Mortgage Rates drop: time to take advantage of these rates now.

Mortgage interest rates have dropped to the lowest levels I have ever seen in my nearly 20 yrs. in the housing industry.  If you have a fixed rate loan over 5% and or a loan originated within the past 4 yrs. with 2nd mortgages (a substantial number if you are similar to the throngs of [...]

Humor: The very best of Financial Analysis

Report: Foreclosure in Washington State averages 390 days.

An article in today’s New York Times business section discusses the foreclosure problem and how some owners are choosing to not pay their mortgages and live in their homes for months and even years.   Florida is now averaging 518 days from the time the homeowner stops paying to the time of the foreclosure sale.
The graphic [...]

Brokerage John L. Scott partners with Zillow.com for listing placements

Local Northwest real estate brokerage, John L. Scott Real Estate, has entered into an agreement to place their listings on Zillow.com. It is this bloggers opinion that it was a matter of time before a local large company placed their listings on Zillow. Many have resisted Zillow because they argued that placing [...]

Wall Street to Snohomish Housing: Bailouts changed anything? Hardly.

From 60 minutes tonight:
Anger doesn’t seem adequate enough to describe the bailouts and continued business as usual for Wall Street firms and imbeciles on both sides of the isle in Washington DC.
Part 1:

Watch CBS News Videos Online
Part 2:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Realtor Economist: nearly 25% of today’s sales are all cash deals.

From CNBC:    “Existing-Home Sales Plunged An Unexpected 7.2% in January.”
“Today’s figure is certainly not good news in terms of sales,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the NAR.
Distressed sales accounted for 38 percent of sales, sharply higher than December’s 32 percent.
Yun said all cash deals represented about a quarter of all sales, sharply higher than [...]

Cars, Housing Debt and Cancelled Credit Card Affects on FICO Scores

Lets face it, debt is a problem in this Country, State and local community of citizens of Snohomish and vicinity.  It’s all around us.  We live in debt.    I have debt.   One of the goals I have is to eliminate the debt and be debt free.   It’s going to be tough but I’m determined [...]

Claiming homebuyer tax credit: obtaining “signed” Final Settlement Statement

In Washington State, signed final Settlement Statements (HUD-1 Form)  are not traditionally done.    Estimated Settlement Statements are signed at escrow just prior to closing your purchase transaction.  The Final Settlement Statements are mailed to parties after the transaction has closed.
After talking with a CPA, they reported that the IRS has generally accepted a non-signed FINAL [...]

Best Holiday decorated Snohomish area homes

Do you have a candidate for the best of Snohomish homes that are decorated for the Holiday season?   Let us know or send in your photo for consideration.   The Holiday season is a great time to see homes decorated in full splendor of garlands, red bows, wreathes and Christmas lights.  This historic home below has [...]

Realtor group fighting data drain to public via Zillow and others

With the advent of real estate technology data mega firms like Zillow.com, the National Association of Realtors are fighting to keep their member base from losing complete control of information that the public can obtain without the assistance of real estate agents.   Valuation information has been the closely held data tool that Realtors used [...]

Next Page »