Bellevue, WA

Get ready for the largest Ski(Snowsports) Swap on the Eastside. This coming weekend November 13th(5pm to 9PM) and 14th(8am to 6PM) at Newport Senor High School in Bellevue WA, marks the 24th annual Snowsports Swap. You will find 10,000 square feet of winter sports heaven.

You can expect to find major savings on all types of snowsports gear. In addition to all the used gear you would expect to find at the ski swap, you will find steep discounts on new stuff as well. Gerk's Alpine Hut, Liquidation Sports will be there and Bellevue Ski & Snowboard School plus many more! Entry and parking are free.

Can this event get any better. Yep! you can bring your old stuff and sell it for cold hard cash(maybe they cut checks...not sure.) In addition the purpose of this snowsports swap is to provide volunteer and learning opportunities for students. Students volunteers learn about setting up a small business. Also the event is a Newport PTSA fund raiser. The PTSA uses funds from this event to support the teachers of Newport High School with textbooks, learning aids and much more.

Plan on attending the largest ski(snowsports) swap on the Eastside in Bellevue WA! For more information please visit Newport Snowsports Swap

Newport High School, Bellevue (Factoria), Washington.
4333 Factoria Blvd (128th Ave) SE
Bellevue, WA 98006

Google Street Map

Hi all: I'm reminded of the advice to post on the specific area where you live, work, etc. For me, that would be Bellevue, WA.

I've lived in the Puget Sound (Seattle area) region for over 30 years now. In that time, I've watched Bellevue grow from a sleepy bedroom community with an outdoor mall (Bellevue Square) into a full fledged powerhouse replete with skycrapers and national retailers.

Bellevue used to be a city where the lights turned out at 5:30. Yes, people worked downtown but they lived elsewhere and went home to their families. Great restaurants were started and died on the vine 15 years ago.

What started the renaissance from sleepy to vibrant city? I think it started with Bellevue Square and it's expansion. All of a sudden major national retailers wanted to locate to downtown Bellevue. The second expansion of Bellevue Square in the last few years brought restaurants such as Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and P.F. Changs to name a couple.

What spawned after the most recent expansion of Bellevue Square was the building of Lincoln Square across the street which is full of retailers and restaurants as well. Lincoln Square also included a Westin Hotel and condo's for people wanting to live downtown.

So much of Bellevue's success has to be attributed to Kemper Freeman, the developer and owner of much of downtown Bellevue. Mr. Freeman had a vision and, so far, it's paid off. In this area, Bellevue rivals any city in America for it's access to shopping and entertainment.

The transformation of Bellevue within the last few years has been amazing. Now, people work, eat and live downtown. Major corporations such as Microsoft and Expedia have moved part of their employees to downtown Bellevue. Nieman Marcus just opened this Fall and there are a myriad of fine dining choices and Happy Hours to choose from.

The future of Bellevue looks bright. If you haven't visited recently, come see what's up. Thanks for reading! Have a great day!

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Washington Home Prices and Foreclosure

Washington Home prices are likely to resume crashing because of 7 million properties soon to be seized by lenders that have not yet hit the market, according to Amherst Securities Group LP analysts. A “huge shadow inventory” of mortgages already being foreclosed upon or now delinquent and facing foreclosure compares with the 1.27 million foreclosures seen in 2005. Based on the current pace of existing-home sales, and assuming no other homes are on the market, it would take 1.35 years to sell the properties. [Bloomberg]

Laurie Goodman of Amherst Securities, a New York investment firm specializing in mortgage-related assets, explained, “Loans continue to transition into the delinquency/foreclosure pipeline at a rapid pace, but are moving out at a very slow pace.” Goodman warned, “That housing overhang is the single largest impediment to a recovery in the housing market."

As the clock is ticking down, troubled Washington homeowners are scrambling to qualify for the Obama Loan Modification Program in order to secure a successful home loan modification. Every Washington homeowner should immediately explore their options, and confirm whether or not they qualify for savings and assistance under the Obama HAMP.

While falling Washington home prices and government-induced perks like low interest rates and sizable tax incentives have helped sales activity and values bounce up from recent lows, real recovery hinges on how many additional properties from this “shadow inventory” eventually hit the market.

By analyzing data from the Mortgage Banker's Association, which tracks 80% of mortgages, Goodman discovered that 13.5% of home loans were in some stage of delinquency at the end of May; 4.3% were in foreclosure; 3.9% were considered “seriously delinquent.” After estimating the likelihood that those borrowers would somehow, perhaps through a loan modification, keep their homes, Goodman found that nearly 7 million homes will be lost to bank repossession, representing almost 18 months' worth of existing-home sales (currently at modest clip of 5.2 million annually). [Forbes]

Analysis by Amherst shows the amount of pending foreclosed-home supply has been escalated by more borrowers going into default, fewer being able to catch up once they do, and longer time periods to seize properties because of issues such as loan-modification efforts and changes to state laws. [Bloomberg]

Amherst cautioned that a change in the mix of foreclosure and traditional sales over different parts of the year lifted prices in the period, as the distressed share shrank. “The favorable seasonals will disappear over the coming months, and the reality of a 7 million-unit housing overhang is likely to set in,” they said.

Using additional data from First American Corelogic, which cover 29 million mortgages, Goodman estimated an additional 240,000 mortgages will become delinquent each month. At this rate, the Obama administration's $75 billion in loan modification programs, still slowly working through the system, has little time to help troubled homeowners.

Hi all: Good afternoon! I was thinking about blogging this morning. This was after attending a seminar last night on SEO related stuff. The so-called expert recommended that we not write articles that are displayed on other people's websites ( In this case the site was a local one, Biznik, but it could just as easily apply to Active Rain). His point was that we have no control and its much easier to set up our own blog on Wordpress, etc.. I've heard this argument before.

I love being here on Active Rain. To me, it's about more than blogging; it's about building long-term relationships and learning. That being said, I also love to write. I would imagine most of the prolific bloggers here do as well.

So should a person blog or not? I don't think it's for everyone. Personally, if you don't enjoy writing or can't string two sentences together, it might not be worth it. The information you're putting out there in cyberspace needs to be concise and well written in my opinion. If you're going to blog, take the time to not only spellcheck (there's one here) but make sure it's grammatically correct. I know this sounds pretentious but, again, I think it's important that what you put out there reflects your knowledge. Part of that is being aware of correct sentence structure and spelling. Mind you this can be learned.

Again, I think it's important that we embrace new ideas and technology. I've read so many success stories here about Rainers' blogs working. I encourage you to give it a try if you haven't already. After all, you never know who might be reading! Have a fantastic day!

Good morning all! Yesterday I sat through an afternoon session on the new RESPA which will be implemented on January 2, 2010. Not my idea of a fun afternoon!

Here are my thoughts. One, I've noticed a lot of people seem to overreact about the changes in our industry. Case in point: The HVCC laws that were implemented May 1 of this year. Yes, we could no longer choose our favorite appraiser and values are occasionally coming in lower. But I've also seen a majority of reports come in fine and actually much quicker than before.

So what about the new RESPA changes to the Good Faith Estimate? The GFE will now be three pages long and there are a number of tolerance levels that are allowed. The big one that has zero tolerance is the interest rate cannot change from the Good Faith Estimate unless a new GFE is provided (re-disclosed). My company already does this anyway. The other big thing I noticed is that YSP must not only be disclosed (this has been enforced by wholesale lenders for a while now) but the borrower is paid this and then needs to pay the loan officer.

I'm sure there will be complaints about these new guidelines. Personally, I started in the mortgage business 3 1/2 years ago and have seen it all. I know we'll weather this storm as well. For those mortgage brokers out there who rely on YSP and hiding their pay, changing terms, etc., the gig is up. My boss commented that this may mean the end of the broker. I'm not so sure but will say this. As with anything it pays to be upfront. Disclose to your clients how you do business and how you get paid and there shouldn't be a problem. Ultimately, we're in the trust business. Our clients believe what we say. Shame on those who abuse the privilege. Thanks for reading! For more information on the new RESPA changes you are welcome to contact me. Have a wonderful day!