Patti Siebold

written by Team Leader Andy Elliott

You wouldn't believe what I ran into last night on a listing appointment... or would you?

One of the things I do is call the sellers of homes that were on the market but expired without selling. I talk with the sellers try to figure out why they didn't sell and then I help them successfully sell their home. So I went on an appointment last night and the seller asked me why their home came off the market (they didn't even realize that their listing agreement was over because their agent didn't communicate with them).

As I began to talk with them they shared with me that they believe their realtor moved to Mexico and that they hadn't heard from him in quite awhile.

That brings me to my very quick and short point for this blog post. If you want to get great service (which is what you deserve) then have your realtor put it in writing with a cancellation guarantee. Decide what you feel is good service and be specific; communication, marketing, etc... and then put it in writing and hold them to it. It's great to hire a realtor that you trust but trust me I've seen more people wind up with poor service then you can imagine because they never verified that the work was being done.

If your realtor isn't doing a good job and following through with their committments you have the right to fire them. You are the boss and you have the right to be taken care of. I work by this model and give my clients the right to cancel their listing with me if they feel I'm not doing a good job as their agent and I can tell you that any good agent should never have a problem with making themselves accountable to their sellers.

Written by Team Leader Andy Elliott

Today I'm going to be taking a look at the Brush Prairie and Hockinson Area in Clark County. I'll be diving into different areas over the next 30 days and looking at how they are doing on an individual basis. The reason I'm doing this is because just like the weather real estate is really a local market.

Think about this, what if you were to turn on the news and someone gave you a report that it was going to be 90 degrees today across the globe? That wouldn't really make much sense and it wouldn't make any more sense to say it would be 90 degrees across the United States. Looking even closer at the weather you may find yourself being rained on in Vancouver, Washington while someone else is enjoying a clear day 20 minutes away in Camas Washington.

This is very similar to real estate in that there are different areas of the world, country, state, cities, and yes even neighborhoods that may be doing very well while others are not doing so well. This is why I'll be breaking down different areas of Clark County and giving you a picture of how that market is doing. So let's get started with the Brush Prairie and Hockinson area.

The Hockinson area currently has 232 active detached (not a condo or townhome) homes for sale on the RMLS with an average list price of $477,914 and average days on market of 171. That's what is active and available for buyers to buy. So is that good or bad? Well let's take a look at the number of pending and sold homes and see how long that inventory would last if no new homes came on the market.

While there are 232 active properties there were 18 that sold over the last month. That's about a 13 month inventory which is terrible for sellers and heaven for buyers. However there is one telling sign that things may be turning around in the area for sellers. While there are only 18 that sold there are 52 properties pending. That's a pretty large number and if even half of them close that would be about 30% increase in sales over a one month period. That may not hold up through the winter but it does show that there are a significant number of motivated buyers still shopping late into the summer selling season.

Of the properties that went pending and sold the average was just under $400k which is about 20% less than the average price of the active homes. At first glance you'd get the impression that you will get 20% less for your home than what you list it for but that would be a bit of a misunderstanding of how to read the market. The reality is that on many of the pending and sold homes the final price was very close to what the sellers were asking and in reality it's the homes that are well over priced that tend to sit on the market.

For example the average home sold at about $400,000 and was listed at approximately $420,000. This is only a 5% difference as opposed to the 20% difference in the average actively listed home and sold home. Also the average days on market for active homes are 171 and the average days on market for pending and sold homes were only about 90 days.

What this tells us is that we don't want to make the mistake of "pricing the home with room to negotiate" because in the Hockinson area buyers will pay close to asking price on a reasonably priced home and simply ignore the overpriced homes.

Don't be mistaken there were plenty of homes that sold in this area that would be affordable for first time buyers too. In fact the pending and sold homes ranged from a low of $136,000 to a high of 1.3 million. That's an incredible spread. What I notice as one of the most encouraging signs about the Brush Prairie and Hockinson areas in Clark County is that there are good numbers of homes that are selling above the $500,000 mark. There are currently 14 properties that are pending or that sold in the last month for $500,000 or more in the Brush Prairie and Hockinson areas compared to only one in the Battle Ground area of Clark County. If you know this area then that is probably a pretty shocking stat and you'll be able to really appreciate how encouraging it is to see the Brush Prairie and Hockinson areas holding the higher values. Because with higher top end value there is more room underneath for the lesser homes to keep there value. The farther down in price the nicer homes come the more damage is done to the value of all the homes underneath them, it's like smashing the top of a sandwich and watching the whole sandwich shrink down.

As a local market Hockinson looks to be a great place to have bought a home and a decent place to ride out the market storm that we have been experiencing over the last 3 years. If you bought a home in this area you have likely done better at holding value than those that bought in other areas and this means you can likely still do pretty well selling your home and buyers would be fairly smart to look at buying there next home in an area like this that holds its value better than others.

For more information on the Brush Prairie and Hockinson areas or to request a specific area for my next market review please email me at marketreview@sieboldandcombs.com

by Team Leader - Andy Elliott

Is it just the first time buyers that get to take advantage of the tax credit? Are they the only ones that the government was targeting when it was trying to stimulate the housing economy?

In a word NO! The idea that the tax credit is only for first time buyers is one of the biggest misconceptions out there. The concept in giving this credit was to target new buyers or old buyers that have been sitting on the sideline for an extended period of time and drive them into the buying market. By getting more buyers in the market the housing market could begin to recover.So who else besides first time buyers can qualify?

Basically anyone can qualify who is buying a home for their personal residence and who has not owned a home in the last three years. This means that if you are looking to buy a home and you haven't owned a home in three years this may be your perfect storm.

Here are some other great questions about the tax credit:

1. Do I have to pay it back?
2. Can I use it towards my downpayment?
3. Would if I don't need a tax credit, can I get it as cash back?

These are some great questions to investigate and we'll gladly send you a complete rundown of the ins and outs of the credit.

For an e-package with detailed information on the tax credit you can email taxcredithelp@sieboldandcombs.com

I am writing this because of an email I just received from one of my great friends. After reading his email I feel like I need to get this out right now and I hope that you will take a few seconds of your busy schedule to read it and see if you can help one of your friends.

My friend recently found out that his employer was cutting back hours. He emailed me that he will likely be heading into a foreclosure because he won't be able to pay his house payments. Thankfully he is my friend and I may be able to help him avoid foreclosure. If you have a friend that may be in a situation where they could face foreclosure, please get this info to them and give them the opportunity to get help.

Before they ever wind up in a foreclosure they need to do both of the following:

1. Pursue a mortgage modification. We help them get the information about their bank to get them started and they may have a great shot at getting it done. They may just have to really pursue them and fight through the bureaucracy. (We don't get paid for this but it may be their best option and they get to keep their home.)

2. Meet with me about the process of doing a short sale. We do a lot of these and have been successful in getting banks to forgive the difference between the selling price and what is owed. We have a guy on our team Jim Fleming that used to work in the loss mitigation department for a bank. He negotiates our short sales and does a great job.

Sometimes it is even possible to short sale your property without ever missing a payment. The links below will educate them about some of the differences between short sales verses foreclosures and they can Google lots of info themselves too.

Have them give us a call directly and we can help them get clarity on what to do in their unique situation.

http://www.debtkid.com/short-sale-vs-foreclosure-which-is-the-better-option

http://homebuying.about.com/od/4closureshortsales/qt/060907SScredit.htm

http://www.google.com/search?q=short+sale+vs.+foreclosure&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1

For years finding affordable health insurance has been a major obstacle for real estate agents. That is why am so excited to write in this Blog that Keller Williams just announced that they have negotiated a national health care plan for KW agents.

What is so incredible is that it really is affordable and excellent coverage. We are talking family plans for under $90 a month and individual plans for under $40 a month. Even the platinum plan with no co-pays or deductibles for approx. $550 a month for a family or under $150 for an individual.

If that isn't enough they will even cover pre-esixting (preexisting) conditions as well.

If you are a non Keller Williams agent and would like to know how you can get this awesome coverage please give me a call or email me.

Andy Elliott

360-433-8656

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