The Seattle Specialist

Snarky Girls - The latest Real Estate Hotties Internet Craze

Published September 4, 2008

Okay. I admit it. I’m a sucker for anything real estate related on the internet. And if it has as salacious hottie involved as well I’m easy seduced. (American male with a libido, guilty as charged). But when Snarky Girls started there trans-Atlantic politically-incorrect banter, I was both amused and intrigued. I’ve been an avid follower of TikiBar.tv, Diggnation.com, and Mr. Deity podcasts despite of, or because of, my both liberal and conservative viewpoints (guess that’s why they call us independents). I love seeing how people share humor through video.

So if you enjoy edgy humor, these hot real estate babes are DEFINITELY worth watching. If not just to get a perspective of what people are really thinking, but not willing to to say out loud. These ladies are not afraid to share their view and don’t disappoint in their obviously biased perspectives.
Lani Anglin-Rosales - A beer drinking, BBQ eating Texan who is Media Director for AgentGenius.com (who’s motto has something to do with “keeping it up”). She is a proud American who tells it like it is and is knows she’s right - God Bless her.
Poppy Dinsey - a London born-and-raised native real estate tech professional who loves Britain, if not the weather they have been blessed with, who pulls no punches about why the UK has an edge over the US when comes to topics such as Football vs. Soccer or politics.

Recently I posed a question relating to real estate agents here in Seattle:

What do you think of metro-sexual real estate agents?

In their usual candid style, here’s what they said:

Snarky Girls - Episode #14

Poppy’s Take

Lani’s Take

Don’t forget to go to The Snarky Girl Blog to voice your own opinions!

Bumbershoot’s Over - School’s Back

Published September 2, 2008

Well now that Labor Day and Bumbershoot are over the kids are getting back to school. Here comes that annual bump in real estate activity. People often ask what is the best time to sell, and this is one of those times on the calendar that you can point to historically and show a consistent pattern of an up-tick in activity.

Four of the last seven years there has been an increase in sales during September and October, even during the last two years. (according to NWMLS statistics.). It seems that once school starts up and the vacation season winds down, people decide it’s time to get down to business and make their move.

Lots of listings have just expired too. I imagine a number of them will be re-listed over the next week or so, perhaps at lower prices and as new listings. Make sure you check with your agent to get the CDOM (Cumulative Days on Market) and the Property History of any new listing you are interested in. Unfortunately most brokerages don’t post this information on their public websites, even though the NWMLS now allows it.

Brokers Caravan Tours - A Dying Tradition?

Published August 28, 2008

It used to be the way to know who the players were. All the top agents toured other broker’s listings once a week and previewed all the new inventory. But times have changed. And with rising gas prices and the vastly improved addition of photos with listings on the internet, agents have gotten away from what was an important part of the job. Personal knowledge of the inventory in your area was something good agents were proud of. I used to brag of previewing 50-75 homes every week. Nowadays it’s more like 5-10 homes.

Touring was also a great way to get to know your co-op agents from other companies. It was always a good opportunity to chat and talk about the market with your competitors and learn in advance about upcoming listings. When presenting offers for buyers it always helped if you had a personal face-to-face relationship with the listing agent, even if it was just through touring. And there always seemed to be an opportunity to strike up a conversation with a curious neighbor who might someday turn into a seller who would remember you.

I loved it. One of the main reasons I got into real estate is I love looking at property. I used to get a list of brokers opens every morning and set up a map, making sure that the open times dove-tailed so that I wouldn’t miss the home I really wanted to see. I would usually be able to see around 10 in two or three hours.

Now that the market has slowed a bit, maybe we should remember why buyers value our opinion and advice: Because we know the market! And how do we get to be experts on the market? TOURING, TOURING, TOURING!

Broker vs. Mortgage Banker- What’s the Difference?

Published August 27, 2008

Many Buyers do not understand the difference between a mortgage broker and a mortgage banker, and how it relates to their purchase. Just a quick overview…

A mortgage lender lends you your funds from a specific lending institution that they are associated with. Like Countrywide, Bank of America, or Wells Fargo, to name a few institutions. The funds come from that institution only. A mortgage broker acts as an intermediary who sources loans. This means that he/she can find a loan that fits your needs from one of many lending institutions. So, whereas the mortgage lender works specifically for the lender that he/she works for, the broker works as a conduit between the Buyer and the lender.

Both the broker and the banker will end up selling your loan on the secondary market, as there is a very small percentage of bankers who originate and keep their loans. Those lenders that do this are commonly referred to as “portfolio lenders”. The largest secondary market (or wholesale) institutions are Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

Service wise, there is and should be no difference between one or the other. As a Buyer, your primary concern should be the rates and terms offered and what loan makes the most sense for you. Pay attention to the fee structure that will be disclosed to you and if there are any underlying conditions for your approval that may affect your ability to close your transaction in a timely manner (and by your closing date of course!).

The Psychology of Buying Real Estate in our Market

Published August 22, 2008

I recently ran across this graph (not copyrighted, as far as I can tell) about the emotional cycles a buyer goes through during the purchasing process. It got me to thinking about how this chart can also be used to show the emotional process during the real estate market “boom - bust - recovery” cycle as well.

We often make financial decisions based on emotional reactions, even when we know better intellectually. During the housing boom people could not buy a home fast enough, and were thrilled to do it. And at the peak of real estate values almost every homeowner felt great about their real estate portfolio, even euphoric. Now that we are down in the bottom of the market there are plenty of sad stories and a number of despondent owners and agents with their heads hanging low.

It’s also interesting to note that even after the signs start to point up we still go through depression before hope and relief finally sets in. But only after the market is back and recovery is in full swing does optimism finally start to take over again. And then we start the cycle all over. Isn’t life grand!

Bain Business Minute video - R.I.P.

Published August 19, 2008

Well, it had a good run. Ron Sparks consistently gave us great updates for the local real estate markets we serve and filled us with interesting statistics and informative news to analyze. But alas, all good things come to an end.

This was a great source of statistics for those closely following the local real estate market as well as a great marketing tool for Coldwell Banker Bain agents. While it was a bit difficult to follow for the novice, with terms like “real-time demand” and “active-to-pending ratios” being bantered about, it was a great quick and easy way to hear about recent local market activity and trends.

Move Over for the Real Estate Minute Video

As part of a minor website update, the Bain Marketing Department has decided to dump the local version for a more regional approach. This is all part of the integrating the Portland-Vancouver offices of Barbara Sue Seal, something I doubt any clients care about. The new version is called The Real Estate Minute and gives a more macro view of the whole Pacific Northwest region. While this gives broad market conditions in the areas that CB Bain and CB Barbara Sue Seal has offices in, it doesn’t create much value for the consumer.

I’ve never had a client who is looking to buy or sell a home here in the Seattle area ask me or be interested in the Portland or Boise markets, nor should they be. The phrase “All real estate is local” has been around for a while for a reason. It’s true. Bain would better serve it’s clients and it’s agents if it would create videos that do the opposite of give a macro regional view. In other words, create separate videos that drill down and give neighborhood specific information. Something tells me the marketing department thinks that would be too much work and they are trying to find an easy low-cost solution.

Missing too, is the timely “Industry News” that gave a local spin to recent national news. This was informative and often shed light on news that was hard to decipher from a Seattle perspective. My guess is that now that the video is regional, there isn’t time to squeeze it into “one minute”.

In all fairness, Bain has raised the quality of production and tried to make the video more consumer-novice-friendly by using terms and generalities that everyone can understand. Still, that level of general information is everywhere. It’s the juicy details that are harder to come by. Since this is just the inaugural edition perhaps the marketing department will rethink their strategy and go back to what clients want to hear about, and not just what Bain Marketing wants to talk about.

Since there is not much value we’ve removed this video from our site. We are working to find a replacement that offers timely local Seattle real estate information that our clients are eager for and we will post it when we do.

Google Insights maps where people search from

Published August 13, 2008

People are often amazed at how much relocation business we are involved in. Some people think that we get all this business from relocation companies like Cartus, which Coldwell Banker Bain is the primary broker for in the Seattle area. While Cartus is huge and represents about 80% of company sponsored relocation business, we do a lot of non-sponsored relocation business as well. Why would people choose us over some other real estate company if they don’t know us? It’s simple: BRANDING. People from all around the country know and respect the Coldwell Banker brand.

Google has come out with a cool new tool that really lets you drill down and see where people are searching from called Google Insights. I thought I would try this tool out to see where people searching for Coldwell Banker’s website are coming from, compared to the other two major real estate companies here in the Seattle area, Windermere and John L Scott. I think the results tell the story:

People are searching for Coldwell Banker (above) from all over the United States.

People searching for Windermere (above) are coming primarily just from the Northwest, with some searching from California and Arizona, where they have some franchise offices.

And finally, the vast majority of people searching for John L Scott (above) are coming from Washington, and to a limited degree Oregon.

So it’s not rocket science. People search for and use Coldwell Banker when looking for real estate from other geographic locations. And all this time I thought it was my great website!

*Check out Lani Anglin-Rosales’ post on AgentGenius and how she has used Google Insights to compare real estate companies and trends. Also, Joel Burslem has an interesting article at The Future of Real Estate Marketing on this topic.

Coldwell Banker launches Housetrology

Published August 7, 2008

Seems everyone is scrambling to create Web 2.0 apps that work with Facebook these days. And Coldwell Banker is no exception. They just launched Housetrology, which you can download from the Coldwell Banker Homepage.

What’s Your House Sign?
Housetrology is a cute psychological online quiz that is designed to determine what is the right style of home for you. Users are given a series of pictures to choose from that requires you to select their preferences in food, art, lifestyles, etc. Then, Housetrology tells you what would be the right type of home for you.

When you finish the quiz you see your selections along with the people who had similar responses to you. Then you can invite your Facebook friends to take the quiz, or go straight to searching for homes that fit your profile. This is a great way for Coldwell Banker to tap into the younger social network focused demographic. To create this, Coldwell Banker enlisted the help of Dr. Ruth Peters, a family psychologist and special correspondent to NBC’s Today Show to interpret the results and offer additional perspective on how home buyers can balance emotional and practical issues when looking for the home of their dreams.

For more information go to FoxBusiness.com where I saw the original announcement, and if you are already a Facebook member, feel free to try it out on my Facebook page.

Interbay Whole Foods may be put on hold

Published August 6, 2008

Another repercussion of the slowing national economy might be the delay or cancellation of the newly proposed Whole Foods on Interbay between Magnolia and Queen Anne. The Seattle PI reported that Whole Foods third-quarter net income dropped more than 30 percent because of costs associated acquisitions and the tough economy.

This has caused them to announce cost cutting measures including scaling back opening of new stores next year. It’s still unclear if this will affect the two new local stores slated to open on Interbay and in West Seattle, but it could. While there are lots of stores in California and Florida in the development stage that might get cut, there are only two stores planned for opening for Washington.

This would definitely be a blow to the neighborhood’s plans to expand the residential development of the area. Part of the reason the city has been considering allowing new homes in this area is the expansion of retail services availability. Whole Foods was the cornerstone part of that argument.

Property owners in both Magnolia and Queen Anne were hoping that the addition of Whole Foods and other smaller retail shops and restaurants could help turn this drab and mostly unused area into a thriving green walking neighborhood. City Hall seemed to be dragging their feet on the rezoning of this area to allow taller construction. The planned development already received a blow from the defeat of the monorail a few years ago. The nearby transit station would have created great public access to the area. Let’s hope Whole Foods doesn’t use these reasons to designate this as one of the stores not to open.

Condo Inventory Starting to Tighten Again

Published July 28, 2008

Condo inventory in the metro downtown Seattle may be starting to tighten.

Back in the real estate boom days of mid-2005 metro Seattle condo supply was just around 1.4 to 1.5 months of inventory. We are no where near that and probably won’t see that heady of a market again for a long time. But we are down from the February peak of 6.8 months of inventory to about 5.0 months.

With projected job growth and lessening of new projects coming on line, we may have just experienced the bottom. And because of our lessor exposure to the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, our inventory has not mushroomed as much. This should mean we are posed to bounce back quicker than other areas.

Only time will tell. But while the national forecast still looks rather bleak, Seattle’s fundamentals have some room for optimism that a growing market will return here sooner rather than later.