User profile

Status:
Name: Eileen
Nickname: Eileen
Member since: 2006-03-18 05:00:48
Website URL: http://www.seattlenumber1homesite.com/
About me: Eileen has a long and rich background in both residential and commercial sales. She is a CCIM candidate having completed all the course work for this commercial designation and is a broker/owner of RE/MAX Connected and also an investor in LTD Construction and Investments. Eileen believes in real estate as an investment and started her investment career as a real estate syndicator in the mid 80's, much like creating today's REIT's.RE/MAX is a high technology Real Estate Company whose agents love to work with clients on all levels. RE/MAX Connected is a unique combination of real estate sales as well a real estate investment. Eileen is married with 5 children. She is a graduate of UCSD in Chemistry, Biology and Math and holds real estate designations in CRS,CSP,E-Pro, NAREC,ABR to name a few.Eileen is constantly taking classes to further her education.
 

User comments

Self-Directed IRA's with Checkbook Control

February 4th, 2008 at 5:31 pm

Moore, I went to your site and it’s very educational and I like the E-Book. I’m training an agent in investment real estate so can really use the e book. Is this your site or a site you use?

Historic Seattle Home Parts

January 6th, 2008 at 11:36 am

PS, great pic, Ardell. Are you sure you’re ‘older than dirt?’

Historic Seattle Home Parts

January 6th, 2008 at 11:35 am

Thanks for the memories, Ardell. I used to have a Lindal cedar home on Thorton Creek in Seattle. I bought a dresser top without the mirror for a fireplace surround and converted an old maple dresser/mirror into a master bathroom sink. It was fun and cheap (not the carpenter though who did the conversion), fun and looked great. Check out Antique Liquidators on Westlake. I’ve been buying there since the 80’s. Same owner. I’ve never known whether you get more resale if you stay completely authentic, or if you mix old and new when doing a restoration. Anyone know?

You've Got to be Kidding

January 6th, 2008 at 11:29 am

I just searched the whole state of Washington to find a similar house. There were no, nada, zip examples to compete with this little sweetie which is actually livable and reminds me of the liveaboards when I used to be in the marina business. The typical boat was 8-10 feet wide and 40 feet long, though tight, it was a cheap way to live for a single person. When they came into the chandlerey, I could smell diesel and muskiness always. Also, like living through an earthquake all the time. But, I digress…
The only small homes I found had large lots, waterfront, acres in the mountains, etc. The land it sits on is only 824 sq ft. Given that it’s a remodel, anyone know what the flipper paid?

Who Needs to Register as a Contractor?

January 5th, 2008 at 3:17 pm

Thanks Deborah for the update. That’s what I get for not reading RCG for a week or so!
I’m glad you did the research and seem to understand it well. notgointotakeitanymore (creative) is correct and I think the biggest problem with being a contractor and that is the insurance. You have to qualify for the insurance and have a track record and it takes some time and effort. I’m glad that homeowners don’t need it, but there’s still the rental that’s leased during the first year. Hopefully, in the meetings they will clarify that since buying rental real estate is a great inflation hedge.
The investor groups I’ve talked to weren’t made aware of the L&I change prior to the change. It will change the nature of the professional fix and flipper. The ones I talked with considered it just a cost of doing business.
By the way, I didn’t have a problem getting a contractor’s license while having a real estate license. We just formed an Inc, and had no problems. One thing that needs to be brought up at the L&I meetings is whether or not an LLC member can be the contractor. It’s not practical to become a contractor for every project. Many builders create a new LLC every time they develop and use the original construction company to do the building, so I’m anxious to see how that is all ironed out.

And Deborah, I agree with you. Most of the home improvements I’ve seen that suck are the ones done my the homeowners for their own family. I generally find that converting a garage back to a garage adds more value than than having a home with no garage but more finished square feet.

Great article.

Are Short Sales Affecting our Home Prices?

January 3rd, 2008 at 4:27 pm

Kary,Jillayne
I used the words suggested by Jillayne and Galen. I checked also on how many agents used any type of language infering pre-foreclosure, short sale in the marketing remarks.

And Jillayne, I wasn’t saying that other counties didn’t have foreclosures, I was just comparing King county non foreclosure to King County foreclosures. It would be interesting to see if that ratio increases in the outlying areas.

Here’s what I found:
1. I reran the ’short sale’ term and this time I came up with 243 active, pending and closed listings. The first time I did it I also put the language in the marketing remarks, so it must have only pulled the listings where the word short sale was in both the agent remarks and the marketing remarks.
2. Using only Lender Approval, there were 46 listings of which 10 DID NOT also say short sale. 9 of these used some language in the marketing remarks.
3. Unsing 3rd party approval yielded only 1. It wasn’t necessarily a short sale or pre-foreclosure. Could be an ex spouse, etc.
4. PreForclosure without also saying ’short sale’ or lender approval yielded only 1
5. Bank approval yielded 0

Clearly, only 25% of the time do agents remark about a short sale or lender approval needed in the marketing remarks.
Searching by short sale yields most of the homes, but there were about 16% that used ONLY lender approval required.

Under what circumstances would the lender approval be needed when it’s not a short sale?

1. using the term ’subject to lender approval’

Are Short Sales Affecting our Home Prices?

December 31st, 2007 at 5:39 pm

Jasset:
why do you say cash in hand? The deals I’m involved in the buyers get purchase financing and the banks love them because the appriasals come in so well. I’m thinking that few owner occupied will limit their inventory to just those homes in short sale situations.

Now, let’s go play! It’s neew Year’s Eve! Happy 2008!

Are Short Sales Affecting our Home Prices?

December 31st, 2007 at 5:33 pm

Roger,
I guess since the national situation is far worse than local and lenders are for the most part national, I guess from the lenders perspective price is being influenced by short sales. I know of a situation in Falls City where a house sold in days for 1050000 and closed at 910,000 because of the appraisal which greatly affected the market in the area. Maybe it doesn’t take many to influence alot.
But shouldn’t appraisals be local? How are the banks influencing appraisals that much?

Lower Cost Options for Buyers & Sellers of Real Estate

December 23rd, 2007 at 5:44 pm

I wasn’t referring to a ‘fixed’ bundle of services for the client. I was referring to a bundle of services from which an AGENT can choose in an area where they might be weak, i.e. building a personal web site or developing a personal data base marketing program, etc. An agent MUST know how to work effectively through a real estate transaction and they needs lots of training for that. An agent should be putting the bulk of their time into face to face client meetings to build an effective referral base. But knowing how to build a web site, run an email campaign, decide on pay per click ads, etc, those do not help the client at all and I believe they take away from the agents ability to spend time doing the things that help the clients the most.
We generate thousands of leads/mo also.If an agent needs these leads at the beginning then the split should be lower. But if an agent is simply getting help with a Buffini type program and something a virtual assistant can do, then they should be on a very generous split or preferably desk fee. I just spent so many years developing programs that I wish had already been available to me, i.e., after closing programs, writing newsletters, which I did once a quarter. Building web sites, learning techniques that I needed and that added an extra 4 hours everty day that I didnt’ really have to give. I was exhausted doing both and think an agent should have a ‘bundle of services’ according to my definition to chose from to help them live a balanced life and concentrate on the client.

An Early Holiday Present

December 23rd, 2007 at 5:31 pm

Didn’t know you could discharge IRS debt in a BK. I don’t think you can discharge employer payroll tax debt, though. Can you?
Of course, now it’s a moote point since the tax bill passed and all taxes are forgiven on deficiencies from Short Sales thru 2009

There Are Still a Few Days to Do Tax Planning

December 23rd, 2007 at 1:53 pm

Did your CPA say that you could write off your capital gains losses against your ordinary income. Might want to check. Of course, if your investment was ordinary loss, then you were either in the business of developing real estate or you held under a year.

2 other points. Just because you saved the 6%, how much less did you take in selling price to save that 6%. It would be interesting to know. There’s no question it’s difficult to sell now. I wouldn’t want to try selling any stocks either. I wish I was as positive as you about absolutely knowing the future.

Self-Directed IRA's with Checkbook Control

December 6th, 2007 at 7:58 am

Joshua,
Did you check out the Guidant site? The reason I like it is because all the professionals are in one place and once it’s set up, you get all the help without the cost. I’m currently with Pensco Trust and they’re a wonderful custodian, but I went through 3 attorneys while they researched the material even though they all claimed to have experience in the self directed fields. That was 5 years ago, though and it looks as if there are more knowledgable professionals now. I love the webinars tht Pensco puts on all the time and if you miss them, they have downloadable material.

Self-Directed IRA's with Checkbook Control

December 4th, 2007 at 9:41 am

Thanks for the tip. I registered and I’ll take the class in January. Do you know who hosted the site?

Self-Directed IRA's with Checkbook Control

December 1st, 2007 at 11:30 am

Chris: I’ve heard about the trusts and family foundations as a means to avoid taxation on the profits. Do you use those, too or are you concentrating on the trusts. Unless they’re the same thing. I’ve attended a couple of family foundation seminars but can’t remember what the drawbacks were.
Do you not use the self directed programs then? The company that I blogged about focuses alot on using reitrements to buy businesses and franchises, too.Apparently can work in their own franchise or busienss whereas with the ira’s, you have all the self dealing issues.

Update on 'Fix and Flip'

October 22nd, 2007 at 10:42 am

I’m still looking for someone that can tell me if you can exchange a 1031 under a year. I’ve been told you can.
I wonder how many homeowners know that they can exchange into a house that they are purchasing under certain circumstances. i.e.,
sell 450,000 investment property thru a 1031. Buy a new home for say, 1,350,000. Identify 1/3 of new home as investment, either as a rental or home office, this is easy if 1/3 is a basement level.
So you now have a home and rental in the same building. Easy to manage, living in a nicer home than normal, and, after 2 years, move into the entire home for 2 years, then sell. as long as the whole gain on the home is under 500,000, this works. This is just an alternative to renting a 1031, then moving in for two years and then selling using the homeowner exclusion. Anyone see any issues with this?

Home Owner Quicksand

October 22nd, 2007 at 10:15 am

That’s good to know. Nate, do you have a point person at WAR? I know alot of investors that are moving to a hold position until there is some clarity.

Update on 'Fix and Flip'

October 17th, 2007 at 6:08 pm

amazing what shows up on this blog!

Private Money Loan Recommendations?

October 16th, 2007 at 4:12 pm

Hard money and private money aren’t necessarily the same thing. Just today I found a private money loan that’s impressive. over 1 mil,no income,no asset and cash out and only 6.5%! better than any non private money out there.
On a construction project, you could go fha203B if those loans are still out there, or get a construction loan, which we usually do. The construction loans use appraised as finished values and give you about 80% of appraisal. That’s usually enough. Of course, for the little $25,000 remodels, it’s not worth the cost. That’s what credit cards are for!!! Find one with 0 interest for 1 year and you’ve got a free loan!

Home Owner Quicksand

October 12th, 2007 at 2:43 pm

Well, therein lies the rub. It’s totally impractical, but the attorneys and others at the REIA meeting did assume that it could be interpreted that way. Shirley and Fox Henderson fro REIA are trying to get a meeting with L&I next week to find out for sure.

Home Owner Quicksand

October 11th, 2007 at 4:58 pm

On this issue, I agree and wonder what could anyone have been thinking. Shouldn’t there be a oversight agency that measures the affect of any new change, especially one with just far reaching effects? Seems insane.
My husband used to work for DOT and could give you a run for the money on complaining about the roads.

Home Owner Quicksand

October 11th, 2007 at 1:39 pm

And what is our liability as agents?
REIA is meeting with L&I next Tuesday to get some response.

Great question regarding foreclosing lenders, Bob. That would be another can of worms.

FHA: A Siren Who Just Might Break Your Heart

October 3rd, 2007 at 5:12 pm

Great post. I guess I have to rewrite my first time buyer book since I just heard from my LO that Nehemiah would be DOA in February. I have a whole section on how great they are!
Have to develope a different approach to the apartment dwelling first time home buyer.
What’s more, have to make all new postcards!
Darn darn darn. Has this sub prime mess taken away a really valuable tool for buyers who fall so far behind escalating house prices while trying to save up a down payment, that they’ll never buy anything? I loved that program!

From 'A&E's Flip This House' to You!

October 3rd, 2007 at 4:56 pm

In Hawaii, where I’ve been investing, remodeling and condoing for 5 years, the state is working on passing a law that makes it punitive to turn a property in under 2 years. I’ll be watching that. There is a law on the books that requires a contractor if any owner sells in under a year. Are all states leaning this way?
BTW, I searched for a Hawaii blog for an hour to see if I could address this issue in Hawaii and had no luck. Couldn’t post to anyone’s blog.

From 'A&E's Flip This House' to You!

October 3rd, 2007 at 7:01 am

Yes, Bob, I’m thinking we did. The repercussions are enormous. Shirly, did your group fight this? I wish I had the time to look into it. So, doesn’t this affect your lease option position when you don’t use a contractor or do you always use a contractor, since the IRS sees the lease option as rental, the lease purchase as taxable and a sale. Thankfully, I’m a contractor but it’s a tough thing to become and the liability insurance alone could cost enough to keep anyone from improving investment property. How did this happen?

From 'A&E's Flip This House' to You!

October 2nd, 2007 at 6:10 pm

You guys are a riot. I almost forgot what my original post was.
Thanks to Shirley, we did get some information that I know I needed to hear.
RE: condos. This summer our downtown Seattle condo market was the hottest in the nation with investors buying two years out. However, I priced out a condo in July at 1 mil and listed it this week for 925000, so for a seller that wants out in a hurry, we just don’t have enough activity right now to hold prices. However, if the seller can stand to wait it out till spring, like I recommended last year, then I doubt we’ll have a drop in condo prices. maybe just a really slow 10%
How I love Seattle!