This & That - A Real Estate Blog by Steve Swanson

This weekend, June 27th & 28th, thousands of homes for sale across the state of Washington are going to be open for viewing as part of the State Wide Open House Weekend being organized by Realtors throughout the state. The Seattle area Real Estate market is starting to see increased sales, especially in the lower priced homes.  Attractive ...

This weekend, June 27th & 28th, thousands of homes for sale across the state of Washington are going to be open for viewing as part of the State Wide Open House Weekend being organized by Realtors throughout the state. As the Seattle area Real Estate market seems to be heating up, especially with the lowered prices, attractive ...

I hate misleading advertising.  I really do.  And I don’t think I’m alone in that.  I’m also not that keen on hypocrisy.  And trying to figure out mixed messages has never been my idea of fun. Lately, in driving around and previewing homes with clients, we see these riders that say “$8,000 Tax Credit Available”, or ...

In a news release published today by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, pending sales reported by members showed an overall increase of 11.4% from a year ago and up 21.3% from March.  Though these statistics are averages of the 19 counties that make up the NWMLS market area, there are areas where the surge in [...]

Included in the budget passed by the Washington State Legislature is a $25 million dollar fund to implement a Tax Credit Advance Loan Program for First Time Home Buyers.  (The definition of a First Time Home Buyer is basically if you have not owned a home in the past Three years.) Introduced by Washington State Treasurer James [...]

Hot off the Press is news from the Washington State Legislature provided to me by Georgette Ballard, Sr Loan Officer with PrimeLending.  This budget provision would help First Time Home Buyers with their down payment thus helping home sellers getting their house sold.  If signed by Governor Gregoire, this would be the first program of it’s ...

I was just reading that the National Association of Realtors is working with the State of Washington in exploring ways that will put the federal $8000 First-Time Homebuyer tax credit and economic stimulus money coming to the state to use at the closing of a sale. I’ll be following this to see if this develops into something real.  It ...

As an update to a previous post, details are now in on the First Time Home Buyer Credit in the Economic Stimulus Bill (formally called The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009).  The bill was signed into law on Tuesday, February 17th.   Here’s an overview of the provisions in the bill that will benefit First [...]

In reading and trying to stay updated on what details that have been made available on the Economic Stimulus package that has apparently been negotiated and agreed, it appears that the proposed $15,000 Home Buyer Tax Credit was a casualty.  Sort of.  The overall cost of this credit would have been $35 billion. In its place, a more modest ...

Beyond the usual “how’s the real estate market?”  …I’m being asked more real estate related questions than ever.  Is this a good time to buy?  How do you buy a foreclosure?  Is it hard to get a mortgage?  Are homes selling … How long would it take to sell my home?   There is curiosity, confusion, and myth-information.   Myth-Understanding [...]