Rain City Guide

Another sample of business ethics out the window
According to this Bloomberg story,  Eve Mazzarella, a high school drop-out and former maid from Seattle moved to Las Vegas and started a real estate career in the year 2000.   Evidently, she and her husband are now allegedly charged with fraud.  The story goes on to say that [...]

Spending time at the Snohomish Co.  excise tax and recording office today afforded me the opportunity to pull some records on current Notice of Trustee Sales recorded from Sept. 1, 2008 to today.   There were more than the 36 in my sample before I became restless and bored with basically the same theme that I [...]

I know everyone (including me) is rather distracted by the events going on in the financial market mayhem over the past two weeks, but many mortgage holders of ARM’s tied to the LIBOR Index should be re-evaluating their long term mortgage strategy.    Because LIBOR has been very low, many were complacent to make serious consideration [...]

God Bless America and all those who serve including those who have sacrificed their lives.
This flag has flown at my house since 9-11.  For me, walking past the flag into my house has been a daily reminder of how lucky I am to live in America and how much sacrifice was laid before me, by [...]

This has been on my mind for a while, so I’ll throw it out there for people to discuss.  Sometimes a non-agent can introduce topics that the real estate community may be uncomfortable in discussing with their clients.  So, here goes…..
The topic:  Is this lousy news for sellers just the spice to get them to [...]

There is a lot about the real estate industry that needs improvement.  But, there are some very stand-up hard working salt-of-the-earth real estate agents and loan officers that are working in a challenging market and who are literally bailing out financially challenged homeowners.  They are making things happen and are doing what they can to [...]

As we are finding out (some for the first time), housing and the mortgages that finance it is a key economic engine.
Question: Is it important that the agent and/or loan officer you are working with have a keen understanding of fundamental market knowledge and economics? Should they show competency in basic fundamental economics [...]

Life in the escrow business:
A borrower notices a $100,000 loan origination fee on a very large transaction, puts on the brakes and says, “not so fast.” The borrower stops the transaction after the loan officer and borrower can’t work it out.
I know Lynlee mentioned a nutty conversation in an earlier post, but this [...]

This has been on my mind for a long time. I have never felt so bad for a homeowner than one in my neighborhood. In my opinion, they are being held hostage by an home that you have to drive by in order to see the subject home for sale. They share [...]

A most wonderful diet to sustain escrow during crunch time. I heard rumors of a secret stash, but this is too much. I won’t name names.