Team Reba Real Estate

Team Reba brings real estate classes to Renton Technical College in Spring 2009!

Filed under: Uncategorized — Reba Haas @ 3:49 pm

We are extremely excited to bring a series of new and some of our most popular classes to a new venue this year. As some of our clients and readers know, the organization Discover U closed its doors about this time last year so we lost one of our classroom venues. Now we have partnered with mortgage originator Paul McFadden to offer these 8 great classes for the public at Renton Technical College. All but one will be held at the RTC campus. We hope you’ll be able to join us, starting in April, and soon these will be on our Team Reba website where you can sign up or be directed to the RTC site for sign up there. We’re still waiting for details from them for that final piece since they’re still in Winter session. Check back for details!

Why Women Should Buy Real Estate

June 4 7-9pm

Location TBD

Whether you want to build a nest or a nest egg, it makes sense to consider real estate as part of your financial plan. Learn tips on how to research the right home or neighborhood for you, how to choose the right type of abode for your individual needs and best tips for navigating the process of buying.

Join us for a “girls night” devoted to preparing you for one of life’s biggest purchases, beyond fabulous strappy sandals.

(Wine, snacks, & espresso available for purchase.)

Short Sales & Foreclosure – Demystify the Process

May 16 10am-Noon

The financing and housing crisis has hit Washington residents with 1 in 10 homeowners owing more than their home is worth. What does this mean to you as a homeowner, seller, or potential investor buyer? Learn what a Short Sale is and how it relates to and differs from a foreclosure? How do Short Sales work? What are the timelines for each? And more importantly, if I’m involved in one what can I expect? The class will demystify the process and give you the knowledge you need to navigate one, as a buyer or seller.

Selling Your Home In This Market

June 20 10am-Noon

Recent changes in the local real estate markets have forced sellers to amp up their selling skills. Learn what to expect from buyers and how to craft a “WOW!” marketing plan to bring a quality offer quickly on your property. Learn about new laws affecting your obligations for legal disclosures and how to overcome the inevitable hurdles of contract contingencies.

Getting A Loan Today

April 18 10am-Noon

Media coverage today leads us to believe no one can qualify for a home loan. Nothing could be further from the truth. Learn how you can prepare yourself to get the best loan for your situation.

The importance of credit scoring, how it is determined, and what you can do about it

The loan approval process-from start to finish including qualifying factors

New and renewed loan programs:
- Low down-payment options (FHA, grants, gov’t bond)
- Energy efficient (Green Loans)
- Conventional and non-conventional financing

Diversify Your Portfolio With Real Estate

April 18 6:30-8:30pm

Now is the best time to review and rebalance your investment portfolio. With property prices down and reasonable financing options still available, it’s worth considering how real estate can fit into your investment strategy. This course will cover several elements including:

What mix of investments is appropriate
Tax savings and investment strategies to ensure a comfortable retirement
How to compare monthly returns of slow to faster turn around projects.

Real Estate Investment Analysis

May 5 6-9pm

In this “No-Fluff Real Estate Investment” class, you’ll discover how to do the financial due diligence necessary to make your real estate investment a profitable one. Learn the basics of financial analysis, taxation and planning from a financial analyst experienced in public and corporate accounting, taxation, financial management and analysis.

Should I Buy or Sell Now?

April 7 6:30-8:30pm

It’s not uncommon for buyers and sellers to feel lost in today’s market place with all the confusing and sometimes conflicting messages in the media. Join us as we cover current, local real estate market and financing data which can help you decipher for yourself if now is the right time to make your move.

Ask the Experts – A Panel Discussion for Real Estate Investors

May 19 6:30-8:30pm

Have you ever wondered if you should put your investment property into an LLC but haven’t known who or what to ask? We’ll have experts in estate planning, real estate law, and a CPA who can answer your questions on the best ways to protect yourself and your assets. A moderator will help lead the discussion as well as open Q&A session.

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Could the SLU Trolley take over downtown?

Filed under: Uncategorized — Reba Haas @ 2:07 pm

I’m on the email list for Richard Conlin which provides updates on various council activities and in this month’s issue is interesting news about the possibility of an interconnected trolley line in the City of Seattle taking shape at City Council meetings. Apparently work is afoot to bring the various trolley lines at play in 3 areas of Seattle to a method of interconnecting - this would potentially connect South Lake Union (SLU) (although they prefer the name of Seattle Streetcar), Belltown, the Central District, and possibly more areas such as Ballard. It would be great if the goal can be accomplished. I’m curious if the 1st Avenue portion is the biggest factor since it will be impacted by what happens to the viaduct.

Having an extended trolley line would be great for all of those condominium dwellers in each of the areas marked for potential development because it would make it easier to live car free and could also be a boon for shopping and restaurants in each of the areas as people realize they can go from area to area without having to worry about finding parking or switching bus lines over and over.

For your reading pleasure and consideration is the article as it came to me from Richard Conlin’s e-newsletter:

STREETCAR NETWORK PLAN APPROVEDOn Monday, December 8, the City Council adopted legislation delineating a conceptual network for future streetcar development. The resolution endorsing the network plan was approved by a vote of 6 (Conlin, Drago, Licata, Clark, Burgess, Godden) to 3 (Rasmussen, McIver, Harrell).The resolution outlines the plan for possible future lines, and sets tentative priorities if funding becomes available. It does not commit the City to proceeding with developing the streetcar network. Rather, it includes a set of conditions for development of any particular line, including a complete funding plan and criteria for determining whether the proposal will be cost-effective and is efficiently coordinated with the Metro bus system.The resolution was prompted by the success of streetcars in other cities, and the situation that is developing in Seattle, which may lead to three disconnected streetcar lines, all of which are currently funded. The South Lake Union line, whose construction was funded 50% by businesses and 50% by grants, has been in operation for a year, and recently celebrated its 500,000th passenger, significantly more than initially projected. A streetcar connecting the Capitol Hill light rail station to Jackson Street is funded in Sound Transit’s Proposition 1, which received voter approval in November, and will go into construction with the light rail line. A replacement for the former waterfront streetcar, now in hiatus, is likely to be funded as part of the Alaskan Way Viaduct project; this line may run on First Avenue, where it would see higher ridership than on the waterfront. None of these lines will require major investments from City of Seattle funds.Having three separate streetcar lines that do not connect to each other seems inefficient, and would require duplicating maintenance bases. A modest investment would be required to ensure interconnection, and that is likely to be the first priority for any possible future funding. The network plan suggests that extending the South Lake Union streetcar to Fremont-Ballard and/or to the University District are the next possibilities, as well as extending a line out Jackson Street to 23rd Avenue and connecting east-west from Capitol Hill to the Seattle Center.The many cities that have built streetcar networks (including Portland) in recent decades have reported that ridership has been strong and that streetcars have proved to be cost effective. If funding can be found for linking and extending the Seattle lines, it is likely that they will prove to be a modest but useful part of our growing transit system.

Read the Streetcar Resolution 31091 here.

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2 degrees of separation pops up again, this time at a new pizza place

Filed under: Uncategorized — Reba Haas @ 5:35 pm

I’ve been talking about this for many years, writing about it again as recently as August 2008, and I’ve found that the more I get into deep conversations with people we learn that there are closer than 6 degrees of separation between us. They don’t even have to be “deep” in the realm of really intimate personal details but more about experiences, hopes, dreams, etc.

Last night was a perfect example.

My partner, Michael, and I decided to stop by two neighboring listings of mine (about half mile apart) and walk our dogs between the two and then hit a new local pizza place called Pizzeria Pulcinella on Rainier Ave S in Seattle in the Lakeridge neighborhood on our way back. While sitting and enjoying our meal, I struck up a conversation with a young lady, Julianna, who happened to be one of the 2 daughters of the owners. Over the course of several questions I asked regarding the restaurant, I also threw in a couple of more personal questions such as, “since you’re in college, are you planning on joining the restaurant industry like your parents, or will you do something else?” She replied that she preferred to go into teaching.

Many of my good friends are teachers so I prodded her with more questions which eventually uncovered the focus for her degree is educating special needs kids. Her reason for being so interested in this very specialized area? She had been a caregiver about 3 years ago for a young girl with special needs who had died at the age of 16. This young lady’s name who had passed is Devin. The experiences that Julianna had with Devin were so profound that she decided to dedicate her future to working with more children of special needs.

The connection? Devin was a friend to one of our client’s children, Alex, who also just passed away in November of 2008. We had just attended his life celebration only 3 weekends ago. Julianna knows both of the mothers, and so do we. Alex’s mom, Vicki, is one of our clients and she got us involved in the fundraising efforts of CTC Kids (Children’s Therapy Center) which is just for kids with the most severe disabilities and who have more extreme special needs than those of mainstream kids. We’ve been proud supporters for about 3-4 years now, and while we didn’t meet Devin, she had just passed away before we attended our first fundraiser - which made for a very emotional event since her mother, Susie, got up to speak after a very moving video that had been produced over that past year. We’d just seen Susie again at Alex’s life celebration so it was interesting to have run into this other connection so soon after. I made sure to pass on to both Vicki and Susie the news of what Julianna was up to and they both were so excited to see my email note to them and to know that their children had had such an impact on another human being/person who had helped care for them.

Seems those skills I use to help clients figure out their hopes and dreams and how those translate into their future are also good for finding close connections.

For me, it was tremendously heartwarming to hear what this young lady had to say. To think, it was only about an hour of off and on conversation that got us to the realization that we had more in common that Michael’s love of this family’s other restaurant (Vince’s in Renton) and pizza. These are the kinds of connections that really make a local place turn into a special place in my mind and heart.

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10 Tips for Homeowners to Improve their home’s value

Filed under: Uncategorized — Reba Haas @ 3:09 pm

Now, I’m not going to steal their thunder, but This Old House released an online article called “Ten Ways to Boost A Home’s Value” and in it I am quoted several times. It’s very cool. I’m a huge fan of the magazine and TV show from many years ago before HGTV became big, so it’s fun to have been asked to participate in this multi-broker/agent, multi-state group of interviewees for the article. The article is full of useful information too so it’s worth reading to get the specific details behind these ten points along with the product suggestions.

The quick run down of 10 suggestions is noted below:

1. Create space.

2. Prune, limb and landscape.

3. Let in the light.

4. Don’t put off care and maintenance.

5. Go Green.

6. Home begins at the front door.

7. What’s under your feet?

8. Easy bath upgrades.

9. Neutral wall colors.

10. Remove the question marks from your house.

These apply to almost all properties so whether you are in a condo, townhome, or single family residence - heck, even selling a multifamily property or apartment building - the majority of these tips will apply since they cover simple elements like cleaning, editing (inside and out), curb appeal, and creating welcoming environments.

If you’re a buyer today, keep these things in mind for when you buy as it could help you with deciding budgeting around renovation plans and maintenance.

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Staging really does pay off in helping your home sell

Filed under: Uncategorized — Reba Haas @ 3:03 pm

A local company called Staged By Design recently sent out a newsletter (December 8th) that had the headline of, “In past 90 days, 79% of Homes Sold in Seattle Area were Staged”. These statistics were developed and researched by SBD since there is no one that really tracks this within the local MLS. How they got access to all of the property information is unknown but I’m assuming a real estate contact of theirs somehow helped them out. They broke their research into specific areas so it may not be across the board for all of Puget Sound, but I’d still say that the number is compelling and applies to areas like Bellevue and Kirkland as well.

All the Team Reba members agree with this philosophy and we have for some time having been providing these services for over 5 years for both interiors and exteriors of homes. Team Reba offers staging consultation and light staging services as part of our standard Concierge Services listing package and we can do bigger staging jobs for an additional fee if a client needs it. Because each listing is unique and different from the next, it practically requires us to have a specific approach to each client so we get into specific details during our collaborative sessions to determine what is appropriate and what fits our clients budget.

You can tell the properties that we’ve listed using our Concierge Service versus what we’ve helped our buyer clients purchase as buyer’s agents on our featured properties page of our Team Reba site, most notably by the difference in photos and how the interiors look. We like to think that we provide a superior product, not only in our services but in the properties that we help present to the marketplace. Check it out and see if you can tell the difference.

What are your thoughts on staging? Do you think it’s a valuable service and necessary in today’s real estate marketplace?

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Who is responsible for cleaning walkways and driveways for tenants?

Filed under: Uncategorized — Reba Haas @ 2:26 pm

My assistant, Nina, had me wondering about this a lot during the “big snow” of 2008 when she couldn’t leave her apartment complex for fear of damaging her car. She mentioned over the phone that many other apartment dwellers in her complex were spinning out and having trouble getting out of the parking lot. Thankfully she can do some of her work remotely and she has a laptop she can use for such occasions but she still needed to be able to leave to get groceries. Since the complex she lives in is fairly large, I would expect that there is a snow plan in place for clearing the parking lots, but I don’t personally know what that plan might be although I suspect some of the tenants will start asking about it now.

As an associate member of the Rental Housing Association, I get access to a lot of the material that they produce for local property owners and this post about keeping walkways and driveways clear from their new blog hits the mark on the head for this topic. It’s noteworthy that the law applies to all of Washington State and not just Seattle or King County, so all landlords need to be aware of what their responsibilities are. I’ve seen many instances where leases don’t specifically speak to the issue of lawn care and other maintenance issues like this and it can lead to big problems later. Brings a whole new meaning to watching your step with snow and ice, doesn’t it?

And that gets me thinking even more. If your lease isn’t clear about the responsibilities and someone slips, falls and gets hurt on your property - are you then on even thinner financial ice if a claim is made against you? Perhaps while you are updating your leases to add this element you should also check to see if you have umbrella insurance and adequate coverage on your properties for anyone who might get hurt on site at your building.

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Is Twitter really the right communication tool for real estate agents?

Filed under: Uncategorized — Reba Haas @ 1:39 pm

I’ve been reading about Twitter for some time now and I’ve been less than interested in getting into it, but some real estate agent folks are jumping on this bandwagon much like they’re finally figuring out LinkedIn and Facebook. A recent class from Brad Hanks about Online Social Networking that my broker put on for our offices and a “random hot post” from Scobleizer regarding the subject on WordPress really got me looking at it again.

Considering the limitation of 140 characters and spending time accruing followers and coming up with content for this as well as my blogging work, not to mention my “real job” of real estate agent, I feel that there isn’t enough time in the day to all of these things. Or at least not being able to do them well. I could do them, but at what cost? My sanity? My livelihood? My relationships? Having a fairly strong online presence is currently enough for me especially since I know I’m already ahead of 95% of my competition in the ways that me and my team are presented online to the public. However, I will say that I can be persuaded if there can true value shown. Just to try it out, I’ve just signed up for it so you should be able to find me under rebahaas if you want to “follow” me.

What are your thoughts on Twitter?

As a consumer, do you feel it’s where you would prefer to get your real estate information? Or, do you find other venues more useful? Would you choose your agent based on whether or not they utilized this tool? Or, would other tools be sufficient - such as newsletters (print or email) and blogs?

Any real estate agents think this tool has really increased their business or helped to develop a new way to provide information to your client base? I’d be interested to hear it.

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Will 1031 exchanges pick up again if capital gains taxes go up?

Filed under: Uncategorized — Reba Haas @ 6:01 pm

There has been speculation around the topic of capital gains going upward during the next Presidential administration because of things said on the campaign trail. While many of the articles have talked about how this will impact those with money in the stock market, there is also the very real view of how this will impact real estate investors.

Over the past several years while the long term capital gains rate has been at 15% we have seen many RE investors choosing to just take the tax hit on sales of investment property rather than utilizing a 1031 exchange. Part of the reason has been that when the market was running fast it didn’t always make sense to find another property on the open market because prices were over-inflated, a lot of properties didn’t cash flow, and it might not have made financial sense to make the change since you wouldn’t really get a cost basis adjustment. So, some of these clients just sold and took the proceeds. In some cases using the gains as an offset for losses in the stock market. For me, the biggest reason not to buy over the past couple of years was the fact that many properties couldn’t cash flow. Why would you want to sell and trade up for a property that couldn’t carry itself?

A lot of those people who did decide to jump into the market at the highest point (generally 2006 up to early 2007) have taken a bath and lot of those houses, condos and small multifamily properties are in foreclosure or in short sale position. We see them on the market in every area of Puget Sound and King County. We’ve also been hearing of more and more commercial properties fitting into this definition too. More about that another time though.

Back to my main topic…. The timelines that are involved in a 1031 might restrict an investor from finding an appropriate property in time. That’s the thing with exchanges…. if you don’t hit the timelines then you pay tax just as you would have if you didn’t try to employ the 1031 tax-deferred exchange. One other thing that might prompt exchanges is the new rule many lenders have of restricting RE investors to a maximum of 4 loans. It might make sense to do exchanges to larger properties if you can’t add to your portfolio in other ways. Can’t have lots of small multi-family or single-family homes? Then, perhaps consider selling a few multi-family properties and move up to a commercial sized property with 5 or more units.

I’ll be interested to see over the coming years how it changes. Anyone else got a comment or opinion on the subject?

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Snow brings showings and new listings to a near standstill

Filed under: Uncategorized — Reba Haas @ 5:29 pm

We’ve had a few new listings come on in December and prior to the “big snow” we were getting activity for showings. It seems practically no one is out looking at homes while the weather has been so bad. I don’t blame them, I’ve been cooped up inside quite a bit myself this past week and a half but thankfully a fair amount of my job can be done over the phone and online. But, showing homes is not something you can do virtually, even with all the best photos and tours available.

Since December 16th the local real estate market input has taken a big dive in terms of the number of listings coming on market, we’ve been averaging about 500 a day for several months now and the past week has been under 200 per day. Price drops have been still outpacing new listings but even those are down. It’s not uncommon though for things to quiet down this time of year as many agents choose to slow their practice, partly due to friends and family commitments. But, I’ll say that the snow has definitely put a damper on any real estate business going on.

What’s been your experience?

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Things to know about asbestos in your pre-1980's home and how to “green” it up

Filed under: Uncategorized — Reba Haas @ 11:55 am

Asbestos is a naturally occurring product of the earth which has excellent insulating and fire dampening qualities, hence its use in commercial and residential properties over the years. However, it is also hazardous to human health when exposed to the lungs. Many people don’t know what, if anything, in their home might contain asbestos but the most commonly held view is that of popcorn ceilings. Not all popcorn ceilings have asbestos, but a good number of them do so it’s not uncommon for people to have these removed - not only does it remove the potential for asbestos in the home but it also improves the aesthetic of the home since these usually date a property. I’ve yet to find a client who loves popcorn ceilings. But, ceilings aren’t the only place you’ll find it.

Last year a client had their popcorn ceilings removed using the required methods of bagging and the contractor used the HazMat looking suits required for working in this stuff. It looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. A client whose home we sold earlier this year had asbestos tape used in the heating system which was removed once identified; other places have had flooring material with asbestos used in its fabrication so removal was done following the same strict rules for safety. It’s usually a smart thing to have products tested before removal so that you don’t put yourself unnecessarily into harm’s way. Many people want to do the removal as inexpensively as possible - but long term negative health effects could harm you more down the road. A local company with excellent resources for testing both asbestos and mold is NVL Labs on Aurora in Seattle, near Fremont. I’ve had a few clients use their services and one of the inspectors I work with regularly also recommends them.

Because of my online writing, I was recently contacted by Jesse Herman, Awareness Coordinator at the Mesothelioma Cancer Center. Their website is www.asbestos.com. He asked if perhaps he could contribute a guest article to Team Reba about this subject, and I thought that this might be a timely topic as we’re all thinking about health, green homes, safety, and more right now. So, without further delay by me, here is Jesse’s article:

When purchasing, remodeling or foreclosing an older home, there are a variety of things to consider in the real estate industry. Heavily used in homes and buildings prior to 1980, asbestos exposure can cause significant health concerns. Due to its resistance to heat and electrical conductivity, asbestos was used throughout the world as prominent a form of insulation and piping. Citizens of Washington should be aware that asbestos exposure can cause significant health concerns.
Used in millions of homes throughout the twentieth century, exposure to asbestos has produced severe lung ailments, such as mesothelioma. Research has indicated it can take anywhere from 20 to 50 years for mesothelioma to develop. This makes it very difficult to find, diagnose and find proper mesothelioma treatment. Many factors impact how a person can react to the disease. These include latency period, cigarette smoking and age of diagnosis. Manufacturers of asbestos were aware of the harmful effects and continued manufacturing the product anyways.
Removal of asbestos in public facilities, workplaces and homes must be performed by licensed abatement contractors as long as the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) are not violated. Once the removal is complete, green insulation options should be given serious consideration, such as: Cellulose, Cotton Fiber and Lcynene.
The United Nations Environmental Program states that the use of recycled building materials such as cotton fiber insulation can reduce energy use by 25 to 35 percent. The numbers continue to improve as more eco-friendly options become available. A water based spray polyurethane foam, Lcynene features no toxic components. Statistics show that the Lcynene foam, for example, can cut energy costs by about 35 percent annually, according to studies done by manufacturers. Although needed to be removed by professionals, it is worth price for a healthier, positive lifestyle
The Research and Development (RAND) organization has helped raise awareness and education for those affected and those seeking to avoid themselves the problem. With the help of think tanks such as RAND and other organizations, removal in work places and public facilities is on the rise. These asbestos alternatives allow for a clean, healthy home, free of health damaging materials.

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December 31, 2008

Team Reba brings real estate classes to Renton Technical College in Spring 2009!

Could the SLU Trolley take over downtown?

December 30, 2008

2 degrees of separation pops up again, this time at a new pizza place

10 Tips for Homeowners to Improve their home’s value

December 29, 2008

Staging really does pay off in helping your home sell

Who is responsible for cleaning walkways and driveways for tenants?

Is Twitter really the right communication tool for real estate agents?

December 27, 2008

Will 1031 exchanges pick up again if capital gains taxes go up?

Snow brings showings and new listings to a near standstill

December 22, 2008

Things to know about asbestos in your pre-1980's home and how to “green” it up

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