The market is finally warming up in key Seattle neighborhoods after a very long cold winter / recession. We are at a unique transition time in the market, with inventory at an all time low and demand starting to rise. Homes are either selling in 30 days or sitting on the market for over 3 months. There is not much in between. So why are some homes flying off the market with multiple offers and others languishing unsold?

The bottom line is that buyers might be suddenly ready and able to buy BUT – they want perfection, a great deal or both. Hence, you have to make today’s buyer choose your home over the waiting game. Brisk as this market might be, there are still many buyers willing to wait for “just the right home at the right price.” This is where the Divas step in. Below is a quick run down of the steps that we go through with our Diva Dwellers to make their home stand out. Something we call “The Diva Difference.”

Create an Emotional Connection Between the Buyer and Your Home: Many of you have heard about agents making sellers bake cookies before the open house. Sounds cheesy, right? But most people love the smell of warm chocolate chip cookies. Why would someone leave a hip Capitol Hill flat for a cute little two-bedroom bungalow in Columbia City? They leave the Hill because they want a dog, a yard and a gourmet kitchen of their own to bake cookies. They want a home! There are numerous ways to do this besides cookie baking but do it you must to create that special connection.

Create an Urban Garden: A victory garden in a yard appeals to most buyers in Seattle regardless of their price point. We all want better access to fresh foods and an activity that we can share with our loved ones. Growing one’s own vegetables is not only sustainable but it creates the image of community and setting down roots in a space.

Make your Kitchen/Bathroom Divalicious: You do not have to spend a lot of money but even a minor sprucing up of a kitchen can make all the difference. Today’s buyers are very conservative and have limited funds for remodeling after making a purchase. New paint, new counter tops or even just updated appliances can make all the difference in creating that emotional connection between the home and the targeted buyer. Check out post about getting your kitchen Diva ready>

Price at Market Value: The last ten years we have experienced huge market surges followed by a market crash. Although all indications show we are on our way to a stable market, price is still key. Pending sales might be on the increase but so are the number of homes with price reductions, which means there are still sellers chasing the market down. Do you want to be the home that sells in 30 days or the one that sells in 90 days at a below market value?

Perfect Marketing: Team Diva works closely with our Diva Dwellers and our team to create a story around the home and to connect that home to its potential new owner. Most people think that all it takes to sell a home is some pretty pictures and MLS number. In reality, you have to create emotional value through the marketing to reach real estate brokers and then their buyers. Team Diva does this through a multiple of different streams. The most important aspect for us is the work we do with our Architectural Photographer, John Wilbanks. It is easy to take a nice picture of a pretty kitchen but there is real skill in photographing homes. John’s photos make our homes stand out from the crowd and we use them in all of our marketing. John is perfect at capturing our vision so that we can communicate it through our print, online and social media marketing to the right buyer for each home.

Every home and neighborhood is different. You may need to sell down the road or are just curious about what is going on in your neighborhood. Give the Divas a ring and we can help you figure out what the next steps are for you and your family for your home.

The inspection is completed and now it’s time for the hard work: Reviewing the resale certificate of the condo building. The resale certificate is part of a larger package of information that is produced by the property management company or the board of the condo association as part of your purchase into the community. Most buyers receive this package and are overwhelmed by the mountain of information that is being tossed at them with only five days to review and approve. We are going to break down the critical items that you as a condo Diva Dweller/buyer need to know to ensure you are buying into a community that is in tip top financial and physical shape.

The Resale Certificate + Condo Package
The resale cert is a summary of everything that is contained in the condo package. It indicates what your unit dues are going to run you monthly, any pending assessments/work coming up in the near future, etc. Read the entire resale cert. The critical items that we review are as follows:

• Unpaid Dues in the Building: Given our current climate there are often unpaid dues in a condo building. It is the first sign of a foreclosure. These things happen but if it is happening at such a rate that the condo building is suffering economically than this should be a red flag to talk about with your Real Restate Diva.
• Amount in Reserves Compared to the Reserve Study: Some smaller newer buildings probably will not have conducted a reserve study.  More than likely everything is fresh and new that there is no need to think about work ten years down the road. It is our recommendation that every condo building conduct a reserve study and start actively working to building up their financial reserve fund. A reserve study looks at the replacement and/or repair costs for major work in the building. This would include siding, roofs, plumbing, etc.  The recommendation is that an association should be contributing about 20% of their yearly dues to building up the reserve fund. Yikes – that could mean a hike in dues, but that is always better than unexpected work resulting in an assessment.
• Pending Work: Review the type of work is planned and the funds to cover the work.
• Owner/Renter Ratio: As a homeowner/Diva Dweller one should always be looking down the road to ensuring the ability of the home to be sold. A high renter ratio indicates that you mostly have investors in the building. Investors are way more likely to default on their loans then a homeowner. Look for at least 55% owner occupied buildings. Preferably a rental cap of 30% renters is the best in our book. But your needs may be different.
• Lawsuits: Believe it or not there are actually law firms out there that do nothing but prey on small condo buildings to go into litigation over nonsense issues. Very few lenders will fund a building where there is an active lawsuit. Once a lawsuit is in the works that condo building could be locked up for years without the ability for owners to sell their homes. As a result you will see a spike in foreclosures in these types of situations. Sometimes it is critical that the association go after the original developer for legitimate issues so the building does not have to pay for someone else’s mistakes. Review each situation and judge for yourself.
• Fee Schedule: The fee schedule details out the move in/out fees, recording fees and other little nuances when a change in a unit’s ownership occurs. Some of this is included as part of your loans costs that will be detailed on your HUD statement. Call your escrow person to get a clear idea of the exact amounts, as every building is different in what they require.

Minutes
There are two types of minutes – Board and Association minutes. As part of the package you will receive six months of board minutes and two years of association minutes. The minutes are where one finds the juicy bits of how a condo building functions. Is anyone discussing future work? Is the roof leaking? Smaller buildings might only meet once a year and not hold regular meetings. Our stance is to get involved with your building and protect your investment. Improvements can always be made. See our get your condo in shape article for ideas>

Budget
Take a look at the budget and make sure you see line items for the reserve fund, repairs and other items. It’s always good to make sure the building is doing what they can do to keep the building in tiptop shape. You might own your home from the walls in but you and your neighbors are responsible for the entire building.

CC&Rs
The CC&Rs are the rules and regulations for your building. Here is where you will find out about the pet policy, usage of the common areas and other little bits about living in a larger community. The most accurate CC&Rs will be included in your title report.

Reserve Study (if available)
Take a look at the reserve study. The amounts estimated are always higher than the actual work. Assume that the association is not going to be able to fund the reserves overnight. Make sure they are making strides to fund the amounts stated in the reserve study.

Changes are always happening and our best advice is to get involved and stay involved with the association. As a homeowner in a condo building you are buying not just the unit but into the overall community. There are a bunch of items to review to make sure it is the right community for you. Thankfully most condo buildings are aware of the situation in today’s market and are actively working toward a better community. Back in the mid 2000s, homeowners treated their building like they were renters. Now we have way more involvement and people truly care about each other and their building. Check out our post about “Getting Your Condo Community Into Shape” as a point of reference once you become a homeowner/Diva Dweller.

Spring is the best time for Diva Dwellers to put their house on the market. Consistently one sees higher number of sales and better prices fetched during the spring. Around this time of year we start to get a lot of calls from our Diva Dwellers who are ready to finally have a second bathroom, a garage, move out of their condo, or whatever the reason they want to sell their current dwelling for one up the street. The Divas walk in and, with a keen eye, look for how we can sell the home for top dollar, at minimal expense, and make it easy for our folks. Often we come across a kitchen that needs a Diva makeover.

The kitchen is the home’s center stage. It is where people congregate during parties, it is where we bake cute cupcakes and plan large dinner parties. It is also an area where buyers can easily identify issues. Buyers will quickly perceive value or discount on purchase price based on what they find in a kitchen. But more importantly the kitchen is where our home owning imaginations can really take flight.

Think about it from the buyer’s perspective. Many people are working well above forty hours a week and have super tight funding restrictions to buy a home. The idea of having to ALSO renovate a kitchen on top of coming up with their down payment is going to be the difference of selling your house or not selling it at all. Here are some hints to make that Kitchen fantastic for not a lot of money!

Let’s get your kitchen in Diva-riffic shape!

Step 1: Keep Original Cabinets if They are in Good Condition
Look at ways to repaint, re-stain and/or refresh the existing panels. You can also order new cabinet faces for way less money than having to replace all of the cabinets. Obviously if you are in a higher end market consider spending a little more in this area to get that stunning updated look and feel.

Step 2: Make Sure All of the Appliances Match
Yes – buyers will notice if you have a stainless steel stove, white dishwasher and a refrigerator that is getting ready to break down. Upgrade to stainless steel if it makes sense. But more importantly just make sure it all looks clean and simple.

Step 3: Smart Ways to Upgrade Your Counters
Do you still have the original builder grade tile counters? Or the sexy green tile from the former owner. Were you waiting for just the right counter to come around? Well now is the time. Here is our number one suggestion. Go to Stone World in the SoDo. Go to the back or into the yard. They sell slab counters that are remnants. Other recent favorites that we adore is a slab of marble found at Second Use on a kitchen island. The surrounding counters are butcher block from Ikea. Economical and so French countryside yummy.

Step 4: Flooring Can Finish the Look
Kitchen floors are a train wreck of food preparation, pets, kids and other disasters. It’s the most traveled and used space in your entire house. Wear and tear can easily come through and require a simple upgrade. People adore cork, marmoleum, and hardwoods over the peel and stick flooring of our youth. As usual, make sure your flooring integrates with the look of your kitchen. There are lots of great wood laminate flooring products that look more expansive than they are in reality.

Step 5: Paint to Impress / Please No Yellow
Lots of people think that yellow looks fun and festive. Seattle’s reflective light has lots of green and blue hues. As a result many yellow painted rooms photograph in a way that looks sickly. Stick with a theme and make sure it integrates with the counters, cabinets and flooring. Personally, I’m a big fan of latte, stark white, Tiffany blue, steel grey, and other colors that make the food you are preparing center stage.

Photos of Diva Dwellings Post Kitchen Refreshes

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some inspiration articles to get you going:

• LOVE THIS: A DYI Kitchen Reno that Keeps the Original Cabinets. So sexy»
• Diva Budget-daro: Love this cute montage of adorable renovated kitchens»
• 16 Small Kitchens: Lots of urbanites live in condos with mini kitchen»
• Kitchens Sell a House»
• Apartment Therapy: Refresh a Kitchen on a Very Small Budget»

Always feel free to check out our remodeling resources page or Swanking up for the Sale to get you started. Also – Team Diva love to catch up with our pals and see how your house is coming along. Give us a ring if you are thinking about updating, renovating, selling, just want to have coffee, etc. Let’s get that house sold with a new Diva Kitchen!

One of the biggest question we get from our clients is “What is the market doing? Are we improving yet?” Well if January is any indication of how the rest of 2012 is going to go then I say “We are on our way!”

The best way to clarify our answer is to look at the inventory in Seattle and where we see movement. During the last week only 127 homes came on the market as “new” listings. The majority of these homes were taken off over the holidays and are now back on the market. The number of homes that went under contract in the same time period was about 238. Basically this is indicating that there are way fewer homes on the market than meets the current demand. Now let’s look at that Demand rate.

Diva HQ Demand Rate
January has been a whopper of a month for Team Diva. Here at Diva Headquarters we have eight homes under contract and we are only in the third week in January. This exact same time last year we had ONE. That is just what we are experiencing, and as you know its different for everyone.

Let’s take a closer look at what we call the Demand Rate. Demand Rate indicates how many buyers are in the market for every home that is listed. On Capitol Hill we have averaged around six to nine months of inventory for condos. Or one buyer for every nine condos on the market. Right now the demand rate is hovering around 1.68. Basically that is one and 2/3 condo for every buyer. We like the look of those numbers!

Seattle Demand Rate
All of Seattle: 1.76
All of Seattle without Distressed Homes: 2.65
Seattle Residential Homes: 1.54
Seattle Condos: 2.4

Back to the question – What is the market doing?

• Buyers: Overall we are moving into a more positive environment. As a buyer I would recommend being aggressive if you are looking in the core Seattle neighborhoods. These would be Ballard, Wallingford, Greenlake, Bryant, Capitol Hill, Admiral Area of W. Seattle, Columbia City and the always super popular Central District. It’s been a real estate desert in these neighborhoods. Nothing new has come on market this entire January. And when it does, it’s snatched up quicker than a Drag Queen applies lipstick.
  
• Sellers: As for sellers, I would personally suggest you only sell your home if it gives you the opportunity to buy a larger home for your family while prices are still depreciated. 2012 is a comeback year and the only way prices are going to increase is if the inventory remains low. Luckily for all of us it looks like the inventory is going to stay low for quite awhile!

The Seattle Times recently released an article that shows the numbers improving from a national perspective. Check it out and let’s keep moving forward Seattle!

 

 

The past week has been amazing both globally and locally. First off it has been stunning to see the people led uprisings occurring in the middle east. Nationally the budget deficit debates in our own country are just heating up. Here in Seattle we were all left feeling stunned by the decision of prosecutors to not pursue criminal charges against Ian Burk the police officer who fatally shot the Native American wood carver. And just when you feel the ground under you stabilize the Divas walked up to On the Boards under the rising full moon to be blown away by Kidd Pivot’s Dark Matter. Whew!

Other News ->

Photo courtesy of Glenn Roberts: www.glennaroberts.com/ravenna-park-north

Roosevelt Neighborhood Held Hostage By Developer: A very revealing story was released thanks to the Roosiehood Neighborhood Blog about developer Hugh Sisley and his boarded up buildings in the Roosevelt neighborhood. According to a recent PI article via the Rossiehood Blog “Sisley has a vision for the “maturing” Roosevelt neighborhood, including finding the “right developer” to take advantage of future light rail, potential “increased zoning” and the “more than 150,000 square feet and more than four city blocks available for development.”

The neighborhood will drastically be changed by this huge development. It will increase traffic, change the usability of the hood and all of this without any account of the hood’s character and charm. In the mean time Sisley is holding the hood ransom to move forward with the development by boarding up and putting ugly chain link fences around the properties. Unless the community agrees with the developer’s zoning changes the neighborhood will be continued to be blighted by these abandoned buildings. Home values will be impacted and true modern urban design progress will not occur! Read more on the Ravenna-Roosevelt Zoning Issues Blog->
If you care about development and design in Seattle PLEASE speak up and follow @rossiehood on twitter and check out the Rossiehood Neighborhood Blog.

Greenleaf Construction is up there on The Divas list of primo green builders in Seattle. We have sold a number of their projects to our Diva Dwellers and we seek out each new project with relish. We love their quirky style and their bold use of color and materials. Plus, these folks strive to design high efficiency modern green homes that are fun as well as functional. That adds up to a Diva Five Star rating!

As part of our Green Built Home Tour this Saturday, Feb 19th, the Divas will have open a fantastic Judkins Park Modern Town Home built by Greenleaf Construction. We sold this fab home in 2008 to some of our fav Diva Dwellers. The unique design and lay out of this project, plus the fact that it is certified Built Green, is what attracted our clients to the home.  Although we are sad to see our friends trek off to California, we are excited to bring this cool home back on the market.

Here is a little pre-tour preview but trust us – you will want to see this home live and in living color this Saturday if you can. Read more about the tour after the jump->

Last month I attended the Phinney Ridge Neighborhood Center’s “Home Design & Remodel Fair.” Since then, I’ve been obsessed with the idea of using reclaimed materials for my home projects.

Team Diva Real Estate love a good Green home – whether they are new-built or remodeled homes. We aren’t the only ones. Seattle home buyers are increasingly attracted to homes that are either built with or have incorporated green materials into their construction. More and more home stores are offering materials and fixtures that are earth friendly, making green design more accessible to homeowners. One option that home owners aren’t as aware of is using reclaimed materials for their home.

While at the Phinney Ridge Neighborhood Home Design and Remodel Fair, I had the chance to talk to the guys from The RE Store, a community-based non-profit organization that offers high quality used building materials, salvage services, community education and workshops. The RE Store, and other stores like it, offer a wide variety of lumber, furniture, fixtures and hardware. You can put in hardwood floors without the need to cut down any new trees, or you can use vintage hardware to replace the door knobs throughout your home, giving it a unique look.  Whether it’s for big projects or for small ones, the variety of reclaimed materials and fixtures available enable you to find that one-of-a-kind piece that will make your home express you.

The RE Store – Seattle Location

1440 NW 52nd St.

206.297.9119