Real estate industry Archives - Page 2 of 3

NWMLS market report for May 2013

The Northwest MLS (NWMLS) released, last week, the sale and listing statistics for this past May. As most folks know, the news is no suprise .

Competition among home buyers “still fierce;” rising interest rates adding to fury
NWMLS, Kirkland, WA, June 5, 2013 – Well-priced homes continue to draw multiple offers and sell at a brisk pace around Western Washington as buyers react to increases in interest rates and asking prices.Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported double-digit gains in several key indicators it tracks for the 21 counties in its service area. Compared to a year ago, the number of new listings climbed 16 percent, pending sales increased about 10 percent, closed sales jumped nearly 22 percent, and prices rose more than 13 percent. Despite gains in listing activity, inventory remains tight.

Here is the full press release: http://www.nwmls.com/discover/index.cfm?SectionGroupsID=1&SectionListsID=1&PageID=6261

NWMLS market report for March 2013

The Northwest MLS (NWMLS) just released (late last week) sale and listing statistics for this past March. The news release definitely matches what is happening for my clients. Here is an excerpt from the news release…

Prices “spiking” as home buyers compete for scarce inventory
KIRKLAND, Wash. (April 4, 2013)… Northwest MLS figures show year-over-year prices jumped 14.9 percent for the 21 counties in its service area. The median price for last month’s closed sales of single family homes and condominiums (combined) was $258,500, rising from $225,000 for the same month a year ago. Twelve counties reported double-digit gains, led by Ferry (up 70.9 percent), San Juan (up 47.3 percent), and Island (up 36.1 percent).
Prices for single family homes increased 14.3 percent, while the median sales price for condos, which accounted for about 12 percent of sales, surged 19.6 percent. Two-thirds of last month’s condo sales were in King County; prices there leaped 28.6 percent, increasing from $175,000 to $225,000. The price of a single family home that sold in King County jumped from $330,000 to $392,000 (up 18.8 percent).
Brokers reported 5,745 closed sales last month for a 13.9 percent increase from the previous year when they tallied 5,044 completed transactions.

Here is the full press release: http://www.nwmls.com/discover/nwreporter.cfm?SectionListsID=25

DOL Real Estate Commission issues guidelines for internet advertising and social media

Our friends at the Northwest MLS passed along some new guidelines from the Washington State’s Department of Licensing. These guidelines cover internet advertising, email, and social media. The full set of guidelines can be found here.

Its important as a consumer that you are familiar with these guidelines. Being familiar with them means you can more easily identify real estate companies that are acting legally and ethically. If you find a company that doesn’t take the time to be familiar with the laws and guidance of DOL (or doesn’t follow them when they are familiar), you shouldask if yourself if they are willing to follow any of the other rules that protect you.

Here is the main set of guidelines:

Guidelines for on-line disclosure
All Internet related advertising that consumers can view or experience, as a separate unit, (for
example, email messages or Web pages) should require full disclosure. The burden of proof of
such full disclosures falls on the licensee, the firm, and designated broker (licensed entities) when
addressing a consumer complaint. This disclosure does not apply once an agency relationship has
been established with a buyer or seller. Examples of online communications are listed below:

The Web
Whenever a licensed entity owns a website or controls its content, every viewable page
should include full disclosure. (A “viewable page” is one that may or may not scroll
beyond the borders of the screen and includes the use of framed pages.) If you give
permission for a 3rd party to advertise your listings maintain regular and thorough
oversight to ensure the information is correct. Adhere to copyright laws.
Email, Newsgroups, Discussion Lists, Bulletin Boards
Such formats should include a full disclosure at the beginning or end of each message.
This would not apply to communications between a licensee and a member of the public
provided that the member of the public has sent a communication to the licensee and the
licensee’s initial communication contained the disclosure information required above.
Instant Messages
Full disclosure is not necessary in this format if the licensed entity provided the written
full disclosure via another format or medium (e.g., e-mail or letter) prior to providing, or
offering to provide licensable services.
Chat
Full disclosure prior to providing or offering to provide licensable services during the
chat session or in text visible on the same webpage that contains the chat session.
Social Media
Full disclosure should be prominently displayed and easily understood and be no more
than one click away from the viewable page. Each real estate firm should have and
maintain a written policy regarding their licensee’s use of social media.
Multimedia Advertising (e.g. Web based, executable e-mail attachments, etc.)
Full disclosure should be visible as part of the advertising message.
Banner Ads
Should link to a webpage that has full disclosure that is a single click away from the viewable page, unless the banner ad has such full disclosure.

NWMLS market report for January 2013

The Northwest MLS released sale and listing statistics for this past Janauary, last week. Their news release confirms what I’ve been seeing hte market. Prices are moving up and competition is stiff for good homes with good prices (meaning good condition and well priced, at or below the average $/SF). Here is an excerpt from the news release…

Brokers report brisk sales, but rising frustration for home buyers
KIRKLAND, Wash. (Feb. 5, 2013) – Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction of an early spring is showing up in the latest housing activity report from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Its statistics for January showed a 14.4 percent year-over-year increase in pending sales and a 23.6 percent jump in closed sales amid a 31.3 percent decline in inventory.
The MLS reported 4,289 closed sales during January, surpassing the year ago total by 820 transactions. Last month’s completed sales of single family homes and condominiums had a median selling price of $239,300. That’s up 11.3 percent from the year-ago figure of $214,990.
Supply has dwindled to less than two months in some counties close to job centers, spurring bidding wars. Some buyers are even resorting to writing “love letters” to win over sellers in these competitive situations. Brokers also report an increasing number of buyers have little or no interest in making offers on short sales.

I think its important to keep in mind, of course, that not all sub-markets are created equial. While things are tight in some parts of King and Snohomish Counties, and other parts of western Washington. Many counties have 10 months or more supply of homes (so its still a buyer’s market there). Additionally, even within the tight markets, there are plenty of areas where demand is soft. The highest demand is in the more urban areas, with popular school districts, and close to major employers. These are the classic drivers of home demand

Take a look at the basic stats for yourself:

We survived our first audit from DOL

I found out Friday that the Washington State Department of Licensing audits all new real estate brokerages their first year. I found out because of a phone call from the auditor who was waiting outside my home/office. (Yes, we run the company out of our home. I meet clients at their office, home, at a property they are buying/selling/leasing, or if all else fails, Starbucks.

Unfortunately for the auditor, I was visiting a client and no one is there to meet him. So, we rescheduled for today.

I’m happy to say things went fine. I was mostly confident it would. But, part of our conversation on Friday had me worried.

Signs, signs, everywhere signs….

The Friday conversation was about office signs. Not the signs our office uses on properties we list… but actually a sign at the office. The city of Duvall says home-based businesses can have no signs. The auditor said the state requires I have a sign. I reviewed the rules and regulations closely when I opend the business and was confident when I responded, “I don’t think so.” (Hey, it would do no good to be too forceful with the auditor… and I am human, I could have missed something.) I asked him to be sure and point out the regulation when we met today.

In the end, it turns out we are both right. (I will continue to play nice wth the DOL.) According to the auditor when he came for the appointment today, the regulation for the sign has been removed, but by accident. He said it will be re-instated by end of year. I’ll be writing the real estate commission to suggest it stay removed. I don’t want to have to choose between following DOL rules, city rules, or having to change my business model to have a ‘real’ office that does my clients no good.

Anyway, on to the rest of the audit…

The rest of the audit went smoothly. The auditor reviewed the paperwork for closed in in-process transactions. The main focus was making sure that earnest money deposits were handled correctly. Our policy is to always have buyers deposit earnest money with 3rd party escrow. So, that makes the audit process much simpler. No ‘trust account’ to review. And, happily all the deposits happened on-time and we had all the receipts.

Other items reviewed were:

My business cards, which passed muster. Check it out for yourself.
Our business and real estate licenses (which you can view from “Client Resources” links on this page). Again, all fine.
Transaction summaries – Our auditor was a bit of a geek, like me, so was interested in our use of Office 365 and sharepoint to track this information.
Issues we would have to deal with if we had other brokers in the office (all good info for the future)

Areas for improvement – written procedures

Of course, we are not perfect. The one area where we had shortcomings is in written procedures. This is something I’ve been working on, but as a sole broker, its been a low priority to write down procedures and policies for me to follow. But, the auditor pointed out that there are regulations that require some policies and procedures to be written, even though I am the sole practitioner. So, its now on the schedule to get these written up. I’ll take that oppotunity to outline the additional procedures needed for when we bring other brokers on board.

All in all, not a terrible experience. No audit is pleasant, but this wasn’t as bad as I feared. Apparently, I get to look forward to repeating the experience about once every 3 years. I plan on the future visits to go at least as smoothly (signs or no signs).

NWMLS News release – September housing statistics around Washington indicate recovery is continuing, strengthening sellers’ positions

Here is the text of the NWMLS news release. Below that is a link to www.SeattleBubble.com which provides an alternate view of things. I have my doubts that this summers’ market means a full blown recovery of the real estate market. But, I do think its a sign that things are better on the residential side of things. Still I recommend checking the Bubble’s view to balance the overly optimistic MLS view.

September housing statistics around Washington indicate recovery is continuing, strengthening sellers’ positions

KIRKLAND, WA, September 5, 2012 – Pending sales, closed sales and prices all increased in August compared to a year ago, according to the latest figures from Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Those key indicators, coupled with the persistent shortage of inventory, prompted one industry leader to declare the market has flipped.

Brokers reported 8,338 pending sales of single family homes and condominiums last month for a year-over-year increase of 9.3 percent. Fourteen of the 21 counties in the Northwest MLS service area reported double-digit gains in the number of mutually accepted offers.

Last month’s pending transactions nearly equaled the July total of 8,416 sales and marked the fifth consecutive month of at least 8,000 pending sales.

Closed sales, reflecting several months of strong pending sales, reached the highest volume so far in 2012. Brokers tallied 6,612 closings last month, continuing a streak of four months of 6,000-plus completed transactions.

“In housing markets, slow and steady recoveries are good,” said MLS director Frank Wilson, the branch managing broker at John L. Scott’s Poulsbo office. “A market that runs too high or too fast leads to a quick decline in short order,” he commented, adding he expects good momentum to continue into the fall.

The median price on last month’s closed sales rose more than 5.9 percent, to an area-wide figure of $250,000. That’s up from the year-ago median sales price of $236,000 for single family homes and condos combined, but tapered off from the July figure of $254,900. Clark County claimed the largest year-over-year gain at 18.3 percent, followed by Cowlitz (18 percent), Mason (nearly 16 percent), and Kittitas (13.7 percent) counties.

For single family homes only (excluding condos), prices jumped nearly 6.7 percent, from $247,000 to $263,500. Buyers of single family homes in King County paid $378,000 for last month’s sales, an increase of 8 percent from the year-ago median selling price of $350,000.

“The biggest story this year is that the market has flipped,” proclaimed J. Lennox Scott, chairman and CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate. He attributes the shift to a seller’s market in most areas and prices to a combination of factors, including historically low interest rates, lower adjusted prices, the shortage of inventory, an elevated number of investors, and the return of local home buyers.

Northwest MLS directors OB Jacobi and Joe Spencer are similarly encouraged by the latest numbers, mentioning steady momentum, rising consumer confidence, low inventory, a pickup of activity in new construction, and improving prospects for homeowners who are underwater.

Northwest MLS members were hard-pressed to replenish inventory last month. They added 8,379 new listings to inventory — 749 fewer new listings than a year ago, and about the same as the number of pending sales (8,338). Last month’s additions brought the month-end total to 25,506 listings, down more than 28 percent from the year-ago inventory of 36,907 homes and condos.

“Inventory levels are incredibly low, but our hope is that many homeowners who were underwater can now afford to sell because of the continued appreciation of home prices,” remarked OB Jacobi, president of Windermere Real Estate Company. He also noted a pick-up of activity in the new construction housing market, which he expects will add much needed inventory throughout Puget Sound.

Wilson said he expects activity in Kitsap to pick up there once school resumes and after a typical “pause” around Labor Day. Noting increases in pending sales, closed sales and prices, he said “the only number that is down is the steady decrease in inventory. Lower inventory combined with low interest rates are what is going to carry this momentum forward into the fall,” he remarked.

Another MLS director, Joe Spencer, said the low inventory and heightened buyer activity are resulting in an imbalance of supply and demand, but he believes that “bodes well as we move into the fall season, which typically ushers in an increase in buyer activity.”

Buyers and sellers are “clearly more confident,” reported Spencer, the area director for Keller Williams. These consumers “are looking to take advantage of the market rebound in what appears to be a continued slow and sustainable recovery.”

The condo market showed mixed results. Both pending and closed sales increased, but inventory is at about half the levels of a year ago, and prices are essentially flat.

Brokers reported 1,130 pending sales of condos for a 7.5 percent gain from a year ago and a slight uptick from the total for July (1,188).

MLS members reported 889 closed sales of condominiums area-wide for a 16.1 percent year-over-year gain. The median sales price on those sales was $174,000, which is $1,000 less than a year ago (down 0.57 percent). Northwest Multiple Listing Service, owned by its member real estate firms, is the largest full-service MLS in the Northwest. Its membership includes more than 21,000 real estate brokers. The organization, based in Kirkland, Wash., currently serves 21 counties in Washington state.

Statistical Summary by Counties: Market Activity Summary – August 2012

Single Family Homes + Condos	LISTINGS		PENDING SALES	CLOSED SALES
Single Family Homes + Condos	New Listings	Total Active	# Pending Sales	# Closings	Avg. Price	Median Price
King	3,195	6,432	3,298	2,730	$414,308	$340,000
Snohomish	1,185	2,322	1,324	1,057	$274,460	$246,000
Pierce	1,225	3,792	1,334	983	$223,534	$199,950
Kitsap	416	1,573	385	304	$295,875	$246,250
Mason	142	843	96	58	$189,262	$163,500
Skagit	177	946	204	127	$243,742	$210,000
Grays Harbor	144	912	101	53	$130,698	$123,500
Lewis	105	732	86	55	$136,574	$137,500
Cowlitz	114	540	124	90	$167,828	$159,950
Grant	114	605	76	76	$161,488	$155,500
Thurston	399	1,314	391	306	$225,338	$218,000
San Juan	41	453	43	26	$385,029	$325,000
Island	169	942	143	125	$322,621	$250,000
Kittitas	93	527	72	74	$280,027	$195,500
Jefferson	77	565	63	39	$290,381	$242,000
Okanogan	63	458	32	36	$223,484	$155,750
Whatcom	414	1,643	326	262	$270,179	$237,250
Clark	50	225	50	57	$265,341	$210,000
Pacific	41	443	35	35	$109,531	$95,000
Ferry	8	78	5	1	$199,500	$199,500
Clallam	77	471	52	43	$183,332	$163,000
Others	130	690	98	75	$204,201	$190,000
MLS TOTAL	8,379	26,506	8,338	6,612	$315,656	$250,000

4-County Puget Sound Region Pending Sales (SFH + Condo combined) (Totals include King, Snohomish, Pierce & Kitsap counties)

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2000	3706	4778	5903	5116	5490	5079	4928	5432	4569	4675	4126	3166
2001	4334	5056	5722	5399	5631	5568	5434	5544	4040	4387	4155	3430
2002	4293	4735	5569	5436	6131	5212	5525	6215	5394	5777	4966	4153
2003	4746	5290	6889	6837	7148	7202	7673	7135	6698	6552	4904	4454
2004	4521	6284	8073	7910	7888	8186	7583	7464	6984	6761	6228	5195
2005	5426	6833	8801	8420	8610	8896	8207	8784	7561	7157	6188	4837
2006	5275	6032	8174	7651	8411	8094	7121	7692	6216	6403	5292	4346
2007	4869	6239	7192	6974	7311	6876	6371	5580	4153	4447	3896	2975
2008	3291	4167	4520	4624	4526	4765	4580	4584	4445	3346	2841	2432
2009	3250	3407	4262	5372	5498	5963	5551	5764	5825	5702	3829	3440
2010	4381	5211	6821	7368	4058	4239	4306	4520	4350	4376	3938	3474
2011	4272	4767	6049	5732	5963	5868	5657	5944	5299	5384	4814	4197
2012	4921	6069	7386	7015	7295	6733	6489	6341

The SeattleBubble.com view

I think SeattleBubble takes too negative of a view (much like the MLS and NAR like to go too positive). My guess is that they have to, in order be the ‘objective’ voice. Anyway read their view here.

http://seattlebubble.com/blog/2012/09/06/august-reporting-roundup-market-flip-edition/

And, if you haven’t seen our view before, it’s simple: “Don’t purchase a home because of the ‘market’ but because you want to own a home.” We are glad to help you with the financial analysis piece of the decision plus help you make the non-financial decision. In fact, check out our Home Buyer 101 class coming up. We’ve got one scheduled in December and hope to come up with another before then.

King County – Eastside – August 2012 Commercial Sales Summary

The following eastside commercial property sales were reported/researched by the Commercial Brokers Association and Northwest MLS in August.

Contact me for details or for a market report for your specific area.

[skype-status skype_id=”Jason.TellusRE” user_name=”Jason Hershey, Designated Broker” button_function=”Text” use_voicemail=”False” use_getskype=”False”]

Property Name	Property City	Recorded Date	Sale Price	Building SF	Price / SF	Year Built	Property Type
220 Sydney Ave N	North Bend	8/23/2012	$210,000.00	1,350	$155.55	1950	Retail/Office
1611 Market Street	Kirkland	8/15/2012	$517,500.00	1,190	$434.87	1924	Office
Starpoint Condominium – Unit C106	Issaquah	8/10/2012	$ 575,000.00	2,187	$262.92	2007	Office
Cantrill Hall	Bellevue	8/8/2012	$ 840,000.00	2,966	$283.21	1945	Office
Totem Valley Business Center – Building B2 Unit A	Kirkland	8/10/2012	$ 868,500.00	5,913	$146.88	1983	Office
Rosies Too and Kennedy Lamp & Shade	Bellevue	8/13/2012	$ 1,475,000.00	6,925	$213.00	1958	Retail
CF Truck Terminal – Woodinville	Woodinville	8/3/2012	$ 3,200,000.00	9,200	$347.83	1981	Industrial
Marina Park Building	Kirkland	8/20/2012	$ 5,650,000.00	32,204	$175.44	1980	Office
Sherwood Shopping Center	Bellevue	8/21/2012	$ 18,750,000.00	61,176	$306.49	1970	Retail
City Center Bellevue	Bellevue	8/21/2012	$228,765,000.00	695,148	$329.09	1987	Office

How to view properties from-out-of-state

Shopping for real estate from a distance can be a real challenge, for both the buyer and the agent. Internet listings don’t always provide an accurate picture of the property. Some agents manage to make the property look better than the reality. And, sadly enough, some agents manage to make it look worse.

More importantly, the listing agent doesn’t know what features or aspects are important to the buyer. That is the job of the buyer’s agent.

At Tellus Real Estate we’ve found a few methods to help our out-of-state and international clients get a better feel for a property. One method is straightforward, take our own pictures… focussing on those features that we know are important to our clients.

Another method is to take a video camera and do a video walkthrough. Here is an example of a walkthrough we did recently for an out-of-state client:

When doing this kind of walkthrough, we have some rough guidelines that we follow for posting:

We use YouTube, because most folks are familiar with it.
We don’t include info about the property in the video. This avoids problems with agents and owners.
We don’t ‘list’ the videos in our youtube feed, for same reason as previous.
When we take still photos, we include them in the video also, for convenience.
We try and work with a local contacts (like a family member or business partner) to have them do an in-person viewing to augment the video.
Make it public so client does not have to sign-in to youtube. We go back and forth on this, because it would make it much more private if we did require sign in. But, some clients don’t want to sign in, especially with the Google security concerns as of late.

Pre-auction bids and auction site fun

Thanks to some transactions for some of my investor clients, I’m developing a new expertise… handling transactions on auction sites.

Twice in the past month, we’ve had offers submitted to local agents get ‘redirected’ to an auction site, Auction.com, where we put in “pre-auction bids”.

In many ways, I think the process is much easier than a traditional offer, but it takes a little getting used to. More importantly, you really have to prepare the buyers. Investors tend to be flexible, so we were lucky. But, a first-time home buyer could easily be confused, frustrated, and stressed out by the process.

One thing to know is that the site charges buyers a 5% premium. Now wait, its not so bad. When you put in the offer, you just input the total price you want to pay, and they deduct the premium from your offer. So, if your client wants to pay a total of $100,000, then their actual offer is only $95,000 (actually, $95,238). At least, the bank that owns the property views it that way.

You put in your offer, and let them know if you will be financing the property (you can use your own lender, but check the restrictions listed on the site). If your offer falls within a range acceptable by the bank (I’ve been told that within 10% of asking should work) then someone from the auction site will contact you back the next day and ask for verification of earnest money availability (copy of a cashiers check is all that is needed), or if its an all cash offer, proof of funds (bank statement works).

You’ll also be asked about contingencies, and this is where the process becomes something ugly for the average buyer… they are not interested in inspection contingencies or other typical contingencies of a standard offer. The buyer need to be prepared to do an inspection before even putting in an offer, or live without an inspection later. There is also no title contingency and even financing contingencies are not allowed (though they except offers that depend on financing).

If the offer is accepted, the buyer will need to put down at least 5% as their earnest money deposit, depending on the contract provided by the bank. oh… didn’t I mention that? the contract will be one provided by the bank… forget your normal MLS contract… so make sure to tell your buyer to get it reviewed by an attorney.

Another thing with the contract… their asking for electronic signatures via Docusign. Double-check with your lenders by the way… they may not accept electronic signatures.

But, I guess I got ahead of myself… getting the contract was the last step and signalled the end of the auction site involvement… some of the negotiation ended up being verbal… anathema to real estate agents… but unavoidable. The listing agent wasn’t even involved. It happened with an asset manager for the auction company, acting as go-between with the bank.

So, after the offer is accepted and contract signed, the transaction goes into normal mode and you deal primarily with the escrow company at that point.

I suspect this is going to be the future of REO transactions. Small commissions to local agents to manage the property, but the offer process handled via centralized processors like Auction.com. Especially for larger property owners like FNMA, HUD, etc.

Good luck to you as a buyer or as an agent if you run into this process in the near future!

For agents, check out this blog post about the positives of online auctions: http://activerain.com/blogsview/805016/online-auctions-for-realtors-the-benefits-are-real

Class: Forward Thinking in Reverse – Reverse Mortgages Explained (10/27)

Class Description:

This course is designed for those who are interested in learning more about the reverse mortgage program. Included in the course is a history of reverse mortgages and how they have evolved. The class will concentrate on the HECM (Home Equity Conversion Mortgage) program insured by HUD/FHA. We will answer questions such as; “What is a reverse mortgage and how does it work?” “How does one qualify for a reverse mortgage?” “What are some common uses?” “What are the costs involved?” “How are funds disbursed?” “How is the borrower protected?” “Can I purchase a home with a reverse mortgage?” “What are the 19 questions anyone interested in a reverse mortgage should know the answers to?” We will also cover common misconceptions and demographic data specific to an aging population.

Class is taught by an experienced/licensed mortgage broker, Jeff Nance of Golf Savings Bank.

Location:
PPMS: Park Place Middle School
1408 West Main Street
Room C-7
October 27, 2009
6:30-8:30 PM

Class schedule and registration info:
http://www.monroe.wednet.edu/COMMUNITY_SCHOOLS/Fall2009CommunitySchools.pdf