Spokane Home Loan -- Casey Brischle -- Mortgage Professional

I wanted to take time out of my day to promote an appraiser in the Spokane market that I think does an amazing job. Samuel Hess with SRH Appraisals, has quick turn around, great communication, strives to be the best in his field and is a great appraiser!

A Spokane "lifer" he is a Mead High School and Gonzaga University graduate. He specializes in Spokane County and the surrounding areas. He am a one man shop that strives to provide high quality appraisals in short time frames. Service is always highly regarded as his #1 priority. What sets him apart from many of the appraisers in this area is that when you send work to SRH Appraisals, you get 1 guy every time, and that's him! He deals with every appraisal from beginning to end. No trainees, secretaries, or understudies. Just the BOSS!!

Below is a list of services he offers:

-Single Family Residences

-Vacant Land

-SFR Rental Properties

-2-4 Unit Multi-Family Properties

-Manufactured Homes

-Condominiums

-New Construction

-Waterfront Properties

-Jumbos

Give him a shot. You will be impressed!

Why you ask? Well while the 4 seasons, generally nice people, good schools and the entrepreneurial flare of the city are nice, the main reason I love Spokane is that it is different. Take for example the article below. If a person from Spokane was to read this and really think that the reasons for not buying a home, applied to our outlook they would be making a huge mistake! Not only has the Spokane market not depreciating, it never has had a depreciating year since they started tracking the statistic in this market. That said we aren't going to see double digit appreciation across the board like we did a few years ago, but we are way better off than almost the rest of the country.

Personally, I would reccommend if you are purchasing a house soon that you stay in it for 5+ years (based on LTV) and finance it through a fixed rate program. You never know what the future holds (job loss, injury, death etc) and when you are dealling with thousands of dollars you want to make sure your investment is a secure one.

Now go look for a home :) There is a GREAT inventory out there and it is definitely a buyers market. In my eyes it is a great time to buy! Oh, and if you are looking for financing, give me a call, 509-464-3023 we offer some great products!

Majority not buying homes, poll shows WASHINGTON (AP) -- A growing majority say they won't buy a home anytime soon, the latest sign of increasing pessimism about the nation's housing crisis, a poll showed Monday.

In a vivid sketch of how the sputtering real estate market is causing distress throughout the country, the Associated Press-AOL Money & Finance poll found that more than a quarter of homeowners worry their home will lose value over the next two years.

Fully one in seven mortgage holders fear they won't be able to make their monthly payments on time over the next six months.

"This is a great time to buy, but not necessarily to sell," said Robert Jackson, who lives in a two-bedroom house in Ferguson, Mo., with his wife and four young children. He said he would love to purchase a larger home, but can't because even if he found a buyer, he would probably lose thousands on his house, which he bought less than two years ago.

"We're just going to have to slap a Band-Aid on it and stay here until the market gets a little bit better," Jackson, 30, said in a follow-up interview.

Jackson is not alone. Sixty percent said they definitely won't buy a home in the next two years, up from 53% who said so in an AP-AOL poll in September 2006. At the same time, just 11% are certain or very likely to buy soon, down from 15% two years ago.

The growing reluctance to dip into the housing market seems to stem partly from worry that housing prices will continue falling -- good if you're buying a house but bad if you have to sell one.

Value of homes

The number envisioning falling prices in their area has grown to one in four, while four in 10 think prices will rise, a decrease from two years ago. Expectations for rising prices are highest in the South, with Westerners likeliest to predict they will drop.

Underscoring the public's unsettled feelings, the number saying local housing prices are about right has fallen to 35%. Half say homes are overpriced - especially in the Northeast - while those saying housing is underpriced have doubled to one in 10, particularly Midwesterners.

Some pockets buck regional trends. Laurie Jensen, a single mother of three, struggles to make payments on her home in Whitehall, Mont., by working as a seasonal road construction flagger and at times collecting unemployment. She said she'd like to move outside of town, but the area is popular and prices have surged.

"Things are pretty crazy," she said. "Places I don't consider that great are really expensive."

One in 10 have adjustable rate mortgages, half of the number who said so two years ago. These mortgages generally start at a low interest rate and are later adjusted to market conditions - which has often meant steep, unaffordable boosts that have forced many to refinance or even lose their homes.

Daniel Gallego, a warehouse worker in Stockton, Calif., said he may have to sell his home at a big loss. He said rising gasoline and other costs have made his adjustable rate mortgage unaffordable. Because he doesn't expect his home's value to recover soon, he said he may be better off moving now, before his rates rise.

"We may have to move in with my wife's parents or my parents," said Gallego, 30, who has two young children. "I could pay off some debt, then we could rent, and maybe buy another house in a few years."

The public anxiety is in reaction to an economy that is veering toward recession and losing jobs even as the housing market sputters badly. Foreclosures have soared to record highs, mortgage rates have increased, sales of existing and new homes have fallen and home values have dropped.

Gus Faucher, director of macroeconomics for Moody's Economy.com, a consulting firm, estimated that 9 million homeowners owe more on their home than it's worth. He said his company believes home sales are at or near bottom and home values will continue to fall until early next year.

Even so, he said, many people bought their homes before the run-up in values that started around 2001 and remain in good shape.

"So the value of your house goes down temporarily," he said. Unless the homeowner must sell now or can't afford the payments, "that doesn't have that much of an impact."

The poll also found:

--The biggest worriers are those expecting to buy soon. Of that group 43% frets that their home's value will drop in the next two years, compared with 25% of those not expecting to buy shortly.

--59% think now is a good time to buy.

--Half think this is a very tough time for first-time buyers, an increase from two years ago. Nearly two-thirds think it's harder for first-home buyers than it was five years ago.

The AP-AOL Money & Finance poll was conducted from March 24-April 3 by Abt SRBI Inc. It involved telephone interviews with 1,002 adults nationwide, for whom the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.1%.

Included were interviews with 769 homeowners, for whom the sampling margin of error is plus or minus 3.5%. The margin of sampling error for other subgroups was larger

I attended a credit scoring seminar this morning in attempts to learn something new and I am glad I did. Now most of the seminar was review for me, some info jogged my memory and some of it was new. Below I have listed a few topics that I thought you could benefit from knowing.

WHAT GOES INTO A CREDIT SCORE?

The approximate makeup of the FICO score Fair Isaac discloses to consumers

Credit scores are designed to measure the risk of default by taking into account various factors in a person's financial history. Although the exact formulas for calculating credit scores are closely guarded secrets, Fair Isaac has disclosed the following components and the approximate weighted contribution of each:

• 35%, punctuality of payment in the past (only includes payments later than 30 days past due)
• 30%, the amount of debt, expressed as the ratio of current revolving debt (credit card balances, etc.) to total available revolving credit (credit limits)
• 15%, length of credit history
• 10%, types of credit used (installment, revolving, consumer finance)
• 10%, recent search for credit and/or amount of credit obtained recently

~DO NOT pay off old collection accounts and Charge-Offswith balances owing (over 2yr old) until you get to escrow or settlement

~A 30 Day late Payment that is 1 month old, indicates higher risk than a paid collection from 3 years ago.

~One of the Fastest ways to improve a credit score is pay down the outstanding balances on each of your credit cards to 30% of the maximum credit limit.

WWW.OPTOUTPRESCREEN.COM
Removes Consumer's name from Pre-Screen Lists sold by the four National CRA's - Experian, Equifax, TransUnion and Innovovois. Consumer may opt-out for 5yrs or permanently - Also, limits junkmail and ELIMINATES pre-approved credit card offers and possible identity theft from addresses on discarded offers. - I recommend everyone do this.

WWW.MYFICO.COM
This is the only website where the consumer can be assured of ordering and recieving thier own credit report with ACTUAL FICO scores. The cost is $15.95/bureau and is $47.85 for all 3. The free credit score websites have generalized scores.

Hope you learned something. :)

Every year our local independent weekly newspaper - the kind you find for free at your favorite coffee shop just released "The Best of 2008" for Spokane. Below I have listed the big ones and have added a few comments (and businesses) here and there that i think should have been included. Here are their findings. Enjoy!

Best Asian Food: 1. Mustard Seed 2. Gordy's 3. PF Changs
No Problem with these choices although I am still a little miffed that Mustard Seed left downtown for a Mall location

Best Burgers: 1. Red Robin 2. The Onion 3. D'Lishs
I gotta add Zip's to the list. I love Zip's!

Best New Restaurant: 1. Scratch 2. Churchill's 3. Twigs South
Twigs Wandermere is a good one too! Right by our beautiful new branch!

Best Vegetarian: 1. Mizuna 2. Huckleberry's 9th Street Bistro 3. Pita Pit
Not really my field, but I will go with the public's choices on these.

Best Seafood: 1. Anthony's 2. Milford's 3. Red Lobster
I like Milford's over Anthony's, but both are great!

Best Drive-Thru Espresso: 1. Starbuck's 2. Dutch Bros. 3. Jacob's Java
I prefer to give my hard earned money to locally owned company's if I can, so Starbuck is not my number one. Something Else Deli on 2^nd and Sherman has great coffe

Best Steaks: 1. Wolf Lodge 2. Spencer's 3. Outback
I haven't been to WL but Spencer's is unreal!

Best Desserts: 1. Just American Desserts 2. Cyrus O'Leary's 3. Clinkerdagger's
I defer this question to my wife and she said these are all good choices although DownRiver Grill should be in here too.

Best Breakfast: 1. Franks Diner 2. Old European 3. Chaps
Wall Street Diner should be on this list Hands Down.

Best Take-Out: 1. Noodle Express 2. Papa Murphy's 3. Applebee's & Gordy's
I like these, but would like to see Kim's on Garland on the list instead of Applebee's

Best Wine List: 1. Niko's 2. Luna & Spencer's 3. Downriver Grill
Good

Best Pizza: 1. David's 2. Bennidito's 3. Papa Murphy's
David's 12^th year in a row as no. 1. Who am I to argue!?!?! Although I do like Pizza Rita for delivery! :)

Best Burrito's: 1. Ionic Burritos 2. Qdoba 3. Slick Rock
The old Slick Rock downtown next to the Davenport is good too. I can't remember the name of it but it's tasty!

Best Sushi: 1. RAW 2. Sushi.com 3. Bluefish
No complaints. All under the same ownership. They have a stronghold on the sushi movement in Spokane

Best Winery: 1. Arbor Crest 2. Latah Creek 3. Caterina
Good

Best Doughnuts: 1. Krispy Kreme 2. Donut Parade 3. Mike's Donuts
Again I take local over chain any day, so my number one choice is Donut Parade

Best Cheap Eats: 1. Dick's Hamburgers 2. Zips 3. Taco Bell
Dick's had to be no.1...

Best Italian: 1. Luigi's 2. Italian Kitchen 3. Olive Garden
I would choose Mamma Mia's or Tomato Street way before Olive Garden

Best Mexican: 1. Azteca 2. Casa de Oro 3. Rancho Chico
Good choices. El Sombrero up north is a great spot, personally my favorite is Rancho Chico on NW boulevard.

Best Fine Dining: 1. Clinkerdagger 2. Luna & Spencer's 3. Anthony's
No Arguments

Best Thai: 1. Thai Bamboo 2. Linnie's 3. Riverview Thai
I gotta give a shout out to Thai on 1^st

Best Deli: 1. Brooklyn Deli 2. Huckleberry's 9th Street Bistro 3. Domini's
Good choices. I think Cassano's could be in here as well although they are more Italian grocery store than deli

Best Brewery: 1. Northern Lights Brewery 2. Coeur d'Alene Brewing 3. Big Horn
I like

Best Sandwiches: 1. Domini's 2. Subway 3. High Nooner
Subway? Really? I would take Spokane Subs, Sparky's, The Park Inn and Daily Bread before them. Personally, if you haven't had Carl @ Cassano's make you a panini with his fresh cut Italian meats, you are missing out! Check them out. Anytime I am near their location on the 300 block of E Sprague I stop in. Great guy and great food!

Best Coffee: 1. Thomas Hammer 2. Cravens Coffee 3. Cafe Doma
I like how they are all local joints!

So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed the "best of" list and my little comments! I love Spokane and everything it offers, but the best thing I like about Spokane is the local ownership restaurants and businesses and how the people of Spokane support them.

If you wonder why downtown is so busy this weekend...Here's why!!

This weekend and next, Spokane will be site of the 11th annual Pacific Northwest Qualifier at the Spokane Convention Center, Eastern Washington University and the Valley HUB.

The tournament, hosted by Evergreen Region Volleyball, first started with 70 teams and has increased 114 teams this year to 390 mainly because of Open Division growth that qualifies teams coming from 13 states to various USA Volleyball age-group national tournaments. There is also a Club Division for less advanced teams.

Friday-Sunday includes ages 12-15, including two open classifications. The week of March 28-30 is for 16-18-year-olds with open tournaments in all three age groups.

The Spokane Regional Sports Commission estimates 9,000 guests for up to three nights will provide an economic impact to the city of $4.1 million during the two weekeends.

Convention center is already paying dividends! Great to see!