Brian Leavitt

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Real Estate Broker/Owner - Keller Williams Bellevue - 1505
Real estate and mortgage advice, , thoughts, wisdom (or lack thereof), opinion, humor and general real estate and mortgage commentary. Based on more than 30 years of hard won experience and remember, "experience is what you get when you don't get what you want." Blog posts are published most weekdays or so, and are provided as a service of Northstone Real Estate Inc. and Northstone Mortgage. Your comments, questions, criticism, opinions, diatribes, etc are always welcome.
RECENT BLOG POSTS
Effective February 17, 2009 Issaquah-based Northstone Mortgage has gone green!    According to Northstone account executive Jule' Gunn, Northstone has implemented new technology to eliminate most of the paperwork associated with the traditional mortgage process.  The benefits to the consumer are ...
02/18/2009
Word on the street is the short sale process is headed for change and the sooner the better.  As it now exists the short sale process is at best cumbersome and at worst, and read worst as usual, ridiculously inefficient.  In many instances little or no progress is made in weeks or even months lea...
02/17/2009
This post is part of a series on basic prospecting.  There really are no secrets in the real estate business.  All it really comes down to is doing the basics and doing them well.  One of the most basic elements of any solid real estate business is marketing to your sphere of influence.  There ar...
02/13/2009
Inman News reports that the proposed $15,000 home buyer tax credit was cut from the economic stimulus package and is headed for a final vote on Friday.  The homebuyer tax credit was included in the $838 billion economic stimulus package passed by the Senate on Tuesday but was then scaled back to ...
02/12/2009
One of the more frequent questions I get from new agents is how do I get business.  The short answer is you talk to people and ask for it.  Usually it is the new agent who tells me they do not know anyone.  Really?  Who cuts your hair?  Who fixes your car?  Who rings up your groceries?  My point ...
02/12/2009
Yesterday, at a very lonely broker's open house.  I found myself thinking about the many agents who complain about the state of the market.  These are the same agents who I seem to never see at broker's open houses or out previewing inventory so that they can effectively do their job.  The apathy...
02/11/2009
Here we go again.  Trust me, I am not trying to belabor the point from my earlier blog, but hey, they are sending this...stuff.. to me.  Here is the lamest, I mean latest in their spam series that really is such a disservice to the consumer.  And I quote, "Is it realistic to expect a Loan Officer...
02/05/2009
 MSNBC reports that the Senate has Okayed a $15,000 tax break for homebuyers.  This time it's not just for first-time buyers.  The hope is that the $15,000 tax break will revitalize the housing market.  This tax break is part of the economic stimulus bill.  That is part of President Obama's recov...
02/04/2009
There is a web site that came to my attention today that has quite an interesting premise.  It is called close your own loan.com tm and their tag line is "  We've eliminated the loan officer, you keep his commission!tm  "  their website says "our online mortgage system allows you to compare and l...
02/04/2009
HUD releases new Good Faith & Settlement StatementHUD's attempt to provide greater transparency in the home buying process clearly shows up in the newly revised Good Faith Estimate (GFE) and HUD Settlement Statement. Although these forms will not be required to be used until January 1st, 2010, it...
11/13/2008
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Brian Leavitt

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Real estate and mortgage advice, , thoughts, wisdom (or lack thereof), opinion, humor and general real estate and mortgage commentary. Based on more than 30 years of hard won experience and over 1000 homes sold. Blog posts are published most weekdays or so, and are provided as a service of Northstone Real Estate Inc. and Northstone Mortgage. Your comments, questions, criticism, opinions, diatribes, etc are always welcome.