Team Reba Real Estate

Selling a tear down ain't so easy…

Filed under: seller advice, real estate marketing, listing agent, environmental issues, single family home, Greenwood, remodeling, financing/lending, agent advice, investment property, inspection issues, zoning, safety issues, For Buyers, financial matters, For Sellers, Uncategorized — Reba Haas @ 10:40 pm

The brother of my partner has a name for what most of us would call a “tear down”, he calls it a crash down shack. Recently, a colleague of mine referred a new client to me to handle what he said would be a residential transaction in the Greenwood neighborhood.

After seeing the house, it is a complete ”crash down shack.” There are multiple pest organisms eating away at the wood framing (wood boring beetles and moisture ants, along with former termite damage) and there are items inside the house busting through the flooring. Fixtures for sinks are missing and the gutters have a veritable garden growing in them with no downspouts visible. The smell of moisture/water damage is obvious when you walk in the front door.

In doing research, I learned that there are no banks that will provide a land loan on this parcel since the structure still exists. With the house in such bad condition, it won’t qualify for conventional financing. Now, we are stuck with either a cash or a rehab offer. Not that many of those exist right now. Rehab loans for WA State, as I have heard from Eric Aasness of Countrywide, only allow up to $50,000 in funds for updating/upgrading a property, and it is unknown if this will be enough to make this house habitable again. The concept of tearing the house down will likely cost the client about $20,000 for tear down and haul-away.

Are any of these the right things to do? Maybe not.

My suggestion was that the client look at the idea of rehabbing the property on her own, then putting it in the rental market for a while till our market starts turning around so that she can recoup her expenditures. She owns it outright and could do the work for less than others because she doesn’t have the carrying costs of a mortgage associated with the cost of rehab.

Why do I think this is the right path to take? I’d been looking into whether or not she could split the lot (zoning is SF5000) and heard from a builder’s agent that it was unlikely because of the size of the lot, which is under 6000 sqft. The lot, while in a somewhat desirable north Seattle neighborhood, sits too close to Aurora to fit most people’s idea of a great custom home or spec site.

If the owner were to put $50,000 into fixing it up and then rented it out for $900 per month, she’d be making a return on her investment of $50,000 (borrowed) as well as the increased value of the property when it sells later on.

What would you do?

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zHome gets you zero energy and carbon neutral at home…

Filed under: King County, transportation, Transit, environmental issues, townhome, built green, Issaquah, design, remodeling, LEED, green home products, buyer advice, household tips, relocation, local events, products, zoning, For Buyers, non-profit highlight, neighborhood info, land use, Uncategorized — Reba Haas @ 1:46 pm

zHome is a new townhome development in Issaquah, WA, up in the density focused Issaquah Highlands area, that touts a neutral carbon footprint. Having broken ground just recently (Sept 29, 2008) near the transit station/park & ride, there is much anticipation from area residents, builders, homebuyers and real estate agents to see how it is executed. It is expected that many possible buyers will be interested in the concept of a green and earth friendly building method.

I’ve been writing about green building and organic gardening for some time, so I am thrilled to see yet another builder (Howland Homes) grabbing hold of and exploring the ways that we can all be easier on the planet. The population of humans isn’t going to diminish any time soon and Washington builders (via code requirements) are ahead of a lot of others across the USA in implementing innovative technologies to create more energy efficient and healthy homes. The City of Issaquah and King County both were involved in the project as is Puget Sound Energy. Other entities involved are Washington State University Energy Program and Port Blakely Communities.

Take a look at the zHome site and then take an opportunity to go see these homes as they are being built. One unit will be reserved when the site is finished for use as an educational center so that homeowners can see the types of materials used and to gain ideas on how they can incorporate “green living” into their current home environment.

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I wonder how this report will push owners of commercial space to update their properties to meet “green” requirements?

Filed under: real estate marketing, listing agent, agent advice, financial matters, buyer advice, green home products, LEED, built green, environmental issues, land use, For Sellers, legal issues, property management, products, zoning, inspection issues, For Buyers, safety issues, investment property, Uncategorized — Reba Haas @ 3:58 pm

At a recent CCIM conference that I attended, one of the sessions covered the movement toward Built Green and LEED Certified commercial buildings. For WA State, we’re in a good position for many companies because the current building codes for our state already meet many of the compliance elements of the LEED certifications. The presenters stated that, on average, it only added anywhere from 3-10% to the cost of construction to go for a LEED certification and the long run prospects for increased sale or leasing of the space covered or made up for this differential.

They also made mention that a large number of companies are putting into their business plans a requirement to “go green” and part of that includes the work environment. The thought goes that if shopping for a new location, the business will gravitate to the newer, “green” building over the older non-green building.

Well, that’s all well and good, but I couldn’t help but think to myself, if all the businesses are pushing to be in new construction that meets these green or LEED standards, what will happen to the old buildings? Will they just sit vacant? Does that foretell a larger problem down the road? It’s too early to tell, but I don’t see us blowing up all the old inventory just to make room for the new “green” alternatives. That doesn’t make any sense either.

To read what others have to say about this trend and how it will affect employers and landlords over the next few years, take a look at this article I received this week from my CoStar membership (a commercial property listing site). The study that is cited says that within 3 years landlords who aren’t moving toward the sustainability movement will be getting hurt in their wallets.

This applies not only to commercial buildings that house businesses, but for those that house residential condos. The first Silver LEED certified condo building in Seattle was the 5th & Madison building. At a recent interview held by a marketing firm, hired by Vulcan, questions were asked whether or not LEED certification was important to buyers.

If you’re a commercial property owner, it would be wise to start looking at ways you can upgrade or update your property to meet the demand for sustainability. Heck, have you seen the recent IBM ads talking about energy consumption? Sure, the greenwashing does still have to do with money (profits), but you can be profitable and “green” too, can’t you? Doesn’t helping a company be more profitable help them decide to choose cleaner options over more negatively impacting the environment? If the message of green can go that high up the business food chain, it’s going to trickle down to the smaller players too.

And, if your property can help reduce a company’s legal liabilities for worker health issues which in turn helps productivity at the business, and provide a positive marketing message when selling or leasing the property, can it be all that bad?

You tell me… I’m open to hearing what you’re doing….

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I love hearing and seeing success stories of past clients…

Filed under: online networking, single family home, Ballard, Seattle, photography, neighborhood info, products, relocation, zoning, land use, Uncategorized — Reba Haas @ 11:54 pm

We’ve been getting some good news from many of our past clients in the last several weeks and I must say that it’s really nice after reading so much of how the media slams our industry and the gloom and doom news that abounds.

One of the stories I love is about a client who moved to Costa Rica a couple of years ago. We originally met this clients as she prepared to sell a long time family owned property that sat in L3 zoned land in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. Because of the size, location, and level aspects of the site she was able to get much for the single family home than she might normally get in residential zoning.

Since moving to Costa Rica, she has been sending me updates about her adventures and now the house she is having built. Just this week I received several photos of which I am thrilled to view and share here. It’s also intriguing to me to see how construction is handled in a country other than the USA. Check out some of these shots….

Joan and her builder, Richard, walking by Nispero lumber.

Temporary power set up

House view to the north

View east to the garden

Congrats, Joan, on making your dreams come true! It’s a ton of work, I’m certain, but it’s great to see you putting together what you planned and watching it come together.

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Wenatchee on my mind…

Filed under: listing agent, financing/lending, buyer's agency, real estate marketing, online networking, condominium, green home products, neighborhood info, financial matters, relocation, local events, zoning, investment property, land use, For Buyers, Uncategorized — Reba Haas @ 10:19 pm

No, it’s not as iconic as the song Georgia on my Mind made most famous (in my mind) by Ray Charles, but Wenatchee is now on my mind after being introduced to a great development opportunity by a fellow RE/MAX agent in this eastern WA city. The land for sale is actually on the East Wenatchee side of the Columbia River but it is the twin city to Wenatchee. While not as large, there are similarities to this area and Kansas City (KS/MO) where one area of a large metro area is more of the suburban bedroom community to the next door city.

Anyhow, an article written about me in the RE/MAX Times last year introduced me to this agent, Michael Miller, who is newly transplanted to the Wenatchee area. He and his wife, Lynn, contacted us at Team Reba to see if perhaps we could help them with promoting this opportunity. So, here I am doing just that. It’s pretty exciting actually. There are several ways you can imagine this land getting developed and all of them are going to be beneficial to that area of the state and the local community. If you’re in the market to develop a roughly 40 acre parcel with a mixture of retail/commercial/residential feel free to contact us and we’ll get you more details. Be warned though - the parcel, if not subdivided into smaller parcels, has a $10Million price tag.

Some of the development opportunities include townhomes, residential, condos, retail space and more. I’m personally hoping that a green development might come in and do a really cool urban planned development. The zoning of the area has quite a list of permitted uses, so there are some very interesting opportunities.

You’ll be reading more about it here on this blog as we get more involved in helping co-list and market this opportunity.

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Mountlake Terrace is betting on more density and will likely come out a winner

Filed under: land use, financial matters, neighborhood info, buyer advice, For Buyers, investment property, legal issues, local events, relocation, zoning, Uncategorized — Reba Haas @ 2:47 pm

As a member of the local, state and national Association of Realtors, there is a lot of information to keep up on all the time. Some of the items include local news and updates on what is happening throughout the region. One thing I look for in particular is news on zoning changes, and opportunities for density within existing city borders. Part of my interest lies in knowing where hot new neighborhoods might rise up and to keep abreast of new development news for our investor clients.

In a recent news update from

Mountlake Terrace Increasing Density
The Mountlake Terrace City Council voted 5-2 in favor of a package of housing alternatives to be used in an overlay zone in the new downtown area. Included in the package are reduced minimum lot sizes, options for cottage housing development, and provisions for 4- story multifamily units. REALTORS® serve on the Mountlake Terrace City Council and on the Planning Commission, which studied housing issues and made recommendations “for amending zoning text and maps to allow for new housing choices.”

Having noted recently that there are townhomes and cottage style housing coming into areas that have till recently been dominated by cement cinderblock single story homes, it will be an economic shot in the arm to those neighborhoods that have been ripe for redevelopment.

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Live Historic creates the kinds of condo conversions I’d personally love to do…

Filed under: land use, For Buyers, financial matters, neighborhood info, buyer's agency, investment property, zoning, products, local events, relocation, household tips, Uncategorized — Reba Haas @ 5:25 pm

While I love modern buildings and design but I’m also a sucker for classic early 1900’s with brick exteriors and beautiful wood trim. With that in mind, there is one developer group that I enjoy receiving regular updates about the work they’re doing which is promoted as Live Historic. The folks at Pioneer Property Group have been renovating many of the classic and gorgeous buildings in Seattle’s older neighborhoods, such as Queen Anne, Capitol Hill, First Hill and Pioneer Square, with pretty fantastic results and putting their money where their mouth is, so to speak, putting in to play the concept of reduce, reuse, recycle.

To build a brick structure building nowadays is prohibitively expensive, which is why you don’t see that many people doing it in new construction. This developer completely renovates the interiors of these multi-story properties keeping in mind the character of the neighborhood and putting in tasteful updates. The write ups have been good. Here is one from Northwest Home & Garden.

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How does $76k for a 4-plex sound to you?

Filed under: land use, For Buyers, financial matters, neighborhood info, financing/lending, buyer's agency, landlord/tenant, safety issues, local events, property management, relocation, zoning, investment property, inspection issues, Uncategorized — Reba Haas @ 5:32 pm

Tomorrow I’ll be reviewing a 4-plex in Wichita that is for sale by owner for a whopping (I’m kidding) $76,000. I’m interested to see the condition of it since the outside is okay, but not great, but it’s near a place that I own in town. I’m hoping a client will be interested in perhaps picking it up as an investment in Wichita.

I’ll post more later once I get a chance to check it out and to learn more about it. According to records my mom and I pulled the guy has only owned it a year so I’ll be curious to learn why he’s selling already. When I spoke to him the other day he told me it’s because he has 3 small kids, a wife, a full time job and he’s coaching his kid’s soccer team. Maybe that’s it, maybe he’s in a pickle with financing and can’t handle the payments now.

One other interesting element is that his property is zoned commercial and is on the edge of the revitalization area of downtown Wichita. I’m interested in helping investors sweep up property in this area to benefit from the long term change in the area and to work on continually improving the quality of the tenant base in the area and perhaps looking at an even longer term idea of turning these 4-plexes into rowhouse condos.

In the meantime, anyone interested? Give me a call or email.

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You can NEVER be too careful when it comes to homeowner’s associations

Filed under: neighborhood info, financial matters, land use, buyer's agency, agent advice, title & escrow, listing agent, For Sellers, For Buyers, relocation, legal issues, household tips, zoning, investment property, inspection issues, Uncategorized — Reba Haas @ 12:02 pm

I came across this article that the local Washington Association of Realtors(R) sent out about an ugly lawsuit whereby an agent tried to tell her clients that an architectural review wasn’t necessary any longer in a neighborhood. Ooooh, was she sorely mistaken! In the end she paid for the removal of the property that her clients had started to have built (ouch!) and she also listed the lot/property for them to resell - and my guess is that she wasn’t going to make much of a commission, if any, in the sale.

You can read the full story here.

I will say that frequently clients want the agent to have all the answers and they’ll run all kinds of crazy questions past you. In a lot of cases you have to educate your client as to what you can and cannot claim knowledge about and in what areas you have expertise. Clearly, in this gal’s case she didn’t have the right expertise and she should NEVER have assumed that the HOA was completely dead just because it hadn’t been having regular meetings, etc. I take the old CC&R info on older development projects as seriously as the new stuff and frequently I’ve pointed out items to clients that they just shrug off as unimportant.

If you are a buyer it is to your benefit to read everything that affects a property you may purchase. Don’t get lazy just because the search to find the house you like is over - this is the time to really scrutinize everything so you know you’ve made a good decision. Review title and ask questions.

If you’re the selling agent, I would suggest pulling preliminary title and have those underlying documents ready for review as soon as possible so that you can get past the issues that may come up as soon as you can. This will help your seller to get more quickly into a stronger, binding contract position.

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This is the dawning of the Age of Aurora! (hum to the tune of Age of Aquarius)

Filed under: For Sellers, For Buyers, land use, financial matters, buyer's agency, neighborhood info, safety issues, investment property, relocation, local events, household tips, zoning, inspection issues, Uncategorized — Reba Haas @ 4:12 pm

For several years I stayed active in my local neighborhood block watch programs. Actually, because I have a big mouth sometimes I ended up heading up my local group and supposedly I was in charge of informing neighbors about issues, getting calls about local crime concerns, setting up meetings with local law enforcement, tracking crime statistics, etc. It’s a lot of work with very little reward and even less recognition. Nonetheless, I believe in the old time ways of my growing up years in Kansas where people looked out for each other and their property so I perservered.

One group I became marginally involved with because of the coalition of block watch captains is GAIN. It stands for Greenwood Aurora Involved Neighbors. The group formed after a series of pretty serious crimes were committed along the Aurora corridor between 72nd and 95th streets in Seattle. In particular, a resident of the area was severely beaten by individuals from outside the neighborhood but who were there to purchase drugs, solicit prostitutes, or both. Apparently they were doing this in his front yard and he approached them to ask them to move along and was viciously attacked.

A major cry for help went out when the neighborhood organized around this sad event and they put together GAIN in response. They’ve been wielding their political power now that they’ve got some (see one of the many reports) and it’s making for some excellent progress in the area. For people who own homes in the neighborhood, it’s a welcome change.

Some of the most recent details about upcoming development can be found on a group website that they maintain. You can access it by clicking on this link.

If you’re considering a home, townhouse, or condo in this area it’s worth taking a look at what this organization is doing. For those that haven’t been aware of the work they’ve been doing there is still a perception among individuals and agents that lingers regarding whether buying a property in this area is worth it. Yes, real estate is all about location, location, location, but owning a home is also about getting involved with your neighbors and helping maintain a good community. Considering the access to downtown Seattle, Greenlake, Phinney Ridge and other great areas, I personally wouldn’t write it off. Plus, clearly there must be some demand there or all those builders wouldn’t have targeted 85th for all of the townhome development that has occurred over the past several years.

If you live in the area, or if you just have a comment you’d like to share about the changes in this corridor of Aurora, please feel free to post here! I really like seeing the recommended changes to the district that call for beautification of the neighborhood because it really could use a little face lift there and it would be a welcome change.

As GAIN says in their vision statement: “Aurora means dawn. Wake up to a new Aurora!”

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Team Reba Real Estate

November 18, 2008

Selling a tear down ain't so easy…

October 21, 2008

zHome gets you zero energy and carbon neutral at home…

September 24, 2008

I wonder how this report will push owners of commercial space to update their properties to meet “green” requirements?

August 17, 2008

I love hearing and seeing success stories of past clients…

July 27, 2008

Wenatchee on my mind…

May 22, 2008

Mountlake Terrace is betting on more density and will likely come out a winner

May 2, 2008

Live Historic creates the kinds of condo conversions I’d personally love to do…

April 14, 2008

How does $76k for a 4-plex sound to you?

March 22, 2008

You can NEVER be too careful when it comes to homeowner’s associations

March 14, 2008

This is the dawning of the Age of Aurora! (hum to the tune of Age of Aquarius)