Tips from The Cascade Team Agents

by SARAH KUTA

We all know that first impressions matter when it comes to buying and selling homes. It’s why curb appeal is such an important real estate tenet, why homeowners hire professional photographers to take listing photos, and why home stagers make spaces look beautiful and inviting.

But if you only use your eyes during your search for the perfect home, you could be overlooking some very crucial clues about whether a listing is right for you. Most people forget to use all of their senses during open houses and home tours.

The next time you attend a showing, take “the five-sense approach” to home touring. Use your sight, hearing, sense of smell, touch, and even taste to evaluate each prospective home and gather information…

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High Impact Real Estate Marketing & 1% MLS Listing Commissions For Today’s Home Sellers

The Cascade Team Real Estate is a company like no other because of the marketing, service and home seller savings we provide. We understand that in today’s real estate & home selling environment, we need to provide a high level of real estate service and wide spread marketing of the home for sale, utilize technology to keep our home seller clients in the communication loop and provide added value to both buyers and home sellers in the real estate transaction. The effective use of technology tools allows our local real estate agents to focus more of their time on servicing our clients and finding buyers for your home, all the while providing the most…

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High Impact Real Estate Marketing & 1% MLS Listing Commissions For Today’s Home Sellers

The Cascade Team Real Estate is a company like no other because of the marketing, service and home seller savings we provide. We understand that in today’s real estate & home selling environment, we need to provide a high level of real estate service and wide spread marketing of the home for sale, utilize technology to keep our home seller clients in the communication loop and provide added value to both buyers and home sellers in the real estate transaction. The effective use of technology tools allows our local real estate agents to focus more of their time on servicing our clients and finding buyers for your home, all the while providing the most…

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There are currently eight (8) licensed real estate agents in the greater Seattle area for every (1) house available to sell.

With Nearly 8 Agents for Every 1 Listing, What Are YOU Doing to Stand Out? The Cascade Team Can Help!

As New Agents Pile into Hot Housing Market. Most Find It Tough Going.

The red-hot housing market has achieved a number of milestones this past year. Perhaps the most telling is this: There are more real-estate agents than homes for sale. Currently in the Pacific NW that number is a staggering 8 to 1 ratio (Being 8 agents to every single available listing).

So how do you stand out?

How do you break into the industry and manage to secure one of these elusive listings?

Imagine having clients actually chase after…

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Jacob Pass 

Fast-rising housing costs have helped to push inflation to a 13-year high. But the way that government statisticians track the price of consumer goods may be missing just how explosive home-price growth has been in recent months.

Housing costs rose by 0.4% between April and May, according to the latest edition of the monthly consumer price index released Thursday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Compared with last year, housing prices were up 2.2%.

Altogether, the rise in housing prices accounted for over a quarter of the overall increase in inflation in May, a reflection of how heavily government economists weight this spending category.

But if that 2.2% figure seems off based on your own experience of buying or selling a…

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  •          May’s inventory plummeted by 4,824 listings (down 46.6%). YOY
  •          Active listings dropped from April to May for the first time in at least 20 years.
  •          Average SOLD price in King County for April was 109.5% of asking price.
  •          In the 4-county Puget Sound region (King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap), the figure was 108.6%

With rising values and limited inventory, Seattle's red-hot real estate market shows no signs of slowing down heading into the summer months.

While those looking to sell already have the upper hand, there may be another factor at play for houses flying off the market within mere days: the day of the week they are listed.

A new market analysis from Seattle-based Zillow found that homes…

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WHAT IS BUYER FATIGUE?

We are currently experiencing a hypercompetitive seller’s market with low inventory and many active buyers. This quickly spirals potential homebuyers into the frustrating realm of buyer fatigue. Buyer fatigue refers to buyers who have seen so many properties, written too many unsuccessful offers, and are flat out exhausted with the buying process. Searching for the dream home can be an exhaustive undertaking and when you are losing out time and time again you start to feel like you will never win a bid.

Conversely, while all of this is great news for sellers because it means an increased sale price and shortened transaction time, it can be overwhelming for Listing agents and homeowners as well. Sellers and agents having to…

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Seattle area prices are surging.

Median prices system-wide surged 19.5% compared to a year ago. Statistics show a 55.9% decline in total active listings, shrinking from 9,418 at the end of March 2020 to 4,153 at month end March 2021.

The resulting lack of inventory combined with area job growth has created a market where double-digit price hikes were widespread. In fact, mutually accepted offers surged 40.6% compared to February with Seattle/Bellevue region now ranks #1 in technology office space leases, eclipsing San Francisco.

In a market like this you need more than an agent to just stick a sign in the yard. You need a detailed marketing plan that’s going to get…

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We’ve all heard anecdotes of housing shortages and ridiculous all-cash offers.

The logical conclusion for many prognosticators is to call this yet another housing bubble.

I don’t think this is the case. Here’s why:

There are more credit-worthy borrowers. Yes, housing prices are rising at a rapid clip, but this is nothing like the subprime crisis. Just look at the credit scores for mortgage originations:

 

Loans are mostly being made to those with high credit scores and sizable down payments, the exact opposite of the subprime housing boom.

According to the Wall Street Journal, mortgage credit availability is near its lowest point since 2014. This means the banks pulling back on lending or households pulling back because they have…

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  •          Double-digit price hikes were widespread.
  •          Mutually accepted offers surge 40.6% compared to February.
  •          The drop in the number of active listings between now and last year is extraordinary.
  •          Statistics show a 55.9% decline in total active listings, shrinking from 9,418 at the end of March 2020 to 4,153 at month end March 2021.
  •          Seattle/Bellevue region now ranks #1 in technology office space leases, eclipsing San Francisco
  •          Median prices system-wide surged 19.5% compared to a year ago.

KIRKLAND, Washington (April 7, 2021) – Brokers with Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) added 10,562 new listings to inventory during March -- the highest volume since September when they…

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