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Here is your open thread for the weekend beginning Friday January 11th, 2013. 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!
NOTICE: If you have comments to make about politics or economics that do not somehow directly relate to Seattle-area real estate, they may be posted in the current Politics & Economics Open Thread. If you post such comments here, they will be moved there.
Marijuana Stores in Seattle By the End of the Year?
King news already touted this as a boom for tourism and money pouring into Seattle for real estate and other sales. I’d add, especially if the indoor pot production factories get built soon locally for a employee hiring spree. This could drive our three year stagnant 1.9 million Seattle/Bellevue/Everett total labor market figure way up and unemployment down.
So far, no interference from the DOJ, as Obama’s recently stated he’s leaving Colorado and Washington alone on this issue.
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RE: softwarengineer @ 1 -
That’s because the right to smoke weed isn’t protected by the Bill of Rights, so President Obama doesn’t care to attack it.
Maybe we should add a post to the Sour Note thread, suggesting making profit by buying currently illegal grow houses seized by the Sheriff.
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RE: softwarengineer @ 1 – Far out.
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RE: softwarengineer @ 1 –
Obama didn’t exactly say he’d leave Washington and Colorado alone. It’s not what he said, it’s what he didn’t say. He never said that the Feds would not intervene and prevent the initiative from being implemented. He basically just said that he won’t be going after individual marijuana users. Based on the Justice Department’s history with medical marijuana, there’s no reason to believe they won’t crack down. There’s no reason to believe that they’ll allow marijuana stores to be opened.Maybe they’ll let the state license the stores and growers and then crack down. It’s an odd limbo now. It’s legal to possess in the state of Washington, but it’s not legal to sell or grow it.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/10/us-usa-foreclosures-zombies-idUSBRE9090G920130110
“Six years in, thousands of homeowners are finding themselves legally liable for houses they didn’t know they still owned after banks decided it wasn’t worth their while to complete foreclosures on them. With impunity, banks have been walking away from foreclosures much the way some homeowners walked away from their mortgages when the housing market first crashed.”
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RE: ChrisM @ 5 – I feel sorry for those that had some real estate agent tell them that the bank couldn’t sue them, or those who took walk-away advice off of some website.
BTW, in Washington there’s no need to worry about real estate taxes. They are not a personal liability (although they could increase the amount of any deficiency–I’m just saying the county isn’t going to come after you).
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RE: softwarengineer @ 1 – I imagine the Kent/Auburn valley will see some large, high-security grow-houses, using existing warehouse space.
Does anyone know if a municipality or even a county could prohibit such operations, or would that contradict state law and not survive a legal challenge?
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 2 –
Yes, over on the Sour Notes thread you have demonstrated your complete lack of Real Estate knowledge the same as with this comment.
Sherrif’s Sale, good move for buying seized property? Yes, for some, but properties that engage in illegal activity may carry a stigma.
A house in West Seattle I was asked to look at was occupied by kids, teenagers, drug dealers. The guy who bought the house tried living there with his kids and found the house was a target, people came all night asking to buy drugs. He finally rented it our and the drug addicts scared away the renters, and took over the house.
His choice was to call the Sherrif, and board up the house, or find a buyer, some one like me, who was used to dealing with that element.
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Does our area getting a pro basketball team again make my house worth more? Discuss . . .
Regarding mary jane grow houses – we won’t see large-scale ones in our area due to the high electricity rates. Now in Eastern WA with some of the low PUD rates, that’s a different story. That’s why the server farms were put over there instead of in our area.
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RE: ChrisM @ 5 – I’ve made a similar point on this website for years. RE developers that engage in jingle mail are not ostracized by lenders like individuals who do the same on a much, much smaller scale. This is yet another reason to kill the bankers. Which is why assault weapons must not be banned, nor shoulder mounted missile launchers.
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By David Losh @ 8:
Are you that dense that you don’t even recognize a joke? Let me explain it to your tiny little brain.
A grow house right now has much less value on the open market, because you need to repair the walls, wiring, and other modifications made to the house. If the Feds leave our state alone, and it becomes possible to legally grow weed, then you would have a house that has already been modified, saving you the expense. So, Erik, over in the other thread, was asking for investment advise. The joke was to post about this over there, so that you could buy something currently cheap that would become valuable.
Zoomed yet again. So many things over your head today. You must have already smoked a ton of weed in your lifetime. You fried your brain!
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RE: wreckingbull @ 7 –
Off the top of my head I’d say that unless the Feds formally recognize and accept the state law, then municipalities could prohibit large grow operations. Or they could zone it out( not allow agricultural uses in a warehouse zone). Most cities in this state have laws that prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries( Seattle doesn’t, so you see them mostly in Seattle and unincorporated King County), despite the voter initiative in 1998 that allowed them. Had there been legislation regarding that at the state level, maybe cities couldn’t prohibit them, but Christine Gregoire vetoed the medical marijuana rules and regs passed by the state legislature, keeping it in limbo, and most cities didn’t want the hassle As it is, without any legislation at the state level, no tax revenues are being generated by these dispensaries. Supposedly, there are no mechanisms at the county level to prohibit dispensaries, so that’s why there are a bunch in places like White Center.
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RE: Ira Sacharoff @ 4 –
I Recall Obama Was Quized By a TV Commentator on DOJ Action
His remark was like I’m not going to fight the states that made it legal. He did say he wouldn’t go so far as to support legalization.
Hades, he admits he did it in mass quantities [still does?]….I imagine Obama has to walk the political tight rope of pleasing the foreign/corporates funding our campaigns that want it illegal [and how much of the drug cartel money are they pocketing?].
I’d never make a good politician, I can’t do one thing and say another.
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RE: Ira Sacharoff @ 12 – Seattle is very friendly to operating a business out of your house. And a grow house has low traffic impact! ;-)
And apparently this is no different. Check this out!
http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/planning/cannabiszoningrestrictions/default.asp
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RE: Ira Sacharoff @ 12 –
All I Know Ira
The supplies are CURENTLY legal to buy for those with the medical card and in MASS quantities [like FAR more than the patient could ever smoke]….just drive a few miles down the road and pick from dozens of varieties from a state store….some of its $200/oz. The $15/gm stuff is the high grade I hear. Its sold in brown medicine bottles.
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 14 –
And Governor Gregoire Was Always Against Legalization
She’s gone now anyway.
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 14 –
You’re Right Kary
Prostitution used to be our big money maker, now its morphed to pot.
The good news about pot legalization is its use goes down [I think it loses its mystique]; but the real good thing is it causes hard drug use to go WAY DOWN, alcohol use decreases too….hades we’ll all live longer and Obamacare may be a moot point ;-)
I hear legalizing prostitution can reduce STD spreading….perhaps its next…LOL
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And this from today’s Seattle Weekly.
http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2013/01/vietnam_veteran_facing_foreclo.php
:(
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 11 – Personal foul. Defense. Marked off from the point of infraction. First down, Seahawks.
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RE: Jillayne Schlicke @ 18 – The Native Americans can relate. The white man has no soul.
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 11 –
Oh, man, I got it, didn’t need it, and tossed in the Sherrif’s sale.
My partner bought the drug house, rented it to some thugs who cleared it out over the course of a year, then she put in the $100K to make it right.
It has a great view of the Sound, and she rented it out for 10 years that I know of.
It was a deal.
Save the cheap jokes.
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By David Losh @ 21:
Bull. You didn’t get the joke. You got zoomed four times today on your first day back! Everything was over your head today. Of course, over your head isn’t very high.
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Since we’re on the topic of those who are really stupid, I got a call today where someone is apparently trying to close out the second half of a 1031 exchange. Did they totally miss the elections?
I didn’t find out the facts. Maybe it’s a couple and one is expected to die shortly. That’s about the only scenario I can think of where it would make much sense.
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 22 – RE: Jillayne Schlicke @ 18 –
Here you go Kary on that personal e-mail you got. Jillayne provided the link to the Vietnam Vet foreclosure article.
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 23 – Please elaborate.
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RE: whatsmyname @ 25 – Taxes are going up. Assuming they could have closed in 2012, which I’m pretty sure is the case given the short time they had left to close, why would you want to avoid paying a 15% capital gain rate now instead of a much higher rate in the future? In addition, by going the 1031 route, you reduce your future depreciation, and when you do sell your gain on sale will still be dependent on facts from the earlier transaction which might have occurred 20 years earlier. I think most the 1031 exchange transactions have been small time investors who don’t really know what they are doing. Larger companies are paying the low tax now.
As to the death of a spouse comment, there would be a step up in basis at that point, so the 1031 would defer the gain, and the death would wipe out the gain. Income tax would never be paid. Paying 15% on the existing gain now or 0% on the existing gain later would be the choice in that situation, so a 1031 would be a good thing. And after the death you would then get the increased depreciation.
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“We thought we were just letting a friend crash at the house for a few days, we ended up with a family of hillbillies who moved in forever, sleeping nine to a bed, and building a meth lab on the front lawn.”
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/secret-and-lies-of-the-bailout-20130104
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 26 – Tell me more.
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Geithner and Obama suck. Kill the bankers.
Wall Street thanks you for your service, Tim Geithner
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s departure from the Obama administration invites comparisons with Klemens von Metternich. Metternich was the foreign minister of the Austrian empire who engineered the restoration of the old order and the suppression of democracy across Europe after the defeat of Napoleon.
This was an impressive diplomatic feat – given the widespread popular contempt for Europe’s monarchical regimes. In the same vein, protecting Wall Street from the financial and economic havoc they brought upon themselves and the country was an enormous accomplishment.
During his tenure as head of the New York Fed and then as treasury secretary, most, if not all, of the major Wall Street banks would have collapsed if the government had not intervened to save them. This process began with the collapse of Bear Stearns, which was bought up by JP Morgan in a deal involving huge subsidies from the Fed.
The collapse of Lehman Brothers, a second major investment bank, started a run on the three remaining investment banks that would have led to the collapse of Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs if the Fed, FDIC, and treasury had not taken extraordinary measures to save them. Citigroup and Bank of America both needed emergency facilities established by the Fed and treasury explicitly for their support, in addition to all the below market-rate loans they received from the government at the time. Without this massive government support, there can be no doubt that both of them would currently be operating under the supervision of a bankruptcy judge.
Of the six banks that dominate the US banking system, only Wells Fargo and JP Morgan could conceivably have survived without hoards of cash rained down on them by the federal government. Even these two are questionmarks, since both helped themselves to trillions of dollars of below market-rate loans, in addition to indirectly benefiting from the bailout of the other banks that protected many of their assets.
Had it not been for Geithner and his sidekicks, therefore, we would have been permanently rid of an incredibly bloated financial sector that haunts the economy like a horrible albatross.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/11/wall-street-thanks-tim-geithner-service
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Does anyone have experience with a factual correction with the King County Assesor? Not an appeal of value, just a correction to site issues that affect value.
We have looked at a parcel that has been determined to have a sensitive area that covers over 40% of the property. 40% of the most valuable portion of land. It is a waterfront parcel that has a stream along a property line that flows out into Lake Washington. There is an older house on the property set back about 175′ from the lake. The sellers priced the property as they assumed someone would want to build a house as close as the could to the lake. The assesor has valued the property as if the land close to the lake was buildable.
After doing a feasibility study, we are 100% confident that we would loose over 1/3 of the land to the sensitive area designation.
As I read the assesors website, I would consider this a factual issue and not a comparable or market value issue. I read that they can address factual issues without an appeal. I would like find out long it would take to have the assessment and taxes adjusted.
Any ideas?
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RE: Blurtman @ 29 –
I take a safe bet that he ends feet down with a 30% pay increase, at a minimum.
Rotating door.
Can you say Rahm Emmanuel? Or anyone else associated with Goldman-Sachs or Bear Stearns? He deserves it!
Fel Temp Reparatio!
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RE: whatsmyname @ 28 – You’re going to be more specific. I’ve touched on the major issues–higher future taxes and lower depreciation. The only thing that comes to mind that I haven’t mentioned is the possibility of the 1031 Exchange Facilitator running off with the sales proceeds, or improperly investing them as occurred in the LandAmerica case. That leaves the seller with no money and a tax liability for the sale–a true nightmare situation.
My point is simply 1031 exchanges are not always good things, and I was surprised that anyone is doing them in this political and economic environment.
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Go Hawks!
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 23 –
So, now you interject a complete fabrication of details, by pure speculation, of a 1031 Exchange you “didn’t find out the facts” about.
Thanks for the information, but we are in 2013 with a higher tax rate, maybe those 1031s will come back in fashion.
I really don’t know, I just think it’s funny you created this other discussion for some reason, again fear mongering about 1032 Exchange Facilitators.
It’s another boogie man from Kary.
and did you call these people stupid for calling you?
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By David Losh @ 34:
That very well may be. The higher the current rate the more incentive to defer the tax through a 1031. But as I indicated, based on the time remaining to close the second half of the 1031 exchange the sale occurred in 2012, when rates were at historical lows.
Maybe the seller was a partisan Republican and thought that income taxes would remain low forever, because so many Republicans took a tax pledge. ;-)
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 32 – Well, I was just wondering about the details. For example, if they just called you yesterday, wouldn’t it be too late to get constructive receipt in 2012? In that case the 15% isn’t an option anyway.
But more importantly, what were they trying to achieve? Perhaps they have a high level of depreciation capture at stake. That could dwarf the 5% marginal rate increase. Is the thing a very long term hold? Who knows what tax rates will be in 20 years? Did they want to recover some boot, but maximize what remained for reinvestment as you would with your 401K? Or was it about cash flow? Were they trying to change from a low cash flow property, say a rental house with a lot of land to a higher cash flow property like an apartment house? Maybe they manage their properties for a living, but were relocating and want to have their investments close by. It just seems very open ended.
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