In other words, a bidding war. These situations are emotionally trying for any buyer, and are simply too stressful for some. So what to do if you’re a buyer who has no interest in a bidding war?

Tailor your strategy accordingly. First, don’t even look at a listing until it is at least 14 if not 30 days old. At that point, the odds of a bidding war drop dramatically. You are much more likely to have one-on-one negotiating that allows you to keep control over negotiations and gives you the ultimate ability to either buy the house or not.

But that leads to the next, and much tougher, question: How the heck do you find a good house in this market if you only look at old listings? Admittedly, it’s a challenge, but not impossible. First and foremost, don’t just rely on the pictures in the listing to determine if a house is worth a closer look. For whatever reasons, some agents don’t do the best job with the pictures. So don’t think that the pictures necessarily reflect the true condition, layout, and overall “gestalt” of the house. Instead, look for possible homes primarily by neighborhood, space/size, and price. Compile your list, and then go have a look in person regardless of what you might think from the pictures. Yes, you’ll end up touring more homes, but that’s the only way to find that “diamond in the rough” that will work for you but won’t give you a heart attack when making the offer.

The post How to Buy a Home Stress-Free in a Seller’s Market appeared first on Rain City Guide.

Wishing you all a Very Happy New Year!

From: Me and Mine

To: You and yours

The post Happy New Year – 2012! appeared first on Rain City Guide.

The post National Coming Out Day; We’ve come a long way in real estate and lending appeared first on Rain City Guide.

To date, I have typically counseled my buyer clients to call their insurance agent to obtain a copy of the CLUE report for the property. Lately it seems that my clients are unable to do so. Some insurers (Geico) have indicated that they don’t even know what a CLUE report is, apparently because some insurers are not members of the Exchange (the “E” in CLUE). Some insurers (most recently Allstate) have told the client to purchase the report at LexisNexis, but apparently you can only purchase a report for the home you currently own.

So my question to the RCG community: How do other agents address this issue? Do you invest the time and energy speaking with the buyer’s selected insurer to eventually obtain a CLUE report? Do you not even tell your clients about CLUE reports because they are of little or no value? Something in between? And are any sellers taking the advice of LexisNexis (which of course sells the reports) and obtaining a CLUE report to be given to poential buyers? Thanks in advance for any insight you care to provide.

Ardell, I look forward to your insightful and informative response; David, I look forward to a tangential point that illuminates some as-yet-unappreciated aspect of the Real Estates; Ray, I look forward to more rank bashing of my brokerage business model.

The post The CLUE Report: Is it Col. Mustard in the Library with the Rope? appeared first on Rain City Guide.

Want a sneak peek? Last time, in answer to a question from an attendee, we discussed some of the factors that are driving value — or detracting from it — in today’s market. Our consensus? The busy street presents a real challenge for sellers. Years ago, the mantra was, “You gotta get into a house!” Under those circumstances, some aspects of the home were hardly considered in deciding whether to buy it. But of course those days are over, and now buyers are free to pick any potential purchase apart. What gets noticed? That street can be hard to ignore.

Interested? Want to learn more? Come join us! We’ll have sodas and delicious cookies from Dahlia Bakery on hand….

The post WaLaw is Movin’ On Up! Homebuyer Seminar Tomorrow in Bellevue appeared first on Rain City Guide.

Why should you attend? Well, you’ll get a chance to meet the guys behind WaLaw, Marc Holmes and Craig Blackmon, plus Tom Goldsmith from Cobalt Mortgage. We’ll discuss the state of the current market and what it means for your possible purchase (or sale). As we’ll explain in detail, whether this is a good time to buy depends in large part on how long you plan on staying in the house. Plus we’ll discuss how you can save thousands of dollars in typical transaction costs (thus further reducing the total cost of your purchase, which in turn gives you a little hedge against further depreciation).

We hope to see you!

The post WaLaw Free Homebuyer Seminar Tonight in West Seattle appeared first on Rain City Guide.

How, exactly? When a contract fails for pretty much any reason, escrow will typically not disburse the earnest money to either party absent consistent written instructions from both parties. Similarly, before the seller signs another contract for the sale of the same property, it is prudent and proper for the seller to confirm that the first contract truly is dead — selling the same home twice is a sure-fire way to subject yourself to a breach of contract claim. For these and other reasons, it is a near universal practice for the parties to a contract to sign an NWMLS Form 51, a “Rescission of Purchase and Sale Agreement,” when terminating the deal.

NWMLS Form 51 is deeply flawed and totally inconsistent with the notion that the broker “represents” the client, at least in regards to a conflict between the broker and the client. Specifically, the “release” portion of the rescission not only releases the other party to the contract from further liability, it also releases the brokers from all liability. Moreover, it is not too hard to imagine a scenario where the rescission was necessitated by the broker’s own negligence, making inclusion of the release particularly distasteful.

For example, what if the broker failed to timely rescind the contract based on the inspection, and the property has a huge and costly defect? In that circumstance, the buyer might decide to simply walk away, but because the broker blew the inspection deadline the buyer will lose the earnest money. The buyer would then have a good claim against the broker for the loss of the earnest money. But if that buyer signs the Form 51, the buyer releases his broker from this claim.

The irony is that the terms are completely unrelated. There is simply no reason to include the release of the broker in the rescission — other than to protect that broker from a potential claim asserted by the client. In other words, the standard form document used by brokers includes an unrelated and irrelevant term that protects the broker from any adverse claim asserted by the client, even where the adverse claim arose out of the very same facts that led to use of the form document.

So if you’re going to hire a broker for “representation,” be aware that the representation is seriously limited by the broker’s own self-interest. For proof, look no further than the form used by a broker when the deal heads south….

The post How Brokers Protect Themselves at their Clients’ Expense appeared first on Rain City Guide.

Sometimes escrow offices wonder if we are CPA firms during tax time.   Our office has received numerous phone calls from clients that are in need of their “signed” Final Settlement Statements.   Lynlee wrote a quick post on our blog with an IRS link addressing what the IRS may need from borrowers to claim the tax credit.

As always, please contact your CPA or tax professional for specific details regarding claiming the homebuyer tax credit.

We contacted a CPA and they responded:

“we generally have found that the Final Settlement Statement (with NO signatures) are acceptable.”

Why?  Because in Washington State (and other escrow states) Final Settlement Statements do not have signatures from borrowers.   Final Settlement Statements are mailed to clients after a transaction is closed.  Estimated Settlement Statements are signed at escrow prior to your transactions being closed.

The post IRS and Homebuyer Tax Credit: obtaining a”signed” Final Settlement Statement appeared first on Rain City Guide.

Many former workers that have been laid off from mortgage, title and escrow related fields submit resume’s as a matter of protocol due to unemployment benefit requirements.   Employers understand this but once in a while a gem comes across you as it did us earlier this week.

Here is why the individual caught my attention.

I didn’t receive a resume via fax.  I didn’t receive a resume in the mail, again and again.  I didn’t receive the resume by e-mail.   The individual stared at us face to face by taking the time out of their day and shook my hand and introduced herself  to us in person.   Call me old fashioned, but the impression you leave by being professionally presented and having an authentic conversation, unscripted and raw, going in knowing you will be rejected 9 out of 10 times and still having the COURAGE  to look up a company and personally drive to the office not knowing how you will be received, will always receive high consideration of getting an interview at our office.

All the best to those who are looking for work in 2010.    Keep your chin up and remember this:  as Warren Buffett said in his interview this past November at Columbia University in New York, “betting against America and it’s economic engine is a bet I would never wager.”

The post Getting Hired in 2010 appeared first on Rain City Guide.

While it’s true that highest degree of confidentiality is a fiduciary duty, and WA has statutory vs. fiduciary duties, I just can’t honor the request of people who want me to “use” my past clients as “references”.  Using your client for your own benefit is such an anti-fiduciary concept.

Some time ago I received an email from a total stranger seeking to hire me as his buyer’s agent.  He asked for a complete list of all of my client’s names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers prior to our meeting. I responded that he should think very hard about hiring anyone to represent him in a client relationship, who would acquiesce to that request. The issue has come up again, and while I fully appreciate a person’s need to “check references”, I still won’t give out personal info of my past or present clients.

Once I connected two of my clients by asking a former client to have lunch with a current client.  The former client was a whiz at hunting down the absolute best loan available. They worked for the same Company.  They were about the same age and neither had extensive local contacts, both having relocated here and away from their family and friends. I was careful to not give out any info of either party until they both agreed to the lunch, which I did not attend so as to be absolutely certain I would not reveal anything about one to the other. Asking one client to help another client is not the same as asking my clients to help me GET new clients.  I just cannot get my brain around that concept.

I turned 55 the other day and Craig Blackmon’s recent remark that I am “an old war horse” is reverberating in my ears at high volume. I became “a fiduciary” for the first time back in 1974. We were constantly warned about never going out to lunch with a colleague and discussing a client by name in a restaurant. It was the blackest of mortal sins to use a client’s last name in public, and if they had an unusual first name like mine, no first names either.  To this day even when my partner Kim and I speak of clients, we never use last names even to one another. Clearly my age is having an impact, as we seem to be treating all of our clients as if they are our children. “Honey, the kids are coming over to sign the papers in an hour!” [I yell up the stairs]

In many ways, people reveal more about their personal lives to me, than they do their doctor or lawyer. Regardless of whether or not the State views me as a “salesperson” or holds me to a fiduciary standard, I’ve just been a fiduciary for way too long to erase that concept from Who I Am.  Fiduciary = “without regard to self interest”.  So while it is perfectly acceptable and understandable for someone to “want references”, it is just not possible for me to accommodate that request. Many agents have argued with me that I am wrong, old school, old fashioned, etc… Well, maybe turning 55 comes with the convenience of being allowed to be “an old war horse”.

The post Is “fiduciary” level of care “old school”? appeared first on Rain City Guide.