Seattle Housing Buzz

Redfin announced yesterday that they’ve overhauled their listing program throughout their service areas.

Redfin agents will now offer in-home listing consultations, provide pre-listing recommendations, host open houses & private tours, post a personalized agent “for sale” sign, print flyers, aggregate listings on 3rd-party websites and implement on online system for agent feedback. Essentially, Redfin services have been revamped to match those offered by traditional full-service companies.

As a result of the expanded services, Redfin has modified its fee structure. The new listing fee is 1.5% (4.5% when factoring in a 3% buyer agent commission) with a minimum of $5,500. Previously, they charged either $5,000 or $7,000 depending on the level of service provided.

I think this is a positive move on Redfin’s part. Though, as the scrappy upstart matures and grows, expanding its services and market areas (they just launched in Phoenix), they are seemingly morphing more and more into a traditional discount real estate company. On a cost side, Redfin’s fee is lower than what most brokerages charge. However, as fees are negotiable their advantage is less apparent than before since many full-service agents list for less than the norm as well. Redfin’s superior technology and customer feedback/reviews sets them apart, yet as other companies begin to follow suit, the lines of differentiation are becoming blurred.

Tags: Redfin

Excerpted from press release:

Pat Giles, Vice President of John L. Scott Real Estate’s marketing, interactive marketing, and IS departments recently received the “Microsoft Innovation Award” for her leadership in driving John L. Scott’s internet strategies and award-winning website.

According to Microsoft, the Innovation Award is given to customers who leverage new and innovative technologies from Microsoft to advance their business in creative, emergent, and innovative ways. The description goes on to say that while this process is a ‘group’ effort the award is meant to recognize one’s strategic thought, decision making, and execution of specific ideas and initiatives.

John L. Scott Real Estate began partnering with Microsoft in 2006 when it became the first residential real estate company in the nation to feature Virtual Earth interactive mapping (now Bing Maps). This was followed by John L. Scott’s Neighborhood Wizard which uses Microsoft’s polygon drawing technology. The most recent product of John L. Scott’s relationship with Microsoft saw the launch of JLSconnect which utilizes Microsoft’s emerging technology Silverlight and Live Services as a gateway to the growing ecosystem of social networking services. Read the Case Study that Microsoft conducted about the development and launch of JLSconnect.

Tags: John L Scott, Microsoft Innovation Award

Recently, Lennox Scott, the CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate started a blog. While it’s intended audience are those affiliated with the company and the industry in general, its also a great resource for buyers and sellers. And, there probably aren’t too many real estate CEOs with the courage to blog in light of the market place.

Lennox’s latest post is good one and very timely - about the effect that interest rate and the tax credit have on a buyer’s purchasing power:

if interest rates increase by one-half point from the current rate, as has been predicted by many economists, a buyer with a loan amount of $200,000 will lose approximately $11,000 in purchasing power. Furthermore, if a buyer does not act prior to the expiration of the tax credit, that’s an additional loss of purchasing power ($8,000 for first time buyers; $6,500 for repeat buyers). In other words, if a first time buyer takes advantage of CURRENT interest rates AND the $8,000 tax credit, their purchasing power is a whopping $19,000 more than if they bought after interest rates rise and the tax credit expires ($11,000+$8,000=$19,000).

Tags: , John L Scott

Admittedly, this blog has been a little neglected while I devoted most of my time to The Seattle Condo Blog and the housing marketing being in the doldrums. With Spring approaching there’s a lot starting to happen so I figured it’s about time to resuscitate this blog.

To get things in motion, the April 30, 2010 deadline is nearing for the two tax credits - an $8,000 first-time home buyers tax credit and the $6,500 repeat buyer tax credit. This time around purchases only need to be under contract by April 30, 2010 and buyers will have an additional two months to close the sale.

Additionally, members of the military, foreign service and the intelligence community who served outside the U.S. for at least 90 days between December 31, 2008 and May 1, 2010 have a one year extension. The deadline to purchase a home is April 30, 2011 with closing no later than June 30, 2011. Further, members may be exempt from the 3-year recapture rule if they need to sell or move from the residence as a result of an official extended duty.

Here’s a quick overview of the two tax credits (click on image to download the PDF):

Tags: $6500 Tax Credit, $8000 Tax Credit, First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit, Home Buyer Tax Credit, Tax Credit