Summary of East King and Snohomish County 2009 Commercial Sales

This summary went out in my newsletter earlier in the month.  If you’d like to receive the newsletter, send me an email at jason.hershey@century21.com or even send me a tweet @PlumCrazyRE.

The commercial market in King and Snohomish counties definitely slowed down in 2009
2009 East Side Commercial Sales, with roughly a fourth the sales of the previous year.
Here are highlights from the sales reported to the Commercial Brokers Association (CBA):

2009 East King County Commercial Sales

  • 38 Sales compared to 158 in 2008
  • Average Price: $8,156,203
  • Average Size (Buildings): 71,885
  • Average price/SF (Buildings): $131/SF
  • Average days on market: 213 days (only some reported)
  • Highest sale price: Tower 333 in Bellevue: $167,990,226 in November.

Sales were, surprisingly, spread evenly throughout the year.  We expected that they sales would be weighted towards the beginning of the year 2008 showed the same pattern. This might indicate that there is actually good demand for quality commercial properties on the East Side, but that buyers are simply being more cautious and taking longer to complete transactions.

2009 Snohomish County Commercial Sales

  • 49 Sales compared to 189 in 2008
  • Average Price: $1,919,739
  • Average Size (Buildings): 15,402
  • Average price/SF (Buildings): $133/SF
  • Average days on market: 265 days (only some reported)
  • Highest sale price: H-Mart in Lynnwood: $24.9 million in January.

Most sales were in first half of the year, which is in-line with our expectations. This reflects that the commercial real estate market is still in a decline.
Most analysts are expecting the commercial market to worsen in the next year, repeating the pattern of the residential market, only a few months later…. as commercial real estate loans, with the common balloon payments, come due.
If you would like a detailed  information on sales in your area and more directly comparable to you property, drop me a line at Jason.Hershey@century21.com.

Everett Commercial Sales Since June 1, 2009

According to CBA information, there have been 3 commercial property sales in the Everett market area (CBA area 310) since June 1 of this year.

As comparison, during the same period last year 18 properties sold.  Additionally, as a general rule, the value of each sale is far lower than in the previous year.

From the beginning of 2009 until June 1, there were 9 commercial property sales in the area.

Here is the list of properties sold since June:

Property Name/Addr Sale Date List Price Sale Price
128th Street Retail Plaza   8/20/09   $2,660,000    $2,358,143  
927 Medical Center   6/23/09   $1,660,000    $1,425,000  
AM/PM Mini Mart & Gas   8/5/09     $800,000  

Class coming to Monroe: Right Way to Clean Up Your Credit (11/3/09)

Class Description:

This class will teach you will learn how lenders, especially mortgage lenders, look at your credit. You will learn the Do’s and Don’ts on credit issues. We will teach you methods for building credit when you have none, the things you can do to raise you credit score (and the things that will lower your score), and how to dispute inaccurate information when it appears on your credit report.

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
November 3, 2009
6:30-8:30 PM

 

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

Class coming to Monroe: Landlord 101 – How to successfully invest in real estate (11/17/09)

Class Description:
It’s a buyers’ real estate market, and that is good for potential and current investors. In the first half of the class we’ll talk about how to identify a good investment property, how to negotiate, and how to finance the property. We’ll also cover investing in distressed and foreclosed properties.  In the second half of the class we will go over ways to make sure your investment is truly successful. The instructors will help you identify ways to find and keep good tenants, and how to make sure you follow your legal and ethical obligations as a landlord. We will also talk about what to do when your landlord/tenant relationship doesn’t work out, and how to avoid the pitfalls in the eviction process.

Location:
PPMS: Park Place Middle School
1408 West Main Street
Room C-7
November 17, 2009
6:30-8:30 PM

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

Class in Monroe (10/20/09): The right way to buy short-sale and foreclosed properties

Class Description:
This class will teach you how to buy and profit from purchasing short-sale and foreclosed properties. In this case, we’ll go over foreclosure process in Washington State and the opportunities and pitfalls of buying properties at various stages in the process. We’ll also explain what short-sales are and how they differ from foreclosures.  You will learn on how to find foreclosed and short-sale properties and how to work with your real estate agent and how to negotiate with the bank.  We will also cover financing options. Although this class is designed for First Time Home Buyers, the techniques will also benefit new and seasoned investors.

Location:
PPMS: Park Place Middle School
1408 West Main Street
Room C-7
October 20, 2009
6:30-8:30 PM

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

East King County (Snoqualmie Valley to North Bend) Commercial Market Update

In this month’s issue we’ll review the market in East King County, from the Snoqualmie Valley up to North Bend.

This report covers Duvall, Carnation, Fall City, Snoqualmie and North Bend.

The story for smaller towns on the east side of King County is similar to that of eastern Snohomish County, told last month. The commercial market has been hit hard by financing problems and the overall down-trend in the economy. Fewer new businesses are opening and existing businesses are cutting back or at best, not expanding.

While the residential real estate market appears to be bottoming out, finally, the commercial market has yet to see the worst. However, there are hopeful signs locally as quite a few smaller retail spaces have become occupied in the last couple of months. This is in contrast to the large number of spaces coming empty over the last year, especially in places like Duvall.

Still, the power in negotiations has switched to buyers and tenants. Along with price changes, concessions by sellers and landlords are definitely more common.

Below are the current statistics according to data available from the Commercial Brokers Association (CBA) database. I should note that CBA statistics don’t really tell the full story in this area. It is far more common with the large number of small properties, for owners to represent themselves in lease negotiations in particular. So, not all available property spaces are shown and the amount of leased spaces available really can only be generalized as “a lot is available”.

Current “For Lease” Property Statistics

Property Type

Square Footage Available

Average Asking Rent

Industrial

26,100 sf

$0.67/sf

Land

479,160 sf

$0.05/sf

Mixed Use

N/A

N/A

Office Only

249,424 sf

$20.03/sf

Office/Retail

11,814 sf

$18.67/sf

Retail Only

23,164 sf

$22.53/sf

 

Current “For Sale” Property Statistics

Property Type

Square Footage Available

Average Asking Price

Industrial

2,980 sf

$201.34/sf

Land

2,399,127 sf

$13.94/sf

Multifamily

3,736 sf

$137.85/sf

Office (Including High-Tech)

71,659 sf

$237.12/sf

Retail (All)

3,050 sf

$250.78/sf

 

Recent Sales

Since the beginning of the year there have been 3 sales recorded by CBA and NWMLS:

•         39152 SE Alpha St, a land parcel, in Snoqualmie sold in June for $80,000

•         Partially improved North Bend Way land parcel in North Bend sold in March for $379,900

•         Cascade Golf Course in North Bend sold in February for $5,000,000.

Jason Hershey, Commercial Agent
Commercial Sales and Leasing
CENTURY 21 North Homes Realty, Inc.
13322 Hwy 99 South, Suite #201
Everett, WA 98204

Cell: 425-417-5389
Fax: 425-223-3148

www.nwcommercialre.com
Follow me on Twitter @PlumcrazyRE

East Snohomish County Commercial Market Update (June 1, 2009)

The following is a “reprint” from my Commercial Real Estate Newsletter. If you’d like to receive a print or email copy, let me know.

In this month’s issue we’ll review the market in eastern Snohomish County. This report covers Snohomish, Monroe, Sultan, Gold Bar, Index and spots in-between.

Like the residential market, the commercial market has been hit hard by financing problems and the overall down-trend in the economy. Fewer new businesses are opening, existing businesses are cutting back or at best, not expanding.

Most experts are expecting things to get worse in the commercial market over the next year as loans come due and owners can not refinance.

Definitely, the power in negotiations is changing to the buyers and tenants. Along with price changes, concessions by sellers and landlords are becoming more common.

Here are the current statistics according to data available from the Commercial Brokers Association (CBA) database.

Current For Lease Properties

Industrial

  • Square Footage Available – 548,334 sf
  • Average Asking Rent – .66/sf

Land

  • Square Footage Available –
    60,094 sf
  • Average Asking Rent – .06/sf

Mixed Use

  • Square Footage Available –
    4,534 sf
  • Average Asking Rent – $12.58/sf

Office Only

  • Square Footage Available –
    10,635 sf
  • Average Asking Rent – $12.66/sf

Office/Retail

  • Square Footage Available – 119,550 sf
  • Average Asking Rent – $14.29/sf

Retail Only

  • Square Footage Available – 233,002 sf
  • Average Asking Rent – $21.68/sf

 

Recent Sales

Since the beginning of the year there have been 4 sales recorded by CBA:

  • Sultan Plaza in Sultan sold in April for $2,750,000
  • IDT Manufacturing Building in Monroe sold in April for $2,000,000
  • Arco AM/PM in Snohomish sold in January for $1,431,000
  • 1012 1st St Building in Snohomish sold in February for $250,000

Jason Hershey, Commercial Agent
Commercial Sales and Leasing
CENTURY 21 North Homes Realty, Inc.
13322 Hwy 99 South, Suite #201
Everett, WA 98204

Cell: 425-417-5389
Fax: 425-223-3148

www.nwcommercialre.com
Follow me on Twitter @PlumcrazyRE

Search Washington Real Estate on my website

Great video of a foreclosure auction in progress

The Seattle Times posted this video of a foreclosure auction down in Pierce County. This is a great view of what is going on. Notice how there are multiple auctions occuring at the same time?

And, as they note, you have to have the money up front!

Are you an investor interested in getting a list of bank owned and government owned homes currently on the retail market (so post-auction?). Then send me an email.

Jason Hershey, Commercial Agent
Commercial Sales and Leasing
CENTURY 21 North Homes Realty, Inc.
13322 Hwy 99 South, Suite #201
Everett, WA 98204

Cell: 425-417-5389
Fax: 425-223-3148

www.nwcommercialre.com
Follow me on Twitter @PlumcrazyRE

Search Washington Real Estate on my website

Finding Bank Owned and Government Owned Properties in Washington State just got easier

Well, FINALLY!  For years, finding the listings for bank owned and government owned homes on the Northwest MLS (NWMLS) has been a pain.  You find them by either knowing the agents who typically list them, searching for “Owner of Record” or whatever bank name in the Owner fields of the database, or more commonly… some mixture of the two. There has never been an easy way to find the properties… unitl now.

Now, they finally got smart and added a field for the listing agents to indicate that a property is bank owned. They also included short sales and other categories.  These fields serve two purposes, allowing other agents to search for, or to even exclude those listings from searches. (Some buyers don’t want to deal with the risks inherent in bank-owned and gov’t owned homes).

So, to try it out, I did some searches for REOs in King and Snohomish counties.  Worked great, and here are the results:

Snohomish County: (Keep in mind that these links will only work for 30 days)
http://locator.nwmls.com/scripts/mgrqispi.dll?APPNAME=Locator&PRGNAME=MLSLogin&ARGUMENT=I9xUF6hi%2BAmcF%2B8gU%2BqONljlcaulLqLJYLcyvcsm8Vw%3D&KeyRid=1&Include_Search_Criteria=on

King County (took runs, because of limits on the results returned):
http://locator.nwmls.com/scripts/mgrqispi.dll?APPNAME=Locator&PRGNAME=MLSLogin&ARGUMENT=I9xUF6hi%2BAmcF%2B8gU%2BqONqAJ9lE4ARYTgXPwbiEdjAE%3D&KeyRid=1&Include_Search_Criteria=on

Link 2: http://locator.nwmls.com/scripts/mgrqispi.dll?APPNAME=Locator&PRGNAME=MLSLogin&ARGUMENT=I9xUF6hi%2BAmcF%2B8gU%2BqONtJLyHUQQdMnhDmHqsQyJW4%3D&KeyRid=1&Include_Search_Criteria=on

I send out updates to clients, typically investors and first-time buyers, if you want to get these lists, send me an email.

Jason Hershey, Commercial Agent
Commercial Sales and Leasing
CENTURY 21 North Homes Realty, Inc.
13322 Hwy 99 South, Suite #201
Everett, WA 98204

Cell: 425-417-5389
Fax: 425-223-3148

www.nwcommercialre.com
Follow me on Twitter @PlumcrazyRE

Search Washington Real Estate on my website

 

Notes from October 21, 2008 “The Right Way to Buy Foreclosures” class

Thanks everyone who came to the class!  It was great to have a good turnout, especially since the school said we only had 3 people signed up.

If you would like to download the slides from the class, you can find them here on my jasonhershey.net website.

I also want to say “Thanks” for the feedback you turned in. We’ll give the forms to Sky Valley Schools, but I want to cover some of the things quickly before that.

Everyone seemed happy with the basics of the course. I thought it was interesting that almost everyone found out about the class from flyers at the local library.  We’ve done some web promotion of the class (including search advertising), it was posted in the Monroe newspaper, and of course there is the Sky Valley School mailer.  I’d be interested in hearing your ideas on how to get the word out to folks who want and need to know about this class and our others.

One person asked for more information about finding lists of bank owned and government owned properties.  That is a pretty big challenge, even for us real estate agents.  We mention it in the slides, but in this class we only glossed over the issue.  In our MLS (Northwest MLS) there is no one where agents who list REOs for banks/gov’t can/should say “this is a foreclosure”.  There are some clues that agents can use to search.  For example, there is a place to note the name of the owner… and that field will usually have “owner of record” or “bank owned” or even the name of the bank (like “Countrywide”) or agency (like “HUD”).  Kathi and I use another method… we know who most of the agents are that get the listings (there are not that many…. Kathi and another agent at our company are part of the group!) I’ll be sending everyone the list of properties we had at the class.  In fact, here is the link (which will remain available for about 30 days): View Listings

If you want to look specifically for government owned properties, along with the links in the slides there are links on my other website under “Blogs, Links, Etc.”.   By the way, that website has a Google-powered search that is great. It allows for a full-text search of the entire NWMLS, so you can search for those words mentioned earlier to find bank-owned properties. You can also search for “pre foreclosures” and “short sales”.

For lists of properties that are about to go into foreclosure (for which a notice has been filed) one of your best sources is a title company like First American, Chicago title, Ticor, etc.  There are plenty of other services out there that sell lists, but its all based on public info.  And of course, you can go to the courthouse and see what is scheduled to happen.  But, just keep in mind the issues and dangers of buying before foreclosure.

Other feedback:

Someone suggested signs around the school to point to the class.  Great idea!  I think next class we’ll bring some of our “Open House” signs and set them up to make it easier to find us.

A couple of folks asked about a class on Credit Repair.  We’ve done this in the past, so maybe its time to start it up again. Look for in next semester. In the mean time, Jeff Nance has the materials so contact him for more info (he will be emailing those 2 people who asked about it after class).

Again, thanks for attending the class!

Jason, Kathi, and Jeff

About Us

Welcome to Tellus Realty! We’re is committed to helping you make informed and rewarding decisions whether your or looking to buy and sell real estate, or in search of a new home for your license. Tellus Realty provided a more personal, one-on-one experience. We are not affiliated with a big-box or franchise where agents and clients are viewed as a statistic or number. Our team focuses on service and quality.

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Office@TellusRE.com
877-413-7325