The Importance of Home Inspections

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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Project Crayon Drive - Celebrating 11 Years

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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Selling Your Home with The Cascade Team: Expect More!

Are you looking to sell your home?

The Cascade Team provides a full service experience that is a step above; by executing a marketing plan for your home that is technology rich and high in service.  We leverage all available technology tools to provide the most exposure possible for your home, and utilize those tools to increase the communication and service to you our client.

What do you get with The Cascade Team?

More Local Market Knowledge - Our local agents are market experts and possess the necessary local market knowledge to both price and market your home effectively.  We pride ourselves on living and working in the communities in which we service.  Our technology and professional real estate team is here to serve you.

More…

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April Edition: Crazy, Funny, or Poignant Real Estate Experiences From Agents

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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Desperate Times for Home Buyers: Western WA virtually sold out of inventory with a pipeline of stalled buyers

• 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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Sammamish Real Estate Market Overview

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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Neighborhood Features That Hurt Home Values

When it comes to real estate clichés, “Location, location, location” has all other contenders (including “Not a drive-by!”; “Cash is king!”; “Is that your checkbook or are you just glad to see me?”; and “Worst house, best street”) beat by a mile. Not only has it been in use since at least 1926 (according to the New York Times), but it’s utterly and inarguably true.

More than any other single factor, when you buy a home in a good location, it’s usually a solid long-term investment. And being the unabashed optimists we are here at The Cascade Team, we focus most on the factors that help maximize your home’s value. But hey, life—and real estate—isn’t always rainbows and unicorns. So this week we decided to take a look at the downers: those things that…

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Home Buyer Open House and Neighborhood Check List

Open houses may be staged to look like a home décor dream, but don’t let that distract you from the real reason you’re there: to potentially buy a home. Make sure you can look past the neatly arranged furniture and focus solely on whether the house would be a good fit for you and your family. To help, here’s a home buyer’s checklist of things you might have missed at first glance.

Windows – Look specifically if they are facing the right direction to let sunlight in, and whether they open to a nice view (versus directly toward another neighbor’s window).

Under the Sink Cabinets – Check for possible signs of water damage due to leaky plumbing.

Electrical Outlets – Make sure there are enough outlets for the appliances and other electronics…

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Updated Features for TCT Premiere

We are very excited to announce several enhancements to the marketing we provide our clients on www.TCTPremiere.com. Our combination of direct exposure along with premium web features, international and domestic website syndication more than ensures maximum exposure for your property!

About TCT Premiere 

Since 2006, The Cascade Team has utilized superior, proprietary technology, marketing, exceptional customer service and at a value becoming one of the fastest growing real estate transaction agencies in the states of Washington, California, Arizona, Colorado and Oregon.  Over the last ten years as we have analyzed the services offered to the luxury home market consumer, it became clear that this would be our next market.  Thus TCT Premiere was…

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What you need to know before hiring a real estate agent to sell your home.

Your Home is your greatest investment! Know these questions and answers before you interview! The difference can cost you thousands!

1.  Do you provide a true website presence for my home? This is more than a splash site with a few pictures.  Click HERE for Answer!

2.  Do you syndicate my home, and PAY for premiere placement?  Click HERE for Answer!

3.  Do you advertise my home on Social Media: This is MORE than just Facebook!  Click HERE for Answer!

4.  Do you provide a full 3D Walkthrough Virtual Tour or just have shifting focus over still pictures and call that a virtual tour?  Click HERE for Answer!

5.  What is your strategy to generate multiple offers for my home?  Click HERE for Answer!

6.  Are you still using paper flyers…

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