January :: SoundBiteBlog.com 2009 :: SoundBiteBlog.com

Another sign of the times appeared yesterday when Washington State’s Department of Revenue reversed it’s position on how and when it collects the Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) in real estate transactions involving a Short Sale.

A Short Sale is the name for a Real Estate transaction where a seller, heading into Foreclosure, agrees to sell his/her home for less than the amount of money  owed on the property. Short Sales are complicated transactions which must involve not only the Seller and the new Buyer, but the mortgage holder as well. In a Short Sale, the mortgage holder must also agree to accept a sale price that may be significantly below the amount owed on the property.

The difference between the amount owed and the amount generated by the sale, known as a deficiency balance, is sometimes “forgiven” (the seller is not required to pay the lender), and most times not forgiven (the seller still owes money after the sale to the original lender).

To add injustice to injury, before yesterday, the WA DOR imposed the Real Estate Excise Tax on the deficiency balance as well as the sale price. In other words, not only did someone lose their home while continuing to pay a mortgage lender, but the State of Washington taxed the homeowner on the amount of money still owed to the lender. (The IRS does something similar to this, but that is another story)

This practice changed yesterday when the Department of Revenue issued it’s reversal of previous policy in the Short Sales – Letter to Stakeholders. This letter explains that the DOR will no longer require Escrow Agents to collect the Real Estate Excise Tax on deficiency balances. It goes further to provide contact information for sellers who were charged the tax in the past.

Posted in Foreclosure, Real Estate Bites, Sellers | 1 Comment »

Have you jumped on the Twitter bandwagon yet? It’s one of the more popular social networks populating the Internet these days.

I have to confess, when it first came out, I wasn’t all that motivated to check it out. I mean, seriously, what value is there in letting people know that I’m going to the bathroom, what I ate for lunch, or what movie I’m going watch this weekend? All I could think was that people really need to get a life!

Well, Twitter IS life. It allows us to quickly connect within our sphere of fellow Twits by offering up short snippets (limited to 140 characters) into our lives. Conversations on Twitter can also be sent directly to your mobile device.

As a local real estate professional who is fully immersed in today’s social media technology, Twitter offers yet one more viable platform for promoting my business, and expanding my sphere of influence.

In order to relate and interact in our Net Savvy culture, you have to go where the conversations are.

So Ride the Wave of Social Networking, and join Twitter today! It’s fun and it’s FREE!

• Follow SoundBiteBlog on Twitter @soundbiteblog
• Follow Sparky on Twitter @ActiveRich
• Follow Buckwheat on Twitter @frog_blogger

Added by Mark …

Just like Rich, I wondered what the fascination with Twitter was at first. My original question? How can I say anything meaningful in 140 characters? Well, ask yourself this. Have you ever been involved in a series of emails back and forth to a friend when the emails consisted of one or two lines of text?

That’s the niche Twitter fills so well. It’s much quicker to post a short Twitter update than it is to write an email in response to a friend. And, other friends can jump in with their comments as well if they are following you. It’s kind of fun and it’s more efficient than the way I used to do things. I think of it as online text messages.

Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments »

Tags: social networks, twitter, web 2.0

Last week I was going through our local MLS (Northwest Multiple Listing Service), checking up on some newly listed properties out in Seabeck WA, when I came across the following description another Agent had used for a home she was marketing:

“Adventures await in the plushly landscaped backyard. Indiana Jones-type bridge spans adjoining creek“

Okay, so what the heck is an ‘Indiana Jones-type’ bridge? And is this something that I would necessarily want to promote as a valued feature? As I seem to recall, the bridge in “Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom” was highly unstable and hazardous!

Here on the picturesque Kitsap Peninsula, surrounded by the scenic waterways of the Puget Sound, views can be a critical feature of a home and impact a home’s valuation significantly. One of the common phrases you’ll encounter as you read through the various listing data sheets on the NWMLS is the term ‘peek-a-boo‘ view.

Now just what exactly constitutes a ‘peek-a-boo’ view?

Translation:   “If you stand tipee toe on a 10 foot ladder in the dead of Winter when all the leaves are gone, and strain your eyes, you just might possibly see something that remotely resembles water.”

Many of the homes in the Seabeck WA area have stunning views of the Olympic Mountain Range or Hood Canal. Once I found a photo on the MLS of a home for sale in Seabeck that had an expansive view of Hood Canal and the Olympics. But when I looked at the location address, I knew that the potential for the view in the photo was highly suspect. When I actually toured the property firsthand, my suspicions were confirmed. The only way you could replicate the view from the photo was to rent a cherry picker and snap a shot from on top a 50 foot boom!

I am a firm believer in telling the truth about my listings – good, bad, or indifferent. I want the pictures that I take and use to market my Seller’s home to be an accurate representation of what you’ll actually see when you tour the home. What you see is what you get.

Gee, what a concept!

Posted in Buyers, Real Estate Bites, Seabeck WA Real Estate, Sellers | 3 Comments »

Tags: peek-a-boo view, seabeck wa real estate, view properties, waterfront properties