Archive for March, 2007
March 31, 2007 at 6:10 pm · Filed under Bites of Kitsap, Buyers, Real Estate Bites, Sellers, Sparks from Sparky
Kitsap County WA Market Conditions:Â April 2007
Real Estate Market Conditions for Kitsap County WA for 04/01/2007
The following is a quick analysis of the combined single-family home and condo market within Kitsap County, Washington, provided by Rich Jacobson of Windermere Real Estate, in Silverdale, WA.
- Properties currently active on the market:Â 1430Â
- Properties closed in the last 180 days:Â 1495
- Average Sales Price: $300,550
- Average List Price: $305,670
- Ratio of List Price to Sales Price: 98%
- Average Days on Market:Â 84 days
- Sales Pending this Week: 62
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The ”Way We Were”comparative snapshot:
- Active Listings:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 2006 - 884;Â Â 2007 - 1430
- Days on Market:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 2006 - 57;Â Â Â Â 2007 - 84
- Absorption Rate:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 2006 - 13;Â Â Â Â 2007 - 23
- LP/SP Ratio:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 2006 - 99;Â Â Â Â 2007 - 98%
- Closed Sales last 6 months:Â Â Â 2006 - 1805;Â 2007 - 1495
Current Market Conditions: As the weather continues to improve, look for increased Buyer activity, especially for waterfront and view properties. Final plans are still under review for the new Olympic View Marina (formerly Seabeck Marina), and work will hopefully commence sometime mid-summer 2007. This should help to encourage continued positive growth and improved property values in the Seabeck area. Meaningful progress is being made in the renovation and resurgence of Downtown Bremerton, especially along the waterfront. As anticipated, the opening of Anthony’s Seafood Restaurant has become one of the primary flagships for the longterm success of this project. For more helpful information and resources concerning real estate and living in Kitsap County, Washington, access my comprehensive website, www.KitsapLife.com .
March 31, 2007 at 5:11 am · Filed under Bites of Buckwheat, SoundBite Bites
Tony Gallegos
(S.M.A.C.) SoundBiteBlog’s Most Active Commenter Award
Maybe I’m just in love with the sound of my own writing, (How’s that for a mangled metaphor?) and maybe not. But if you have ever maintained a blog you know that blogging is often like writing in a twilight room. You can’t really tell how things are turning out until the sun rises. A blogger writes about what he or she finds interesting. A blogger has no idea for a while if anybody else is interested, or if (dare I say it?) the writing just sucks! The only way to find out if your blog is any good is to keep on plugging away, and wait for the day to arrive when visitors start leaving comments.
Comments validate the blogger’s work!
Good comments or snarly comments; I’d rather have something over nothing. At least I know someone is reading.
Let me introduce you to Tony Gallegos. Tony maintains his own blog for Loan Officers. Tony has the dubious honor of becoming SoundBiteBlog’s very first recipient of the SMAC Award. Tony has been consistently reading and leaving comments on SoundBite articles for a while now. I have no idea how he discovered SoundBiteBlog in the first place. But Tony’s feedback is greatly appreciated. With Tony around, I don’t feel like I’m blogging in the dark!Â
If you read Tony’s impressive resume, you might get the mistaken notion that Tony is a boring, analytical type of guy. You might think that right up until you come to his recently posted video, “Who said geeks can’t rap?”. Then you get an entirely different perspective. There is definitely a sense of humor lurking under the hood of the Mortgage Cicerone!
The variety of subjects on The Mortgage Cicerone keeps it interesting. I visit regularly now to see what Tony has found to write about. He must be a full-time reader because the number of sources he has for information is huge. You can find snippets from the Associated Press, the Baltimore Sun, the GMAC Investor Forum, BankRate.com and Savage Insights, just to name a few. I wouldn’t have found the aritcle on Savage Insights except for Tony’s blog, and it’s one of the best articles for Loan Originators I seen lately. Thanks Tony, that one was a great piece!
When he is not busy pointing out promising articles or interesting news, Tony also writes his own articles. Check out this article on Credit Reports and Newlyweds. It’s a great subject and offers solid advice to consumers.
Here’s a short collection of some other excellent posts:
The highest accolade one blogger can give another is link on the main page. It is a vote of confidence; a “Blog Nod”, so to speak. If you glance to the right of this article you will now find The Mortgage Cicerone in SoundBite’s very short list of read-worthy websites. It’s not there because Tony leaves lots of comments, it’s there because it belongs there. SoundBiteBlog is a consumer website. The Mortgage Cicerone is an industry website. Sometimes though, the two different types of information overlap.
If you have read this far, take a wander on over to Tony’s corner of the internet. Take a peek at a few of the articles posted there. Tony, like Sparky and I, is blogging in the dark too. So leave him a comment or two! He’ll appreciate it and his articles are worth reading. Tell him Buckwheat sent you.
Tony, Sparky and I thank you for all of your feedback and your involvement in our site!
March 30, 2007 at 3:00 pm · Filed under Bites of Buckwheat
Heaping piles of unwanted, unopened envelopes in the garbage and decidedly irritating phone calls during dinner are just two of the annoyances of the new millenium. None of the amazing technological advances we see around us seem able to stop marketers from making our lives unneccessarily cluttered. First there is the volume of landfill material that arrives in the mailbox, then there is the seemingly endless string of telephone solicitations. How do they do it? How did they know you just applied for a refinance mortgage? Is somebody leaking your sensitive information to the business sector? Is somebody selling your information? Probably not, and here are two little-known ways to eliminate the clutter.
Creative and entertaining ways of dealing with telemarketing calls at dinner time has become something of a national pasttime in America. And, it is estimated that 80% of Americans sort their mail over the garbage can! If you wait long enough, you can buy everything from a vacation to a vacuum cleaner from somebody you’ve never heard of, who either calls you or sends you mail. Not to mention the subject of email spam. Marketers are a creative bunch and their techniques for finding you can seem mysterious. It’s not mysterious at all though. Marketers simply pay your credit reporting agency to provided them with a list of possible customers. “What about my privacy?”, you ask “Can the credit agencies do that legally”? Your privacy is intact and yes, they can, are the answers to those questions.
How it works
If a solicitor wishes to purchase a list of potential customers for his or her latest and greatest product, they can do so in one of two ways. They can contact the credit agencies and request a list of people who fit certain criteria (like a minimum credit score, a certain amount of time since a bankruptcy or a recent attempt to get a mortgage). The credit agency will apply this criteria to the credit agency database of information and deliver, to the marketer, a list of folks who match. The marketer never sees your credit score or the information on your credit report. They simply know that ,if your name is on the list, you fit the criteria they used to filter the results of the credit agency’s database search.
The second technique is similar. A marketer can supply the credit reporting agencies with a list of potential customers, including their desired criteria again, and the credit agency will check each potential customer’s credit profile against the criteria. The marketer again ends up with a list of matches.
If you have ever been the recipient of a piece of mail claiming the ABC Acme Mortgage Company of Maine can offer you a superior interest rate to the one being offered by your local lender 4 days after you spoke with a loan officer in your home town, now you know how they knew! It’s not because there is a hidden microphone somewhere in your kitchen.
Some people almost relish these solicitations. My wife will not allow me to discard the sales circulars that inhabit the center of the local newspaper, and she gets a peeved look on her face when she finds unopened mail in the garbage. It baffles me, but then, so does the theory of relativity. Many of us would just as soon not have to sort through this pile of trash. I have never applied for a mortgage because of a mail piece and I seriously doubt I ever will. I like human beings. I want to be able to see the person responsible for getting me the best rate and terms.
What you can do about it
The Federal Trade Commission maintains an information web page that explains how marketing companies operate and what you can do to eliminate the clutter. Most of us have heard about the National Do Not Call List, but did you know you can also “opt out” of unwanted mail solicitations?
The Opt Out Pre-Screen website is a website allowing you to do just that. It is maintained by the credit reporting agencies. It is secure, according to the FTC. And you can add your name to the list of people who prefer an uncluttered mail box. Equifax, Experian and TransUnion collaborate to provide this service. You will need to provide detailed information to sign up, including your social security number and other data. But you can have the comfort of knowing that this site is carefully watched by the FTC. Having Big Brother watching has it’s advantages! If you would rather not trust the security of the internet, you can call 1-888-5-OPTOUT to accomplish your goal.
Another little-known resource you can take advantage of is a listing that is maintained by the Direct Marketing Association. This database will protect you from direct marketing solicitations for a period of five years. Many large, national companies are members of the Direct Marketing Association. This will not protect you from a company that is not a member, but it is a beginning. You can register online or contact them at:
Direct Marketing Association
Mail Preference Service
PO Box 643
Carmel, NY 10512
If you wish to file a complaint about a company’s adverising practices, contact the Federal Trade Commission. If you would like to learn more about consumer issues and consumer rights from the FTC, click here. If you have a fraud or Identity Theft issue, you can start with the Consumer Sentinel site. It is accessed by law enforcement personel around the country. If you would like to help fight the email spam problem, you can do that through the FTC as well.
There you have it! Several different ways to de-clutter you mailbox and cut down on dinner-time phone calls. You may want to bookmark this page for future referrence. Or, you can simply visit SoundBiteBlog when you need the information and use the Search Feature at the top of each page. Isn’t it time to have a quiet dinner once again?
March 30, 2007 at 3:00 am · Filed under Bites of Buckwheat
Did you know that real estate in Kitsap county is on the same latitude as France? France is known for being an incredible gardening country. Just think of all the wine that is produced each year!
Dahlias can “make” a garden. In my humble opinion they can make any garden better. They are vigorous, colorful and very easy to grow. No matter what color scheme you have going in your gardens, there is bound to be a dahlia to match or contrast your scheme.
Each spring Kitsap County Dahlia Society has a tuber sale for all the dahlia lovers in the community. This year’s event is coming up soon. The Society was originally formed in 1923 and is one of the oldest Dahlia Societies in America.
The sale this year is scheduled for:
Friday, April 6, from 9 am to 7 pm
 and Saturday, April 7, from 9 am to 6 pm
At the:
Central Valley Community Hall & Garden Club BuildingÂ
10200 Central Valley Road NE
Located about 2/10’s mile north of Waaga Way
Â
There will be a second sale for Port Orchard property owners and those that miss the first one on:
Saturday, April 14th from 9 am to 4 pm.
This sale will be held at:
the Kitsap Saddle Club.
1470 Saddle Club Road, Port Orchard
So if you have seen these glorious flowers growing in a neighbors’ yard or you’ve enjoyed the Dahlia display at the Silverdale Post Office, here’s your chance to add to or begin a collection of your own. One warning though; If you are anything like me, you’ll need a bigger budget than you thought you needed once you get to the sale!
March 29, 2007 at 6:41 am · Filed under Bites of Buckwheat, SoundBite Bites
Buckwheat and Sparky (aka - Mark and Rich) have added a new tool to SoundBiteBlog for our Clients. This tool is an online Real Estate Transaction Tracking System that provides our clients with 24 hour access to updated information about each individual transaction.
The Transaction Tracker is accessible by the Realtor, Loan Officer and the client. It is a password protected system to maintain the client’s privacy and it is viewable from any computer in the world that has an Internet connection. The Tracker System will itemize every step of our clients’ Real Estate Transaction from Loan Application to Funding. There is an area for the Realtor and the Loan Officer to leave notes and comments for each client.
There is also a “Recommended Reading” section with articles specifically chosen to match the type of transaction each client is involved in. If the transaction is for a First Time Homebuyer, the articles are specific to a First Time Homebuyers’ most common questions. If the transaction involves a rehab loan, the articles are tailored for that type of transaction. The same applies to Adjustable Rate Mortgage Transactions, Bridge Loan Transactions, Reverse Mortgage Transactions, etc.
One of the most common complaints clients voice is not having instant access to their Realtor and Loan Officer. While a phone call from the client’s representative is the perfect solution, it is not always possible. The Tracker System is designed to eliminate the unknown. Our clients can log into the system at any time they choose for an up-to-the-minute report on the status of each transaction.
If you would like to see the Transaction Tracker at work click on this link. You can use a login of “guest” and a password of “guest” to see a dummy deal and how the Tracker System works.
Any Realtors that work with Mark and any Loan Officers that work with Rich are welcome to take advantage of the Transaction Tracking System. It is a great communications and organizational tool for everybody involved in a Real Estate Transaction.
March 29, 2007 at 3:00 am · Filed under Bites of Buckwheat, Buyers, Mortgage Bites, Real Estate Bites
This is a conversation I seem to have often in my day-to-day life as a Loan Officer. “Why do I need cash, if I can get a Zero Down home loan?” There seems to be some confusion about what a 100% mortgage is, and what it is not. Hopefully, this article will help clarify things if you’ve ever wondered how it works.
Most of us, especially when faced with our first home purchase, have very little to work with in the way of cash. It can easily take years to save a few thousand dollars. Once we do save some cash, we are hesitant to part with it for any reason. Purchasing real estate is one of the few reasons we feel comfortable separating ourselves from the greenbacks we spent so much time and effort gathering. Kitsap real estate is a great place to tranfer your cash. Property values go up over time, unlike things like cars, which lose value the longer you own them.
When you purchase real estate with a mortgage (or even without one), there are additional costs to think about. Lenders will invariably want to see a Title Report and an Appraisal among other things. Credit reports cost money. There may be the cost of a home inspection to consider or a Funding Fee or a Flood Certification or a Underwriting Fee or any of a multitude of fees that you will only need to pay if you are getting a mortgage. These fees add up. They add to the cost of purchasing a home, but they are not part of the purchase price.
When a lender agrees to approve a 100% mortgage, the lender is agreeing to pay for the entire house, not the entire transaction. The cost of the home and the cost of the transaction are two completely different numbers. This is the reason why many first time homebuyers are surprised to find that their new Zero Down Mortgage Approval requires them to come up with thousands of dollars. The lender is agreeing to pay for the house, but not the additional fees. If the lender did pay for all the fees, the lender would be lending more than the value of the home. Loan fees typically cost between 2% and 5% of the loan amount. So if the lender made this loan, they would be making a 102% or 105% mortgage.
A simple way to think about it is to remember that loan fees do not affect the value of a property. If a home has a price of $200,000 and the transaction fees are $5,500, the home is still only worth $200,000, although you will need $205,500 to pruchase it.
Now how about some good news?
Transactions where a buyer needs both 100% financing and the money to cover closing costs are very common! Most first time homebuyers are in this position. And this type of transaction can be done. It just requires a little creativity, the right loan program and a property that is not priced at the very top of it’s market.
Using the example above, what would happen is the buyer and the seller would need to agree to raise the price up to $205,500 with the seller agreeing to pay $5,500 of the buyers closing costs. As long as the Appraisal comes back at a value of at least $205,500, and the lender is made aware of what is transpiring, this deal will work. In most cases, it works flawlessly. Every one of the transactions like this I have handled has closed. The buyer was thrilled, the seller was happy and the lender was content.
March 28, 2007 at 6:18 am · Filed under Bites of Buckwheat, Buyers, Mortgage Bites, Real Estate Bites
It seems like every time I turn around on the Internet, I come across another article on the demise of zero down home financing and the impact it will have on the Real Estate industry and First Time Homebuyers.
These articles run the gamut from shocking to discouraging. Many of the articles blame this situation on the sub prime lending practices in recent years. Many of the articles predict that First Time Homebuyers will no longer be able to attain the American Dream! Many say that 100% financing is gone for good. I say: Don’t believe everything you hear (or read). Zero Down Home Loans are alive and well.
This article is not about the current subprime situation. Subprime situations are a significant portion of the overall mortgage market, but they are nowhere close to being in the majority. The majority of the mortgages that get approved, each and every day in America, are the garden variety, middle-class, blue-collar type of transactions that we share with our neighbors, co-workers, friends and families. This segment of the mortgage market has had access to 100% financing for years and still does today.
Probably the best-known zero down home loan is the VA Loan for Veterans. 100% financing has been available to Veterans for a long time. There is no news that this will change. VA mortgages will actually allow a Veteran to finance not only the price of the home, but the cost of purchasing it (closing costs) as well!
If you are not a Veteran, you still have access to zero dow
