Discover North Seattle: April 2008

Question: 

"If I'm going to sell my house and there are a few issues with the house that I know about, do I need to disclose that information to potential buyers or do they have to figure it out for themselves during the inspection?"

 

Answer:

The law requires that you must disclose existing material facts you know about and may not be apparent to a potential buyer which adversely affect the physical condition of, or title to, your property.  Your Realtor is also required to disclose these material defects.  A material defect is defined as information that substantially adversely affects the value of the property or a party's ability to perform its obligations in a real estate transaction or operates to materially impair or defeat the purpose of the transaction. The fact or suspicion that the property, or any neighboring property, is or was the site of a murder, suicide or other death, rape or other sex crime, assault or other violent crime, robbery or burglary, illegal drug activity, gang-related activity, political or religious activity, or other act, occurrence, or use not adversely affecting the physical condition of or title to the property is not a material fact that you must disclose.

Did you know it takes about 1 hour to plant a tree?  Did you know it burns an average of 204 calories?

You and your family are invited to take part in the Spring Tree Planting and Fall Adopt-a-Tree program at Green Lake Park.

Two great opportunities to learn how to plant/care for  Cherry trees, decidous and evergreen trees. 

Please call Barb at 206-684-0780 for more information and to sign up as an "Adopt-a-Tree" family.

Make it a family event!

Parents - sign up your kids for some free fishing lessons sponsored by Seattle Parks and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife at Seward Park!

It's the 5th Annual "Fishing Kids" Event!

This is  a great opportunity for kids, ages 5 - 14, to learn water safety, how to cast, and what to do with the fish after you catch it.  Every child who participates will receive a t-shirt and a rod and reel to take home (and possibly a fish or two).  Everything starts at 9am and goes til 2pm.

Register by calling 206-684-5177 between 9am and 5:30pm weekdays, BEFORE MAY 9th. 

It'll be a great time with the family and, hey, the fish are pretty good, too!

I was reading about the Fair Housing Act today and thought it would be interesting to tell you about it's beginnings.  If you're wondering, "What's the Fair Housing Act?", you're not alone.  But in my line of work I see the benefits of this historic achievement almost daily. 

One of the tenets of the Act was the prevention of discrimination based on race (among others) in the purchase or rental of a home.  On April 11th, 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson pushed congress to approve the Fair Housing Act as a tribute to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was assasinated just a week before.

Also, since 2002, the month of June has been designated National Homeownership Month.  I say this 40th anniversary commemorates a significant shift in paradigm for our nation and this milestone Act has opened the door for millions of people to own their own home.

Hooray for Equal Housing!

 

- Jay Silver

1.)  30 year, fixed-rate mortgage average = 5.88% - Down from 6.22% at this time last year.

2.)  15 year, fixed-rate mortgage average = 5.42% - Down from 5.90% at this time last year.

3.)  5 year, adjustable-rate mortgage average = 5.56% - Down from 5.93% at this time last year.

4.)  1 year, adjustable-rate mortgage average = 5.18% - Down from 5.47% at this time last year.

Example:  If you bought a house worth $400,000 today instead of last year, you would save about $25,000 in interest over the life of a 30 year mortgage! 

When one home just won't do!

No matter the conditions, there are always people looking to buy

Second Home Market Remains Bright, a recent article on Realty Times, states that "12 percent of all home sales last year were...vacation homes... it's clear that [a] group of households is doing very well."

Click here to read Peter G. Miller's article and learn more about the possibilities for agents in this potential market sector.

Where it's at!

Areas that turn the tables, under the microscope

"In markets...where there are hints of stabilization, foreclosed properties might be a good investment," say Matt Woolsey and Jon Bruner in a Forbes.com article titled The best cities to buy foreclosed homes.

Click here to read the rest of the article and see if your city made the top ten.

Today's real estate market has obviously tipped in the favor of buyers.  But what's the best way to take advantage of this leverage?  One great idea that lenders have used in the past, when interest rates were high is called a "Buydown" of points on the mortgage.  The chart below describes the affect of buying down points on a loan as opposed to getting a home seller to reduce their price.  While your lender is the best source for in-depth information on this kind of stuff, I can tell you the basic idea of buying down points is to put money up front to reduce the interest rate on your mortgage. 

So, instead of paying 6.25% on your mortgage, you (or the home seller) can pay your bank up front to reduce the interest rate to something like 6%.  The savings over a 30 year mortgage life can be significant, or maybe you just want to pay less per month.  How you look at it is up to you.  A lot of sellers right now are willing to negotiate with you to get their home sold.  This could be a great bargaining tool to help reduce your monthly payments, and perhaps get you into a bigger home, better neighborhood, etc.

- Jay

I keep hearing the whispers that it's still too expensive for a first-time homebuyer to get into a home here in Seattle.  So I did a little research and found over 25 condos in the Fremont/Wallingford/Greenlake/Ballard/Magnolia areas, and they're priced under $250,000! 

Follow this link to view the condos:

http://locator.nwmls.com/scripts/mgrqispi.dll?APPNAME=Locator&PRGNAME=MLSLogin&ARGUMENT=I9xUF6hi%2BAmcF%2B8gU%2BqONh8XfwcJZJK8DE2dKR57pZM%3D&KeyRid=1

Trust me, 2008 is a great year to buy your first home.  Refer to my earlier post regarding the First Time Homebuyer Program sponsored by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, or go to http://www.wshfc.org/ for more info on the programs available.  Or you can contact me through my website: http://www.ABODEN.com

- Jay

 My wife and I have a top secret, ultra-special spot we go to that no one else knows about but us.  Okay, so there are a few who know about Carkeek Park in North Seattle.  But it honestly seems as though people have forgotten about it.  Each time we go it seems there are only a handful of people enjoying the park and its jaw-dropping view of the Puget Sound/Olympic Mountains.

Maybe it's the weather.  Maybe the clouds scare most of the people away.  Whatever the reason, we like it!  We can go there and feel like we're getting away from the crowd and stealing off to a remote location, though the location is just slightly north of Holman Road in North Seattle's Broadview neighborhood.

So... why am I bloggin' about a place I'd like to keep a secret?  Well, I found out there's a volunteer opportunity at Piper's Creek, which is located adjacent to Carkeek Park.  Scheduled for Earth Day, April 19^th, 2008, this is a great chance to help restore the creek that flows through the area and into Puget Sound.  

I realize that I'm exposing my "top secret" location to all who read this (all one or two of you...), I know it takes more than a few inspired souls to keep the park and its neighbors (Piper's Orchard/Creek) beautiful. 

My dilemma is this:  Juliana and I won't be in town that weekend.  I know we'd love to be there and help out, but in our stead perhaps a few of you would like to volunteer... It could be a great opportunity to rediscover such a beautiful part of North Seattle.  If you're interested, here's the info (and feel free to pass this around):

Here's a great place to live near Alki.  With an asking price of $200K, it's hard to pass up!

Hardwood floors in main living area, wheelchair accessible, peek-a-boo view of Puget Sound and downtown Seattle.

Contact me through my website:  www.ABODEN.com