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Mark your calander. The next Issaquah Highlands Community Garage Sale will be on Saturday, June 23, 2007.

Stay tuned for more details.

Once a month several women in the Issaquah Highlands get together and roll the dice! But we do much more than that! We chat. We visit. We eat yummy food. Quite simply - it is a plain old fashion and low key girls night out.

What I really love about Bunco is the diversity and the age range of the group. There is everyone from young to old, single and married, working and retired and everything in between. Speaking from personal experience, the women of the group care about each other and are a wonderful support when times are tough. I also love that you can choose to participate if you want, and that you can come to as many or as few events as you want and you can always pick right up where you left off.

We meet the first Monday of each month starting at 7pm. We usually meet at Blakley Hall, but sometimes we meet up in each other homes. Come join us for our next night of fun - April 2nd. Feel free to give me a jingle if you want more details or have any questions.

A fun family event for all in the community is the upcoming Easter Egg Hunt. The event is going to be held on Saturday April 7th.

The information was sent out in the weekly community email, but in case you missed it or don’t get it:

 

 

Issaquah Highlands Easter Egg Hunt
Date: Saturday, April 7th
Time: 10:00-11:00 am
Cost: Free
Location: Central Park
Weather: Rain or shine!

Download the coloring contest page here!

This year�s festivities will include lots of eggs, a chance to find a golden ticket and redeem for a prize, face painting, arts and crafts, hot chocolate, and other activities for you, your family, and neighbors to enjoy. A drawing will also be held at the end of the event for the winners of the coloring contest. Must be present to win.

To increase the fun (and make it easier on parents with multiple children!), there will be three staggered hunts:

• Ages 0-3
• Ages 4-7
• Ages 8+

Bring your Easter basket!
Questions? Call Blakely Hall at 425-507-1107. Thanks to John Thompson and the Highlands Council for hosting this event.

New stores and restraunts. New builders and neighborhoods. New rules and regulations. New clubs. New community infrastructure. The list goes on and on.

One benefit of being a resident here in the Highlands is that you get to hear about all the intereting things that are happening in our neighborhood before most. To really get the full benefit of this though, you need to:

1. Read Connections - The Monthly Newspaper of the Issaquah Highlands
2. Follow the Issaquah City Weekly Updates
3. Talk to people that live and work in the Highlands

For those that don’t do any of the above, it’s a good thing that you stopped by here.

In addition to uncovering everything the Highlands has to offer, I plan on making sure current residents are aware of what is going on in our community. And just as important, for all those that are thinking about making a move to the Highlands, making sure you know as much as possible about this wonderful community.

How’s that for a loaded headline.

Recently, I have been asked what I want to have RedBrickBlog focus on…real estate education or the Issaquah Highlands?

The answer for right now is BOTH.

I need to thank Robbie over at RCG and Caffeinated Software for nominating my blog as one of his favorites covering the Issaquah Highlands. I have just barely started to scratch the surface and I already have a fan. I am flattered. THANKS ROBBIE.

I am drawn to the educational focus because real estate is my passion and I enjoy educating the consumer through the process. It is that passion that I want to harness to catapult me to be the best real estate blogger possible. I am hoping to take that passion and focus it on my community and educating my neighbors and future potential neighbors about all the wonderful things that Issaquah Highlands embodies.

So for now, this blog will cover both topics. That said, I do plan on having significantly more Issaquah Highlands content. And if that weren’t enough, I do have some plans in the future that will allow me to separate relevant content into multiple niche blogs. But for now it is one step at a time.

I pose this question to readers…What do you want to see? I would love to hear your feedback and ideas. Who knows, it might help some of my ideas bubble to the surface even quicker.

Of course it is…and it isn’t. Hmmm…

I recently had a friend email me and ask my opinion of what is going on in our local marketplace and whether I would feel comfortable buying right now.

Specifically they asked:

• What are your thoughts on the sub-prime market going belly up?
• Do you think Seattle is insulated enough (real estate wise) to not be affected?
• Do you think the sub prime mess will trickle into our economy and cause a big recession?
• Would you advise against buying right now especially with a 5 yr I/O mortgage?

First off, WOW, that’s a lot to cover. Let me see if I have this straight.

1. Predict whether or not an entire segment of the lending industry goes away (and takes thousands of jobs with it).
2. Predict the effect of an event, that may or may not happen, on the Seattle real estate market.
3. Predict the effect of an event, that may or may not happen, on the Seattle economy.
4. Advise someone on the viability of purchasing a home using an Interest Only loan product with no knowledge of their financial situation.

Here is my short answer:

1. It won’t completely.
2. If I were a betting person, it won’t effect it in a meaningful way.
3. See Response #2
4. Do I look like a mortgage broker?

Obviously I gave them some more color than that, but I will save that for another post…or four.

In Part 1 of this multi-part series covering the various costs associated with the home purchase and subsequent ownership, I wrote about the down-payment. Today I am going to focus on defining earnest money.

Earnest money is the money that you, as a buyer, put at risk during the period from mutual acceptance to closing. This money is designed to show the seller that you are serious about your desire to purchase the property and that you are willing to risk some money if you were to default on the terms of the contract and not proceed with purchasing the home. Customarily speaking, earnest money is anywhere between 1% and 3% of the purchase price.

One thing that is important for both buyers and sellers to know is that the majority of real estate contracts in the state of Washington are buyer friendly. What I mean by this is that when properly monitored, it is quite difficult for a buyer to “default” on the terms of the contract. In fact, there are generally several “outs” between the time of mutual acceptance to contract close that a buyer can back out of purchasing the home and have their earnest money returned to them in full. Some examples of these common “out” clauses are the Seller Disclosure Statement, Inspection Contingency, Title Contingency and Financing Contingency. These four contingencies are left to the buyer’s subjective satisfaction. That is an important fact for both buyers and sellers to understand so that, depending on which side of the contract you are on, you can protect their interests.

So how does earnest money relate to closing costs and down-payment?

Earnest money is deposited with an escrow company and is applied toward the total amount that you need to bring to closing. This total dollar figure is a combination of the total down-payment and closing costs. It is important to note that earnest money IS NOT additional money that you need to bring to the transaction.It is merely paid at the front end of the transaction, as opposed to the back end, and is the money that is put at risk if you should choose to “default” on the terms of the contract.

Another great thing about living in Issaquah Highlands; the parks and trails.

Unfortunately, during the windstorm that hit the Puget Sound in December, some serious damage occurred on several of the community trails.

Our beloved Cathy’s Trail was one that was hit hardest and we need to get it cleaned up in time for the Annual Arbor Day Celebration in April.

A volunteer cleanup crew is meeting at Trailhead Vista (on Park Drive across from the sport court) at 9:00am on Saturday, March 24th. If you can help out, your support would be greatly appreciated. Bring work gloves and wear appropriate footwear. Tools will be provided. This is a fun chance to give back to the community and get to know some neighbors.

If you have any questions, please email the organizers at parksandtrails *at* ihcommunity.org.

Before delving into a home purchase, whether it be for the first time or the 10th, it is important to begin with the end in mind. By that, I mean knowing what costs are truly associated with purchasing and owning a home. With all the shake-up going on right now in the lending industry, I think it is very important that the consumer be educated. This will allow a consumer to make a more informed decision and hopefully prevent them from getting into financial distress down the road.

To facilitate this education, I am going to do a multi-part series on the various costs associated with the home purchase and subsequent ownership.

The term I want to focus on in part one of this series is down-payment. In recent years, there have been a multitude of loan products available to consumers, allowing for “zero down” transactions. While a few of these products will remain, those programs are not going to be so readily available to the majority of us out there. This makes understanding what a down-payment is very important.

A down-payment is the amount of money, usually discussed in terms of a percentage of the purchase price, that a buyer is bringing to the transaction that goes towards the purchase price of a home. For example if you were purchasing a $500,000 property and getting a conventional loan for 80% of the purchase price ($400,000 loan), you would be bringing 20%, or $100,000, of your own money to the transaction to fund the purchase. That $100,0000 or 20% is considered the “down-payment”. The greater the percentage of the down-payment in relation to the purchase price, the stronger and more qualified you, the buyer, appear. This not only reflects well to lending institutions, but to sellers as well. Generally speaking, the stronger the home buyer appears to the lending institution, the more favorable the interest rate they are able to obtain. Thus, it can be helpful to bring in a sizable down-payment. And with the changes in the lending institution, while it won’t become the only way to home ownership, it may become the least expensive way, at least in terms of interest rates - but more on that later in the series.

In order to determine the best financial strategy for you, it is very important to speak with an experienced mortgage consultant (if you would like a recommendation please feel free to email me). By speaking with them, not only can they get you pre-approved, they will be sure to consult with you on all your loan product options to make sure you make the best decision for you. Combine that advice with the skills of a professional real estate agent who can best present and negotiate your position, you will be on the road to a smoother transaction.

So when is this down-payment due?

The simplest answer is that it is due at the time of closing either via a cashiers check delivered to escrow 24 hours prior to closing, or via a wire transfer from your financial institution up to the morning of the day the transaction is to close. Most wire transfers need to be received by around 10:00 am in order for them to clear in time for the transaction to record with the county. (Note that if you choose to send the money via a wire transfer, your financial institution may charge you a service fee. Be sure to check with your institution first if this is a concern for you.) With that said, some of the down-payment may have already been delivered to escrow in the form of “earnest money”. If earnest money was part of your transaction, and it probably was, then that earnest money gets applied toward the total dollar figure ($500,000 + closing costs) the purchaser needs to bring to the closing table in order to completely fund the transaction. I will talk about earnest money and closing costs in more detail later in this series, so for now I won’t go off on that tangent.

In a nutshell, the down-payment is the portion of the purchase price that a borrower/purchaser is bringing to the transaction, with the balance of the purchase price coming from a lending institution.

Stay tuned for a break down on other terms such as: earnest money and closings costs as well as clarification on where the funds that make up a down-payment can come from and other related topics that a buyer must be aware of.

Just a friendly reminder to change back your clocks this Sunday, March 11 at 2:00 a.m.. Daylight savings time has changed because of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This policy reform was put in place in an effort to reduce our nations energy consumption. Now we get 4 more weeks of DST by starting it earlier and waiting longer to change back the clocks in the fall.

If you have any plans on Sunday, you might want to change the clocks back Saturday night before bed. I know that’s what I will be doing since I have the joy of taking my husband to the airport early Sunday morning.

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