Here is your open thread for Monday May 11th, 2009. You may post random links and off-topic discussions here. Also, if you have an idea or a topic you’d like to see covered in an article, please make it known.
Be sure to also check out the forums, and get your word in the user-driven discussions there!
Nell Plotts » May 11, 2009 at 8:28 am
I am one of those folks who are considering selling my home (to be closer to grandchildren). My two previous purchases were undeveloped land, my one sale was FISBO where a realtor brought his buyer. I have not selected a realtor to sell a home. In my community (Bainbridge Island) selling through a full price realtor appears ‘customary’.
Since I don’t know these folks skills how do I find the person who would do the best job in THIS market. A couple years ago I listened to one who talked about putting the home in some magazine. What is the best way to find a buyer in the $750T-850T price range. In the internet age aren’t these publications a waste of money?
As long as I will be stuck with the full fee what services should I expect the realtor to provide and how does one enforce that agreement?
Scotsman » May 11, 2009 at 8:47 am
Unfortunately, your property is in a price range that appears to be having great difficulty generating sales at this time. In a declining market it would be wise to price aggressively and get the job done, as it will likely be several years, if not a decade, before home values in your price range stabilize. With that in mind, I would look at minimizing sales price and costs to best maximize what you take to the bank from the sale. One of the discount brokers would probably be your best bet. I’m an economist, not a Realtor, but there are several here, most of which will give you pretty straight talk. Good luck!
The Tim » May 11, 2009 at 8:59 am
RE: Nell Plotts @ 1 – I think that whether you go with a full-service or a discount broker is probably mostly immaterial, and I wouldn’t think that a magazine ad would be of much use, but I’m also not the target market for a 3/4 million-dollar home on Bainbridge, so take that opinion with a grain of salt.
For my general advice on selling in this market, I’m going to quote something I wrote in the most recent issue of Sound Housing Quarterly:
Ira sacharoff » May 11, 2009 at 9:07 am
I’ll second what The Tim said. You don’t simply want an agent who will tell you that your house is beautiful and that he/she can get 900,000 dollars for it. You want someone who will be on the level with you, can give you practical advice regarding what you should do to the house to make it appear more sellable. It might also behoove you to find someone well known on Bainbridge.
Pankaj » May 11, 2009 at 10:24 am
Question: Anyone know where Redfin/Zillow get their sales information from?
A unit in my complex sold 11 days ago (4/30), and the sale shows up on the Recorder’s website and in the property report using the King County Parcel Viewer – but neither of the two websites shows the sale. What gives?
I do know this was likely a short sale. Does that make a difference?
The Tim » May 11, 2009 at 10:28 am
RE: Pankaj @ 4 – I believe both Redfin and Zillow get their sales data from a third-party company that aggregates the data from public sources such as county records from across the country. As such, I would expect there to be a slight delay between when a sale shows up on the county websites and when it shows up on Redfin / Zillow.
Nell Plotts » May 11, 2009 at 10:32 am
I have found that if I mark a property as a “Favorite” on the Scott website I can learn the amout of the sale even before it appears in the county database.
Scott also has a ‘recent sales’ tool that picked up the sale of the same property.
With respect to the comments of others about sales prices, the house next door to me just sold for $820. There are a LOT of large homes out there lingering, however. The advantage I have is that it has a serious view and shared water access.
Nell
Kary L. Krismer » May 11, 2009 at 1:55 pm
By The Tim @ 3:
Didn’t you read my piece, which followed up on a post here? ;-)
http://blog.seattlepi.com/realestate/archives/167816.asp
I think a lot more can be said for using a limited service agent on the buyer side than on the seller side, especially in this market. From my admittedly limited sample (which I now plan to update from time to time), the initial results indicate in selling a full service brokerage gets the best result. The problem is, there are still bad agents within good firms, which gets to the next point.
I’m one that takes the position that finding a professional of any type is a very difficult task which is practically haphazard as to result. I used to say that to find a lawyer you needed to go to law school and practice in the area a couple of years to find a good one. There was a discussion in another forum of how to select a realtor and most seemed to say personal referral, although I would say even that is a bad tool.
Kary L. Krismer » May 11, 2009 at 1:58 pm
RE: Pankaj @ 5 – Redfin gets it from the NWMLS, so it’s possible the agent has neglected to update their listing information. Trulia and Zillow can get it from any number of sources.
We we do a listing we have to input the thing into at least 3 different systems (plus make it a featured listing on Realtor.com) to hit the various sites, and update it on each whenever there’s a change. It’s a PITA. I wish the NWMLS was a bit better just giving the information out.
David McManus » May 11, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Did I actually just read this in the Times?
Q: Last week it was reported that pending home sales in the area are rising, despite the continued downturn in overall prices and sales. Do you see this as the beginning of the end for the local real estate market’s slump? As a first-time homebuyer, is now my last chance to buy locally, or do you think the window of opportunity is nowhere near closing?
A: Much depends on your circumstances. For example, do you have adequate funds for a down payment and to keep making mortgage payments — because the era of buying and flipping for a higher price is over, at least for a long time. Also, some experts are beginning to question the American obsession with home ownership, particularly when one is young. A better return might come from savings, and renting allows a person to be more mobile to go where the jobs are. That said, this is a good chance to buy, if you have the resources. Prices are low, and might rebound at some point soon. But nobody really knows if this is the bottom, or the beginning of the end. Layoffs at Microsoft and Boeing are still happening. And another shock could cause the slump to deepen or at least not get better. This is a very unusual recession. What is certain is that we won’t be going back to a housing bubble. So buy a house to live in, not as an invest…unless you have a lot of money and are willing to be veeeerrrry patient.
Nell Plotts » May 11, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Kary, I will bite. We have exactly one agent recommendation from a former customer and I would like to talk to a couple. Does anyone have recommendations for me?? Please, no self (or relative) nominations and tell me why you think your person does a good job.
NellPlotts@yahoo.com
Kary L. Krismer » May 11, 2009 at 2:27 pm
I don’t know any agents over there at all. Sorry.
My only word of caution is to avoid the mega-agent that only sells a small percentage of his/her listings. Agents are not ultimately responsible for their sales ratios, because clients make the final call on price and negotiations, but if an agent has 20 listings and has only sold 5 properties in the past six months, that’s not a good sign.
Edit: I do know two agents in Kitsap, and they seemed to do a good job representing the buyers on my listing and then selling their existing property afterward. It’s a husband and wife team, which I like (since I do that with my wife). I’m not sure whether it’s okay to post names here, so I’ll email you.
Dave0 » May 11, 2009 at 2:38 pm
By David McManus @ 10:
As Warren Buffet always says: Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful… The more I see stuff like this published, the more it makes me think it might be time to start being greedy again.
Nell Plotts » May 11, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Along that line, I just received a RedFin e-mail talking about their agents who represent buyers. Is there any way to find out who are the buyer agents in my community????
Kary L. Krismer » May 11, 2009 at 3:08 pm
RE: Nell Plotts @ 14 – Not that I know of. Agents can get details on listing agents but not the buyer’s side.
Scotsman » May 11, 2009 at 3:10 pm
OMFG! I just got around to watching this video of our government at work. What total incompetence. These people have no idea what they’re doing. The American people are being taken…
http://market-ticker.org/archives/1031-Fed-Oversight-Intentionally-Absent.html
Kary L. Krismer » May 11, 2009 at 3:16 pm
RE: Nell Plotts @ 14 – Oh, I forgot to mention “reverse prospecting.” An agent can look to see which agents are looking for houses of a certain type in a certain area.
Kary L. Krismer » May 11, 2009 at 3:33 pm
I just checked the solds for the month in King County, and only 3 so far were short sales and 19 bank owned. The bank owned had a median under $225,000 and a mean just over $250,000. On the few above $380,000 (last month’s overall median), most seem to be selling for about 60% of the assessed value.
Now a lot of the houses are little shacks, but still it doesn’t appear the banks are doing a good job marketing their properties. We made an offer on one that was rejected, and told the agent about a water leak. They still haven’t fixed it and I mentioned it to him today. He said: “All we can do is tell them.” Apparently they’re waiting for the property to become completely worthless due to mold.
Data from NWMLS sources, but not guaranteed.
Tim McB » May 11, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Quick question for those familiar with public records. My mother and father in law are going to be putting their house on the market this week (in the Bay Area) and I noticed recently when I zillowed their home that it had their purchase price from 1976. This information will probably put them at a competitive disadvantage when negotiating. Is there any way to (quickly ) remove that information off of zillow and make sure it doesn’t show up on Redfin or is it a matter of public record and not removable? Many homes I’ve seen on Redfin and Zillow don’t have the previous purchase price on them. There must be a way to get rid of it. They’re an older couple and have lived in their house for a long time and I’m afraid someone may try to take advantage of them.
Kary L. Krismer » May 11, 2009 at 3:53 pm
RE: Tim McB @ 19 – My guess is that on a sale that old Redfin and Zillow wouldn’t pick it up. Have you seen any where they indicate a sales price where it was even over 10 years ago.
I doubt there’s a way to remove something like that from public records if that’s where they get the data.
Matt Goyer - Redfin » May 11, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Redfin gets our sold information from a third party source, PropertyInfo.com. They in turn get it from the county. Since we now deal with a lot of counties it no longer made sense for us to deal with counties individually. Since we use a third party this means there is a lag of a few weeks from when something sells and when it appears on our site. We are working on narrowing this gap by also getting sold information from the NWMLS. Turns out doing this for all our MLSes is a lot of work and we’ll roll out the feature in two phases. The first phase should be out soon.
@Nell Plotts: The NWMLS recently added who the buyers agent was to the NWMLS which is why we’re now able to easily see how many deals every agent has done in Seattle. If you email me at matt.goyer @ redfin.com I can pull who the top buyer agents in your zip code are.
David Losh » May 11, 2009 at 5:15 pm
RE: Nell Plotts @ 1 –
Holy Cow ridfen answered the e-mail and also had the answer about buyer’s agents.
Be afraid, be very afraid.
In your price range you have a limited choice of agents and you are going to need a good one. You need some one connected to the internet as well as your local real estate office. Of course I always recommend a Windermere office.
Real Estate offices are owned and managed by Brokers. Agents work under the Broker’s direction. There are some who are high powered, some more competent, and many who are just trying to figure it out.
Talk to the local Brokers about who is best in your area. Talk to more than one Broker and just ask who’s best. If you do think an ad will help you start with the internet. Google bainbridge real estate, then bainbridge real estate agents.
The internet is the best tool and you may want some one well versed in using it. See what agent’s name is connected to your search.
You can also check solds in your area and see if a single person is getting things sold.
Once you research you may decide to interview, or have some one interview for you. It’s kind of a trick to have a friend or relative there while you interview the agents. You invite them in to look around. If they tell you they need to come back with an opinion that’s best. If they try to hard sell you ask them to leave.
A good agent will come back with a presentation of data for your home. Look at it and how it’s presented. What’s the marketing plan and time line? Ask questions to see how the agent thinks on their feet.
Once you decide and sign a listing for at least three months remember you can fire an agent at any time. In my opinion it should take a couple of weeks and maybe longer to get an agent, marketing plan, and house to market.
Kary L. Krismer » May 11, 2009 at 5:24 pm
RE: Matt Goyer – Redfin @ 21 – How are you doing that? I can search to find how many transactions a particular agent has had in a given timeframe/area, but not for a list of the agents (other than reverse prospecting as mentioned).
Matt Goyer - Redfin » May 11, 2009 at 5:44 pm
RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 23 – I’m using the info we have in one of our developers database based on our NWMLS sold feed. However, you should be able to accomplish the same thing by exporting sold data from the NWMLS site and then putting it in a spreadsheet. Then use a pivot table to group and sort by agents.
alex » May 11, 2009 at 8:26 pm
RE: Nell Plotts @ 1 –
My wish: that you find a buyer among the people who read your comment. You’ll then you tell everyone you know that you can find buyers just by posting a few lines in a blog… and then sellers and buyers all over the place start finding each other on blogs, and suddenly all houses everywhere are sold with a 3% discoutnt in addition to all the recent price declines. Oh dream :)
David Losh » May 11, 2009 at 8:37 pm
RE: alex @ 25 –
Not a dream.
Most buyers are area specific. They pick a school, job, or amenities then start looking.
Every once in a while I get letters from people looking in my neighborhood. It’s usually nice, to the point, a little about themselves, and what they are looking for.
Your local Real Estate agent does about the same thing. You can get a mailing list and send post cards. You can attend community council meeting, which by the way you should before you settle on an area, and introduce yourself. Declare your intentions.
You can do that any time and the summer months are great for it. After the Spring bounce you can walk a neighborhood.
Once you find a place make an offer.
Angie » May 11, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Now for something completely different: an article from the Boston Globe about nonprofits buying foreclosed houses at auction and then selling them at cost…back to the people who lost the houses:
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/05/11/still_there_foreclosed_no_longer/
patient » May 12, 2009 at 8:48 am
I know get the national talk about historically good affordability this is what they look at:
” In Saginaw, Mich., the median cost of a home plunged 53.7% to $30,300, making it the lowest-priced market covered by NAR. In Akron, Ohio, the median priced home sold for $50,100, down 48.7%”
and not the Seatlle housing market. Keep that in mind when local news and agents re-iterate those statements.
One Eyed Man » May 12, 2009 at 8:53 am
RE: Angie @ 27 –
Angie, One of my best clients used to be a charitable non-profit foundation that did real estate lending with a portion of their assets. They commonly did commercial deals and distributed the profits to charities. For a number of reasons they commonly didn’t do residential deals. But once in about 2002 they bought the first and second that were in arrears on a disabled persons residence and did a loan modification so that they could stay in their house. When people asked what we did, I used tell them that we were the Robin Hoods of the hard money set. It was nice to be able to feel good about work once in a while.
Acerun » May 12, 2009 at 9:55 am
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/300-110th-Ave-NE-APT-216-Bellevue-WA-98004/65224371_zpid/
Can anyone tell me if this really sold for $40k or what the listing price was?
Kary L. Krismer » May 12, 2009 at 11:46 am
RE: Acerun @ 30 – It was seemingly one owner buying out another co-owner. So probably just referenced half the equity or something.
Kary L. Krismer » May 12, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Check out Aubrey’s new story:
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/406129_FHA12.html
They will allow the 8k tax credit to be used as part of an FHA down payment. I’ve been looking for the answer to that because generally you cannot borrow the down payment. I don’t like this for the reasons stated in my comment to that article.