There are a couple of things about it that make it interesting to explore, and spend time with. First is some of the poster art work. Seattle is big on poster art for advertising an event. We are the coffee shop capital of the world, and when you walk into one you are blasted with poster art, each wants your attention.  The second thing is the diversity of events Seattle has to offer.

There are a wide variety of event calenders, but you can only go to so many. The Seattle Twist site is a chronicle of a hip, happening couple, and their quest to make the Elvis Mobile a house of worship. By following the events of the site you will have a chance of encountering an experience that adds to the landscape of Seattle. It’s an uplifting site worth it’s own link on the side panel.

Jet City Real Estate was to be a one stop shopping experience for those people who owned property, and needed help. Buying, and Selling are just a couple of things in a process of home ownership. Maintaining the property is also a challenge. Our web site at www.FixerFixer.com is a resource,of sorts, in how to buy, and improve, your property.

Jet City Home Improvement is one of a set of sub domains that relate to home ownership. We offer painting, landscaping, rockeries, decks, custom cabinets, rot work, and home repair. Every part of the business is controlled by our network of contractors. My part is done with people who have asked for my help to start businesses, and to do marketing for them.

These web sites are a part of the marketing. We give you options. You can always contact me for advice which is free. Our hope is that you will find a value in our services, and contract with us for the best results.

This is a sales trap that you need to be more aware of. From 1980 to today we have had massive inflation, and home price appreciation. It’s my opinion, those days are over, and you will need to be smarter about your approach to a First Time Home Buyer purchase.

At today’s prices you still need the mortgage. What you also need is to pay off the mortgage, or pay it down to get equity. Equity has been an appreciation gift these past twenty five years. We will be paying for that for some years to come. So, you need to settle on a loan amount you can pay off. This means, once again, your dream home may be a few years off. Once again, as has been the case since the Great Depression, you will need to trade up.

In the next few months I will promise to post more about your ability to trade into a very nice home to raise the kids, but in the mean time you are going to have to work for it. You are building an estate to leave your children, or a nest egg to travel, and enjoy retirement.

So, you are buying a property of value, that you can pay down the principle balance on. You want a thirty year fixed mortgage, and with any extra money you throw at the principle balance. If you can double down your mortgage payments you will save hundreds of thousands of dollars, do the math.

The first home purchase needs to have a value. If you look at the www.FixerFixer.com site you may find something that gives you an idea of what constitutes value. Maybe I’ll do a post over there about that.  

I’m just saying, be smart, buy low, so you can sell high. As always, if you have questions, I have a secure e-mail page you can use for confidential advice. There is a button at the top of the page.

What we have seen is that more properties are preparing to come onto the market. Essentially people are spending more so they can sell for less. Your property needs to be in top condition for buyers, qualified buyers, to look at it seriously. You also need a qualified Real Estate agent to move you through the process.

I have been surprised by some of the agents who are doing well in today’s market place. Actually it is more surprising that some of the agents that I truly respect and admire are kind of floundering. Experience really is going a long way in getting a property sold today. Experienced agents are bringing more to the table.

If you are a buyer you have some very difficult choices to make. The easiest choice is to wait. We’ll see if the government will interfere in the Real Estate market place again, but I sincerely doubt they will. In my opinion it will be next November before we see stability in the Real Estate market place.

Goldman Sachs published an opinion about Real Estate pricing last month that was hotly debated. It projected another 22% decline in Real Estate prices in Seattle. The first leg down will be before the end of the year. We should see that by November.

We already have seen the drops in condo pricing. It seems a $100K drop is the most common in the $300K to $650K prices. For me the $500 a square foot is kind of hard to imagine, but it is what it is. Down Town condos, for me seem like an excellent position to be in, at the right price.

My point about condos is that residential Real Estate won’t be far behind. This year we will see prices dropping more steadily as the sales data becomes more in line with value. The real trick will be to qualify for a loan, but that will be a post for another time. The theme today is the waiting.

In the very good category are the people who have a plan, and take charge. A client who wants to do things his, or her way, can make some blunders. Most of the best agents will pass on a client who has strong opinions. The first thing to keep in mind is that there are very few good agents, and if an agent is good, they are always in demand.

A second thought is the amount of experience the agent has in different settings. A good agent has brought hundreds of houses to the market place, and through trial, and error, knows what will get you the most money for a repair. Roger Turner is one of those agents who, over twenty some years, has tried a lot of things that worked out well.

One of the main points about this web site is to high light what is good about Real Estate agency. It is one of the few well paying jobs that is based on experience. At this time when every one thinks they are an expert, about Real Estate, I just want to stress that your property is a niche, it’s unique, and you need an agent to guide you.

I’m going to throw in about how it’s best you have a Buyer’s Agent, but we are working on that. Getting a good Buyer’s Agent is a little tougher, because of so many people having had to do it themselves. It’s kind of a lost art. Anne Babbs-Nordling is the only Buyer’s Agent I can think of. There again Brent Fosso will probably be a break out star in the coming year.

A friend of mine who owns a Real Estate company has an investor/ agent that just bought a used new construction house in Puyallup for $162K, at auction, for cash! The house probably sold for about $140K new, about 2000. He intends to sell the house in two months for a profit, and he might get a buyer.

The math for home prices in the Seattle area is far from being a signal for a “good” buy. There are individual properties that are good well rounded purchases, but to say the market is at an equilibrium is more fair. You have to know what to buy, and structure a transaction so you can pay the property off quickly.

As always my advice is you need the help of an experienced Real Estate professional if you are buying, or selling in today’s market place.

That’s what makes David my favorite Real Estate agent. He’s getting a property ready for sale a month in advance. My second favorite thing is that David sees the project for what it is. He makes a plan to do all the right things. There’s never been a time where his expectations exceeded the reality of the property.

He’s asked for yard work which we can do. There are a lot of people in the landscape business that are looking for work. We have two sets of people who are really good. There’s some work needed under the house, and painting inside, but it is a great place in a superior location.

David sees the potential of the property, and wants to show case that. He has never gone over board by selling a bunch of frills in his listing presentation. He knows the value of the property, and prices accordingly. In all the ups, and downs, David has been consistent in his pricing. The pricing has always matched the property, for potential, and it’s reality.

This has given him an edge in working a full spectrum of the market place. Knowing your Price, and Condition, for how they improve the Location is the all important formula. There has never been a time, even in the worst of times, when a listing by David Rush languished on the market. There have only been a couple of times that the price reduction has been used judiciously.

Anyway, David is another excellent resource for your Real Estate needs at: www.DavidRush.com

My first Word Press site I put up in 2006. Many changes have happened since then and with great reluctance I converted the www.aspringcleaning.com site to Word Press. It’s now my newest project.

There are a lot of great untold stories in the A Spring Cleaning business. Most have to do with preparing properties for sale.

Marlow has bought, and sold properties in her personal portfolio to make a retirement plan that includes giving her four boys the best education. She has never stopped working, and though she would deny it, I have seen her working on her own properties, on more than one occasion. She has fulfilled every goal she has outlined during her career. She is the Top Producer in her office.

He husband Joe is an artist who has been way laid into working on Marlow’s web site at www.SeattleDreamHomes.com which has won numerous awards. She chose Coldwell Banker to hold her license for it’s national presence. It has worked out well for her site because Coldwell Banker was one of the first to set up web based Real Estate tools. In my opinion, for a national company, they have tools that work well.

In today’s Real Estate world you do need to have an agent with web presence of an International reach. Few companies, or especially individual agents, can make that claim. In this particular case you have both the company and agent on the same page, working for you.

This is a personal testimonial because Marlow has been my agent on more than one occasion. She is level headed with a focus on what’s best for the client. As a complete example of what is possible in Real Estate Marlow is the very best. If you are even considering buying or selling a property in the next three years Marlow is one of the few people you need to talk with.

400 residential properties is a lot, for one County, in a week. Now, no matter what the excuse, that makes a back log of housing units. I can address some of the other arguments, such as a housing tract, or a condo development coming on the market all at one time, but those are specific, in one kind of housing. Random, across the board, and a variety of housing, makes this week spectacular for buyers.

You have choices. Sellers also are going to be hearing from listing agaents that they will need to compete by lowering prices. Those properties that have been on the market for a while are especially vulnerable to an increase in inventory. My next post will be about how to structure an offer. This is different from what your agent will want you to do. There is a deeply entrenched idea that the seller is in control of the asking price. It has been that way for over a decade.

Even in the worst of markets there was a hopeful understanding that Real Estate was a solid investment. Today is much different with properties still over priced by at least 10% and possibly more. We’ll cover Real Estate values of the future, but right now I wanted to share that the time is coming to start making offers on property.

In the mean time get qualified for a mortgage from Scott Cunningham at Prime West Financial, 206-632-LOAN (5626). Scott’s a great guy and I have trusted him for over twenty years. He’s honest.