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  • A Stake in the Game

    October 14, 2008 /
    Dennis S. Pearce /

    Speculation. It makes the world go 'round. The financial world, in particular. It's the bedrock of gambling, the essence of markets, and a human trait we just can't seem to shake. If the possibility of multiple outcomes exists, for any given activity, there will be at least two people willing to stake odds. An industry unto itself, gambling is the life's blood of many municipalities who rely on the ironically predictable nature of people to take a chance. 'Win some, lose some' is the fatalistic mantra of the veteran. Recent weeks have seen more of the downside of this reality than most are comfortable with. Especially those who had become accustomed to winning. Receiving the latest Mutual Fund statement is a painful reminder that stocks are, in fact,  institutionalized gambling. When it's your retirement, it really hurts. When it's your home, well, that's personal. In reality, it's called 'investing' specifically because there's 'Risk'. If there wasn't risk, it would be a sure thing, and everybody knows there's no percentage in that. No percentage, no return. We all have to develop a personal comfort level with risk; Some climb mountains, others daytrade, and still others buy homes. Some do all three.…Read more

  • Our thoughts on the “bail out”

    September 30, 2008 /
    Cody Touchette /

    I was talking with a customer yesterday and they asked me what I thought about the 700 Billion dollar “bail out” of Wall Street using tax payer dollars. Well, I said, I am not an economist, but I think it is a good deal for tax payers. The response from my client was a gasp of surprise. A good deal for tax payers? How could funneling $700 billion to Wall Street be a good deal for us? Well, I said, it depends on how the money is spent. These funds are not designed to just be handed over. The government, thus you and I are buying mortgages from the banks. These mortgages, while underperforming and in many cases are for an amount over the current market value of the property, are backed by REAL property. A house, or condo, a real asset that has value. The governments plan is to buy these mortgages at .40 to .50 cents on the dollar of what the face value is. So lets look at the math really quick. The bank did a mortgage at 95% of the value of a house worth $300,000, so they now have a mortgage at $285,000. Economy is bad, house values decline, buyer can’t pay the mortgage…Now we have a…Read more

  • The Silver Lining

    September 17, 2008 /
    Dennis S. Pearce /

    Every job has its challenges. In the last few weeks, for many, remaining employed is becoming a primary challenge. That, of course, is one of the many reasons I pursued self-employment; I may not have control of many external things, but at least I'm in good with the boss, and I know what I've got to do to keep food on the table. Another of my key reasons for being a Realtor is the knowledge that I am in a position to help good people who are frequently making decisions that will have a huge impact on the futures of themselves and their families. It's a weighty responsibility that I take very seriously, and that incurs some sleepless nights, frequently long hours, and a challenging schedule, but the satisfaction that I get from being a part of their lives at this vital juncture keeps me striving to be at the top of my game. A prime example of this is the young couple I'm currently working with on their first home purchase. I'm going to call them Ted and Jennifer, for the sake of privacy. Ted is a graduate of West Point and has spent the last 9 years in…Read more

  • Stop Making Sense

    September 10, 2008 /
    Dennis S. Pearce /

    Regardless of whether your glass tends toward half empty, or half full, the last week has provided plenty to talk about. Starting with the announcement Sunday that Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson was busy cleaning house at the 2 GSE's, and then Monday's market rally, along with the dramatic 1/2 point mortgage rate drop, it was one for the history books, as they say. And this all follows a bold prediction by CNBC's Jim Cramer, of Mad Money fame, stating unequivocally that the third quarter of 2009 will see the housing bottom. Whew- Now that's a lotta meatballs! Whatever your perspective, there's more than enough to chew on for a while. So, while you're digesting, I'm going to review where we are: Rates have dipped to the mid 5% range, as a direct result of news that Fannie and Freddie are now property of the taxpayers, stocks jumped over 300 points as Wall Street's Monday juices got flowing, and we've had a prediction from one talking head that housing will reach its nadir in a year. And no, I didn't make any of this up. What does it mean? If I knew the answer to that.... My short answer goes like…Read more

  • Architecture: Inhabited Sculpture

    September 5, 2008 /
    Dennis S. Pearce /

    Art is where you find it, and Architecture provides unique opportunities to unite form and function. As Realtors, we have occasion to experience a wide swath of the offerings made available to the buying public. I feel a deep sense of accomplishment when I walk into a space with a client and see the serenity that envelops their being as they recognize 'home'. This is a very personal business. Few things in the material world are more sacred than the space we inhabit and call Home. It's a blissful combination of quality (both in materials and execution), location, size, amenities, lighting, openness, and of course, price, but most critically, the thoughtful, even artistic arrangement of all of these elements in a given space. However, in the mass-produced world of P & L statements, and the ubiquitous drive to 'maximize', 'home' often gets lost in the 'house'. For that reason, I feel compelled to open a new category on this blog- a Showcase of Homes, in all the various permutations that represent the best expressions of the unique, the unusual, the classic, and the new. This category will openly request your entries, and the only guideline is that the homes must…Read more

  • Designed to Sell

    August 13, 2008 /
    admin /

    If you’re planning to sell, you better sit down in front of your TV. I’ve been selling real estate for over 8 years now, and I have encountered many different, shall we say, less than appealing homes. I have had sellers tell me “Oh, I’ll just give the buyer a carpet allowance, they probably won’t like the color I pick anyway.” That same reasoning has also applied to the removal of paint colors that are very specific to the seller’s taste. There are also the awkward conversations about pet odors, kitchen odors or lingering cigarette smoke. Naturally, when you live in a home, you get used to how things are. You probably have a few projects that “you’ll get to” later- also known as 'Round-to-it's'. Those little coffee spots on the carpet add “character”. The huge display case of a collection that has been growing for the last decade is a source of pride and the hallway of family photos makes you feel warm and fuzzy. Ahhh, if only a buyer felt the same way about things. Unfortunately, the buyer may not appreciate the lilac wall with the purple sponge painting technique. The wall of mirrors with the gold mottling…Read more

  • Where we reveal our secret marketing tool

    July 16, 2008 /
    Jesse D. Moore /

    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

  • Puget Sound ranks among the best in recent study

    July 8, 2008 /
    admin /

    Recently, Dennis wrote a blog post about seeing the long range picture when considering purchasing.  As fate would have it, I have stumbled upon more information to support that fact AND I think buying prior to September might be a good idea. Read on: PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., the primary U.S. subsidiary of The PMI Group, Inc. (NYSE: PMI), today released its Summer 2008 U.S. Market Risk Index(SM), which ranks the nation's 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) according to the likelihood that home prices will be lower in two years.  To put it simply, the higher the score, the greater the chance that home prices will decline in the next 2 years.  Here’s an example where bigger is NOT better. For instance, the number one position is held by Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA with a 95.5% chance prices will be lower.  That is amazing to me and I feel sorry for the sellers that are attempting to sell in that area. Most buyers would be extremely leery of investing their money in a home that has a less than 5% chance of being worth what they paid for it in 2 years. "Compared with a year earlier, there has been…Read more

  • The Value of Taking the Long View

    July 2, 2008 /
    Dennis S. Pearce /

    If you pay attention to any real estate related news headlines these days, it certainly sounds like THE SKY IS FALLING!. It seems the safest option would be to sit on your predictably rising average rent payment of $1350/mo., and wait for interest rates, the cost of living, gas, and housing to drop back to where they should be. That's what I would have done- 14 years ago. Or at least that was my plan. My wife had other ideas. We'd been paying $690/mo for an 1100sf 2 bedroom, 1-3/4 bath Wedgwood apartment. It was a block from the local Safeway, the bus stopped at the front door, and was within easy reach of downtown Seattle. We were comfortable, and after 3 years there, I saw no sense in nearly doubling our housing allotment to over $1200/mo. (We didn't have much of a down payment) to move 12 miles away, into the 'burbs', or as our Ballard friends called it, "Canada". We saw about 35 homes before our agent, Linda, called one evening to say, "this is it, it's just come on the market, and you'd better run up here to see it, now!" We'd familiarized ourselves with the area…Read more

  • Free Diamonds!

    June 23, 2008 /
    Dennis S. Pearce /

    Have you got a dream? I mean a gnaw-at-your-brain, tried-to-forget-it, leave-me-alone kind of wishful fantasy that fires your imagination some days, and tantalizes you with its out-of-reach nature on others. Many of us here in the Northwest, in spite of having seen our share of liquid sunshine, are still drawn to the many lakes, streams, rivers, and salt water frontages that abound in our glorious corner of the world. There is something primal about the urge to live near water- it's truly a gut level need for many. I count myself among those who dream of waking to the sight of a sailboat bobbing at anchor outside my own front door, or stepping off the deck of my small fishing cabin, fly rod in hand, for a day on the stream. I alternate between these twin romances and honestly couldn't choose between them if my life depended on it. A former client of mine had a term for the dancing flickers of light refracted off water that define the essence of the waterfront experience: He called those flashes and sparkles "free diamonds". I love the evocative image of that phrase, as it encapsulates for me the dream of finding a…Read more

  • Surveying the lending landscape

    June 18, 2008 /
    admin /

    Whether we are representing a buyer or seller, as Realtors it is our job to keep on top of what is going on in the mortgage industry. There has been a lot of press about the changes occurring within the lending arena, but even the news has a hard time keeping up with the extremely fluid nature of lending today. I think it would be safe to say that the mortgage brokers themselves have a real challenge in “knowing” what is going to happen from day to day. First, let’s get this out of the way: “Zero Down” loans are no longer in existence. “No Income Verification/No Asset” (NINA) loans with small down payments have gone the way of the dodo bird and dinosaur. Fogging a mirror will no longer qualify you for a mortgage. While this makes getting a loan more difficult, perhaps it’s all for the best. Lenders actually should want to be sure that their borrowers can afford to pay them back. If you would like to hear a very interesting commentary on exactly how we ended up in this mortgage crisis, click HERE. In fact, let’s not forget, it wasn’t all *that* long ago that 20%…Read more

  • A better way to search the NWMLS

    June 2, 2008 /
    Jesse D. Moore /

    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