Discover North Seattle: January 2010

I have good news about the real estate market! Surprised? Well, it's true - today's market provides a huge opportunity for first-time buyers to enter the market. 

Unfortunately, much of the media coverage of the real estate market has caused real fear in potential buyers. In reality, there has not been a better time to buy value in recent years.

If you know of anyone who has found themselves overwhelmed or discouraged from buying their first home, please send me their contact information or forward this blog post to them so that I can send them a free e-book. Your First Home: The Proven Path to Home Ownership outlines the process of home ownership in eight simple steps and is a must-read for anyone considering purchasing their first home.

With my experience, passion and knowledge of today's market, I am fully prepared and anxious to help your friends and family find their first homes. And as always, your referral is the best compliment that I can receive.

Ciao!

- Jay

Here's a real life success story.

To illustrate the beauty of the tax credit, take the example of Laura K. and her husband of Austin, Texas.

Laura, an exotic animal veterinarian, and her husband, a book editor, had spent much of 2008 in search of the elusive perfect home. They worked with their real estate agent over several months and found two homes they really loved. But unfortunately, two consecutive deals fell through and their dreams of home ownership were put on hold. "It was exhausting and unfortunate," says Laura. "I really had had enough."

Reassured by her husband, who hated paying rent toward someone else's mortgage, and inspired by her mother, who had found great success investing in real estate over the years, Laura let patience guide her toward a better opportunity. By March of 2009 she and her husband had saved up more money and were ready to pounce. Their patience proved fruitful as their real estate agent found them a bank-owned condo within their preapproved price range in a fabulous neighborhood just a five-minute walk from downtown. (Five minutes from downtown! Woo-hoo!)

They secured financing and entered into a scary multiple-offer situation. As fate would have it, they beat out two other buyers when their offer was accepted. Armed with 30-year conventional financing at a rate of 5 percent, they were now sitting pretty with very manageable monthly mortgage payments. And here's the kicker: They earned themselves a big, fat check for eight grand from Uncle Sam.

With the money they received, they could now fully furnish their new condo, make a donation to their favorite charity, and Laura could treat herself to monthly pedicures. All this and her husband embarked on a variety of challenging landscaping projects. Laura is now thrilled to be a homeowner. "The tax credit was a gift. Even though our previous offers fell through, I could not be happier."

So there's some real-life inspiration for you. Now go get that home of your own and the $8,000. And maybe you too can enjoy pedicures as often as you like.

- Jay

Ever wonder what there is to do up here, north of Green Lake?  Well, there's a place just north of Shoreline that's a blast for the entire family.

It's called WhirlyBall, and it's a combo of LaCrosse, Basketball and bumper cars.  Yep, you read that right.  BUMPER CARS!

What a great concept!  You get to ram into other competitors while trying to score points for your team!  WhirlyBall has been around for quite some time, and I've had fun there in the past.  But I had all but forgotten about it until recently.  So I thought I'd let all my blog readers know about it as well.

You can get in on beginner tournaments on your own, or bring a group of up to 40 people and reserve a whole court for a couple of hours.

Check it out and let me know what you think!

- Jay

Residential Retrofit Program

Vice President Biden recently announced a program called "Recovery Through Retrofit." In addition to creating energy performance labels, it will create national energy performance measures for existing homes.  

It will provide the following:

1. 1. Access to home energy retrofit information
2. 2. Access to financing for retrofits
3. 3. Access to trained professionals to perform the retrofit

The goal of the imitative is to create more energy efficiency in homes to benefit the country's energy consumption. Retrofits include but are not limited to energy efficient heating, cooling, and water systems, insulation, roofing, flooring, windows, and solar panels. 

Source: National Association of Realtors

Cash for "Clunky" Appliances

In efforts to vamp up energy efficiency, the federal government is implementing a rebate program for appliances. People can swap in their old appliances for new energy-efficient ones, saving electricity and saving on monthly bills. 

A 20-year-old fridge can use three times as much energy as a new Energy Star-approved fridge. The age of your appliances impact your actual savings, so check into it before purchasing.

Important things to know:

1. 1. Plans vary by state. Check out energysavers.gov for details.
2. 2. Buy before it ends. Like the car rebate program Cash for Clunkers, this program has a set amount of federal money allocated to it. Once the $300 million is gone, the program will likely end. It is expected to run out quickly.

Source: The Associated Press

Government Calls for Increased Lending by Banks

According to the FDIC, lending has fallen for five consecutive quarters - even though banks have become profitable again and have started to repay government loans. Banks lent $600 billion less from September 2008 to September 2009, representing a 7 percent decline. Banks site a lack of qualified borrowers as the primary reason and point to the trend of decreased borrowing during recessions.

The goals of banks and the government appear to be in line now with each bank representative talking about getting aggressive with small business lending over the next year. Goals for 2010 small business lending include $5 billion for Bank of America and $4 billion for Chase. 

As banks continue to be profitable, they can be expected to use the proceeds to repay the government as well as increase their efforts to make good loans. Small business owners should expect an increase in the amount of loans available during  2010 compared to 2009. Holding true to the trend in 2009, a good credit score and steady employment will likely continue to be important conditions of obtaining a mortgage. 

Sources: The Washington Post, FDIC

I received an email from Karen O'Connor, Senior Public Relations Specialist for Seattle Parks and Recreation.  She wants to let everyone know there will be a planning meeting coming up where local residents can stop by and offer their opinions to members of the park design team.

Here's the info if you'd like to attend:

Date:  Thursday, February 5, 2010

Time:  7pm - 8:30pm

Location:  Haller Lake Community Club located at 12579 Densmore Ave N

Northacres and Spray park are located at 127th and 1st Ave NE. 

If you want to have your say about how this park turns out, join the discussion at the planning meeting.

Have a great MLK Day!

- Jay

It seems like everyone's saying the economy is getting better, but I have a lot of friends who are still looking for work.  There is a growing throng of unemployed saying, "Yeah?  Well where are the jobs?"

According to some economists the situation we're in is fairly average.  Historically, Employment has lagged behind any economic recovery.  What seems to happen is companies no longer lay people off, but they don't hire anyone either as they wait for signs the economy is on solid ground.

Those of you who are fortunate enough to still have a job may be experiencing the other side of this hiring freeze.  You've probably noticed your workload increasing and that you're now doing the job of 2 or 3 people.  Well, it's probably going to be like that until the end of 2010 as companies start feeling better about adding to their staff.

It may seem odd that there are so many qualified people looking for jobs, and here you are doing the work of 3 people.  But don't worry, there's light at the end of the overworked and underpaid tunnel.  Usually the employment lag is around 6 - 12 months.

For those who are still looking, I have researched a bunch of websites that cater to the northwest job market.  Hopefully some of these will be new to you and you can check them out with happy results!

CampusPoint.com

Craig's List - Seattle

Craig's List - Spokane

Jobdango

NW Hospitality

Seattle's Preferred Jobs

Pacific Northwest Careers

SeattleJobs.org

SeattleRecruiter.com

WA Employment Web Pages

Take courage, and happy hunting!

- Jay

I received and email here at my DiscoverNorthSeattle.com blog from Katie Pope, of Northwest Hospital.  She wanted to let me know that Northwest Hospital was ranked "Best in Region" for cardiac surgery.

Katie wants people in North Seattle and the surrounding areas to know that you don't need to go downtown to receive world class cardiac services, and she's right.  According to the hospital's press release,

"Northwest Hospital & Medical Center announced today that HealthGrades, the leading independent healthcare ratings organization, has named the hospital's cardiac surgery program the best in Seattle, Bellevue and Tacoma for 2010. The recognition is based HealthGrades' twelfth annual Hospital Quality in America study, released on October 13. The study also gave Northwest Hospital five-star ratings in stroke, heart valve replacement, pneumonia care and appendectomy."

I've lived in North Seattle for about 25 years and have yet to use the services at Northwest Hospital, but it's good to know we have such talent and dedication to excellence in our own back yard.  Thanks for the head's-up, Katie!

Northwest Hospital's main campus is located at:

1550 N. 115th Street
Seattle, WA 98133-9733

They also have an Outpatient Medical Center located across from Northgate Mall at:

10330 Meridian Ave. North
Seattle, WA 98133-9733

Here's a map for all of us visual-type people:

- Jay