Fence Sitting

I just had to post this photo. It's the view from my office window. I took it today and is shows a very rare and precious event in Tacoma... blue sky. Sorry, sometimes the Californian in me comes out. Nothing like Spring weather in February!!

It was a great day to tour new listings. Thursday is the Gig Harbor tour day and I saw a couple of great places with spectacular views. Pricing is still feeling kind of high to me, though. That's the big problem right now. It seems like every agent I talk to has a buyer sitting on the fence waiting for "a great deal." I can't say that I blame the buyers. No one wants to feel like they overpaid for a house. It's hard for sellers too. They know what their homes were worth just a few years ago and the new values are kind of hard to stomach. Still, it's been statistically proven (and my personal experience) that a home priced correctly from the start will attract more buyers and encourage full price offers (or at least close to full price). At least interest rates are low! As they start to drift up buyers are going to qualify for lower and lower amounts. Food for thought...

Goodbye Le Bistro

A Gig Harbor landmark burned to the ground last night. Here's the News Tribune article.

I hope they can rebuild it. It brought such character to the waterfront.

Underwater

I apologize for my lapse in blogging over the last 2 weeks! The short sales have hit the fan. I have 4 on my plate at the moment, 2 listings and 2 buyers, and they can be REALLY time consuming. For those of you who are wondering what a short sale is, it's when the seller owes more money on his home than he can sell it for. That means I am negotiating with the lien holders on the house. In many cases it's not just one lien holder, but multiple lien holders all with different procedures for short sales. Ugh!!! For example, House A may have an offer of $300,000. The current homeowner refinanced the house in 2006 (peak of the market) and at the time it appraised at $425,000 so the homeowner refi-ed and received a new adjustable rate 1st mortgage of $350,000, plus a 2nd home equity line of credit for $50,000 (which they use to put in a new deck and do some landscaping.) Flash forward to 2009 and the homeowner has been laid off, the adjustable rate mortgage is about to have an interest rate increase and, of course, the real estate market has declined about 20%. The homeowner has not made a payment for some months and is behind $15,000 in interest and penalties. Here's where it gets tricky... The bank offers to refinance the $15,000 in interest and penalties, the homeowner accepts and it is actually refinanced by a 3rd party lender. Therefore we have 3 lien holders on the property. I am the listing agent on the house and we have an offer of $300,000 so I have to submit it to all three lien holders. The lien holders in 2nd and 3rd position can do nothing until the first lien holder agrees to the terms and offers a payoff amount (usually about 10% of what is owed) to the 2nd and 3rd lien holder. They then have to decide whether they will accept it. Naturally, every lender has different procedures, none of which are ever clearly explained, and I get to navigate this fun world. And we haven't even had the home inspection yet...

By the way, I want to make it very clear that the above scenario is fictional. Just a good idea of how short sales happen. So, I apologize for not blogging in awhile and if, you will excuse me now, I have to go fax a short sale "Affidavit of Arms Length Transaction" addendum to Wells Fargo so we can get payoff approval.

Hill Day in Olympia

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Washington Association of Realtors' Hill Day at the State Capitol. It's an annual event, but my first time. Over 600 Realtors (the largest showing ever) came together discuss the state of the real estate market with legislators. With a massive state budget deficit, the real estate industry can be an easy target for new taxes. The current ones being considered in Olympia are to tax real estate services (commissions) as a sales tax and to double the current excise tax by making buyers, in addition to sellers, pay it. Needless to say, both of these would be devastating to the recovery of the real estate market in Washington. Many sellers are barely selling for more than they owe and a sales tax could turn a regular sale into a short sale very easily. On the buying side, first time home buyers are driving that market (I have 2 in escrow right now) and many of them are scraping together every last penny to pay their down payment and/or closing costs. Adding 1.78% tax to that could price them out of the market. It has been statistically proven that since 1960 the real estate industry has led Washington out of recessions. It makes no sense to me for our state to impose a crippling tax on the industry that must regain strength so the state can start growing again. Okay, I'll get off my soapbox, but as you can see it's a vitally important issue to our economy.

On the bright side, I had the chance to speak with 3 state legislators on Hill Day: Sen. Derek Kilmer and Reps Todd Kelley and Jan Angel. All three were very interested in the real estate industry and understood it's importance to the state's economy. This was the first time I've ever "lobbied" for any kind of cause and I really felt that it was productive. Definitely going back next year...

Lookin' for a Duplex?

I have a new listing today. It's a sweet duplex built in 1910 and located very close to the Stadium District, Tacoma General and 6th Ave. It would be perfect for an owner occupier. It still has it's original woodwork and charm.

Click here to check it out!

Sweet new listing in Gig Harbor

Every now and then I see a new listing on the agent tour that compels me to blog about it. Sometimes they are spectacular waterfront homes that I want to show off. (Saw one of those today.) But a lot of the time they are just nice, charming well priced homes that I would be proud to show any buyer. (Saw one of those today too.) I am going to blog about the charming, well priced house because the listing agent is Michael Robinson and he owns my office. : ) It's in the Madrona part of Whitley Hills (Gig Harbor) and is good sized corner lot, fully fenced and nicely landscaped. The floor plan of the house is awesome. 4 beds, den and bonus room, but what I especially liked is the color palette of the home. It's kind of robin's egg blue with off white accents and dark wood floors. Very soothing and inviting.
Click here for photo gallery.

It's over 3200 square feet and listed at $469,000. Want to buy it? Give me a call!

Website of the Week

Every now and then I like to post something that has absolutely NOTHING to do with real estate. Even a Realtor needs a break now and then. This week's Website of the Week is a throwback to my previous career in motion picture marketing. Back then I used to fly domestically and internationally all the time. Too much of the time, in fact, which is why I left that business. This website celebrates something that is very near and dear to any frequent flier's heart... Airline food. It's a hoot! Ever wonder what Kenya Airways serves for lunch? (Probably not.) This is the website with the answer. They even have vintage photos from the 50's and 60's.

http://www.airlinemeals.net/index.html