The Seattle Specialist

Compare Your Neighborhood to your Relocation Destination

Published July 23, 2010

I’ve discovered a great resource for people relocating to cities where they don’t know the neighborhoods well. This site allows them to compare features and demographics of neighborhoods in the city they are going to move to, with neighborhoods in cities they are familiar with. It’s called Homethinking.com.

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For information about many of Seattle’s great neighborhoods, please check out the extensive neighborhood descriptions with videos on my website, Seattle-RealEstate.com.

iPhone iOS4.0 Uses for Real Estate

Published June 8, 2010

Note regarding compatibility: iOS 4 is intended to work with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, and the new iPhone 4. Not all features will be compatible with all devices. For example, multitasking is available only with iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS.

With the announcement of the new iPhone 4, Apple also announced it will be releasing a major upgrade to it’s iPhone Operating System software, iOS4. They are even changing the name to iOS, signaling this is a major upgrade, not a just a minor update. I got to thinking about the possible workflow changes and improvements this can mean for real estate agents, as well as for the companies that develop software that agents use. After all, Apple is saying, “This changes everything. Again.” Even though the iOS4.0 will be a significant upgrade it will be free. So I imagine that most people who can, will eventually install the upgrade. So here are my initial thoughts of how this may make a difference for those agents who make the iPhone one of their tools in the field:

Multitasking
This is a huge improvement that people have been asking to get for a long time. Imagine talking to a client about a property while looking on your favorite real estate IDX app and then sending them pictures while talking to them in real time. You can be referencing statistics and info instead of the old “I’ll look up that information and call you back.” that we have been doing.

Folders
Okay, if you’re a geek like me and have tons of apps, this can really help you organize stuff. Now I am constantly flipping through pages trying to find an app. Often I have just given up and gone to the Searchlight to find it. I have been trying to organize pages by categories for a long time, but whenever you move an icon everything shuffles around making your organizational efforts a waste of time. Specific to real estate, I can imagine “Listing URLs” (domains or pages dedicated to one listing) saved to your home screen and organized into folders to share or access quickly. No more having to save as a bookmark, which takes several clicks to access if you can remember where it is.

Gift Apps
This sounds like a GREAT sales tool agents can use for prospective clients. Upon finding out that a prospect has an iPhone, you can offer to send them a localized app with IDX searching and other premium features that normally has a charge to download. If the app costs 99 cents in the App Store, it’s a very affordable promotional gift to try and create some good will and loyalty.

Faces and Places in Photos
The camera on existing iPhones can already capture GPS location data on the pictures it takes. But there hasn’t been a way to view where photos were taken on the phone itself. The new iOS 4 there’s will support viewing a map of geotagged photos within the Photos app on the iPhone and iPod touch. This will make searching for pictures and videos of listings and properties a lot easier. Currently most people spend a lot of time flipping through the camera roll to find pictures or videos, even though they know geographically where the photo was taken. If this gets integrated into personal Google Maps I can think of lots of uses.

Spell Checking
FINALLY spell checking in Mail, notes and even other apps! Yippie! ’nuff said.

5.0 Megapixal Camera
I put this last because it’s a new iPhone 4 gen specific feature, NOT just a iOS 4 feature. But I think this potentially can be the biggest improvement for real estate purposes and may even justify the cost of the hardware upgrade. For those who carry a camera and an iPhone around (like me), you can now carry JUST have an iPhone, because the quality will equal or rival most digital cameras you might carry around. Also, if you use JotNot (iTunes Link) for document scanning and some kind of faxing software send and receive documents, this, along with the Retina Display, will substantially improve the quality of scanned, faxed, and delivered real estate documents.

Lots of goodies here and more to come as developers jump in and get creative. The past three years that the iPhone has been out has shown that lots of great stuff will most certainly follow a major upgrade like this.

For those interested in taking my Washington State certified Clockhours “iPhone Apps for Real Estate” class, please check for upcoming classes at the Facebook Business Page Real Estate iPhone Apps Class

Military Extension for Tax Credit in Seattle

Published May 6, 2010

With Tax Day 2010 behind us, Americans can begin the countdown until April 15, 2011. For millions, the passing of this year’s taxes closes the door on the homebuyer tax credit but for hundreds of thousands of qualified service members, the deadline is more than a year away.

Members of the Foreign Service, Armed Forces or intelligence community assigned to official extended duty have until April 30, 2011 to sign a binding sales contract for a home. The deadline to close that deal is July 30, 2011.

Given all the time to find a home, prospective homebuyers are sure to check out dozens of markets, but should not overlook Seattle. Sandwiched between Puget Sound and Lake Washington, Seattle is a beautiful city for a veteran to call home. And with Naval, Air Force, as well as Coast Guard bases, Seattle is already home to a thriving military community.

There are a few basic terms homebuyers must meet to qualify. No home’s purchase price can exceed $800,000. First-time homebuyers and their spouses cannot have owned a home in the last three years. Individuals and married couples with an annual income of at least $125,000 or $250,000 respectively cannot qualify for the tax credit.

Repeat buyers may qualify for a return of up to $6,500, but they must have lived in their former residence for five of the last eight years. All other requirements remain the same.

Even if they have are using a loan guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, members of the military can still qualify for the homebuyer tax credit. Should qualified service members be forced to sell or move from a tax credit home within three years of buying it, they are exempt from being recaptured.

Robert Stretch works in content development for VA Mortgage Center.com. Interested in applying for a VA loan? Visit the VA Mortgage Center website today.

Basement Windows for Bedrooms and Accessory Dwelling Units

Published April 18, 2010

Many homes in Seattle have an ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit), often referred to as a mother-in-law apartment, in the basement. The ADUs in older homes are often illegal because they are not remodeled to current building code, or they have not received a proper ADU building permit, or both. The City of Seattle has largely turned a blind eye to this because they just don’t have the man-power to enforce it, and the reality is that cheap urban housing is scarce and desperately needed.

But the building codes are there for a reason, and many of them are safety related. Windows and window well requirements are a good example. The city has some very specific size requirement for these to help provide adequate egress in case of fire. Almost all of the older homes in Seattle with basements were built with small inaccessible windows at the top of the foundation areas above ground. These were really designed more for ventilation and light, since the basements were unfinished and not meant for living spaces.

These should not be listed as bedrooms by agents in listing remarks, but some agents do it anyway. The main thing to remember is that these areas are not safe for emergency egress and there may also be inherent liability for the owner who unwittingly rents this out as living space and, God forbid, there is a fire or accident where someone can not get out. So I am always relieved to see a basement area that has been remodeled with proper windows and window wells. It makes me think this is an owner who cared enough to make sure it was down right.

Supra to Develop iPhone Keybox Opener and Application

Published April 9, 2010

A few days ago I was invited by the NWMLS to participate in a focus group discussion with Supra to talk about the upcoming iPhone App and hardware dongle that they will releasing soon. There were about a dozen agents who participated and some great feedback was generated for Supra to use.

As most people know, the limiting issue with the iPhone for Supra Keyboxes is the lack of an IR port. The old Palm Treo had this and so it popular as an E-Key. Both the Blackberry and the iPhone (the two main smart phones on the market) need some kind of hardware accessory to make this work. The Blackberry uses a fob that retransmits the IR signal via Bluetooth. And the upcoming iPhone IR accessory will attach to the bottom of the iPhone to receive the data (see video below).

Once the device is attached and the application launched, you will need to put in your lag number and password. Then you will be prompted for what action you want to perform, typically to open the keybox or release the shackle. You then will be prompted for the shackle or keybox PIN. At this point, the phones UI (user interface) will rotate 180 degrees. This is because you will need to point the bottom of the phone (where to fob is attached) to the keybox IR port.

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The fob attached to the iPhone must be pointing directly at the keybox IR port. It sounds clumsy, but it really is no big deal. iPhone users are already used to having their screens flip from portrait to landscape and this is not much different. Once the keybox function is completed it turns back around.

Lot’s of cool ideas were bantered about. Especially ideas that would utilize the iPhones internal mapping and geo-tagging functions. Such as: setting up prearranged tours with directions, finding nearby similar listings after a keybox is opened, interacting with other iPhone apps like Zillow and Walkscore to get data and statistics you can share with the client you are showing. Probably the biggest request was the ability to email or SMS istings on-the-fly with added pics and video to clients. This would be a big selling point and would give agents a way to clearly differentiate themselves.

All of this is due out sometime later this summer. But remember when a developer tells you “real-soon-now” you better pad the timeline.

I’m now at eXp Realty!

Published April 5, 2010

Well, some of you already know this. And others may just be tuning into by blog to see if it’s true. And yes it is. Jim Reppond made a change in employment. Effective April 5, 2010 I resigned at Coldwell Banker Bain and joined eXp Realty.

Some of you are saying eXp who? And others are saying, who cares? Well, for the record, I CARE!? And if you don’t that’s fine too. And for those asking “who is eXp?” more of that to come later.

I want to first thank all the wonderful people I was so blessed to be able to associate with at Coldwell Banker nationally, as well as locally at the CBBain affiliate. The decision did not come lightly and I had to do some serious soul searching before I made the move. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You will always be close to my heart!

That said, I am thrilled with the move and very excited to be part of the most dynamic and forward-thinking real estate team on the planet. It’s literally like stepping into the future when you go to work at eXp Realty. Everything is so ahead of it’s time. We work in a virtual office, everyone uses Google Docs, agents get paid bonuses for blogging, and the company is rapidly growing and quickly becoming a significant national presence adding states almost daily. When I was assigned my jim.reppond@seattlepowersearch.com email (through Gmail, of course) I had 89 emails waiting for me from people welcoming me and giving me tips and tutorials on how to do stuff, etc. But if I needed help I could just go to the company Wiki where it’s all organized. You get the picture.

Many of you have never heard of eXp Realty. But a lot of people have heard of their website, SeattlePowerSearch.com. They have been at the top of Google’s organic searches for the term “Seattle Real Estate” for years. They have a huge following of perspective buyers who use their site to search and find a Realtor.

At it’s heart, real estate is still a relationship business. Whether you work in a traditional bricks-and-mortar shop, or you meet in virtual conference rooms, or you arrange every appointment at a Starbucks. No one wants to list with or buy a home from an avatar. But that doesn’t mean agents should run away from technology and tools they can use to better serve their clients, either. I’m proud to be part of a “let’s embrace the opportunities ” family. I feel like I am at home now.

Location, Location, … View

Published April 3, 2010

Everyone says real estate is about “location, location, location.” Of course, they say that to drill it into your head so you don’t forget. Yes, location is a primary factor. But other things need to be weighed into the equation.

I recently was invited to a Brokers Open private event by the newly formed marketing group of Realogics-Sotheby’s at the 1521 Second Condominiums to have a candid discussion about views and the value they add to a property. Holding the event on the 35th floor overlooking the Pike Place Market with unobstructed views of Elliot Bay kind of drove the point home. Views matter. Views matter a lot.

William Justen and Dean Jones spoke in depth about the “Value of the View” particularly as it pertained to the micro-downtown Seattle condo market. Their theory is that the closer you get to the water, and the more unobstructed and protected your view is, the highly the value of the property. They have some pretty compelling statistics to back this up. They envision the west side of 2nd Avenue as being Seattle’s own “Park Avenue” in 15 years. They may be right. But I think the final development of the waterfront after the removal of the overhead viaduct may change that perception.

If you look at the virtual tour that Urban Condominium created several years a go to predict the downtown landscape for 2012, it’s interesting that almost all of the projects to the east of 4th Avenue have been shelved for now.

Since the changes in zoning limiting high-rise towers to a maximum of two per block, there was a rush of MUP (master use permit) applications. And now with the recent extension of MUPs to 6 years before requiring renewal, developers can take their time before jumping back into construction of new projects. This will be good for the city in the long run because developers will have even more time to plan projects out better.

Green is not just about St Paddy’s anymore

Published March 14, 2010

Seems like with March St Patrick’s Day upon us, people are pulling out all the stops for green. But these days, green has a lot more to do with environmentally friendly issues than leprechauns. There are some great tax incentives for those who seek them out. People are often surprised at the wide range of home improvements that qualify for federal tax credits. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (signed on February 17, 2009, by President Obama) made major changes to homeowner tax credits for specified energy-efficient home improvements. Some of the more significant changes include the extension of the tax credit through 2010 and the increase in the total available tax credit from 10% to 30% of the purchase price of many items.

While some of these items have a long return on investment, even with the tax credit, there is still the satisfaction of knowing that you are doing your part to help reduce energy consumption. Some of the more obvious things to consider with the most impact on energy as well cost savings are:

• Hot water heaters
• Windows
• Insulation and weather-stripping
• Doors and skylights

If you really want to cut deep into your energy consumption, and even perhaps become a producer who feeds back into the grid and gets energy credits, you can consider generating your own power. These have up to a 30 percent tax credit available and include solar energy systems, small wind turbines, and fuel cells.

To learn more about what tax breaks you can get, go to the Department of Energy’s website. They list out all the various credits and time lines and show the efficiencies that can be obtained.

Dec 2009 Seattle Stats are Here - by Neighborhood

Published January 27, 2010

I just uploaded the Seattle home sales statistics by neighborhood for December 2009 to my website for clients to access, so I thought I would share them on my blog as well. I have broken out single family residences and condos by neighborhood for analysis. The Talon Title Group compiles this data for me and I find it helpful when counseling buyers and sellers about the current market conditions. Most title companies can only create this data by zip code. But having it by actual neighborhood is much easier to use (unless you are a postal worker:-)

Some neighborhoods don’t have enough transactions to give you an accurate picture of the market. So it might make sense to analyze nearby neighborhood data as well to get a better idea what’s really happening.This December year we had fairly significant drops in values in most parts of the city. This may be partly due to the tax credit pushing first time buyers to close by the end of November in order to qualify for the credit, leaving a lack of buyers for the month of December. Since that has been extended we have seen increased activity in the market again.

On a related note, the NWMLS (Northwest Multiple Listing Service) just published their Brokers report showing their 2009 totals. The NWMLS encompasses 19 counties and about 80% of Washington State’s population, Their report shows that total single family homes and condo sales were down in 2009 about 3.7% from 2008 levels. That totals about 52,000 transactions for a combined sales value of more than $17 billion dollars.

(neighborhood data provided by the Talon Title Group. Data may or may not be accurate and no guarantees are implied. The condo year-to-date data only reflects data collected from July 2009 because it was unavailable in this format before that.)

2010 Furlough Days and Holidays

Published January 14, 2010

Apparently King County is not planning to have any unpaid County Courthouse furlough days this year to cut costs in their budget. But Pierce and Snohomish County have a few. These can sneak up on you if you are not careful and can cause havoc to transactions that need to be recorded. I try to keep a page of them on my website buried somewhere every year and have it bookmarked for quick access. Anyone else that may need it can do the same. This year it is:

http://seattle-realestate.com/2010_Closure_Dates.html

In addition, I have listed the last day of each month available for signing re-financing transactions to close to accommodate the three day rescission requirements. This can be handy to know for clients who are trying to get properties refinanced as close to the end of the month as possible.