99 seller disclosure questions: as a real estate broker I'm not permitted to advise a seller on how to answer any of them. But I can explain Form 17 by example. For example, how to deal with the Asterisk versus the "Don't Know" - The Asterisk statement says that if you check "YES" on any question marked with an asterisk (*) you'd better explain. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the most requested posts of this site is the one dealing with the Washington Seller Disclosure (Form 17) which I posted nearly four years ago. If you think that the folks in Olympia have made more changes since then, you are correct. Read the rest of this entry »

The real estate bubble burst in the Seattle area housing market in August 2007. Since then prices have been falling steadily, and condo prices more so than single-family homes. Let's take a closer look at Kirkland condos in the 98033 zip code. What happened over the past three years in terms of for sale and sold condos and also square footage prices? How do price ranges compare in terms of supply and pricing? And, finally, what's been selling over the last 30 days? Read the rest of this entry »

In 1999, when I still worked in the Rainier Tower in down­town Seat­tle, I mostly com­muted by bus from the East­side across Lake Wash­ing­ton. That’s when I learned the mean­ing of the phrase “the moun­tain is out” which means in Seat­tle that you can see Mount Rainier. Since then I’ve never stopped mar­veling at the incred­i­ble scenery that sur­rounds Seat­tle in all directions. Meanwhile on the real estate front: the most sig­nif­i­cant fac­tor in Seat­tle area real estate is the lack of inven­tory. In some areas the num­ber of active list­ings is down by nearly 40 per­cent from a year ago. Read the rest of this entry »

How do mortgage companies set daily pricing for the interest rates available for various loan programs? There's much disinformation on the subject. For starters, there is a common misconception that mortgage rates are somehow tied to the Federal Funds rate, which is completely inaccurate. It is the daily price fluctuations in the forward mortgage-backed security market that cause mortgage companies to change pricing daily. Read the rest of this entry »