Get Real Tacoma

Roxanne Hugging Her House

By Roxanne Murphy

Having an obsession isn’t always such a bad thing.

At least that’s how I feel after the experiences that I went through in finding and buying the gorgeous Eastside home that I’m sitting in now.

In 2003, I was a determined 27-year-old, and I had my sights set on one thing, and one thing only: Selecting and purchasing my first house.

I had a good job, excellent credit, and my father loaned me $10,000 for a down payment.

I first went into the process with some trepidation, but I did my research, and quickly discovered that getting everything going would be much easier than I ever could’ve imagined.

Read the rest of this entry »

How to Finance the Fixer?

Some people want to buy a house in perfect shape. Other people see a house in disrepair and can imagine it reborn, remodeled, and tailored to their specific needs and tastes.   I confess to being in the latter group, I tend to get very excited about well priced homes that need fixing.

The problem with this (as anyone who has ever done a home inspection or had an appraisal will tell you) is that banks generally only like to loan money on houses that are all in one piece!   There is a way to finance your dreams. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday through the magic of technology I found out that I have looked at 169 houses in the past 6 months.  That’s a lot of houses!  Since the majority of my buyers right now are looking for houses under $200,000, the majority of those houses were Foreclosed Homes, owned by a bank.

Some of these houses are in terrible shape.  I’ve seen missing windows, spoiled flooring, smells that rivaled any horrible smell I’d ever smelled in my life, etc.  Others houses simply needed someone to move in and love them.  

Because they are usually sold at rock bottom prices, it’s in every seller and homeowners best interest to have as few of these homes on the market as possible.  If you or someone you know would like a list of foreclosed houses or condos in any particular area, let me know, I’d be happy to email them to you.

Tacoma Public Utilities is offering another free class on energy efficiency. This one takes place tomorrow, Saturday January 24th.

This class will focus on Heat Pumps:

Learn how heat pumps can efficiently heat and cool your home, save you money and improve your home’s air quality.  Tacoma Power can provide rebates for hear pump systems going in a new or older home.

People who have heat pumps always seem to love them.  I think I will actually go to this one!  More information on the Tacoma Power site.

The Walker

According to Jake over at Tacoma Untapped, the Walker Condos have shown up for rent on Craigslist.  Last time I checked there were more than 130 condos on the market downtown, most of them new construction.

This is good news for anyone trying to sell or planning to list anytime soon.  Since only 25 out of those 130+ condos listed in downtown Tacoma sold last year, we are going to need rent or sell quite a few more before the downtown condo market can be considered anything close to resembling “balanced”.

Also reported on Exit133.

Tacoma Public Utilities is offering a series of workshops for improving your home.  The first is tomorrow night and has to do with working with what you’ve got as far as your heating sytem goes:

Make the Most of Your Heating System

Thursday, January 15th 7-8:30pm 3628 South 35th St (38th & Union)

Whether you have a forced air system, baseboard heaters, or forced air wall units, learn to make the most of your heating system and still be energy efficient.

You can get more information on their website or by calling 253-502-8377.

 As of today, there are 1,987 houses and condos for sale in Tacoma.  The median size is 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms 1,561 square feet.  The median list price is $239,950.

There are currently 309 Pending Sales in Tacoma, giving us a city wide sales ratio of 15%.  A balanced market is around 50%.  Less than 50% is a buyers market.  

The median listed price (not what they sold for mind you, we won’t know that until they close) of houses that are pending is $209,950. That means houses that are getting offers are 30k lower than the median price.  The buyers that are out there are looking for deals.

When we look at what sold in the past 9 days, it’s easy to see why they’re trying to wheel and deal.  This week 12 houses and 1 condo sold in Tacoma.  Of the 12 houses, 8 of them were BANK OWNED FORECLOSURES.  Another 2 were new construction.  Banks and builders generally have a greater ability than your average seller to wheel and deal.  The median size on sold houses was 3 bedrooms, 1.5 Baths 1,348 square feet.  The median price? $169,900.  That means that for the first week of 2009, the median sold price is 70k lower than the median listed price, and 40k lower than the median pending price.

UPDATE:  Today it was decide that REET does not apply to Short Sales. THANK GOODNESS!

Washington Realtors Association sent out a notice to it’s members this morning, saying that “The Department of Revenue (DOR) recently sent a letter to the Escrow Association explaining its position that in short sales, the Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) applies not only to the selling price of a home, but also any debt forgiven by the seller’s lender.” 

Of course, this is total crap.  Why should you pay taxes on a price the market wouldn’t bear out?  NWMLS broke it down like this:

 

For example, if a seller owes $350,000 on its mortgage, the property sells for $300,000, and the lender agrees to forgive the remaining $50,000 in debt (i.e. the seller will not be held liable for the $50,000 difference) - there are tax implications for the seller related to the $50,000 debt forgiveness.

The seller is already potentially having to report that $50k that the bank forgave as income, now the state is saying they must also pay excise tax on that? 

Realtors are not allowed (by law) to give tax or legal advice in this situation.  If you are selling your home in a Short Sale, make sure to talk to a Real Estate Attorney and a CPA.