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In a previous post on the appreciation in real estate prices that Issaquah Highlands has seen comparing 2006 to 2007, I showed some data on the resale’s that had occurred in Issaquah Highlands between 2006 and 2007. Shaq, one of my readers, inquired about specifically about one home that had shown a anemic 1% increase in price from the time it was first purchased in 2006. So I decided to dig in a little bit to investigate why this house is such an outlier.

House 29 indeed has had an interesting history.

The home was first on market in 2005 as new construction and was originally listed in the high $600,000 getting moved up to $704,950 where it generated an offer in May of 2006. The house finally closed in November 2006 with a sales price of $713k,000. The increase in price probably was related to upgrades put into the home as well as the increase developers were making in prices at the time to account for market demand.

The original buyer then tried to sell the home only four (yes you read that right; FOUR) months later in March of 2007 hitting the market at $800,000. In my opinion, the listing was overpriced and underwent a series of price reductions:

• first reduction - 04/12/2007 - $775,000
• second reduction - 05/21/2007 - $769,950
• third reduction - 06/04/2007 - $759,950
• fourth reduction - 06/20/2007 - $755,000
• fifth reduction - 08/13/2007 - $739,000

The home finally generated an offer at the $739,000 asking price. The home closed on October 1, 2007 for $722,000 - still an increase in price over the original sales price a year earlier.

This quick turnaround does not appear to be the result of someone trying to “flip” but rather a less than timely relocation as the property was originally listed with the owners of record on the deed, but that changed to a relocation firm shortly before the house sold. In my opinion the 7 month market time was in large part due to an overly optimistic original listing price. I would suspect that if the home were originally listed closer to $760,000, it would have sold sooner and closer to asking price than it did. Stair stepping down in price is not the way to get your house sold. When you do that, you end up chasing the market.

While this example is interesting because it shows us what happens in value over the course of a year or two (it did increase) obviously in this instance the increase was not enough to cover the expenses. That being said though - I don’t know many people who end up having to list their home for sale four months after moving in. My guess is the employee was “bought out” of his home by the relocation company and the relocation company / new employer was willing to take the hit. They will even be able to write it off.

I do think real estate is a great investment - but I believe in the buy and hold method vs flipping.

Wondering what to do with old electronics that have since been replaced by great gifts you received over the holidays?

The Take It Back Network can help you with that dilemma. They have several locations in King County that recycle old TV’s, computers, monitors, etc. This is a great resource since you can no longer dispose of these types of items in your garbage container in King County. Costco also works with a company called Green Sight where you can recycle the stuff for free and potentially get some trade in value.

They can also recycle old cell phones, but if you have cell phones to dispose of, check out Cell Phones for Soldiers or WirelessFundraiser.com where you can choose a wide array of charities that will get the proceeds from the recycled cell phones.

Both organizations will help get cell phones or money into the hands of those in need.

As an Realtor and Accredited Staging Professional like myself, it is my job to help home sellers get top dollar for their home. Staging a home to sell plays a key role in making sure that sellers get every last dollar of value out of their home. In order to do that, it is imperative that you market and price a home well as to attract the largest pool or buyers, but you have to grab the buyers attention when they open the door. It is in those first few seconds that you want to make sure potential buyers can easily see themselves living there.

Once you put a For Sale sign in the yard, you should be mentally moved out of your home. Detaching yourself and your emotions from your home is one of the hardest parts of selling your home but it it is also one of the most critical. You need to convince yourself that while you may still be living there, it is no longer YOUR home. Rather it is merely a house that is nothing more than a product to be sold for top dollar to someone else who will soon make it THEIR home. YOUR next home is now waiting for you wherever your next destination is, be it down the street, across town or across the country.

With this in mind it is imperative that you get to packing those things that make your house a home. Pack up all your personal photographs and family heirlooms. Buyers often times can’t see past your personal style choice and touches to the house, and the last thing you want is for them to be distracted. Buyers need to imagine their own photos on the walls, and they can’t do that if yours are there! You don’t need to make the house look like it is deserted and vacant but you do want it to be de-personalized enough that buyers can see themselves living there.

No matter where you are, but especially in a neighborhood like Issaquah Highlands where resellers are still very much competing with new construction, staging your home is very important.
Stay tuned for the next posts in my series on Staging Your Home To Sell.

For more information about staging your home or Accredited Staging Professionals like myself, feel free to give me a call.

Every neighborhood has it’s ugly side. You know, the stuff that nobody wants to talk about. For some neighborhoods it could be the Home Owners Association. For others it might be that bad resident that parks cars on their front lawn and leaves their trash out in the street all week long or that the city is going to build a giant monorail smack dab through the middle of the development.

My husband recently sent me an email from one of the Issaquah Highlands residents and I immediately realized what the ugly side of Issaquah Highlands is.

TRASH!

That’s right, you heard me. TRASH! For some reason visitors to the Issaquah Highlands think the side of our roads and our green space is a proverbial dumping ground for their milk jugs, beer cans and Mc Donald’s lunch bags. Take a look at some of these pictures below and you will see what I mean.

I am sure their is a resident or two that are guilty of this kind of behavior, but by and large this is being done by non-residents. This kind of behavior infuriates me. I take pride in my community and I want visitors to see that pride when they come here. I don’t want them to see a landfill.

If this kind of behavior and defamation of our neighborhood bother you too, I encourage you to contact the Issaquah Highlands Council and sign up for the proposed Adopt-A-Block program. In addition, please report all litterbugs to the non-emergency number for the Issaquah Police Department; provide as much detail including license plate numbers if possible. It is a pretty steep fine for the infraction and might make someone think twice about doing it. And last but not least, pick up a few pieces if you see this stuff. Everyone pitching in a little goes a long way.

Please do your part to help  keep Issaquah Highlands clean and green.

 

As of January 15th, I am happy to announce that Issaquah Highlands has one more shop open for business. And on top of that, it is the FIRST of many to go into the new Starpoint buildings at Park and 25th.

Alice’s Beauty Salon occupies one of the wonderful live/work spaces on the ground floor of Starpoint North. Alice Abercrombie, the owner of the salon does everything from basic haircuts for men, women and children to fancy colors and perms all at very reasonable prices.

I am super excited to see the shops starting to open up in Starpoint. With the pet spa opening up in February and the pizza shop and espresso bar opening up at the end of this month, our neighborhood is really starting to fill out.

Has anyone been paying attention to what the interest rate market has been doing lately?  The 30 year conventional loan which allows for amounts up as high as $417K has gone as low as 5.25% today!  We are almost at the all time low here?  This is some interesting times going on don’t you think?  If you aren’t ready to refinance or purchase your new home now, when will you be? 

Regardless of what is happening in the economy right now, you MUST take a look at your own finances and see if this is the time for you to take advantage of these incredible rates.  Do anything you can to consolidate your 2^nd mortgages or credit card obligations into these rates.  If you’ve got the equity to do so this is your time. 

Even jumbo rates have started to come down again.  Those are loan amounts over $417.  The scare of the summer when lenders were uncomfortable lending in those higher loan amounts are starting to calm their nerves and I’ve seen those rates as low 6.5% for the 30 year fixed loan.

I know it is scary out there with our questionable economy.  But don’t be afraid to make things better in your own finances.  As I said earlier this year, my goal is to give everyone positive information to make their lives better.  Here is one way it may work for you!  Call us to see if this is a possibility for you and your family!

That’s all. No big fancy blog post. Too dark to take any good pictures of the white stuff. But it is coming down and sticking.

The retail area in the Issaquah Highlands is finally starting to come together. Recently, Port Blakely and Opus released renderings of what the planned development for The High Streets will look like. Port Blakely and Opus brought in five different architects to design the various buildings so that there could be as organic a feel as possible to the design but trying to maintain some level of consistency and quality in the process. I like that they are doing this a lot.

I really like the plans that they have put forward and can’t wait until it all starts to come to fruition. This certainly will add a great deal to the Issaquah Highlands community as well as make more people want to move here and call the Highlands home.

Below are some of the site plans and approved renderings.

At the Retail Task Force Meeting on Tuesday, Port Blakely and Opus announced the first two “OFFICIAL” tenants with signed leases that will be moving into The High Streets.

Issaquah Highlands can welcome AT&T Wireless and Ben and Jerry’s Scoopshop to our growing community.

Since AT&T reception is pretty bad in the Highlands, I am not all to excited about that retailer. Now Ben and Jerry’s on the other hand is something I can get excited about. Sure, it’s no Coldstone Creamery or Marbletop, but hey, ice cream is ice cream - unless it’s from Baskin-Robbins.

More updates on the way. Stay tuned.

Tuesday night was another Retail Task Force Update.  As usual Judd Kirk and crew did not have much new to report. They still couldn’t give us the names of the possible retailers that are coming to The High Streets. They did however, have beautiful sketches of what the area is going to look like. The plan is to break ground this Spring and is scheduled to have a Fall 2009 Grand Opening with a completely full tenant list.

They also had the person in charge of finding tenants present and while she wasn’t super transparent about Issaquah Highlands, she did point to the types of tenants she has secured for similar projects in the past. The list is quite interesting and varied. It includes the likes of pedestrian retailers such as Old Navy and Starbucks to boutique retailers such as Zoka Coffee Roaster & Tea Company and Blue C Sushi.

Some notable things from the meeting were:

• Drugstore has signed LOI.
• Oregon Company has signed lease on lot for hotel.
• Grocer is still nailing down site plans but has been confirmed. We should see a Press Release in 2-3 weeks.
• Electronics Shop has signed LOI.
• Book Store with a Coffee Shop has signed LOI.
• King County has approved the use of the Park and Ride for future Cinema parking but has not determined what the cost will be to Port Blakely for this privilege.
• 50% of the retail space is accounted for through signed LOI’s. 30% (15% of total) of that should have signed leases in the next 6 months.
• Space is being preserved for a gas station but won’t happen unless the people demand it. Port Blakely and Opus are thinking indoor/underground station like in downtown Seattle.
• Two retailers have signed leases and are now public information…but you are going to have to wait for that one to come in the next post.

 

I am still very excited about it because I think it is going to be a wonderful gathering place for those of us who live in Issaquah Highlands as well as a draw to those from outside our community.

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