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Why work with an agent that knows the area?

Why work with an agent that knows the area?

Buying a new house is likely the largest financial decision you will make in your lifetime. That’s why it is so important to use a professional real estate agent like Beth Toomey. The first step in finding your new home is to determine which area of town you want to live in. Beth Toomey knows the best areas to buy Seattle real estate. She is also familiar with the surrounding areas. An agent that knows the area can advise you on schools, parks, shopping and activities. If you have kids, then understanding the local school district is a top priority. 

Coldwell Banker Bain wears many hats. They can advise you on making an offer and where Seattle waterfront homes are located. If you buy Seattle real estate, you will enjoy the many activities located within the city. Coldwell Banker Bain and associates will ensure the buying process is as smooth as possible. 

Seattle offers a number of districts where you can find numerous parks, historical homes and sightseeing cruises. The Space Needle is open 365 days of the year. You can ride to the top between 8 a.m. and Midnight for a view of the city when the weather is nice. You will also find a few large museums surrounding the Space Needle. Seattle is also home to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Campus.

A real estate agent can help you understand how much you can afford to spend on a new home. They will help you calculate your credit rating, income, expenses, interest rate and down payment. A real estate agent can also help you shop for a mortgage loan. The home buying process can be stressful if you don’t know what you’re doing. A real estate agent will save you time and frustration during this important event. Make a list of must-have features you want in your new home. Your real estate agent will enter your requirements into the computer and show you homes that fit. 

How to Find the Right Realtor for You

Planning to buy a new home? It is of basic importance to have a realtor that would help you with the process.But looking for one that you can trust would not be that easy especially if you haven't tried this thing before or have no knowledge at all with home buying. A realtor is very important to help you with the processes in home buying such as the requirement that need to be completed, the paperworks that would need to be done, important things to consider as well as the legalities. A realtor will do great help in smoothing out the home buying process. You might also find a good and trustworthy realtor at the coldwell banker bain realtor company.

Finding the right realtor should be one of your objectives, so how do you do it? Check out some things that you can do to get a trustworthy realtor for your home buying business. Word of the mouth or asking for references would be one effective idea. Customers who have received good quality services from a realtor would be happy to share the experience of good realtor services that they’ve received, chances are, you will be satisfied too. This is a very effective way in finding the right realtor that would help you with the home buying process. Then discuss with the realtor.Go to the realtor’s office and have a talk with him or her, you might even want to do it conveniently on the phone. Prepare your queries and know if that realtor is the one to trust. You can also talk with the broker about the performance of the realtor, this will give you a lot of truth about how trustworthy the realtor is. Also take a check on the realtor’s personality. Is he a good communicator? Know that this is a very important skill that a realtor should have to really help you with the process and get the most out of it. Being a good communicator will not only mean that he is a good talker but a good listener as well. The realtor should also be willing to listen to what you prefer and would be able to provide your needs with regards to home buying.

Finally, pinpoint with the realtor what you really want, this will also let you know if you and the realtor would click to met your goals. Look for a good one at the coldwell banker bain realtor company.

Checklist When Deciding To Sell or Buy A home

Home sellers and buyers have more in common than just a house. There are items to be considered by both parties, such as the state of the kitchen. Each party should make a checklist to ensure the house is “just right.” Real estate agents such as Coldwell Banker Bain would like to offer the following tips for buying or selling a house.

Home Sellers

Before selling a house, each owner should go through the house and take notes on the number of rooms, size of the house and list all of the home’s appliances. Take notes on the home’s landscaping as well. Make note of the local weather conditions and potential house problems. For example, Seattle waterfront homes are exposed to humidity, snow and ice.

• Start by listing the state of the house and all needed repairs. Write the approximate price for each repair.
• List all maintenance provided for the HVAC system, water heater and other appliances.
• Collect the last 12 energy bills and decide what can be done to lower them.
• Before putting the house up for sale, make any affordable repairs, repair or replace appliances to lower utility costs and purchase landscaping plants to enhance the house’s curb appeal.

Home Buyers

Create a list of items desired in a home. Also list items such as repairs that you are willing to pay for as well as repairs the seller should perform as a condition of the sale. Make a list of questions to ask the seller and write the answers on the checklist.

• Ask to see the last 12 utility bills. A house with high utility costs may not be a bargain.
• Research online to find homes fitting the desired location and make note of the average price. Houses in some areas may cost more due to the location. For example, if you wanted to buy Seattle real estate, the price may vary depending on the area of the city. Seattle waterfront homes will cost significantly more, but have a wonderful view of the ocean.
• While inspecting the house, ask to see a list of needed repairs and decide which you would be willing to do and those you want done as a condition of the sale.

Those wanting to sell or buy Seattle real estate can make the best deals by hiring a company like Coldwell Banker Bain and an agent like Beth Toomey. Licensed and experienced she will work with both parties so both receive the best service and deal. 

Common Mistakes That Real Estate Newbies Should Avoid

Nowadays, a lot of people are thinking about entering the real estate business because of the promising benefits and offers it brings however why are there only selected real estate agents? Is it possible to get right to the top even if you’re still new to this business? Definitely yes, but of

course you should know the right techniques and steps to achieve success in this type of business. Knowing the common pitfalls is also an advantage since it prevents you from going downhill in the start of this real estate business.These are required to provide top professional real estate service in Seattle.

The business has its own kind of inherent nature which therefore makes it a different type of business from other sorts and as well may be put, transition into this business is not that easy. Newbies in real estate have lots in common, huge ambition and energy and this is a good thing, but one must know how to utilize these things to be a successful real estate agent. One biggest mistake that a real estate agent newbie commonly makes is starting in the business without having a business plan or having strategies for the business. Without these, you wouldn't have guidance with your real estate business or a definite goal somehow. These are essentials to let you know where you are heading and how much progress you have made. Having business goals and strategies would make a huge difference than not having these essentials, these would make your business at critical state.

Another mistake made by most real estate newbies is not having the right team to work with. Businesses like the real estate type would need you to work in teams, you should have fellow team members who knows how to work round in the business and of course, you should be a headache to your fellow team members too. Not having the right essential tools is a huge no-no when entering the real estate business. You should be prepared enough, as you might have known, becoming a real estate agents will require costs to become prepared with all the transactions and responsibilities coming your way, especially when you’re planning to do the real estate business in Seattle. This is also needed for you to provide top professional real estate service in Seattle.

Zillow Executives Follow Housing Data to Surprising Conclusions

Zillow execs follow housing data to surprising conclusions

In a forthcoming book, “Zillow Talk: The New Rules of Real Estate,” Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff and chief economist Stan Humphries offer some surprising answers for homeowners, aspiring buyers and policymakers.

By Sanjay Bhatt

Seattle Times business reporter

ELLEN M. BANNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff, left, and chief economist Stan Humphries, in their downtown Seattle office, co-wrote a forthcoming book, “Zillow Talk: The New Rules of Real Estate.” In it they “tried to capture ... the spirit of real estate,” Rascoff said.

In less than a decade, Seattle-based Zillow has become the nation’s leading brand for homebuyer real-estate information. It’s become synonymous with looking up your home’s value — or someone else’s.

In a forthcoming book, “Zillow Talk: The New Rules of Real Estate,” Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff and chief economist Stan Humphries offer some surprising answers — backed by data — to a range of housing questions. Among them:

• Should Congress eliminate the current mortgage-interest tax deduction? (Yes)

• Should the government subsidize homeownership for low-income families? (No)

• To boost your home’s value, is it better to remodel your bathroom or your kitchen? (Bathroom)

Along the way, Rascoff and Humphries share tips and personal stories, such as why they financed their homes with adjustable-rate mortgages instead of conventional fixed-rate ones.

As you might expect from Zillow, each chapter in the 253-page book highlights key points with charts and tables. But the authors intentionally kept each chapter short (nine pages, on average). The writing is fun, accessible and human. Plus, for you real-estate addicts, there are photos of famous homes from real life and television.

“What we tried to capture in the book was the spirit of real estate,” Rascoff said in an interview.

Just as the firm’s name is an amalgam of the quantitative “zillions” (as in lots of data points) and qualitative “pillows” (where you rest your head), the book approaches questions about buying, selling and renting with both data and storytelling.

But they wrote the book with a sense of purpose, too.

“The goal of the book is to replace folklore with fact and debunk myths,” Rascoff said.

Homeownership not for everyone

“Buying a home is a gamble,” the authors write.

Don’t get them wrong. By their analysis, from 1975 to 2014, the S&P 500 returned an average 10.4 percent annually, while residential real estate returned 11.6 percent. Homes beat stocks, they write, because they come with less volatility, and thus, less investment risk.

But that doesn’t mean everyone, everywhere should be a homebuyer. “Encouraging low-income families to invest in underperforming communities doesn’t free these families from the cycle of poverty — it further traps them in it,” they say.

To bolster their argument, they offer a study of home values over more than 15 years in Los Angeles and Chicago. The areas where values went up the most were affluent, while areas where values fell the most were generally poorer.

Across the nation, values in rich neighborhoods appreciate faster, averaging 60 percent higher returns than poorer ones.

“In essence, buyers in poorer neighborhoods are making investments with both lower rates of return and higher volatility — a dangerous combination that we see virtually nowhere else in the economy,” they write.

Instead of pushing everyone to buy a home, argue Rascoff and Humphries, the government could help low-income people with no-interest student loans, expand the earned-income tax credit and boost the low-income housing tax credit, which developers use to finance affordable housing.

“Some of that single-minded focus on ownership has led to us not thinking enough about affordable rental housing,” Humphries said.

In 238 metros across the country, he said, the average share of income devoted to paying typical rents is higher now than it has been over several decades.

Killing sacred cows

In a chapter called “The Third Rail of Real Estate,” the pair suggest the government could eliminate the mortgage-interest deduction — which costs the government $100 billion in tax revenue annually — and replace it with, perhaps, a refundable tax credit or cash grant that helps first-time homebuyers with their down payment.

Zillow’s surveys have found that almost two-thirds of real-estate professionals believe the deduction is vital to the housing market’s health, while 70 percent of economists believe it should be eliminated or scaled back.

Canada, for one, doesn’t have this subsidy, but its homeownership rate is nearly 70 percent.

Only about one in six Americans is even eligible for the deduction: That’s because to take advantage of it, one must pay federal income taxes and itemize deductions.

Subtract those who rent or own their homes free and clear, and the pool shrinks to about 13 percent of Americans who take the deduction annually.

If the federal government capped the deduction at $25,000 per household, according to Zillow’s calculations, the 100 hardest-hit ZIP codes would be ones with an average home value of $865,241 and an average square footage 27 percent larger than the surrounding metro area.

“We don’t just subsidize luxury with the $100 billion we set aside for the (mortgage-interest deduction); we purchase sprawl,” they write.

Households with less than $200,000 annual income only get a $114 tax benefit, on average, from the deduction, Humphries said.

“People are not buying homes to get the $114.”

Tips for buyers, sellers, real-estate agents

The bulk of the book offers prospective buyers, sellers and their real-estate agents ideas on how to make better decisions backed by, you guessed it, Zillow’s information.

For example, they explain how the law of diminishing returns applies to home remodels: A $3,000 bathroom remodel — replacing the toilet and light fixtures, adding a double sink and installing some wallpaper — would produce a $1.71 increase in home value for every $1 spent on the project, they write.

By contrast, any type of kitchen remodel — granite countertops be damned — boosts a home’s value by only 50 cents for every dollar spent.

Kitchen renovations provided the lowest return on investment among the home improvements that Zillow studied.

Rascoff and Humphries also say the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is overrated, and that more buyers should use adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, to finance their purchases. In 2014, ARMs made up about 10 percent of conventional purchase mortgages.

Because only 20 percent of buyers live in their home for more than 25 years, buyers who know they aren’t going to live a long time in a house can avoid paying a lot of interest, Rascoff and Humphries said, by going for a 7/1 or 10/1 hybrid ARM: These mortgages have a fixed rate for an introductory period — seven or 10 years in this case — after which the rate resets and fluctuates depending on market interest rates.

“Certainly they were tainted in the last housing cycle,” Humphries said. “But this is in U.S. history mostly how people have financed homes, and in the rest of the world it’s overwhelmingly how people finance homes.”

Some experts say there are other nuances to factor in.

Beyond thinking about how long you’ll live in a house, Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, says those looking at ARMs also need to consider their own expectations of future interest rates and whether their family’s income will grow or stagnate.

“With a fixed-rate mortgage, you have that certainty of what your monthly payments are,” Nothaft said. “With an ARM you’re rolling the dice. You’re gambling.”

Data yes, emotion no

In their conclusion, Rascoff and Humphries urge readers to be guided by data, not emotion: “Numbers don’t lie. And they won’t lead you astray. Indeed, they’ll help you find your way home.”

It’s an ironic closing for a company that’s been roundly criticized by some real-estate agents and homeowners for the inaccuracy of its “Zestimate,” a computer-generated value for a home based on a proprietary algorithm, and for outdated or inaccurate for-sale listings.

(Full disclosure: As of Jan. 15, Zillow’s site didn’t show that my home sold last summer; it showed the property last sold almost three years ago. Humphries said home sales in the Seattle metro area should be reflected on the site within a week or two.)

When Zillow was launched in 2006, the site had Zestimates for 40 million homes and a 14 percent margin of error.

With more than 100 million homes in its database today, Zillow’s data scientists have brought the median error down to 8 percent — not bad, Humphries said, compared with a 6 percent error for real-estate agents.

Now on the verge of its $1.9 billion acquisition of rival Trulia, which could close next month if it receives final antitrust clearance, Zillow is generating lots of cash, but for three straight quarters, no profits for shareholders.

“We’re investing to maximize for revenue growth rather than for profit,” with a focus on growing mobile traffic, which now represents about two-thirds of Zillow’s usage, Rascoff said.

A significant chunk of investors are betting against Zillow: In a recent Wall Street Journal roundup, Zillow was one of the top shorted stocks, with more than 40 percent of its 26.6 million publicly available shares in a short position.

Rascoff said there’s room to enrich how consumers use Zillow to find what they need.

For example, “we now have over a million reviews of real-estate agents,” he said, where before consumers relied heavily on word-of-mouth and yard signs. “It’s been a sea change in the way consumers shop for an agent.”

The company holds “hack weeks” about once a quarter, Humphries said, which produce “a surplus of insanely great ideas — makes you really bullish about what’s to come.”

Sanjay Bhatt: 206-464-3103 or sbhatt@seattletimes.com

Qualities that The Best Real Estate Agent Should Have

When looking for a new place to live, a real estate can be a of great help. The qualities that the best realtors possesses are as follows: A professional real estate agent would discuss your expectations, so they can make sure to fulfill them as they work with you. This is the way Beth works with her clients to establish trust.  Telling the agent your expectations is like tuning in to the radio and adjusting the volume, it will help you both understand your needs and will also improve your relationship as a client and  an agent. A real estate agent understands your needs, of course this is very important in the relationship the two of you develop. A real estate agent should be respectful, this is only natural as sometimes they will be working with you for 4 or more hours at a time. In handling their clients a real estate agents respects and values the time of their clients they know that wasting your time is like wasting your money a real estate agent is polite in addressing the concerns of their clients.

It is the job of the real estate agent to help you understand the fine print of the real estate process, it is the job of the real estate agent to help you understand the legal process and steps of buying a new home. This is what a real estate agent is expected to do, to inform their clients of the things that they need to know. A real estate agent will be able to understand the process and explain it well. 

A real estate agent should be licensed and qualified to practice their Job. The best and most professional real estate agent would be called professional and in some cases they may be a real estate broker. Lastly a quality that a real estate agent should have is that you should be able to trust them. Trustworthiness plays a vital role in finding your dream home. The best real estate agent in seattle will provide all of these things and surely they will help to meet your needs in finding your new home.