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RE/MAX 2012 Housing Message with Margaret Kelly (RE/MAX CEO)

Margaret Kelly, the Chief Executive Officer at RE/MAX is highly visible in her television commercials, along with being a spokesperson to those of us who are RE/MAX professionals. In this quick video clip, she summarizes what I believe is a reasonable statement of what we might expect to see in the real estate market in 2012.

 

MainVue Homes at The Bridges in Auburn, WA

New home-building in Auburn, WA continues to increase, as evidenced by a quick drive through the area. One of the most ambitious new developments in Auburn is The Bridges, by MainVue Homes, located just east of 124th, between 304th and 288th.

A few years ago I watched as the area was cleared and developed with streets, lights, and playgrounds, and then the real estate economy tanked and the property sat idle … until recently!

Unfortunately, it appears that the folks at MainVue homes have decided not to list their homes on our local MLS. Visiting both their Web and physical sites indicate that several homes have already been sold, model homes are available, and homes are for sale.

Marketing is driven specifically to consumers and Broker/Agent participation appears to be discouraged.

With registration either on the Web or in person, the builder will recognize that a particular client is represented by a Broker, but they’ve certainly not made it easy. Having worked with Quadrant, Soundbuilt, Kendall Homes, Richmond American, and Polygon in the last year, I’m a bit spoiled, apparently. Those folks welcome Brokers and encourage us to be of help to Buyers. I’m afraid that’s not the case at MainVue.

I love working with Builders. I’ve built my business offering outstanding customer service to both Buyers and Sellers. I’ve helped Buyers sell their existing home quickly so that they were able to buy a new construction home. I’ve directed them to financing that was far better than what they were offered by the Builder’s preferred lender. I’ve helped the Buyers actually get the option package that was advertised by the Builder, but then went missing in their Builder contract.

As a transaction progresses, it’s frequently necessary to indulge in a bit of professional and friendly nudging with the Builder to be sure that the Buyer ends up with the home of their dreams, while helping them with all facets of their home buying process. As a new construction homebuyer, you’ll have a lot of questions – at the time you choose your lot, your model and floor plan, and throughout the build. You need someone to look out for your interests. (By the way, Mr. Builder, I also kept Buyers happy, answering their questions, interfacing with your representatives, and keeping them out from underfoot so that you can do your job! You should want to work with me!)

When you’re ready to buy a home at The Bridges, please be sure to use a well-qualified Broker. If you choose to visit The Bridges on your own without your Broker, do so only once, and be absolutely certain those folks know you’ll use your own Broker for your purchase.

I’m delighted to be of service to you … and am happy to represent your purchase of a MainVue home – even if the Builder isn’t excited about working with Broker/Agents.

Be certain you’re well represented during this most important purchase! There’s a lot of money involved and you deserve the best!

The Winter Storm Watch Continues

My husband, the amateur weatherman, has been obsessively following the build-up to the “Megastorm” of decades, currently predicted for our greater Seattle region. We’ve been watching for days, experiencing a bit of snow here, and a bit of snow there. At our home in east Auburn, so far we’ve accumulated a couple of inches, which largely went away today even through additional flurries of wet heavy snow.

I grew up in Seattle and remember a few good-sized snow storms from my childhood; even one or two while raising our own children. This storm, however, is expected to dump somewhere between 12- and 18-inches in our yard, according to the “Futurecast” radar displayed on one of our local news sites, KIRO7. That’s a significant amount of snow. Significant!

According to AccuWeather, the history of great Seattle snowstorms is as follows:

1. Jan. 5-9, 1880: Est. 36.0″ with 6-foot drifts
2. Jan. 31-Feb. 3, 1916: 33.4″
3. Jan. 26-31, 1969: 30.7″
4. Jan. 12-15, 1950: 26.8″
5. Dec. 23-27, 1965: 14.9″
6. Dec. 30-31, 1968: 13.0″
7. Jan. 23-26, 1972: 12.6″
8. Jan. 25-26, 1950: 12.4″
9. Dec. 26-27, 1974: 9.8″
10. Nov. 20-22, 1985: 9.4″
11. Nov. 27, 1985: 7.6″

Twelve-to-eighteen inches. I’m expecting the roof to be fine, but I’m thinking the tarp-type carport under which we park our riding lawnmower and various “stuffs” to probably take a hit. We’ve brought pellets for the stove into the garage. The chickens are safely ensconced in their coop with plenty of food and water. The dogs are oblivious, but will love it. The cat? Well, we may have to hand-carry him out now and then to visit the kitty potty.

Twelve-to-eighteen inches, followed by rain. It should be exciting!

 

A Look at Sales in Lakeland Hills

I’ve always loved the Lakeland Hills area of Auburn, which technically straddles the King County / Auburn County borders and includes both Auburn and Sumner addresses. Perched above the Auburn valley, there are also some staggering views of the valley, southeast of Mt. Rainier, and east of the Cascade foothills.

Much of Lakeland Hills is new(er) construction in a planned community with a variety of housing choices and prices, shopping, parks and entertainment. Here you’ll find apartments, condominiums (both attached and detached), along with single family homes.

A large portion of the newest homes … perhaps those built from about 2007 and later … sit on the typical new construction smaller lots, under about 6,500 square feet. Older neighborhoods with homes built in the ‘70’s or so may have yards that are a bit larger.

Because so much of Lakeland Hills is new, prices and sales have been impacted by the real estate downturn with new construction continuing to play a huge role in home sales in the area.

Prices in Lakeland Hills spiraled during the 2005-2007, falling significantly in mid-2008:

As with much of the south King County area (the majority of Lakeland Hills), somewhat due to the difficulty in closing short sales and bank-owned properties which have been a significant part of the area, new construction is starting to pick up, and certainly played an important part of closed sales in 2011.  

Here’s another look at the same information, sorted by type of sale rather than year: 

Considering a move to the area or thinking of selling your Lakeland Hills home? I specialize in the Auburn area — please don’t hesitate to give me a call, just to talk through some of the possibilities. I’m always delighted to be of service!

 

You Can Test Drive a Car … But Not a House!

The last couple of weekends have included a few hours helping our son decide what car to buy. We’ve been to this dealer and that, had him prequalified … and have driven a number of cars, usually with the all-chatty salesman in the backseat telling us exactly why this car is THE one to buy. We’ve driven some brand new cars and are now taking a look at a few that a just a couple of years old (Mom insisting that maybe the payment will be a bit easier on his monthly budget.)

Now that we’ve graduated to the used car market, I’ve been busy reading CarFax reports, looking over my son’s shoulder and hanging onto the passenger “Lord Help Me!” strap conveniently located just above most of the passenger windows. (Word to the wise … don’t ever go on a test drive with a 21-year old male …. )

Now that I’m safely home, I’ve been able to reflect on the disparity between buying a car and buying a house. We’re out driving around in a $18,000 car, testing the brakes, going around corners, up steep hills, accelerating on the freeway–all with a eye on making sure that the vehicle seems safe, feels good, and is worth going to the step of taking it to our trusted mechanic before going down the buying path.

However, buying a house … many times more expensive, doesn’t include that same test drive. There’s no chance to sit in the house long enough to decide if it’s drafty, cook a meal in the kitchen and see if the layout really truly works or pack the closets to see if the clothes all fit. All of those things are a bit subjective. We think it’ll work. We walk through the house–maybe a few times–then begin the purchase process. With careful thought and due diligence, we hire a trusted inspector to test and prod the house to reveal its strengths and weaknesses. We measure the rooms, sometimes draw them out on paper and hope everything fits.

But test drive? Nope. That’s reserved for much smaller purchases … like cars, trucks, and RVs.

As Agents/Brokers, it’s important to provide as many opportunities for our Buyer clients to look at a house at their own pace. To figuratively kick the tires, lay on the floor of the empty bedroom to see if the bed fits and stand in the pantry to evaluate the food storage. Because buying a home is truly the largest purchase they’ll ever make. It’s the best we can do .. their test drive begins the day they move in.

*photo courtesy of egg on stilts via Flickr

Real Estate is About to Come to a Screeching Halt in Auburn, WA!!!

Truly! Snow is coming! The world will come to an end in Auburn in three days!

At least so say the weather stations.

The greater Puget Sound metropolitan area is a unique place when it snows. We’re hilly around here and our typical warm ocean breezes prevent us from getting much in the way of significant snowfall, which means most of the cities and towns in our area have a minimal amount of snow equipment to deal with the mess. We don’t dump a lot of sand or salt on the roads. Some … but not a lot.

Oh sure, once a year or so we get dumped on with a couple or three inches, but then it rains away within the next day or so. I know, I know – you Seattle’ites remember the recent great snowfall of ‘ought eight’ when we had 6+ inches on the ground for a week or so.

It was darned cold out there and the stuff was packed hard on our road. (We happen to live almost at the bottom and no way were we getting out of here.) It was exhilarating! Snowball fights. The dogs romped through the yard like puppies. BIIIGGG snow creatures adorned the yard.

I remember that the Mayor of Seattle got into all sorts of trouble for not arranging to have side streets and a few major hills plowed (as if he could do much about it with the few plows available), and so on. It was chaos out there.

But I love the snow. Snuggling inside with hot cocoa and a good book.

So … just a word to the wise: Beware!! Real estate .. and everything else involving cars … is coming to a screeching halt if we get 1/2” of snow on Sunday. …….

……

……

… of course, then it’ll all start back up again in a day or two and we’ll be raring to go back to work.

Enjoy!

A Great Lender Helps From Start to Finish, Especially in a Short Sale

One of the very first steps in the home buying process is determining how a Buyer will pay for their new home. Not only must a Buyer determine much they can afford, but how an offer must be structured–whether closing costs must be paid by a Seller, gift funds will be used for a down payment, how much of a down payment will be paid, and so on.

Having a great lender as part of the Buying team is critical, but especially so with short sale purchases.

It can be difficult for a lender to help a Buyer determine exactly how much they might need to close the sale. A good faith estimate on the front end of a short sale might not be appropriate; interest rates, dates of closing, and other terms may change before lender approval occurs several months later.

Will the Buyer have sufficient funds to close? Will they have sufficient reserves; will they be comfortable with their payment?

A GREAT lender prepares an estimate of costs at the beginning, then meets periodically with the Buyer throughout the process, updating them on the changes and making sure they understand the numbers. They help the transaction succeed – from start to finish.

Working with an agent experienced in both listing and assisting buyers with short sales … and considering their recommendations for a great short sale lender will ensure success and confidence as a buyer proceeds through the process.

Auburn, WA: 2011–The Year That Was

The end of the year is a good time to take a look back and see how things shaped up. After all of the negative press, residential real estate sales in Auburn improved, both for the month of December 2011, and year over year compared to 2010.

Here’s a quick look at the numbers:

 

 

Who says the economy still not improving!? Compare the numbers from 2008!

The next chart compares year end stats:

I’m jazzed! Look at that nice up-tick in closed sales!

So … what sold in Auburn in December?

 

Traditional sales are creeping up in number …. a really good thing, but equally good is noting that Bank-Owned property sales are also closing, getting some of those low, low priced homes off the market. I expect to see a gain in short sale property closings in 2012 as some of the big banks are finally getting their acts together and realizing that closing on short sales actually keep prices up a bit higher than foreclosing and then dropping the price even further.

One final quick note: remember that sales that close in a given month probably received offers in the previous month … typically about 45 days prior to the date of closing. Unless we’re talking about short sales, of course, which continue to take about 60 days or more to receive bank approval after an offer is presented to them and then another 45 days to close the transaction.

It’s Under Contract! — And Now it’s SOLD!

Congratulations to the new owners of this lovely home in Puyallup. February will always be a special month for you!

I’m so pleased that you found the home of your dreams! May you have many many years of happiness and satisfaction in your new home!

(post updated 3/5/2012)

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And the Sellers are so excited! I’m always excited as well when a good offer comes in on a listing and we’re able to negotiate the finer points resulting in an accepted contract.

The Sellers will be ticking off the very short list of requested repairs in the next few days … seems like there’s always stuff in the gutters in our area, no matter when they were last cleaned … and then this beautiful home will go to some also very excited Buyers.

Congratulations to everyone involved! Your home sale is Pending! Now let’s get this one Closed!!

Short Sales and 2012

By all indications, it appears that 2012 will be a year with even more short sale listings … and closings than 2011. Some of the major banks have embraced the idea that short sales can be a bit more profitable than letting houses sit for months on end and then ultimately end up in foreclosure.

With the number of real estate transactions on the upswing here in the Auburn, WA, south King County, and Pierce County areas, it only makes sense that we’ll also see more short sale transactions.

Around the water cooler, I’m hearing that some real estate brokers are fed up with the lengthy and time consuming process of working with short sale clients and have decided not to work with short sales any longer.

I can sure understand that attitude! Short sales are difficult, at best, and so many short sale listings never manage to close, whether due to unrealistic price expectations on the part of lenders, the physical condition of so many homes, buyers that get tired of waiting and walk away, or lenders that refuse to even look at offers (let alone counteroffer) thus letting a house ultimately go to auction.

Working short sales requires a team of experts that know what they’re doing and can address objections and legal issues as they arise. Agents must know the various programs involved, what the various banks require as far as what and when paperwork must be obtained, and how to counsel their clients. My team of experts, including lawyers, title reps, and escrow officers, know what they’re doing. We’ll be here during this upcoming 2012 year to answer your questions about short selling, listing your home at a price attractive to short sale buyers and to the banks involved in the process.

Call me when you have questions. I’ll do my best to answer them so that you can develop a strategic plan for moving forward – whether that involves short selling your house, keeping it, or allowing it to go through foreclosure.

*photo credit Jeff Turner via Flickr

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