About Spokane County, WA

It is like those extra pounds that seem to creep back every time you lose them. Slowly but surely.

Clutter. It seems to appear almost overnight, and when your house is on the market it can be deadly to a sale.

Here is the deal...buyers always tell me " they can look past it". But if the truth is known, it is the spic and span homes that sell first, I think even when buyers say they can look past it, subconsciously they can't. Once they go into house beautiful, they quickly pass on the cluttered home even if it is a better deal. I have seen this over and over again.

If your home is on the market- or you are thinking of selling in the near future, here is some advice.

GET A STORAGE UNIT AND PUT A LOT OF YOUR THINGS IN IT!

Store away EVERYTHING that you don't use on a regular basis. Store all of the smaller pieces of furniture that make your rooms look smaller.

Store ALL of you off season clothing, Christmas decor, and all the boxes you are tripping over. Once you get it out of the way you will have an easier time keeping up on the daily grind of papers, books, ect... that creep into our lives.

EMBRACE SIMPLICITY. Less is more when your home is for sale!

ASK FOR HELP! If you are like me...you have WAY TOO MANY THINGS. Ask a trusted friend to HELP YOU GET RID OF THINGS. If you need to- hire a professional. It will pay off!

HAVE A SYSTEM for the stuff and fluff that must remain in the home while it is up for sale.

THIS TOO SHALL PASS! Hang in there, once your home sells and you are in your new place, you can be as messy as you want to! :) It is only temporary.

For the fourth consecutive month closed residential sales exceeded sales from the same month of a year ago.
177closed residential sales were reported in January this year compared to 121 sales reported in January last
year.

The average sales price for January 2010 was $175,605 while the median sales price was $160,000.
In January ’09 the average sales price was $205,845 and the median sales price was $175,000. January 2010
average and median sales prices are down 14.7% and 8.6% respectively.
The inventory of single family homes (on less than one acre and condos) at the time of this report stand at 2,828
listings while last year at this time the inventory was at 2,530.
New construction closed sales reported to the SARMLS totaled 21 sales compared to 22 for January last year.

To recieve this report by e-mail each month contact me: bethann@tb.com or visit my w:www.BethAnnHomes.com

THE SPOKANE RIVER IS INCREDIBLE ARE RUNS RIGHT THROUGH DOWNTOWN SPOKANE!

#6 on my top 10 countdown!

Here is a picture of me receiving my award for the 2009 Coldwell Banker Tomlinson Presidents Club 2009!

This award is given to those of us with outstanding volume and distinguished service. I am blessed to have a career I love!

BethAnn Long, Coldwell Banker Tomlinson Presidents Award recipient

*pictured here with: (L) Jim Gillsepie Coldwell Banker President and (R) Bob Tomlinson, owner of Coldwell Banker Tomlinson Spokane.

"It is my pleasure to assist all of my clients with enthusiasm, integrity and professionalism. Did I mention I am fun to work with?" -BethAnn

Feb 8th, 2010 Interest Rates Update-

Rates continued to be stable in the past week. Freddie Mac announced that for the week ending February 4, 30-year fixed rates averaged 5.01%, up from 4.98% the week before. The average for 15-year fixed rose slightly to 4.40%. "Rates remained relatively stable for a second week amid news of a strengthening housing market," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. "Residential fixed investment rose for two consecutive quarters over the last half of 2009 following a steady quarterly decline since the beginning of 2006. Pending existing home sales rebounded by 1 percent in December from a record drop in November that was due in part to the original expiration of the homebuyer tax credit, according to the National Association of Realtors. Even more encouraging news came from the Federal Reserve's Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, which reported that banks have generally stopped tightening standards on most types of loans in the fourth quarter of 2009, with commercial real estate as the exception."