Archive | October, 2009

Beware of the greedy dual agent

By on October 29, 2009 in Buying a Home

In a real estate transaction, there are normally two real estate agents. One agent represents the buyer and one agent represents the seller. In rare cases, the same agent facilitates the transaction for both the buyer and the seller. This is know as “dual agency”. Not all states allow dual agency, but it is allowed [...]

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The risks of a successful short sale

By on October 27, 2009 in Buying a Home

Last week we closed one of the messiest and most stressful transactions we have ever encountered. It was a short sale with two lien holders. Lien holders are the banks who owned the mortgages on the property. In a short sale, those lien holders are asked to release their interest in the property for a [...]

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Have home sellers lost their pride of ownership?

By on October 26, 2009 in Selling a Home

Maybe I am a little old-fashioned, or maybe it is because I own a business, but I fundamentally believe that consumers want to be delighted by the products and services that they buy. If you are shelling out your hard-earned money, you want a product that performs as advertised, is reliable, and is affordable to [...]

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Customers love findwell’s service so much they buy us cakes!

By on October 24, 2009 in findwell

One of the most rewarding parts about being a real estate agent is handing the keys over to brand-new homeowners. I had the privilege to close a transaction for first-time buyers this week in Woodinville. The transaction was a short sale, and it was the most challenging and messy transaction we have done in the [...]

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Checklist for the first week in your new home

By on October 23, 2009 in Owning a Home

You just closed on the purchase of your new home and have the keys in your hand. The excitement has barely worn off, and you have already started your move. Other than arranging your move, here is a handy checklist of items that you will need to take care of during the first weeks in [...]

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Ashworth Cottages Selling Quickly!

By on October 17, 2009 in Seattle Real Estate

I have been working with a client to purchase one of the Ashworth Cottages located just north of Greenlake at 80th and Ashworth Ave N. If you are not familiar with the project, this is a community of 20 stand-alone homes and townhomes that is situated around a central courtyard. It was originally built by [...]

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Use it or Lose it! – Make sure you use all of your seller-paid closing costs

By on October 8, 2009 in Buying a Home

When you buy a home, one of the items you can negotiate with the seller is that you ask the seller to pay for all or a portion of your closing costs. Closing costs are the fees that you pay to buy a home, such as origination fees for your loan, recording fees or appraisal [...]

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Northwest MLS releases Seattle real estate statistics for September 2009

By on October 6, 2009 in Seattle Real Estate

The Northwest MLS has released their Western Washington real estate statistics for September 2009. As we have seen from May-August, there continue to be positive trends in the statistics for home sales in our region. Typical seasonality in real estate has activity slow down once the busy summer season is over, but the statistics show [...]

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