Home Shopping-Buying in Maple Valley PT 2

In a previous post, I addressed the “getting ready” phase of  home buying, outlining the steps which should be taken prior to actually looking at homes as well as the process I go through with buyers who would like to have me represent them in the purchase of their greater Maple Valley area home.  

Once you’re committed and your preapproval is in hand, it’s time to go shopping!

The internet has altered the Home shopping experience tremendously.  In the past, I would have shown you many more homes than I would now, because you’ll probably have eliminated many and zero-ed in on a few “favorites”. 

Typically I plan to show no more than 8 homes in one outing unless there is a real constraint on time; a client in town only for the weekend, or someone who must be in their new home by the end of the month. The reason I don’t prefer to show more than that is because after awhile they all begin to blend together.  Was it house # 2 or 10 that had that waterfall in the backyard? The pink kitchen of house number 4 gets filed in the memory of house number 8….and even though I can gently remind you which home had which features, it becomes overwhelming and most people start to shut down.

So we arrive at the first house and what do I do?  Well I guarantee you I don’t fling open the doors and say “Now this is the Living Room” and “This is the Bathroom” like TV real estate agents seem to enjoy doing. I prefer to let me clients take the house in at their own pace, and move through the rooms as they would like to….want to go to the garage first?

Fine by me!

The house is yours to explore and imagine as your own. 

One thing I will do however, is point out features which you may not be aware of, or offer comparisons between this home and the last to help you decide whether this house would work for you or not. For instance, “This home has the 4″ baseboards whereas the last home had 2″, or pointing out a new furnace or larger than average hot water heater. If you told me you wanted a big backyard, I will ask you how you feel about the yard of the home we’re in…afterall, “big” is a subjective term and I need to see what you consider big.  If you begin to veer away from what you told me you really wanted in your next home (remember our “getting ready” meeting?), then I will remind you about that…”This is a great house, but remember you said that you absolutely had to have 4 bedrooms upstairs? Are you sure you would be willing to give that up?” You should make that decision without being swept up in the emotion of being in the house at that time, and that’s my job-to remind you of those things throughout the process.

Home shopping is a good time and my clients and I usually have alot of fun along the way. As we go through the homes they will inevitably get tagged with a nick-name. “The foofy house” (lots of lace curtains and dolls and doiles), “the orange house” or the “stinky house”.  The list of nicknames I’ve heard over the yeas could go on forever and some of them are pretty darn hysterical!

After viewing each home, we will usually put it in one of two categories-”forget about it” or “it’s a possibility”. Every now and they you’ll walk into a home and just know right away that it’s the right one. But sometimes the decision is a little harder to make. What I tell my clients is if you keep looking at more houses and are using another house by which to judge them all, then you’ve probably already made your choice.

My role in the home shopping process is not to sell you a house. It is to help you gather as much information as you need in order to make an educated decision about your financial investment.  And if we have some fun along the way….that’s ok too.

 

Copyright 2008, All Rights Reserved Colleen Fischesser

Part 3 in the Buying in Maple Valley series will be on Negotiating Your Offer 

Cedar Downs Market Report

The following market report is for the Cedar Downs Neighborhood (Div 1-5 & 7) and reflects only single family homes listed and sold through NWMLS. Townhomes and Condos at Cedar Downs Village have not been included in these numbers:

Active Listings: 2 Average List Price: $583,250 Average Days on Market: 78

Expired Listings: 1 Average List Price: $568,000 Average Days on Market 54

Sold TYD: 3 Average Sales Price: $455,000 Average Days on Market 63

Cedar Downs Neighborhood Snapshot

Colleen Fischesser is the Broker/Owner of RE/MAX Select in Maple Valley, WA. She has been successfully selling and marketing properties all over South King & North Pierce counties since 1990 but specializes in the Maple Valley Washington area. .She may be contacted directly at: 425-432-5400

Copyright 2008, All Rights Reserved Colleen Fischesser

‘Twas the Week Before School Starts….

And I imgine there are a few frantic parents (and kids) wondering “where did the Summer go?”. I for one am wondering “why did Summer never arrive?” But weather woes aside, the two and 1/2 months of vacation have nearly come to an end for students of the Tahoma School district.

Bus schedules should come out in this week’s Voice of the Valley. I called the district last week and was told they would be published in last week’s edition, but only Enumclaw times and stops were listed.

Hopefully one day the district will be able to post this information on their website. In the meantime, I’ll keep a copy on hand. If you need any information about stops and times, feel free to email me and I’ll send the information out. (Update. I found out the district does have transportation schedules online. Here you go!

This is the first September in 16 years that I haven’t been scrambling to buy school supplies, back packs, shoes and the latest “cool” clothes. My youngest son graduated from Tahoma Sr. High in June, so I’m officially finished with primary education, however that doesn’t mean you won’t see me around. My husband and I are looking forward to Friday nights under the lights again, seeing old friends and cheering on the next generation of Bears.

But for those of you who do have to wake up next Tuesday, make lunches, review homework, carpool from afterschool events….have fun! It will be over sooner than you might think!

Maple Valley…By the Numbers

I love stats, which is a bit odd because Math wasn’t my favorite subject in school. When using statistics in analyzing and following real estate trends and market conditions, there will obviously be variables involved. For instance, I define the Maple Market as being comprised of the area falling within the Tahoma School District boundaries. Others may use the Maple Valley zip code, or stay within the City limits.  I like to see what statistics others are compiling and how they compare to my own. 

The other day when I received a Neighborhood Profile of Maple Valley the other day from The Talon Group (A division of First American Title). Most likely these numbers were compiled using Metro Scan. There were some interesting categories which I don’t track so  I thought I’d share:

Assessed Values:

40% of Homes in Maple Valley are assessed between 200,000 and 300,000 and the second highest group, at 29% were assessed between 300,000 an 400,000.

Owner Occupancy:

Approximately 81% of homes in the area are owner occupied.

Age of Homes:

A whopping 59% of homes in Maple Valley were built between 1990-present.

The one area my numbers differer from The Talon Group’s source is in number of sales:

2006: Talon: 942  ME: 1075

2007: Talon: 660  ME: 760

2008 YTD: Talon: 173 ME: 326

I would think their numbers would be higher as they are pulling from County records and would reflect “by owner” sales. My stats typically involve only homes sold through NWMLS, but the difference is likely in the definition of the market area.

 

Colleen Fischesser is the Broker/Owner of RE/MAX Select in Maple Valley, WA. She has been successfully selling and marketing properties all over South King & North Pierce counties since 1990 but specializes in the Maple Valley Washington area. .She may be contacted directly at: 425-432-5400

Copyright 2008, All Rights Reserved Colleen Fischesser

 

Dog Days of Summer Not Stopping Sales

The phrase Dog Days of Summer is used in reference to the hottest days of the year; which typically here in the greater Seattle area would be right now….but I’m wearing a sweater today, go figure! August is also typically a slower time in our market, as many agents and would-be home buyers are squeezing in last minute vacations. But if there is one thing we know about the ‘08 market is that there is nothing typical about it! August has been my busiest month of the entire year and judging from pending sales in Maple Valley since the first of August, I’m not the only one! As of 8/1/08, 30 Single Family homes have gone under contract.

Some of these sales will close in August, others in Sept or beyond. But I think it will be interesting to start tracking these numbers more closely from this point forward given that the Maple Valley market began it’s downward trend last August. Only time will tell if things are truly picking up or if this is an isolated flurry just prior to the start of school.

Colleen Fischesser is the Broker/Owner of RE/MAX Select in Maple Valley, WA. She has been successfully selling and marketing properties all over South King & North Pierce counties since 1990 but specializes in the Maple Valley Washington area. .She may be contacted directly at: 425-432-5400

Copyright 2008, All Rights Reserved Colleen Fischesser

Higher Priced Home Sellers May Need an Extra Dose of Patience

Home Sellers with properties priced at or above $700,000 may need to come to terms with the fact it may many many months (even a year or more) to sell their high-end property. I’m basing this on current NWMLS statistics for Single Family homes in the Maple Valley/Covington area.
Currently there are 74 active listings on the market which have an offered price of $700k or more. There are 0 (ZERO) pending sales in escrow, and 8 which have sold and closed within the last six months.
Assuming no new inventory came on the market and the sales pace remains the same, we should have approximately 16 closed sales within a 12 month period of time. Given the inventory of active listings, it would take approximately 4.6 years to have those 74 Active listings sold & closed.
It’s tough when there aren’t many buyers in the market for what you have to sell. A common saying in real estate is “price or time”. If you’re willing to wait, you’re more likely to get your price and if you’re willing to be more aggressive on price it will take less time. Either way, in a market where supply significantly outnumbers demand, it’s important to be ready at all times. Because when a buyer comes knocking, if your home isn’t ready or you’re not willing, they will move to the next house and just may not come back!

Next Page »