Getting Started

If you are a home buyer in Seattle with kids, this post is for you.  You are no doubt concerned about having your children enrolled in the school district you plan on having them attend next year.  But enrollment is going on now and you haven’t found your home yet and may not move or several months.

Here is what you can do now.

Contact the enrollment office for the school district you plan on living in for the coming school year. 

Explain to them the situation(Don’t try to be cute or misrepresent your situation.  Be perfectly open and honest with them)

Here is what you say.

“Hello.   My name is ————.  My son/daughter is going to be entering the —–grade next year.  We currently live in the ——- school district but plan on moving to the ——– school district by September.  What can I do now to enroll my child in your district for the fall?”

Believe me, they deal with these situations all the time and know what to do.  In many cases you can submit a boundary exception for your children now.  That way if you move after the start of school in September, they don’t need to start school in one district and transfer to the other.  They can start school in the new district even if you have not moved by the start of school. 

In many cases the district may wish to have some contact with your agent, or see some kind of documentation that you actually intend to move before the start of school.

One more thing to keep in mind.  Finding a home and actually moving takes time.  We are only about 2 1/2 months from the start of another school year.  

If you are hoping to find a home to move into by September, NOW IS THE TIME TO BE SHOPPING!

Lets assume for a moment that you are shopping for a home right now and find the home of your dreams tomorrow.  Even if you are lucky enough to get the home, it takes on average 30 – 45 days to close on a home.  That means that even if you wrote an offer today and everything went great, you would not be moving until mid July.   Given that school starts in early September, you will want to get started in the search quickly.

Give me a call today and I’ll show you how to find the home of your dreams for free!

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Rob Graham, Accredited Buyers Representative

Windermere Real Estate

206-321-6349

robgraham@windermere.com

Popularity: 4% [?]

Over the past few days I have had a great e-mail exchange with a reader of this blog who is considering  a first home purchase for her family.  Many of the questions she raised are excellent ones and no doubt on other peoples minds.  A asked her permission to post the exchange so that others who are in similar situations can see what I suggested to her and also maybe offer their own thoughts on the various topics discussed.

PS – I have removed only the sections that contain identifiable information as I promised the reader that her anonymity would be protected.

Hello.
My family and I are longstanding renters, but perhaps it’s time for that to change.  We’re quite clueless about the process, but have already learned a great deal from your excellent website.  Thank you!

There’s a lovely-looking place just up the street from us (property address and MLS # removed); what I’m trying to determine is whether it’s even feasible to contemplate buying it or any similar property, for
that matter.

Our finances are very tight, but will be far less so in a few years.  Right now, our family of 4 is living on my (job position removed) salary (salary removed), but a few years from now, I’ll be an (job position removed) and making quite a bit more.  Credit is fine, last time I checked.

We can come up with 10-15% down payment.  Also, I’ve heard that, because we make less than 80% of the Seattle median income, we’re eligible for first-time buyer assistance programs.  

So perhaps the next step is to talk to lenders?  Anyone you would recommend? Will they provide information about low-income first-time buyers programs, or is that a separate conversation?

Thanks so much for any help you can give me, and thanks again for your website!

Here was my response.

Thanks for contacting me.  I appreciate the trust.  I had a chance today to do some poking around on the house you mentioned in your e-mail.  I apologize in advance for the length of this e-mail, but I would rather give you too much info then too little.

The house itself is great .  Plenty of charm built in 1926, hardwood floors, gas heat, vintage style. Because of the year it was built, it has smaller rooms and is somewhat limited on storage space, but that is what you get for homes built in that era.  My only other caution about the home is that is runs next to 11th which gets some decent street noise.  Not sure how you feel about that but I wanted to mention it.

I attached the Seller’s disclosure and the tax records for the house.  They indicate that the owners are relocating, probably due to work.  They purchased the home in June of 2005 and paid $440K for it then. They financed $392,000 at the time and have not refinanced it since.   What that means is that they have some room to negotiate lower then the listing price.

The seller’s disclosure is pretty clean.  It does mention getting some water in the basement in November of 2007 during a particularly heavy storm, but other then that no major concerns.

As far as your finances and if now is the right time to buy, that is a bigger question to answer.  Here is what I recommend.  Sit down with the decision makers in the family.  Decide what you think you would be comfortable paying monthly for a home.  Take into consideration what you are currently paying and
how much more you think you can do.  Then test your theory.  Starting next month put away whatever the difference is between what you are currently paying in rent and what you think you can pay into a savings account.  This will do two things.  First, it will show you quickly what it will take to make the
additional payment and also start to create a pool of money to pay for all the miscellaneous things that come up when you purchase a home. (ie. Furniture, paint, carpet, etc.)  Adjust that number up and down for the next few months until you arrive at a monthly payment you are comfortable with.

Once you arrive at a number, go to a bank or lender (and yes I can recommend someone to you when you are ready) and say that you are only willing to pay $X per month all inclusive and what does that translate as a purchase price for a home.

In the mean time it doesn’t’t hurt to have me set you up with an automatic search that will e-mail you daily when homes come on the market that fit your criteria.   The criteria will evolve over time but the more homes you look at the more familiar you get with what pushes your own emotional buttons and what does not.  Let me know if you would like me to do so.   I would be happy to set it up.

10-15% to put down on a home is nice, but be careful.  There are always miscellaneous things that you will want to pay for when you move in.  As I mentioned above, new furniture, carpet, paint, etc. starts to add up.  You don’t want to empty the bank account now and leave nothing to customize the
house to your taste.  I would suggest you go conservative on that number and put down 5-10% on the home.  Yes this will increase your PMI on the loan (I can explain that if you want) but it will be a safer investment for you and your family for the next few years.  If your income changes you can always pay down your loan at a later time and lower your PMI.  But for now it is always best to play it safe.

Yes there are a number of first time home buyer assistance programs available.  It is in your best interest to do some investigating to see what ones you might qualify for and who is offering them.  There are too many to mention here but they are definitely worth the research.   Again, sorry for the length of this e-mail.  Hope the information helps.  Please keep me posted on your progress and don’t hesitate to ask if and when more questions come up.

One more thought.  As a first time home buyer, you qualify for a tax credit of $8,000 if you purchase before 2010.  One more added bonus for first time home buyer’s this year.

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I hope more of you continue to contact me with your questions  I’ll do my best to answer them.  I understand many of you have more questions then answers about the home buying process.  Just like in elementary school there are no stupid questions.  I hope to hear from more of you.

Let me know what I can do to help. 

Your Realtor

Rob Graham, Accredited Buyer’s Representative

Windermere Real Estate

206-321-6349

robgraham@windermere.com

Popularity: 3% [?]

The world is changing rapidly with regard to how you go about finding open houses in Seattle.  Sunday from 1-4 PM is the traditional time that real estate agents hold listing open for the general public to come by and take a look at homes for sale.  Open houses are a great way for neighbors and buyers to get a feel for what is available in a neighborhood and at what prices.  Finding what homes are open on a given Sunday however is getting more difficult. 

Each real estate company has a vested interest in only advertising their own company open houses.  Both my company Windermere and John L. Scott take out adds in the Seattle Times each week to try to draw attention to our open houses, in addition to putting our signs on the street corner.

Obviously you don’t care what company lists a home, you want to see all the listings that are having an open house in a single location.  Well as of now there isn’t one location to see all open houses by all companies, and the waters may get even more unclear. 

The Seattle Times is facing some serious financial problems.   Given the wealth of information available on the internet and other outlets, readership of newspapers is dropping.  As such, The Seattle Times is having problems.  Windermere is the Seattle Times single largest advertiser.  There is discussion going on right now about changing, limiting or maybe removing open house advertising in the Seattle Times on behalf of Windermere.  We will see how that shakes out.

For now the best place to find open hoses is through the Seattle Times, unfortunately you need to go to a variety of places.  To find, all the Windermere open houses today or for any given period you can still check out my search engine from my web site.  Windermere launched a special Open house Search feature.  It is getting good traffic but only offers you Windermere listings.  Maybe that will change but for now it is what it is. 

Feel free to click on my search icon, to search for open houses.

Rob Graham, Accredited Buyers Representative

Windermere Real Estate

206-321-6349

robgraham@windermere.com

Popularity: 3% [?]

I received a great question from a hopeful Seattle home buyer and thought that many of you may have the same question.  The question was:

“Can I use an FHA backed mortgage to purchase a

multi unit home, such as a

duplex, triplex or fourplex in Seattle?”

The answer is YES, and there is even better news!

FHA loans are the best financing option available for most Seattle home buyers right now and represent the majority of new loan applications.  It requires you to only put 3 1/2% down at closing as a down payment, and has far more liberal rules regarding how much and who can assist with the down payment and closing costs.  For more info on FHA loans, check out my post:

Best Financing Options for Seattle Home Buyers: FHA Loans

But yes, FHA loans can be used to purchase a duplex triplex or fourplex.  No only that, but unlike other types of loans, with an FHA loan you can use the expected income from the other units to help you qualify for the loan.  This allowance may allow Seattle home buyers to purchase a multi unit dwelling and rent out the additional units.  The allowance does not apply to a dwelling that has more then four units.  By law, a building with 5 or more units is a commercial property and requires entirely different financing and FHA rules no longer apply. 

Give me a call if you would like to receive a list of duplex, triplex and fourplex units available in Seattle.

Rob Graham, Accredited Buyers Representative

Windermere Real Estate

206-321-6349

robgraham@windermere.com

Popularity: 10% [?]

It’s no surprise to anyone that we are in difficult financial times for Seattleites.  So if you are hoping to buy a home here in the Puget Sound area in the near future and also hoping to pull back on spending a little, what are some ways you can save a little extra each month for that down payment?

Getting Started:

Set up a Savings account that you promise not to touch.   This account is exclusively to be used for money to go toward a down payment, closing cost and purchases to be made (read furniture, etc.) for your new home.  Do it in an entirely different bank from your other accounts. Setting up a savings account does two things.  First of all as it grows you will feel better about your financial situation.  The account will also earn a small bit of interest that is free money toward your future home.

Once you set up your new savings account, where do you find the money to trickle into it?

For each area you cut back, take the  money instead and put it in the savings account.  You’ll get the hang of this soon and it actually becomes a bit of a game to find more places to save.  Here are some suggestions.

• Cut back on a Latte or two. Ok this one is tough for me too,  but cutting back on just two lattes per week would generate about $9 extra dollars in that savings account per week.  Each time you drive by your coffee shop of choice, go ahead and deposit the money instead into the savings account.  Each month you will be depositing around $40 into savings.  Not a bad start.
• Loose change – This is an easy one.  Each day when you come home have a jar set out wherever you leave your keys and wallet or purse.  Put all of your loose change in a jar.  Each month take the change roll it and deposit it in the savings account.  Before long you will  be surprised at how much it adds up to.
• Take your lunch with you to work.  You can easily save $5 per day by doing this if not more.  Again take that $25 and put it in the savings account.  That’s $100 per month all by itself.
• Loose the land line.  do you really need a land line for your phone?  I gave mine up years ago and don’t miss it at all.  In the era of cell phones, having an extra phone at home is somewhat wasteful.  Ditch the land line and put that $30 per month toward your new home. 
• Loose HBO and Showtime.  Ok I love them too, but now is the time to be making some sacrifices.  Premium cable channels are fun, but how often do you really watch them.  Cut them out of your bill and you will be amazed at how much you save.  Again, put that money instead into the savings account and watch the balance grow.
• Less dinning out.  This is another hard one, but one meal for two can easily run between $50 and $100.  One less meal a month at your favorite restaurant and you are one step close to that new home.
• Give up that gym membership.  I only recommend this one if you have a membership that you do not use and or have a healthy alternative.  Riding your bike, walking, jogging outside are all free.  Don’t ever give up working out!  but if you can find healthy free alternatives and can save that monthly membership, give it up.  I did and now save $60 per month.

Some more tips:

1. Track your expenses monthly.  Go out and spend a little to get some financial tracking software.  Grab your most recent statements and get to work.  Actually sitting down to looking at your finances each month will do wonders to remind you where your money is going and where you can save for that new house.
2. Pay off your highest interest debt first.  any financial analyst always gives this advice first.  Make a list of your debts and make it a goal to pay off the highest interest debt first.  It saves you the most money in the long run and provided the interest rate you are paying is higher then the rate you are getting on that savings account, it is always in your best interest to pay it off.
3. Tap other resources.  With regard to down payments, programs such as FHA and VA loans have generous allowances for family members to gift you part if not all of down payments and closing costs.  Ask for your birthday and holiday presents for the next few years in advance.  See if grandma would like to help you out with either a gift or zero interest loan over the next few years.  Often they love to help if they can.
4. Be alert to upcoming opportunities.  The Obama administration will announce shortly, their plan to get the economy back on it’s feet.  Included in that package will be a lot of items aimed at stimulating home purchasing.  Some things discussed may include, tax breaks for home purchases, removal of penalties for accessing resources such as 401K’s to purchase a home, etc.  no one is quite sure exactly what will be introduces and ultimately passed by congress, but there will no doubt be incentives for accessing greater resources to purchase.
5. Stay motivated.  Place a photo of a beautiful dream home on the fridge, in your car or in your wallet or purse.  Reminding yourself often why you are making these sacrifices will go a long way to keeping you motivated.   Go on line and look at houses.  Set up a free search to receive new home listings in the areas you are interested in on a daily basis.  The more you do to keep your eyes on the prize, the more you are likely to stick to your efforts.

I’ll do my best to keep you posted right here to all the opportunities available to home buyers.  Feel free to subscribe to the feed to get future updates.

Related Topics:

$7,500 Tax Credit May No Longer Need to be Repaid!

How much do interest rates matter?

Best Financing Options for Seattle Home Buyers: FHA Loans

Give me a call if you need help.

Rob Graham, Accredited Buyer’s Representative

Windermere Real Estate

206-321-6349

robgraham@windermere.com

Popularity: 3% [?]