Seattle Real Estate:

In a surprisingly sensible move, the Washington State Department of Revenue reversed their earlier decision about collecting real estate excise tax on forgiven debt.  You can read the original post about taxing WA short sales here. You can read the letter about how the DOR came to their senses and decided against imposing the REET here.

This just in on the situation with the Washington State Distressed Homeowner law… If you’ve been following along at home (here and here) you know that the Distressed Homeowner law passed in June 2008 in Washington had some “unintended consequences”. This is the latest from the Washington Association of Realtors: Distressed Properties Law Legislative Update: Help [...]

UPDATE 1/13/09: The Washington State Department of Revenue reversed their stance. See updated WA REET ruling post. See all posts regarding Short Sales. Think You Might Need To Do A Short Sale? From the Washington Association of Realtors: The Department of Revenue(DOR) recently sent a letter to the Escrow Association explaining its position that in [...]

From time to time we’re all destined to be disappointed by our trade organizations.  What worries me, as a Realtor, is that the space between time and time keeps getting smaller.  The National Association of Realtors is a huge organization.  They do a lot of good things but I’m getting seriously concerned about their political [...]

There’s an interesting thread going on at http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/realestate/archives/153603.asp about the effects of the Washington Distressed Homeowner Law. That law really stuck in my craw when it was passed.  There is talk of amendment, but I think a lot of people (read: legislators and especially the governor) have stopped thinking about how their “unintended consequences” are affecting [...]

…and think you’re done. The only way for our democratic republic to be representative is for it to be participatory.  What’s almost as bad as not voting?  Only voting. Okay, okay…chiding session over.

Among the somewhat disheartening news recently for the real estate market, I found a positive tidbit.  The recent Distressed Homeowner Law that came with “unintended consequences” is in the process of revision.  According to the Washington Association of Realtors: “The components of the legislation being finalized include a qualified exemption for real estate licensees subject [...]

So, this post is related to the housing market only in the sense that it’s part of the broader economy.  David Walker, former Comptroller General of the US, has been trying to get the word out about the mess in the market now for a few years.  Here’s a link to a recent article written by the [...]

I read an interesting article from the Edmonds Edition of the Enterprise Newspaper (you can see the original article here) about the proposed “Nuisance Ordinances”.  To summarize, the city council is proposing enacting different laws about the number and type of vehicles a person may have parked on their property, and other actions or conditions that may be [...]