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Tips from The Cascade Team Agents

A major credit reporting agency says it will soon take into account homeowner association fees. Home owners who are late on payments may soon see the effect on their credit score.

Sperlonga, a credit data aggregator, is the first company to provide HOA payment and account status data to Equifax, which is one of the three major credit-reporting agencies. A full rollout of the new HOA reporting to Equifax will go live in October.

Homeowner associations and property management companies collect about $70 billion in HOA payments yearly among at least 333,000 community associations, according to the Community Association Institute.

“Until now, HOA payments have gone largely unreported to the national credit-reporting agencies,” says Matt Martin,…

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Housing inventory improves, but market still favors sellers

KIRKLAND, Washington (May 5, 2016) – Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported strong gains in the volume of new listings its members added during April (up 13.6 percent from March), but inventory remained well below the supply needed for a more balanced market. MLS leaders say the lopsided market is prompting some anxious buyers to take ill-advised risks.

Prices showed some signs of moderating with a 5.5 percent year-over-year increase across the MLS 23-county market area. That’s the lowest YOY gain since December 2014 when it was 5.45 percent.

In its latest statistics with summaries of April activity, the MLS reported 11,407 pending sales during the month, about the same as a year…

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Smart Search Technology:  “Smart Search” exclusively by The Cascade Team is the only real estate search in the industry designed to learn and interact with you as you search for homes.  As you log onto www.TheCascadeTeam.com and begin saving listings our exclusive “Smart Search” technology will begin learning what you are looking for and make suggestions for you based on criteria such as: Price, Beds & Baths, Location, Schools and more. Start a search in one area and then find another area of interest? Smart Search will adjust for location too and begin finding homes for you in your new search area. Smart Search is a fully intuitive search system guided by your preferences and it will scour the web for new listings that meet your criteria and let you…

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Beginning this weekend April the 23rd and continuing through next weekend April 30th and May 1st members and partners with The Cascade Team Real Estate will be walking local neighborhoods and setting up booths at many local QFC and Fred Meyer locations along with several other participating businesses like the IGA at Snoqualmie Ridge, HomeStreet Bank in The Issaquah Highlands and more. Radio spots can also be heard on Star 101.5 and KOMO News 1000 to help bring awareness to this wonderful event. Please be on the lookout for our agents. There will also be volunteers from several of our partners and a platoon of High School students from Eastside Catholic helping out and getting Community Service hours.

 

Thank you in advance to everyone who is…

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It’s time to do the math and elevate your business!

8 (x) the Business (And future referrals) and 7 (X) the Money with INCREASING Inventory up 21%!

1) The average Real Estate Broker in WA does 3.36 deals per year while the average full time Broker with The Cascade Team does 24.7 deals per year… That is nearly 8(X) the business! 2) Per HR Report.com the average Real Estate Broker in Bellevue WA makes  $41,374 per year while the average full time Broker with The Cascade Team makes $253,180 per year… That is nearly 7(X) the money! 3) The average King county listed home price is $531,250 while the average home price listed by The Cascade Team is $617,850 4) Inventory (Or total listed homes for sale) dropped 25% YTD as of April (See…

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If you're about to make an offer on a home, one of the most critical contingencies you need to add to the offer is a home inspection. You want to know exactly what you're getting before the deal is done, or you risk losing thousands of dollars on repairs.

 

See our: Home Owners Remodeling and Life Expectancy Guide

Items that need to be checked by a licensed home inspector include: the roof, foundation, plumbing, heating, and electrical systems. It's also important to check for signs of wood-destroying pests, mold, and other damages to the property. A proper inspection will take roughly three hours, and generally costs a few hundred dollars. If you can, join the inspector as they examine the home. This will ensure that you're well acquainted with…

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Help us Brighten a Child's Life!

For the 11th year, The Cascade Team is once again hosting Project Crayon Drive this April! For the young who find themselves at Seattle Children’s Hospital, sometimes the simple things like a coloring book and a few crayons can be as soothing as the trained staff and smiling doctors. Yet, something as simple as crayons often goes overlooked. Each year, Children’s Hospital goes through over 240,000 crayons, but each child only gets a couple to use.

And that’s where The Cascade Team — in partnership with the Children’s Hospital Guild Association and several area merchants — comes in. Throughout the month of April, agents from The Cascade Team will be walking neighborhoods and spreading the word about…

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The Names of the agents have been withheld to protect their privacy and that of their clients and in some cases "The Guilty Parties".

Is Anyone There?

One home I showed my client in Inman, S.C., gave us a chill. When we arrived, the house was dark and apparently empty. After I flipped on the light switch in the living room, we headed to the bedrooms in the back of the house. While we were in one bedroom, we both heard banging and what sounded like someone moving around in the other bedroom on the other side of the bathroom. “Hello?” I called out. There was no response.

Though we were sure we were freaking ourselves out, neither of us was brave enough to check the other bedroom. When we went back into the living room, the kitchen light on the…

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  • Inventory takes another steep fall (Down 25%)
  • Prices spike rising 20.7% 

Puget Sound area home sales slow (but not prices) as supply can’t match demand

KIRKLAND, Washington (April 4, 2016) – Traffic isn’t the only thing that is gridlocked around many Puget Sound communities. "We’re experiencing gridlock in the Puget Sound housing market," suggested J. Lennox Scott in reaction to the latest statistics from Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

MLS figures show pending sales across the 23 counties it serves dropped about 4.5 percent in March compared to the same period a year ago. Inventory fell sharply – down more than 25 percent. Brokers say that imbalance helped spur a 9.4 percent escalation in prices area-wide, with 12…

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Could Sammamish be your next home? Kick-start your home search with The Cascade Team's interactive tools and "Smart-Search" Technology. With interactive maps and charts, The Cascade Team provides a comprehensive overview of market trends, schools, demographics, and lifestyle data to help you learn all about Sammamish. Not sure which neighborhood is for you? Check out our "Compare Sammamish" section to explore popular neighborhoods in Sammamish, or explore nearby cities such as Issaquah and Redmond. When you’re ready, The Cascade Team has 70 resale and new homes in Sammamish lined up for you, including 14 upcoming open houses!

Sammamish is a medium-sized city located in the state of Washington. With a population of 51,229 people and nine constituent…

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