By chance, after putting up my new blog site of www.aspringcleaning.com David Rush at Windermere came up with a new project. It’s a house that will be for sale near Green Lake. I’ll post the address after the house is listed, in about a month.

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

A Spring Cleaning has been in business since 1988. It was my original business, first domain name, and web site. It had been up since about 1998 with a couple of revisions along the way. I had it built for $2,000 and any time I wanted a change the guy would have to write code, I think, anyway that’s what he said, and it cost money.

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.

There are several things you need in today’s market place. Number one is that you need a good Real Estate agent. You need some one who knows how to work the system to your advantage. Over these past several months I’ve written about agents, and mentioned Marlow several times. She is the success story of Real Estate, and how the system works.

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.

It’s been a long time since we have had a rising inventory of houses. Here in King County the inventory has stayed fairly stable. Properties come, and go off the market. Since the tax credit has expired, and with what some people claim is a change in the North West Multiple Listing Service soft ware, about 400 residential properties came on the market this week.

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.

This past week the stock market had an unexpected drop the last two days in the week. There are many claims about the cause and many articles have been written about it. For home buyers it’s all good news. Instability in stocks will make some sellers more motivated to lower prices.

One of the main claims for the stock market decline is that Greece may not be able to pay obligations due on May 16th. They are getting additional funding from the European Community. Prolonging a default is better than just allowing it, but if you are in the market for a home you should be aware that more financial turmoil is ahead.

When you structure an offer today you should be at least 10% below market value. You should be very careful that what you buy as solid value. Buy properties that have good sized lots, are built well, and are in good shape. There is a lot to chose from and inventory will increase in the next two months.

Most sellers are already aware that they have missed the market place for this year, so be patient.

The first thing this morning I looked on line for Sunday Open Houses. I used to look at the Sunday paper to see who was doing what, but that is a dead media for Real Estate. I found Stephanie Moe’s www.SeattlesHomes.com the easiest and most concise list of Open Houses.

Now the chances of you finding a home to buy by visiting Sunday Open Houses is slim. You finding an agent to work with gets a little better. Ultimately the exercises is for you to see homes. Seeing homes is an important step in knowing what to look for. Look beyond the staging and stay away from talkative agents, but if an agent answers questions, knows the property, and the district, pay attention to that, and make a mental note.

Look at construction, on your own. Get familiar with the process of walking through a home. Discover what your hot buttons are by repetition. Now that the Real Estate market has cooled, take some time to get a “feeling” about what you want. The Sunday Open House is a great way to do that.