund. Needless to say, the buyer would be responsible for paying any additional taxes they owe that year.

You have got until November 30, 2009 to go out and take advantage of this!

Website of the Week


I just tried a website called picnik.com. It's a photo manipulation website that mimics Photoshop. I love being able to play around with photography but never wanted to spend the big bucks on Photoshop. This site has a free version (that I used) and an upgraded version for a monthly fee. The free version had a bunch of options and I want to start experimenting with it. Here is my first attempt. It took me all of a minute to do. By the way, this is a self portrait of my nephew Connor. Apparently he got hold of my camera one day because when I recently downloaded pictures from it, I found several that I know I didn't take, including this one. I decided to give him a Quentin Tarantino look.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Accredited Buyer Representative Designation Earned

Yeah! I have officially earned my first Realtor designation, the Accredited Buyer Representative. This is the result of 24 hours of clock hour courses, passing the tests and having enough transactions under my belt to qualify. What this means is that I have taken the time to learn how to better serve and advise my buyer clients so the home buying process is smoother and my client's best interests are served.

Gig Harbor Getting Interesting for Foodies

I tried Sip at the Restaurant Wednesday night with a couple of friends and I am hopeful that Gig Harbor is finally going to get more interesting for foodies. The Tides is always good, my fish loving dad says they have the best grilled halibut sandwich he's ever had, and their new menu is showing some extra creativity. Anthony's has good food, but is really about the view. Also, as a vegetarian, their menu is too limited for me to give a true opinion. The Marketplace Grille, next to Anthony's, has a killer veggie burger, award winning clam chowder and a terrific view. Brix 25 has a spectacular wine selection, though I find their food sometimes in need of a little simplification. Complex doesn't mean throw in as many ingredients as you can. Also, not much available for a vegetarian.

Now, we have Sip, which opened a few weeks ago in Uptown Gig Harbor. I went with 2 friends, one a big time foodie from LA, and we were pretty darn impressed. There were a few things that still need some tweeking. My asparagus with black truffle oil was cooked perfectly but needed about a third of the truffle oil on it. Too heavy. My LA friend's white bean soup tasted great but has the consistancy of porridge. Just need to thin it out a little and perfection shall be obtained. My other friend loved her slider burgers and her french fries were sinfully good. We didn't really dig into the wine list on this trip, but it looks impressive. The thing I was most pleased with is that they are open late on Friday and Saturdays. 1am!!!!! Finally a place in Gig Harbor that doesn't start winding down at 8 o'clock. Now their is a great place to go after an 8pm movie.

What's coming next for Gig Harbor foodies... LeLe Vietnamese Food! More on that when it opens in Uptown Gig Harbor.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Website of the Week

I had a really nice dinner Saturday night at Maxwell's Speakeasy and Lounge in downtown Tacoma. We caught a movie at The Grand Cinema and then walked down to Maxwell's. Our ticket stub served as a coupon for a free dessert. Their wine selection is very good and their happy hour food prices are excellent!

http://www.maxwells-tacoma.com/

Census 2010

I have been pretty busy gearing up for the 2010 Census. About 6 weeks ago I read that they were hiring people with flexible schedules who would want to put in about 20-25 hours a week address canvassing. I thought, what the heck, that sounds like fun and it ties in well with my real estate career. Last week I completed my 5 days of training and learned, no, they want 30-40 hours a week. Yikes! Guess I'll be burning the midnight oil a little. Still, I am excited to get started. I already know the Gig Harbor area very well, but this will even improve on that. It's so important as a Realtor to have on the ground knowledge of your market. Many agents have become so reliant on the internet, but you just can't know a neighborhood until you've walked it.

Click here to read the News Tribunes article about the census starting.


Monday, March 23, 2009

Website of the Week

Okay, she's my sister-in-law, but she's got a cool website for her photography business. Definitely worth checking out! KelliHodgesPhotography.com

Mortgage Modification

Here's a good article from the LA Times about mortgage modification for people with adjustable rate mortgages who are having trouble with the payments. While it talks about the California market, it can really be applied anywhere. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cover22-2009mar22,0,7096135.story

Friday, March 20, 2009

Signs of life in Gig Harbor real estate

The market ratio is at 11.51%!!!! What does that mean? You take the number of active listings vs. the number of pending listings and the market ratio is the percentage of pendings to actives. Does that make sense? Today there are 669 active listings in Gig Harbor & Fox Island. There are 77 pending listings, homes with an accepted offer on them. 77 is 11.51% of 669.

For the last 2 years Gig Harbor has had a market ratio under 10%. That is a horrible ratio if you are trying to sell a home. In the summer of 2007 the market ratio was about 6% and there were hardly any homes with offers on them. Too much inventory for the number of buyers out there. This jump in market ratio means two things: a. The inventory has dropped. b. Sellers are finally pricing their homes competitively for the current market. We still have a long way to go but we are heading in the right direction. I'd love to see that market ratio around 30%.

Twitter... Tweet? Twit? Twat?

All of a sudden the world is atwitter! Okay, I signed up on Twitter yesterday. I officially have 2 followers. The big question I have been grappling with is, "What the heck do I do with it?" I'm still trying to get the blog thing down. There is a very helpful article on biznik.com that explains the Twitter basics. Click here to take a look. It explains how to send private messages, how to forward and reply, etc. Next I need to figure out how use it for networking and marketing. And, how to use it on my phone...

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Modify Your Mortgage

With so many people struggling to pay their mortgages right now (and most of them are real estate agents!), the federal government has created a new program for either refinancing or loan modification. It just launched today and here is the website: http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/

This isn't going to help everyone who is having trouble making their payments. For example, many real estate agents won't qualify because we don't have a steady enough income. Rats!! Still, if you are having trouble, please check the website out. There may be hope.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Website of the Week

If you are new to the area or just looking to meet new people with similar interests, check out MeetUp.com. I have found a couple of interesting groups and have really enjoyed meeting the people.

Why I love Gig Harbor

I currently have a listing on Warren Dr. in Gig Harbor. When I have an open house there I always stop and put a sign at the corner of 70th Ave and 32nd St. This is a fairly busy intersection with stop signs and yield signs so the traffic can still really move quickly. I park my car on the side of the road and put my blinkers on. The cool part is that someone usually sees my blinkers and slows down to make sure I'm okay and my car isn't broken. I find that so great! Having moved up here from LA, I find it almost unbelievable, too. People really check on their neighbors here, even if they are total strangers. Now THAT is a community.

Link to pictures of cool house with kick butt home theater

Click here to view the photo gallery of the University Place house with the awesome home theater system.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Cool house on tour

Okay, this photo has nothing to do with real estate. I just thought it was cute.

Every Tuesday morning area real estate agents tour new listings in Tacoma, UP, Fircrest and Lakewood. It's Thursdays in Gig Harbor and Fridays in NE Tacoma. Of all the houses I have toured over the years I have seen many home theater systems. As a former movie industry person I am pretty picky about these. Most fail miserably, usually because there is too much natural light in the home theater room. Why spend all the money to put in a kick butt home theater with blu-ray, plush seating and surround sound if you ruin the picture with sunlight. (In the Northwest it's light very late at night during much of the year.) FINALLY, last Tuesday I saw a great home theater room. The house is listed by Cal Mosher, an agent in my office. The custom home theater has as the right seating, projection and audio, but more than that it's sound proofed and has absolutely no outside light. Cal had the latest Batman movie playing and I felt like I was back in LA. I swear the house shook under the audio effects. Very cool.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit

There's been a lot of hype and misinformation spread about the new first time home buyer tax credit that passed as part of the economic stimulus package last week. It's really great, but has several important "buts" and "ifs". The National Association of Realtors put out a pamphlet to help explain it and here the link to the PDF on the NAR website:

CLICK HERE TO VIEW PDF

With really low interest rates and a sweet tax credit, it's a great time to become a home owner!

Friday, February 13, 2009

Houses Are Selling!

Maybe just not a the prices we would like them to if you are a seller. The buyers are definitely out there and snapping up the bargains. Here are the stats for Pierce County in January:

5367 Active Listings
728 Pending Listings
297 Sold Listings

This makes for a 7.4 month supply of homes based on the number of pending sales. The lowest supply rate since June 2007. This is after we peaked with a 14.3 month supply in December 2008. Obviously some sellers got the message. Unfortunately, most of those sellers were banks.

Here are the breakdowns for some more specific areas of Pierce County in January:

Gig Harbor
605 Active Listings
43 Pending
15 Sold
14.1 month supply

Lakewood
271 Active Listings
17 Pending
17 Sold
7.7 month supply

Puyallup
976 Active Listings
98 Pending
81 Sold
7.2 month supply

Tacoma
1873 Active Listings
151 Pending
139 Sold
5.9 month supply

University Place
159 Active Listings
23 Pending
17 Sold
10 month supply

Needless to say, these numbers vary depending on the price, neighborhood, waterfront, view, etc. By the way, these numbers are culled from Trendgraphix.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Lighting the Narrows Bridges

This week there was a big step forward towards permanently lighting the Tacoma Narrows Bridges at night. If you missed the article in The News Tribune click here for the link. I am actually a little surprised at backlash to the lights. There are some people who feel it is light polution and I think they have a valid point. Otherwise, the cost is pretty inexpensive and the power to run the lights can be generated through "green" energy sources. Most importantly, I genuinely think the lights will improve the value of homes that have a view of the bridges. That's a lot of homes! Currently there are no iconic images that represent the South Sound. Sorry, the Tacoma Dome just doesn't do it for me. Seattle has the Space Needle and Pike's Place Market. We have great museums, quirky neighborhoods, historic neighborhoods, but no one image that instantly tells someone where it located and makes them want to go there. The question I pose is "Do you think lighting the bridges will increase tourism in the area?"

Are houses selling?

"Are houses selling?" This is the second most asked question I get after, "How are you doing?" The first question is usually asked with a cringe because they expect me to break down into a puddle of tears over my choice of career... Real Estate. Well, the answer is, "I am doing fine." More importantly, "Houses are definitely selling!" In the first 12 days of February, 104 houses and condos have sold in Pierce County. That's not exactly gang-buster business, but it's not a disaster either.

My goal with this blog is to keep you informed about the South Sound real estate market through hard facts, aka statistics culled from the NWMLS. I'd also like to have some fun with the blog. I'm not even sure what that means yet, but if I see a house I just LOVE or hear of an event that I think people would enjoy I will post it.

My sister in law snapped a classic picture last summer that I think sums up the two ways to look at the real estate market and our current economy in general. We can either see it as a wild ride with lots of opportunities or we can see it as a scary mess.



Which kid are you?