Author Archives: ARDELL

About ARDELL

ARDELL is a Managing Broker with Better Properties METRO King County. ARDELL was named one of the Most Influential Real Estate Bloggers in the U.S. by Inman News and has 34+ years experience in Real Estate up and down both Coasts, representing both buyers and sellers of homes in Seattle and on The Eastside. email: ardelld@gmail.com cell: 206-910-1000

Is EVERYBODY Happy!?!?

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[photopress:ted_Lewis.jpg,thumb,alignright]Using Ted Lewis’ famous line, “Is Everybody Happy?” as my guide, I am going through all of the people who bought and sold homes last year.  Not just our personal clients, but the clients of other agents in the Company as well.  While it is very common to do so at this time of year for financial reasons,  I take some extra time to study who was very happy and why, and also who was unhappy and why.   

I’d have to say 90% to 95% were happy, but I find myself more interested in those who were not happy.  I think by writing about the unhappy people, maybe a few readers will learn not to go down that same path. 

The least happy prospective home buyer, was one who was being forced to move.  I had one prospective client who was being forced to move from her apartment due to a condo conversion, which is now Mira in Downtown Kirkland, behind the Post Office.  Cheap rent; great location.  While she could afford to buy a condo, she could not afford to buy a condo in the same location.  She considered Juanita and Kingsgate and Totem Lake and finally I said, “Why don’t you just rent right here in the same location for now?”  Finally…she was happy.  Because what she liked most was being able to take her two dogs out for a walk and enjoy the same sights and scenery she had come to love, visit the same coffee shops that let her two little doggies come in with.  Just because she was forced to move out, didn’t mean she was forced to leave her everyday happy times, which were location dependent.  So the least happy prospective buyer was somone who really didn’t want to buy at all…and so she didn’t.  Sometimes you make “a client” happy, by not selling them anything at all.

The least happy client of one of our agents was pretty much the same scenario.  She was renting a house with her handicapped daughter, and the owner of the house sent a notice that she had to leave because the house was being sold.  The agent was a friend of hers and found her house after house to buy, and nothing seemed good enough.  Mainly she was extremely unhappy because she really just didn’t want to move!  Unfortunately no one could fix that part for her.  She did buy a house and eventually got used to the idea and the new home.  But the only thing we really did for her was make it impossible for someone to knock on her door again and say, “You have to move because we are selling the house you are living in.”  When you have a handicapped child, moving is ten times more difficult.  The added burden of having someone give you 60 days or so to find a new place to live can be an overwhelming burden.  At least it is not likely that she will have to face that event again, and will only move if she chooses to do so, not because someone sends a notice saying she has to move now.

The other day someone came to me who lives on Lake Washington Blvd saying, “I have to move by March 1 because I was just notified that the place I live in is becoming a condo conversion.”   I am finding him a place to rent nearby so that when and if he chooses to purchase a home, more likely closer to the time when he is getting married next year, he can do so by his choice and in his own timeframe. 

Studying the patterns of unhappy clients, can help you set the wheels in motion in the right direction for that next person, who is being told that they have to move now.

Unhappy sellers pretty much fit the same criteria, those who are being forced to move due to a divorce or job transfer.  Those who did not electively choose to sell their homes, often leave “with a bad taste in their mouth”.  Being forced into moving out of your home by events not set in place by you, seems to set the stage for the least happy buying and selling experiences…at least in the short term.  Best you can do is try to make lemonade out of those lemons.

So when someone is telling you a war story about their terrible ordeal in buying or selling homes, ask WHY they were buying or selling.  You may just find that what they were least happy with, was the fact that they had to move in the first place.

Photo Editing – Too Much Ceiling!

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Every real estate agent needs to know a little about photo editing.  But not so much that they start taking out wires and trees from the view shot 🙂

The ethics of photo editing for real estate purposes, should be a “clock hour class”.  Jillayne?  If it IS already, I’d love to sit in on one of those.  I sometimes have the hardest time explaining to agents how much they can edit, and how much they cannot.

Craig Schiller, founder of Real Estaging wrote an excellent article this week called “Set Your Sites Low (talking about camera angle) – To Raise Your Standards”.  Below are a dozen of the 50 or more shots he found on the mls in his area, with too much ceiling.

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Personally, I find it is more about editing the shot after you get home, than it is to “lower your sites” at the time you take the picture.  I use HP Image Zone, which I find to be very user friendly, and does not have the features that can help you erase real features of the home, like telephone wires in the view.

All brokers should be recommending the correct software to their agents, to insure quality photos, without unethical modifications.  Cropping is good.  Brightness and light enhancements is good (assuming new owners could bring in more lamps and better lighting than current owners).  Any software that has basic editing skills will enhance the agent’s value to the consumer.  Point, shoot and upload is no longer “the order of the day”.

2000 Bloggers

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I saw myself in a “puzzle” of faces here and there around the internet. Apparently you can add your blog, but I didn’t put mine there, so someone must have “entered me”.

Not sure where it originated. I’m still tracking it back.

It is an amazing display of blogs! and the photos are interactive so you just click on a face and you get to that person’s blog. Very cool.

If I can find the original source I’ll come back and edit this post. I recognize a few of the faces. It doesn’t look like 2000, but I guess it grows and grows until it reaches 2,000.

If anyone has any info on where this came from, and how my face got there :), please let us know.

http://www.trade-pals.com/2000-bloggers.asp this is the name on the link. I’ll go see what “trade-pals” is. Looks like it could be something like MyBlogLog.

Looks like it is Tino Buntic, just a whacky dude 🙂

Ten Things I love about Living in Seattle

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Ask ten people and you get ten different answers. So I thought I’d give my take on Dustin’s topic from last year. Maybe every Frequent Contributor can do one on the ten things about living in Seattle that they think are worth knowing.

1) The flip side of rain – not only is the weather close to perfect here from April/May through October, the days are a lot longer than anyplace I have ever lived before…and I’ve lived a lot of places. The painted naked cyclists on the Summer Solstice are a clue as to how much Seattle celebrates the longest day of the year here. Sitting on Alki Beach on the evening of the longest day of the year is something everyone should do. Watch the sun set around 10 p.m. But get there early if you plan to eat…the restaurants tend to run out of food before sunset.

2) Everyone “belongs” here – No matter who you are, or are not…oops…What’s that Kim?

my partner Kim Harris is jumping in with HIS perspective…which is much longer and in a different direction than mine. Going to Kim’s Perspective on what drew him TO the Pacific Northwest in 1964 and KEPT HIM in Seattle since he got off the plane from Vietnam in 1969…The History – The Tremendous Impact and Signficance of this area on the Music Industry (Kim’s previous life and passion, as founder of Easy Street Records and teacher of “The History of Rock and Roll” at the U and BCC and original manager of Queensryche, when they were high school kids hanging out at his Easy Street Records, of then, on Bel-Red Road…long past history all over the world managing bands and music venue and private label and much more…on to his LOVE of Seattle from a music perspective:

[photopress:blue_moon_1.jpg,thumb,alignright] The (fabulous) Wailers – Tall Cool One, being able to find things in Seattle he spent two months trying to find in record stores in San Francisco as a teenager, The Kingsmen, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Quincy Jones, The Sonics, Viceroys, Jimi Hendrix, Bluebird, The Daily Flash, Brothers Johnson, Sir Mix-a-Lot, QueensRyche, Heart, Sound Garden, Nirvana, The Melvins, Pearl Jam, Screaming Trees, Mudhoney, Presidents of the USA, Modest Mouse, Built to Spill, Foo Fighters, Alice in Chains…

The Castle, Lake Hills Roller Rink (believe it or not), Eagles Auditorium, The Blue Moon, The Show Box, The Vogue, The (original) Off Ramp, RKCNDY, The Tractor, the Crocodile…

Other influences that made a difference: Sub Pop and CZ Records, Thom Bell, Bruce Pavin, Boyd Grafmyer (presents), Pat McDonald who was a major influence on music from his time at KOL-fm to this day, as a not often enough writer of the Seattle Times. His infrequent musings on today’s music are not to be missed. Jack Endino and the Great Pad O’Day. Campus Music, Discount Records, Music Millennium, East Street Records and Celophane Square.

Paul Allen and his Experience Music Project (EMP) for having kept Seattle’s Music History alive, for the benefit of both visitors to Seattle and local residents of Seattle, due to his love of music generally.

The Seattle Weekly and The Stranger still give a left of center approach to what is happening currently in the Seattle Area. Great Articles on Food, Music, Shopping, what to do…etc.

Well…so much for “Ten”…went off on a tangent in “stream of consciousness blogging” fashion…there will have to be a part two on this one…I have work to do 🙂

Enjoy Seattle Music Lovers!!! A trip down Memory Lane!

Agent FIRED! – Lender Fraud

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[photopress:fired.jpg,full,alignright]Has Lender Fraud become the standard?

Very sad, but very true story. I received an email from a Rain City Guide reader yesterday. The reader happens to be a local agent who was fired, because of her efforts to both accommodate her Buyer Client, without committing Lender Fraud.

The buyer fired her for not wholeheartedly complying with their WANTS, and for even considering for a moment, the Lender fraud implications of their WANTS.

Reason given..ALL OF OUR FRIENDS HAVE AGENTS AND LENDERS DOING THIS, AND WE FEEL YOUR SERVICES ARE THEREFORE COMPARATIVELY INADEQUATE. YOU DIDN’T FIGHT HARD TO GET US WHAT WE WANTED…

Suffice it to say, what they WANTED was cash back at closing under the table.

Apparently this has become so commonplace, that it is now the standard to which she was held. Money “off the sheet”. I can name more examples of commonplace Lender Fraud…but that is not the question here.

Sadly many told her she was being “a goody two shoes” about it. Very sad indeed.

Group-Blog Etiquette

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[photopress:e.jpg,full,alignright]Will the Emily Post Institute add a section on Group-Blog Etiquette someday? Maybe. But in the meantime, we all are creating that which future generations will write, and possibly adhere to, so let’s “have at it”. I will post my views on the topic, and maybe we can all pick this apart and come up with some acceptable norms for others.

Just like the other “blog rules” like no deleting, and striking out instead of straight editing…and other Blogosphere Guidelines (vs. Rules), the Group Blog introduces a whole new bailiwick of issues to be struggled with and ironed out.

For those not in a Group Blog, some of these issues still exist for you. As in when do you or do you not go into someone else’s blog and start disagreeing with the “host” of that blog? Do you jump in with your opposing view, different view, or do you read and lurk?

So while I am tackling this from a Group-Blog standpoint, there are ramifications for all bloggers in “the Blogosphere”. Dustin and I have discussed this topic from time to time and our feeling, generally, is let it run its course so we all learn from the experience. “All” being “The Blogosphere” generally. So while I am touching on it here…this is a scenario that will play out differently in different places.

My thoughts are that a Group-Blog should avoid Fellow Writers tripping over each other by the structure of the blog itself. I’ve used this analogy with Dustin, “Would you rent three stores in a 10 store shopping strip to three different Pizza Places?” But then, everything goes back to real estate for me, so maybe that’s not a reasonable analogy 🙂

We have two attorneys. But Craig and Russ pretty much have different areas of interest. I never see them tripping over each other. So that’s a good mix, and in my opinion, two attorneys in a room is always the limit, though I have had three at once, but only once.

I think the same theory applies to lenders and agents. A commercial and a residential agent…good…no tripping. I’m not going to tell a commercial real estate agent how to do his business, and he’s not going to tell me how to do residential. Elaine’s focus was not the same as mine for the most part…so not much tripping.

The mix of people, I think is the main key, as it will keep blog etiquette issues to a minimum. With two commercial agents or two residential agents, that they work in different areas is not sufficient, but helps. When Greg Swann first added agents from different states, I have to admit I thought it was strange. But at least if they disagree on strategy or principle, they can say “Well here in San Diego things work differently. So in hindsight, Kudos to Greg on that one. (though I do not mean to suggest that is WHY they did that) Greg’s having come from the writing industry, I think, gave him the foresight to consider this the way one might divvy up the topics in a writing establishment. She’s gardening tips, he’s sports, etc… Though he has a mindset mix in AZ mixed in, they understand “their space” as far as I can tell. Whether it’s because they are just sharp dudes about it, or had an actual undertanding? I think they are just “sharp dudes about it” 🙂 Maybe a little of each.

However, we cannot do that nor do I suggest we do that, because we are Seattle. We are “Rain City”. So as much as I admire BloodhoundBlog’s format, I don’t think we can handle our blog etiquette issues in similar fashion. Having 12 real estate agents in the same marketplace, coming from all different directions, can turn into a very interesting thing to watch, along the lines of mud-wrestling in bikinis or a constant smack-down. Exciting, I guess to some, but…hmmmm.

I have been asked by some hefty blog sites out there in the Blogosphere to be interviewed on this issue, and have declined, as I think we need to talk it out here, where it happens. And not there, where they want to discuss it for other reasons. So this is just a beginning point, as I know for sure that “The Blogosphere” is inquiring into this issue.

In fact if anyone knows of any articles already written on Group-Blogs, please provide the links in the comments.

My thoughts are this. You run it like a combination of a Newspaper and an Agent Office Meeting. You try to keep the “group” going as cohesively as possible by keeping the mix a true mix, as in no “three pizza parlors”. We’ve already, though recently, stepped out of that advice/mindset, so obviously not all agree 🙂 I won’t go into what you do when you already have three pizza parlors in the shopping center, other than my comments to this scenario in comment #35.

Hashing out industry issues like Redfin’s treatment of the Buyer Agent Fee, whether or not to use written contracts with buyers and a host of other industry wide topics, is great.

But to give the consumer the transparency of strategy and procedure and detail, that they want, and not always be wishy-washy generic BS, will create a lot of differences of opinion. So if we are going to stop tripping on each other by not raising the topics the consumer yearns for…well, let’s just say that is my worst fear.

Ok Blog Etiquette Junkies! “Have “At It”!

Hey, that's not fair – can the Seller DO that?!?

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Over the years, often the hardest part of this business is dealing with the “unfairness” of the realities of the real estate transaction.  Even when everything is going exactly as it should, often someone is thinking that “It Just Isn’t FAIR!”

When that someone is a newer agent, it is very difficult for me.  I try to hint them into the right direction, but their lack of experience causes them to be defensive, instead of listening between the lines for what I am trying to tell them.  In Multiple Offer situations,  I simply cannot be more direct.  That would be unfair to the other agent and their client, who “has their act together”. 

Here’s a very recent example:

I receive an offer from a newer agent on one of my listings.  It has major weaknesses.  Price is a bit on the lowball side.  “Story” makes no sense and points out weaknesses in the buyer’s stance, warns of potential buyer remorse or someone “tying up the property” until they know if they have the job offer in Seattle.   Escrow time frame is longer than the norm, and the house is vacant…so short escrow should have been used. Home Inspection timeframe is at max point.   Lots of loose ends.

First I try to work the agent into getting the offer in better shape, but of course the other agent wants me to do that from “my end” with a counter offer.  Sure…that’s OK…but sometimes OK is not good enough for their buyer client.  OK is only good enough if they are the only offer.  No one has a crystal ball with regard to what is happening with other buyers in the marketplace.  So depending on a counter from the seller to “fix” the offer is not a smart thing to do, and is not “good enough”.

Most of you have guessed by now what happened.  Another offer comes in.  A soon as I know one is coming in, I call the agent who has an offer already submitted and say, “I have received word that there will be another offer”, that’s all I can tell you.  I get many calls from the first agent…but nothing in writing.  Lots of verbal. Lots of inappropriate reactions like “You said the seller would counter”.  NEW BALLGAME! Sorry, what I said an hour ago is no longer VALID!

No modification of first offer in writing signed by the buyer.  Second offeror knows there is an offer in hand…but knows no detail of the first offer.  Second offer is a slam dunk winner.  First offer is still playing verbal tag and begging us to counter them and whining that three hours ago I said…  Oh well!  Things CHANGE!  There is no methodical sequence here, even though it would make your life easier.  S..t happens and you have to know how to DANCE in this business!  Seriously, all agents should be required to take dancing lessons at Arthur Murray or something, before given a pen and a paper with blanks on it.

A seller is not going to counter a weak offer, once a strong offer is in hand.  Why would they?  Why should they? 

First agent says “Well can’t the seller counter US because we were first?  I put what the buyer told me to put, isn’t that what I am supposed to do?”

Depending on a counter in multiple offer is just naive.  Often the “best man” just wins and sometimes the “best man” is the agent and not the buyer…and that is truly the crying shame of it.  As to “putting what the buyer says to put in the blanks”…no, that is not the totallity of your job.  That is the lowest common denominator position.

I write the offer as if I am buying it, using my perception of this buyer’s thoughts on the house.  I factor in how much they like it and how disappointed they will be if they do not get it.  That differs from buyer to buyer and from house to house.  I give the offer “fully completed” to the buyer showing what they SHOULD put “in the blanks”.   Then we discuss each “blank” and they can modify what I have “recommended”.  I show them how to fill in the blanks in the manner that they should, in order to be successful at what they are trying to accomplish…again that differs from buyer to buyer and house to house. This way at least if they do not get the house because they change my recommendation, they learn something.  Maybe they learn to trust my experience, skill and knowledge.  They learn something.

Once you submit a weak offer and another offer comes in, change it, in writing, and FAST…IF you get the opportunity to do so.  Many then ask:  But how do I know there is REALLY another offer?  Trust me.  We know.  We can tell.  Maybe someday someone will figure out how to put one over on those of us who can tell when they are lying (which is EXTREMELY RARE), but I find that those who have the audacity to lie are also bad liars.  Escalator clause helps, but not really.  If you are tightening up the date, reducing the home inspection timeframe, cleaning up the offer as to terms and not price…an escalation clause won’t help you, if there are no other offers. You need to have an agent who can dance, and who can tell a con from a truth better. 

Best move is to understand that an offer is a give and take.  If you are trying to beat on price, then give stellar terms.  If you want to stretch timeframe or be contingent, then don’t beat on price at the same time. 

Those who try to make it a Win/Lose…usually end up the loser.  May not be fair…but just how it is.

Redfin – PRESS RELEASE

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Redfin Integrates Microsoft Virtual Earth Map Platform,
Continues Expansion in Greater Seattle and San Francisco Bay Areas

SEATTLE – Jan. 12, 2007 – Online real estate broker Redfin Corporation today released a new version of www.redfin.com based on the Microsoft Virtual Earth map platform, offering home-buyers powerful new ways to explore a neighborhood. With today’s announcement, Redfin also more than doubled its geographic coverage in the Greater Seattle and San Francisco Bay Areas; and added online agent chat and more listing information such as homeowner’s dues.

The first to display real estate data on an online map, Redfin originally developed its own mapping technology using government-provided imagery of Seattle and San Francisco. Now that mapping platforms have become publicly available on the Internet, Redfin replaced this technology with Virtual Earth to expand more quickly and to offer a richer user experience. A blog posting on why Redfin chose Virtual Earth over other mapping platforms is available at: http://www.redfin.com/blog/redfin/2007/01/redfin_on_virtual_earth.html

The integration available today gives Redfin users better performance, double-click zooming, and a choice between aerial imagery and the traditional map view. Redfin plans to use Virtual Earth to offer bird’s-eye views of neighborhoods, driving directions, mobile telephone integration and more neighborhood information about local attractions and retail shops.

With the new map, Redfin is expanding from San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties in California to now serve Napa, Santa Cruz, Solano and Sonoma counties. In Washington, Redfin is expanding eastward to include all of King County as well as Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties. Redfin also has hired new agents in these areas to provide local support for customers using its e-commerce service to buy or sell a house. The expansion increases the number of listings available on Redfin.com by nearly 200 percent and the number of records on past sales by more than 150 percent.

The latest version also includes new features based on direct customer feedback:

  • More listing information: listings now include all available details from each multiple listing service such as homeowner’s dues, open house information and virtual tours, when available.
  • Online agent chat: start an instant message chat with a Redfin agent to get immediate answers while making an offer or starting a new listing (9 a.m. – 6 p.m. PT, Monday through Friday; noon – 6 p.m. PT, Saturday and Sunday).

“The Redfin real estate brokerage site provides precise outlines of every property directly on the Virtual Earth map, demonstrating just how flexible and powerful our platform can be,

PMI is NOW Tax Deductible

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[photopress:Anne_business_card_pic.JPG,thumb,alignright]My friend and colleague (disclosure) Anne Brown of AB Homelending and I have been discussing the fact that PMI is now tax deductible.  Here are her thoughts:

“It’s taken a long time, but finally Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) is tax deductible.  A loan over 80% loan to value (less than 20% down payment) is required to have PMI unless the loan is split into a 1st and 2nd mortgage.  Until recently, the additional cost of this insurance was not tax deductible. This is Great news, but proceed with caution…     
Here are my two cents: If you take a loan with PMI then the question is what will the investor or PMI company accept for an appraisal to prove the 20% equity.    Obviously their motivation is to A) be protected and B) make money (respectively).  From previous experience I’ve seen in-house appraisals come in lower than market value so be aware that there is a factor of lack of control for removal of the PMI.  Who would want to be stuck with the PMI if the new value is challenged? Just my thoughts. Anne Brown”

Unfortunately her thoughts raise more questions than they answer! LOL  So I thought maybe we could have a discussion here and invite other lenders and accountant types to comment on this important topic.

My thoughts (Ardell speaking here, not Anne)

Back in the old days, when I started in real estate, it was common for the first mortgage to be 95% with 5% down at one low rate.  The monthly payment included the PMI charge, which was not tax deductible.  PMI being Private Mortgage Insurance insuring the lender on th 95% financing loan for the amount above the 80%…in this case 15%.

Today, instead of PMI, most borrowers get a first mortgage for 80% at a LOW rate and a second mortgage at 15% at a HIGH rate in order to avoid PMI.

The question of the day therefore is, when is the buyer better off WITH the PMI instead of the HIGH RATE second?  At least that is MY question of the day.  How does a buyer evaluate which would be better in the long run for them?  I expect the high rate second was cheaper before this news that PMI is tax deductible, or so many would be going that route.  Does this news change that?  If so, does it change it for everyone…or only people in very high tax brackets?

A tough topic…but an important one.  Hope those who know more on this will comment freely to the enlightenment of us all.

Thanks.

Is your agent spending your money without asking your permission?

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It is common practice in the real estate industry, and has been since the beginning of time, for your agent to assist you outside of their area of expertise or geographic service area.

Let’s say you ask an agent to come to sell your house in Seattle.  They ask where you are moving, and you say California.  They offer to have an agent contact you in that area.  You thank them.  You just spent $6,750 if you buy a house in California, using the agent that contacted you, for a home purchase of $900,000.00.  The Seattle Agent who talked to you about this will get $6,750 when you close on your home in California, EVEN IF you never hire that agent to sell your house here in Seattle.

OK, I’ll stop shouting.  The same agents who will scream “disclose, disclose, disclose” when it covers their butt if you do, will not disclose referral fees and ASK your permission to SPEND YOUR MONEY!  Oops shouting again.  Sorry, this topic just freaks me out.  I better go chill.