Windermere Woodinville Blog

Back in ‘55 once you left the Seattle district and its iconic schools like Lincoln, Roosevelt and Garfield and headed north, you didn’t hit another high school until Everett.  Sure there were Edmonds and Bothell, but they weren’t due north of Seattle.

Shoreline was the first jewel in what would become a crown of first-class suburban high schools above Seattle.   State-of-the-art for it’s day, the Shoreline campus sprawled on one level with buildings connected by “breeze ways.”  It quickly gained traction to ascend to the heights  in everything from  academics, to award-winning marching bands to domination of the gritty field sports. 

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King County Overview

Best week in King County sales since we started keeping track!

The market continues to set high watermarks.

Yellow – Balanced Market, Red – Seller’s Market Green – Buyer’s Market

Seattle market has the three bars of red; Seattle’s Eastside two greens and the rest yellow; South King County all balanced except one promising seller’s market in red.

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HOME INSPECTOR LICENSING

The State of Washington has a Home Inspector Licensing law which is now in effect.  Anyone who has been performing home inspections should be licensed by September 1, 2009.

There is no requirement that Errors & Emissions Insurance be carried by an inspector. Most good inspectors do carry this. Question any inspector you work with about this coverage. 

Home Inspectors are no longer required to be licensed by the Department of Agriculture as a Wood Destroying Organism/Pest Inspector. If you are working with an FHA or VA loan, the lack of this additional license may result in additional expense and confusion.

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Thanks to Hank Stecker, Branch Manager/Mortgage Consultant, Windermere Mortgage

And thanks for reading the blog.  Much appreciated.

According to economist Matthew Gardner, Washington will be one of the first to start creating jobs again.  Growth here will start to occur in the fourth quarter of this year.

A recovery in our housing market will be predicated on a reduction in overall inventory levels.

Gardner is pleased by the inventory reductions that he sees across most of our markets.

The rate of decline in real estate values is also slowing

We have seen a three month increase in transactional velocities (the first time since 2004) providing support for the notion that the market may be finding its footing.

There are still too many homes for sale – and many of them in distress – but Gardner continues to see data that, if not pointing up, is not pointing down either.

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Short Sale Work: When the lien holder wants the purchase price increased beyond that agreed upon by buyer and seller - negotiate.  Make the agreement for the buyer to pay more than the agreed upon purchase price conditioned on lien holder performance on other matters important to the buyer.

Buyer’s increase shall be conditioned on the Seller (read lien holders, that is, all lien holders) agreeing:

• To close on the date set in the contract,
• To having the seller pay the usual and customary closing costs, including but not limited to the following:
• half of escrow and title fees;
• a title policy for buyer at seller’s expense,
• pro-ration of taxes,
• all utilities paid from seller proceeds at closing,
• all of the excise taxes paid by seller,
• all charges and assessments due after closing paid by seller,
• any transaction fees  paid by seller.
• To not assess any penalties or per diems for late closing not the fault of the buyer.
• To pay a full commission to selling office, based on final purchase price. (no reductions)
• Finally, buyer will not contribute beyond his increased purchase price figure to satisfy demands of other lien holders.
• Failure of the seller to honor these conditions shall be grounds for the buyer to terminate this transaction with return of all earnest money to buyer.

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Though the official expiration date of the credit is December 1, on-the-fence buyers will need to make a decision. In order to qualify for the credit, the home purchase must close by December 1st. Merely having loan approval, an accepted offer or a signed contract won’t be enough to qualify for the Housing and Economic Recovery Act.

On average, closing takes place 45 to 60 days after the date that the contract is signed. In order to meet the December 1st deadline, this would mean having a signing date in late September or early October.

Buyers who make an offer on a short sale property or bank-owned foreclosure may find that it takes a significantly longer time to receive a reply than expected. Overall, buying these types of properties is a longer process than buying homes listed on the market by individual owners.  Get a move on.

Thanks for reading our blog and thanks to …

Jane Favor.  Check her out http://www.janefavor.webnetrealty.com

Meeting on Hood Canal this month, a group of U of W fraternity brothers take the sun.  Lots of forehead out there.

These gentlemen of summer parted company at Alpha Delta Phi in the early 60s, but many have kept up friendships to the present.   Witness the dedication of those gathering on the Canal.

Of course behind every successful brother we find a wife who makes her husband take his vitamins and gives the old collegiate a reason to live.

These ladies (and some of the gents) produce a summer table that does nothing to hold the waistline.  Very good eats.

And over the years the camaraderie becomes tighter; the conversations (even if lighter) more meaningful  … for the reason that they are being conducted at all.  Here we see the survivors of the college of hard knocks.

And aren’t they beautiful:  that is, the hills beyond, the summer skies, and yes, of course, the ladies and gentlemen of Alpha Delta Phi.

God bless them all.

Thanks for reading our blog and thanks to Carol Crosetto for the photographs.

• Washington Square –379 units, Tower 1 is 70% sold out, tower 2 about 30% sold.
• Bellevue Towers –  534 units, only 33% sold out for the entire complex.
• One Main – 62 units, 50% sold out.
• The Vue at Meydenbauer - about 50+/- units, apartment conversions with a bulk of inventory in the $375-550K+ range.
• The Continental - about 35+/- units, apartment conversions with a bulk of inventory in the $375-550K+ range. 

For more background please see a recent article from PSBJ on the high rise condominium towers in Bellevue:

http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2009/06/22/story1.html?t=printable

Thanks to Julia Krill, WRE Yarrow Bay, who compiled the above information on Downtown Bellevue Condominiums. Much appreciated, Julia.

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