The sales price of neighboring homes is only one part of the equation. Be sure that sellers understand the other factors that affect how their home compares to their neighbors'.

Location within the neighborhood.

If your seller’s home is in a part of the neighborhood that borders a highway, train tracks, or an industrial area, it’ll likely fetch a lower price. Make sure you pull comps of other homes in similar locations to compare and explain pricing differences to sellers.

The home’s lot.

Take into account that hilly terrain can affect the usability of each home’s lot and bring your seller’s price down. You can have two one-acre lots next to each other, and one can be fully usable while the other is only half usable because of steep…

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Thank you to everyone who turned out for this year’s annual Issaquah Highlands Days Celebration. There were tons on kids all dressed in costumes, and many adults too! Matt as Batman and Janet as Deadpool really did a wonderful job and the kids loved getting their pictures taken. Janet can barely walk today after squatting down probably 500 times to take pictures with the “Little Ones”.

Also a special “Thank You!” to Tiffany Ciambrone, Kelly Azzarello, Allison Connor, Victor Lozada, Dave Reynolds (From our Spokane office who came out), Jennifer Strach, Diego Vitelli, and Richard Whaley who all came out and helped set-up and make the event such a success!

Here are some of the pictures from the day!


Thank you again to everyone!

Local…

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Saturday, August 27th!

Join The Cascade Team for the Issaquah Highlands Day Festival!

This annual summer celebration is Saturday, August 27th from 12PM-4PM. 

Located at Blakely Hall and Village Green Park: 2550 NE Park Drive, Issaquah WA 98029

Be sure to check out our booth!  Meet Batman and Deadpool and get your picture taken with them!  Download our Comic Book HERE and read the action packed story of Batman and Deadpool VS "The Commission Creeps"!

Batman And Deadpool VS. The Commission Creeps!

Download our Comic Book HERE to read the story!

We will also be giving away FREE beach balls and Frisbees!
 
Other highlights of the event include carnival rides, giant inflatables, food trucks and the always popular market place of…

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the White House, with american flag in foreground

Now that the presidential race is hurtling forward at a breakneck pace, we got to pondering one of the many prizes at the finish line: the chance to live in the White House!

Because let’s face it, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is not only the seat of power for the free world, it’s also a pretty nice place. Sitting on 18 acres of prime Washington, DC, real estate, its 55,000 square feet featuring 132 rooms, 28 fireplaces, and more than 750 historic artifacts.

All of which got us wondering: How much is the White House actually worth? In cold, hard cash?

Some, of course, might argue that you can’t put a price tag on this symbolic structure any more than you could price the pyramids in Egypt or the Eiffel Tower in Paris. But the Royal Institution of…

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Out with the old and in with the high-tech. A new survey found that Americans are thinking differently about “move-in ready” homes; they now want it to be “smart ready” too. The survey of 1,250 U.S. adults who have broadband Internet access at home found that 71 percent of all respondents want a move-in ready home. But the poll uncovered an interesting twist. Of the respondents who opted for a move-in ready home, 44 percent said that smart home technology should already be installed. Another 57 percent would consider an older home updated if it had smart home technology.   Move-in ready is being redefined by home technology.  

  • 71 percent of all U.S. Broadband Households if they were to buy a house today, they would want it to be…

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Seattle; Grab those goggles and hit the pool

While when it comes to the top cities to raise a great swimmer, most of the top towns are in warm, sunny states where it’s easy to be out in the pool: think California, Florida, Texas, and Hawaii, don't count out Seattle as the Seattle market came in at a solid number two! Metros in these states have the most access to swim lessons, pools, beaches, lakes, and sports clubs. And you’ll spend a lot of time honing your skills to make the cut: Of the roughly 1,850 swimmers that enter the trials, only about 50 qualify for the U.S. team.

Where you grow up may have some influence over whether you could become the next world-class athletic superstar. So which cities hold the best chances for raising the…

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As a homebuyer in today’s market, you’re no doubt at your wit’s end trying to find your dream home.

And when you find a home you love,  you’re competing with all cash offers and bidding wars driving the sales price above what it’s listed for, and many times, even above what the home is actually worth!

While there is nothing you can do to create more homes for sale, you can certainly arm yourself by understanding the trends and patterns in the areas you’re trying to buy in.

  • Price. Price is not always the most important factor.  (We will help you learn the hidden secrets!)
  • Earnest Money Deposit.  (How much to put down and on what terms.)
  • How much are people paying for similar properties in the area?
  • How Much can you…

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This class we covered how to set up and post/share on: 

  • Business Facebook 

  • LinkedIn Profile 

  • Google + and YouTube 

  • Pinterest 

Below are the steps for setting up a page on each site. 

Facebook:  

  • Go to the dropdown arrow on the top right hand corner of the page and select "Create Page" 

  • Choose "local business" and select real estate from the dropdown 

  • Fill out the information in the spaces and click "get started" 

  • From there, you'll be taken to categories. Select "Real Estate Agent" and leave the subcategories as they are  

  • Below, fill out your bio. Broader is better! You only have 155 characters 

  • You can also include the link for…

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Community And School Reports

 

Home values can get a big increase from having a highly rated school nearby. According to the new ATTOM Data Solutions 2016 Schools and Housing Report, homes in ZIP codes with at least one good elementary school have values about 77 percent higher than in ZIP codes without highly ranked schools close by.

Researchers looked at home values and price appreciation against 2015 average test scores in nearly 19,000 elementary schools across 4,435 ZIP codes. They considered a “good school” to be one that had an overall test score that was at least one-third above the state average.

The research team found that out of 1,661 ZIP codes with at least one good school, the average estimated home value was $427,402 – 77…

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Thirty Seven (37) listing just this week for www.TheCascadeTeam.com setting a new single week record for the most listings and also a single day record of 23 listings in one day this Friday! All of this further pointing to signs that the local real estate markets are beginning to come into balance. Learn More Here: 

Those listings can be viewed at this link: http://www.thecascadeteam.com/greater-seattle-listings.php

This year has brought steady improvements in the real estate market. Prices rose driven by lower inventory in many markets, and consumers remained relatively optimistic about the economy and its direction—an encouraging indicator for real estate. While the long-anticipated increase in interest rates will likely occur in late…

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