By molly, on July 25th, 2010
Seller Leaves Belongings Behind. You’ve been patiently waiting to move into your new home. The day has finally arrived! You turn the key to open your new home only to find the seller’s belongings left behind. And I don’t mean a cool lampshade or a piece of art you could work into your decore’. I mean three queen size mattress, old cleaning products under the sink, and a broken desk. What does a buyer to do? The home is technically yours now but the seller’s Realtor has promised to remove the items his client left behind.
Has this happened to you? What’s your recourse? In the Purchase and Sale Agreement in residential sales, the Optional Clauses states that any personal property, fixtures, or other items remaining on the property when property is transferred shall become the property of the buyer. However, seller agrees to clean the interiors of any structures, and remove all trash, debris, and rubbish on the property before buyer takes possession.
Even conducting a walk through of the property before closing unfortunately cannot prepare you for what could happen: three queen size mattresses in the garage that were promised to be removed. Bottom line: what’s in the house when the buyer takes possession is the new home owner’s responsibility. And although it’s an extra trip to the dump for you, getting the crawl space dug out or the electrical panel to code at the expense of the seller is far more important than that broken desk discretly discarded in the driveway of your new home.
By molly, on June 27th, 2010
I wrote a blog earlier about Backyard Cottages in Seattle or Detatched Dwelling Units. Since then, I’ve had numerous questions about them.
Whether you are considering a Backyard Cottage on your at least 4,000 square foot lot as a rental property, for an elderly family member, or a grown child you need to know the max square footage the structure can be is 800 sq ft. This includes any carport, attached garage, or storage.
You can decide to go through a contractor and architect or get a panelized or modular fabricated design. Fabricated is the fastest, and designed much like building blocks. Panelized takes a little more time and can be more customized.
It’s no secret adding a Backyard Cottage on your property can add extra monthly income. However there are some costs involved. Here is a link to a handy worksheet that breaks down Hard Costs and Soft Costs. Example of a Hard Cost is demolition or site preparation. A Soft Cost is a mortgage, or fees for utility hookups. Which aren’t cheap, by the way! Seattle City Light recommends separate electricity meters. This will save you way more money in the long run.
Make sure you save room for a parking space for your Backyard Cottage – this is a requirement!
For more information regarding Backyard Cottages and self help steps to diagrams, permits, and more – this site wins, hands down.
Check back frequently to www.cooperjacobs.com for our Backyard Cottage listings in Seattle City Limits.
By Courtney, on June 24th, 2010
Queen Anne real estate has been pretty busy this year so far!
There have been some Queen Anne short sales and Queen Anne foreclosures, but thankfully for the most part they aren’t affecting our market as much as other Seattle neighborhoods are seeing an impact.
Single family Queen Anne residential sales – Queen Anne homes in this category: there are currently 87 Queen Anne homes for sale (excluding floating homes in Westlake) ranging from $289,950 to $7,200,000. The median price of a Queen Anne home for sale in the Seattle MLS right now is $769,950 and average dollar per square foot is $317.13. Interesting homes of note to me in this batch is the hugely remodeled Fred Betts House at 700 W Kinnear which you can view in it’s earlier state while being lived in by Mr. Betts here. The other real beauty is at 120 Prospect St – it reminds me so much of the Ballard Mansion! It is a gorgeous classical Georgian Colonial and right in the heart of the Southeast Slope and only a block and a half east of Queen Anne Ave. right before Prospect curves up into Bigelow.
Queen Anne Mansions & Queen Anne Boulevard – a couple notes: I love Queen Anne mansions and homes on Queen Anne Boulevard are unique to other Queen Anne homes in a couple different ways. Queen Anne Boulevard is a trail that covers many streets as it circles the picturesque crown of beautiful Queen Anne. Many of the homes that align Queen Anne Boulevard appear to have large yards, but the fact of that matter is that in some cases unsuspecting buyers (and agents for that matter) have purchased (or sold) a home on Queen Anne Boulevard only to find out that the new buyers do not actually own a large portion of the front yard.
Queen Anne Boulevard is part of the parks system and the land surrounding much of it is also public land. This was not a pleasant surprise I am sure for someone buying on the Boulevard and finding a jogger or walker resting in their flower bed, but the Boulevard has great benefits, too – think of it as living front row to one of Seattle’s great trail systems or living along the crown jewel of the neighborhood of Queen Anne.
Pending Queen Anne Homes for sale in The MLS: There are a few categories of Pending in the NWMLS so I will go over each. Pending Inspection is just how it sounds and there are 9 Queen Anne homes under contract ranging from $359,950 to $1,180,000 with a median price of $529,500 and an average days on market of 93. Pending BU is a status that is for homes pending and waiting to close, but for some reason the owner or agent is asking for a back up. This does not always mean that there is trouble with the first deal. In some cases it is a tactic of the listing agent to attract more potential buyers to sell other homes to (sorry I call it how it is since I have seen this first hand a few times while selling a particular property.). There are 2 Pending BU Queen Anne homes on the market in the low $400k range. The other homes that are pending are just waiting to close – they have gone through any potential inspections, etc. These range in price from $299,000 to $2,495,000 with a median price of $744,500 and average days on market of 37 days.
Sold Queen Anne Real estate in the MLS: These are Queen Anne sold homes in the last 30 days out of the NWMLS and compiled as they are above by me. Twelve Queen Anne homes for sale in the MLS have sold in the last 30 days – these are single family homes and do not include Queen Anne co-ops and condos. These sold homes which have closed in escrow range in sales price from $472,500 to $1,515,000 with a median sales price of $777,500. They wer eon the market an average of 74 days with a low of 4 and high of 211.
Let us know if you need help buying or selling Queen Anne real estate. We are happy to help you get your Queen Anne home ready for the market so that it will be included in these sales numbers in the future:) As you can see from the numbers above, Queen Anne homes for sale come in all ranges and there is no clear trend as to what is selling except for price , condition, marketing, and presentation. Contact us here: Queen Anne Realtors
By molly, on June 19th, 2010
Top 5 Selling Improvements On A Budget: You should know putting a new roof or stainless steel appliances in the kitchen won’t necessarily sell your home faster and you definitely won’t recoup the cost.
So what does help improve our home when it’s up for sale that won’t cost an arm and a leg?
Number 1: CLEAN UP. I mean take your home to the next level. Hire a pro and give it a deep cleaning. Remember how great it looks and smells afterwards? Keep that up with a weekly clean (either you or a pro) and it will really pay off with first impressions. Also make small repairs, ie: broken outlets, door latches, flaws that the buyer views as signs of deeper problems.
Number 2: STORE YOUR CLUTTER. $100 a month for a storage unit (or a good friend or relative’s use of their garage) to store those holiday decorations, extra kitchen pots and pans, arts and crafts, and extra clothes in the closets. It will make your house look bigger, brighter, and more valuable.
Number 3: TIDY THE YARD. Again, first impressions and curb appeal. It’s not necessary to uproot the junipers and jack hammer the cement pathway. Simple put color spots or planters in empty places, rip out any weeds and mow any grass.
Number 4: PAINT. Interior and exterior. It’s likely to cost less for you to do it before selling. You’ll recoup more in the long run.
Number 5: REPLACE HARDWARE: Instead of remodeling that kitchen, just paint cupboards and pick out new hardware.
For most, the value added is a mere fraction of the cost. So it’s in your best interest to do these small steps above by honing in on attention to detail for a greater return.
By molly, on May 18th, 2010
Do you own at least 4,000 square foot lot in Seattle? Then you could have a second dwelling on your property. It’s just one of many dedicated Green Building Projects in Seattle.
DADU are Detatched Accessory Dwelling Units. They’re also called Backyard Cottages which sounds … not so “detatched”. Backyard Cottages is a way to give more BANG for your BUCK by emphasizing the blueprint for your lot. These create minimal waste (since they are prefabricated) as well as a short build time. Super efficient and efficient on the pocket book too. They start at $98,000.
Come see award winning designers and architects for some of the most innovative backyard cottages in the city. Seattle City Planning Commissioner, David Cutler, will also be there.
When: Monday May 24th
Time: 5:30pm
Where: 7601 Greenwood Ave. N
Cost: F*R*E*E
Call (206) 790.2852 for more information, sponsored by Method Homes.
Meet over 35 designers in one place!
By Courtney, on April 28th, 2010
Good Housekeeping: 5 Points To A Sale
The goal is to sell your house as quickly and as profitably as possible. To do that seller’s need to stage the house. Here are four-steps designed to maximize the value of your house.
- De-cluttering Tips
- Repairing Tips
- Cleaning Tips
- Revitalizing Tips
- Showing Tips
De-cluttering Tips
Make four distinct piles: Trash, Return, Donate, and Might Need.
It would be overwhelming if you tackled the whole house at once. Delegate the work to other family members accordingly and go at it. Put checkmarks next to each completed room. It’s important to know you’re making progress. Golden Rule – Consider hiring a garbage collection agency or rent a commercial garbage bin if you have a lot to throw away.
Repairing Tips
Buyers expect a trouble-free home. They want to buy a house, move in and start enjoying it right away. They don’t want to waste time and money fixing up the place. If you don’t repair your house, it will be seen as a fixer-upper and you will not be able to attract the right kind of buyers, nor will you get the price you want for it.
Know whether you need a pre-listing home inspection and understand the difference between repair and renovation can save you money and headaches. Golden Rule – Repair cracks in the foundation immediately.
Cleaning Tips
Cleaning your house for sale goes well beyond dusting, mopping and vacuuming. You must clean it like you mean it. You must minutely examine every square inch of your house and restore it to near-new condition. An advantage of a well-cared-for house is that you’re less likely to receive a low offer. When buyers can’t find faults they focus less on how much money they can squeeze out of you and start thinking that the house is right for them. If you don’t have the time to clean then you should hire a professional. It’s a smart investment.
Golden Rule – Clean the area around your fireplace and then the fireplace itself.
Revitalizing Tips
Revitalizing is not remodeling, which is usually expensive and delays the selling of your house.
Revitalizing starts with improving your curb appeal, follow up with lighting, and painting. Only then can you start staging your house for sale. Golden Rule – Home Office: Move your filing cabinet into the basement.
Showing Tips:
You’ll need to dust the undisturbed rooms once in a while but you can see how this strategy ensures your house is always ready for showing with minimal efforts. For the rest of the living space create three to-do lists:
A weekly must-do checklist, a daily must-do checklist, and a final checklist before the open house
Golden Rule – Put away personal valuables. Turn off your computer.
By Courtney, on April 26th, 2010
 The tax credit deadline approaches faster than ever now -
you need to get a purchase and sale contract signed around by this week if you want to take advantage of the current home buyer tax credit. That is the fact, but don’t allow that to impact your decision process when purchasing. Being under the gun over a tax credit seems pretty silly when trying to make a much bigger decision overall. My suspicion is that there might be quite a bit of buyer remorse when those IRS checks come in. You would hate to be sitting with your $8000 in a home that as you look around just does not feel right.
My suggestion instead is to take your time and really find the home that is going to work for you and your goals. Choosing a home in a rush over a credit which is tiny when compared to the purchase price overall is like buying a brand new car because they give you a free junky toaster. It’s a little gimmicky.
Why not take your time and find the perfect property and let your Realtor negotiate it to make up for not getting that free toaster… I mean credit?
The competition will be less fierce as the feeding frenzy ends and the pressure will be lessened so that you can really focus in on whether or not the house truly works for you! You can find current inventory here: Seattle Real Estate
By molly, on April 8th, 2010
FHA Accepts DocuSign
Here at Cooper Jacobs RES in Seattle, WA we’ve been using DocuSign for our buyers and sellers for years. It saves everyone time, money, paper, and trees. This news just in from the Chief Legal Officer at DocuSign:
http://www.trulia.com/blog/DocuSign/2010/04/federal_housing_administration_to_accept_docusign_for_real_estate_contracts
By molly, on March 20th, 2010
Seattle’s Amazon Gets A New Home!
We’ve all heard about the changes occuring in the southern edge of Lake Union for some time. Mercer Street getting a facelift, the new street car quietly tracking up and down the south side roads and Amazon moving it’s headquarters.
201 Boren Avenue is the site for the new giant e-retailer. I think it’s a sure bet to say housing will become highly precious starting right now.
Read the full Seattle P.I.’s article here.
Great Amazon Optimal Real Estate:
Queen Anne: Lower Eastside. You want to walk or bike to work? Then Queen Anne is the place for you. Loaded with tasty eats, cool record stores, and a walking path to work.
By Courtney, on February 25th, 2010
Queen Anne real estate is still going strong in 2010 – Are Short Sales Impacting Us in 2010? A few times the question about short sales and foreclosures in Queen Anne has come up recently so I thought I would go ahead and quickly touch on it.  I wrote aQueen Anne Real Estate market update post on the corporate Seattle site this AM for more details in the numbers - it is interesting to see how very little short sales there are in this Seattle neighborhood. You can check it out for your self, but I think there were five or six in the active category. No Queen Anne Short sales have closed at all this year.
There are some really great Bank Owned Queen Anne Townhomes on the market right now - the bank is local and easy to deal with and the price is great! The finish work on the townhomes is wonderful and it is a great way to get a nice affordable Queen Anne view home. I sold one in the last month (although it was not listed in the MLS) and they are very cool – let me know if you want more info.
You can find all Queen Anne homes that are listed in the MLS by all companies here:
Queen Anne Townhomes
Queen Anne homes for sale
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Seattle's beautiful & historic Queen Anne Neighborhood: Upper Queen Anne along the Ave, East Queen Anne, North Queen Anne, Lower Queen Anne (Uptown), and West Queen Anne - Learn more here! Let us know if you have a tip for Queen Anne Boulevard!
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