360Digest

Scary real estate marketing tactics get plenty of attention in an election year.

I had written before about the Home Price Comparison Index compiled by Coldwell Banker Real Estate that allows one to approximate how much your home might cost in different areas around the U.S.

For instance, here in Seattle, $800K-900K might buy you a 100-year old house in a nice in-city neighborhood with 1800 sqft and 3-4 bedrooms and 2-3 baths and a 1-car garage on a 3000 sqft lot.

Just 50 miles South in Tacoma, with the same amount of money, you can buy a newer 4BR/4Bbth home with 5000 sqft and a 3-car garage. On 20 acres.

In Colossal Castle or Humble Home, Neha Grey finds similar examples of home values all around the world.

Being a Tiki fan, Aloha-aficionado and keeper of the flame at Seattle Tiki, I was excited to see Trader Vic Bergeron’s first home on the market. The listing notes that 965 Mendocino Avenue has been a landmark and focal point of North Berkeley since it was built in 1925. Trader Vic Bergeron and his wife Esther were the first owners, and the authentic Chinese roasting brick oven still stands in the backyard. Nothing else Tiki is left, however

Open House this Sunday.

Trader Vic’s Photo Tour

I think all of us have a story like this.

The House That Got Away by Sarah Jio and Gabi Campanario

Since Redfin has announced that they were including unlisted bank-owned property on their website, it’s raised a lot of questions about foreclosures, short sales and distressed property in Washington State.

The Distressed Property Law was passed during the 2008 Legislative session and signed into law by the Governor on March 30 for the purpose of protecting vulnerable property owners from scam artists who seek to steal the property owner’s equity.

An unintended consequence of the law has the potential for dramatically increasing the duties owed by a real estate agent to a distressed homeowner. The law defines the term “distressed home consultant” as anyone who helps or offers to help a distressed homeowner in a variety of ways. For example, if an agent offers to save the distressed home from foreclosure by selling the home prior to foreclosure, it is possible that the law will be interpreted to mean that agent is a distressed home consultant. If the seller is a distressed homeowner and a real estate agent contacts the short sale lender to obtain a reduced payoff or to delay a foreclosure sale, the real estate agent is a distressed home consultant. If the agent writes an offer on a distressed home and the transaction will close within 20 days of a foreclosure sale, buyer’s agent is a distressed home consultant, and the buyer is also a distressed home consultant.

There are many interesting dimensions to this new law, including the fact that if a property owner fits any of the definitions of a distressed homeowner, then the law protects them as a distressed homeowner even if they never communicate that fact to anyone and even if they do not realize themselves that they are a distressed homeowner.

Obviously, this is messed up.

How was this law passed without intervention?

The Washington Association of Realtors monitored the legislation as it was proposed by the Attorney General as the legislation progressed through the House and the Senate. Both WAR and the AG were satisfied that the Bill, as proposed and intended by the AG, did not include the adverse language now causing the problems. However, after the Bill was passed in one form by the House and in a slightly different form by the Senate, it moved into a process that occurs outside the arena where public comment or influence are allowed. It was at that stage that the adverse language was added and the Bill was immediately voted out of the Legislature without any opportunity for the AG or WAR to testify about the problem.

No one’s sure if this will be resolved before the new law changes on June 12th.

All of the listed distressed property in our area is listed on our MLS and supplied to brokerages in their regular feed, but Redfin has specifically decided to include UNLISTED Bank-Owned properties, and also continue to do limited short-sales that meet certain criteria.

From their website:

Redfin supports buyers pursuing some types of short-sale listings ……(however) in many cases, Redfin will not be able to represent you in a short sale. In the first quarter of 2008, we handled 65 short sales but only four were approved by the bank.

I wonder how much money those 61 lost sales cost their firm? Each one must have represented at least several hours of paperwork and negotiation. The nature of their business model would be inclined to attract bargain-hunters, low-ballers and others looking for “a deal”. If I made 65 offers on property with only 4 closings, I’d be really depressed. Not to mention, really poor.

Because of that, Redfin’s made very specific rules about how and when they’ll present an offer on a short-sale. However, even then, it’s a crap shoot if they’ll close or not and there might not even be enough of a commission to cover their minimum fee, as banks have been known to renegotiate the commission at closing.

I have to say that I don’t have much experience in short sales and after reading their statistics, doubt I’m going to make that the focus of my business anytime soon.

Our local news/entertainment magazine had a heartwarming story about Zillow and their “Make Me Move” feature. Some guy was able to sell his house for significantly more than it was worth. Capitol Hill Triangle seems to think it was poor form not to disclose that the seller was an ex-Zillow employee. And the new owner may be having buyers remorse, as it’s now on the market for $15K more than they paid for it. $15K won’t even cover closing costs in our state

Galen Ward is my new hero for publicizing the fact that Trulia blocks Google from following their links.

Ben Kakimoto discovers a competitor is conducting a deceptive Google Adwords campaign by buying Google Adwords with his name as the keyword search term as well as the title of the ads themselves.

The Seattle Times reports that the live-in manager of a fancy Queen Anne condominium building with multimillion-dollar views has been accused of stealing from her well-to-do neighbors.

Redfin announced that it was showing ALL the houses for sale, including FSBO’s and foreclosures. According to the site, Seattle, a city of over 500,000 people, has only 23 foreclosures. Either we have the smallest foreclosure rate in the nation or that site has a way to go before being complete. Plus, there seems to be some debate as to whether or not mixing up these listings on the same website with an MLS/IDX feed is even legal.

Evening Magazine video

Because of UnusualLife.com, I get frequent inquiries from television producers and magazine editors about unusual homes, and 3 of the houses I’ve written about were featured this week on Evening Magazine.

This castle house is located in Winthrop, WA in the Methow Valley.

The custom home is designed to look like a medieval castle, complete with moat and battlements.

A labor of love on over a acre, designed by Ken Cramer.

Another interesting home is this church and art gallery in Sultan, Washington, on HY 2 on the way up to Stevens Pass.

It features an art gallery, a frame shop, a beautiful atrium, studio and shop space, plus living area. This would be a great place to have a little espresso stand too, and is a great stop on your way over the Cascades.

Several years ago, the Hunter’s bought this old bank in Douglas County, in the town of Waterville. Mr. Hunter restored the bank to run his law firm and he lives there with his wife. They converted one of the vaults into their guest room.

An added plus is it’s cool in the summer and very quiet!

Unusual Homes for sale in the Pacific Northwest