Fishing season is officially open! June 4, 2008
To this title you might ask, “which salmon is available?” Well, I’m not really talking about fish with scales and fins here. What we’ve noticed over the past month is that the fishing with low offers is getting pretty common in a lot of price ranges. These occurred in neighborhoods ranging all over the area too including Greenwood, Phinney Ridge (x2), Bellevue (Bridle Trails), and Mercer Island.
Some of these properties I can understand the desire of investors to lowball and get a bargain. One of these homes I had listed was already priced to be a good value for the neighborhood so my clients completely ignored some extremely low all cash offers from an investor because they weren’t THAT motivated to sell - meaning, we’d only been on market for about 30 days. Now, 2 years ago being on market that period of time would have made some people nervous but, realistically, most homes take longer than just a few hours to sell or even just a couple of weeks. So, we ignored the first 2 ridiculous offers and another one came along (still low). We put forward a counter with a very small price change and the buyers took it. WAKE UP CALL! We’re not in a buyer’s market in the Puget Sound region. We’re in a balanced market.
What I’ve noticed in talking with all of the agents submitting offers for these various listings I have is that they’ve all bought into their client’s mindset of thinking that “it’s a buyer’s market” and they should be able to really drop prices via their offers. But the agents aren’t helping their clients by doing the work associated with helping “sell” those offers.
Yes, there are some sellers out there that are still hanging on and desperately wishing for the days of the high flying markets we had for 5+ years, but reality is kicking in for most and the scales are becoming more balanced. This isn’t the rust belt where the economy has sunk and houses have sunk lower. If you’re a listing agent you had better be able to justify your pricing. And, if you’re a buyer’s agent you should do the same for your offer. One lowball offer we received my partner went back and asked the guy to submit his comps that supported the offer. The agent’s reply was, “well, I don’t have any, it’s just what they wanted to offer.” Our client almost completely ignored their offer except for some details we pointed out that led us to believe they’d accept a counteroffer with a minor price change - and it worked.
Another listing had an agent providing comps but they just solidified my client’s view that our pricing was right on. We did go ahead and submit a counter with a faster closing date and some small concessions that we expect will be accepted.
I will admit though that with a couple of my buyer clients, who are not in a hurry to buy, we’re doing some of this offer roulette. We submitted an offer on a MI house for about $100k less than asking price but we also put forward our pricing analysis and comps that supported the price point. The house had had several large price drops based on other agent feedback as well and it was definitely a cosmetic fixer. It might have worked out for my clients except that the house got another offer the same day - it was still a very low offer but not as low as ours so the seller started negotiating with them. But, that’s okay because my clients are willing to wait for the right deal for them. This house was going to need roughly $200-400k in updates over time so from a cost perspective the price we offered was what they were willing to spend knowing the costs they’d incur later.
Having watched the low offers come in for one of our listings my client provided the impetus for this post by saying in an email, “well, it looks like fishing season is officially open!” I’m glad that she’s got a good head on her shoulders and a good sense of humor too. These are the clients you really enjoy working with especially when you can have sensible discourse with regard to your work together, market conditions, strategy, and more.
Happy fishing! 
When it’s good to know a “wiseguy” May 7, 2008
If you’ve ever watched a show like the Sopranos you know that there is a term out there called wiseguy that has a potentially dangerous undertone. Well, yesterday, for one of my new listings I was thrilled to know a wiseguy, or rather a Wise Locksmith, Chris Weissman.
While driving from Renton to Bellevue’s Bridle Trails neighborhood, to show this listing, I get a phone call from another agent who has shown up to view it with a client. He’s having trouble with the door and wants to know if I am aware of any problems or special way of handling the lock to make it turn. “No, I haven’t had any problem with the lock before and neither have the other agents that have viewed the house already”, I tell him.
Come to find out, after calling one of the sellers, there is a way from the inside of the house to turn a little switch that would lock the home from the interior and it would make it so the master lock wouldn’t work. Not good. *Note to sellers - always let your agent know about quirky things like this so we can stop it from happening in the first place.* Not only was I losing this viewing but the pending showing I was about to do would possibly be lost too. On top of it, I lost one other possible buyer showing when yet another agent came by while we were working on getting the problem fixed. My inner MacGyver kicked in. I wasn’t about to do some fancy trick with a paper clip but I could quickly sort out a possible way to solve the problem.
And here is where my wiseguy comes in. Chris is actually a former client of mine. He and his girlfriend, Maridee, sold a condo and purchased a home through me about 18 months ago. I learned at that time that he was a locksmith and I’ve referred him to several clients since that time, with very good results I will say. So, Chris gets a call from my partner, Michael, to see if he can help and he’s on top of it immediately coming over from the Seattle area during rush hour and actually making it within about a 20-30 minute time frame. I was thrilled. One of the great things about working with various people and different types of contractors day in and day out is that when you need something fast - most of these wonderful folks will drop everything to come help you.
His first instinct was to try various methods and tricks he’s learned throughout the years to find special ways of opening locks. Unfortunately that didn’t work. The second attempt through the garage didn’t work but mostly because it is on an electric opener, so then he had to tear off the existing door handle and replace it with a new lock. I’ll say that it’s a little disturbing to see how easily some of this stuff can be taken off a property - although Chris did say that since he does this all the time he makes it look easy. He just hates having to destroy stuff. He didn’t damage the door though and that’s all good.
It ended up that the buyers that wanted to see the house at my scheduled showing ended up coming back (I rang their cell) and we had a successful viewing. One of the other agents is planning to come back too but I likely won’t know if that 3rd agent comes back. Either way, the house is accessible again and all is well that ends well. Since the clients aren’t looking at offers till next Wednesday we should be set but I’ve got Chris on speed dial now, just in case….
Hocus pocus… the great disappearing sign August 19, 2007
Not long ago my team was in the process of selling a condo down in the Renton valley area in a pretty popular condo development. At the time, we were competing with about 3-5 similar condos plus there were other townhome style units for sale as well in the same complex. Since the community had a place for a single sales sign and a few flyer boxes at the entrance to the community we tried to use that first in our work to sell the client’s property. Because there were more units for sale than flyer boxes it turned into a battle over who could usurp another person’s flyers to get attention of buyers looking in the boxes including people taking out another person’s flyers and supplanting them with their own. We had to ask our client to regularly check the boxes to make sure his flyers were showing up and not taken out or covered up.
After a while I tried to get a little creative and I started thinking about how we could get a sign and a flyer box away from the competition. The result was that we put a sign closer out to the main road that passed by this development. That worked for a while, but lo and behold, at some point my assistant drove by the property one day to check our flyer box contents and the whole yard arm and sign was gone!!!! Where o’ where could it be? For now, we are stumped.
My first thought was that the City of Renton may have decided we couldn’t have the sign near or on the public R.O.W. and they took it down. But, in researching it they don’t have any (pardon the pun) sign of it in the place that they would put a confiscated sign. We also called the sign company (Sign Pros) to see if perhaps they had been called to take it down - no such luck, they hadn’t been called. So, now we’re wondering who would care to take a Team Reba sign? They are custom designed (and paid for) so perhaps the thief doesn’t realize the financial pain they inflict on a small business owner by stealing something such as this.
If anyone happens to see our sign around, please do let me know so we can reclaim it.
Transit on my mind… August 14, 2007
Coming up this fall (November 2007) the tri-county area will have the opportunity to vote on a new roads & transit package for Sound Transit. The high-level overview of it is that it will provide improvements to current highways, 50 new miles of light rail (including to the Eastside), new HOV lanes, bike lanes/sidewalks/connections, and improvement on major freight routes. Each county has specific items that they’ll gain as benefits as well but what is truly important about the package to pass is that 2 contiguous counties must approve it for it to pass. That means we can’t have just Snohomish and Pierce pass the measure, it must include King County in there somewhere - and most preferably have all 3 counties agree to pass it so we can get all of the benefits that are part of the proposal.
As a member of the Government & Public Affairs Committee within Seattle King County Association of Realtors(R), I have been present at many discussions of the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID) along with many of my counterparts and we all support the plan. As real estate agents we understand how transportation affects our clients as well as the business community, which in turn affects home prices and quality of life. It is all enmeshed together.
One significant point that was brought up at the last meeting I was able to attend was that some of the issues with the Pierce County section of the plan are being held up or threatened by an environmental group. According to one of the folks at the meeting this group is trying to protect a wooded portion of land that is made up of trees that are not indigenous to the area - they were transplanted here about 100 years ago. This may be a mis-guided attempt to conserve and the area in question is an important link to the military bases in Pierce County. Not being able to provide better transit access to these areas could cause those bases to be put on close down lists within the Federal Government which would then put Pierce County at risk for massive job losses. Surely some other kind of environmental mitigation could occur to preserve land areas that could allow for a work-around here.
Read the report and feel free to weigh in here about the plan!
This vote happens in November, but in the meantime don’t forget to vote in the August 21 Primary and Special Election! Part of this election has measures regarding parks and open space funding, including funds for the much beloved Woodland Park Zoo.
Seatte Metropolitan Magazine’s Best Places to Live April 8, 2007
This month’s issue of Seattle Metropolitan Magazine features their annual “Best Places to Live”. What strikes me is their number one pick is not any where near Seattle; nor is it “metropolitan”. It’s Kent. I’m not knocking Kent. In fact, my main office is head quartered on the East Hill of Kent and I grew up in south east King County. It just seems out of place to have 40% of Seattle Metropolitan Magazine’s Best Places to Live be outside of Seattle city limits.
Here is the Best Places to Live according to SMM with the median home price:
- Kent $278,500
- Lower Queen Anne $289,000
- High Point $315,990
- Belltown $324,450
- Victory Heights/Pinehurst $356,750
- Rainier Vista $390,000
- South Lake Union $394,000
- Issaquah Highlands $569,950
- Somerset $697,500
- Yarrow Point $1,500,000
Is SMM out of neighborhoods in Seattle they feel are worthy? Are they searching for newly constructed fresh neighborhoods…Seattle is pretty darn old, afterall.
Last year, Eileen covered SMMs 2006 Best Neighborhoods on RCG. She asked why not Burien? Which I agree–Burien continues to be completely overlooked and…in my opinion, so is Des Moines. Both of these neighborhoods are technically “Seattle”.
What Seattle neighborhoods would have made your top 10 that are not receiving recognition on this years list?
Now that Matt… March 13, 2007
… has a new condo in Bellevue at the Meritage, you might have thought he would slow down the pace of his condo blogging at Urbnlivn. But no chance there… instead he unleashes the urbnlivn forum for the Seattle-area Market. Very cool. It’s a little quiet at the moment (the site is brand new), but I’m sure under Matt’s guidance, it won’t stay quiet for long…
Also a belated, but HUGE, congratulations to Matt on your new condo!
South Lake Sammamish celebrates annexation by City of Issaquah February 15, 2006
The South Lake Sammamish Association (SLSA) has worked tirelessly to make this happen. As a part of unicorporated King County, they were frustrated with inadequate police patrols, road maintenance and similar public services. Last fall the Greenwoord Point-South Cove Annexation area voted to join the City of Issaquah and now it’s time to celebrate.
On March 1st, 6:30-9PM, the city will host an open house at Pickering Barn (just east of Costco) to welcome everyone. Issaquah’s mayor and other city officials will be there to celebrate and answer questions about city services.
In addition, SLSA will be hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony and parade on March 4th from 10AM to Noon. There will be refreshments and activities for the kids including tours of a fire truck and police car. See their website for details.
It’s great to see community involvement pay off for residenets on Lake Sammamish.
Housing assistance for the middle class on the eastside February 14, 2006
I have a client who has been searching for a condominium for 6-months. Typical problem — what he likes, he can’t afford — what he can afford, he doesn’t like. We even looked down at Othello Station and thought we might find something there. They had several units set aside for low income families to purchase. Here the problem was he made too much to qualify for the set-aside units but not enough to buy the market rate units. What’s a person to do?
Well, we found the answer. Last week we had offer and acceptance on a really nice 2 bedroom / 2 bath unit at Frazer Court in Redmond. How did he do it? There is a great program setup between King County and several eastside cities to preserve and increase the supply of housing for low and moderate income households in East King County.
This program is called ARCH (A Regional Coalition for Housing) and has several below market rate duplexes, condominiums and town homes located in various developments in East King County. During the initial marketing period, maximum income levels are established for buyers. Typically, each development will establish a maximum income for buyers somewhere between 80% and 100% of median income. In addition, maximum income guidelines are often adjusted for both household and unit size.
Finally - a program that helps out the buyer caught in the middle income bracket. Check it out at www.archhousing.org.
Interesting Insurance Program from King County Metro February 7, 2006
I just received a newsletter from Todd Litman of the Victoria Transportation Policy Institute that describes an innovative project that is being tested by King County Metro.
King County Metro, the Washington State Department of Transportation and other partners has $2,2 million to develop a Pay As You Drive (PAYD) Insurance Pilot project for Washington State over a 4-year period to evaluate the impacts of a pilot including at least 5000 participants. They are in the process of recruiting an insurance carrier to join in the project. The deadline for expressions of interest is February 15, 2006. For more information contact Bill Roach (bill.roach@metrokc.gov) or Bob Flor (bob.flor@metrokc.gov).
I probably wouldn’t have mentioned it, but I noticed that the Cascadia Scorecard had an article on this topic today, Pay As You Drive Insurance, and they didn’t mention this interesting program. This makes me think that the project must be really below the radar and in need of some Rain City Guide attention!
So how does it relate to Seattle real estate? Barely… But what’s important is that if you are a King County resident whose car spends almost all day at home, then you may be able to save money by joining this program and only paying insurance on the miles that you drive.
Quicker than a Ray Of Light February 6, 2006
I’ve had the opportunity to live in Kirkland, Bellevue, Redmond, Carnation & Issaquah since I first left my alma matter back in the days of when Mosaic ruled the web. However, of all those places, I’ve loved my current home the most.
What do I love about my current home in the Issaquah Highlands, you ask? To quote a cell phone company’s ad “It’s the network”.
We’re talking about the only housing development in the Pacific Northwest that I’m aware of that has fiber optic network connectivity in to the home. The community’s network is run by the Highlands Fiber Network (although ISOMedia is my ISP and Ecuity provides my VOIP service).
One of the nice things about a community owned network, is that the operators of the network are more focused on customer service than profitability. We probably have the best performing residential network in the county. Are you ready for HDTV over IP? I didn’t think so. If that wasn’t cool enough, our network traffic goes straight to the Westin building in downtown Seattle, so it’s very reliable (I’d say it’s very close to ‘five nines’ level of uptime). BTW, if your ISP is Qwest, Comcast or Verizon, your internet traffic usually goes to San Jose first, before it comes back to Seattle (which leaves you vulnerable to backhoe denial of service attacks).
Nearly every room has a phone jack, cable/satellite TV jack, and an ethernet jack. All of the cables get routed into a wiring closet in my master bedroom. So equipment upgrades are pretty painless. Even cooler, some outlets have 2 TV jacks, so if you have a dual tuner TIVO, you can record 2 TV shows at once, or watch live TV while recording a show on another channel at the same time.
Perhaps, best of all my network speeds are FAST. My download speeds currently approach 10 Mb/sec (typical DSL speeds are about 768 Kb/sec). My ISP says I could go even faster if I was willing to pay for it (contrary to popular belief network bandwidth isn’t free).
Yeah, the eco-friendly building materials, the gas stove w/ stainless steel appliances, the clawfoot tub, the easy access to I-90, the nearby parks, the new elementary school and kid friendly neighborhood were all things that my wife & I both love about the house & the neighborhood. But you can get all that stuff in many neighborhoods.
So, if you’re tech savvy person with a family, and want a nice place to live, look no further than here. Builders (& their real estate agents) are standing by.
Robbie
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