The Cascade Team Blog - Agent Tips

Real Estate Scams, Fraud & Questionable Practices (Free Clock-Hour Class  September 21st, 2016 10 -1:00)

3 Clock Hour Course On Issues Affecting Consumers and Real Estate Agents

There is no shortage of fraud in our industry!  Join Natalie Danielson and get to know the signs!  Real estate agents, their clients and the properties are vulnerable in the marketplace. It is important to know when to avoid situations that may carry a greater chance for problems.

This Three clock hour course is an introduction to different types of scams and fraud that can affect a consumer and real estate agents. There  are times when a seller, buyer or the real estate agent may be vulnerable in a real estate sales situation. In this industry real estate agents and brokers need to be aware what decisions may affect their clients,  the property or themselves. It  is…

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Seattle (Especially Eastside Suburbs) Becomes No. 1 U.S. Market for Chinese Homebuyers/ Investors

By Mike Rosenberg Seattle Times business reporter:

There’s been a large increase this year in Chinese buyers looking for property in the Seattle area, and a new tax on foreign buyers in Vancouver, B.C., is expected to amplify the trend.

A growing wave of money from China and other foreign countries is pouring into the Seattle-area housing market, helping drive home prices even higher. And since July a new tax on international buyers in Vancouver, B.C., long a popular market for home seekers from China, has focused even more global interest here.

Seattle saw more inquiries from mainland-Chinese homebuyers than any other American city in four of the last seven months, according to Juwai.com, China’s biggest real-estate site for buyers looking…

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Main Reasons Home Sellers Are Sitting On The Fence

  I recently got this question from a neighbor of mine: "I keep reading that it’s a sellers’ market because fewer homes are available for sale than normal. And home prices are going up, so it should be a really good time to sell. Why aren’t more sellers selling?"

My not so simple answer was this.... This is a confusing real estate market, with both good news and bad news for almost everyone in the marketplace. Let’s start with buyers, who are having trouble finding homes to purchase that they like and can afford. At the same time, home prices are rising steadily, and sometimes dramatically.

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), there’s a paucity of homes for sale now and because of this, existing home sale numbers…

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Break These Bad Homeowner Habits

Bad homeowner habits could be undermining your house. Here's how to nip serial "oopses" in the bud—and how to make them right!

Your home means the world to you—of course you intend to do right by it, from the front door to the wood floors to the walls, the roof, the porch, and yes, the septic system. But sometimes you may (unwittingly) get it wrong, and then compound any potential damage you inflict by repeating your mistake again…and again. Luckily, we're here to help. Coming up: our list of common ways even the most well-intentioned homeowners habitually hurt their houses, with advice on how to do better from here on.

1 | Maxing out Closet Rods
Hanging…

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Area Home Sales Notch Best August Since 2005!

Housing market still active, with overall direction “positive” 

KIRKLAND, Washington (Sept. 7, 2016) – Home sales in Western Washington continued to outpace year-ago activity, but member-brokers at Northwest Multiple Listing Service say persistent inventory shortages are constraining activity. 

Despite a sparse selection in many areas, an expected summer slowdown, and “appraisal conundrums,” Northwest MLS members notched 11,898 pending sales during August, eclipsing the same month a year ago by 1,295 transactions for a 12.2 percent gain. There were 8,628 pending sales in the four-county Puget Sound region -- the best August for mutually accepted offers since 2005 when members tallied 8,874 sales.

Brokers added 11,411 new listings to the…

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5 Home Buying Myths: Get The Real Story

Home buyers get a lot of advice from friends and family – some good, some bad. A lot of myths can pop up and negatively guide their home purchasing experience. Make sure you don’t fall for one of these common buying falsehoods.

1. The only upfront cost is the down payment.

Buyers need to be prepared for several expenses – everything from fees, taxes, costs for inspections, credit reports, insurance, and others. Closing costs can be anywhere from 3 percent to 6 percent of the purchase price. Those costs can fluctuate greatly depending on the state you live in too.

Read more: Questions for Prospective Homeowners

2. Just looking for a house casually is not a big deal.

Some people may want to just start looking at homes to get a feel…

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Has The Local Real Estate Market Stabilized?

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 2016 or early 2017, a number of positive signs point to a balanced market with benefits for both homebuyers and sellers in the next year. For example, an increased supply of inventory and slightly more transactions are expected in late 2016 and on into 2017. Home prices are forecasted to see more modest increases, with some markets still facing bidding wars while other see slight price drops or fairly flat prices.

What is a…

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What You Need to Know About Comps When Selling Your Home

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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While We're All Distracted With Politics Did You Ever Wonder: How Much Is the White House Worth?

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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Today's Move-In Ready Homes = Smart Home Technology

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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