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

Thanks to hard work from industry stakeholders, including the Washington REALTORS® organization, the Department of Revenue reversed an earlier decision to apply the state’s real estate excise tax to debt forgiven through short sales. Read the DOR’s statement here (PDF).

If you’ve paid the excise tax on a short sale forgiven debt, you can request a refund from the DOR. DOR Refund form (PDF).

Tags: Real Estate Excise Tax, Short Sales, Washington Realtors

Justin Wilcox wants to sell his home. But, he’s not so sure the traditional methods will work in this market so he’s attempting to try something different. He calls it a “reverse auction” - rather than having buyers bid up a price, the price will be set, then reduced on a weekly basis until someone pulls the trigger. But, he’s not giving the house away…there is a “reserve price”.

The starting price is $499,000 for this 1 story + basement, 2,995 sq ft, 4 bedroom home in Bothell. For more information visit Wilcox’s site: www.BothellCountdown.com.

See also: King5’s report

Tags: Bothell Countdown

1. Condo Conversion Bill, Senate Bill 6411

Per the Senate’s listserv notification I received, the February 5th Public Meeting on the bill was cancelled. It is not currently on the agenda for this coming week.

2. Reserve Accounts & Studies for Condominiums, House Subsitute Bill 2541, Senate Bill 6215

Authorizes condominium associations to conduct reserve studies and to establish a reserve fund. The bills have passed their respective houses and now move to the opposite house for consideration. A public hearing of the Senate’s version will be heard in the House on February 20th while a public hearing of the House’s version will be heard in the Senate on February 21st.

House Subsitute version summary:

• Requires a residential condominium association, unless doing so would impose an unreasonable hardship, to (1) prepare an initial reserve study based upon a visual site inspection conducted by a reserve study professional; (2) update the study annually; and (3) arrange for a visual site inspection every three years by a reserve study professional.
• Encourages, but does not require, a residential condominium association to establish a reserve account, supplemental to the association’s annual operating budget, to fund major maintenance, repair, and replacement of common elements.
• Requires a condominium public offering statement or resale certificate to include (1) a copy of the current reserve study, or (2) a disclosure to the potential buyer stating that the association does not have a reserve study.

Senate version summary:

• Condominium associations (association) are encouraged to establish a reserve fund account to pay for major repairs or replacement of common elements. An association may withdraw funds from the reserve account for unforeseen expenses, as long as notice is given to unit owners, and a repayment schedule is set up.
• Associations must conduct and update reserve studies annually. The initial study and the study done each third-year thereafter must be conducted by a reserve study professional. Reserve studies must include detailed information on projected expenditures and current reserve account information.
• If an association has not conducted a reserve study prepared by a professional in the past three years, one may be demanded if 20 percent or more of the unit owners agree. An association may refuse the demand if conducting the study would impose an unreasonable economic hardship on the association. An unreasonable hardship exists if preparing the study would cost more than 10 percent of the association’s annual budget.
• Public offering statements and seller’s disclosures must include either: (1) a copy of the association’s current reserve study; or (2) a disclosure informing the buyer that there is no current reserve study and the possible risks that the buyer faces because of the lack of a current study.

3. Seller’s Disclosure Statement Revision, House Bill 2894

The bill amends the Seller’s Disclosure Statement, Form 17, to include wood burning appliances. The bill passed the House and has moved to the Senate. A public hearing as been scheduled in the Senate on February 22nd.

Tags: Condo Conversion, Condo Reserve Study, Housing Legislation, Real Estate Legislation, Seller Disclosure Form

There have been significant news reports about the housing market in the media lately. Most of the reports focus on falling prices, increasing foreclosure rates and rising inventory, but at a national level. Locally, how has Seattle fared?

In November, Seattle’s residential median price of $405,000 reflected a 2.2% increase over October, but a 4.7% decrease compared to the same period last year. As the graph below shows, the median price has been underperforming for the past few months.

In reviewing month over month figures, the single family home median price has stabilized while condominiums have declined the past two months. However, when compared to last November, both single family homes and condos saw higher median prices in November 2007, increasing 3.3% and 2.5%, respectively.

Read more »

Tags: Seattle Condos, Seattle Housing, Seattle Housing Market, Seattle Real Estate

Most professions have they own vocabulary, jargons and euphemisms employed to obfuscate the less desirable. And, real estate, like many sales professions, has its own set of doublespeak terms. Most are well known and are easily deciphered by smart buyers, some aren’t.

The Seattle PI’s Aubrey Cohen recently noted how listing agents are becoming more creative with their marketing remarks as the market changes. The sad thing about the article…there’s truth to it.

Here’s some of my faves from the article:

• Very quiet interior: You can barely hear the freeway with the windows shut.
• Seller has left you to your own imagination: Hasn’t been updated since 1940.
• Turnkey: Just overhauled, complete with granite countertops and stainless-steel appliances…and laminate floors.
• Walk to Fremont: Fremont’s 20 blocks away.
• Unique: Remodeled by someone on acid.

The article noted a Canadian university’s study on the impact that words have on selling time and pricing. “Move-In”, “Motivated” and “Beautiful” apparently incite buyers to make offers sooner and at a premium.

Hmm, “motivated” doesn’t quite seem to equate to higher prices or faster selling times in Seattle. If anything, it’s a beacon to buyers that the seller is desperate and the listing is stale.

My personal pet peeve is the ever expanding neighborhoods that listing agents create. Somehow Maple Leaf, Northgate and the Oak Tree area have been annexed to Green Lake. And, apparently, Ballard now extends to the Shoreline border. Then, again, Bainbridge condos were once transplanted to downtown Seattle.

Tags: , Seattle, Seattle Real Estate, Selling Real Estate

I thought this was an amusing little tidbit of real estate news. While conducting a home search real estate agent Beau Betts noticed that Deborah Arends, the antagonist on 60 Minutes’ Redfin piece, took over a property that was previously listed with Redfin for nearly 100 days. Sometimes experience and service do matter.

Tags: Redfin

Recently, much has been flying around the blogisphere about a certain 60 Minutes report. And, Point2, a Canadian-based real estate website provider recently created a satirical spoof called 16 Minutes which they posted on YouTube.

The gist of the piece was that sellers may actually lose money on the sale of their home in the attempt to save on commission.

This brings to mind listing I competed for against a discount listing company. The seller, who I knew, elected to go with the discounter and I wrote about it last June in a piece called The Cost of Using Discounters. In trying to save $10,000 in commission, he actually netted less than had he listed with me. He could have walked away with $10,400 more in gross proceeds even with paying a full-service commission rate.

The market is diverse enough to accommodate various business models. Some people, in certain markets or who are in tight financial circumstances, may benefit from the alternative business models. Though, for the most part, in trying to reduce the cost of selling a home, sellers may actually be reducing, not increasing, their net proceeds than had they selected the full-service model.

Related article - Myth of the Discounters.

Quietly, real estate in Western Washington will be less visible. On April 23rd, the Northwest MLS, a listing service representing companies in 19 counties, will stop uploading its property listings to Realtor.com.

Realtor.com is perhaps the closest thing we have to a national listing database. It’s supported by the hundreds of local MLS’ who provide their listing data to Realtor.com.

So, what does this mean for the average home seller? Less visibility and potentially fewer buyers.

What does this mean for the average home buyer? Well, if you’re already in Washington, it probably has very little impact. Most ‘local’ buyers most likely already use the big company websites such as johnlscott.com or windermere.com to facilitate their online searches.

The move by the NWMLS will impact out-of-state buyers and those looking to relocate to the area the most.

However, individual companies may decide to upload their own listings to Realtor.com. As of April 23, John L. Scott will the be largest real estate company in Washington to provide property listings on Realtor.com. Interestingly, Windermere has long chosen to keep their listings off of Realtor.com.

By Lee Morales, ASP

If your idea of preparing your home for sale is putting the kids toys in a box, lighting a scented candle, getting out the Swiffer and sweeping the front porch, you’ve a little behind the curve. Today, staging a home for sale can involve a complete redesign, repainting rooms, renovations, renting furniture and decorative items, or even hiring a family to give a home that lived-in feel.

Per staging diva Barb Schwarz, staging can boost the selling price 6 to 20 percent in a moderately priced neighborhood and as high as 20 to 50 percent for luxury homes or in a particularly hot market.

Vacant homes are particularly challenging for buyers to visualize without a little staging help. In order for a home to sell, it needs to speak to potential buyers. It needs to look good, feel good, smell good and stand out from the crowd.

What is an Accredited Staging Professional (ASP)?

A dedicated professional who has studied and learned the proven and powerful techniques of staging homes, and completed a detailed training course and examination.

What does Inner Beauty Final Staging do?

Stage homes for sale or for everyday living and provides staging consultation services.

SHB contributing writer, Lee Morales, is an Accredited Staging Professional & founder of InnerBeauty Final Staging.