Ben Bernanke Leaves Clues About The Future Of Mortgage Rates On the 1-year anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse (CAN YOU BELIEVE IT HAS ALREADY BEEN A YEAR), Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said Tuesday that the "recession is very likely over at this point". His comments were supported by a Retail Sales report for August that was much better-than-expected. Equities improved on the day, mortgage markets worsened, and Renton home affordability suffered. The days of ultra-low Renton mortgage rates may be coming to an end. Since last September, mortgage bonds markets have been in Rally Mode. As the Financial Crisis of 2008 worsened, investors fled the relatively risky world of stocks and moved dollars into safer investments like cash and bonds -- including the mortgage-backed kind. Risk av... 09/19/2009

  FIRST TIME HOME BUYERS AND THE TAX CREDIT RENTON, WA First-time home buyers in Renton, WA can count on financial assistance from the government in the form an $8000 Tax Credit.  You may use this credit to help you qualify for your FHA loan. About the First-Time Homebuyer Purchase Tax Credit.   In an effort to stimulate the housing market FHA will now allow the use of the anticipated tax credit to be used to offset some of the mortgage cost or in some situations to be used for the down payment.  Borrowers will need to complete IRS form 5404. A key component is that a tax refund of the first-time homebuyer home tax credit will be made by the IRS only to the taxpayer, not to a third party. In other words, any refund issued in response to a claim for this purchase tax credit cannot be ass... 09/15/2009

Good morning! I wanted to let you locals know that I along with Rebecca Haas of Re/Max Metro Realty are going to start teaching real estate classes again on Saturday September 26. They will be held again at Renton Technical College. For times and related information, please go to the www.rtc.edu website. Also, please forward this along. Rebecca and I believe in education and hope to provide this series for years to come. The first class will be "How to Get a Loan Today". Other subsequent real estate classes include "Short Sales and Foreclosures-Demystify the Process", " Real Estate for Women", and "Real Estate Investment Analysis". I hope you or a friend can attend. Feel free to contact me here if you need more information. Thanks for reading! 09/15/2009

  Are you looking for an FHA loan in Renton, WA?       If you are, congratulations, we have the funding sources available to you.  Whether it's a loan for one of the fancy Condos near the water or a single family home adjacent to "The Landing", we'll get it done.   The benefits of an FHA loan are many:  Low and moderate credit scores are acceptable. Some may qualify for the $100 down program.  There are many down payment assistance programs available for an FHA loan in Renton, Wa. The homebuying process can seem complicated, but if you take things step-by-step, you will soon be holding the keys to your own home! Nine steps to buying a home with an FHA loan in Renton, WA: 1.   Figure out how much you can afford 2.   Know your rights 3.   Shop for a loan 4.   Learn about homebuying progra... 09/11/2009

In social media we use the term ubiquity to describe a philosophy of online involvement. We accomplish visibility and opportunity by participating in a wide array of communities and conversation. This (we’re everywhere) method by its very nature creates havoc when it comes to keeping your online presence manageable and in step. The objective is to have the search engines consider us an authority and serve up our conversation as the relevant content it offers when people are online searching a subject for answers. If we’re successful, they will find us and we’ve created opportunity. The ubiquitous way is a great ideal, but in reality it can be a challenge to manage and monitor. One of my favorite tools for this is StepRep. StepRep let’s me know what where and when content that includes ... 09/10/2009

Despite what some news reports say about the industry, it's quite busy in our real estate team and we're looking to fill our assistant position. We'd been looking for someone licensed but haven't been able to make that happen with just a commissionable position, so we're opening this up a bit and looking for a part-time paid hourly position with the potential for commission bonuses if a person is, or gets, licensed.  Licensing will be required at some point in the near future. Let me know if you or someone you know might be up for a position with us.  We have a home office and there is a separate office space for the assistant.  Right now we need someone who can commit to around 20 hours per week, and it may be possible to add more later depending on volume of business closings.  We hav... 09/09/2009

  Residential Transaction Study 8/23/2009 Project description: Renton WA 98057 - Condominiums   yearly market Most recent transaction: 8/10/2009 Market (homes): 457 year sales mrkt% $/sqft avg price median 2009 8 2% $168 $159,159 $153,975 2008 11 2% $246 $204,143 $218,900 2007 71 16% $300 $229,795 $223,900 2006 38 8% $209 $186,226 $185,000 2005 104 23% $195 $173,497 $169,945 2004 23 5% $152 $148,443 $153,950   The data used in this report is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.© 2009 ARFCO MEDIA... Renton WA 98055 08/23/2009

  Residential Transaction Study 8/23/2009 Project description: Renton WA 98057 (non-waterfront) single family dwellings   monthly market Most recent transaction: 8/12/2009 Market (homes): 1650 month year sales mrkt% $/sqft avg price median Aug 2009 2 0.1% $148 $442,000 $442,000 Jul 2009 7 0.4% $156 $361,243 $425,000 Jun 2009 4 0.2% $134 $273,112 $261,750 May 2009 9 0.5% $124 $272,896 $235,000 Apr 2009 4 0.2% $147 $425,517 $471,034 Mar 2009 2 0.1% $180 $276,500 $276,500   property characteristics 1 story 1009 w/ bsmt 1,018 platted 1,553 1.5 story 353 avg bsmt sqft 952 avg lot sqft1 7,788 2 story 277 w/ garage 398 unplatted 97 3+ story 1 avg garage sqft 460 avg lot sqft2 10,842 avg % imprvd 61% avg year built 1947 avg bldg sqft 1,994 avg # beds 3 avg # baths 2       1avg lot sqft of all ... 08/23/2009

I love the visual you get when you observe the life cycle of a dandelion. It perfectly demonstrates a very important aspect of social media marketing. The asynchronous conversation. Regardless if you blog, tweet, facebook, or email, you are participating in asynchronous conversation. When we participate online in communities (like Active Rain) by joining in the conversation we’re very much like the dandelion. A seed of thought occurs and takes root. The idea grows and blossoms into a conversation we articulate to the community. Like the single dandelion blossom that randomly scatters its hundreds of seeds to wherever the wind shall take them, our conversations online do likewise.   This is very different from the conversation we have that I may or may not remember from yesterday, last w... 08/22/2009

  Residential Transaction Study 8/21/2009 Project description: Renton, WA - Condominiums   yearly market Most recent transaction: 8/14/2009 Market (homes): 4215 year sales mrkt% $/sqft avg price median 2009 86 2% $169 $175,531 $161,000 2008 212 5% $196 $209,131 $202,000 2007 405 10% $225 $218,670 $210,000 2006 444 11% $191 $191,278 $180,000 2005 515 12% $168 $167,173 $164,900 2004 321 8% $145 $150,516 $149,490   market by assessed value ranges   Assessed Value Range # mrkt % last 12mo avg sale $ median sale $ $50,000-$99,999 82 2% 5 $87,500 $87,500 $100,000-$149,999 1,134 27% 54 $137,200 $134,000 $150,000-$199,999 1,288 31% 65 $160,925 $158,500 $200,000-$249,999 981 23% 53 $209,194 $211,500 $250,000-$299,999 469 11% 29 $227,863 $240,000 $300,000-$349,999 183 4% 9 $260,948 $255,738 $350... 08/21/2009

The Maple Hills neighborhood in Renton lives up to the grandeur its name implies, with sweeping views of Mount Rainier, close proximity to Lakes McDonald and Kathleen, numerous hiking and biking trails around the edge of the neighborhood and membership access to the Maple Hills Community Park and Pool. Maple Hills is located between Renton, Maple Valley and Issaquah. I-405, I-90 and HWY 169 are all easy to get to, so it is a nice central location from which to get around. The neighborhood consists of about 400 homes. Many residents choose Maple Hills because they have discovered that by moving a little farther south on the Eastside they could get a bigger and newer house for their money. According to Estately.com, the 133 homes for sale in East Renton Highlands which is home to Maple Hi... 08/20/2009

The other day we met with a new client who's just about ready to go on market with their condo unit on Petrovitsky just past 140th.  They're finishing up some final work around the unit so we anticipate it will be on by end of the month or Labor Day weekend. Unit is a top floor with vaulted ceilings in the living room, great room concept from the kitchen. All appliances are staying, including the 1-yr old washer/dryer combo. Storage unit and assigned parking, along with a cabana/pool, etc. If you're looking for a condo under $200k in the Renton area, this may be for you.  Robin will be our lead on this one, but you can contact any of us at Team Reba if you're interested in learning more about the property. 08/14/2009

I was hosting an internet marketing roundtable yesterday with Kari Carson in Puyallup, Washington at Toscanos Café and Wine Bar. (An awesome place by the way!) We were talking about young people, technology, and how the rules of communication have changed. The subject came around to cell phones. Now I know we’ve all had this conversation... “Young people never answer their phones.” True, but they will respond almost instantly to a text message. More and more, clients are doing the same. Synchronicity always amazes me. All this talk about cell phones and I, just last week, lost my old BlackBerry in a washing machine while it was running. (another story...) OMG, you’d a thought that my brain short circuited. My BlackBerry is my office! It's my life. I was disoriented, I was numb. It happ... 08/13/2009

There’s a group of extremely bright and tech-savvy young people coming up in the world that will be first time homebuyers in the very near future. Will you be ready for them? Your next potential client, soon to arrive, will in all likelihood be a young person in their 20’s. They grew up with technology, and they have some rather sophisticated expectations about anyone they will work with.   Will you know how to work with them?    Will you know how to talk to them?    My daughter (#2) will be 22 this month. She’s going to college, lives on her own, and one of the many things she does is work in the Geek Squad at Best Buy. I call her today’s normal. She didn’t go to school for computers or technology, it was just part of her everyday ‘normal’ upbringing.   Shannon doesn’t remember a time... 08/10/2009

This ‘time' we call now, the one we are all in (more or less) together. The one we refer to as today is the first time in all of human history where all media (as we know it) exists in the same place, on line, on the internet...  Via the internet we have online books, newspapers and magazines, online TV and movies, online radio, online video, VoIP, blogs, portals, and mega-rich local and hyper-local information websites of every kind.  We're very rapidly moving towards real time web with apps like Twitter, Facebook, and online gaming (for that matter). We can network casually, socially, and professionally on sites like Activerain, Biznik, Linkedin, Yelp, FastCompany, Jigsaw, Yahoo, Meetup, AOL, StepRep, and Retaggr.  We can meet in groups and easily do live conferencing online with sit... 08/06/2009

Renton, Washington 98059 is on the east plateau from downtown. On most maps you’ll see it as: East Renton Highlands. It borders Issaquah on the east, Newcastle on the north, and Renton/Maple Valley on the south. This is a great hill for views. Many homes here have fabulous views of Mt. Rainier and/or the Cascade Mountains. As you head east you can enjoy very scenic and rural views of May Valley, Cougar Mountain, Squak Mountain, Tiger Mountain, Cedar Mountain, and Cedar Grove. We have a rich history of great animal and Indian names for just about everything around here. I love the terrain. Renton is very blessed in that the physical hills, plateaus, and valley naturally define its major neighborhood areas.The zip code map in this study includes the east portion of Newcastle, which share... 08/05/2009

Renton zip code 98058 lies southeast of downtown and sits primarily on Benson Hill. There are several unincorporated county neighborhoods using the Renton 98058 zip code like Fairwood and the more rural area further east including Lake Desire, Shady Lake, and Spring Lake.This is a rather large zip code and as you can see in the RTS (residential transaction study) there are over 10,000 single family dwellings. Most of the homes are 1 story and about 2147 square feet. There are several commercial hubs surrounded by apartments and condo’s sprinkled about the area, especially along Benson Highway (state highway 515).Notice the sales price trend over the past 6 months is up and down, although since May, prices are rising. The average length of home ownership is 9.2 years.   Residential Tran... 08/05/2009

Zip code 98056 is directly adjacent to downtown Renton on the east and continues north up through the neighborhood of Kennydale along Lake Washington and borders the City of Newcastle on the southwest. Newcastle shares a portion of zip code 98056 with the City of Renton.This is a diverse area. It was rather rural in the early days and you’ll find a few homes built in the early part of the last century. It continued to grow steadily but development really took off during World War II. The Highlands, as it is still known to locals, was a government built project in the 1940's. Hundreds of small homes (or as we called them – The Projects) were built to house the thousands of people imported to the area to work for Boeing to build airplanes and Pacific Car and Foundry to build tanks, jeeps... 08/03/2009

Renton 98055 is mostly downtown and the closely surrounding hills to the east. Note that the average year built is 1977 but in the core areas the homes are mostly built around 1920 through the 1950's. Renton tended to expand in an easterly direction which was more rural and unincorporated. We won't know until 2009 is over but at the halfway mark homes are selling on average at $18 a square foot less than last year. If you purchased a home here back in 2004 or you'd still be ahead of the game by $17 a square foot. The sweet spot here is the 59% of homes that are assessed between $280,000 and $379,999. There were 126 sales out of the 2,406 in this niche selling on average at $279,906, or around 90% of the assessed value. I like using this comparison because even though assessed value by t... 08/03/2009

Over the last three weeks I’ve had a fabulous time traveling around Oregon on an internet & social media marketing workshop tour. I’ve talked to around 400 real estate and lending professionals in Seaside, Medford, Ashland, Grants Pass, Salem, Albany, Corvallis, Silverton, and Dallas. I’d like to take a second to tell my marketing team, “My hat is off to you all and I applaud you.” You are an awesome team.” How wonderful it is to meet your clients and witness the respect they have for you. How great it is you take such great care with each event down to the smallest detail. Thank you! A job well done: Julie Olsen, (Clatsop and Tillamook Counties). Shelly Berryessa, Traci Martell, Mychal Pond, and Frank Mania (Jackson County - Medford, Ashland). Rick Schemmel and Shirley Liska, (Josephi... 08/02/2009