Joseph Hill

Blue Bird Ice Cream and Tea Room on Capitol Hill in the Heart of everything cool and happening right now in Seattle is a big HIT in my book.  I just walked the 10 blocks there to sample some of their most interesting flavors (Elysian Stout anybody?) and ended up with the Blue Bird Ice Cream Stumptown Coffee flavor.

There were enough Stumptown Beans in this thing that you could actually feel the texture of the beans as you ate the ice cream.  After the Hot Hot Hot week we have had here in Seattle, Blue Bird Ice Cream was such a great treat. 

You know what hit me like a nice cold blast of Blue Bird Ice Cream on the pallett?  This Pike/Pine neighborhood is changed A LOT in just the past year - and this being a very 'down' year for people moving and selling.  Well if the Pike/Pine corridor is any indication of what awaits our other currently moderately depressed neighborhoods then I will gladly wait till the day when there is not just one 'HIT' spot for some great ice cream in Seattle, but perhaps there will be three or four Blue Bird Ice Cream parlors to choose from! 

Yum Yum! - I'm a fan now.

Joseph R Hill

Your Capitol HILL Real Estate Agent

Capitol Hill Seattle Short Sales and Foreclosures are today's HOT BUYS!

If you are interested in scoring the best deals in todays great buyers market in Capitol Hill Short Sales or in Capitol Hill Seattle Foreclosures, you gotta come with the best Short Sale and Foreclosed Home Tour Team in the area on our FREE Tours of Bank Owned, Pre-Foreclosures, and Short Sales!

You need to sign up as SPACE IS LIMITED. Easy to do from our homepage at www.FreeForeclosedHomeTours.com

Here are two examples of the types of properties we will be viewing:

1 - $350,000 Short Sale in Seattle South Capitol Hill / Central Area Tudor is a Capitol Hill Short Sale with 4 bedrooms / 1.75 baths, secluded and private high off the street with turn of the century mill work and high ceilings intact - substantial systems upgrades and entertaining spaces make this a great find!

2 - $450,000 Short Sale in Madrona / Leschi / Central Area true Craftsman home right on a beautiful open park. RARE to see such pride of ownership in this 2 bed 2.5 bath with updates throughout, original fixtures and moldings make this Capitol Hill / Central Area Short Sale a HOT BUY!

Both of these homes are priced SUBSTANTIALLY below market value and below current tax assessed valuation.

My Team of Certified REO Property and Short Sale Specialists Realtors can help you navigate the complex Short Sale offer process and also make sure you are Pre-Approved so there is no doubt in the Sellers mind that you can qualify for the purchase! Contact the Free Foreclosed Home Tours Team today to get started on your way to the best Capitol Hill Short Sales and Foreclosure deals around!

Everyone seems to be saying - 'don't delay' 'Buy now'! But WHY, oh Why, do they persist so?

The answer is simple, Three Reasons:

1. Affordability is up nationwide do 56.1 percent of the population, that is 16 points HIGHER than at the height of the market, when only 40.4 percent of the population could afford to purchase a home
2. Conforming loan limits are DECREASING starting January 01 2009. Current Fannie/Freddie assumable underwritten mortgages for King County are $567,500. This amount is going to be reduced over $60,000 to $506,000 starting January 01. This means a higher interest rate for a mortgage above $506,000 but more importantly, mortgages above that amount will require MUCH higher down payment amounts and much stricter underwriting standards.
   
3. King, Pierce, and Snohomish housing prices overall may have fallen over 10% year to year (2007 to 2008) BUT our inventory has not skyrocketed like other parts of the country, and our housing prices (although lower) are still among the highest in the country.

What is the best Holiday gift you have ever given? How about the Best Holiday give you have ever recieved? OK, think about what that is and then mulitply that by a factor of -oh, lets say 100!- and that gives you the idea of why NOW is the time to jump on Seattle area real estate.

Need more reasons?

• Forbes Magazine published the results of a National Institute of Urban Land Use study that found: Seattle is BEST POSITIONED to recover soonest nationally, and is also BEST POSITIONED to have higher than national average returns on appreciation during and after the 'rebound'
• The Federal Government has a new $7500.00 TAX CREDIT that applies across the board to anyone when they purchase a home and they have not had their name on title for a home in the last three years (this qualifies you as a 'first time home buyer') Granted, the credit is more like a zero interest 'loan' but hey, you can use it to buff up your IRA or ROT IRA for this year and then pay back the money from your earned income over the next five years!
• INVENTORY will be tighter next year - Guaranteed! Unless you are shopping for a downtown Seattle or Bellevue condo, new construction has slowed to a snails pace. This means there will be fewer new homes on the market next year, and probably the same number of resales available. So, even if actual sales number (volume) does not increase next year, we should see a higher absorption rate across the three counties, as new construction does not continue to come on-line at the same rate as in 2008. This translates to de-facto higher demand for existing homes! This may not translate into higher prices right away, but it does translate in to slightly shorter market times for existing home sales.

Thats it for today - have a great weekend everyone, and really - consider giving yourself the gift of homeownership this holiday season!

Joseph

206.218.8448

josephrhill@kw.com

www.imaginepropertiesnw.com

disclosure: Statistics were taken for this post from the article "It's wise to buy before '09 limits start' Published in the Seattle PI November 29, 2008, Sam Anderson author.

Three fantastic points about the current real estate market:

1. All of the not so good agents and part-timers (idiots!) are getting out of the business
2. Everything is on sale!
3. It IS a good time to sell your home*

*IF you are a young family in a cramped two bedroom condo and just found out that you are expecting twins, THEN it is DEFINITELY a good time to SELL.

*IF you are offered a company relocation to a job that you have wanted for a long time and there is opportunity for growth in the new position, THEN it is DEFINITELY a good time to SELL.

*IF you are in over your head and having a difficult time making your monthly mortgage payment, THEN it is DEFNITELY a good time to SELL.

Bill Virgin, Seattle Times & PI collumnist, has an excellent article about the economic stasis we are all experiencing, published Tuesday November 18th, 2008. The opening words: "We are concerned, and frankly a little perplexed, at the repeated assertions by you, the American consumer, business owner and taxpayer, that we are sending mixed and often comflicting messages about how we want you to behave in order to stop the recession and get the economy moving again."

Bill has hit a nerve that is starting to emerge as the driving force behind much of our current and near future percieved economic strife: FEAR

False

Evidence

Appearing

Real

Now, we all have our personal demons, but this is something very different, and it stems from the ONE THING we can all control in any economic cycle - BEHAVIOR!

You see, how we behave today will have immediate and real effects, and also immediatly, our behaviors will have affects on the future. This is a truism for economic indices and otherwise.

Bill sums up the article: "all we ask is that americans spend, save, reduce debt, take on more debt, lend and invest - simultaneously. What could be clearer than that?"

Between the opening lines and the last words, Bill explains many of the FEAR factors that are rampant right now and how those Fears are causing Americans to behave. (Remember that taking no action is a type of behavior, or action also)

The point is that because it is impossible for anyone anywhere in anytime to do anything other than just one thing at a time, we ALL need to relax; examine our behavior (and the fear associated with it), then we need to analyze our fears till they die in front of us and we can have some control over them! Do this by:

Asking yourself - What is the WORST thing that could/would happen if I...?

- What is the BEST thing that could/would happen if I...?

Then - and this is VERY IMPORTANT - Take ACTION!!! Do something! Create a behavior! It is our behavior that will most realisticaly determine how successful or not we become. Doing anything out of immediate fear is the only wrong thing to do.

I CARE about my clients' varied situations, from needing to downsize in the suburbs and enter the city condo market - to leaving the city condo and upsizing to a suburban house for the new kids. But I cannot analyze your Fears without your involvement. Now more than ever is a time of opportunity. Engage in questions and seek answers, then act on those answers - What is the Best/Worst thing that could happen?

All the investors I know are buying right now - Why are they calling it a BUYERS MARKET if we have such a low volume of transactions, that is, people actually buying? I suspect it is fear. Lets Talk About It!

Have a GREAT Thanksgiving!

Joseph; your Realtor - 206.218.8448

My Core Values:

1 - Live by the 'get by giving' philosophy

2 - Make my client's #1 goal, my #1 goal

3 - Be willing to work toward a common good

4 - Live up to my standards, despite temptations to lower them

5 - Do what I say I will do, sometimes more just never less!

ps - here is the LINK to the Bill Virgin article in its' entire text.

Yesterday I commented on the emerging Sprinkler Workers Strike at The Bravern and Bellevue Towers. Here is a quick update from today's Seattle PI

Today the Headline: Strike Continues to Halt Construction is an update. Apparently the Sprinklers Union began striking on Tuesday July 1st, and is now supported by several other Trade Unions. The main issue is the wages and benefits offered to 'apprentice' Union members. Currently Apprentice members start at around $15 an hour, have no health insurance, no sick or vacation pay, and it takes up to FIVE years to become a full Union member.

The date for United Association of Sprinkler Fitters & Apprentices Local 669 to sit down with developers is next Thursday, July 11th.

Unions are a double edged sword - they clearly provide protections for workers, they also provide the most protection for the most 'senior' workers within the union itself, and this extra protection and benefit structure often comes at the expense of 'junior' or in this case 'Apprentice' members.

The Union representatives are senior union members, they are going to make sure their peers are taken care of before the Apprentices are. The developer just wants the job done well and within a certain budget range. If a union really wants to represent the best possible outcome for the greatest number of its members, it may have to consider the cost it is choosing to impose on Apprentice members and the unfair benefit it bestows on full members.

If our new global competitive marketplace (for construction services, or superconductors, or soybeans) has taught us anything, it surely has taught us that five years for any worker to earn full benefits is way too long - who do you know that has had the same job for over five years?

Unions need to become more flexible, not only to survive in todays market, but also to attract more members and in turn achieve a greater bargaining position.

What do you think about Union representation WITHIN union membership demographics?

Joseph R Hill, Seatlle Bellevue and Kirkland Washington Real Estate Agent and Consultant

Imagine Properties nw, Keller Williams Realty Bellevue

206.734.4741