They arrived a few days after Valentines Day but they still taste as good as they look!

Made with love and delivered to our doorstep via UPS last night.

From Cincinnati to Seattle....Thanks Grandma Fish!

I've been selling real estate for nearly two decades in the greater Seattle area and my personal business has never been this busy this close to the holidays.

Many of us credited the deadline of the 1st time home buyer tax credit for the increase in buyer interest, and indeed I think initially that was the case. But the deadline has now been extended five months out and I'm not seeing any signs of buyer's putting their search on hold until after the holiday.

According to NWMLS reports, inventory is decreasing and pending sales jumped 63% last month over a year ago. All good signs confidence in the local market has increased.

If you've entered a store, a restaurant or stepped onto a car lot lately you'll see signs of it too. Consumer confidence is up and people are spending money again. Rumors of shadow foreclosure inventory (or a 2nd recessio dip) don't seem to be holding home buyers back.

Have prices gotten so low that buyers (especially those submitting mulitple offers) are making quick decisions and adding escalation clauses to their contracts? Or is it that so many have waited so long, they're not willing to wait any longer for their place at the table....for their piece of the real estate pie?

Forbes.com has recently published a report based on a study by  Moodys.Economy.com that has predicted  home prices in the Seattle area could increase by as much as 30.98% within the next 5 years.

"Moody's calculates future changes in home price by measuring both long-term and demographic and economic fundamentals, like income and population changes; and changes caused by short term supply and demand shifts"

That's especially good news for those first time buyers who have committed to buying in uncertain times.

I think we've all seen over the last few years that predictions and analyses can be wrong. But after so much doom and gloom over the last few years it's always nice to read something positive!

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 I know I'm guilty of all of them!

According to the Ameridream site, since Congress abolished these programs in October of 2008, over 90,000 prospective home buyers have been unable to make a purchase.

The arguments against down-payment assistance programs (DAPs) revolve around a larger number of defaults on these loans and concern about over-inflated appraisal values. Both of these could easily have been addressed with stricter qualifying requirements and more in-depth appraisal review. Opponents say "they should just save up their down-payment", but in a market such as King County, where the average sales price is $450,000, that's a HUGE amount for a young individual or couple to save. At the required FHA 3.5% down-payment, that's $15,000 needed for down-payment alone. And rents aren't cheap in our area either, which pushes the ability to purchase further and further away without these DAPs.

Before Congress right now is H.R. 600 "FHA Seller-Financed Reform Act of 2009", which if passed, according to Ameridream could help as many as 300,000 home buyers, stabilize market prices and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

It's a matter of common sense in my experienced opinion. Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water....tougher credit scoring and underwriting guidelines along with home buyer education should be implemented. But there is a place for DAP's in the market and I hope Congress is willing and able to see the forest for the trees.

Behind on Payments? We May Be Able to Help!

Find out what your King County home is worth.

Find My Dream Home!

Colleen Fischesser is the Broker/Owner of RE/MAX Select Real Estate. She has been successfully marketing and selling real estate in King and Pierce counties since 1990.

Copyright 2009, all rights reserved. Not portion may be reprinted without written permission.

Here’s an excerpt from Justin’s post:

…..Whatever you see, whatever people are telling you about the “current” foreclosure crisis… I worry it might get worse, possibly far worse than it is now.

The reason I worry?

Most of the people that I speak with every day are not currently late on their mortgage payments but are “about to be”. They are searching for help and information about the ramifications of what will happen if they miss a mortgage payment. Or two. Or what the impact on their credit will be if they do a short sale or a loan modification. Or how long I think that they can stay in their home if they quit making payments.

These people who are about to be late on their mortgage payments so that they can still feed their families are supposed to be the good loans - as in the ones that are not supposed to default.

Is anyone in the news media covering the story of what is so close to happening - so many of what appear to be “good loans” about to go bad?

Not that I have seen.

But America is hurting.

From the inside out.

And I just wanted you to be aware of it, because I am a simple soldier on the front lines speaking with these people every day and I know how to write a blog post.

Good luck - and please be aware that there is a big bulge under the rug in America’s living room.

About the size of an elephant.

Read the complete article here

And then share it with everyone you know!

Pierce County has approximately 32% less with 953 current pending sales and a median list price of $229,950. Snohomish County even fewer; 598 sales and a median price of $312,925.

In some markets across King County it may be necessary to look a little harder for those sales...but they are happening. Here's a closer look at pending sales by City:

There are various reasons why one home may sell over another, including but not limited to: price, condition, timing (a buyer was just waiting for that particular type property to come along). But occassionally a new listing will come on the market that's just absolutely primed and ready to sell fast.

There have been several hot properties come on the market in the Maple Valley area within the last few months and they're selling quickly...sometimes within a matter of days. So whether you're considering selling in the future, or are trying to sell now and want to know the secret recipe for a hot property...here you go:

• The home has got to be Clean....even in places you may not think peopl would look-Window sills, baseboards, tubs, sinks, etc.
• De-clutter and HIDE "STUFF"-make spaces look as large as possible, pulling small appliances off the Kitchen counters, products from Bathroom counters, thinning out bookshelves.
• Be ready for showings at a moment's notice
• Make small, inexpensive updates such as faucets, light fixtures and paint where necessary.
• And the last but most painful part? Price the home as aggressively as possible. Look at what you competition is and price below that...significantly.

Of course the most critical off all these points is the last one. If a property isn't in great condition or super dirty/cluttered, there's no condition price won't cure! However if you're trying to get as much as you can for you house in a softening market, without having to play "catch up", it's necessary to stay ahead of the pricing curve. The properties I'm seeing sell quickly are those which are positioning themselves below (often by 5% and in some cases by as much as 10%) their direct competition.

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Overall, pending home sales in Maple Valley are up with a good portion of those homes being new construction. Of the 80 sales currently pending, nearly half of them (37 to be exact) are new construction.  

And she's such a sweetie!

 Around the office we've dubbed her "Hope" but the lucky bidder at our 2nd Annual Little Miracles Auction will get to call her whatever they'd like. "Hope" is an 8 week old AKC black Lab puppy who was generous donated by Gordon & Ashley Chubb of the Tri-Cities. Hope's Daddy, Coal is a sweet tempered Lab who loves to hunt and fetch.

Last year, the Little Miracles Auction, which is held at the Olson Mansion in Maple Valley, raised over $60,000 for Children's Miracle Network. This year King 5 Television personality John Curley will be the auctioneer and we know we will have a good time raising funds for Seattle Children's Hospital & Pediatric Brain Tumor Research. Thanks to many generous donors, we have some amazing items up for bid this year, with more arriving every day. There are still a few tables & seats available.

A few weeks ago, Active Rain's  Matt Heaton wrote a post asking if being a good agent necessitated believing in the strength of our market.  I don't think this is the case at all. I think being a good agent is about being honest and if it means we don't know, then we have to say, we don't know. Is that risky? Maybe so.  But I have to respect the person who can give me an honest answer, even it's "I don't know" far more than the one who is wanting to paint a picture towards doom or boom because it suits their personal interests.

Which brings me back to John Talton, a reporter for the Seattle Times.  Mr. Talton wrote an interesting piece Titled "Recession poses biggest risk for Seattle". My inital thought was "well DUH!", but I read on and just as I was beginning the eyeroll over more forecasts, I glanced down and saw the last line of his article:

 "That was the lesson of the past week. Nobody really knows"

Kudos to you Mr. Talton!

There are several upcoming meetings pertaining to the proposed LID by the City.

Ok, it's a groaner, but for some weird reason this joke (the first one I ever memorized and repeated after reading it in the Highlights Magazine at the Dentist's way back in 3rd grade)comes to mind every time I walk through a listing and hit a floor squeak. 

Sometimes I find the squeak first and other times the buyers will find them. The discoverer often will freeze on the spot, and rock back and forth over the squeak repetitively until the other party notices as if to say "Look what I found".

When my boys were teenagers we lived in a two story which had a great squeak at the top of the stairs. No way around that baby if you were trying to sneak downstairs. But when we sold the house, that was on the top of the list of things to repair.

As it has been explained to me, most squeaks arise from a nail having come loose in a joist below the subfloor. As weight is put on the floor it moves up and down along the nail making the squeak. In most situations, it's not a difficult fix. There are several kits available at Home Depot or local hardware stores for eliminating squeaks and creaks under carpets and even under hardwood floors. I've been told the Puyallup Fair has a booth every year with break-away screws for floor squesks too, although I've never seen them.  My husband was able to pull the carpet back and drill in some screws to eliminate our floor mounted monitor.

Whether you're a handy do-it-yourself type or just don't have the skills or time to deal with it and call in a handyman, make sure you address floor squeaks prior to listing. You want Buyers viewing your home to focus on the house, not hunting for the next big squeak.   

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Here is the March Bank Owned Inventory Report For Maple Valley, WA

6 Homes on the Market

Prices Ranging from $285,000 to $535,000

Size Ranging from appx:

 1850 square feet to over 4,000 square feet

But this is what life's like when your home is not on the market. Things are out of place, sometimes not exactly the way we would like them to be. We live in our homes much differently than we do when we are selling. Sometimes, I actually feel slightly hypocritical for telling people what should be done and should be moved and should be eliminated altogether in order to get their home ready to sell. My house is not perfect. In fact it's very seldom perfect.

So if you call me to come see your home, please don't worry that the towels don't match or the mirrors aren't spotless or that the shower door isn't crystal clear. I can see past that....but once the decision to sell is made, your home becomes the house a.k.a. "the product", and in order to compete, the product must be the best of the best. My job is to help you position "your product" to come on the market for maximum results.

But unless and until you decide to sell, live it up! And in case you have a bare spot in your Kitchen, I know where you can get a Lazy Boy....Cheap!