Gene & Kim Quinney

Since beginning our real estate career in March of 1998 with John L Scott Realty there have been many notable changes. In 1998 the NWMLS (Northwest Multiple Listing Service) had approximately 11,000 members and subscribers across the State. Since then they grew to an incredible number in the range of nearly 40,000, in part due to an increasing territory but mostly due to a vigorous desire by independent people to take advantage of a robust housing market by starting their own businesses. Either way that is a substantial increase in membership and subscribership.

During that time we seen home ownership increase as financial institutions created loan programs to assist first time home buyers, home values climbed as sales spurred by the desire to take advantage of investment potential, and home equity was used as leverage for move up buyers seeking larger homes.

The market overall was creating many jobs as builders scurried to build homes, agents worked to find ready willing and able buyers, and lenders worked diligently to secure financing. Everyone, especially buyers and sellers were satisfied. We built a bubble.

In the last few years we have all been witness to falling sales number and large numbers of associates leaving the NWMLS. Currently we have 24,409 associates in the NWMLS which when averaged over the course of the last three years, translates to a decline in membership of 15% year over year. Those who prepared for this bubble and positioned themselves for the future have been doing quite well.

Looking forward, the future could not look better. We have less competition and more opportunity, what else could you ask for?...

May the season be blessed with the peace of the Dove, your home be showered with gifts and all of, your table be garnished with food and with wine, and may all who share your joy be so kind, to spread the selfless praise from above and may all who you know share the gifts of your love. MEERY CHRISTMAS!

And Fido, Buffy and Patches...

Sometimes I like to keep it short and sweet. This is one of those times. As I was on the way to show a listing this morning I remembered a rare time when I had clients in my car. Typically, unless a buyer client is unfamiliar with an area they will drive themselves around but this particular time I was the chauffeur.

I picked them up and was driving slowly through their neighborhood when a dog ran out in front of my car. Reacting quickly I stepped on the brakes but didn't stop soon enough. The dog was knocked to the ground, bounced up and ran off shaken but not seriously injured. Needless to say it made for a strange start to that day but they did buy a house. Do you take buyers out in your car or meet them at listings?

I wanted to write this post in response to some of the comments in Lenns blog about the danger of certain real estate related activity. Specifically in the State of Washington since one comment mentioned how silly our new law is...

Without going into the details of the law and all the chaos it created, here's the skinny in a nut shell.

Washington State's "Distressed Property Law" RCW 61.34 was enacted to grant the State enforcement powers to stop "Equity Skimming" scams during the legislative session of 2008. It was signed into law on March 30th and took affect on June 12, 2008.

After it's enactment many brokerage's stopped listing properties that fell into the laws definition of a "Distressed Home" for fear of agents becoming "Distressed Home Consultants" which by the language of the new law created a completely new set of "Fiduciary" duties that did not exist under our current "Agency Law". In Washington State we owe NO "Fiduciary" duties. That level of duty is strictly for Attorneys. Our duties as licensees fall under Washington States "Agency Law". The State legislature in all it's glory failed to recognize the contradictory language that created ambiguity between the old and new laws. It also created a situation where a buyer became a "Distressed Home Consultant" if they purchased a distressed home within 20 days of a scheduled foreclosure sale.

The Northwest Multiple Listing Service changed all our listing forms, many purchase and sale documents and the sellers disclosure statement to accommodate the new 2008 law. They hired translators and printed all new listing forms in every possible language because the 2008 law required that contracts be in the homeowners "first Language" and in the absence of clear communication the brokerage/agent had to hire a translator to assure the sellers understood the implications of the new law. It created chaos.

In March of 2009 the Washington State legislature amended the Distressed Property law to exempt Real Estate Agents. Currently, only under a very narrow set of circumstances could a licensee be considered a "Distressed Home Consultant". One of which is providing services during or participating in a "Distressed Home Conveyance". A sale that allows the seller to rent or leases back a home after the sale of a "Distressed Home" for the purposes of skimming equity.

After the 2009 amendment to the "Distressed Property Law" all the forms were again changed, old ones replaced with new ones and sanity was once again restored to the real estate world.

Gene

Maybe you've seen them,maybe you haven't, and maybe we should watch out for them. What are they?...Orbs.

Just what are orbs and why should be aware of them? Orbs have been defined by some as the existence of paranormal activity and debunked by others as simply water stains or rain drops on camera lens when digital pictures are taken. I'm not sure exactly what they are, but I have had the following experiences.

After listing any home my normal practice is to immediately take at least one exterior photo. If the house is staged or clean and organized enough I will take all pictures. Saves time. On this particular day immediately after the sellers signed the agreement I started taking pictures of all the rooms. I drove back to the office and downloaded them into my photo editing program. After download, I noticed several orbs in a few of the pics. Several in the front room, the dining room and the master suite. Since this was a dry sunny day I attributed the orbs to stains on the camera lens.

After a few jokes between me and Kim about ghosts, and goblins I cleaned the camera lens, inspected it for spots and such and went back out again to re-take pics. Again the orbs were there in the same rooms except in different locations. This was not funny anymore. I've already wasted a couple hours on these orbs and was quickly approaching the point of irritation, not to mention the freaky factor...

The next time I went out I took a completely different camera and took pictures again of the same rooms...Same results. Orbs. Now I'm not one to believe ghost stories or the boggy man but this was getting strange. I did not want to keep taking pictures so I removed the orbs in the pictures with modern day technology and posted them all over the Internet. Home looked great, pictures looked good. Done. So I thought.

A couple days after this whole fiasco Kim decides she's got to see this house. I guess curiosity was getting the best of her besides, she wasn't there at the listing appointment so I can't blame her for wanting to see it. She took two friends with her. As they drove down the long dark driveway bordered by a thicket of small Birch trees and stagnant pond water, they emerged into the light and up the hill toward the home. The home was an older farm type home with two windows above a front doorway. The brown trim accented the door and windows from the bright white color. An eerie feeling began to overwhelm them as they approached the home.

Upon entering the house they noticed all the lights were on so she called me. I was in the office at the time and checked to see if anyone had been in the home since we listed it and there was no activity so we figured the sellers must have been back. After walking through the home and exiting each room on down to the basement, she turned the lights off. As she climbed back up the stairs she noticed the lights upstairs were back on. Freaked out and thinking someone had entered the home, they started calling out...hello! hello! No answer. They quickly left.

The next few days were un-eventful until I received a call from an agent who just showed the property. The first question out of her mouth was, "has anyone been murdered in that home?". I immediately asked why, and the agent said that her client thought the house was haunted. Things are starting to get a little weird now and I told her I had no knowledge of anything like that happening. Well needless to say that client didn't want anything to do with that home.

Another agent shows the home a fews day later and poses the very same question and I respond again the same way. After three months on the market and a couple price adjustments we sold the home, but we'll never forget that home, those orbs or the feeling that home elicited.

A little while later we listed another home where both sellers had passed away. That home had orbs in the kitchen and in the formal dining room. The very same eerie chain of events occurred with the pictures of that property although the sale was quick and uneventful.

States have different disclosure requirements. Here in Washington we have no duty to disclose such events since they are not perceived to be material defects. Unless of course we're asked directly and we have actual knowledge.

If you see any orbs out there be prepared for the unusual and the unexplained...

Have you experienced orbs or any other strange unexplainable event while selling homes?