Localism: Clark County, WA

Green Plastic, or maybe not

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:19:52 -0600

What I learned at GreenDrinks

Trying to be green, always learning something new.

I went to Green Drinks on Tuesday, and learned something about plastics and recycling. Lovely Terra, who works for our local Waste Conections was our spiel-speaker for this month. And a great bit of information she had!

Corn plastics cloud the mixture in recycling. That's what caught my attention, then there was this discussion about corn-based plastics and how they really take a long, long time to decompose. Now, I've been all excited about corn-based plastics because I thought they decomposed in about 3 months and could even go into my local yard composter. Not so!

This Smithsonian Article is quite informative. After this new tidbit of information, I'm a little disillusioned. I believe it's still a better choice to use the Polylactic acid (PLA) corn-based (or vegetable-based) plastics, but we need to keep going in our efforts to decrease trash, decrease waste, and just stop beating-up our planet.

Check with your local waste recyle authority to find out where you can dispose of your PLA. Some commercial composters will take it. And remember the greenen rule: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Whether you're looking for your first home, or possibly your last, or selling either of them, I have the patience and experience to help you find the best choice in Vancouver Washington. Working with a professional real estate agent (me!) who listens to your needs and works as a trusted advisor to get the best solution to your housing needs will give you a new attitude about real estate. If you are concerned about living a more sustainable lifestyle, Vancouver Washington may be the city for you. I specialize in knowing the neighborhoods in Vancouver Washington that have great walkscore ratings. Whether you want the low-maintenance condo lifestyle, a home that gets you off the grid, or a home that is something in between in Clark County, I can help you find just the right home and neighborhood. If you're looking for homes that have been certified as green, you'll want to know I keep informed of the newly constructed homes and their various green certifications. Visit my website for more information.

More on the Financial Challenges we are now experiencing

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:54:40 -0600

In todays Inman News, 11/24/08, Patrick Duffy writes a book review of the book Financial Shock: A 360 degree look at the subprime mortgage implosion and how to avoid the next financial crisis by author: Mark Zandi

It is much more succinct than the article I posted of the NPR interview last week on my website blog.

Duffy states: "the book is so comprehensive, it still provides an excellent framework from which to understand the root causes of the crisis, from the mistakes made by Alan Greenspan to the rapid rise of irresponsible lenders who rewrote the rules of underwriting based on their own short-term interests.

And let's not forget a compliant political system and the home buyers eager to join the ranks of owners despite any potential long-term consequences of poor financial decisions.

Beginning with a chapter that explains just how subprime mortgages evolved, Zandi writes in plain English and manages to weave a story with its share of heroes-turned-villains, including politicians pushing for an "ownership society"; a Federal Reserve chairman enamored with deregulation; an enormous amount of global money in search of a big return; financial alchemists getting drunk on their own supposed genius; home builders who ignored the lessons of the past; and bond ratings agencies who kept the entire machine humming because the profits were simply too large to pass up."

Patrick Duffy further mentions Zandi's policies to address or prevent in the future:

"So now that we're in the midst of unraveling and deleveraging the system of subprime mortgages, complex securities and credit default swaps, how do we prevent a repeat of this ugly scenario? Fortunately, Zandi provides his own 10-step program of policies to address a host of issues: from tossing out shady brokers to providing basic financial education in high schools across the country. These steps include the following:

1. Adopt a voluntary mortgage write-down plan

2. Establish clear mortgage lending rules

3. License all mortgage brokers

4. Expand data collection by the government

5. Reform the fractured foreclosure process

6. Invest in financial literacy starting in high school

7. Modify mark-to-market accounting when price discovery is unreliable

8. Raise financial transparency and accounting

9. Overhaul and simplify financial regulation

10. Pay attention to asset bubbles and act accordingly

Seems to me this book would be a good read!

Monday Market in Vancouver Washington

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:50:03 -0600

Monday Market Snapshot 11/24/2008

Vancouver Washington at the end of November.

This is that time of year - buyers and sellers are 'going to get back to it after the holidays'. What I've seen in years past is a definite drop in numbers of sellers and lookers from now until that magical time just after Superbowl where buyers come back and Easter when the sellers start testing the market again.

So, our number of active listings is about the same as last week, with 3865 wanting to sell. And a slight decrease of homes with contracts to purchase at 466. With 54 home sales completing in the last week, the numbers suggest a bit of a build up in the ratio of homes for sale versus those that are being sold.

Eighty-five of the (466) pending transactions are 3rd party approval. Not all 3rd party are short sales, but in our market right now, most are. Of the 3865 that are actively seeking buyers, 720 are requiring 3rd party approval, suggesting short sale. About 79 are listed as bank owned.

That means Go Buy Something!Start now and you could possibly be in your new home for Christmas. Just imagine that.

When you are making out your Christmas card list this year, please include the following:

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 13:45:35 -0600

When doing your Christmas cards this year, take one card and send
it to this address. If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think
of how many cards these wonderful special people who have sacrificed so
much would get.

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Washington , D.C. 20307-5001

Thanks

Crosby Inspections

Trust Me, The Grass is Not Greener on The Other Side

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 11:50:48 -0600

With the negativity, the job losses, the collapse of some of our largest banking institutions out there, is it a wonder that we have been able to keep our sanity?

For all of you, whether you are a realtor, loan officer, appraiser, escrow officer, or inspector, I am sure we can all agree that 2008 has been one of the most, if not the most challenging year in our careers. There is a very small minority that has seen their income stay the same or increase, but for most of us, our income has declined considerably, especially over the last 6 months. To make matters worse, many indications predict unemployment will rise in 2009 to above 9%, and their is an expectation of even fewer home sales in 2009. What is frustrating for most of us who have been in this industry for a while, and really are trying to make it work, is that we are losing transactions not due to poor service or to competion, but to external factors such as customer losing job right before closing, appraisals coming in low, D/U getting run again during the Quality Control and the decision changing from an Approve to a Refer, and the debt ratios being too high for a manual approval These are just a few of many factors that are causing us to lose deals. How do we keep our chins up?

I have been able to keep my chin up because I remembered why I got into this business back in 1997 and have stayed in this business. The reasons are below.

The income potential(and income I made that first year) was enough to allow my wife to stay home with our two children(and she still does). That, of course, may be subject to change in the near future

The flexibility we have. Isn't it great that, in our professions, we don't necessarily have anybody to answer to? Even with the present market conditions, we still have the ability to make as much(or little) as we want. Even though I work for Wells Fargo and have a supervisor and do have a minimum of 3 loans to close every month, I don't really answer to him since we are on commission-only. If I need to leave a little early that day to pick up my sick kid from school, then I do. If I decide I want to work from home that day, then no problem. That has always been the beauty of our professions: The ability to come and go as we please with nobody to answer to. Face it, who wants to work for a micromanager boss?

What comes down must go back up. We know the market will return. It is a question of when. Realtors and loan officers are dropping like flies. Here in Washington state, the number of licensed loan originators dropped by 60% from 2007 to 2008, and there will be more. There will certainly be realtors not willing to pay their licensing fees in January this year when they come due. There have already been many realtor offices that have closed down and consolidated due to slow volume. When the market comes back up, we will have so much less competition and the ones that stick it out will get a bigger(or as big) a piece of the pie that is out there.

Lastly, and probably most importantly, for the past 6 months I had been actively looking for employment outside the industry, something "safe" and something that pays a base salary with really good benefits. The result is below.

After months and months of interviewing with different companies and speaking to people that have left the industry, I have realized that a lot of these jobs outside the industry are no better, no more secure, and if you have been making reasonable money, not any better-paying than what we have been used to making. Face it, we all got spoiled from 2002-2006 and made great money, and it came way easier than it did now. The fact is, we are having to work harder and smarter just to stay afloat. I can tell you that my friends who have gotten out of the real estate industry who have alleged "safer" sales jobs that pay a salary seem to be no happier than they were when they were in our industry. They are working for bosses that are micromanaging them, have very, very strict quotas to hit, are more subject to losing their job than ours, and maybe have a base salary but are not really making large commissions due to economic conditions, so the money is still not great.

One major thing I have learned is that I am 43 years old, have been in the mortgage industry for 12 years. Yes, I am making less money than before, but do I want to get into a brand new industry, start all over again, go through the learning curve, all for money that I know will not be as good as the money I made in 2002-2006? Not me. At least I have success in my current field, have extensive knowledge, and am comfortable with the peers I associate myself with, and know that we are at the worst market conditions we have ever seen. It will get better.

Trust me, for those of you who have been in this business for a long time, it is just a matter of perspective and keeping a positive attitude every day and doing positive activities every day. The market will come back, and we will all reap the benefits if we can ride this storm.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Paul W. Thompson

Loan Officer

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage