More Signs Of A Bottom : New Home Sales Unexpectedly Rise The national housing market got its third piece of good news in 3 days: Monday: Existing Home Sales up Tuesday: Home values appear higher nationally Wednesday: New Home Sales upAnd although national real estate statistics are irrelevant to the local Renton and Kent markets in which real estate transactions happen, to a country of would-be and wanna-be home buyers, repeated positive news on housing can be a strong signal that it's time to get off the sidelines. At least, that's what the data is showing us. According to an industry trade group, first-time home buyers accounted for half of all sales of previously-owned homes. The stimulus package's $8,000 tax credit likely played a role in this 50 percent figure, as well as sagging ... 03/27/2009

  This came in an email and I haven't been able to find out other info or who to attribute to this great photo. Enjoy this. 03/21/2009

I’m a curious fellow. A question I always ask my real estate associates when a transaction comes into play is, “Where did your client come from?”  Traditionally it was most often one of three ways.       1. They know someone I know. They ride the bus to work with my neighbor. They socialize with a friend. It was a recommendation based on my good treatment of a prior client. It was someone from church, volunteering, a relative, a friend. 2. It was through my marketing. “I’ve been working this ‘area’ diligently for sometime now and they gave me a call because they saw my flyer, postcard, ad, sign, or open house.” 3. They found me online. They found me via my company, read my blog, or found my open house online. They see me on ActiveRain, Facebook, LinkedIn, or at a Biznik event. We’re in ... 03/18/2009

The Federal Reserve Is Meeting And What It Means To Your Mortgage Rate Alright first time home buyers, Renton home seller, anyone investing in Seattle property and anyone else that is effected by King County Home Prices. Here is the latest. (and I'm already predicting there will not be any immediate change.)The Federal Open Market Committee begins a scheduled, 2-day meeting yesterday to discuss the country's monetary policy. As is custom, the group will issue a press release to the markets upon adjournment. There are 8 scheduled FOMC get-togethers annually and the post-meeting press releases are among the most powerful market-moving events of the year. (usually but probably not this time) It's not the Fed's actual policy changes that causes fortunes to be won or lost, though. These chan... 03/18/2009

Earnest money is what the buyer puts as a down payment in the form of check or money order to show the seller how serious you are about making an offer to buy the home. It must be a substantial amount to demonstrate to the seller your intent to purchase the home in good faith. It tells the seller you are indeed a very serious buyer interested in the home and the check you are writing is large enough to hurt your pocket book in case you back out of the offer without a good reason to do so. Earnest money are usually 1-3% of the purchase price, and if the offer is accepted by the seller, then the earnest money is deposited into an escrow account and becomes part of your down payment at closing. If the offer is rejected and turned down by the seller, your money is returned to you. If you b... 03/14/2009

One of my favorite restaurants in Renton is the 3 year old Fin N Bone owned by Jerry and Yelina Jackson.  As I was researching a place to have lunch with a staging/design colleague of mine, I learned that they offer free WiFi at their place.  I am sooooo thrilled!  Jerry brings some southern style cooking to the restaurant but it's also married with many NW flavors.  Last fall I was loving his TurDuckEn, the Turkey, Duck and Chicken dish where all 3 of them are stuffed inside of each other along with stuffing.  It was wonderful and some of the best comfort food I'd had in a long time. They've got meeting spaces that can be rented, but I'm excited to hear that WiFi is there so that I can have smaller luncheon appointments where we can access internet as needed.  Today I'll be coaching th... 03/12/2009

Mark-To-Market : How An Obscure Corporate Accounting Rule Might Impact Your Renton Mortgage Rate You know you're in the middle of an economic crisis when an accounting issue become Front Page News, and that's exactly where we're at today. Mark-to-market accounting is having its day in the sun and people in need of mortgage sometime soon would do well to pay attention. If you've never heard of mark-to-market accounting, don't worry. Not many people have. Mark-to-market is a method of valuing an asset based on its what-if-it-was-sold-today value. Mark-to-market is officially known as FASB Statement 157. Mark-to-market is one reason why bank balance sheets look so awful right now. Banks have to assign firesale-like values to their mortgage-backed assets even if those loans are performing, ... 03/12/2009

When the White House first introduced the Making Home Affordable program in February, it was positioned as a mortgage program with two goals: To help financially-needy homeowners get mortgage relief To help homeowners who've lose equity qualify for today's low rates Wednesday, in a much-anticipated announcement, the U.S. Treasury introduced new details about Making Home Affordable. It also created an "Am I Eligible For Making Home Affordable" form on its website. In the press release, the Treasury detailed the President's original blueprint. Namely, it provided explicit loan modification instructions that will assist up to 4 million delinquent homeowners and their respective mortgage servicers. The modification guidelines are a thorough 17 pages long and leave little question about the... 03/06/2009

One popular housing theory is that -- before a bona fide housing recovery can begin -- the cost of owning a home versus renting one must return to historical levels. If that belief is a truth, a national return to rising home prices may be in store for 2009. Falling home prices coupled with falling mortgage rates, too, have dropped the relative, after-tax cost of owning a home to 125% of the cost of renting a home. This is the exact 18-year historical average and not since 2001 has the gap been this small. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, though, the study has some flaws. For example, the data doesn't account for ongoing home maintenance costs, nor does it consider real estate tax bills and insurance policies. But, combining a relatively low cost of ownership with the government'... 03/01/2009

WonderWash is a new environmentally friendly green product for Renton homes, condos, RV's, tents, teepees, longhouses, yurts and other homes (even cardboard boxes under the viaduct) that we live in here in the great Pacific Northwest. It looks like a beer keg or a propane tank, but this device is a washing machine, if you can believe it. Pictured above it is the WonderWash, an environmentally- and budget-friendly laundry product that fits on a countertop and washes with even less water than hand-washing. From Laundry Alternative, the WonderWash washes 5 pounds of clothes in just a few minutes with a couple of turns on the crank. Its internal pressure system forces detergent through clothes at very high speeds -- up to 100 times faster than by a machine. WonderWash is safe for delicates... 02/17/2009

 Short Sale Class for Real Estate Agents in Renton, WA THE REAL ESTATE MARKET HAS CHANGED AND SHORT SALES ARE HERE TO STAY. IF YOU'RE NOT PREPARED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE CURRENT MARKET BY KNOWING HOW TO WORK SHORT SALES, YOU'LL MISS OUT ON THE GREATEST REAL ESTATE MARKET IN HISTORY. "Short Sale Lunch & Learn" Phone: 425-277-5100 Fax: 425-277-5400 E-mail:Kamran@vregroup.net or Kimberly@vregroup.net Venture Real Estate Group Proudly Presents: FEBRUARY 18TH 12-2:30PM FREE LUNCH Class Description • How to close a Short Sale in 60 days • How to retain 3% commission • Requirements of the bank, lender, and the new buyer • Review a case study & discuss the transaction • Distressed Property Law regarding short sales • Sample short sale package • Tax strategies presented by Linda Winslow, Tax A... 02/08/2009

I admit that Google's Chrome browser is rapidly becoming my favorite, but Firefox really pulled me back this week and got a lot of my attention with its new research add-on Juice.   I did a simple search in Google, “Renton Real Estate”. The usual suspects show up on the left, sponsors to the right, and Juice adds a skyscraper column on the right of your Firefox browser.       Note the tabs…  Web   Images   News   Video   Blogs         I really like the tabs. They give you instant organization by category. I immediately found photos, slide shows, and Video. The Blogs tab produced a great list of real estate blogs, several from local realtors on ActiveRain.   When you want to drill down for hyper-local information all you need to do is highlight text from the Google results on the left, ... 02/08/2009

Top 10 Cities For Job Growth in 2009 Employment figures released this morning show that the economy has now shed 3.6 million jobs since December 2007, included close to half that in the last 3 months alone. The Unemployment Rate is now 7.6%. This is not great news if you are a Boeing, WAMU, Starbucks or Microsoft worker who just got laid off. And if you were in the long line at the latest job fair at Qwest field, you may or may not think this post will be helpful, but it seems like positive news compared to many other lcoations. But jobs aren't fading in every housing market equally. As reported by Ajilon Professional Staffing, there are still areas around the country in which unemployment rates are low and job outlooks are strong. Led by Madison, WI, Ajilon calls them "10 Cities For J... 02/06/2009

The Renton housing market is defined by the NWMLS in 3 areas, naturally split geographically. 340 area is Downtown Renton, Fairwood, Cascade and Talbot Hill. 350 area is Renton Highlands, Kennydale and east to Issaquah. 360 Area is Skyway, Lakeridge and Bryn Mawr.Inventory is declining in our market which will help stabilize our prices. Less new construction homes are being permitted and built. Some owners are taking homes off the market rather than sell as evidenced by the fact that last summer in one area there were 61 townhomes for sale and today in the same area there is 34 townhomes for sale. Buyer activity is increasing slightly due to the great interest rates and availability of homes. Purchases are often first time home buyers or investors. Prices are often set by the preforeclo... 02/04/2009

AUSTIN, TEXAS (January 27, 2009) — Bailout. Credit crunch. Foreclosure. Despite these words permeating the headlines and airwaves, there are companies out there moving forward – even in real estate. Keller Williams® Realty Inc., the fourth largest real estate company in North America, announced today that it outpaced the market in 2008, while remaining free of debt, and gave back more than $30 million in profits to its agents. (Call me if you would like an explanation of the KW Profit Sharing and Retirement Plan... you don't get that anywhere else.) “Our strategy is no secret. We faithfully follow the sound financial model of leading with revenue – the same model our market centers follow,” said Mark Willis, CEO of Keller Williams Realty Inc. “As we watch companies throughout the count... 02/02/2009

Actually, the STAR started in December, but it has taken me this long to figure out how to say thanks.   So one day I was talking on the phone with my friend Elizabeth Nieves, about the cancer affecting our families.  Although, it is not a secret in my Keller Williams office in Renton, or community in Ashburn or at Renton Christian Center, I don’t throw it out into public too much.  My clients all know up front that we are in a battle and have been tremendous.  Well here goes to my AR Friends and Family.... My wife, Jessie-Joy, and I have been fighting cancer for over 6 years.   What started out with my obligatory husbandly checks resulted in me finding a large lump in her breast.  Off to the doctor we go and we get the news, breast cancer.  Holy Crap, this sucks, what do we do now.  So... 01/27/2009

I am thrilled that in our country with "the most advanced security technology in the world", such as spy satellites or drone planes that can read our license plates and record the youtube video that is playing on your laptop while you are listening to your MP3 Player in the background, ability to track and monitor multiple streams on everyone's cell phone, that WE CAN figure out a safe way for the President to text his wife to tell her and the girls that he is going to be home late from work. Seriously, I understand and highly believe in executive security from my many years in the State Patrol. I worked security for several Governors and worked on a few presidential visits (the security you don't see is even more amazing than the security you do see) and I truly believe that protectin... 01/26/2009

Fixer upper! Rent To Own! 50% rent credit! 4 br / 1 ba home with 1 car garage on standard city lot in Renton, WA. The school district is Renton! Home has city water and septic system. Great home for someone to fix up and build huge equity! Rent is $1000/mo and first months rent and low down required to move in. Please contact us with any questions you might have or visit us at http://50statesrent2own.com  Until next time.... Pete Olsen Rent To Own Homes, LLC www.50statesrent2own.com www.activerain.com/blogs/peteolsen01   01/25/2009

New information for Renton home and condo sellers and buyers. Several of the satisfied customers of the Gary McNinch Team have been able to sell a home or even an Ashburn townhome and buy a bigger home. Well times are changing (as always) in this business. When a homeowner sells his home and decides to buy a new one, there are 3 basic options for the residence -- sell it, keep it, or rent it.   Unfortunately, no matter which path they choose, move-up homebuyers in need of a new conforming mortgage will find qualifying for a home loan to be more difficult this season than in the past.   Mortgage guidelines are dramatically tighter for people "carrying two mortgages".   Among the changes this spring's buyers face: Selling the primary residenceIf you plan to close on your new home prior t... 01/24/2009

I wrote earlier today about my real estate business experiences here in the early part of 2009. Nothing I do is ever a terrible failure in fact my attitude is one where my success's are usually the result of dissapoinments, one after the other. How else do we become successful - we've all heard how many attempts Edison made at the incandescent light...1,000's? Either way... Today our travel team is hosting an event for our Worldventures at home business here in the Seattle area. This business is helping thousands in other states. I just got back from Arizona where the real estate market is very, very tough. Some of the TOP brokers and realtors as well as lending brokers and LO's in the country are a part of what we're doing. They are having success and fun and sharing this with others. ... 01/17/2009