Floor Area Ratios – Bulk and Volume

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I attended a meeting this week regarding proposed changes to the current FAR in my neighborhood in Kirkland.  I thought I’d report on Kirkland specifically on my blog, but raise the BIG question here.  Should neighbors and local governments be able to dictate, beyond height and setbacks, how “big” your home can be?[photopress:bigger_house.jpg,thumb,alignright]

Is the “argument” really about size?  Or is it about “style”.  It seems that people complain more about homes with a flat roof made of smooth stucco, than they do about homes with pitched roofs.  If everyone in town hates the house you want to build, should that matter?  Is this argument really about trying to dictate “taste”.  When an old house is torn down, the new one built in its place can’t be expected to look anything like the one that was there, can it?

[photopress:big_house.jpg,thumb,alignright]

The reason more houses are being built with a flat roof, rather than a pitched roof, is because of the height restrictions.  Here the height can’t exceed 25 feet.  If you have a point at the top, that point counts as your 25 feet, so you lose a lot of square footage at the top vs. building your second floor up to 25 feet with a flat roof. 

FAR is not so much about the size of the house, as it is the size of the house relative to the lot size.  If the building code has a restriction of 50% FAR, then the maximum size of a house on a 5,000 square foot lot is 2,500 square feet.  Unlike real estate agent and appraiser criteria, building code square footage can include the attached garage, but often does not include the “air space” of a two story room with no floor at the second level.  “Volume” related complaints suggest that this “air space” should be included in the square footage as if it had a floor.[photopress:small_house.jpg,thumb,alignright]

I will stick to the specifics of the actual Kirkland meeting on my blog, but here in RCG, I thought we could talk more about the issue generally.  Used to be as long as you adhered to the height restriction and setback rules, all was A-OK.  Now people want to dictate and prevent “monoliths” and homes that just don’t seem to “fit” into the type of town “we” want to be. 

The fur does tend to fly at these meetings.  Anyone have any opinions on this topic?  Some of the questions raised are “Why do so many new homes have such small yards?”  Should we really be able to tell people whether or not they MUST have a “yard”?  Whatever became of one story houses? and “What’s going to happen if my neighbors sell?” Should we let people do whatever they want with the land that they own, or should neighbors and local governments have some say in the matter?

Weigh in your opinion.  Inquiring minds want to know how people feel about this topic.

Seattle in Top Ten for Continued Appreciation- Want to know Why?

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We’ve talked alot on RCG about whether we’re in a bust or a bubble real estate market and we in the Pacific NW have been watching the rest of the country and wondering, Why all the gloom? Bankrate.com and today’s Seattle times have some explanation that can provide perspective:

Last week, Bankrate.com unveiled its forecast for the changing real estate market in the U.S. over the next few years – ten markets where housing prices and values will continue to remain strong, ten markets where appreciation will pretty much top out and the ten markets that are most likely to experience a decline. They talked to experts, studied public and private databases, analyzed market trends and examined the analysis of many others.

The ten “bubble blowers,” where appreciation should continue to grow, are:

  • Boise (ID);
  • El Paso (TX);
  • Albuquerque (NM);
  • Seattle (WA)/Portland (OR);
  • Salt Lake City (UT);
  • Raleigh (NC);
  • Philadelphia (PA);
  • Atlanta (GA);
  • Little Rock (AR); and
  • Cincinnati (OH)/Birmingham (AL) (they were too close to call).

Just why this is happening in the Pacific NW is the subject of this mornings Seattle Times article by Elizabeth Rhodes. She sheds light on why Seattle is breaking the national trend toward stagnating or dropping home prices. Her article notes that the average home prices have taken a steep hike in the last year and appear to be continuing the rise.

Citing the NWMLS statistics that came out on Thursday, median closed price of King County single-family homes has shot up almost 12 percent in the past year, reaching $405,000 last month (and up from $392,950 in February).

Interestingly, sales are down, but so is inventory. In March 2004, there were 7,156 homes for sale countywide. March 2005’s inventory was 5,244 homes. This March recorded a further drop, to 5,100. This is the pinch that causing the rise in prices.

At the same time, the local economy is growing and employers are adding jobs, bringing more potential buyers to the area. So the competition for available homes is strong and prices are reacting accordingly.

We agents have been experiencing this hot market all spring as we did through most of last year, possibly feeling the market fluctuations first. We’re out there in it, pricing homes to reflect the low inventory and coaching buyers for the best positioning in a multiple offer situation. I just watched the price of an Eastside condo jump $20,000 in a two week period!

Rain City Guide Meet-Up This Thursday

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Are you interested in meeting up with real estate professionals and/or enthusiasts of Rain City Guide? In an effort to continue to puss the boundaries of a real estate blog, I’m organizing a gathering this Thursday and you’re invited! The meetup is this scheduled for Thursday (4/6/06) at 7PM at Cupcake Royale/Verite Coffee shop in Downtown Ballard (2052 NW Market St).

This idea for a meetup has been cooking in my head for quite a while and was really inspired by a recent evening I spent with a few real estate professionals explaining the wonders of blogging, RSS feeds, del.icio.us and all things web2.0. I’ve tried to cover a lot of these topics on the blog, but sometimes it is so much easier to show people this stuff in person.

With that in mind, I’ve confirmed that at least a few Rain City Guide contributors will show up this Thursday, so you can expect a lively discussion with input from experienced real estate agents, mortgage brokers and real estate technology geeks. I don’t really have an agenda, but would rather let the group dictate where the discussion leads…

Who do I think might be interested in joining us?

  • Maybe you’re a real estate agent, mortgage broker, title representative, etc. who wants to learn how you can better use the internet to serve your clients?
  • Maybe you’re a home owner who is interested in listing your home and want to make sure that you get the most out of the internet and/or a potential listing agent.
  • Maybe you’re a buyer who wants a leg-up on the competition. I can show you how to use Google Earth, RSS feeds and more to make sure you’re getting the most efficiency out of your home search.
  • Maybe you’re a potential home buyer/seller interested in interviewing potential real estate agents and/or mortgage brokers in an informal setting. Should you want that type of thing, I’m sure that the agents and mortgage brokers would be happy to try to earn your business.

As long as you have an interest in real estate (who doesn’t?), you are definitely invited to what will hopefully be a fun and memorable evening.

RSVP? One of the RCG contributors who is helping me organize things thinks that this event might be much more highly attended than I do. Just to make sure that we don’t blow out one of my favorite coffee shops in Ballard, can you please let us know if you are planning to attend by adding your name to the list on the wiki? You don’t even have to use your real name, just something so that we can gauge the interest.

Should you have an Open House?

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I just sold another house from an Open House this weekend, and am reminded of all of the articles about how Open Houses do not sell houses. Sometimes I think the articles are sponsored by agents who don’t want to spend their Sundays working 🙂

I have changed a few things that I do based on technological advances, like pricing the home straight on $350,000 for double hits, instead of $349,899 to be first to show in the mls book. But listing and selling houses via Open Houses has always been “my thing”. I have provided some online training on the subject to agents around the Country, and still there are some agents who can honestly say that they have never sold a house from an Open House. It just boggles my mind.

I have always spent a great deal of time helping the seller get the house ready for weeks beforehand, before it goes on market. Then I usually do open houses the first two weeks back to back. This weekend I listed a property, that I had already spent many hours staging,and put “No showings until the Sat. Open House and Open Sat. and Sun. 1-4 p.m.” in the mls remarks. This is less wear and tear on the seller and creates a new listing that opens up with a BANG! Lots of energy! Agents showing and people coming all at the same time. I have 6 Open house signs and those big flags that new construction people use. It’s like a big party! Sometimes I even cook Italian food and play Connie Francis and Mario Lanza…and of course FRANK! But that’s usually for Broker’s Opens. I even had agents dancing once…that’s an accomplishment 🙂

Anyway, back to this weekend. I had an offer by the time the Open House was over and another from an agent who was begging me to wait for her as she rushed back two hours from wherever she was to write it for the buyers who came without her to the Open House. Turned out I didn’t have to do the Open House on Sunday, as it was all tied up by noon on Sunday.

Of course an agent who sits in the living room watching the ball game or playing with his laptop looking bored to tears may never sell a house at an Open House. But if you love doing them, there are plenty of ways to turn an Open House into a SOLD House! I hate to admit it, but I did get a call from my friend Reidi in Florida when she saw American Beauty. When Annete Bening got to the Open House hours early in her work clothes scrubbing it down saying “I am GOING to sell THIS HOUSE TODAY!!, Reidi called me and said “Ardell, they made a movie with YOU in it! LOL I’m not quite that bad…but close.

I’ve created a monster!

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Despite my adamant protest, many Rain City Guide contributors have gone off and created their own blogs. (what are they thinking???). However, as each and every one of these people have been very good to me, I thought I’d let you know where you can find more of their writings:

  • Russ Cofano — Realty Objectives [link removed]. While Russ is a real estate lawyer, I can tell you from our many conversations that his true love is innovation. His blog is a reflection of his interest in understanding real estate technology. (Check out his Speaking Opportunities [link removed] section to see something I might blog about soon…)
  • Ardell DellaLoggia — Ask Ardell. I don’t know about you, but I could NEVER get enough of Ardell’s writing… Where does she find the time???
  • Craig Blackmon — Real Estate Law Blog. He’s been keeping up a great real estate blog mainly geared to FSBOs.
  • Robert Gray Smith — Lake Sammamish Living. All kinds of good stuff about life on the Eastside.
  • Galen Ward— ShackBlog. He’s been out of town for a while, but when he’s around, he’s always sharing interesting stuff.
  • Marian Crkon — It’s a Feature. This might sound a little like it is coming out of left-field, but if you’re interested in Oracle applications, this blog is as good as they get!

As I often enjoy following the comments on RCG more than the posts, 🙂 I thought it also might be fun to highlight some of the great contributors (via comments) that regularly appear on Rain City Guide:

NWMLS to take 3 more baby steps into the digital age

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Ok, Robbie and I have both made our gripes known before about how closed the NWMLS technology is — even for agents. Well they are finally taking some steps in the right direction. I don’t have all the details yet so really not sure if they’ve gone far enough.  But I thought the readers of RCG should see it here first. I’ll follow up with details as each is launched.

The three major changes coming up are:

  1. New Vendor Access Agreements for MLS Data. This new agreement allows a Broker to have as many IDX downloads as the Broker wants —as long as the providing Vendors sell their products only to that Broker’s agents. For agents this is great as we should see a greater range of MLS data solutions. The downside is I’ve heard that it these vendor agreements will be excluding public access solutions of the data. In other words, you might be able to develop a really bitching CRM system for agents that accesses MLS data directly, but we (agents) are still limited to our company’s primary IDX feed for our website data.
  2. NWMLS Sold Data to Become Public  – Not sure they are going to give us all of the data fields on this, but a lot of the fields that become public record (e.g. close date, purchase price, etc) will be available on Broker-controlled websites. My guess is you will see some of the brokers coming up with online CMA systems for the general public. (Heading Zillow off at the pass?)
  3. FINALLY!!!  Digital Signatures. – NWMLS approved and endorsed DocuSign as the sole electronic signature system for NWMLS documents.

– Robert

New Law To Regulate Mortgage Professionals

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On March 9th Washington State’s Governor Christine Gregoire signed House Bill 2340 which will regulate all Loan Originators in the brokering of residential real estate loans. According to Washington Association of Mortgage Brokers the new legislation requires the following:

  1. All Loan Originators will need to pass a basic compliance skills examination prior to January 1, 2007;
  2. Continuing Education will be required on an annual basis;
  3. Background checks will be required prior to licensing, removing felons’ and person with criminal histories that do not warrant the public’s trust.

Washington Association of Mortgage Brokers (WAMB) also states:

(The licensing) creates new consumer protections by raising the bar for practitioners in our industry by achieving two key objectives: 1) it will help weed out those in the industry who do no have the consumer’s best interest in mind and creates a revocable license for those that employ unethical and illegal practices; and 2) it will strengthen our industry by exposing educational opportunities needed for brokers that care about doing things right, but may be lacking the knowledge to remain compliant in accordance with State and national regulations.

WAMB provided some interesting facts about other states that have implemented a licensing requirement:

  • In Ohio 10% of loan originators were removed due to felony convictions.
  • In Utah 25% of loan originators never passed a basic compliance skills examination.
  • Many “out of state

What to Look For In Your Real Estate Blog Stats

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I’m sad to report that we weren’t made an unbelievable offer for RCG, and we have no plans to change our name to either “Google’s Rain City Guide” or “Rain Zity Guide”. 😉

And now that it is April 2nd, I thought I’d get back to work by giving some advice on what to look for in the stats of your business blog.

It can be useful to know answers to questions like: Who is visiting my site? Where they are coming from? Am I giving them what they want? And (assuming you’re running a business blog), is anyone buying the product/service that I’m selling? To get at these answers, I turn to one of three different stat programs (all of them free!):

  • awstats came installed by my internet service provider (ISP) and offers the best look at long term trends for me because I’ve had has been running the entire time I’ve had RCG. It always shows slightly higher stats than the other programs because it picks up everyone who visits the site and not just those who load the whole page and/or have javascript installed. For better or worse, my host only updates the awstats once a day, and they get aggregated by month so that I can’t really make head’s or tails out of what is going on “right now” using this stat program.
  • MapStats has some interesting features that make it very useful for blogging. It not only maps all of the users out based on their IP address, but it also let’s me know where the latest visitors are coming from (i.e. what links they clicked on and/or what search term they used to get to RCG). It is updated every few minutes making it very useful in seeing what’s happing in the hear-and-now.
  • Google Analytics is an amazingly comprehensive stat program that is probably better suited for sites 100 or 1000 times bigger than RCG (or at least sites that have a staff with time to pour over all the information it gives!). It includes tons of interactive charts and you allow you to reference and cross-reference by date and referrer (and ad program if you do that kind of thing). Like awstats, it has the disadvantage that it only updates once a day, and like MapStats it misses out on people who don’t have javascript installed and running. But the charts are amazing. To give you an idea of some of the things you can see with Google Analytics, I’ve included a chart of the “loyalty” of RCG readers:

[photopress:rcg_loyalty.jpg,full,centered]

(You can read the chart as saying “In March, 10,254 visitors came only once while 743 visitors have been to Rain City Guide more than 200 times.)

Interestingly, the loyalty chart reminds me of something said by Niki Parekh of HouseValues at the MIT Forum that has resonated with me. The topic was how real estate agent using HouseValues system have to be patient because it can take months, if not years, between the time when a home owner contacts HouseValues looking for a home valuation report and the time when when they are ready to sell their home.

The relevance to the loyalty chart is that I have this not-too-small hope that more and more of the home buyers and sellers who read Rain City Guide regularly will begin to take advantage of Anna’s referral service when they are actually ready to buy and/or sell a home. While a dozen or so people contacted Anna in March, there is still plenty of room for this service to grow, and I was glad to hear Niki highlight the importance of keeping a long-term view of things.

More Stat Fun
On a related note, I’d feel like I was hiding something if I didn’t give an update on our statistics at the beginning of the month (jan, feb). Here are the same two stat charts updated to include data for March:

[photopress:unique_visitors_march.jpg,full,centered]

[photopress:total_visitors_march.jpg,full,centered]

One last thing
And finally, Happy Belated Birthday to Merv’s blog in Virginia . If you want a little background on why Merv has been so successful at real estate blogging, check out the interview I did with him back in December.