Team Reba Real Estate

RHA Call To Action:

City of Seattle Proposes $75,000 to study rental property inspections program

RHA needs your help.

We need you to contact your Seattle City Council Representative and let your voice be heard. Please read the message below and take action today. Seventeen years ago Seattle instituted an inspection program that was subsequently struck down by the State Supreme Court. Under the decision in the “McCready” case, the court found that warrant-less inspections of private property are unlawful. Today we face the same threat from Seattle again.

In the past week RHA has learned that Councilmember Nick Licata and Seattle’s Department of Planning (DPD) and Development are attempting to secure $75,000 to study proactive rental property inspection programs similar to the program set out in City of Pasco Ordinance 3231.

RHA filed an amicus brief to challenge this Ordinance in the “Shaw v. Pasco” case. In that case the Court ruled to strip renters of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure in the name of strengthening rental housing building code enforcement. Government may now force the inspection of a rental unit in the face of both the owner’s and the tenant’s objection, without probable cause and without a search warrant. RHA is appalled at the long awaited City of Pasco v. Shaw ruling recently handed down by the Washington State Supreme Court. RHA remains vehemently opposed to a proactive inspection program for several reasons.

Mandating inspections of rental dwelling units, without a warrant and regardless of tenant consent, violates a tenant’s rights under the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution and Article 1, Section 7 of the Washington State Constitution.

• The Fourth amendment to The United States Constitution provides “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated , and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause.”
• Article I, Section 7 of the Washington State Constitution states “no person shall be disturbed in his private affairs, or his home invaded, without authority of law.” Authority of law meaning a valid search warrant, which is deemed valid only when probable cause exists that evidence of a crime will be found. In addition to stripping away privacy rights, an inspection program would also result in additional costs to Seattle landlords. An inspection program would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to implement and maintain and somebody will have to pay for it. You can count on being the one left to foot the bill. RHA is strongly encouraging the Seattle City Council to consider the privacy matters involved prior to committing $75,000 in taxpayers’ money to such a study.

RHA worked with the City of Seattle and supported the Mayor’s “Clean Up Your Act” legislation which greatly strengthened civil penalties assessed to property owners found to have egregious land use, housing and building maintenance or weeds and vegetation code violations. These new ordinances have only been in effect since July 5th, 2007 and have not been given sufficient time to be enforced, yet some officials at the City are already looking for something new.

The best way to eliminate sub-standard rental housing is by vigorously enforcing existing state laws and municipal housing, fire and health codes. The City has told RHA there are some irresponsible property owners that need to be brought into compliance — but the City hasn’t been able to do anything about them. So, the City should skip penalizing all rental housing owners with an inspection program and directly go to the KNOWN source of the problem — the egregious rental property owner. The City should use the $75,000 to increase code compliance funding and get it done.

RHA urges its members who either own Seattle properties or live in the City to contact the City Council and voice their opposition to any pro-active inspection program of rental property. Working together, we can prevent the City from violating our rights and our tenant’s rights to privacy guaranteed by the U.S. and Washington State constitutions.

Time is of the essence. The City will finalize its 2008 budget within the next few weeks. Action is needed now. Please see the attached contact list for the Seattle Council. Both phone numbers and email addresses are listed for each member of the Council.

Sincerely,

Julie Johnson
RHA President

Description of proposed budget action:
This action would add $75,000 in General Subfund to the Code Compliance BCL to develop a program to identify and bring substandard rental housing into compliance. This includes, but is not limited to, examining structures, costs, and market impacts of a rental housing licensing / inspection similar to the program set out in City of Pasco Ordinance 3231. Other models should include those 1) that target rental housing that is known to be substandard; 2) that strengthens the existing complaint-based system; and 3) improve the ability of the City to enforce its retaliation ordinances. This program would complement the existing complaint based system and would be implemented in 2009 after Council review of the options and adoption, by ordinance, of the Council-preferred option. The general fund add would fund consultant resources for a feasibility study that would recommend program structure options, develop staffing alternatives, recommend implementing departments, propose licensing fees, and estimate potential implementation, costs, and market impacts.

Adopt the Following Budget Proviso: “Of the appropriations for 2007 for the Department of Planning and Development’s Code Compliance BCL, $75,000 is appropriated solely for the purpose of developing and implementing a pilot rental housing to identify and bring substandard rental housing into compliance..”

Seattle City Council Contact List
Position 1 - Jean Godden
Phone - 206-684-8807
Email - jean.godden@seattle.gov

Position 2 - Richard Conlin
Phone - 206-684-8805
Email - richard.conlin@seattle.gov

Position 3 - Peter Steinbrueck
Phone - 206-684-8804
Email - peter.steinbrueck@seattle.gov

Position 4 - Jan Drago
Phone - 206-684-8801
Email - jan.drago@seattle.gov

Position 5 - Tom Rasmussen
Phone - 206-684-8808
Email - tom.rasmussen@seattle.gov

Position 6 - Nick Licata, Council President
Phone - 206-684-8803
Email - nick.licata@seattle.gov

Position 7 - David Della
Phone - 206-684-8806
Email - david.della@seattle.gov

Position 8 - Richard McIver
Phone - 206-684-8800
Email - richard.mciver@seattle.gov

Position 9 - Sally Clark
Phone - 206-684-8802
Email - sally.clark@seattle.gov

Mail all Coucil Members

The following notice was posted in the local NWMLS.  Sellers in the Tacoma/University Place area will want to be on alert.  We get notices every now and then about this kind of negative activity at properties.  You’ll note that keyboxes in some of these cases are missing - chances are the agent didn’t secure them to the property as they are supposed to.  If you are listing your home be sure the keybox is secured properly to the home such as on a metal post, via a strong bike lock, on a door where the lockbox can’t be slid off, etc.

Pierce County Thefts
October 25, 2007. NWMLS has received several theft reports in the Central/University Place area of Pierce County; appliances, furniture and other valuable items were stolen. Keyboxes were also reported missing from some of the listings. Please report all burglaries or suspicious activity to your local law enforcement agency, and notify the NWMLS Keybox Administrator at 425-820-9200 or krhodes@nwmls.com.

http://www.raincityguide.com/2007/10/26/mortgage-fraud/

Jillayne Schlicke writes a good article regarding the various types of mortgage fraud that are being reported or investigated more frequently nowadays.  We stay away from clients that even smell of possible fraud but we know it unfortunately happens regularly in the industry with most consumers not realizing it is a felony.

Get educated on what is and is not considered fraud before jumping into the lending and buying fray.

I got an email tonight that alerted me to the Seattle Times article that I was recently interviewed for and which you can find at this link.  The interview was last week and the article was covering the topic of specialized designations that agents get throughout their careers.  I enjoyed the photo that Dean Rutz put in for me for the article too but you can only see it when you look at the print version of the article.

It’s been strange how much press we’ve received recently.  The article I was interviewed for regarding Seattle investments was released just this month as well on Personal Real Estate Investor Magazine.  I’m one of several agents quoted.

I have a couple of designations (Accredited Buyer’s Representative [ABR], Senior Real Estate Specialist [SRES]) besides memberships with the REALTOR(R) Association (National, State, & local), Commercial Broker’s Association (CBA), and I am currently beginning in December a commercial designation outside of the other specialty classwork I’ve already completed.  I’d have been further along with the Commercial designation if I hadn’t been waylaid by the horrible accident my parents were involved in this past March.  But, I’m still continuing with it and my partner, Michael, has already completed the first portion.

For the Senior designation, it has come in handy on several occasions.  Besides taking the class I have also become well acquainted with an estate attorney, Tim Burkart, of Garvey Schubert Barer and he has become a tremendous asset to my team in terms of getting advice in working with estate sales and such.  Not only is he great as a “go to” with questions in this area but he also helps with many of our younger clientele in determining how title may be held when there are complicated relationship issues to address.  We have relationships with several attorneys at this firm for business, estate, tax and real estate issues.

What doesn’t get covered in the article is that it is very common for agents to have more than one designation.  You don’t have to limit yourself to only one but you certainly can, if you want.  Personally, it doesn’t make sense to me for an agent to do so but there may be those that do.  I’m surprised that agents in the business longer than me don’t have more behind their names, although I guess it is possible that after a time it doesn’t make sense to have every single designation posted on your business card as it might take up all the room available.

For several years now we have taken our dogs to the annual fundraiser for COLA (Citizens for Off-Leash Areas) called Dog-O-Ween held at Genesee Park.  Our friends, the Copelands, got us into this trend and we’ve been hooked ever since.  While we are usually lame with our pet’s costumes  this year we are going as a group costume with the Copelands, us, and our friends the Halter’s, dressing up our dogs as the former high flying disco group The Village People.

While searching for costumes on the internet I ran across this hilarious blog post with a short YouTube film of a guy and his dogs in Star Wars attire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6UoVlfGnv8

With the new transportation package up for a vote this November, we in the Puget Sound region have an opportunity to really improve the long term options available to residents of our tri-county area.  Recent surveys show that support across the USA is high for alternate transportation methods (other than cars/roads) and you can read a recently released report at this link: http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2007102502?OpenDocument

A while back I wrote this article on Rain City Guide about the upcoming transit package. Spend a little time reading about it before you vote in the next week.  When I work with relocating clients we discuss what commuting means to them and the options that they want that will integrate with their lifestyle. For some, that means trying to limit their lives to having only 1 car, being near transit so they don’t have to buy a car, or just limiting how much time they have to spend in stop and go traffic.

Having traveled through about 13 different countries in my adult life (and I’d like to do more) and having been in many major US cities enough to see their alternate modes of transportation, it’s my belief that we in the Puget Sound need to wake up and smell our well roasted coffee (hat’s off to Starbucks and Tully’s :)) and put in place transportation systems that can handle the next 20 years of growth that we’ve got coming.  With estimates of 50,000 people coming here each year for the next 20 years we need to do something besides just adding more cars to the road.

The most common ants that you will find swarming inside houses at this type of year are odorous house ants.  These are small brown or black ants.  They are typically 1/8 inch long and are usually found in kitchens or bathrooms.  They are called odorous house ants because when they are crushed they have a noticeable odor that is typically described as rotten coconut.

This type of ants is everywhere in my neighborhood and I have been dealing with them for a little over 7 years now.  I will share what has worked for me and what hasn’t.  There is also plenty of information on the web about them and I would recommend taking some time to read about their life cycle.  Understanding how they live and breed can be very helpful in fighting them.  Google “odorous house ant” and you should get plenty of good information.  These ants are also referred to as sugar ants because they love anything sweet.

 First you will get more of them in the house this time of year as they move their nests to warm dry places for the winter.   The end of summer and fall is the best time to have a repellant insecticide sprayed around the perimeter of your house.  You can either hire a pest control operator to do this or if you want to do it yourself there are a variety of websites that sell chemicals as nearly as effective as those used by commercial applicators.  The reason for the perimeter spray is to keep the ants from migrating into your house.  Also you will want to cut back any vegetation that is in contact with the house as the ants will use this as a means of gaining entry.

 In the house they will typically live between the sheet rock and the insulation.  Although they can get through almost any crack and I have found them nesting in the cracks between bricks, between two 2×4s nailed together and between sheets of drywall.  They can live almost anywhere it is dry but they particularly like living between two sheets of material that are close together.   The ants will also be attracted to warm areas which can include electrical boxes, wall voids around plumbing equipment and near heat ducts.

 Once in the house unfortunately they are one of the most difficult pests to treat.  The reason is they have multiple queens in each colony and if you spray insecticide inside the walls for them the colony will break up and the surviving queens will each set up individual nests, so if you don’t get them all you may end up with a worse problem in the end. 

The most effective way to combat them is with baits.  The best bait we have found is called “Terro” it is a sugar bait that contains boric acid (think boraxo soap).  It is not toxic to humans or animals but is very toxic to insects. Once they find the bait they will swarm to it taking it back to the nest where they will feed it to the queens and young.  The best place to locate the bait is on a trial and as close to the nest as possible.  It is very important to get it close to the nest because you want as many ants as possible eating the bate and as few ants as possible find food from other sources.   Along with the sweet bait you will also want to have a protein based bate because they need both sugars and proteins in their diet.  For this I use Maxforce Ant Killer Granules, this is more toxic and you will want to make sure this is in a place where your dogs won’t get to it.  You will only need a little of this at a time because they will primarily go for the sugars.   They will show up in mass for the bate at first and they you will see them taper off.  Usually they will come back again and again but in smaller numbers each time.  You have to be persistent and it may take several years to get rid of them completely.  Baiting will significantly reduce the numbers also they will go for the bait over your food which reduces the annoyance factor immensely. 

They will show up primarily two places in the house the kitchen and bathroom.  That is because they are looking for food and water.  In the kitchen put anything that is sweet in a sealed container or in the refrigerator.  Tupperware works great for this.  Also watch the dog or cat food they sometimes go after this but it is not as common as things like sugar and honey.   When you find trails in the kitchen you can spray them with Orange Guard.  This is a pesticide made from the extract of orange peels.  It is not toxic to people or animals but will kill the ants on contact.  Orange peels contain a powerful natural insecticide.  You can read more and order it off of their website www.orangeguard.com. This will also work to repel the ants.  If you have trail in the kitchen the other thing you will want to do is wash the trail with a bleach water solution.  This washes away their pheromones markers which the ants use to follow the trail.  

I have found the best prices for buying Terro is on Ebay.  You can get the Terro in a 10oz bottle for about $15 including shipping which is much cheaper than you can buy it anywhere locally.  I know they have the MaxForce both on Ebay and at the local hardware stores.  I have purchased
Orange guard directly from the company website. 

When you are remodeling in an area that has these ants you should use a boric acid dry powder inside walls, under cabinets and basically in any place they could live.  It is very inexpensive and extremely effective.  They don’t like the stuff and will not nest anywhere near it.  I have experimented putting boric acid across their trails and they will always go around it.  You can buy this and an insecticide duster off of almost any pest control website. 

During the summers when the ants are active out doors treat any trails or nest you find with either bait or spray.  Bait trails and if you find a nest with eggs and queens spray it with the Orange Guard.   Alternately if you have one handy a shop vac works very well when you find a nest.  You should try to eliminate the ants anywhere on your property you find them because then they won’t be moving into your house to set up nests later.

 The most important thing is to keep after them.  Once your get the ants out of your house don’t stop treatment or they will just move back in.  Keep up the perimeter spraying and treat all nests that you find out of door.  The fewer ants living in the immediate area around your house the fewer problems you will have with them in your house.  

After posting the article below about the toilet shaped house I was reading about open houses and how they seem to be becoming more and more obsolete as a marketing tool for selling homes.  Could it be that this kind of marketing is “going down the drain” toward obscurity? 

It was interesting to me to read the statistics that this REALTOR(R) Magazine Online story had listed including;  80 % of home buyers began their search for a home on the Internet, only 42% of home buyers actually attended an open house.

Does this mean, with less than half of buyers attending open houses, that an open house is a bad thing?  No, not really.  Does my answer to that mean they are a good thing?  Well, no, not really.  Nationally the average is that only 1% of all homes on the market are sold via an open house. 

So, why would someone (agent or seller) do it?  The REALTOR(R) story highlights several reasons why an agent might hold a house open.  If an agent is doing it because the client demands it because they think “it’s the right way to do it” then I’d say it’s being done for the wrong reasons.  You don’t hold an open house just to placate a client. Some agents do it for marketing their own services.  A trend right now in the industry is for large teams (one main person with several sub-agents) to have a group of buyer’s agents available that hold a listing agent’s houses open. Then they work to try and get names of neighbors to prospect for future listings and they also begin trying to warm up those attendees that are actually interested in buying a home but who don’t yet have an agent.  Lots of people in the industry know that the majority of the public will work with the first agent they talk to so it’s in the buyer’s agent’s interest to glad-hand as many people as possible.

Team Reba works with clients to discuss the merits of an open house and not all situations are ripe for doing it.  If you have a well priced home that is in good condition and that is expected to sell within the first 3 weeks of going on market you may not want to do an open house.  Chances are the house will sell without the need to do one.  If a client is living in the house at the time it’s on market then not having an open house will spare them having to be out of the house yet one more time.

We also discuss whether or not there might be security risks.  Since the majority of people who come to an open house are neighbors or are people just curious about the market or a particular house from the street, why would you open it up to these folks who clearly are not qualified buyers for the house?  Basically, you’re inviting a bunch of strangers in without anyone being able to verify who they are (most attendees want to remain anonymous) and if only 1 agent is holding the house open - who is watching the valuables? 

Valuables is a broad term; it can mean treasures gathered over the years from travels (I had items like this stolen from a friend/I wasn’t the agent), medications in your bathroom cabinet, cash on your dresser (even coin jars), or other more financially tangible items such as electronics (laptops), or similar.

We typically recommend them when there is a particularly unusual or difficult property - such as a house on a busy road, an estate sale where we want extra exposure before reviewing offers, or a house with an odd layout or other unusual feature that might require spending time talking to prospective buyers and their agents about issues. 

If you’ve got a comment or question about my position on the subject feel free to post here and I’ll respond.  I’m always open to suggestions and feedback!

Yep, that’s right.  A house in the shape of a toilet.  Lots of media outlets have written about it and recently MSNBC.com had it on with a video clip.  You can read the story Reuters wrote about it here: http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSSEO13684020071009

For the past several years I have been one of the local agents that has provided feedback to the national Cost vs. Value Report put together by the REALTOR(R) Association; there is a sister report by a builder’s association.  This is a much anticipated yearly report that many use all year long to help in determining what projects to undertake on a house.  This is true of traditional homeowner’s but also for those looking to do remodeling for profit (flippers).  Today, a pre-release article came out in REALTOR(R) Magazine’s online version: http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2007101902?OpenDocument

According to the article there is downward trend in how much people get out of the remodeling projects that they take on.  Part of this is due to a flattening market but cost vs. value is also impacted by the much higher costs of materials.  I was just having this discussion with a friend (an escrow agent) the other day. She is having work done on her home and the cedar siding she was originally expecting suddenly was priced out of the contractor’s original bid because prices had recently gone up close to double.

I know I’ve been seeing the prices too as I am in the midst of my own remodel in a new home I’m in the midst of purchasing.  For the most part we’ve been trying to choose environnmentally friendly and/or minimally impacting materials such as floor coverings in cork (renewable) and engineered hard wood (less waste and less wood required) with a water based finish (low toxicity).