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How I lost my roommates
December 12, 2010 /Trevor is my brother-in-law. I've been helping him and his wife to find their first home over the last couple of months. We made an offer on a bank-owned home in Edmonds that was accepted, but in a long and twisted tale of banking regulation gone wrong, they had to give up that home and start their search over again. They also had to move - they had given notice at their apartment complex and their unit had already been rented out. So that's how I gained two roommates :) Trevor and Liz were originally hesitant to consider properties sold at trustee's sale, but being forced to live with me encouraged them to look at all options. After watching a few properties that would normally be outside of their price range sell well within their range, Trevor and Liz threw themselves into the process. They were pre-approved to borrow funds at auction, received a username and password to search our trustee sale database, and started driving properties that they were interested in. Trevor bid on a home at auction every week for three weeks prior to Thanksgiving, barely losing out on all three. He was being conservative at my insistance…Read more
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Signs of a stabilizing market? Neighborhood indicators and trends emerge…
May 11, 2010 /There was a time when real estate agents helped people buy and sell homes. Then the market changed, and now we do a lot more counseling, some financial advising, negotiating short sales with banks, and on the flip side - evaluating properties for banks as they liquidate their foreclosed assets. Regarding the latter, banks ask real estate agents to complete BPOs (broker price opinions), to give them an understanding of the local market and an evaluation of the property's value. Banks do not pay agents well for this service, but agents (including myself) do them in the hopes of listing bank-owned properties. When completing BPOs, I have enough experience that if I'm familiar with the neighborhood I have an intuitive idea what the price of the home should be before I go about the work of proving it. My intuition is not enough for the banks though, so I have to complete a fairly rigorous form that goes over statistical averages for the neighborhood of the home that I'm evaluating. I hate BPOs - but the truth is, doing them on a regular basis makes me a better agent. It's easy to take what's true for a majority of neighborhoods…Read more
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Pickett Street goes to New Orleans
February 26, 2010 /We recently returned from a business trip to New Orleans (and before everyone asks - no, it wasn't during Mardi Gras!), which was host to the international convention for Keller Williams Realty International. The trip yielded many new ideas and philosophies for our business, but I won't bore you with that right now. Instead, we want to share with you our five favorite things about The Big Easy. 5) Everything but Bourbon Street - We got to our hotel at about 1:00am on Friday night, and while our initial intention was to find a blues club and a glass of wine, I thought our late arrival would surely shelve these plans. One of our friends had arrived earlier, and in waiting for us, had brewed himself a pot of coffee, and there wasn't any way he was going to let us go to bed without a quick walk down Bourbon Street. Our hotel was two blocks from Bourbon Street, so within a couple of minutes we were introduced to New Orlean's most renowned destination. I won't get into everything we saw, smelled, or stepped on, but we all left a little wide-eyed. The street is woven in debauchery, and the…Read more
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Yes Virginia, zero down loans do exist…
September 18, 2009 /Question: Is it still possible to get a zero down payment home loan? Answer: For the month of September, yes. (Now extended through the end of December). I received a phone call on Monday - a request from a young couple wanting to walk through a few of the floorplans available at the Summit View plat in Bothell. As we walked through the homes I asked the common questions - making sure that they were aware of the $8,000 tax credit, and it's looming expiration date. They were. I asked if they were aware of the special financing available on these brand new homes, including zero down payment and a 3.875% interest rate if they made an offer in September. They were. In fact, they were way ahead of me... She is a grad student, an unpaid intern on her way to a stable and well-paying vocation. He is self-employed, has been for five years. They have two kids in elementary school, so getting into an award-winning school district was important to them. If they would have tried to buy three years ago there wouldn't have been a problem. "Stated income" loans existed then - a now extinct type of…Read more
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Jesse goes on vacation
September 10, 2009 /[caption id="attachment_633" align="aligncenter" width="451"] Welcome to Yellowstone National Park![/caption] [caption id="attachment_619" align="aligncenter" width="451"] Always a lot of elk at Mammoth Hot Springs.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_620" align="aligncenter" width="451"] Bison on the way to the cabin.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_621" align="aligncenter" width="451"] My family's cabin - 1 mile north of Yellowstone Park.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_629" align="aligncenter" width="451"] View from the patio of one of our cabins.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_624" align="aligncenter" width="451"] Selah with my grandfather's 75-year-old wagon[/caption] [caption id="attachment_623" align="aligncenter" width="451"] Kami and David.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_627" align="aligncenter" width="451"] Selah turned 3 while we were gone.[/caption]Read more
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New home page for PickettStreet.com!
June 21, 2009 /Everybody needs a makeover from time to time, and although our website had evolved much over the past three years, the home page hadn't changed at all, and didn't accurately reflect the true scope of all the resources that we've come to provide at PickettStreet.com. Last week we unveiled a new landing page to our site that we think better reflects our team, our services, and our current real estate market. From the home page users can now go directly to a search for bank owned properties, short sale properties, and our featured new construction properties. Much like our team, our home page is now unique, resourceful, and memorable. Let us know what you think of the change in our comments! OUR NEW HOME PAGERead more
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Top 3 Reasons why $ 8000 tax credit is better
February 15, 2009 /The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) have to be glad that this week is over. It had to be tortuous - thinking on Tuesday that Congress was on it’s way to approving a $15,000 tax credit for those that bought a home in 2009 - then watching the House of Representative strike it completely from the Economic Stimulus package on Wednesday. The NAR's response to the unexpected change was measured, saying only that nothing was yet decided, and that changes would be made before President Obama signed the bill into law. The week ended with a narrow passage of the Economic Stimulus Package on Friday, and (together now, with a sigh of relief) the NAR's efforts were rewarded with an honorary mention in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. I preface with all of that to say this: THANK GOD! Not because I think that the measure will be a salvation to the industry, but because their are several reasons why the act passed yesterday is better than the $7,500 tax credit passed last year and the $15,000 tax credit initially supported by the NAR. Here are the top three reasons why: (1) The same benefit for all that use…Read more
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Washington State shorts sellers: an obvious problem with short sales, excise tax & Washington State’s position
January 11, 2009 /UPDATE: If you're looking for information on the short sale process in regards to real estate transactions in Washington State, you might want to read "The Anatomy of a Short Sale" instead. The post below is a response to a policy from the Washington State Department of Revenue on short sales that has since changed. To tell this story effectively, I'm going to have to explain a few things - assuming that not all of you are up on the real estate vernacular of the day. Excise tax: In the sale of real estate, Washington State charges a tax in the amount of 1.78% of the home's value (to be paid by the seller). One would think that the easiest way to determine value on a property that recently sold would be to...I don't know...maybe...look at the sales price?!?! But we'll get to that in a minute. Short sale:I would think that most of you would be familiar with this term, but in talking with friends and clients, I think that many are unclear of its true meaning. A "short sale" is different from a foreclosure or pre-foreclosure sale, in that the seller may be absolutely current on all of their…Read more
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Forbes ♥ Seattle real estate market: Quick to Rebound
November 6, 2008 /You have to love good news about our real estate market - and if it happens to come from one of the premier authorities on wealth, well that doesn't hurt. Forbes recently published an article declaring Seattle's real estate market as the most likely to rebound. I'm posting the beginning of the article here, with a link to the full story below: If you're a homeowner seeing property values plummet, look to the commercial real estate market for solace. It might tell you which areas will recover fastest--and which will likely remain weak. The Urban Land Institute recently asked 700 real estate professionals to name the best (and worst) places to invest in commercial real estate in the coming year. Those surveyed included private developers, Realtors and Real Estate Investment Trust executives. Their answers also apply to the residential market, since the single-family-home sector typically follows the economy. As wages go up and there are more jobs, more people can buy homes, pushing prices up. The best cities in which to invest are those that are considered gateways to international investment, have vital downtowns where people can forgo cars, and don't have a glut of condos or office space. These traits…Read more
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Wine & Chocolate intersect at Pickett Street
October 2, 2008 /We just sent out the order for the postcard above, inviting friends and clients to Pickett Street's First Annual Customer Appreciation Event on Saturday, October 18th. Look for the postcard in your mailboxes within the next week (hopefully!), but until then, please use this post as an excuse to save the date. We’ll be holding court at Wicked Cellars in North Everett, hosting a tasting of an exclusive collection of wines from Maryhill Winery, all uniquely paired with handmade truffles from Buchanan Chocolates. Maryhill Winery will be conducting the regular Saturday tasting for Wicked Cellars (which you’re welcome to attend for $5), but will be saving a few exclusive offerings for our event, which will be held in the back room of the wine shop. Buchanan Chocolates will be preparing new truffles specifically for this event, and if initial responses are any indication, at least one of the new flavors is sure to be an instant success! This event is free to Pickett Street clients and friends. If you don't get a postcard, please accept our apologies and make plans to join us anyway. If you've ever bought or sold a home with us, then you've received a box of…Read more
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Where we reveal our secret marketing tool
July 16, 2008 /We know a thing or two about marketing. Before he got into real estate, Dennis spent most of his career managing advertising projects for a sign company – not just stand alone signs, but convention booths and tables, where his work had to be good enough to lure people in without the promise of free pens or letter openers. Before I got into real estate I helped other real estate agents develop ad campaigns in print and online – alerting them to new techniques, strategies and technologies that were having success in other areas of the country. I say this because I’m about to reveal one of our best marketing secrets. It’s something I picked up from my days at the advertising firm, and if I hadn’t lucked into it, I probably never would have known how important it could be to our business. It’s responsible for our greatest volume of lead calls every month, and helps us secure buyers by getting them to respond emotionally not just to a home, but to an idea. Our secret? The log home. We try to feature a log home in almost every form of advertising that we do. If we don’t have a…Read more
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A better way to search the NWMLS
June 2, 2008 /I just returned from a trip to my hometown, Miles City, Montana. A friend of the family’s had just made an offer on a home, which they had come across thanks to the ability of their agent. In Miles City there is no MLS as we know it, no catalogue of listings, either bound or online. There are only a few websites with listing information, and these are not comprehensive. Things truly are done more word of mouth around here, which means that if a consumer wants information on a home for sale, going online isn’t going to help them. This obviously isn’t the case for us in the Puget Sound. Not only can we not find a single-family residence on four city lots for $92,000 (as my family friend did), but new listing information is available on several thousand websites. Since most of the general information is the same on all of these sites, the real issue involves usability: which site is the most intuitive? The least invasive? The most informative? The fastest? Which brings us to PickettStreet.com. After months of comprehensive searching , we came across the holy grail in the property search engine realm. The solution we…Read more
