Theresa Bastian Realtor in Tacoma and Pierce County, WA

Our home town paper did a front page article today on the Foreclosure market and our forecosure bus tours were mentioned in the article. Check it out! http://www.thenewstribune.com/front/topphoto/story/539258.html

If you want to reserve a spot on an upcoming tour, email me at tbastian@kw.com or cal 253.376.4717.

You need to see this breaking news story, it is unbelievable (if anything in finance is unbelievable anymore).

• We are all waiting for the treasury to start buying up bad mortgages...
• Banks are waiting for the government to start buying bad securities before they approve short sales...
• Homeowners who are in trouble are somehow going to benefit form the $700 Billion bailout...

It looks like NONE OF THE ABOVE are going to happen. Today Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson has reversed the original objective of the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program). They may have to change the name! They are no longer going to use this fund to purchase bad securities, they are going to use it to make investments in companies that need capital infusions (like AIG).

Here is what it means:

1. Short sales are not going anywhere - banks are going to have to clean up their own messes so expect to see them go through the roof.
2. There is no bailout for a bad mortgage, either a non-sale solution, short sale or foreclosure will be the only way out.
3. There is very little chance that we as taxpayers will ever see any kind of a return on these investments (not that we ever would have) unless Paulson has somehting extraordinary up his sleeve

It is more important than ever to make sure your real estate professionals are trained in the nuances of working with pre-foreclosure properties. That's why I have earned my Certification from the Distressed Property Institute. How can I help?

Join us for an informal networking night on Tuesday from 7 - 8 at Keller Williams Tacoma. Check in with what's current in Pierce County real estate investment opportunities. Call Theresa at 253.376.4717 to RSVP.

I read a statistic on Tacoma's hippest news source, Exit133.com, that startled me so much I reserached the original source. Yes, it is apparently accurate...Tacoma's rental rates have increased 7.3%, the second highest increase in the nation.

According to the San Francisco Business Journal, San Francisco apartment rental rates continued to rise in the third quarter, outpacing every city in United States except Seattle and Tacoma, according to a new report from Reis Inc., a New York-based research firm.

Asking rents in San Francisco went up 6.3 percent since the third quarter of 2007 to an average of $1,827 a month. Tacoma rates rose 7.3 percent while Seattle increased 7.1 percent.

Looks like it's a good time to own rentals in our region. If you want to learn how to get a piece of this market, or capitalize on the investments you may already have, contact me for a free consultation or portfolio analysis.

Theresa Bastian

Ignite Investing

Keller Williams Realty

253.376.4717