Tag: Real Estate

Real Estate thoughts on “Is Now The Best Time To Buy A Home?”

Carl Setzer

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As a Realtor this is a regular question: “is now a good time to buy?” Ultimately, my answer is “it depends”. The question boils down solely to economics. After the last few years, people are looking for a guarantee that their investment will only steadily increase from this point forward. Well, that’s impossible.

Prices fluctuate. Over the course of any year, from winter through spring into summer tghen fall, demand fluctuates, the amount of homes in the market changes, all kinds of variables change. Finding the bottom is hard, and I believe impossible except in retrospect. Or, in other words, too late to actually buy.

For most folks, though, buying homes is about far more than economics. It’s about connection to community, about families and friends, about the warmth that comes in YOUR honre. Plus, the most powerful economic benefit comesnsin tege long-term. Ten, fifteen years tends to flatten the variations of any short term market spike.

Right now rents are climbing far faster than home prices. Also, interest rates are still at amazing lows; unsustainable lows. The simplest way I can put it: if you can afford to buy, this is a far better time to own thanrentHomeee big piece there: afford. Home buying should be part of a larger financial plan. Bring ready to meet the responsibilities of home ownership is critical. I’ll look deeper into that in another post.

So, there you go. Think further out then next quarter when it comes to deciding to buy, think of the bigger picture. And remember this old parable: the best time to plant a tree ws twenty years ago. The next best time is now.

A Walkabout in Edmonds

Carl Setzer

This past Saturday, while the rest of my family was at a choir festival, I wandered around one of my favorite locales: the Edmonds Waterfront. As a boy, my grandparents lived down here. As an adult, I lived here shortly after I got married and this was where we lived when my son was born. Many fond memories of the area, the parks, the restaurants, the people. I love making my way back, though my life is centered just a few miles north in Lynnwood.

I was struck by the amount construction near the water. Predominantly remodeling, but also some new construction. And, right next to the post office, there’s a condo going up. Which brings to mind a key thing about this area: multi-family homes. Though there still are more single family residences being sold in Edmonds writ-large, when you refine things down to what I’ll call the bowl, you find the stats switching. In the past 6 months, 53 condos were sold vs 30 SFRs. And watching the construction going on in the area, including Lynnwood, we’re going to see more condos built. This higher density model will impact life, but I don’t expect a gross degradation in lifestyle.  If anything, with a growth in transit options, this might make for a bright future in south Snohomish county.

So, below is a slide-show of my wanderings. Enjoy!

February 6, 2016 Walk Around Edmonds

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Is Nationstar about to completely rebrand itself?

Carl Setzer

As an agent who’s part of the Xome network and has worked with Nationstar with several REO listings, I read “Is Nationstar about to completely rebrand itself?” with interest. Will Xome be able to offer this unique service environment in such a way as to catch fire? I wonder. It’s a novel idea, this end-to-end, full service idea. Novel enough that it’s no sure bet, either way. I give Nationstar/Xome points for innovation and risk.

With players like Zillow, Trulia, and Redfin changing things up, it’ll be interesting if Xome can get enough traction to grab enough mindshare. My team and I thinks that there’s a place at the new real estate table for them. They are a big player and have plenty of resources to put against this. I certainly wouldn’t write them off.

Some reflections on the windstorm

Carl Setzer

It’s been an interesting week. During Tuesday’s storm I was sitting in a class up above downtown Everett. Quite the bluster! Even in the 6th floor of a modern high-rise, we could hear the wind. Fortunately, my friends and family came through reasonably unscathed, with the greatest problems being power losses and fence destruction. Many in the region had far worse results (the Seattle PI has a great run-down of the aftermath).

With the storm, traffic was significantly eventful and my poor instructor quite late. I took the opportunity to chat with many of the good folks at Everett’s First American Title office. Such great people! A few folks I’ve known for years, but have never met. Such is the nature of modern business!

Our class covered the Escrow Process, where we focused on several key changes and issues facing this sector. One of the biggest: cyber-fraud.

I’ve been hearing an amazing number of cases of spoofed, or near-spoofed email addresses where funds are redirected. With this, we covered ways in which our business is responding to better protect your information.

Also, we looked at the way the CFPB’s new disclosure rules are getting implemented. The mortgage industry has taken this very, very seriously and implemented (for the most part) solid processes to keep closing timelines solid. Each lender has their own process, which is complicating things. And we’re having issues with certain folks not respecting the amount of time it takes the other players to act (“yeah, it closes tomorrow, here’s our stuff at 6pm. Too bad you don’t have time to get all your work accomplished. It’s your fault, of course”).

Anyway, always trying to learn more. Real Estate is vibrant and ever changing business. It is one of the things that delights me about it. This also speaks to the value of real estate agents. We stay up-to-date on all the changes occurring. Even if you bought a house last year, the market has changed. There are new processes, forms and documentation. Let us help you navigate this morphing realm.

The Life of a Real Estate Office Manager

Carl Setzer

I loved seeing this piece featuring Christy Belt Grossman, the office manager for the Belt Team, a real estate team with Keller Williams in Virginia. We have pretty solid parallels and do much the same kind of work. It’s really a delight to see the “behinds the scenes” folks getting some credit and appreciate for what we bring to the world.

It reinforces why I’ve stuck with the C&K Team (also part of Keller Williams): I get a solid sense of satisfaction helping people with their home buying. It’s a powerful part of most everyone’s life. Continuously listed as one of the highest stressors in life, it’s gratifying to help people navigate this process successfully.

Oh, the stock market and emotion

Carl Setzer

Was just reading a lending market update which included a note about the puzzling behavior of the stock market last week. Faced with a number of positive economic indicators, the market sold off pretty heavily. Well, with my time at Fortune 500s, I’ve seen this before. I learned a long-time ago that Wall Street, the stock-markets and prices of such things is driven, on a day-to-day basis primarily by emotion. This also feeds into the quarter by quarter mentality of most stock valuation. Time and time again, in most markets, it’s those with long-term views and understanding that do well. This is true in real estate as well. If you can shift your view out 5, 10, 20 years in the future, you can escape the  variability of these emotionally based fluctuations.

Some #RealEstate Thoughts on the #CFPB

Carl Setzer

We in the real estate business have been hearing TONS about the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) lately. The biggest piece for us has been the changes in the required disclosure documents that will be launching “soon”. Mainly, the required documentation has been cleaned up/made less confusing (and I think they’ve done a reasonably good job at that part). (More details in the video below.) However, I do have some concerns.

As a fan of federalism, I am not too keen on this organization being (relatively?) clear of Congressional oversight. I highly value the mission and role of the org, but also deeply value governmental transparency and accountability. I would like to see more of that with the CFPB, even considering the partisan and often grandstanding nature of Congress. But that’s another issue.

Observed changes in #Lynnwood

Carl Setzer3 Comments

Yesterday I noticed that demolition started on the old Taco Bell just east of Highway 99 on 196th. It’s last incarnation: another taco place, this one of similar quality to the great taco trucks. Many memories, but the building’s neglect finally won.

We’re getting a CVS pharmacy, which surely shall add delight to an already very busy corner. It’s a high-volume intersection, so I expect they’ll do well. I imagine traffic to get worse there, though. Maybe it’ll hardly be noticeable, that whatever traffic improvements built will easily compensate. One can hope.

Gives me pause, all this development. Our suburb’s design focuses on cars. Parts of Lynnwood are walkable. Yet many spots require a significant level of bravery and/or desperation. I’d love to see more walkability and bicycle friendly design featured in our development. Maybe we can all feel encouraged to slow down and enjoy our neighborhoods. Discovering a great life that doesn’t involve lugging around tons of steel and plastic. One hopes. Well, on this one I act. Some things are important enough to demand action. Some things…

Yet again: Economists Predict Interest Rate Hike In 2015

Carl Setzer

I’ve ready many predictions about the impending interest rate hike, like this one from Monday over at Housingwire. Now, it probably easy to add snark to my tone, but it’s not there. I understand economics and why interest rates cannot remain at this level. I just find it amusing that I’ve seen “rates rising” predictions for years without the rates really rising (ok, they’ve moved up, but that’s not the point).

It’s probably nearly impossible to predict when the rates will go up. But, really, for most of us, that really shouldn’t matter. What does matter is that they WILL go up, whether that’s this month, this quarter, this year or next; everything about the system demands they rise. Trying to game this and grab rates at their peak lowness (actually, I think that time has past) is foolish. If you are in place to buy or refinance, just go and do it. Remember the African adage: the best time to plant a tree is 5 years ago, the second best time is today.

Underwater Homes and Such

Carl Setzer

Over the past few years I’ve heard so very much about “underwater homes”. When one owes more than the home is worth, the choices seen a bit stark. Short-Sales, foreclosures, bankruptcies, and other dire options were what got press, and agents talking. There was one option, though, that didn’t get mentioned: nothing. Keep pushing your mortgage and wait for the market to recover value.

The past several years have seen significant value growth. And Seattle has been central in that growth trend. We’ve gained back most, if not all, of the recession’s value erosion. Now, that’s not universal. There are areas in western Washington which haven’t gained that much. Seattle/Bellevue is the epicenter, which price increases dropping moving outwards.

Now, if you must move (job relocation, etc), you can’t afford your mortgage (adjustable rate resets, interest only terms off and principle comes due, etc), and you owe me than your home’s value, there are options. Don’t panic! But don’t seek one of these options if you simply are worried about home value. If you like where you live and it meets your needs, stay there. Prices will recover, and soon.