Monthly Archives: May 2012

The Gardner Report for Western Washington’s 1st Quarter 2012– Both Positive and Realistic

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Windermere Real Estate is proud to partner with Gardner Economics to create an analysis of the Western Washington real estate market for the first quarter of 2012.

Matthew Gardner, principal at Gardner Economics, stated that “location” is the most appropriate theme for this first quarter analysis. Depending on the location in Western Washington, the signs of recovery for both the job market and real estate market varied. However, to quote Gardner, “…we have come out of the free fall and are starting up the long road to recovery on both the job front as well as in our real estate markets.” Between March 2011 and March 2012, 54,230 jobs were added in the counties examined for the report. That is a 2.58% growth rate, exceeding the growth rate of Washington State as a whole and the United States average.

While not all the counties experienced job growth — 9 of the counties examined did, while 7 experienced a decline to their employment base — compared to this time last year the statistics show definite improvement. The 3 counties which saw the most employment growth were Snohomish, King and Whatcom. The growth rate we’re seeing in our regional employment base right now is not a rate that Gardner sees as sustainable, so he chose to give the current employment situation in Western Washington a “B-” grade. This is up some from his last assessment, and is at a grade level Gardner sees as maintainable with our current economic trends.

The sales of existing homes in Western Washington saw a growth of 13.7 percent when compared to the first quarter of 2011. The counties which experienced the biggest gain were Mason, San Juan, Snohomish , Pierce, and King. When examining sale price numbers for the region, it appears that there was a 4.5% decline in price over the 1st quarter of 2011. However, the mercurial stats from San Juan County greatly skewed the data. Remove those numbers from the aggregate and home prices in Western Washington actually rose by 2.9% year-over-year.

Short sales and foreclosures are still a formidable force in the market, and their presence has been keeping home prices lower. While it’s difficult to continue to deal with these distressed properties, Gardner discusses how it’s part and parcel of the process of recovery.

“Getting through this inventory is a process, and it can be a painful one. That said, it is an important part of any recovery. We know that the percentage of “all cash” sales are far higher than we have ever seen, which indicates to me that investors are now buying, and this will likely help in depleting this inventory.” ~Matthew Gardner

Gardner again stresses location when discussing recovery. Depending on how close the county is to economic centers, and how much growth home sales saw in yesteryear, will impact how quickly counties will see more of an increase in home prices. And while recovery signs are positive in so many local markets, Gardner rates Western Washington’s real estate market at a “C” grade this quarter. The low inventory, in his opinion, greatly affects the health of the market and he does not see an improvement of his assessment until there is a larger inventory of homes available for sale.

The take away from Gardner’s 1st quarter report of Western Washington is we have come a long way to climb out of the hole the recession left in our job and real estate markets, however we still have work to be done. Gardner states “We are not out of the woods yet, but the forecast is a positive one.” Please take some time to read the full report on Neighborly News. It’s well worth your time– his analysis is insightful and he shares several graphs to illustrate his points.

“Overall, I am still looking to 2012 as the year that we emerge from the recession and, in our own inimitable Washingtonian manner, stride forward in the belief that the way ahead is a good one. (After all, who else wears shorts when it’s 50 degrees outside?)” ~Matthew Gardner

And the Best in Show Is….

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Wow– there are a lot of dog enthusiasts in the greater Seattle area!  The luxe Barkitecture blog post has been directing many, many people to Mercer Island Pulse during the last week.

In case you were curious, Kelly Tabit, of Six Walls, was part of the team which won best traditional design (cutest photos ever!!!) this year. If you’d like to read more about the event, and see photos of the dog houses, check out luxe.daily’s Best in House blog post and LUXE Interiors + Design’s Out and About Pinterest Board.

Now it’s your turn. Were you at the Barkitecture event at the Seattle Design Center? Which house did you like the best? Did you participate in the parade with your canine friend?

Caveat Emptor Isn’t Just for Buyers. Renters Beware!

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If you are looking for a a place to rent, you are well aware how tight the local rental market is in the Seattle / Eastside area. At the end of April, the U.S. Census Bureau released 1st quarter data on rental occupancy, showing that available units were reduced in number throughout the United States. A Seattle Times article quoted the vacancy rate around the Seattle metro area as 4.6% during the first three months of 2012, the lowest level in more than three years.

One of the most unfortunate aspects of a tight rental market is it brings out the scam artists enforce. Knowing that vacancy rates are low, criminals speculate renters are having trouble securing a place to rent and take steps to prey on these people. A typical scenario for a rental scam starts with the criminal stealing details from a legitimate listing, including photos. The listing is then advertised for rent at an incredible deal, often on multiple websites. The scam artist, posing as the owner of the home, will communicate with potential renters by email, inviting them to drive by the home to look at it. Of course, the scammer won’t be able to let the renters in to see the inside of the home — the scam artist uses the excuse that he lives out of the area, usually out of the country, and doesn’t have anyone local to show the inside of the home. Some scam artists will even go so far as to refer to a real estate sign in the yard, claiming they previously listed their rental with a real estate agent and recently terminated the relationship!

The main goal of the scam artist is to get potential renters to wire him money, often to someplace outside of the country. The criminal scores the cash while the renter loses money with little recourse to get it back, plus has no place to live. If renters also fill out fake rental applications with private, personal information, then identity theft is also a real probability.

Renters need to keep in mind at all times caveat emptor — let the buyer beware. Bottom line, if the rental sounds too good to be true, it probably is! Scam artists use low rental prices to lure renters to respond to their ads, in hopes that a few will send them money and/or give them sensitive personal data.

What is good to know, however, is that renters, armed with knowledge, can avoid becoming fraud victims. Below are plausible steps renters can take to avoid being scammed when looking for a place to rent.

(NOTE: use common sense safety when meeting a stranger in person– do not go alone)

1. NEVER WIRE FUNDS VIA WESTERN UNION, MONEYGRAM or any other wire service. Any landlord who asks you to wire deposits and rent is a scammer.

2. Meet the landlord, or agent, in person and verify identity with a photo ID, like a driver’s license. If the contact for the rental is claiming to be a real estate agent, also insist on seeing his real estate license. If the contact states he cannot meet in person, chances are good he may be a scam artist. It’s not enough to check the identity of the contact using internet resources— scammers use the same online resources and may impersonate the home owner, or agent, in email communication.

3. In today’s rental market, landlords often use a tenant screening service which requires you to pay for the screening with a credit card. Never give out sensitive personal information, like social security numbers, employment history or banking information, until you have met the landlord in person and his identity has been verified with reliable ID documents.

4. Insist on seeing the interior of the home by being let in– if the landlord says the keys are with him someplace out of the area, and encourages you to look through the windows to see the interior, chances are good he is a scammer.

5. Research the rental to see what other websites it is advertised on. If the rental is found on multiple websites, especially if the monthly rent varies, see if an agent or property manager at a real estate office can help to confirm if the rental is legitimate.

6. Look at the email communication with the rental listing contact. Does it contain typos, grammatical errors and complicated stories about the landlord’s situation? This is a sign the rental listing is probably a fraud. Also, look at the email address– if it the contact’s name at a free service like yahoo, hotmail or gmail (ex: doe.john@yahoo.com), be very suspicious.

7. If there is a real estate sign in the yard, or window, of the rental home, call the contact phone number on the sign. The office will help you determine if the rental is legitimate– and this will give the agent handling the listing a heads’ up if it has been used by a scam artist in a fraud ad.

8. This bears repeating: bottom line, if the rental sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

Real estate agents — there are steps you can take to reduce the chances of your client’s home from being used as bait by scammers.

1. Try to avoid posting vacant home photos for listings. If the current occupants haven’t moved out yet, ask if you can take a few photos of the home before they start to pack. If it’s already vacant, consider working with your client to stage the rooms you photograph.

2. Do not use a vacant rental’s address in online marketing, like Postlets and Craigslist. Postlets gives the ability to create an ad without disclosing the address to the general public. Just uncheck the “Display Street” box below the address to prevent disclosing the address. If there is no address displayed online, scammers will have a harder time stealing your legitimate listing for their fraudulent ads.

3. Set up a google alert for your all of your listings. This way, if a scam ad is set up for one of your listings you will be able to deal with it quicker.

If you believe you have been a victim of a fraudulent rental listing, please contact your local police force immediately to file a police report, and then file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) . A report can also be filed with the FTC, the federal consumer protection agency that tracks complaints about companies, business practices, identity theft, etc., to diagnose crime patterns which may lead to prosecutions. The IC3 and FTC are also available for legitimate home owners whose listings and identities were used to perpetuate a rental fraud.

*These tips are not intended to replace advise from a law enforcement professional. If you have any questions, consult an expert.

luxe Barkitecture: May 24th — 6 to 9PM — at the Seattle Design Center

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This Thursday, May 24th, from 6 to 9PM, luxe Barkitecture–a dog house construction and garden landscape competition– will be happening at Seattle Design Center. Luxe Interiors + Design, along with Seattle Design Center, put together 10 teams of Seattle’s best building, design and landscape professionals to create 10 unique dog houses for the competition. The houses will then be auctioned off to benefit Seattle Children’s Play Garden & Seattle Humane Society.

The event costs $40 per person, which includes appetizers and 2 drinks, along with registration for your dog in the Parade of Dogs Costume Show. The whole evening will be so much fun!

Six Walls designer, Kelly Tabit, is on one of the ten teams! Good luck Kelly!

Mercer Island Spotlight: Auto Spa

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Back in the early 1990s, Suzanne Skone was working as an engineer.  In her workplace, there was a lot of discussion surrounding water quality and how pollutants affect local fish populations.  She was also a Mercer Island resident, and owned a piece of property on the corner of 80th Ave SE and SE 28th St.  Skone wanted to utilize the land to bring a business to the island that would be of value to city residents, plus would benefit the Lake Washington environment. In 1995 she did just that, debuting Auto Spa in the island’s downtown neighborhood.

Something as simple as driving around with a dirty car can leach toxic road grime, oil residue and other harmful chemicals into local streams and lakes when it rains.  Also, when people wash their cars at home, even with products that are supposed to be better for the environment, the soaps flowing into the storm drains can cause problems with the gills of the local fish. “The smallest amounts of soap, even those labeled biodegradable and low phosphate, are toxic to fish, damaging their gills…” Skone explained.  The soap clings to the gills and decreases the amount of oxygen the fish can absorb—this leaves them vulnerable to bacteria and parasites, as well.

When drivers bring their cars to Auto Spa, they are keeping all the grime, and all the soap, out of Lake Washington.  All the water used in Auto Spa’s self-serve area, automatic car wash and detail shop goes through a process where the greasy pollutants and heavy sediment are filtered out and collected in a tank, which is emptied on a regular basis. Skone said the road grime collected in the oil/water separator tank is a quite the gooey, greasy sludge!  The water then flows into the sanitary sewer system (of which the city has 500,000+ lineal feet of pipe around the island!), to one of the 18 sewage pumping stations on the island, and then carried off-island by series of pipes and treated at a sewage treatment plant.  In addition to preventing pollutants from entering local waterways, using the facilities at a professional car wash, like Auto Spa, conserves water in comparison to washing a car at home.

For the convenience of their clientele, Auto Spa offers a whole menu of services.  The self-serve car wash and vacuum bays are available to use 24/7. They are coin operated systems, and various detailing products are available from coin machines in the self-service area. The automated car wash, Auto Spa’s most popular service, is available from 8 am to 6 pm 7 days a week. If a client would like professional detailing, they can select specific treatments from Auto Spa’s a la carte menu, or get a free estimate for what they need done.  Need that latte spill cleaned from your carpet and upholstery?  Auto Spa can help—they also provide a variety of removal services.

Sense of community is very important to Skone, and the employees at Auto Spa.  For years, island sports teams and school clubs have been welcome to host fund-raisers at Auto Spa, with all proceeds from the car washes benefitting the organization.  Skone said Auto Spa typically has 1 fund-raiser on their calendar each month. Skone is an active business owner in the Mercer Island downtown core; she loves to encourage people to shop locally.  She worked with the group that coordinated the Island coupon book that was available during the 2011 Mercer Island Farmers Market season.  To help support the “shop local” initiative, plus promote environmentally friendly gift giving, Auto Spa has gift cards available for purchase. The gift cards can be used for either detail services or the automatic car wash, and they can be loaded with any dollar amount.

When asked what Auto Spa clientele liked most about their services, Skone replied, “ 9.99 out of 10 times, clients say they love how they are treated by the employees.”  Auto Spa staff has experienced low turnover over the years, which means long-standing customer relationships have been established.  The staff learns (and remembers!) the preferences of their clients, and takes pride in making their customers happy.  Skone said that the two most important reasons why Auto Spa customers keep coming back are, “the professional staff and sense of community.”

Where else can you connect with Auto Spa, besides their downtown Mercer Island location? They have a Facebook Page and a website; if you’d like to review them, they have a Yelp business profile and a business page on the Mercer Island Patch.   Plus, two Mercer Island organizations already have fund-raisers scheduled at Auto Spa this summer.  On July 22nd, from 9 am to noon, the MIHS JV Cheer Squad will be holding a car wash; on August 22nd, the MIHS Drill Team will be hosting a car wash 9 am to noon.

When asked what kind of trends she’s seeing in the auto detailing business, Skone replied that  protecting the longevity of a vehicle and preserving its resale value is really important to people.  By making the point to offer an a la carte menu of services, as well as providing estimates for larger detail jobs, Auto Spa is responding to this trend.  Clients can get the specific services they need to help their vehicles stay in top condition, whether it’s their Sunday driver or daily commuter. Take minute to drop by Auto Spa, to see their amenities and look at their menu– they would love to meet you!

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Technology is Booming, but Personal Relationships Add the Dazzle!

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Last week, Zillow® released its first quarter results for 2012. The financials in the report are amazing, but what caught my eye are the incredible leaps in mobile usage. Take a look at this quote from the Zillow® press release,

“Zillow® usage on mobile devices continues to accelerate substantially. For the first time, more homes each month are now viewed via Zillow® on a mobile device than on the Web. In March 2012, 155 million homes were viewed on Zillow® Mobile, or 57 homes per second. By comparison, in March 2011, 44 million homes were viewed on Zillow® Mobile at a rate of 16 homes per second.”

Wow– 57 home views per second on Zillow® Mobile! That’s outstanding; not only in terms of the continued shift to mobile device usage as a preferred tech platform, but it speaks volumes about the increased interest in the current real estate market. Pair that with the recent press, including the Wall Street Journal, about sellers finding themselves faced with multiple offers
– well, it’s wonderful to see such positive real estate news reaching consumers!

The Zillow® press release goes on to shares more information about their increasing initiatives in the mobile device arena. In February 2012, Zillow® Mortgage Marketplace App for Android™ was released. In April, their first rental market app was released. It’s called Zillow® Rentals for Android™, and the app gives users access to Rent Zestimate® along with other nifty tools to make it easier for renters to locate and compare rentals. From the press release,

“Zillow® Mobile operates the most popular suite of mobile real estate applications, with 10 separate apps across every major platform: Android (smartphones and tablets), Kindle Fire, RIM (BlackBerry®), iOS (iPad® and iPhone®) and Windows Phone 7®”

The Neighborly News Spring Perspectives topic happens to be technology. And as we can see from the stats quoted above, technology ( especially mobile devices) is definitely experiencing continued growth. And Windermere  recognizes the importance of technology, and how our clients use it every day.  The reality of the situation with technology, however, is that it reports statistics and data which is historical. It is usually recent history, but it is still in the past. Windermere agents know what’s going on their local marketplaces in real-time. And with the case of multiple offers being a market trend, and one agents in our office have been experiencing, relying solely on the recent history of technology equates missed opportunities.  By the time data reaches the daylight of technology, the dazzling work of relationships has commenced. Truly, that personal relationship factor is key– being well versed in how to handle the situation at hand; having good relationships with industry peers; knowing the heart beat of each price point; understanding how quickly homes are going pending; and preparing clients, who are entrusting their transaction with you, how to handle all of these aspects of the current local market.  Pair these key relationship and professional skills with today’s most advanced technology tools, like the Zillow Suite– positive outcomes do follow!

One of the most important aspects I see working for Windermere is how the company understands that technology, with all of the useful information and functions it offers, has to be married to the importance of personal relationships to ensure success. Establishing, and maintaining, trusted relationships with our clients is the most important aspect of our work in real estate. I’d like to leave you with the following thought from the Spring Perspective about personal relationships,

“It’s the lifeblood of the real estate business and why clients entrust their agents with what is one of the biggest financial decisions they will ever make.”

We thank you for your relationship with us, and your continued trust. We sincerely appreciate it!

Mission Accomplished: Lots of Recycling Happened on Saturday, May 5th!

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Thank you for helping make our Cinco de Mayo recycle event such a success!!!

Traffic was pretty steady all day for both the recycle crew from 1 Green Planet and the Confidential Data Disposal shredding truck. It was pretty cool being able to watch on a monitor as your papers were shredded and see the growing mound of shreds in the truck from another monitor view!

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