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

Here he comes to save the day!

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[photopress:cantenna.jpg,thumb,alignright]No, it’s not Mighty Mouse…it’s Super Cantenna!  The best fifty bucks I’ve ever spent!  A 12dbi Wireless Booster Antenna.

I’m still plugging away at my wish list for 2007.  For some reason I thought getting a phone card would boost my ability to get my wireless signal on my laptop from my house, but it didn’t.  The signal was so weak lately that I was playing “rock a bye laptop” to improve the signal strength enough to get from here to there.  A huge drain on my productivity level.

When Kim set it up, he said it reminded him of tin cans and string.  A simple little gadget, but its working!  Super Cantenna to the rescue!  Sometimes…it’s the little things that make life a lot easier. 

Should I rent or should I buy?

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[photopress:adv.jpg,thumb,alignright]As with most of my blog articles, I am writing to a specific young woman who is suffering from advice and information overload.  In a lot of ways, deciding where, when and whether or not to buy vs. rent, is as personal a decision as choosing a mate.  Sure, everyone wants to tell you how they feel about that new boyfriend, just as they want to tell you where and how to live.  But at the end of the day, you are the one who needs to live with your choices.

Friends, co-workers, parents, siblings everyone becomes a real estate expert over cocktails.  With Thanksgiving and “The holidays” around the corner, it’s time to come to terms with how YOU feel about the prospect of purchasing that condo or continuing to rent, before everyone and their mother starts putting in their $.02 about what you should do.

You have dipped your toe into the real estate market.  You have seen what your choices are.  You hear all of your friends talking about their purchases and how much money they have “made” since they purchased.  Well, first let me tell you that these are just stories.  They haven’t sold their condos.  They are talking gross not net, and they are assuming that they could sell their place today for what they think a buyer would pay.   None of it is real, and clearly none of it has anything to do with you.

Your friend referred you to me, and so I get to be one of the many who gets to put my $.02 into the equation.  So here are my thoughts for you, and you alone.  I watch my clients closely.  I feel their emotion more than I listen to their words.  Your brief experience into the real estate market, leads to the conclusion that you might be happier someplace else.  That someplace else is more expensive, than buying where you live right now, and buying there is more than you want to spend.  So consider renting there instead. Often that third, middle of the road option, is the right one.  Rent there.  Move.  Try that neighborhood on for size.

By the time your lease is up there, you will know better whether or not you are going to change jobs, and where that job will be.  By the time your lease is up there, you will know better if your current relationship is going to a place where you, together, will be deciding where and what to buy.  In your circumstance, a year from now will bring many changes.  Perhaps more certainties…or more uncertainties.  But this I know for sure.  If you try that neighborhood now, the monthly cost to rent there, will be less than buying either here or there.  If you try that neighborhood now, you may find that the differences between your current neighborhood and that neighborhood are not worth the added cost…or that they are in fact well worth the cost differential.

Anyway you look at it, by moving there now, into a rental, you will have more information later than you have now.  Real information based on your personal happiness factor…and not just everyone’s “opinion”.

Our Town A to Z

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[photopress:sng.jpg,thumb,alignright]The book shown on the right is my favorite.  Not meant as a “tourist” guide, this Newcomer’s guide has long been my best recommendation for people relocating the the Seattle Area.

So chock full of good info, that even long term residents who take the time to read it, learn a thing or two.

Alki – voted by me as the best place to go to watch the sunset on the longest day of the year.

Belltown – Locals would say Ballard, more “Newcomers” start out in Belltown or Bellevue

Capitol Hill – My favorite place to hang out, while the girls are shopping for that unique item

Denny Blaine to Downtown

Eastside – Seattle’s version of “the burbs”

Fremont the “center of the universe”? or a Ferry Ride, hard to pick which should take this F spot.

Green Lake, where I first landed, to Golden Gardens Park, a spot too often overlooked.

Houghton – Home of Sarducci’s my favorite Seattle Sandwich and Calzone shop.  A must mention –  the Huskies

International District – More than just a “Chinatown”.  Is Maneki still there?

Juanita – Not too many places are named after a poplular song of the day

Kirkland – Home to ARDELL 🙂 My kind of town.

Lake Washington – The Lake that defines so many of Seattle Area Neighborhoods.  To me it is the crown jewel of Seattle. I think being able to take a cruise to a Husky Football game, is one of the coolest things about Seattle!

Mercer Island – For non-residents, going over Mercer Island is the next best thing to living there.

Northgate Mall – Seattle prides itself on being a non-mall kind of town…Northgate’s about the only “true” mall IN Seatle.

Oympic National Park – Many Seattle neighborhoods enjoy an Olympic Montain View, but a two hour trip to the park itself, beats the daily peek of the mountains from here.

Pike Place Market – The Main Event

Queen Anne, or course!

Rainier! – I sight for sore eyes, that causes me to bless myself and pay homage to “the maker”, on the days it chooses to “appear”

Seattle Center – You can’t see it all in a day! but DO do one from The Duck.

The Seahawks – The Sonics The Mariners The Storm

U-Dub

Vashon Island Getaway

Whidby – another Island Getaway

X-Gym – OK…YOU find another X 🙂

Yulefest – Just a few days away!

Z – oops, had to drop the link to the Z Club

Bathroom Remodel

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Can you totally remodel a 3/4 bath for only $3,500 in 48 hours? One of my clients recently purchased a house that needed a remodel of the basement level 3/4 bath. I have lots of before and after pictures in my head, of “what is” vs. “what can be”, but it is often difficult to convey that information to my clients.

So, for my client who closed escrow last week, I am going the extra mile.  This morning I ripped out my own basement level 3/4 bath, and am attempting to upgrade it to today’s standards for only $3,500 in two days or less.

Our basement level bathroom had two interior walls. One separated the shower from the toilet to give the shower three sides.  The other separated the shower and toilet area from the double sink counter via a wall and pocket door.  Chopping up a 5′ x 9′ bathroom with two interior walls was way too confining.  The biggest complaint of the users being that the square front door shower was too small and too dark, as the walls surrounding it cut it off from the light.  So first thing the guys did when they arrived this morning, was to knock out all of the interior walls.  It looks bigger and brighter already.

[photopress:sh.jpg,thumb,alignleft]The picture in my head of the finished bath, included a larger shower unit that only utilizes two walls instead of three. The one I see used most often in newer townhomes. Before hiring the contractor, I picked out the shower unit over at Lowes.  The total cost was just under $700.  The plumbing needs to be moved a bit to the right.  The door to the shower being angled on the front provides access from the largest open space in the room, the center, instead of the left or the right.

Finished bath will include replacing the 3″ tile countertop, too much grout to clean.  The floor, which was a rug that would get wet and never seemed to want to dry out, will be replaced with a stone look one piece floor.  All brown wood towel bars and towel rings will be gone and replaced with brushed nickel.  The wicker over the toilet cabinet will be replaced with a white and brushed nickel upgraded version.  In other words, a total transformation!

Can this all be done for less than $3,500?  Good question. As agents we are often frusrated by the inflated prices buyers attach to needed upgrades.  Often a buyer will look at a bathroom like this that needs updating, and attach a cost of $15,000 to the improvements needed.  When we say it will only cost $5,000 max, they really don’t believe us.  So once again, I am putting my money where my mouth is and am out to prove that a 3/4 bath can be totally remodeled for less than $5,000. If I can cap the cost to $3,500, I think  suggesting others can do so for no more than $5,000 will be an honest representation.

Off to Lowes to get towel bars and towel rings and whatever else is needed.  I’ll report the final total cost with a break down in the comments section when we’re done.

Real Estate 101 – Improving on "the basics"

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[photopress:h.jpg,thumb,alignright]For the last few weeks I’ve set aside Friday mornings to get together with a small group of agents to talk about their Real Estate Business. Not everyone will succeed by the same means, and there are as many different ways to approach this business, as there are people in it. This is the time of year to take a step back and re-evaluate what you have been doing, and take the necessary steps to fix what is broken. This applies not only to each and every individual real estate agent, but companies as well. The times have changed…time to change with them without “throwing away the baby with the bathwater”. I’m going to go back and attempt to improve on the basics. For those who never learned “the basics”, you may find this helpful. For those who know the basics, let’s try to move a step forward together.

Basics: Year one = 12 “things”. I am going to change some traditional principles here, with regard to “things” to expand them from 3 to 4, and to eliminate the word “listing” from our vocabulary. I would like to elevate “having a listing” to “having a seller client” if and when possible, to remind us that we represent people who sell property. We are going to evenly weight representing a seller client and representing a buyer client, breaking from tradition here. An idea whose “time has come”, don’t ya think?

Most offices in the past had a big chalk or white board with three columns titled “Listing”, Listing Sold” and “Buyer Controlled Sale” or similar language. Given the changes in our industry since 1989, every company should change that system, to the one I recommend here. Every office should create a “Virtual Board” on an agent only, password-access website. The “board” should have four columns marked, Property for Sale, Property Needed, Property Sold and Property Found.

Column 1) A seller hires you to represent him in the sale of his property. You put “123 Peachykeen St.” on the board in the “Property For Sale” column. That is a “thing”.

Column 2) You meet a buyer at 123 Peachykeen St, but they don’t like it. You decide to help them find a property to buy, and they agree to hire you. You put “Mr. and Mrs. notPeachykeenSt” on the board in the “Property Needed” column. That is a “thing”.

Column 3) Joe Agent from another company faxes you an offer on 123 Peachykeen St and your seller client accepts that offer”. You put “123 Peachkeen St” on the board in the “Property Sold” column. That is a “thing”.

Column 4) Mr. and Mrs. “not PeachkeenSt” submit an offer on a property and that offer is accepted by the seller. You put “Mr. and Mrs. notPeachykeenSt – 123 SomewhereElse St” on the board under “Property Found”. That is “a thing”.

It is very important for agents to track “things” and not just sales. Columns 3 and 4 are sales. Columns 1 and 2 are the actions that create the sales. In a balanced or buyer’s market, every item in column 1 should produce 1 sale in column 3 and 2 sales in column 4. Given most of the Country is coming out of a hot seller’s market, it is a good time to review the basics, and go back to when property was on market long enough to produce 3 sales from every property for sale.

A new agent should have 12 “things” by year end. A second year agent should double their sales from the first year, and reduce the number of “things” in Column 1 and Column 2, that did not result in a sale. When an agent reaches 36 “sides”, by doubling their sales each year, they reach a crossroads, but that’s another article.

For now, the goal of every agent is to get to 24 to 36 sides per year. A side is representing the buyer OR the seller in a real estate transaction. The goal is to have 12 properties to sell each year, and sell them. From those 12 properties, you should be able to assist 24 buyers in finding a home to purchase. 36 “sides” equals 12 Properties Sold and 24 Properties Found. The number of sides between 12 and 36 is somewhat affected by the price range you are selling. If your average sale price is $200,000, then you will need more sides than someone whose average sale price is $600,000.

Now everyone get out your “boards” from last year. Examine Columns 1 and 2 very closely and be very honest in answering where you may have failed in assisting your buyer and seller clients in achieving their objective last year. Not what “they” did, but what “you” did not do for them.

Look at Colums 3 and 4 and examine what you did right in those scenarios. Contrary to popular belief this is NOT a “numbers game”. Every property you do not sell equals a failure for you seller client. Every person whom you did not find a property for, is a failure for your buyer client.

It’s is now time to do your 2007 Business Plan. Some of you will need to hone up on your skills, to get more of Column 1 down to Column 3, by converting more of your Properties for Sale to Properties Sold. Some of you will need to hone up on getting more of Column 2 down to Column 4, by honing up on your skills of finding the right properties for the right people. Others may need to make better choices with regard to columns 1 and 2, or reduce the costs of attaining them.

Focus on the clients and not just the numbers. Why couldn’t you sell 123 PeachykeenSt? What did YOU do wrong, not what did the seller do wrong. Why couldn’t you find a property for Mr. and Mrs. notPeachkeenSt? What did YOU do wrong, not what did they do TO you. If you think your clients failed…you will not be able to implement an effective business plan for 2007. Once you accept the responsibility for all of your business and non-business in the prior year, you will improve on your business and business plans in every year out into the future.

If you DID achieve the goal of 36 sides, but don’t feel you made enough money, then your problem is in either in the cost area and not the client area, OR you need to elevate your price range.

Questions? Feel free to ask away.

Zillow your life – it's quite interesting

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I grew up at 4950 Lancaster Avenue My parents purchased it for $7,000 in 1957 or so. They made nothing on it and it is now the hole that you see between the buildings. But they raised seven children there. I lived there from age 3 to age 20 or so when my Dad died. I say it owes them nothing for housing nine people there for 17 years. The entire neighborhood that still exists, only values out at $15,000 max. That’s only a 50% return over a fifty year timeframe. Yes, there are “wrong” places to buy property! Always has been and always will be…ALL property does not go UP! (or down) in equal proportions.

In 1973 when my Dad died, my Mom moved to 6626 Haddington Street I remember her picking up the phone and leaving messages on the answering machines of every real estate office in town. She said I have $8,000. If you have a house to sell for $8,000, call me. According to Zillow, that house has now increased by 470%. My Mom was always a little smarter than my Dad…but my Dad was a cool dude 🙂 I don’t remember exactly what my Mom sold it for in 1980, but I do remember that she got at least double what she paid, had a non-taxable gain AND carried a portion of the price as a mortgage to the purchaser, with a double digit interest rate. That house owes her nothing either.

I moved out by the time she sold that house in 1980. In fact my Mom followed me to Northeast Philly. I rented. She bought a house for $18,000 on Fairdale now valued by Zillow at about $55,000. She sold it for $46,000 or so. It is now worth three times what she paid for it, but she took most of the equity out when she left. I bought this house in Kipling Place in 82 for $45,000 and sold in in 84 or $65,000. Zillow values it at $74,000 now, so looks like I pulled most of the equity out of that one. Me and my Mom seem to be doing pretty good pulling equity out and getting in and out at the right times.

Gotta go and I want to see if these Zillow links last. I’ll pick up in 1985 in another post.

Is Seattle Bubble Proof?

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Best I can tell so far, the answer to that question is a resounding YES, Seattle IS bubble proof, at least in the $300,000 and under market.

I am totally bugeyed, having spent the last 10 hours slicing, dicing and dissecting every single stat in the $300,000 and under market, in $100,000 increments, for 2005 and 2006 year to date on a month by month basis.

While we are seeing a teensy weensy weakness in October vs. August and September prices, the run up from January of 2005 to present has been insane. 72% of families have been squeezed out of the first time buyer market during that time in the $300,000 or under range. So even if we see prices dropping back, we will not soon see the day when the increase will be declared a bubble that is about to burst. In fact a modest correction is well warranted, but I do not see single family homes dropping in price back to where they were in January of 2005 for many, many…if ever…years. So yes, in the single family home market, anything decent in the lowest of price ranges should still be grabbed up. By March of 2007 the opportunity to get any bargains in the entry level single family home markets, will likely be gone for good.

For my neck of the woods, which would be from Green Lake up through Shoreline and beyond, around Lake Washington and into Kirkland and the Eastside, if it’s a single family home priced under $400,000…buy with care…but don’t wait for any of them to ever dip under $300,000 again. I don’t see that happening.

Condo markets in the same price range…entirely different story. I’d stay far away from the one bedroom condo market. the run up there has been as insane as it has been in the single family home market, BUT the one bedrooms are fast converging on the price of a much large two bedroom. So don’t assume you have to buy a one bedroom condo if you are starting out.

So many have overlooked the two bedroom opportunities, that the price growth of the one bedrooms has far exceeded the price growth of the two bedrooms. As fewer people can afford single family homes, more and more are buying condos in the under $300,000 price range. Hold out for the two bedroom units whenever possible, and let the one bedroom condos back off in price a bit. Some one bedroom units are tryng to sell at 79% more than they did 16 months ago! Pass them by. Hold out for a two bedroom, unless the one bedroom is reasonably priced for what and where it is.

I’m too worn out to go further than $300,000 today, but what I’ve written is worth studying. I have every single number broken down by $100,000 increments and split between condo markets and single family markets. I didn’t post them all, but I will keep my sheets of pencil notes for awhile, just in case anyone has any questions.

Have a nice weekend!

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[photopress:tgif_cover.jpg,thumb,alignright]T.G.I.T.F.D.O.T.M.!  Thank God It’s The First Day Of The Month! 

I’ve learned over the years to just say “you too!” when someone says “Have a nice weekend!”  I haven’t had “weekends” since I left the banking industry in 1989.  Today, the first day of the month, is the closest day I have to a “Friday”.

October closings went fairly well.  In fact one of my clients gave me a hand held GPS device as a closing gift yesterday. It’s a Dell Pocket PC with a Global Sat thingie sticking out of the top.  He loaded the King County maps via a Mapopolis program.  We tried it out last night after we received the call from escrow saying the property recorded, and went to the house for the “key exchange”.  Most exciting to me is that it has a setting for “avoid freeways” 🙂

On the first day of the month, I move yesterday’s closings to the “closed drawer”, I pull forward the closings for this month, and I re-organize, and say Thank God It’s the First Day of the Month!

So what did I decide to do with my day off?  Go to Broker’s Opens and try out my new handy-dandy GPS device!  When I wrote this post back in July, I had it all wrong.  I was just too darned busy at that time of year to think it through.  In the old days I had to map out where I was going from beginning to end before I started.  I had to get from here to the first house and then map out the route from house to house before stepping a foot out the door.  So I asked for a program that did that for me.  Correct answer is…I asked the wrong question! 

That is why it is SO important for agents to shake out their heads every November.  Dump everything out that you THOUGHT was the way to proceed in the coming year, and hold it up to the light.  Go back to the first transaction of the year and examine each one thoroughly.  Which clients were the happiest and why?  Where were the snags, and what can you implement into your procedures for the new year to prevent those snags?  Which did YOU enjoy most and why?  Which did YOU feel most uncomfortable with and why? 

This year took me all over the place, due to blogging.  From Queen Anne to Snohomish, from Judkins to Duvall, from Factoria to Juanita and Bellevue to Ballard.  Unlike the old days when we chose our “farm” and worked our back yard, technology takes you to places you wouldn’t have dreamed of going to.  So this year I’m ready with my new handy dandy GPS device!  But today, on my day off, I’m going out to Broker’s Opens in my own “territory”.  I want go out to see what didn’t sell.  I want to examine those properties that didn’t make the cut.  I want to see any vacant houses, that are not sold, that have been on market for way too long. 

Most of the year I have to focus only on those properties that my clients SHOULD buy.  On my day off, this 1st day of the month of November, before I get too busy again, I’m going out to pay attention to that part of the market that missed the boat, that didn’t sell, and discover why they did not.

Not everyone’s idea of how to spend their “day off”, but to make it a little more fun, I invited a tall dark and handsome young guy to go with me 🙂  Have great day!

November 1-15 is time to Brainstorm!

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[photopress:images_1_2.jpg,thumb,alignright]By Thanksgiving, I try to have my next year’s business plan in place.

I find that using the first two weeks of November to brainstorm, and pretty much carve in stone a plan and strategy for implementation, I can begin “setting up” the new year.  Setting up includes adding new technology as needed, beginning the activities that will create business in the first quarter of the year, and getting rid of anything (or anybody) that didn’t work well in the current year. 

I learned that any agent who didn’t have the first quarter set up in the previous last quarter, was losing the first quarter along with the opportunity to grow adequately for the rest of the year.  Taking time from March to September to meet with vendors costs way too much money, as that is what we call “A” time to be spent with clients.  November and December is “C” time, meet with vendors, and “B” time, doing those things that will create the most “A” time come 1/1 through 9/30.  For me, “C” time pretty much shuts down on 1/2/07 and “B” time has to be set on an automated time release basis to keep feeding the “A” time through the season. 

My personal challenges this year include:

1) Finding the means to connect with the internet from anywhere and anytime.  Connecting means connecting to the forms available to write contracts, not just a blackberry thingie.  So I need my laptop to have it’s own, anywhere, internet connection.

2) I need to be able to print contracts AND make copies with signatures from anywhere.  So I guess that is some kind of portable printer that connects to the laptop.  Do I need a “notebook” vs. a laptop?  Do I need one of those huge cases with wheels to carry my technology around with me?  How do I print a contract and make copies of the signatures (scan and print?) from a vacant house, for example.  Is there a laptop that also prints all by itself without a separate printer AND makes hard copies of signed contracts?

3) I have enough to handle my photography needs.  I don’t want to advance beyond my current capabilities in that regard.  I’d rather hire a photographer when needed for advanced efforts.  So simply finding a photographer that meets my needs before 1/1 is my only chore here.

4) I found the perfect GPS device, but the person who has it, built it himself.  It was a GPS that connected in his car via an ipod and played music until it was time to do something.  The GPS interrupted the music and said “You will be making a left turn ahead at x street” and then the music resumed.  Best bet is to get that person to build one for me.

5) This is the first year that blogging will be part of my business plan.  I just had to wing it last year and see where it fit naturally, since I started the day before 1/2/06.  This year I have to place the blogging activities into the business plan, with both a sense of purpose and a timeframe. Since no one else seems to be getting as much business from blogging as I am, I think I’ll consult with myself on that one.

6) I’ve decided not to participate in lead generators.  Never have.  See no reason to start now.  So HouseValues can stop calling me for the $750.00 a month plan.  I have a different idea to target market, in areas I want to cultivate more business.  Paying for leads would cut into my ability to negotiate fees, so $750 x 12 or $9,000 gets added to my client kickback fund.

7) I can’t keep winging my fee negotiation strategy, so I’m going to implement a more transparent commission model for both buyers and sellers.  I am studying the fees I charged and didn’t charge this year to formulate the model.  I’ve run enough experiments with both buyers and sellers, including the unheard of negotiating the other agent’s fee :0 to make up my own innovative schedule.

8) I want to implement podcasts with my own voice (as opposed to the robotic Sellsius type podcast) beginning Jan 1.  I want to record and post tutorials to buyers, sellers and agents.  This way my blog readers can either read or listen or both and I can forward the podcast posts to clients and agents as needed throughout the selling season without the need to repeat myself for every new transaction or every newly hired agent.

9) Since I am a multiple site blogger, my needs are somewhat different from the needs of the average real estate agent blogger.  Setting a plan in place for consistency for all of my blogs is imperative.  Having them dovetail into one another is the goal.  But putting ALL of my eggs into the “blogbasket” is not good either, so I am setting up some hard and fast rules for blogging in 2007. This year I dropped other activities out of my schedule, like reading the King County Jornal every day, in order to fit blogging in.  But I don’t want to continue that through next year.  Doing my own stats consistently will be ultra important, as no one knows where this year is headed, and I don’t trust anyone’s opinion out there better than my own.  So I need to stay on top of the market, on a weekly basis, by doing my own stats and personally visiting the properties that are and are not selling.  By blogging on the topics I need to follow, I can kill two or more birds with one stone.  Multi-tasking is the key to blogging.  Blogging needs to be part of what I do, and not something i do in addition.  So far this year, that strategy has worked well.  In 2007, I need to time manage the blogging, so it stays focused.

10) Hiring and firing, less of the former and more of the latter 🙂  In 2007 the original plan, which was to have 12 agents who contribute $10,000 per to the company, is key.  I may up that to a $12,000 cap.  Agents need to be innovative in their client commission schedules.  Agents need to make more, while at the same time charging the consumer less.  The key is for all agents to have the ultimate authority to negotiate fees with their clients, and to pay their brokers less.  It’s the only way for consumers to win.  More of the commission needs to end up in the consumer’s pocket.  Less of the commission needs to end up in the broker’s pocket and none of the commission should be funneled into a lead generator’s pocket.  If we are heading into the market we all predict we are, or at least that I predict we are, lower commissions will be key to the success of both buyers and sellers in 2007.  If appreciation goes down by 1% or 2%, the consumer has to make that up somewhere to stay moving in an equal upward trend.  Businesses that plan for that change are the ones who will succeed for both themselves and for their clients.

I have two weeks to revise my list of ten as needed and then start ticking them off the list before 1/2/07.  If anyone has any info to help me with items #1 and #2 up there, I would much appreciate it.  The rest I pretty much have down already.