Seattle Real Estate:

I’ve been speaking with folks a lot lately about property taxes - people who are wondering how on earth the county assessor seems to think their property is worth more than last year, and people who are asking about the Lower Property Taxes initiative… just to name a few.
When most people think of taxes, they [...]

It’s not surprising that we’ve been getting lots of questions lately about bank owned real estate in the Seattle area.  One question that keeps popping up in various guises has to do with qualifications to buy a home that is owned by a bank.  For example:

“Can first time buyers purchase a bank owned home?”, or
“How [...]

The Seattle area is host to a number of small neighborhood parks.  Alex and I live within walking distance a lot of cool places and Edith Moulton Park  in Kirkland is one of them. Look how lovely it is even in February!  

 
According to the informational sign at the park:
“In 1967 Edith Moulton donated her twenty-acre farm [...]

When you’re conducting a Seattle real estate search, how can a potential buyer tell details about the ownership of the home?  It’s tough - sometimes you can tell based on the information that is supplied online, and sometimes you can’t. 
In this market, we’re seeing lots of real estate listings with varying situations with ownership:

Check If [...]

Bright and early this morning we received a call from a telephone number that showed as American Express on the caller ID.  Neither Alex nor I were available to take to call, but Alex called the number back when he was able.  The person that answered the call said that they were from American Express [...]

Congress passed the monster “stimulus” bill this evening.  It is anticipated to be signed by President Obama by President’s Day, which is Monday, January 16th, 2009. 
The home buyers tax credit was a much reported, widely contested issue.  This is how the cookie crumbled:
$6.6 billion to repeal a requirement that a $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit be [...]

Inquiring minds want to know how agents get paid on new construction, or least one person in our viewing audience is curious about it.
In most cases, Realtors get paid commission off either the sales price or the base price.  What’s a base price?  Different builders define the term base price in different ways, but it [...]

We’re often asked our advice on offering prices for real estate. There is no single answer to that question.  If we were to say you should always pay X% less than list price or that there is some magical formula for determining an offering price we would be leading you astray.  Every house, every seller, [...]

What are property taxes like in Washington State?  Too high if you ask the folks behind the latest state initiative. (You can read about how property tax works in Washington State here.) There’s a new movement afoot to place a “Lower Property Taxes” initiative on the ballot November 9th, 2009. 
According to the petition, the highlights [...]

From Realtor.org:
“Fannie Loosens Refinancing Rules
Fannie Mae plans to eliminate some credit-score requirements, scale back income-documentation standards, and waive the need for appraisals in some cases, starting on April 4.
The mortgage finance company believes the changes will allow more home owners to refinance into new home loans at near-record low interest rates.
Analysts say the [...]