The Cascade Team Blog - Selling A Home

What is a “Fair” amount to pay for real estate commission?

Fact: Real estate brokers’ commission rates are not regulated in any state and are ALWAYS 100% negotiable.

When you decide to sell your house, if you are like most people, you will want to hire — or at least consider hiring — a real estate agent to handle the process.

Surprisingly, many people think that real estate brokerage commission rates are “set” in their area and they have to pay a specific percentage of the sales price to the agent in order to get their services. This is absolutely not the case.  In fact, you can pay whatever you and the agent have agreed upon.

What is a “Fair” amount to pay for real estate commission?

Many people hear the word “discount” company instead of a “traditional” company but (actually, since commissions…

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King County Homeowners Hit With Up To 21 Percent Increase In Property Tax Bill

If you're one of those homeowners who winces a little bit when the property tax bill comes in the mail -- get ready. Preliminary numbers point to a double-digit percentage increase in property taxes when the bill arrives later this month. In addition prices in King County are expected to climb by over 10% again for 2018.

King County will be higher than last year’s by an average of nearly 17 percent, Assessor John Wilson says.  And the bump will cost the owner of a median-valued county home about $700, according to Wilson, who says the state’s new school-funding plan is the main reason.

He says the plan created in response to the state Supreme Court’s landmark McCleary decision will be responsible for about two-thirds of King County’s hike.

…

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Robots And Real Estate: How Robots Will Disrupt The Real Estate Industry

I’ve found very few real estate agents and brokers have ever wondered how robotics might impact real estate in the future, and I would assume that's mostly because they are working on securing the next listing or taking around a buyer or two to look at properties along with 1000's of other everyday task. So when Janet Jolly-Porter told me my blogs were getting a little boring and I needed to add a little diversity to my post, I jumped at the chance to write about: ROBOTS 

As a real estate professional who wants to understand disruptive technologies, it’s time to learn about some of the basic ways automation will alter the world of real property in the near future.

How Robotics Will Change Your Business

1. Robots will be involved in…

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Issaquah Highlands Housing Market Update 2018

Did you see our latest mailer? Find the answers you're looking for below!

2017 was a record year for The Issaquah Highlands. Some sections of the housing market increased by nearly 30% with the over-all price for a home increasing just under 18% for the year. Take a look at an in-depth review of The Issaquah Highlands market from the number 1 listing brokerage in the Issaquah Highlands and see where the housing market has grown, the highest priced SOLD home, the home that went the MOST over asking price, and also get an idea of what to expect in 2018.

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Important Wire Fraud Alert for Home Buyers and Sellers and Their Agents

Attention Real Estate Brokers: Buyers and Sellers are targets for wire fraud and many have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars because they simply relied on the wire instructions received via email.

A hacker may break into a real estate licensee’s email account to obtain information about upcoming real estate transactions. After monitoring the account to determine the likely timing of a close, the hacker may send an email to the buyer, posing either as the escrow agent or as the licensee. The fraudulent email may contain new wiring instructions or routing information, and request that the Buyer send funds accordingly.

With scammers increasingly targeting real estate transactions, the National Association of REALTORS® is teaming up with the…

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Why 2018 Is The Right Time To Buy A Home (But You Need To Hurry!)

Trying to decide when to plunge into the real estate market can be quite intimidating—especially when prices are high, choices are limited, and history urges restraint.

Locally we’ve seen two or three years of what could be considered unprecedented levels of price appreciation, as well as an inventory shortage that resulted in a record-low number of homes for sale across Western Washington.

See: 2018 Real Estate Market Trends - Seattle Area Prices Continue Upward March

If there’s one thing most early forecasters agree on, it’s that home prices will continue to rise. Where they differ however, is how much they will rise.

The median price of a home across the Seattle metro area has now soared 80 percent since bottoming out five years ago,…

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Eastside Home Price Charts For The Last 3 Years... WOW!

Local Real Estate Listings & Community Info

Everything you need to know about the Eastside real estate market is right here. Be sure to check out the Eastside home for sale stats and the local listings available below. The numbers shown include both condos and single family homes, so you'll get a better idea of what the market is doing. Located on the east side of Lake Washington, the Seattle Eastside encompasses everything from Bothell to Newcastle and Bellevue to North Bend.

Eastside Community & School Info

Homes for Sale 

Below are the numbers for Issaquah, Sammamish, Bellevue and Snoqualmie. Each has seen steady double digit price growth for the past 3 years. Sammamish and Bellevue residents have seen approximately a $200,000 increase…

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It’s All About Inventory: “Exceptionally Low” Inventory Results In Steep Price Hikes Around Greater Seattle Region.

KIRKLAND, Washington (January 5, 2018) – The year 2017 may be in the books and for many members
of Northwest Multiple Listing Service it was a memorable one with December’s activity being no
exception. Brokers reported historic lows for inventory and year-over-year price gains in most areas.

1. Historic lows for inventory
2. Inventory down 19 percent
3. Lowest level of homes for sale in a decade
4. King County prices up nearly 16%
5. System wide prices up 11.4%

“I’ve never seen inventory this low in Kitsap County in 27 years,” remarked Northwest MLS director
Frank Wilson, branch managing broker at John L. Scott Real Estate in Poulsbo. That county’s number of
active listings last month plunged nearly 40 percent from year-ago levels.

At month…

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2018 Real Estate Market Trends - Seattle Area Prices Continue Upward March

If there’s one thing most early forecasters agree on, it’s that home prices will continue to rise. Where they differ however, is how much they will rise.

The median price of a home across the Seattle metro area has now soared 80 percent since bottoming out five years ago, and its up 20 percent over the old pre-bubble peak a decade ago.

As Seattle marks a full year as America’s hottest housing market, with no end in sight, recent predictions from housing analysts suggest that the Seattle real estate market could continue to outpace the nation well into 2018, in terms of home price appreciation.

Seattle is now a full year into its reign as the hottest housing market in the country, an unusually long surge that doesn’t look likely to end…

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Tax Reform And How It Affects Real Estate

First of all I want to make it clear that this blog is intentionally working to be nonpolitical and non-partisan. We're just going to directly state the changes to the current tax policy, how they are projected to affect the average home owner or buyer and of course those of us in the Real Estate profession. And while countless Americans will be impacted by the new laws, both for better and for worse, homeowners in particular will see a number of key changes take effect in the very near future. If you own property, here's what you can expect. 

At the bottom of the page is a little more detail on three of the most important changes and how they affect Real Estate Transactions and Buyers and Sellers:

Increased standard deduction: The standard…

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