Team Reba Real Estate

Feel free to drop by on Sunday!

[caption id=”" align=”alignnone” width=”275″ caption=”4878 Beach Dr SW Seattle 4878 Beach Dr main kitchen”][/caption]

[caption id=”" align=”alignnone” width=”275″ caption=”4878 Beach Drive back deck”][/caption]

There is a front deck which faces west that follows the width of the house, a back yard deck and patio, and yard area for enjoying private time outdoors at home.  Right on the busline and bike route, you can leave your car at home and make this your vacation spot in the city.  Seller is willing to entertain some element of seller financing with a maximum 3 year balloon payment (aka payoff). Preference is cash out or conventional financing.

A good friend of mine works at HomeSavvi, an online resource for home remodeling.  I’ve been kept in the loop of their happenings since their start up days and one cool thing they’ve been doing in Seattle area is putting together meet ups between the public and the contractors and designers that are the resources on their site.  They call this “speed dating” much like the version being used for men and women to meet.  Well, now they’re bringing the Savvi Speed Dating event to the south end so that people in the Tacoma, Federal Way and other south end cities can benefit.  Details are as follows:

May Savvi Speed Dating in Tacoma

Hosted by Couch’s Appliance South

Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Time: 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Address: Couch’s Appliance South
               5306 Pacific Highway E.
               Fife, WA 98424

RSVP by Monday, May 11th to reserve your spot!

What it is: 

At Savvi Speed Dating, you won’t find a new mate, but you will have an evening of fun, education, and an easy and efficient way of meeting some top home remodeling professionals - all while enjoying wine and snacks in a beautiful casual setting.

Spend an evening talking one-on-one with up to four remodeling professionals about YOUR specific remodeling needs. We know that cost effectiveness is on everyone’s minds these days. These professionals will point you in the right direction. So, bring your questions, photos and ideas - we’ll help you get started!

How do I participate?

After you register, answer five simple questions and HomeSavvi will match you up. From architects to landscapers, from solar installation to lighting designers, we’ll help you find what you are looking for. It’s only $15 per household to attend.

Don’t wait! Space is limited to the first 15 households who sign up!

As HomeSavvi likes to put it….

Homeowners + Remodeling Professionals = Perfect Match!

[caption id=”" align=”alignnone” width=”400″ caption=”Savvi Speed Dating event by HomeSavvi”][/caption]

Lots of our clients know what we’re associate members of the Rental Housing Association of Puget Sound. One of the reasons we really like this outfit is that they cater to landlords with smaller investment portfolios than the big guys who own the massive apartment complexes or shopping centers. Their newsletters carry up to date information on changes that impact rental housing and they lobby on behalf of landlord’s rights and interests.

They’ve got an upcoming members event this Thursday so I’m going to post the info in complete detail as I received over my email today.

“Good morning,
I just wanted to remind you of a fantastic opportunity coming up on Thursday, April 23rd. The Rental Housing Association is having a membership meeting at Contract Furnishings Mart Redmond location (14920A NE 95th St, Redmond, WA 98052). The topic is “How Your Rentals Can Thrive in a Bad Economy” and we have an all-star line-up of panelists.
The cost is $30, which does include beer, wine and soda as well as a STEAK dinner! Steve Frasier, owner of CFM is quite the chef. You won’t want to miss out!

Here is the schedule for the evening:

6-6:30—Check-in, Networking, Drinks
6:30-7:00—DINNER
7-8:30—Program of panelists

Program:
• Utility Submetering and lowering your utility costs: Jeff Lowry
• Insulation and cheap ways to lower your utility costs: Kathy Abrams
• Rent to Own Lease Options: Sonya Wind
• Resident Retention and Appreciation: Tina Gordon
• Budget and Expense Reporting: Dawn Jones

You must RSVP by Wednesday, April 22nd at 12:00 pm.
Make sure to bring your questions, as there will be time for Q&A.

We hope to see you there. Please let me know if you have any questions! You may sign up online at www.rha-ps.com, with me over the phone or respond to this email.
Thank you!

Sincerely,

Holly Clausen
Director of Events and Education
Direct (206) 905-0605 Fax (206) 286-9461
hclausen@rha-ps.com

Rental Housing Association of Puget Sound
529 Warren Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109
Office (206) 283-0816 Toll Free (800) 335-2990
www.rha-ps.com“

It’s true that many people sneered and didn’t expect much from this woman when she got on stage, but her wonderful singing voice has now been heard my millions and is continuing on to many more. I hope that I can also spread the gorgeousness that is her voice and the lesson that I think many can learn by watching her audition for Britain’s Got Talent. The judges put it best when they offer their remarks on her performance. Brilliant, Susan!

To watch the performance go to this link.
Embedding was disabled off of YouTube because of the huge volume of viewers.

There is another link here to a song she did years earlier, Cry Me A River.  There’s no real video to go with it, but it doesn’t matter, her voice is still crystal clear and beautiful.   It’s too bad someone didn’t discover her after this was recorded and given her 10 more years of a career in music/theater.

A new relationship we’ve built with a lender will have Team Reba hosting open houses for REO sales. These are bank owned homes, meaning that a foreclosure has been completed and the bank is selling the “real estate owned” asset on their balance sheet.

We’ll be posting our open houses here and on Twitter for anyone who would like to come see us and the properties. Currently targeted neighbhorhoods are Kirkland’s Bridle Trails, Bothell, Greenlake, South Seattle/Rainier Beach, and West Seattle.

Spring Garden Art Sale 2009

Studio Artists’ Annual Spring Garden Art Sale

Moshier Community Art Center

430 S. 156th Burien, WA 98166

Saturday, April 25th, noon-6pm

Sunday, April 26th, noon-6pm

My friend, Dana Lasswell, is one of the featured artists at this annual Spring show highlighting local potters. You can learn more about her at her website: www.lasswellarts.com

[caption id=”" align=”alignnone” width=”250″ caption=”salmon on the rocks”][/caption]

For the last half of 2007 and all of 2008 the hardest to sell market in the Puget Sound area was homes that were in the roughly $650,000 to $1.5M range.  Why?  Because most of those properties required JUMBO loans for the buyers to secure the purchase and this was the first and hardest hit segment of the credit market for residential sales.  Most of these loans were held in portfolio programs at banks because they weren’t easily bundled into the other securitized packages that were being sold on to Wall Street because of their perceived higher level of risk because of the dollar sizes involved.

For those uninitiated to the world of JUMBO loans these are the ones that are just above the conforming limit, which has been at $417,000.  There is a temporary bump up in higher priced areas (of which the Seattle/Bellevue area qualifies) to $567.5k and $506k but those still have a slightly higher rate associated of around a half point (.5%) above the rates available at $417k. 

What’s interesting right now is that there is a mixed bag of news regarding JUMBO loans and their availability.  One report shows a lender that specialized in these type loans filing Chapter 11 and getting out of the market.  But another report says that some of the bigger players have decided it’s an underserved market and they’ll be moving back into that realm. Two of the lenders looking to provide JUMBO loans are Bank of America and ING.

I’m hoping that if these bigger players do get into that lending niche it will help open up some of the buyer activity for homes in that price range in our area.  We’ve got a client or two that could use it right now and we’d like to see that part of our market get moving in a positive direction again.  Cities like Bellevue, Newcastle, Medina, Mercer Island, Redmond, and Woodinville as well as higher priced areas of Seattle could really benefit.

Earlier this week a couple of days were spent sitting on less than comfortable chairs in the local Renton Holiday Inn just off of Grady Way.  Why were we willing to spend numerous hours of butt-numbing time in a jam-packed meeting room?  For the benefit of getting the Certified Distressed Property Expert designation. 

All of us at Team Reba have been working in the realm of short sales for many months and years so the large influx of short sale and distressed homeowner status is not new to us, but this designation is and it’s one of the fastest growing designations in the USA.  With default rates climbing along with the unemployment rate (thankfully not in direct relation) it’s worth it to know the proper way to handle a short sale if a client needs assistance in doing it to close on a sale of a property that they can no longer afford.

In many cases a short sale can be better than a foreclosure or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, as I’ve mentioned in prior posts.  Plus there are other good reasons not to allow a foreclosure to be completed on the courthouse steps - and that is the long term employment picture.  The 2 biggest reasons that someone loses their home, or the ability to keep paying at the same level, is because of either job loss or medical bills - or both of them combined.  If unemployment is the reason then the last thing you’ll want to add to this is a foreclosure since many companies do credit checks prior to hiring new employees.  A short sale is not reported in the same manner as a foreclosure and the timeline of impact on a credit report is much shorter in time.  Foreclosures can show up on a credit report from 7 to 10 years later.  For people whose jobs include security clearances or access to financial records, a foreclosure can mean the loss of a job or of position.

If you are a homeowner who is getting behind on payments and you don’t qualify for a loan modification program, please contact us to see if perhaps we can help you with your situation.

If you’re a buyer who wants to look at purchasing short sale, foreclosure, or bank owned homes it helps to work with an agent who understands the way these specialized sales work, including the potential pitfalls and delays that may occur. 

We’ve got experience on both ends of the spectrum and can provide excellent guidance throughout the process.

The latest utility mailing brings us news of Renton’s Spring Recycle Day set for May 9, 2009. With drop off at the North parking lot of Renton Technical College from 9am to 3pm, this should be a busy day in town for anyone clearing out shrubs/trees from their yards, and for getting rid of some of the larger items in a household that traditional waste management doesn’t pick up regularly.

You can find more details at www.rentonwa.gov

Keep in mind that hazardous waste is not accepted and that you can find information on how to dispose of these types of items at www.govlink.org/hazwaste/house/disposal/ and for info on recycling computers and TV’s go to www.ecyclewashington.org

Many of us are looking for ways to save money over the long haul of our home ownership period and to also be more eco-friendly and easier on our environment. With energy being a major cost each month for the family budget, it’s worth checking out new systems if the systems of your home are nearing their useful life. Check out www.washingtonenergy.com for everything from high efficiency furnaces, heat pumps, windows, insulated doors, solar powered water heaters, siding and more. There are even senior discount offers available and a link is available to let you know if some of the updates & upgrades you’ll be making are eligible for any tax credits.