Nicole Weidauer

Meridian Park is a neighborhood in Shoreline, WA, a suburb of Seattle, just off of Interstate-5. The neighborhood is very open and friendly neighbors can be seen power walking down the streets with their dog in toe.

As far as real estate goes, things are moving along just fine. Within the last month, 3 homes have sold, 1 went to a pending status, and there are still 5 active and ready to be purchased. The median listing price is $368,356 and the median sales price is $379,667. The average days on market for homes in the area is 99 days.

In all of Shoreline, the median sold home price in August of 2007 was $400,000 and in August of 2008, that price went up to $419,975. That's an increase of almost 5% from last year!

So on a micro level, in the neighborhood of Meridian Park, homes are selling for more than they are listed for AND on a macro level, in all of Shoreline, homes too are being sold for more than they were compared to a year ago.

This is great news for our community of Shoreline and my neighborhood of Meridian Park. Property values are keeping steady or rising and in this sometimes uncertain market, we have some light of hope!

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Call the Egerer & Weidauer Team to discuss how your neighborhood is doing and get a free comparative market analysis!

Jeremy Egerer 360.990.4083 www.jeremyandnicolesellhomes.com Nicole Weidauer 206.661.7256

Back in August 2007, when the market began to show signs of its collapse, Mad Money's Jim Cramer predicted the eminent economic meltdown. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKZgfrsItmw

A fellow Keller Williams agent out of Celebration, FL, Steve Glose, writes, "With the world's financial markets in turmoil the question on everyone's mind is 'Are things going to get worse and when will we see this mess level off?' No one knows this answer for sure but a good bet is that things are still going to get worse before we see things turn around. The finger pointing at the problem is pretty easy. The housing melt down has caused huge losses to Banks and Financial institutions. These losses are forcing many banks to restructure their bad debt or risk failure all together. Several large banking institutions have sought out buyers to prevent bankruptcy while the government looks to see what can be done to prevent further meltdown. This uncertainty has sent shock waves throughout the global financial system and caused huge down turns in stock markets around the globe" (http://activerain.com/blogsview/692367/Financial-Markets-In-A).

For some, the current outlook of the market is quite scary, but not for investors. Those who know how to invest, know that this is quite possibly one of the best markets to be in. When markets crash, people panic and withdraw to save what's left of their investment. People become irrational and lose sight of basic market fundamentals, often selling at big losses just to get out. It is at this point when the savvy investors jump in and take advantage of a changing market.

"In today's economy, residential real estate offers investors a fresh place to put their money, rather than turning to typical stocks, some say. Jason DeMink, CEO of the Benchmark Cos. in Grand Rapids, said that with foreclosed homes selling as low as half their worth, investors who can't participate in the commercial real estate market can get into residential" (http://www.mlive.com/businessreview/western/index.ssf/2008/09/investing_in_todays_real_estat.html).

Right now we are going through a much needed correction. Banks that made poor business decisions are getting reprimanded. That's Schumpeter's creative destruction at work. If you bail them out, you're rewarding the businesses that created the problem in the first place.

I liken the situation we are in to weight lose attempts. One cannot expect to lose weight after working out a day or even in a week. It's taken years for your body to put on the weight and it's going to take some time and hard work to get back into the lean shape you want to be in. Similarly, we've been putting on some bad weight during this housing and financial fiasco and now it's going to take some tough "workout sessions" to get us back into shape again.

"No one denies that the market has its downs as well as its ups, but more than a few real estate professionals feel that the news media is as much a cause of consumer gloom as it is a reporter of it. This is an old story, of course, but recent market conditions have certainly exacerbated the problem" (http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20080723_pushback.htm).

I couldn't agree more-the gloomier the news stories the better. And it's really affecting real estate. Obviously, if consumers are hearing report after report about banks going bankrupt or home prices falling, their confidence in the market is going to plummet. But consumer confidence is just what we need to get through these tough times.

"Earlier Monday, President Bush acknowledged the "pain" of investors and workers in the finance industry, but assured the public that the government is working to iron out the problems. 'In the short run, adjustments in the financial markets can be painful, for people worried about their investments, and for employees of the firms,' said Bush" (http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/15/news/economy/bush_economy/index.htm).

No doubt we are going through some hard times that may last till the end of 2009, but that doesn't mean we are going through a depression or even a recession (By definition, a recession is an extended decline in general business activity, typically two consecutive quarters, or six months, of falling real gross national product). And it doesn't mean people aren't still going to need to buy and sell homes.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, buyers and sellers alike need to continue to be educated about the market and the current trends going on. Real estate is very local and if you are getting information about national reports, you are not getting the whole picture of what is happening on a local level.

In the words of Henry Ford, "Whether you think you can or can't, you're right." The Wall Street Journal recently published an article about the significance of our beliefs and the mental models, or mindsets that shape our behavior. When we hear over and over again about the down real estate market and our economy in the tubes, all that negative information gets stored deep in our heads and we end up going along with the doom and gloomers. What good is going to come out of that? If consumers are not doing what they do best, consume, then how are those numbers going to go up? How are we going to pick ourselves up and out of this mess? Consumers need to turn off the tv, put down the paper, and talk to a trusted real estate professional about their local market.

This seems to me that the press as well as consumers are getting a little worked up over a major bump in the road. Perspective is difficult when your viewing a period of time that most of us can't even remember. What we're dealing with now is a nasty correction that was bound to happen after the huge housing boom we experienced.

We at the Egerer & Weidauer Team continually educate our buyers and sellers about the market to help them better understand what is really going on in our market. Call us today to get some real real estate news!

Jeremy Egerer 360.990.4083 www.jeremyandnicolesellhomes.com Nicole Weidauer 206.661.7256

We are in a down real estate market. I said it! Things have shifted and it's taking a little bit longer for houses to sell. The good thing is that they are still selling!

The law of equilibrium will bring us back to an up market sooner or later. Just imagine a golf swing. The club goes back slow but then does a great BIG swing. When the market will shift is up in the air but until then we need to roll with the punches of this market.

A lot of things have led us to this point. Instead of pointing fingers as to what brought us here, buyers and sellers (as well as agents!) need to realize that the old rules don't apply anymore. Things have changed and they are going to remain that way for a while. A recent article I read stated that it could be another decade before we are back to the high point we were at 2+ years ago. Knowing that the real estate market is a cyclical thing, I know that that is not far from the truth.

People often ask me how the market is doing. Just a few weeks ago I posted a blog about now being a great time to buy- and it is, for some. The market is the market. Sometimes it is a right time to buy, sometimes it's right to hold, and sometimes to sell. It really depends on each person's situation. I can't give a blanket answer. I am a real estate consultant that will talk you through your situation and figure out what is best for you. I am here to help you achieve your goals. I'm not helping anyone by telling them it is a good time to buy or sell if the numbers just don't make sense for them.

At the Egerer & Weidauer Team, we interpret the market trends to get things done. The techniques of 2 years ago will not work to sell your house today that is why our strategies are based on what is happening in the market, in your neighborhood, right now!

I'm sure you're well aware of the Fannie/Freddie government take over this past week. This is a good AND bad thing but hopefully more good will come out of it. Here is how I see things unfolding (or at least HOPE it will go a little something like this!) Consumer confidence should go up because of the known security in the institutions being backed by the government. The availability of money will be tightened and guidelines may get stricter but this will only be beneficial because it will stop loans from going to those who can't handle them thus bringing the foreclosure rate down. As the foreclosures go down, consumer confidence will again rise and hopefully the market will be on more stable ground and Fannie and Freddie will be able to hold their own.

Like I said before, we are in the eye of the hurricane right now, and it's going to take a while to get back to a place of normalcy. News of financial institutions going under, or sales prices dropping in your area is pretty scary stuff, but we are all going to get through this. We did in our last market correction during the 2000 tech wreck, and before in the early '90's and so on. What's going to help bring us out of this? Consumer education is priority number one! The Egerer & Weidauer Team is here to educate our buyers and sellers and help them figure out what is best for them, regardless of the current state of the market.

This too shall pass, and we'll help you through it!

Jeremy Egerer 360.990.4083 www.jeremyandnicolesellhomes.com Nicole Weidauer 206.661.7256

Their advice is especially important this month, as the Department of Homeland Security has made September National Preparedness Month.

In my community, I am a certified Shoreline CERT member. CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Team and members are trained and certified to work within their neighborhoods to respond and take charge in emergency situations. As a CERT member, I have a knowledge of the dangers that we potentially face in any emergency situation and the skills/ abilities to get through the it.

On that fateful day 7 years ago, the city of New York did not know what was going to happen to them. City workers and local law enforcement/ firefighters never prepared for terrorist attacks like the ones that happened that day. But those organizations and the city did have a plan for other various emergency situations. They did not have a terrorist attack plan but they had a whole bunch of other plans that helped them work effectively do save the most amount of victims as possible. Brave men and women risked their lives to work the emergency plans they did have in order to try and save human life and normalize the situation as much as possible.

As we reflect on the great loss of American lives in New York, Pennsylvania, and D.C, remember that it is your responsibility to take care of yourselves and your families. The most important thing you can do is to set up an emergency plan and practice it often. Get involved with your employer and start an emergency plan there as well, seeing as we never know when something could happen.

Take a moment today to remember those lives lost and if you should need any help with your emergency plan for your family, your work, or your neighborhood, please give me a call, I'd love to help!