Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Real Estate Federal Way & Puyallup

  Some Highlights: Real estate has outranked stocks/mutual funds, gold, savings accounts/CDs, and bonds as the best long-term investment among Americans for the last 6 years. Stock owners are more positive about real estate than stocks as an investment. Of the 4 listed, real estate is the only investment you can also live in! KCM Crew June 28, 2019 by KCM Crew

  So you made an  offer and it was accepted. Now, your next task is to have the home inspected prior to closing. Agents oftentimes make your offer contingent on a clean home inspection. This contingency allows you to renegotiate the price you paid for the home, ask the sellers to cover repairs, or in some cases, to walk away. Your agent can advise you on the best course of action once the report is filed. How to Choose an Inspector Your agent will most likely have a short list of inspectors that they have worked with in the past that they can recommend to you.  HGTV   recommends that you consider the following five areas when choosing the right home inspector for you: 1. Qualifications  – find out what’s included in your inspection and if the age or location of your home may warrant specific certifications or specialties. 2. Sample Reports  – ask for a sample inspection report so you can review how thoroughly they will be inspecting your dream home. In most

  In this day and age of being able to shop for anything anywhere, it is really important to know what you’re looking for when you start your home search. If you’ve been thinking about buying a home of your own for some time now, you’ve probably come up with a list of things that you’d LOVE to have in your new home. Many new homebuyers fantasize about the amenities that they see on television or  Pinterest ,  and start looking at the countless homes listed for sale through rose-colored glasses. Do you really need that farmhouse sink in the kitchen to be happy with your home choice? Would a two-car garage be a convenience or a necessity? Could the “man cave” of your dreams be a future renovation project instead of a make-or-break right now? The first step in your home buying process should be getting  pre-approved for your mortgage. This allows you to know your budget before you fall in love with a home that is way outside of it. The next step is to list all the fea

In today’s fast-paced world where answers are a  Google  search away, there are some who may wonder what the benefits of hiring a real estate professional to help them in their home search are. The truth is, the addition of more information causes more confusion. Shows like  Property Brothers ,  Fixer Upper,  and dozens more on  HGTV  have given many a false sense of what it’s like to buy and sell a home. Now more than ever, you need an expert on your side who is going to guide you toward your dreams and not let anything get in the way of achieving them.  Buying and/or selling a home is definitely not something you want to DIY (Do It Yourself)! Here are just some of the reasons you need a real estate professional in your corner: There’s more to real estate than finding a house you like online! There are over  230 possible steps  that need to take place during every successful real estate transaction. Don’t you want someone who has been there before, someone who knows what

  In many markets across the country, the number of buyers searching for their dream homes outnumbers the number of homes for sale. This has led to a competitive marketplace where buyers often need to stand out. One way to show that you are serious about buying your dream home is to get pre-qualified or pre-approved for a mortgage before starting your search Even if you are not in an incredibly competitive market, understanding your budget will give you the confidence of knowing whether or not your dream home is within your reach. Freddie Mac  lays out the advantages of pre-approval in the ‘ My Home ’ section of their website: “It’s highly recommended that you work with your lender to get pre-approved before you begin house hunting. Pre-approval will tell you how much home you can afford and can help you move faster, and with greater confidence, in competitive markets.” One of the  many advantages   of working with a local real estate professional is that many hav

Some Highlights: Buyer demand continues to outpace the supply of homes for sale. This means that buyers are often competing with one another for the few listings that are available. Housing inventory is still under the 6-month supply needed to sustain a normal housing market. Now may be the time for you and your family to move on and start living the life you desire! JUNE 21, 2019 / BY  KCM CREW

      How to educate your clients and help them get a holistic view of what’s going on in the market. When your clients turn on the news or read major headlines, the data is reflected of the national market as a whole. It’s certainly important to understand this data. But it’s even more important to connect national data to what’s going on in your local market. But how do you build an effective content marketing strategy? Start by leveraging tools and resources like Personalized Posts and Monthly Market Reports , which will show you what’s trending and what information is important to your clients. Let’s Get Started When clients or prospects see a report on the news or ask “How’s the market?”, you want to be able to confidently compare both the national information as well as what it means to them directly in their neighborhood. Follow the steps below to see how! Find a Trusted Source Let’s start by helping you find the best, most current real estate inform

When buying a home today, why is there so much paperwork mandated by the lenders for a mortgage loan application? It seems like they need to know  everything  about you. Furthermore, it requires three separate sources to validate each and every entry on the application form. Many buyers are being told by friends and family that the process was a hundred times easier when they bought their home ten to twenty years ago. There are  two very good reasons  that the loan process is much more onerous on today’s buyer than perhaps any other time in history. 1. The government has set new guidelines that now demand that the bank proves beyond any doubt that you are indeed capable of paying the mortgage. During the run-up to the housing crisis, many people ‘qualified’ for mortgages that they could never pay back. This led to millions of families losing their home. The government wants to make sure this can’t happen again. 2. The banks don’t want to be in the real estate business. Ove

The month of July is almost here and we have tons going on at the office. Come join us, we'd be happy to see you. Please pre-register for any classes that have online registrations. Real Estate Test Prep Registration: https://bhhstestprep.eventbrite.com Career Night Registration: https://bhhsfwcareer.eventbrite.com Jump- Start | Bringing Energy to Your Business: https://jumpstartnw.eventbrite.com

Here are 5 compelling reasons listing your home for sale this summer makes sense. 1. Demand Is Strong The latest  Buyer Traffic Index  from the  National Association of Realtors  (NAR) shows that buyer demand remains strong throughout the vast majority of the country. These buyers are ready, willing, and able to purchase… and are in the market right now! More often than not, multiple buyers are competing with each other for the same home. Take advantage of the buyer activity currently in the market. 2. There Is Less Competition Now Housing  inventory  is still under the 6-month supply needed for a normal housing market. This means that, in most of the country, there are not enough homes for sale to satisfy the number of buyers. Historically, the average number of years a homeowner  stayed  in his or her home was six, but that number has hovered between nine and ten years since 2011. Many homeowners have a pent-up desire to move, as they were unable to sell over the last

Some Highlights: If you are planning on listing your house for sale this year, these four  home improvement projects  will net you the most Return on Investment (ROI). Minor renovations can go a long way toward improving the quality of your everyday life and/or impressing potential buyers. Whether you plan to stay in your house for a long time or just a few years, it’s smart to know which home renovations add the most value. JUNE 14, 2019 / BY  KCM CREW

During the housing market crash, Gen X homeowners lost more wealth than other generations. However, things are changing now! A strong economy, increasing home prices, and the recovery of the housing market are helping this generation to regain their lost wealth. According  to  Pew Research Center , “ Their fortunes have rebounded more than those of other generations during the post-recession economic expansion and as home and stock prices have risen. Since 2010, the median net worth of Gen X households has risen 115%. In fact, in 2016, the most recent year with available data, the net worth of a typical Gen X household had surpassed what it was in 2007 ($84,200 vs. $63,400) ”. The same report also mentioned, “ 15% of Gen X’s homeowners were ‘underwater’ on their homes in 2010 (meaning they owed more than they owned). By 2016 only 3% were underwater. ” As a result of homes regaining market value and their increasing net worth, many Gen Xers are presented with the opport

A lot is happening in the world, and it’s having a direct impact on the housing market. The reality is this: some of it is positive and some of it may be negative. Some we just don’t know yet. The following three areas of the housing market are critical to understand: interest rates, building materials, and the outlook for an economic slowdown. 1. Interest Rates One of the most important things to consider when buying a home is the interest rate you will be charged to borrow the money. In our  recent post  we posed the question,  “Are Low Interest Rates Here To Stay?”  The latest information from  Freddie Mac  makes it appear they are. We are currently at a 21-month low in interest rates. 2.  Building Materials Talk of tariffs could also affect the housing market. According to a  recent article , the  National Association of Home Builders  reports that as much as $10 billion in goods imported from China are used in homebuilding. Depending on the outcome of the tariff and t