Life In The Pacific Northwest
Found a fun property for sale: a $14.4 million dollar estate in eastern Snohomish county. Probably better to call it a compound. Comes with a lake, golf course, train (with roundabout…I’m sure scaled down some), and go cart track to name a few amenities. Got a couple million laying to spend on an amazing experience for your family? Let me know!
I’ve been calling myself an accidental real estate agent for quite awhile. It’s well past time to explain what I mean.
Most real estate agents I’ve met made a deliberate choice to enter this field. For many, it was money. Others I know are in this for the flexible hours, to be their own boss, and so forth. The specifics are less important though. They made a deliberate choice. Very few people in the industry stumble in.
Just over five years ago, after a firey end to my last stint at Microsoft (if you want to hear the story, let’s meet for coffee sometime), and I was burned out on the Fortune 500. My focus for the ensuing job search was Snohomish county. I stumbled upon a Craigslist ad for an office manager and was hired.
A few months in I got my license and things changed a bit further. Now I’ve coordinated sales for hundreds of transactions, created marketing for even more, and developed great relationships with amazing, dedicated and talented folks. My career ride to this point has been lots of fun.
It’s really a fascinating industry. We move people into their HOMES! Really, how amazing is that! It’s where lives are lived, kids raised, and where most people capture their wealth. It’s one of the most stressful events in anyone’s life. And influential. And we agents are right there, lowering stress and making lives better. It’s very satisfying, indeed.
Things are changing for me more as the business evolves. But I’m still here for you, and to answer your questions! Drop a comment and let me know.
So, my Real Estate team made a video a little while ago and I got some good coverage. I really like the video, crafted by a top quality company. Those are always fun! I love this sort of stuff.
In this video, my team discusses our philosophy around listing, marketing and selling homes, for both sides of the transaction. I think we’re a pretty awesome group!
So, if you’re thinking about buying, selling or investing in real estate, give us a call. Our team phone number is 360-474-5128, or send us an email. I’m proud of this group and know we’ll treat you the best.
I wanted to share a few articles today to keep you up-to-date with the changing real estate market.
Ultimately, this means that:
A fun photo of me and my friend Toby.
.@questionsall and I at Video Savvy with Keller Williams Realty and @snocoliving pic.twitter.com/nK1pssX23C
— Toby Barnett (@goingbigger) March 1, 2016
As a Realtor this is a regular question: “is now a good time to buy?” Ultimately, my answer is “it depends”. The question boils down solely to economics. After the last few years, people are looking for a guarantee that their investment will only steadily increase from this point forward. Well, that’s impossible.
Prices fluctuate. Over the course of any year, from winter through spring into summer tghen fall, demand fluctuates, the amount of homes in the market changes, all kinds of variables change. Finding the bottom is hard, and I believe impossible except in retrospect. Or, in other words, too late to actually buy.
For most folks, though, buying homes is about far more than economics. It’s about connection to community, about families and friends, about the warmth that comes in YOUR honre. Plus, the most powerful economic benefit comesnsin tege long-term. Ten, fifteen years tends to flatten the variations of any short term market spike.
Right now rents are climbing far faster than home prices. Also, interest rates are still at amazing lows; unsustainable lows. The simplest way I can put it: if you can afford to buy, this is a far better time to own thanrentHomeee big piece there: afford. Home buying should be part of a larger financial plan. Bring ready to meet the responsibilities of home ownership is critical. I’ll look deeper into that in another post.
So, there you go. Think further out then next quarter when it comes to deciding to buy, think of the bigger picture. And remember this old parable: the best time to plant a tree ws twenty years ago. The next best time is now.
As an agent who’s part of the Xome network and has worked with Nationstar with several REO listings, I read “Is Nationstar about to completely rebrand itself?” with interest. Will Xome be able to offer this unique service environment in such a way as to catch fire? I wonder. It’s a novel idea, this end-to-end, full service idea. Novel enough that it’s no sure bet, either way. I give Nationstar/Xome points for innovation and risk.
With players like Zillow, Trulia, and Redfin changing things up, it’ll be interesting if Xome can get enough traction to grab enough mindshare. My team and I thinks that there’s a place at the new real estate table for them. They are a big player and have plenty of resources to put against this. I certainly wouldn’t write them off.
It’s been an interesting week. During Tuesday’s storm I was sitting in a class up above downtown Everett. Quite the bluster! Even in the 6th floor of a modern high-rise, we could hear the wind. Fortunately, my friends and family came through reasonably unscathed, with the greatest problems being power losses and fence destruction. Many in the region had far worse results (the Seattle PI has a great run-down of the aftermath).
With the storm, traffic was significantly eventful and my poor instructor quite late. I took the opportunity to chat with many of the good folks at Everett’s First American Title office. Such great people! A few folks I’ve known for years, but have never met. Such is the nature of modern business!
Our class covered the Escrow Process, where we focused on several key changes and issues facing this sector. One of the biggest: cyber-fraud.
I’ve been hearing an amazing number of cases of spoofed, or near-spoofed email addresses where funds are redirected. With this, we covered ways in which our business is responding to better protect your information.
Also, we looked at the way the CFPB’s new disclosure rules are getting implemented. The mortgage industry has taken this very, very seriously and implemented (for the most part) solid processes to keep closing timelines solid. Each lender has their own process, which is complicating things. And we’re having issues with certain folks not respecting the amount of time it takes the other players to act (“yeah, it closes tomorrow, here’s our stuff at 6pm. Too bad you don’t have time to get all your work accomplished. It’s your fault, of course”).
Anyway, always trying to learn more. Real Estate is vibrant and ever changing business. It is one of the things that delights me about it. This also speaks to the value of real estate agents. We stay up-to-date on all the changes occurring. Even if you bought a house last year, the market has changed. There are new processes, forms and documentation. Let us help you navigate this morphing realm.
Was just reading a lending market update which included a note about the puzzling behavior of the stock market last week. Faced with a number of positive economic indicators, the market sold off pretty heavily. Well, with my time at Fortune 500s, I’ve seen this before. I learned a long-time ago that Wall Street, the stock-markets and prices of such things is driven, on a day-to-day basis primarily by emotion. This also feeds into the quarter by quarter mentality of most stock valuation. Time and time again, in most markets, it’s those with long-term views and understanding that do well. This is true in real estate as well. If you can shift your view out 5, 10, 20 years in the future, you can escape the variability of these emotionally based fluctuations.
Good ol’ Sultan, butted up against the edge of the Cascades. I spent many a summer’s day/night up by Spada Lake and making a general nuisance of myself in the Sultan Basin. Fortunately, my friends and I were able to avoid annoying too many folks and that the selfie hadn’t been invented yet.
This little town off of Highway 2 came up in conversation yesterday. A friend was showing properties out there and was wondering “how the market was doing there?”. Well, I decided to take a dive.
Well, there are fewer properties on the market now than there were a year ago (40 in 2014 vs 34 in 2015). But that’s only part of the story. Around this time in 2014, there was a little less than 4 months of inventory, now there about 2. Properties are selling faster, much faster. Perhaps the biggest piece, though, is the median sales price, which has risen from $172,500 last year to $229,950; a 33% increase. This for a small town of 4,750 about 40 miles north east of Seattle.
So, my friends, the market is good.
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