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Pickett Street investor purchases at trustee’s sale
November 19, 2010 /Last Friday, new investor Ron Wong purchased his first investment property at a steep discount (67%) in South Everett. The home was a very well cared for 1955 built rambler on a great street and large lot with a detached garage. Ron met the owner earlier in the week with me (John McCants) and toured the house. The owner had been trying to work with one of the largest banks in America on a modified payment plan for over two years with no success. He was unable to afford the repairs the house and the house ultimately went to trustee sale (auction) and sold to our investor. The property needed a new roof, some landscaping, and touch-up on the inside to hardwood floors and paint. The home has two remodeled bathrooms and a new kitchen. It is very unfortunate for the previous homeowner that he could not keep his home, but to Ron, it was a opportunity to do what he has dreamed about for years: build his wealth by buying real estate at wholesale. Ron plans to complete the work in the next few weeks as the previous homeowner moves out and re-list the property with the Pickett Street…Read more
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Jesse, John & Pickett Street on National Public Radio (NPR)
October 19, 2010 /Last week I was contacted by a reporter from KPLU, the Seattle affiliate for National Public Radio, wondering if I would sit down with her and talk about how many banks have elected to temporarily suspend their foreclosure process. So last Thursday she showed up at our offices, microphone in hand, and we spent the next 90 minutes discussing this brave new world of real estate. 90 minutes of conversation with three different agents (Dennis Pearce, John McCants and myself) was edited down to 4 minutes, and a good share of that was split with Jillayne Schlicke - real estate and mortgage educator extraordinaire, and Richard Hagar - a Seattle real estate appraiser. The piece aired nationally on the "Weekend Edition" on NPR this past Sunday. I think that the initial pitch for the story was an investigative report as to how the suspension of foreclosures from big banks like Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and GMAC was effecting the day-to-day operation of real estate businesses like ours. As a real estate team that services short sale, bank-owned, resale, new construction, and auction properties, the suspensions most greatly affected our auction business. John is quoted in the report discussing…Read more
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Keller Williams & Pickett Street give back: RED Day 2010
June 10, 2010 /Pickett Street Properties Team joined Keller Williams associates across America on May 13th - and took the day off! But it was hardly a day of rest. Over 25,000 associates across the US and Canada spent their day giving back, as part of the company’s community service initiative called RED Day. Short for “Renew, Energize, and Donate,” RED Day was created to unite Keller Williams Realty office and associates in an international day of service. Andy and our team coordinated the activities for our Keller Williams Realty Bothell – and it was an incredible and very rewarding experience. We ended up with 60+ associates and several vendor/partners volunteering, serving in several projects throughout the greater Bothell area: Home Renovation: We scoured our community for a home that needed some work, and approached several owners to see if they’d be interested in our help. It took a while to find someone who would accept our “no strings attached” offer. Once we started working – they were thrilled. The family home we served had not been touched in over 30 years. Our team of volunteers gave it an entire “exterior makeover”, including: complete house scraping, sanding, cleaning, and painting (with colors chosen…Read more
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And the winner is…
January 27, 2010 /Pickett Street Properties is proud and honored to announce that all 4 of us just received the “2009 – 5 Star Realtor Award, Best in Client Satisfaction,” recently published in Seattle Magazine. This is a great honor for us - because our greatest desire is to serve our clients incredibly well. Only 758 local Realtors received this award of the over 20,000+ licensed Agents in our area. Here’s how the awards are determined: First, over 22,500 people who recently bought or sold homes were surveyed by mail and phone. Next, professionals in the mortgage and title industry were surveyed for their nominees. Stacks of surveys were received, screened and scored by Crescendo Business Services. Finally, a blue ribbon panel of local industry experts reviewed the finalists list - and the winners were announced! Those surveyed were asked to evaluate their nominees based on nine criteria: Customer service, communication, finding the right home, integrity, negotiation, marketing the home, market knowledge, closing preparation, and closing satisfaction. We want to thank our clients and those we work with for nominating us. We are thrilled with the awards, and will continue to do our best to exceed our clients’ expectations and goals. Several Agents…Read more
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Pickett Street on the radio
June 24, 2009 /On Tuesday Dennis and I were asked to participate on a round table discussion of the real estate market on "The Money Thing," a local talk radio show that airs on Tuesdays from 12-2pm on 1150AM (KKNW). Neither of us had ever been on the radio before, but that would never keep us from offering our opinion! :) The show is hosted by Howard Bono, a mortgage originator and owner of Old West Mortgage in Everett. We had only met Howard once before, but that meeting prompted enough thought that he asked us to come on the radio program to share our ideas with his audience. The discussion was lively, and was largely in reference to the short sale processs, what we anticipated for our local market over the next 12-18 months, and how we counsel buyers in times like these. The entire program segment is available on Howard's website, TheMoneyThing.com, but I've posted just our segment below. Thanks to Howard for having us - and thanks to Jerry Jaz for taking the time to take in-studio pics.Read more
