Home Staging 2 - The Effect of Home Staging

      For the fear of not being able to get the return on their investment, most sellers are reluctant to spend money on staging before putting their homes on the market. Renovation can be considered as the extremity of staging. To help home sellers better understand the effects of home staging and renovation, I conducted an analysis comparing a staged home with three other non-staged comparables that are sold in Bellevue Washington in 2013.

Polygon Purchases large redevelopment site in Everett

One of the largest builders in Great Seattle, Polygon Northwest, has purchased a redevelopment site in Everett. The 225-acre site is on the Snohomish River on the east side of I-5. The site was once used as a dump and a pulp-and-paper mill. There was also an infamous tire fire burned for months in 1984 in the location. In an effort to clear the way for redevelopment, the city of Everett has spent approximately eighty million dollars and another $20 million in public money will be spent.

Home Staging – Part 1 Introduction

      With the advance of technology, nowadays you can market your home for sale on thousands of websites once your real estate agent input your property information into the database of local multiple listing services. Eventually, the factors affecting how fast a home gets sold and how much it gets sold come down to pricing and staging. A home priced above its market value scares away potential buyers and a home not ready for the market turns off potential buyers.

Negotiation Strategies in a Multiple Offer Situation

      While many of the European countries are still struggling with staggeringly high unemployment rates and stagnant economy, the US economy is undergoing mild recovery largely due to the correct monetary policy set by the Federal Reserve System (FED). Along with the historically low interest rate, the housing market is blooming surprisingly well. We have seen many of the priced right homes received multiple offers and sold in less than 10 days. In this seller’s market, home buyers need a totally different set of strategies from those used in a buyer’s market. I will discuss in this article a series of strategies for serious home buyers to use in a seller’s market without making unreasonable sacrifice.

Feng Shui – Part 3 Bedroom Feng Shui

     We spend one third of our life time in bed. A good night’s sleep is so important that it directly affects our health. The principles of bedroom Feng Shui are to create an environment that is relaxing and conducive to a good night’s sleep. A bedroom with good Feng Shui should has appropriate size. If you ever visited the forbidden city in China, you would find that even the Chinese emperor’s bedroom is less than 215 square feet (20 square meters). While we certainly do not like a depressingly small bedroom, an oversized bedroom would lost the intimacy and privacy needed to create a relaxing environment. If you have an oversized bedroom, you may create a sitting area or add a patterned area rug to take up visual space.

Bidding wars in Seattle

      Seattle is the fifth most competitive U.S. market when it comes to bidding for homes and the most competitive market outside of California, according to Redfin. In Seattle, 74.6 percent of all home offers faced competition in April , which is up from 72.5 percent a month earlier and up from 68 percent a year earlier, according to the Seattle online brokerage company. Seattle trailed only Orange County, San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles in Redfin's national competitiveness ranking.

Seattle City Council Approved Rainier Valley apartment project

On April 24th, 2013 a Seattle City Council committee approved plans for the Rainier Valley apartment project next to the Mount Baker light-rail station. This decision underscores the council’s commitment to promoting development along the light-rail line between downtown and Sea-Tac Airport. Rainier Valley will include two seven-story buildings with a total of 307 units on a 1.5 acre site.

The number of closed single-family home sales rose more than 30 percent in January 2013 in Seattle compared with a year earlier, topping the national average of a gain of about 12 percent.

According to a new report by Seattle-based online real estate company Redfin, there were 2,604 home sales in January, up 30.9 percent above January 2011 but down 22.3 percent from December.

Short Sales and the Related Issues

      A short sale is a sale of real property in which the proceeds from selling the property are less than the balance of debts secured by liens against the property. This happens when the property owner experiences financial distress and cannot afford to make the current loan payments. In such a situation, the banks/lien holders agree to release their lien on the real estate and accept less than the amount owed on the debt.

New Homes in Sammamish – Glencoe at Trossachs

            Glencoe at Trossachs is co-developed by two builders, William Buchan and Murray Franklyn and I am reviewing the homes by William Buchan in this article. This New community is located in the Sammamish Plateau. There are two drawbacks to live in Sammamish. First, there is no highway passing through Sammamish and it may be a long commute for most people living in Sammamish. Second, many people may think that the school district in this area (Issaquah School District) is not as desirable as the Bellevue school district.

New Homes in Issaquah – The Bridges at Talus

           The Bridges at Talus is built by Steve Burnstead Construction LLC, which is a brother company of Rick Burnstead Construction LLC. There will be more than 90 homes at the Bridges when the project is completed. These new homes in Issaquah are priced from the mid 500 thousands to the mid 700 thousands and ranged from 1,850 to 3,263 square footage. For those of you who would like a personal touch on your new home, such as paint color, granite, flooring, all deco choices, there are still more than 40 lots available at the Bridges as of January 18^th 2013.