Add-ons and a new Firefox

Posted on by
26

[photopress:Firefoxlogo2.png,thumb,alignright]
First, if you haven’t upgraded yet, Firefox 2.0 is out. It’s a quick and easy download and will update itself from that point on. Some of the new treats include a spell checker, faster speeds, and an improved rss handler.

Second, if you’re using Firefox to avoid viruses (and for the spellchecking), that’s great, but you might be missing some of the best add-ons. My list includes:

Adblock – blocks ads from websites and makes the web a much more pleasant place. The drawback: you have to pick the ads. The fix…

Adblock Filterset.G – gives Adblock a huge list of ads to block and updates itself every time I open firefox

BugMeNot – lets me log in to free sites that require a login (like the New York Times) by right clicking and clicking “login with bugmenot.” Others have signed up with fake email addresses so I don’t have to.

Customize Google – tons of google choices, but my favorites are secure gmail and “Google suggests” from the search box as I type

easyGestures – lets little mouse gestures control the browser. (Pretty geeky)

Google Calendar Notifier – unobtrusively pops up in the lower right hand corner whenever I have an event on my calendar (they text message me too)

Google Send to Phone – highlight any text on a page, click send to phone and you have a text message. Very useful for addresses and directions. (they haven’t upgraded it to 2.0 yet!)

Viamatic FoXpose – shows me a snapshot of all of my tabs (when I remember it’s there)

For web development:

FireBug – javascript debugger. Yuck. Javascript.

ColorZilla – tells me the web color for any color on any page (web colors look like #6685AF)

IE View – opens any page in internet explorer so I can remember why it’s such a pain

Web Developer – lets me look at a page from many angles. My favorite use is to highlight a little text and clicking “View Selection Source” to see the html for a part of a page

Internet Exploder 7 just came out too. Reports say it’s much better than Explorer 6, but I’m keeping 6 so I can keep testing ShackPrices on it. If you don’t want Firefox, for security’s sake you should at least upgrade to Internet Explorer 7.

Buying wisely in any market

Posted on by
110

[photopress:seg.gif,thumb,alignright]I find that most people who track countywide stats, looking for bubbles and market trends, are not people who are buying and selling property. Anyone who is actually buying or selling property knows, that countywide stats tell you both everything and nothing. It is in the small subsections of any given market that you will find the information you need to make wiser choices.

For instance, can you really compare ramblers built in the 60s to newer housing choices? Can you compare “too small for anyone” condos of 400 square feet, to the saleability of 2 bedroom 2 bath condos? Lumping everything together tells you nothing. Houses on busy roads, for example, will not sell as well, and will sell worse at times like this when buyers are being more cautious. I think of houses on busy roads when I hear comments like, “The market is getting weak! I see more and more for sale signs every day while driving to work!” Well let’s assume that most people do not drive on quiet 25 mi. per hour residential streets when driving to work. So what they are seeing is the weakness of properties situated on busy roads, not the market in general.

A good example is tracking newer townhomes, in the $300,000 to $500,000 range, within 3 miles of Microsoft. This is a market segment that is driven by its own forces and outperforms the market in general. In the last six months there were only 21 townhomes sold, built since 1990 and within 3 miles of Microsoft, between $300,000 and $500,000. Of these 21, 16 sold AT or better than full price in less than 30 days. Several in less than 10 days and most in less than 20 days. At the moment there are only 3 available, all on market less than 15 days and two at less than 5 days on market and there are 3 in escrow.

So of the total six month inventory, you can expect four to sell per month and there are only 3 on market, two of which have only been on for two days and three days, respectively. Those are some pretty strong market stats. What are the odds that these will start dwindling on market for excessive periods of time or go down in price? Slim to none. Making offers on this product, based on what you are reading about the King County market in general, would make no sense whatsoever.

So Chicken Little, maybe the sky IS falling for older ramblers built on busy roads with only one bathroom. But conversely the sky is still the limit in newer townhomes for sale within close proximity to Microsoft. There’s a whole lot of varied stats in between. Make sure you are making your choices based on the product and market segment that YOU are considering buying. Buying the biggest “bargain” on market, could lead you into buying in that segment of the market that will not appreciate, and will be difficult to sell later for at or more than what you paid.

Popcorn ceiling removal

Posted on by
304

popcornI really would like as much info as anyone may have about removing popcorn ceilings. Whomever invented those things should be drawn and quartered. Also called “cottage cheese” ceilings. I think they look more like large curd cottage cheese than popcorn.

1) How have you tested for asbestos before removing?

2) Any step by steps of the process appreciated

3) If anyone in the Seattle area has had them professionally removed, who did it and can you break down the cost per square foot? I assume without asbestos is cheaper to remove than with asbestos. Is there a cost per square foot?

Anyone know why they were popular? Anyone still like them, and if so, why?

Night shots

Posted on by
24

[photopress:15.jpg,full,alignright] Night photos have become very popular here in the Seattle Area.  Used mostly for high end homes, rather than this price range of $599,900. 

I’m thinking a digital camera is likely not the best way to take these, though this one didn’t come out badly for an “extra” shot.  Looks fairly appropriate for Halloween. If anyone has any tips on how to best take a photo in the dark with all of the lights on, please post them here. 

And before Galen asks, yes.  I broke my own price tier rule on this one because I already market tested it at $600,000 to $650,000.

What to write about on your blog?

Posted on by

[photopress:wr.jpg,thumb,alignright]One of the common questions newer Bloggers ask is “What do I write ABOUT?”

In the real estate business, nothing is more timely than the questions asked by your clients in the last few days. If your client asked the question, likely lots of people in the marketplace have the same question.

Here are a few questions asked of me in the last few days:

1) Should I buy THAT house?

2) Why does it matter HOW I got the money for the downpayment?

3) Is that house for sale or not? (rant of the week)

4) What does 60 days have to do with anything?

5) Why should I think about accepting a price that is less than the asking price NOW?

No matter what business you are in, on Monday morning you should always review what questions your customers have asked in the week prior. Keep a notepad or taperecorder handy at all times and jot down these great questions. After all, being a blogger IS being a writer, and all good journalists and writers jot down real life events as they happen, just in case they might be worth writing about.

Realtor.com takes a step closer to Trulia

Posted on by
25

Come spring, Realtor.com won’t have access to the Northwest MLS, so only houses from agents who pay to participate will show up. Trulia.com, a site the “crawls” broker web sites to fill its database, will probably have more listings from western Washington from that point going forward (the NWMLS still has the most).

Usually I believe that access trumps all, but it is unseemly for an organization like the NWMLS to give its data away for free to a corporate giant, but block all other interested parties. Realtor.com, I’d like to be the first to welcome you to the rest of the world, where you either have to work with a licensed broker and play by the rules, accept listings for free, or crawl the web to find listings.

New Construction Tip

Posted on by
25

Blue_TapeWhen buying new construction, you should try to do at least two walk through inspections before signing your closing papers. Do one early, maybe two weeks ahead of time. Go back BEFORE you sign your closing papers and check to see if everything from the first walk through was done. You can’t really hold up closing for minor items, so more walk through inspections are better than just one. As many as you can get away with.

But here’s the TIP of the DAY! I love this one and so do my clients. We bring our own blue tape. The new construction person will usually have blue tape, and when you point out a problem, they usually put a piece of blue tape on it. But sometimes if they think it is a picky item, they don’t, and you have to bug them to put a piece of blue tape on it. So bring your own blue tape. Give everyone blue tape. Then you don’t have to call the new construction person for every piddly little item.

Then everywhere there is blue tape at the end, you make a list of the items, and where you don’t expect the builder to be able to fix an item, you put a credit amount if they can’t fix it. Example, there was a little scratch on the stainless steel refrigerator. It’s a large all new condo complex. You put down that you want a $250 credit (whatever) if they can’t buff it out. The builder can just switch it out if he wants, and give you the one in the unit next door and hope they don’t see it, if he doesn’t want to give you the credit. You’d probably be happier with the one with no scratch, but at least you won’t have to suck up the one with the scratch without a credit. Another example. A little piece of slab granite in the back of the shower, where the two pieces meet, was chipped. You could only feel it, you couldn’t see it. The builder isn’t going to fix that. He’s not going to rip that whole shower apart and bring in a whole new piece of slab granite for a little chip you can’t even see. But you should get a credit for imperfections that can’t be fixed.

When the workers come to fix things, they can’t tell the builder reps tape from everyone else’s tape, so they just fix it all. That’s why it must be BLUE tape. Actually it has to be the same color they use. If you have green and they have blue, they can pull all of your piddly items off. But if it’s all blue, it will be next to impossible for them to sort out whose blue tape was whose.

Works great. And buyers love running around with their own blue tape, and not having to ask the person to PLEASE put a piece of blue tape on this and that. You are more likely to catch everything, if you have your own blue tape.

Woohoo!! Merv's got it DOWN!!

Posted on by
110

[photopress:sc.jpg,thumb,alignright]At first glance it might appear that Greg Swan and I are like-minded when it comes to commission issues. but not so. Greg and I do agree that the buyer should not be led around thinking they are getting a free ride compliments of the seller, and we are both part of a growing minority in that regard. We do in many ways lead the cause of buyers controlling their side of the fence, though sometimes Greg goes a little over the net on that one.

But Merv has got it DOWN!!! Agents like Merv and I are running the test cases that will prove to be the real answer to all of this. No One Size Fits All commissions. A range of prices for various scenarios. A range of prices based on a collaborative effort of determining the client’s needs…a collaboration between the agent and the consumer.

Merv, I am totally with you on this one, and I too have case studies, though by and large, and specifically as to commission negotiations, I was not planning to unveil mine until Jaunary 2007. You GO BOY! Woohoo! The agent and the client TOGETHER determine the services and advices that the client both wants and needs. The agent cannot participate in the consumer cutting themselves short of what they need, to be successful in the client’s goals. Nor should the agent build everything around a total package of high fee services, that always leads to a win for the agent, by including more than the client needs.

For instance, just closed one where the buyer represented himself, after first trying a “full service”/full fee agent. The seller and I gave the buyer the FULL 3% buyer agent fee. Buyer just moved into his new home and is thrilled! Seller is happy and has moved on, after unsuccessfully trying a full stripped down mls only version, before hiring me. Total fees paid in that transaction – 2%. In another instance, on a different property, a buyer called and said she was going to represent herself. I asked her a few questions and she knew absolutely nothing about what I was talking about and was missing several key details needed to represent herself. Seller and I said NO, you can’t represent yourself, you just don’t have the background of knowledge needed, in this particular case, on this particular property. Total fees paid in that transaction (different fully represented first time buyer) – 6% split 3% to me and 3% to buyer’s agent. Portion of my fee used to make repairs to property. I made more on the one where the seller paid 2%, than I did on the one where the seller paid 6%. So much for percentages…they are truly irrelevant.

The agent needs to be involved in determining whether or not the buyer or seller’s wants and choices, fits the consumer’s objectives AND abilities. The consumer in turn has to be realistic about what they can do themselves, and what they can’t do themselves. It’s a collaboration with neither party “dictating” to the other.

THIS is the model of the future. Just as you can hire an attorney to fully represent you, or to partially represent you to save some money, you should also be able to hire a real estate agent to fully represent you or to partially represent you. But no attorney is going to get into the middle of partial representation unless he makes the judgment call that the client is fully capable of handling a portion of the duties. No agent should hand over responsibility to someone without making the judgment call that they know what they are doing, with regard to the services selected and not selected.

A buyer who assumes responsibility for selection of property, via the internet or other means, should not pay the same fee as one who needs agent advices. A buyer who just can’t assume full responsibility for all lender issues, should not pay the same fee as one who needs no assistance with the lending issues whatsoever. A seller who has everything ready when you walk in the door, should not pay the same as someone who needs the agent to help with getting the property ready for market. A seller who can’t read the contract, should not be able to purchase a service that says “all offers to be submitted to the seller direct”, nor should an attorney/owner pay a real estate agent to explain a contract.

No one size fits all commission! No trading in one “one size fits all” for another “one size fits all”! That’s where Greg and I part ways. I love that Merv…and Pam. Get Merv’s blog on your MUST READ list today!

Exotic Loan Programs and Potential Foreclosures

Posted on by
92

[photopress:Dollar_20Squeezed.jpg,thumb,alignright]Every “exotic” loan program has a potential appropriate user of that program. What we are seeing more and more today, is the industry using these perfectly good programs inappropriately, to “get the deal done”. Before I go into my take on the situation, let me point out two relevant sites worth reading. One is on “Non-traditional mortgage product risks and the other is HUD’s warning regarding Predatory Lending.

None of the programs being used today are new. What IS new, is the fact that they are being used by the wrong people for the wrong reasons, with the assistance of the real estate professional and the lendng reps. The Feds in their statement, acknowledge that these products have been around for a very long time, and have been used appropriately until recently. On the HUD site, the main point that ties into the “exotic loan” problem, is when lenders are “Making loans without ample consideration to the borrower’s ability to repay”.

Client A has $100,000 in a 30 year bond he purchased 28 years ago with an interest rate of 14%. He has $1,200,000 in various retirement investments. He has $50,000 in a savings account for emergencies. He is 57 years old and is buying a view condo for $750,000 that he plans to live in forever. He earns $200,000 a year and plans to work for at least 8 more years, possibly longer. He decides to buy the condo with zero down and an interest only loan.

That example may sound ludicrous, but 12 years ago they were the ONLY guys I saw using interest only loans. Their investments were earning well over the interest rate on the mortgage. They weren’t going to take money from an investment earning 12% to put down on a property where the mortgage was only costing 7%. Until recently, interest only loans were an investment decision, not a means to qualify for the home purchase.

Basically what the Feds are saying is that the exotic loans are, and have always been, very good programs used sparingly in the past by very savvy and knowledeable people. These lower payments were not meant to be used as a means to qualify for more house than you can afford. They were meant to be used by people who more than qualified at a higher payment, but chose the interest only option for reasons other than to qualify for the home purchase.

The key phrase in the Fed paper is “consideration of a borrower’s repayment capacity”. The key phrase in the HUD warning is “ample consideration to the borrower’s ability to repay”.

Zero down loans replaced VA and FHA for the most part. High rates on the second mortgages replaced PMI. Ten years ago a person might put 5% down and take out a 95% first mortgage and a lower rate, but they had to pay “Private Mortgage Inurance” on the top 15% of the LTV. The PMI amount was not tax deductible. The payment on the second at the higher rate was lower than the loan plus PMI payment and fully tax deductible. A conventional loan with a high rate second may “look” bad, but actually the numbers usually work better than a regular loan with PMI (the old fashioned way) or a 3% down FHA with an up front plus monthly MIP (Mortgage Insurance Premium).

Bottom line is that ALL of the “exotic” loan programs have valid and good uses. Let’s include “stated income”. Stated Income loans have long been used appropriately by people who more than qualified for the loan. Stated Income was often used by someone who had income they didn’t or couldn’t report on their tax return. There was no question but that they could afford the monthly payment, problem was they couldn’t PROVE it, or were not willing to prove it. Maybe it was some limo driver earning $23,000 a year and getting $1,000 in tips he wasn’t reporting. Maybe it was someone with a cash business that was showing $65,000 a year on his tax return and stuffing the rest in his mattress. Maybe it was a prostitute or a mob member…whatever. It was someone who could make the payment, it was just somebody who didn’t want to prove that they were able to make the payment, and so used a “stated income” loan. Stated Income loans are not supposed to be used as a means to “pretend” that you make more than you DO earn.

Zero down loans are NOT for investors! Yes I will yell that one from the tallest building. I heard that lenders “start to question” a guy who has SEVEN zero down loans in a short period of time. DUH! Why’d you let him get to seven, when he shouldn’t have had ONE! Zero down loans are only for people buying a home to LIVE in it.

So, bottom line. When you start seeing foreclosures, don’t assume the market is headed south. Understand that lenders are not following the Fed and HUD guidelines to give “ample consideration to the borrower’s ability to repay” before approving the loan. Maybe the guy who bought at $450,000 only qualified at $400,000 and was stretched beyond his limit. Maybe the guy who bought 6 homes zero down, stacked costs and stated income in 18 months time, got caught in the web he weaved when first he to practiced to deceive, the underlying lender with full knowledge of the real estate agent and the loan broker. Maybe all the guys who took the $6,000 seminar on how to buy lots of property with no money and no job, are all going down…but that doesn’t mean they are going to take the whole market down with them.

I went to a closing with someone else’s client as a “favor”. I got to the table and asked them if they knew that the payment including taxes and insurance was 60% of their gross income! The lender said, “the lender isn’t impounding taxes and insurance”. The buyer said, “We thought the payment was going to be $300 less than that AND included the taxes and insurance. They asked me if they could sell the house in six months if it was impossible to make the payment. I said not with the costs stacked into the price and the prepayment penalty stacked on top of that. I stood up from the table and said, no one is signing today. How many foreclosures will come about because no one stood up and said, “No one is signing today”.

If someone readily qualifies for the payment at say 33% of their gross income (not 60%!) and has a reasonable “back end” when you add their other debt payments to say 40% (not 73%) and isn’t using stated income, no impounds, interest only and subprime loans to get around the high back end, all is fine.

The “Exotic” programs have their place in the lending industry. We just have to stop agents and lenders from using these programs inappropiately as loopholes to “Get the Deal Done”. If the buyer doesn’t like any of the homes he can afford, send him home. Don’t send him to a lender who can figure out how he can qualify to buy a more expensive house, that he will like better, but can’t really afford.

Cocktail Party Primer

Posted on by
76

I’d like to open this thread up to a conversation on the health of the Seattle market…

but there is a catch. I will not allow it to dissolve into a conversation about racism, liberals, RCG, or faith. If you’d like to have a reasonable intellectual conversation, you are more than welcome to participate. If you attack me, RCG, or any contributor, then I’ll happily delete your comment.

By the way, please consider this post the “anti-linkbating” post. Not only will I quickly delete any off topic comments, but more importantly, I will mark those comments as “spam”. That will allow me to ban your email, name, IP, etc. from the site after only a few off-topic comments.

Two days ago, Michael Lindekugel of Team Reba made a very interesting comment. No one ever challenged him on the merits of his argument, so I think it makes an appropriate starting point into a discussion on the health of the Seattle market:

It’s the hot topic at most cocktail parties. Is Seattle going to experience a bubble and burst? The short answer is no…..the long answer follows:

We experienced a busy market with a shortage of supply and increasing demand resulting in four or five offers and short “Days On Market