The Seattle Specialist

Welcome to Neighborhood, Coldwell Banker Danforth. Really!

Published May 13, 2009

A new Coldwell Banker office is just opening in the neighborhood. It’s a Coldwell Banker Danforth office and it’s situated on the SE corner of Northgate Way and NE Meridian. I would have preferred it were a branch of Coldwell Banker Bain, but at least it’s Coldwell Banker!

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Open as of May 13, 2009.

HUD Secretary Announces Monetization of Tax Credit for FHA Loans

Published May 12, 2009

Shaun Donovan, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, announced today that the Federal Housing Administration is going to permit its lenders to allow homeowners to use the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment.

He made these remarks in an address this morning at The Real Estate Summit: Advancing the U.S. Economy, a special daylong session at the Realtor’s Midyear Legislative Meetings and Trade Expo in Washington D.C.

This may mean that the Washington Realtors and State legislature’s plans to essentially do the same thing becomes a moot point. It actually makes for sense to do it on a federal level because funds from the tax credit will be coming from another federal agency, the IRS.

According to Donovan, the FHA’s approved lenders will be permitted to “monetize” the tax credit through short-term bridge loans. This will allow eligible home buyers to access the funds immediately at the closing table.This was the first announcment of this program and no other major detailed have been outlined yet.

Obviously much more to come on this subject.

Increase in Pending Sales in April Reported

Published May 6, 2009

The NWMLS (Northwest Multiple Listing Service) reported the April statistics today. The jump in sales and pending sales was pretty dramatic. More importantly, the unsold inventory has decreased to more normal market levels, signalling a probable turn in the market. The increased activity can be felt throughout the market, with mortgage , title, and escrow businesses busy as well as real estate brokerages.

Pending sales of single-family homes in King County was over 2,000 in April, the first month it has been that high since August 2007. In percentage terms, pending sales in King county were up 25 percent from March, and up nearly 15 percent from April 2008.

And it wasn’t just Seattle. For the four-county Puget Sound area (King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish), there were 5,372 pending sales, the highest total since August 2007 and a jump of 26 percent from March.

To quote the press release:

Lower prices, record low mortgage interest rates, improving consumer confidence, the $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit and other incentives for buyers are credited with spurring activity. Industry officials, noting activity is quite strong in the lower, more affordable price ranges, hesitate to declare a housing recovery is under way.

I know a lot of buyers have been sitting on the sidelines waiting to see when the bottom of the market is reached before they jump in. I think these are strong indications that time has arrived.

New Program to Help First Time Home Buyers

Published May 3, 2009

A new program is about to roll out to help first-time home buyers. So far it’s been reported about in a couple of places I could find, The Capitol Record in Olympia, and a short article in the Seattle Times. But I think this is going to be a big deal. I first heard about this from one of the representatives in our office to Washington Realtors. Now, those who know me well know that I am usually a major critic of both the National Realtor Association and the Washington Realtors. But if this program actually comes out in the format they are talking about, I may be converted to a fan after all. It not a done deal yet, but it’s getting close and if the minor IRS regulation in the way gets changed quickly, it looks likely.

Here’s how it would work: Those who qualify for the up to $8,000 Federal Tax Credit would could use the funds in advance as down payment and closing cost assistance at the time of purchase.

The State legislature would allocate $25 million of state funds into interest-earning accounts at an FDIC-insured bank. The bank would provide a revolving line of credit to the Washington State Housing Financing Commission to greatly expand its down payment bridge-loan efforts. The Washington Realtors have pledged $400,000 as a backstop to cover any unexpected losses to the state. Prospective borrowers need to take a First Time Homeowners class administered by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission and may be required to assign their IRS tax credit refund to the lender. A second mortgage may be attached to their home if they fail to pay it back.

This could be just the kick in the pants that the market needs to jump start it back to life. Up to now, none of the federal or state programs have made a huge difference. The $8,000 credit only works for lower and middle income participants, exactly the people who often don’t have enough savings to purchase a home.

Watch for more to come…

How to Use Social Media - Panel Disucssion

Published April 12, 2009

Geared to Real Estate Industry Professionals.

It’s pretty clear that a lot of Real Estate Professionals are struggling with the new social media wave that has overtaken many forms of online communication. Many people check their Facebook pages more often than their email these days. And Twitter has become the most effective customer service interface for many companies. If agents and brokerages are going to appeal to and attract new clients they are going to have to embrace these technologies or learn to accept that they are part an increasingly limited sphere of humanity.

The panelists include some of the area’s better known social media maven’s and should be quite insightful.

Dan Mc Comb, co-founder of Biznik.com, named Seattle’s top 25 most innovative entrepreneurs by the Seattle Business Monthly, will speak on social and business networking, including Facebook and Twitter.

Denise Seavitt, CEO of Seavitt Real Estate, will discuss web marketing and database management.

Rich Jacobson, Community Manager of Activerain, will cover blogging, localism and community building.

This seminar is being moderated by Claudia Wicks of Real Estate Base Camp. Her background includes developing nationally acclaimed training programs for Coldwell Banker and John L. Scott and being the National Director of Training and Real Estate Content for HouseValues.

The price is dirt cheap at only $10 (and a can of food for Northwest Harvest) and will be a teaser for RE Base Camp’s more intensive courses for those who decide to dive in and want help. It’s being held at SKAR on April 29, 2009 from 9-10:30am. Surprisingly RE Base Camp does not have any online registration capabilities. So you’ll have to call to make your reservation: 425-974-1011.(click here for PDF flyer)