The Cascade Team Blog - Selling Your Home

Washington Housing Bubble Fears Stronger Than In Any Other State

Posted by Cary W Porter on August 17th, 2017

By Mike Rosenberg

 A new survey found 71 percent of Washington adults think a housing bubble is coming. New York, Florida and California residents were the next most likely to fear a housing bubble.

The biggest concern we here from buyers, sellers and even many agents in this market right now is,  “bubble.”

Home owners and long term residence still vividly remember the 2007 crash that lasted well into 2011. For buyers many see bidding wars on almost every property, and home owners nervously watch the prices ticking up and wonder;  "How much longer can this go on?”

Now a new national survey finds that 71 percent of adults across Washington are worried about a housing bubble and think prices are overvalued and unsustainable. That’s the…

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Bidding Wars: Don’t Blindly Take Highest Offer

Posted by Cary W Porter on August 10th, 2017

When your seller receives multiple bids on their property, the highest offer shouldn’t always be their default choice. If it comes with an appraisal contingency—and the appraised value doesn’t match the sale price—your seller could be back at square one, looking for another buyer.

With King County home prices surging nearly $100,000 just this year to a record $599,000 in June—home prices in many markets are escalating so quickly that appraisals can’t keep up. That’s why real estate professionals may need to have more conversations with their sellers about appraisals.

“Any time prices move up fast, the actual appraisal process can lag behind because [appraisers] are looking back in history, not forward into the future” to determine appraised…

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Summer Doldrums For Home Sales “Not Happening” King County Home Prices up $100k Within a Year

Posted by Cary W Porter on August 8th, 2017

KIRKLAND, Washington (Aug. 7, 2017) – New figures from Northwest Multiple Listing Service indicate home sales and prices, like July’s temperatures, sizzled. Prices area-wide rose slightly more than 9 percent from a year ago, but several counties near job centers saw larger price increases, including King County where the median price jumped 18.6 percent.

The latest report confirmed what most buyers and brokers know: inventory shortages persist even though MLS members added slightly more new listings last month than the same period a year ago.

“We should be entering the summer doldrums, but I don’t see that happening,” reported Diedre Haines, principal managing broker-South Snohomish County at Coldwell Banker Bain in Lynnwood. “Inventory remains…

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Sammamish 5th Safest City in America (Only WA City in Top 100)

Posted by Cary W Porter on August 2nd, 2017

Sammamish, Washington

23 Violent crimes per 100k 749 Property crimes per 100k  

The first city from the west coast on the list is Sammamish, Washington. This city on a plateau has a population of 52,365. It was named after Lake Sammamish; however, Beaver and Pine lake are the biggest lakes in the area. In fact, Beaver lake had a famous lifeguard teacher in the 1950s, Clint Eastwood. The city contains no major interstates within its limits but is a short commute to many big employers such as Costco and Microsoft.

Sammamish has secured the No. 5 spot in a new report over the safest cities in the U.S.

The Top 100 Safest Cities in America announced for 2017 report looked at crime rates in 764 cities.

According…

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Break Free Of The App! Text updates and Alerts From The Cascade Team Without Having to Download an App!

Posted by Cary W Porter on July 27th, 2017

The Cascade Team is now the first Brokerage where customers can receive direct text communication from the website! Currently all real estate related sites like Zillow, Trulia, RedFin, John L Scott, Windermere, Realtor, Etc. all require you to download their App to receive notifications…. That is No Longer the Case for The Cascade Team!

Without being intrusive or requiring people to download an app and communicate through the app function, people registering at www.TheCascadeTeam.com can now select their preferred method of communication: E-Mail, Phone or Text….. You will then be able to receive property updates, new listings, and communicate directly with an agent through your phone's text platform without ever needing to download an app!

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What Thieves Are Most After in Homes (State By State Stats!)

Posted by Cary W Porter on July 24th, 2017

See Related: Safety Benefit of Smart Homes for Owners and Agents

Here are some sobering stats from the FBI: A robbery occurs every 1.6 minutes in the U.S., a burglary every 18.2 seconds, and a larceny theft every 5.4 seconds.

SafeHome, a home security systems reviews resource, analyzed FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data from 2015 to determine the items thieves most commonly target.

The most stolen items were classified as miscellaneous valuables, jewelry, and precious metals, according to the report. In some states, certain thefts were more common than others. For example, in Florida, Texas, Massachusetts, and Colorado, thieves were more likely to target diamonds, gold, silver, and other jewelry. Meanwhile, clothing was the most stolen items in…

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Be Aware Of These Common Home Buyer Slip-Ups

Posted by Cary W Porter on July 13th, 2017

Buying a home—especially if it’s your first—can be a lot like losing weight in the sense that people end up doing, well, some pretty dumb stuff in the process. But while desperate dieters might waste money on “magical” weight-loss pills or silly exercise equipment (remember the shake weight?), misguided home buyers could be doing far more serious damage—like undermining their ability to purchase a house at all. Don't be one of them! The Cascade Team is here to shed light on some of the dumbest reasons people can't buy a home. The good news? These flubs are easily avoidable. Read on and beware.

1: Waiting to line up financing

Your first step in the home-buying process should be to meet with a mortgage lender to discuss your financing options.…

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“Typical Summer Slowdown” In Housing Market May Mean Opportunities For Frustrated House Hunters

Posted by Cary W Porter on July 6th, 2017

KIRKLAND, Washington (July 6, 2017) – For frustrated house hunters, there’s hope: the volume of new listings added to inventory during June (13,658) was the highest total for any single month since May 2008 (14,176 new listings), according to the latest statistics from Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

“This time of year we see more new listings coming on the market than pending sales, and June didn’t disappoint,” stated J. Lennox Scott, chairman and CEO of John L. Scott.
Noting the pace of sales is slowing and the number of multiple offers is moderating, broker Gary O’Leyar suggested a summer breather is under way (as anticipated), which could yield “the season for a successful purchase” for weary shoppers. O’Leyar, the designated broker/owner at…

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Snoqualmie Ridge 4th Of July Celebration and Parade

Posted by Cary W Porter on June 29th, 2017

4th of July Celebration!

Please come join The Cascade Team for the Snoqualmie Ridge 4th of July Celebration and Parade!  The Cascade Team Real Estate is proud to serve the Snoqualmie Ridge community and provide FREE sno-cones and give-away prizes for the 12th straight year!   The festivities start at 10:30am at Cascade View Elementary School with a parade.   Show your spirit and decorate your bikes, tricycles, skateboards, scooters, wagons, etc. in red, white, and blue and come walk or ride in the parade as it makes it way to the Community Park!   It’s a free event open to the Snoqualmie community and typically attended by thousands every year.  So grab your family, your red, white and blue – and see you at the park!  

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Hall-Of-Fame Results Updates! Two Homes Each Sold $300k OVER Asking!

Posted by Cary W Porter on June 26th, 2017

Just wanted to send a quick shout out about two recent listings that both went for more than $300,000 OVER asking price!    Jennifer Beeler who works in our Woodinville office is first on the list.   Her Clyde Hill Listing came on the market for $2,589,000 and sold in only 2 days for $311,000 OVER asking price! Her clients saved an additional $58,000 in commissions by using The Cascade Team's Full Service for 1% Listing Fee model accounting for a total value to her clients of $369,000!   Just amazing!   About Jennifer:

I am a Washington native and real estate professional serving my hometown of Woodinville and the greater Seattle area.

My passion for real estate began at the age of 18 when I bought my first condo. I have…

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