Gary McNinch Realtor Renton WA Real Estate

All-Natural Pest Control That's Effective And Safe For Kids And Pets

In between visits from the exterminator, it's not uncommon to see the occasional ant, spider or roach or insect around the house.

In fact, Sunday evening a group of us neighbors were having a bbq in Ashburn our townhome community in Renton and someone started digging up a small crack in the sidewalk. Then of course the ants came out to see what was up. OH MY GOD...... Spray the ants ...... so they were drowned in gobs of ant killer chemical.... Everyone had a different opinion. Leave them alone, kill and burn them all, move the chair, flee madly running and screaming. It was pretty fun for a few seconds. Me of course grew up farming and a few little ants don't cause too much problem.

But what to do about it?

One solution is Terminix SafeShield, a new, eco-friendly home pest control product introduced earlier this year.

Formulated by an independent pesticide company, Terminix SafeShield is a non-aerosol bug spray whose active ingredients are all-natural. The formula is said to control 25 types of in-home pests and kills bugs fast.

Because of its natural composition, SafeShield is safe for use around kids and pets -- a huge advantage over chemical-laden, off-the-shelf products. However, this same composition is also the product's weak spot. Its oils and ingredients are most effective as spot treatments -- not long-lasting ones.

Although it's meant to complement a professional Terminix treatment, SafeShield can be purchased by-the-bottle at the Terminix website. Just a little environmentally friendly info from the Gary McNinch Team your Renton Realtors. My home website is www.RentonHomeFinder.com My twitter handle @RentonHomeFinde My facebook page is Gary McNinch on Facebook My Active Rain website is Gary McNinch Team on ActiveRain Gary McNinch Team Realtor Renton WA Real Estate Keller Williams Realty Renton WA. Call us 206-696-2329, email Gary@GaryMcNinch.com tweet us, text us, or send us a snail mail. We like to hear from our many satisfied clients.

At the start of the year, the "experts" made a lot of predictions about the U.S. economy and what to expect in 2009.

• Some said housing would rise
• Some said housing would fall
• Some said mortgage rates would rise
• Some said mortgage rates would fall

And nobody predicted just how big the government's stimulus package would be.

Now, on June 30, with the year officially half-over, it's as good a time as any to remember that people are much better at interpreting the past than predicting the future. Economists can make educated guesses about the future, but they're guesses nonetheless.

It's like watching the Weather Channel. A meterologist can look at the data and say it's going to rain next week, but the forecast is never 100%. As Gary Keller, founder of Keller Williams Realty, said last fall, "real estate is local and saying that real estate in one place is the same as another is the same as saying the weather is the same everywhere."

So far this year, mortgage rates have been up and down, credit availability has been higher and lower, and home prices have varied immensely from neighborhood to neighborhood.

There's another 6 months until 2010 and there's no reason to expect the current volatility and uncertainty to change. Yesterday, a new client asked me what I thought would happen in our Renton housing market in the next year or so and my answer was "more of the same"...... still flat with rates up and down and another load of adjustable rate mortgages coming due this fall to increase our distressed housing supply."

The world is unpredictable and so is the U.S. economy. Therefore, consider making your personal finance decisions based on the information at hand today instead of on an educated guess about the future. Remember we only have 3 months to find the right home and get an offer written if you are using the "first time home buyer $8000 tax credit." Do not hesitate on this one.

After all, the weatherman's been wrong before.

My home website is www.RentonHomeFinder.com

My twitter handle @RentonHomeFinde

My facebook page is Gary McNinch on Facebook

My Active Rain website is Gary McNinch Team on ActiveRain


Gary McNinch Team Realtor Renton WA Real Estate Keller Williams Realty Renton WA. Call us 206-696-2329, email Gary@GaryMcNinch.com tweet us, text us, or send us a snail mail. We like to hear from our many satisfied clients.

What is Your Home Worth, What Did the Neighbors House REALLY sell for? Gary McNinch Team Market Snapshot Online and Current from the NWMLS

My home website is www.RentonHomeFinder.com

My twitter handle @RentonHomeFinde

My facebook page is Gary McNinch on Facebook

My Active Rain website is Gary McNinch Team on ActiveRain


Gary McNinch Team Realtor Renton WA Real Estate Keller Williams Realty Renton WA. Call us 206-696-2329, email Gary@GaryMcNinch.com tweet us, text us, or send us a snail mail. We like to hear from our many satisfied clients.

The Rules Of Receiving A Cash Gift For A Downpayment On A Renton Home

Tighter mortgage guidelines since late-2008 are forcing home buyers to make bigger downpayments. Anecdotally, the change has led to a surge in buyers taking gifts of cash from family members. Especially First Time Home Buyers taking advantage of the $8,000 Tax Credit.

If you're among those accepting a cash gift from family, it's important to know that you can't just deposit the money in your bank account.

There is a proper way to accept a cash gift and it requires 3 distinct steps:

1. Complete and sign an acceptable gift letter
2. Document the gifter's withdrawal of funds with teller receipts
3. Document the giftee's deposit of funds with teller receipts

See, mortgage lenders pay close attention to gifts-for-downpayments. For one, lenders have to make sure that downpayment cash is "clean" (i.e. not laundered). And, secondly, they want the gift to really be a gift and not a loan-in-disguise. Underwriters see this as a red flag, but once you have the proper paperwork in place the purchase of the home can proceed.

This is why lenders will often require that a signed, dated letter accompany the home loan application.

As an example:

I am the [relationship to recipient] of [name of recipient] and this letter serves as evidence that I am gifting [name of recipient] [amount of gift] to be used for the purchase of the home at [complete address of property].

This is a gift -- not a loan -- and there is no expectation of repayment.

Signed, [Signature of gifter]

To further appease lenders, gift recipients should make sure that gift funds are not commingled at the time of deposit. If the gift is for $12,000, for example, the bank's deposit slip should indicate that a $12,000 deposit was made -- nothing more, nothing less. Instead of trying to do this yourselves, call the Gary McNinch Team and we will get you directly in touch with a great lender that we trust Evergreen Home Loans. They have helped our clients with this process in the past.

Don't add a random $50 check to the deposit, in other words. If you have a separate deposit to make, make it as a subsequent transaction with its own receipt.

It's also worth noting that gifting funds between family members can create both legal and tax liabilities. If you're unsure about how donating or receiving a gift may impact you, call or email me directly. If I can't help you with your questions, I can refer you to Cheryl Clark, CPA. I ask Cheryl's advice quite often to help our clients. Gary McNinch Team Renton Wa Realtor with more great info to make sure you purchase exactly the Renton home that fits your needs.

love this house

Trulia Question on a Property in Maple Valley from a buyer named Chris Home BuyerRenton, WA

i would love to know how much they bought this house for as i like the house and would seriously consider an offer at around 265k do you think this would be pushing my luck ?--This question is about this property: http://www.trulia.com/property/1079842663-23804-SE-281st-Ln-…

Highest Rated Gary McNinch Team’s answer

Gary McNinch Te... AgentRenton, WA

BEST ANSWER Hi Chris,

This home is in Glacier Valley development, across the street and one block from highly rated Glacier Park Elementary. Originally Bill Ruth owned this property and sold it to Capstone Homes who built these homes in 03,04,05.

The current owners purchased in November 05 for $299K and appear to have a first and second loan for $285K at the time of purchase. Probably put 5% or 15K down payment. Anyway, it is hard to tell because the square footage on the King County Tax records appears to be in error. I'm not sure exactly which model this home was, since there were quite a few floorplans.

These homes were great with high ceilings, lots of windows and bright, and location to the school and Elk Run Golf Course is great. These homes sold quickly in the hot market of 04 and 05. If the current owners paid off a normal amount in 4 years, they probably have about 25-35K equity. They were originally priced at 309K and did a 10K reduction after two weeks. At 8.2% cost of sale on current list price of $300K, they are just about even if they sell for full price. This is actually better than people who got loans up to 103% of value and now are way underwater on their value and are selling their distressed homes or short sale.

If you are interested in taking a look at this home and are a serious and qualified buyer call me and my buyers agent will help you out. The listing agent is a veteran too, so it should be fun, if you like it and we decide to make an offer. I think that $265K is too low, but in this market you never know, especially considering the amount of loss of value in Maple Valley market the past two years.

Let me know if our team can help, call, shoot me an email or text. Good luck, Gary

Gary McNinch Keller Williams SES Renton 206-696-2329 Trulia Pro gary@garymcninch.com Web Reference: http://www.RentonHomeFinder.com

So, the question is ??? Will he call me for help. Some buyers don't know that the sellers pay all the commission so our services for the buyer are paid by the SELLER.