Bad news and good news

Here's a quickie: The bad news is that Seattle area prices are down 10-15% on average from the end of last year. The good news is that homes with list prices reduced in line with that 10-15% are selling, sometimes with multiple offers. The buyers are out there if only sellers and agents are willing to market and price houses for today, not last month or last year.

New construction heaven

Now's the time to shop if you're thinking about buying new construction. Many lenders are now offering special mortgage rates and money toward closing costs for buyers who purchase a home whose construction loan the bank holds. The lenders are willing to offer these favorable terms in order to get bad debt off the books. Essentially, they're paying buyers (in the form of closing costs) to buy a house with an already low price (due to market forces) and to finance it with a low-rate mortgage.

We currently receive lists of houses eligible for special programs from lenders weekly. Current offered rates are as low as 3.875% with up to $20k of closing costs paid by the lender.

Great north Seattle listing

Chuck and I just dropped the list price on a cool home in Victory Heights. The yard is very cool: big decks, hot tub, waterfall & pond, fire pit, gorgeous landscaping, and much more. Usually when agents talk about the outside of a property first, it means that inside leaves much to be desired. That's not true here, though. This house has skylights, tall ceilings, wood floors & trim, lots of light, and up-to-date heating/plumbing/electrical systems. It's a great house for a single, couple, small family or retirees. Heck, it may be great for somebody in a category that I didn't think of; feel free to call for a showing, no matter how you define yourself. :-)

Work outs and short sales

If you are at all concerned about your financial situation, it's important to check out the new mortgage landscape. The administration's Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan includes:
1) a refinancing intiative which would help homeowners who have less than 20% equity in their homes and are therefore having trouble qualifying for a refinance under current rules, and
2) a stability intiative designed to reduce homeowners' payments to 31% of their income through lower interest rates on the loan.

Homeowners who are NOT yet delinquent on their mortgages qualify to apply for the stability program, making this an option for those who have struggled to make their payments and preserve their good credit. Only personal residences are eligible for these programs at this point.

If you need more information about these programs, or about the first time homebuyers' credits now available, let me know. Some of our clients are looking into these programs as an alternative to selling a home that they'd like to keep. If you're in that situation, these programs are worth a look.

A new favorite - not my listing!

As promised, when I see a property that I think is really great, I will include it here. These are NOT my listings; they're properties that I've seen while out screening for my own clients.

Recently, I saw an estate in Lynnwood that's just gorgeous. I will say up front that it needs extensive remodelling, but with such beautiful bones, it would be worth it. The house is set back in a little enclave of 5 or 6 homes - no subdivision here. A lovely circular driveway sweeps up to the front, where a colonnade of brick archways leads to the front door. There is a sense of arrival upon stepping through the front door. The main room has a masterful use of light and volume, with vaulted ceilings, multi-paned floor to ceiling windows, a massive central fireplace and changes in floor level that define the differently used spaces. A well-designed kitchen space (again great bones, needs remodelling) sits between the formal dining room and a family room space. I wasn't surprised to find out that the late owner had been an architect who had designed the home himself. Few houses built in 1974 (or perhaps any other year) boast such an intelligent floorplan and site usage. I could go on about this house, but I won't. Suffice it to say that a buyer with $700k or so and the stomach for a remodelling project could find themselves with a home that they never want to leave.

Real estate microcosms

I did attend that CRS conference in San Francisco last week and enjoyed it very much. The stories from the agents in attendance were very interesting. Conventional wisdom has always been that real estate is local and our current economic climate has really underlined that. There were agents at the convention from markets where median prices were down over 50% and whose practices consisted almost entirely of short sales and foreclosures. Other agents described markets that had small increases in median price, perhaps lower than in previous years, but were otherwise untouched. Many agents envied our Seattle market statistics - down about 10% overall with about 6 months of inventory available. Of course, as new statistics come in each month, we get a new sense of how 2009 is shaping up. Still expecting a wild ride...

CRS convention

This week, I'll be attending the Certified Residential Specialist convention in San Francisco. Since only 4% of realtors in the U.S. have earned the CRS designation, I'm looking forward to exchanging ideas with top agents and learning new ways to work smarter & better for my clients. I'd love to hear comments on how to make the most of a trade conference and particularly the CRS conference.