RECENT BLOG POSTS
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1. “Long-term deficit? We can hardly afford our bills today.” About a third of workers in their 50s expect Social Security benefits to be their primary source of income in retirement, according to the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies. That reliance gives pre-retirees reason to worry ab...
07/02/2013
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Despite improvement in the economy, more than a fourth of Americans have no emergency savings. And those who do manage to sock away some money in basic savings accounts get abysmal interest on their funds and sometimes have to pay excessive fees. Half of Americans have less than three months of ...
06/28/2013
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After hovering around record lows for the past few years, mortgage rates are rising dramatically. That has consumers not only shopping more but also considering adjustable rate mortgages, which offer lower rates and lower monthly payments. These ARMs, many requiring interest payments only, wer...
06/27/2013
1. Look past window-dressing A full 94% of sellers do some "staging," such as repainting or bringing in new furniture, says Coldwell Banker. "You can be so wowed by staging that you overlook important things," says San Jose realtor Carl San Miguel. To focus on what matters, lift rugs to look a...
06/24/2013
Seattle is the fifth-most competitive housing market in the country right now, according to new stats from real estate website Redfin. It also shows the market has reached a point in which you need to be willing to pay more than the seller is asking and you need to make it personal by writing ...
06/11/2013
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SEATTLE -- Home prices around Western Washington in May were up around 13 percent from a year ago, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. It's a seller's market again, so its buyers that need to do their homework. The lack of inventory is driving up a competitive market and homes...
06/10/2013
Shoppers fighting over the few homes listed for sale in the Seattle area pushed up prices again in May, prompting fears of a fresh housing bubble, according to a new report. The median sales price of a King County house in May was $417,500, up 15.3 percent from a year earlier and 4.4 percen...
06/07/2013
Peter and Myrna Hillyer opened their North Seattle home of 45 years to potential buyers Wednesday. One was Meaghan Frisbee. She and her husband are trying to decide between adding a second floor to their house in Phinney Ridge or moving. They’ve seen 20 homes in the last month. “All the houses...
06/06/2013
If you’re a homeowner, recent news about double-digit price increases sounds terrific. But for buyers hoping to get a great deal on a house, the window of opportunity may be starting to close. For the past several years, housing affordability has been at or near record levels. Three basic fact...
05/30/2013
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Real estate has finally started to bounce back across the country -- even roar back in some places. Low mortgage rates and pent-up demand have coaxed buyers back into the market, and homeowners who list their houses are seeing more traffic. That qu...
04/18/2013