Bargain Watch: 3 Bedroom House with Garage in Hilltop for only $129,950

Bargain House for sale in Tacoma's Hilltop

Bargain House for sale in Tacoma

A Realtor friend of mine, Bobby Brown, has this great house listed in Hilltop right now. They just reduced the price to $129,950- which I think is an awesome deal.  It even has a garage.

You can check out the listing here, but here are the basic stats!

3 Bedrooms

1 Bathroom

1 Car Garage

Fenced Yard

Taking the Temperature of the Downtown Tacoma Condos (Featuring Pie Charts!)

I set out today to make a Pie chart of which buildings have condos listed on the MLS in Downtown Tacoma. It was interesting, but it is a bit deceptive. Both The Roberson and Esplanade have vacant units that are not currently listed on the MLS.

Which buildings have condos for sale downtown.

Which buildings have condos for sale downtown.

The Esplanade has 11 listed as pending and 10 sold- which leaves about another 140 units for sale that aren’t listed yet, which is more than every other listing on the market in Downtown Tacoma combined. Eek. So if we are being conservative, we could say that there are about 210 Condos and Townhouses for sale in 98402.  In the past 12 months, 43 condos have sold.  This means that at the current rate of sale it will take a little over 4 years for all the excess condos to be soaked up downtown. Read the rest of this entry »

Moody’s is betting on Top Performing Tacoma Housing Prices in 2010

Once again Moody’s Economy has good things to say about Tacoma Real Estate.  Exit 133 is reporting on their story about our appreciation rate this year.  It is always nice to be noticed.

You might remember this story from last Spring… Tacoma’s Real Estate Market sure has been getting a lot of attention lately.

The folks at Moody’s have once again put Tacoma on one of their lists. Last year we made the Best Real Estate Market and the Most Likely to Rebound lists. Now, at the beginning of 2010, we are the predicted to be the top performing real estate market in the country this year.

Check out the story at Exit 133.

City of Tacoma Downpayment Assistance 2010 Changes

Scott Cowan over at Keller Williams Real Estate just did a great blog post about all the new changes to the City of Tacoma Downpayment Assistance Program.  If your Mortgage Banker isn’t up to speed on the latest rules, make sure you read this- because it might save you a lot of money this year!

Here are some of the highlights:

  • The property must be a single family dwelling or condominium. The seller will be required to document the property is vacant.
  • An inspection will be required to verify the property meets minimum housing quality standards
  • Borrower must be a first time home buyer
  • Borrower must provide minimum down payment depending on income.
    • Income up to 50% of the median income, max loan contribution is $30000 and min buyer contribute $500
    • Income up to 80% of the median income, max loan contribution $20000 and min buyer contribute $1000
  • Income up to 120% of the median income, max loan contribution $10000 and min buyer contribute $1500
  • For more details, read the full post herecontact me, or visit the City of Tacoma.

    Downtown Tacoma Condo Report

    Everyone's gossiping about Downtown Tacoma Condos These Days

    Everywhere I go these days, people are asking about the Downtown Tacoma real estate market. “It seems like it’s picking up! Is it picking up?”  The answer is, it depends on the price range and it depends on where we’re talking about.  Over the next couple days I’m going to talk Tacoma (as usual) starting with Downtown Tacoma Condos in 98402.

    Right now there are 11 pending condos, half of those are at 505 Broadway, which has been rewarded for its aggressive price reductions with lots of closed sales. It would be great to see The Roberson and The Esplanade (once it’s done being forclosed on and relists as bank owned foreclosures or whatever they decide to do) follow 505 Broadway’s lead and start pricing to sell.

    So far this year there are 21 closed condo sales. The median sale price of a condo in downtown Tacoma is $308,415 for 1,214 square feet with a low price of $131,000 for a studio at Cliff Street Lofts and a high of $742,650 for 1,919 square foot palace at 505 Broadway.  Here’s the breakdown:

    Read the rest of this entry »

    Downtown Tacoma Sales for June 2009

    A little bit busy...

    A little bit busy...

    Every full-time Realtor I know is swamped right now.  Don’t even get me started on the loan officers.  Ask anyone in the Real Estate business right now how things are going and you are likely to hear “I’m busy! Gha!”

    So, if anyone is wondering why my posting has been lax this past month or so, it is because every buyer and seller on the planet decided to start making deals and the result has been a very heavy workload.

    Enough with the excuses! On to some real numbers for Downtown Tacoma Real Estate. Read the rest of this entry »

    Bargain Watch: 1120 Cliff Ave #206 only $151,000

    Cliff Street Loft #206

    Outside of Cliff Street Lofts

    Cliff Street Loft #206

    This loft at Cliff Street is a really great deal.  It was just listed by Foreclosure Specialist Pamela Vanderlinda at Parkside Realty.

    At 980+ square feet, It has 16 foot high open beam ceilings, big tall windows that look over the port & Mt Rainier, and exposed brick walls. It’s basically everyone’s big hip urban loft fantasy come true.  Not only that, going FHA, your payment including Homeowners Dues, Mortgage Insurance, Taxes, etc would be around $1200/month. This is my favorite downtown Condo this week. I love it. Anyone want to go see it? It’s awesome. More pics after the jump.

    Read the rest of this entry »

    My Real Tacoma: Adventures in Rehab Loans

    Kevin Stirret Jones & His Family Attempt a Rehab Loan

    By Kevin Stirret Jones

    As a senior mortgage officer at Bank of America, I’d been in the mortgage business since 2002 and the time had finally came to buy my first home.
     
    My family and I have actually lived in the same house since 2001. We’ve been fortunate to rent my wife’s grandmother’s house from her family for the last several years and when the opportunity presented itself to buy this house and keep it in the family we leapt at it! Now, if you don’t know me, I have a wife and two wonderful kids. Our house is a little on the small side at 1000 square feet with three bedrooms and one bath. Since we’re buying this house and we’ve been here for several years, love our neighborhood and our neighbors we decided to buy the house and renovate it using the FHA 203k program.
     

    Read the rest of this entry »