Rain City Guide

Alternative sexier titles to this post are: “Your Escrow Officer is a NARC” or “No More Quicky Closings” or how about “The Escrow Hills have Eyes”. There are some major changes brewing with how escrow will be practicing their business in 2008. Escrow companies may become “undercover” fraud agents for the [...]

Please do not construe this as legal advice, it is not. The sampling below is general in nature and is referencing common escrow misconceptions we see in the course of conducting business.
Here are a few to get started.
1) Escrow firms produce and verify the validity of Legal Descriptions.

Incorrect. In a sale it is the [...]

In a previous post I wrote about concerns for townhomes that were sold over the past several years that didn’t have clear joint maintenance agreements. A recent deal I closed brought into focus exactly why my concerns are realistic and valid. Buyers need to be aware that it is their responsibility to read all the [...]

Preface: Last week Rhonda Porter brought up the topic of “Are you leaving too much on the table.” The latter part of her post suggests that the Loan Officer harvested the amount of seller contributions that were left on the table. Within the commentary that followed, the question was asked [...]

I received a phone call from one of the agents I work with who is representing a seller requesting my opinion on another lender’s closing costs.    The seller had agreed to “pay up to $10,000 towards buyers closing costs.”  The seller was anticipating that the closing costs would not be that high for a [...]

The “Party is over” for local company
Elizabeth Rhodes of The Seattle Times reports on the rise and fall of Merit Financial in today’s Sunday paper. Ironically, it is not in the real estate section (it should be) but the business section— a full page article, above the fold.
I encourage everyone who is [...]

I’m excited to see this latest addition to our regional trails system. We will now have trails that extend from Ballard to Issaquah. For anyone who’s run or biked on East Lake Sammamish, this will be a welcome relief from contenting with the very fast and very heavy auto traffic on that road.
This is also a [...]

Believe it or not, title insurance is one of the most integral parts of the real estate process, yet many people readily admit they have very little understanding of what it is and why it is important.
Within King and Snohomish Counties, title insurance is commonly opened at the time a listing agreement is signed. [...]