Tag Archives: Seattle

What to look for in your first real estate company

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houseI read a great post the other day about a woman who is looking to become a real estate agent. This inspired me to think of what type of advice would I like to give to aspiring agents, and I’ve come up with these six things to consider in a real estate agency:

1) Broker Compentition. In general, be weary of firms where your broker also acts as an agent. There is enough compentition in the industry so that you shouldn’t have to compete with your broker for a listing.

2) Training. Just about every company will market their wonderful and unique training opertunities. Get the details. Are their classes offered in your office or do you have to travel far? Who’s teaching the classes? How much do they cost? The best real estate agent are always learning new things.

3) Office fees and commission structure. In general, there is a trade off with most agencies. Sometimes the monthy fees are high, but you get to keep a much larger portion of your commission. Other companies have low monthly fees, but take a larger portion of your commissions. Along these lines, office fees might very anywhere from $50 to $1000 for a month. Also, make sure you ask about all the fees. Is there a cost to use the office supplies, like copy machine or fax machines?

4) Office atmosphere. Are there experienced agents around who can give you advice and help you if needed? There will probably be times when your broker will be unavailable… Is there someone else to help you out?

5) Location. Is the office near your home, so you can get there on short notice? Is the office close to the market you want to concentrate on? Is it convenient for your clients?

6) Successful agents. Also know that when you begin, a great way to get clients is by doing open houses. Being part of an office with lots of succesful agents can mean that you can host their open houses when they are too busy. Are their lots of successful agents in the office?

Most importantly, make sure you interview a bunch of real estate companies. Just about every agency has a different feel to it. Interview enough and you are sure to find a company that will suit you. If you are interested in interviewing with Keller Williams, let me know and I can introduce you to the appropriate people!

To help you along, I’ve compiled this list (almost entirely compiled by Seattle Property News with just a few additions by me) that lists the residential real estate agencies in Seattle. The list is not exhaustive, but does include most of the companies that have practicing agents.

If you want to find agents, instead of agencies, the google directory provide a pretty comprehensive list of agents with websites.

Monorail Death Watch

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monorail's green lineInspired by Timothy Noah’s Death Watch (the latest regarding Karl Rove) series on slate, I’m tempted to start something on the Monorail as the whole operation seems to be in a death spiral lately… However, rather than go for the jugular, I’ve decided to give my view on how the monorail’s future became so dire.

After the defeat of Initiative 83 that would have effectively banned the monorail, the project seemed on a high. The monorail supporters (rightfully) saw the overwhelming support as a great sign in that the project could now move forward with the full support of the City (at least at the highest levels of the City government). However, as the negotiations between the sole-bidding contractor and the monorail agency dragged on, support seemed to wane. I heard numerous times from people who said that they were tired of all the delays and their support was waning with each passing day.

The latest crop of news began when the monorail announced on June 3rd that an tentative agreement had been reached with the prime contractor for the (relatively unusual) design, build AND operate contract.

On June 21, more details of the agreement were released to the public. This set into motion a series of articles documenting the total cost of the proposal. The Times has a decent article, while the PI put out sensationalist piece giving the total projects costs as “$11 billion”. This holds the monorail up to a higher standard than any other public project and is really just bad economics. For example, it is like saying the price you paid for your $400,000 home ballooned to $1,200,000 because that is the total amount you will pay over the life of your loan. The worst part of this journalism is that I’ve heard numerous individuals quote this number as if the cost of the monorail jumped from $1.7B to $11B overnight. This type of apples to oranges comparison seems irresponsible of the Seattle PI…

If the monorail fails someday, I would say that a definitely turning point happened around the time of the PI’s “$11 billion” article. After that, the Monorail Board and the City Council members had to start explaining economics in order to justify their positions, and this became a no-win situation. Both the Times and the PI ran articles describing how support was quickly evaporating.

Seattle Center FountainThen on July 1, the Monorail board rejected the complicated 50-year financing scheme which led to the resignation of Project Executive Director Joel Horn and Board Chairman Tom Weeks. The Seattle Weekly has since written a scathing article about Joel Horn.

Does this mean that the monorail project is dead in Seattle? Not necessarily. The acting director is working hard to attact a new director and sway public opinion back in favor of the monorail. However, the odds are definitely against the monorail at this point.

On Friday (7/15) the editorial board from the Seattle PI, which has generally been a supporter of the monorail, gave an editorial which asks for the final nail to be put in the coffin of the project. (This had the anti-monorail voices over at the Sound Politics blog jumping for joy, or as one writer put it: “Stunned. Encouraged, but stunned.”)

Can’t get enough monorail information? Here’s a list of my resources:

monorail image is a negative?

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proposed monorail image Interestingly, when I saw the above image in the Seattle Times today, I thought, “That looks kind of cool.” It was only after I read the article headline (“Monorail foes decry “wall”‘) that I found out that the image was suppose to show how ugly 2nd Avenue would be with the monorail. There are definitely some good reasons to be against a monorail in Seattle, but showing images of a built up downtown environment does not do it for me!

Thanks to City Comfort Blog for pointing this issue out. I probably wouldn’t have thought to blog the obvious contradiction until I read your post.

Good Time to Buy?

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Half Dome Cables ClimbAre you wondering if now is a good time to buy a home? There are so many factors that have gone into the latest housing boom that it can be difficult to gauge whether or not the high prices are here to stay. With that said, today’s Wall Street Journal makes a pretty convincing case that the hot job market in Seattle has led to the rising home prices. (I’m pretty sure this article is only available today before it goes behind a firewall.)

How does the Seattle-area job market look into the future? There are still lots of upsides to the local job market. The WSJ notes that the “area gained more than 45,000 jobs in 2004” with Boeing accounting for “more than 3,700 workers”. In addition, Microsoft has a “20-year plan to add 2.2 million square feet of offices to its 435-acre suburban Redmond campus to accommodate as many as 12,000 new employees.” .

The WSJ also notes that “homes are selling for a premium in some locations along proposed routes for two ambitious transportation projects: a light-rail link and a monorail line that would offer commuters alternatives to cars and buses. There are plans for a 36-story condo tower along the proposed monorail at the historic Pike Place Market.” This analysis from the WSJ agrees with my earlier post about how mass transit has a HUGE positive effect on local property values.

Seattle Real Estate Blogs

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[photopress:half_dome.jpg,thumb,alignright]The problem with most real estate blogs is that after an initial flurry of activity, the bloggers quit making regular updates. However, there are two new seattle real estate blogs that have been providing some great information and hopefully, they will be around for the long haul.

Seattle Property News is written by an annomous individual who claims:

I’m not a real estate professional, just a Seattle resident who enjoys tracking the world around me, in a literal sense, by watching real estate trends and discovering the stories behind different properties around the region. I started this site for myself, as an open notebook of the information I find interesting.

However, I find the writing to be too full of technical details to believe that the person is involved in the real estate industry in some manner. Keep up the great work!

Seattle Real Estate Talk has also been putting some interesting content together. As it stands, this site is currently producing content similar to Rain City Guide in that it covers general interest real estate news and local Seattle updates.

There is definitely room for some more good real estate information in Seattle, so good luck to both of these blogs!

Freedom and Independence!

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[photopress:100_1769.JPG,thumb,alignright]Happy Fourth of July! I could go on and on about how home ownership is the key to independence and how it can give you freedom from renting, but instead here are the Seattle PI’s list of celebrations around town. Hope you all have a safe and magical 4th of July!

P.S. If you are interested in the whole independence and home ownership discussion- don’t hesitate to call!

Mary Jereczek

Starbucks on Anna?

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[photopress:luke_hurley_and_bird_patterson.jpg,thumb,alignright]I’m always interested in new marketing approaches and I recently read about two ideas that seem worthy of more consideration. The first comes from Rosa where she describes an investment banker that buys everyone coffee at the local Starbucks once a week. Here’s how Rosa describes it:

This morning Kerwin and I walked into a Prescott Starbucks and both ordered their strong-brew coffee of the day to then find it was free. The barista at the cash register motioned over to a gentleman sitting in an animated discussion with a group of about six others, and said, “Your coffee is on Mr. Perez this morning.

Fremont Solstice Parade

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Once again, Fremont put on quite a show…

I had a wonderful time at this Fremont-only parade and celebration… A bunch of people have already posted photos over at flickr, but a warning that many of the photos are not for the faint of heart.

(The same warning should probably apply to people thinking of moving to Fremont! 🙂 ).

Seattle ranked as one of the healthiest cities

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swimmersWith all the great bike and pedestrian trails around, I don’t think it would surprise most locals to find out that Seattle ranked #4 in a list of the country’s healthiest cities:

The Seattle metro area had the study’s best scores in the areas of physical activity and lifestyle pursuits. Respondents here reported the highest level of vigorous exercise. Seattlites had high rates of diabetes, hypertension and, yes, sleeplessness.

Another great reason to live in Seattle!

Can things keep going up in Seattle? A Bay Area story…

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[photopress:riley_in_SF.jpg,thumb,alignright]I just thought I would try to put the high prices of the Seattle market in perspective based on a story from a friend of mine from the Bay Area…

This friend (and his wife) moved from Texas to the Bay Area about four years ago. They began by renting, but really wanted to buy a home. After about a year, they were able to buy a home, but they had to move out about an hour away from San Francisco because it was the only way they afford a home due to the ridiculously high prices. Back then (four years ago), the talk of the town from turning from the recent dot-com bust to a coming real estate bust. Well, they purchased a 1,400 sf home in Bay Point (right outside of Pittsburg) for around $310K.

Fast forward to three years later… They are ready to move back to Dallas to be closer to their family. They put their home on the market and receive multiple offers, the best offer at $530K. Take out real estate fees and what-not, and they are poised to make almost $200K in less than three years… In addition, they’ve also bought a home in Dallas for $250K which means that they can use their profits to either lower their mortgage to near nothing, or have a lot of money in the bank to invest.

This young family (both are under 30) has a leg-up for life thanks to one good investment decision. They bought a house.

Of course, it is unlikely that home prices in other places (like Seattle) will continue to see the same time of appreciation, but as the article from the Seattle Times suggests, the lack of housing supply in Seattle is probably going to be around for a long time to come.