Rain City Guide

A new Broker opens an office and has no listings yet. He goes to area brokers and asks if he can advertise their listings in his “window” to help get him started. Mostly they say yes. They are not trying to force out the competition and they are more than willing to [...]

(This post is authored by Craig Blackmon, an attorney in Seattle whose practice focuses on residential real estate — see his web page or his blog for more information. Please note that this post is not legal advice. You should consult an attorney for specific legal counsel.)
The legal description — it’s just an address, right? [...]

OK, let’s “Get Real” for a minute.
On the one hand we have the consumer who wants what they need, no more; no less, for a price that seems reasonable.
Now, let’s look at the “service providers”, both as you know them, and as I know them as an insider. From an insider’s [...]

Be gentle. It’s my first time.
While I am waiting for an agent to get back from the Seahawks’ game to look at the offer I just presented, I’ll try giving this a whirl.
I stole the Title line from Steve Miller “Take the Money and Run” to explain something you may (or may not) [...]

Realtors are the subject of another balanced-but-critical New York Times article today. This time it’s for a whole host of lobbying-related fair market-blocking activities.
Frankly, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for banks, but the strong-arm tactics of the National Association of Realtors described in the article make banks look like victims [...]

I called a prospect whose name I purchased from a lead vendor. This is something we do regularly in the mortgage business. Rather than word of mouth, mailing, cold-calling, or some other marketing means, we can purchase the names, phone numbers, and other relevant information from a lead vendor. These leads come [...]

(This is a guest post by Craig Blackmon, an attorney in Seattle whose practice focuses on residential real estate — see www.lawofficeofcraigblackmon for more information. Please note that this post is not legal advice. You should consult an attorney for specific legal counsel.)
Last week, the Washington Appellate Court decided a case dealing with [...]

Part of the vision that I have for Rain City Guide is to add more contributers who can bring different areas of expertise in order to broaden our discussion. Along these lines, I want to extend a warm welcome to Craig Blackmon. Craig is a local real estate lawyer and I hope that he will [...]

(This is a guest post by Craig Blackmon, an attorney in Seattle whose practice focuses on residential real estate — see www.lawofficeofcraigblackmon for more information. Please note that this post is not legal advice. You should consult an attorney for specific legal counsel.)
The financing contingency is one of the most common contingencies in [...]