Safety Benefit of Smart Homes for Owners and Agents

The latest technology doesn’t just make properties more marketable. Learn how to use these smart devices to thwart danger when you’re out in the field.

Sure, smart-home devices can make a property more desirable, but have you considered how they can keep you safe as a listing agent or when showing homes to buyers? Open houses and vacant properties are the top places where real estate professionals report encountering threatening situations, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ 2016 Member Safety Report. Tara Christianson, technology and training director at Century 21 Redwood Realty in Arlington, Va., recently hosted a webinar and offered tips on how smart devices can protect your client’s property and yourself.

• Smart…

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Sammamish is Only Washington City Ranked as Money Magazine "Best Places To Live"

Until recently, Sammamish was probably best described as an enclave of leafy neighborhoods rather than a city in its own right. Located about 20 miles from Seattle, the city sits on the east side of the seven-mile-long Lake Sammamish and wasn’t incorporated until 1999.

While Sammamish still lacks a proper “Main Street,” it ranks high because of its superb schools, proximity to major employers, and gobs of green space. The city is also making steady…

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Seattle Area Needs 73,135 New Single Family Housing Starts to Keep Pace With Growing Population

Seattle Among Markets That Badly Need a Jolt of New Housing

There aren't enough new single-family homes being built in the U.S. Eighty percent of metro areas recently analyzed are faced with a “housing shortage crisis,” according to new research from the National Association of REALTORS®.

NAR reviewed new-home construction relative to job gains over a three-year period, from 2013 to 2015, in 171 metro areas. Markets in the West made up half of the top 10 areas with the largest shortages of newly built homes, NAR’s study shows.

The NAR analysis comes just as the Census Bureau released data on housing starts for August. On September 20, the bureau reported a drop in building permits for August 2016, compared with both July 2016 and…

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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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City of Issaquah Enacst a Six-Month Moratorium on New Development

City Enacts Development Moratorium

The Issaquah City Council voted Sept. 6, 2016, to enact a six-month moratorium on certain types of development.

In 2012 — to protect Issaquah's existing neighborhoods and natural environment — the City adopted the Central Issaquah Plan (CIP), which guides the long-term evolution of Issaquah’s existing commercial core into an urban center.

Since the plan was adopted, several developments have been built, approved or are currently under review.

During a City Council work session in July 2016, the City assessed whether those projects met the community's vision for the CIP.

Several issues were identified, including:

• Architectural fit with the community
• Urban design elements
• Vertical…

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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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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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A Super Hero Themed Issaquah Highlands Day Saturday, August 27th with The Cascade Team!

Saturday, August 27th!

Join The Cascade Team for the Issaquah Highlands Day Festival!

This annual summer celebration is Saturday, August 27th from 12PM-4PM. 

Located at Blakely Hall and Village Green Park: 2550 NE Park Drive, Issaquah WA 98029

Be sure to check out our booth!  Meet Batman and Deadpool and get your picture taken with them!  Download our Comic Book HERE and read the action packed story of Batman and Deadpool VS "The Commission Creeps"!

Batman And Deadpool VS. The Commission Creeps!

Download our Comic Book HERE to read the story!

We will also be giving away FREE beach balls and Frisbees!
 
Other highlights of the event include carnival rides, giant inflatables, food trucks and the always popular market place of…

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