Seattle Home Buying Guide

I received a question from a friend of mine the other day and thought the answer might be of interest to some others of you. 

She is considering buying a vacation property on the coast and was wondering how to approach finding a lender.  Here was my response to her:

R,

Congrats on considering buying a little vacation home.  Sounds like fun. 

Here is a link to a page on my web site that has great mortgage reps that would be happy to help you.

http://robgrahamrealestate.com/Recommended%20Home%20Loan%20Specialists

As far as advice is concerned, start with your credit score.  You can ask for a copy of your credit rating for free from the mortgage person you speak to.  They will need to pull your credit to qualify you for a loan.   Once they have a copy you can ask them for it, rather then you pulling your credit and then having a bank pull it again.  Once you have a copy make sure all the info on it is correct and write to each of the credit reporting services individually if there is inaccurate information.  They are required by law to research and such written requests.  If your credit isn’t spectacular you may want to subscribe to one of those on line services that monitor your credit for you.  There is a monthly fee involved but they do offer some good advice for how to improve your credit score such as, getting your credit card totals down to less then 1/3 of what you can possible borrow. 

When thinking of financing, start with the end in sight.  Decide what you are comfortable for in a monthly payment.  Start with your existing monthly payment and decide how much more you feel comfortable paying.  Then you can test your theory.  Next month put the extra amount away in savings and see how it feels to not have access to it.  If the amount feels to high or too low you can adjust. 

The other nice feature of this approach is that if you keep doing this over the next few months you can accumulate a nice little next egg to use towards closing costs, moving expenses or even new furniture.  Either way you won’t suffer sticker shock of a new monthly payment. 

One more quick piece of advice:  Don’t try just one mortgage person.  If you have a relationship with a bank you may want to start there, but also try at least one broker and even a credit union if you have access to one.  Each offers slightly different products and services and you may find a better deal by shopping around a little. 

If you ever have a question, don’t hesitate to contact me.  I’ll be happy to help and even

feature your question her on the blog. 

Talk to you soon,

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Rob Graham, Windermere Real Estate

Seattle Home Buying Expert

206-321-6349

robgraham@windermere.com

Popularity: 2% [?]

When we talk about if a certain area is a buyer’s or seller’s market, we are talking about inventory.  In short, how many homes are for sale and how fast they are selling.  The more homes and the slower they are selling, the more it favors buyers.  Fewer homes selling faster favors sellers.   For quite some time we have had a buyers market in Seattle.  Seattle home buyers have had a fun time pitching low ball offers and asking sellers to pay a lot of extras they didn’t have the freedom to ask for in years gone by.  But the tide is turning as the map suggests.

The map on the left represents March of 2009 and the one on the right represents March 2010. 

Areas in green are a buyers market, those in yellow are balanced and those in red are a seller’s market. 

As you can see, a year ago most of the Seattle area was a buyers market.  Today not a single area in Seattle is a buyers market.  Most are not even balanced.  Many are actually back to being sellers market.

I am seeing this with my clients as well.  Bad or over priced properties are sitting around.  Good properties that are priced well are getting bought up quick.  Some are even selling with multiple offers. 

Buyers need to adjust their expectations quick.  Gone for now are the days of sitting back and deciding how much of your closing costs you want covered by sellers.  You need to be preapproved and ready to move when you find that dream property or risk loosing it. 

Give me a call if you need an agent.  I’d love to help.

———————————-

Rob Graham, Seattle Home Buying Specialist

Windermere Real Estate

206-321-6349

robgraham@windermere.com

www.robgrahamrealestate.com

Popularity: 3% [?]

When we talk about if a certain area is a buyer’s or seller’s market, we are talking about inventory.  In short, how many homes are for sale and how fast they are selling.  The more homes and the slower they are selling, the more it favors buyers.  Fewer homes selling faster favors sellers.   For quite some time we have had a buyers market in Seattle.  Seattle home buyers have had a fun time pitching low ball offers and asking sellers to pay a lot of extras they didn’t have the freedom to ask for in years gone by.  But the tide is turning as the map suggests.

The map on the left represents March of 2009 and the one on the right represents March 2010. 

Areas in green are a buyers market, those in yellow are balanced and those in red are a seller’s market. 

As you can see, a year ago most of the Seattle area was a buyers market.  Today not a single area in Seattle is a buyers market.  Most are not even balanced.  Many are actually back to being sellers market.

I am seeing this with my clients as well.  Bad or over priced properties are sitting around.  Good properties that are priced well are getting bought up quick.  Some are even selling with multiple offers. 

Buyers need to adjust their expectations quick.  Gone for now are the days of sitting back and deciding how much of your closing costs you want covered by sellers.  You need to be preapproved and ready to move when you find that dream property or risk loosing it. 

Give me a call if you need an agent.  I’d love to help.

———————————-

Rob Graham, Seattle Home Buying Specialist

Windermere Real Estate

206-321-6349

robgraham@windermere.com

www.robgrahamrealestate.com

Popularity: 1% [?]

I know, I know.  I have been calling for the housing recovery in Seattle for months now and I still hold that the recession has been over for some time.  But for those of you that need hard evidence here you go.

• First of all by all major indicators, (median home price, Case Schiller, etc.) single family home prices have stabilized.  In fact according to Case Schiller, we have been seeing a modest rise in prices over the past few months.  Granted that effect is most likely muted by seasonal effect, but still positive news that we are not getting worse.
• Second, keep a close eye on the employment numbers due out this Friday.  Employment is a trailing indicator of the health of the economy and all indications are that we added jobs last month for the first time in three years.  That not only suggests that things are getting better but that they have been for several months now.
• Third, the following graph shows the houses for sale, sold and under contract but not yet sold, for each of the past 15 months.

Notice the last two columns.  Pending sales (those under contract and expected to close in the next 45 days or so) shot up in February.  Not only did it go up but to the tune of 51% more homes going under contract in February then in January.  That is a big jump.  The numbers for February also rival those of the best months for all of 2009. 

With February being historically a relatively slow month, this is a big deal. 

In fact, compare February 2009 to that of ‘08.  339 pending sales in February ‘08 and 646 in Feb 2009.  Big difference.  90% difference to be exact.  Note too that March of 08’ saw a jump of 47% from Feb ‘08.  Could we be in store for a similar jump next month?  We shall see, but with the tax credit due to expire and more inventory coming on the market, there is a buzz in the industry.  A lot more transactions are taking place.  I would say that we are going to see a big leap in pending transactions when the numbers finally come in for March.

What does all this mean for you?  Well if you are waiting to list your existing home before shopping for a new one, your wait looks like it is shortening.  Depending on what you are hoping to see in value, you may want to consider listing your home this spring as opposed to later this year or next.

If you are a first time home buyer, now is the time to pounce.   With the tax credit still in effect for a few more weeks and interest rates about as low as we expect to see them in the next few years, now is the perfect storm to buy. 

Give me a call if you need help!

—————————-

Rob Graham, Seattle Home Buying Specialist

Windermere Real Estate

206-321-6349

robgraham@windermere.com

www.robgrahamrealestate.com

 

Popularity: 1% [?]

I got this great question from a client of mine today.  Here is my response:

When a listing agent advertises that they would like back up offers it can mean a couple of things.  First of all it means that someone has made an offer and the seller has accepted it.  For whatever reason the seller and listing agent aren’t 100% confident that things will go smoothly.  It could be that the buyer made a strange offer with a really long closing time line, or that the financing seems shaky.  Sometimes a buyer or buyers agent just gives you a queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach that you just don’t quite trust.  The listing agent is trying to advertise that despite the fact that they have accepted an offer, there is a better than average chance that things could go south with that offer, and you may still want to make an offer on the house.  Basically trying to keep their options open. 

Making an offer in "back up" position is a bit of a chess match however.  By accepting a back up position you by definition give the seller a lot more leverage with the existing offer.  Anything you offer that is more attractive then the current offer allows it to be used in negotiation with the other buyer.  So if for example the current buyer doesn’t like something with inspection, the listing agent can say, "hey, take it or leave it because we have a back up offer." 

A back up offer however does put you in the drives seat if the first offer goes away for any reason. 

Requesting back up offers in today’s climate are much more common.  You almost never saw them three years ago.  Now sellers and listing agents want all the assurance they can get that the house will sell.  TO ANYONE. 

The best plan is to call the listing agent and ask what the status is on the first offer.  Sometimes they are tight lipped, and sometimes they say, "Oh please put anything on paper so I can get rid of this offer!" 

It can give you a good idea of what the concerns are with the first offer area and how to structure a backup offer that is in your favor. 

Give me a call if you need help.

—————————————————

Rob Graham, Seattle Home Buying Expert

206-321-6349

robgraham@windermere.com

www.robgrahamrealestate.com

Popularity: 4% [?]