Carnation, Washington Commercial Market Overview (4/5/09)
The commercial market in Carnation is not huge. But, it is growing, thanks to the city installing a sewer system. This makes development possible in the down-town area and should also lead to growth in the residential market over time that will support businesses. For now though, with overall slowdown in the real estate market […]
Home Loan Modification — Classes coming and a personal case study
A lot of people are in danger of losing their home due to inability to pay their mortgage. Sometimes its job loss or pay cuts, sometimes its because of rates resetting. Maybe its due to healthcare or other bills. Maybe its because they are a real estate agent…. or they are part of some other […]
Microclimates and Micromarkets in the Puget Sound
Puget sound convergence zone. Olympic rain shadows. Valleys, rivers, lakes, etc. All make for really odd weather in western Washington. Fog all day in the Snoqualmie valley and bright sunny skies in Redmond, just a couple miles away. 3 inches of snow in Tacoma and dry as a bone in Snohomish. Gardeners know all about the microclimates. On […]
Corkin.com vs Craiglist — Who is the winner?
Like a lot of folks, I post real estate listings on Craigs List (http://seattle.craigslist.org/). I’m the web-guy for our little team, along with being the commercial agent. I maintain this blog, post on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. So, one of my partners asked me about corkin.com the other day. Corkin had sent an email, based […]
Yes, Real Estate agents CAN work together!
When I got into the real estate business as an agent a few years ago, one of my first and greatest disappointments was with the relationships that agents have with each other. The competition for buyers and listings and the competition in the negotiation phase of a transaction always seemed (and seems) to create a […]
End of december residential mortgage rates from Jeff Nance
My friend Jeff Nance sent me an update on residential rates just before Christmas. Here they are: Mortgage Interest Rates* Rates as of 12/22/2008: Conforming APR Payment per$1,000 Jumbo APR Payment per$1,000 30-Yr. fixed 5.000% 5.151% $5.42 8.375% 8.560% $7.65 15-Yr. fixed 4.875% 5.135% $7.95 7.500% 7.724% $9.36 30-Yr […]
Residential Interest Rate Update for week of Dec. 1
Courtesy of Jeff Nance, Branch Manager Golf Savings Bank Cell: 425.772.3341 Fax: 866.299.2454 jnance@golfsavingsbank.com Rates opened this morning on the conventional 30yr fix slightly lower, and the FHA/VA rates were just slightly higher. The biggest move was in the short term adjustable rates. We saw a significant worsening in these to start the week. We were […]
YouTube is fun — hopefully it will be useful
I’m a bit of a tech-geek. So, I decided I need to do a better job of using that interest to the benefit of my real estate business. On activerain, I’m not too unusual, but the average agent still has trouble logging on to their email. I’ve been working on a bunch of different new […]
How can an agent dare to be so offensive? Would you mass-email a message of bigotry?
Ok. Its late and I can’t sleep. Why? Because of an email. I try not to get into religous or political beliefs when it comes to being an agent. Again, today, I got an email from a real estate agent, where they are forwarding one of “those” emails…. you know… not just the usual spam like […]