Kris Orlowski Band, a local Seattle Area group that I have featured in the past, just released their new video on YouTube using Chatroulette live on Kris' laptop sitting on the table.

I like Kris' voice and his music, but that is not the main reason I feature him here on "a real estate blog". There is so much about this band, as reflected in the videos, that truly reflect the Best of Seattle as to its culture. That's hard to define and explain...easier to see and watch! So enjoy the video!

Great job Kris! As always, I wish you and The Kris Orlowski Band the best of luck in all of your efforts. Another stellar release! Thanks for sharing it with me.

At the moment I can't seem to see the video by using the embed code below. For anyone else having the same problem, you can see the new video by clicking HERE

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Fresh Organic Produce delivered to your dooris not unique to the Seattle Area. In fact last week I visited my daughter in L.A. and she had a box of organic produce that is delivered every week.

About an hour ago I saw a truck bring a big blue plastic bin to the neighbor, and they at the same time picked up last week's big blue plastic bin. The Truck had this logo on it:

So I went to the website to get some more info and to my amazement found something that I have not been able to find in the stores in the Seattle Area. ESCAROLE!!!

on this week's Standard Seasonal Bin Menu

Escarole is one of the essential ingredients of Italian Escarole Soup, which is a Thanksgiving tradition for me, and I just can't find it! While I do not feel like making that soup today, I am tempted to run over to the neighbor and ask if I can buy the escarole from their Produce Bin dropoff.

NewRootsOrganics.com also has RECIPES and if anyone wants to swap me their escarole for my secret "Grandmother's Recipe" for our family tradition (Abruzzi Region) Italian Wedding Soup with the little meatballs... :)

Why? Why would you want a box of organic produce dropped off every week? Because it will encourage you to find new recipes and make healthy dinners evey night until you use the box of produce, instead of opting for fast food or microwave meals.

Loving Seattle...Loving Living in Seattle, comes with a desire to do good things and to support the efforts of businesses who do right things. YES, that is part of The Seattle Culture. While the Mayor is spearheading Zero Trash efforts, the citizenry can be supportive by buying it's produce in NO TRASH bins that get recycled every week and without grocery bags for each separate produce purchase AND compost any waste from the weeks delivery.

It's a Good Seattle Thing to do...no matter where you live :) Oh, and I LOVE that they tell you a bit about the Farmers who grow the things they sell in the sections called Meet Our Farmers.

In this economy...support the livelihood of businesses with good values.It's the least we can do to insure that The BEST survive...and not just the strong...

The culture of Seattleand the surrounding area is often more important than what kind of home you can buy here. When people buy in a certain neighborhood or move from another State, often the feeling of "not belonging here" is the main reason why people are unhappy (besides the weather) and move away.

I am thinking of a family who moved here from Georgia to Seattle. They drove here with their children in the biggest gas guzzling SUV ever made. They would get dirty looks everywhere they went...at the grocery store, at the mall, and most offensively...at the gas pump. They did not react by trying to fit in to The Culture of Seattle and their "new home" base. They reacted by getting mad...and eventually moving away.

Every area has an underlying "day to day" culture that defines it and trying to "be different" in an opposite direction and one the residents find offensive is generally not a good strategy. So I'm adding a Category to my blog titled "Seattle Culture" which you will find in the sidebar.

If you absolutely hate everything everyday Seattle people value most. If you do not share those values OR cannot bring yourself to try...then Seattle may not be a good place for you.

As I add posts on this topic, I will also add the links to those posts below: I will try to do at least 3 in the next 48 hours, so you have an idea of where I'm going with this. In the meantime, if you live in the Seattle Area and want to suggest a new topic, feel free to do that in the comments or by emailing me at ardelld@gmail.com

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Fresh Organic Produce Delivered to your door every week

Urban Gardening - The Seattle Way

A Great "Visual" of Seattle Culture in the backdrop of this video featuring the local Kris Orlowski Band filmed mostly at The Troll in Fremont and at Green Lake where they are playing cards in the grass.

Buying a home near Microsoft comes with some harsh realities that may not match what you "want" in a home. If you are planning to live near work, it is a good idea to look at what your options will likely be before going out to look at homes to buy.

For the purpose of this post I am using a 2.5 mile radius of "Microsoft" Redmond Campus. My start point for the radius was at 148th Ave and 36th (basically in the parking lot of Bellevue Manor condos). The stats are for Single Family Homes ONLY and the 2.5 miles takes you roughly to NE 8th in Bellevue going South, Redmond Way going North, slightly West of the 405 going West and to Lake Sammamish going East.I excluded homes with Lake Views,since they are in a class of their own and represent a small % of homes sold with a cost for that view.

If you open the category on this blog marked "tracking the market" you will see several entries for KBR or Kirkland, Bellevue and Redmond. As you can see in the chart below, the large majority of homes sold in 2010 within 2.5 miles of Microsoft are in Bellevue and some are in Kirkland, even though the Microsoft Campus is in Redmond. 148th Ave, which I call "the front of Microsoft", is the border line of Bellevue and Redmond. Marymoor Park and Lake Sammamish occupy a large portion of the "space" on the Redmond side within that 2.5 mile radius. That is why homes in Bellevue tend to outnumber those in Redmond when looking at the home sale stats closest to the Redmond Campus of Microsoft.

One of the harshest realities about living near work for Microsoft employees is the age of the homes nearby. Many are "old" and few are "charmingly old" and many, many have asbestos and lead based paint which was prevalent in building materials prior to 1978.

To understand this you have to understand the difficulties of getting across Lake Washington prior to 1963 when the 520 Bridge between Seattle and The Eastside was first opened for travel purposes.

That will help you understand why NONE of the homes sold within 2.5 miles of Microsoft in 2010 were built prior to 1955. No quaint older homes built in the early 1900s in that radius zone.

It will also help you to understand why so very many of the homes built on "The Eastside" near Microsoft were built between 1956 and 1978. A full 60% of all homes sold YTD 2010 near Microsoft, were built during that period. The pie chart below breaks the age range down for you. I use 1978 as a cutoff because lead based paint and other hazardous materials were pretty much banned at that time. So 1978 is a very important date in housing.

"Over 80% of all homes built in the U.S. prior to 1978 have lead based paint in them." Asbestos in the home is not as easy to define by a given year. Many homes built up to 1990 have some form of asbestos, and asbestos usage is not banned entirely even at that point. MOST IMPORTANTLY, the presence of lead paint and/or asbestos DOES NOT normally come up in the course of normal home inspections! So you have to know what to look for when it comes to asbestos and pretty much accept as a given that there is lead based paint in the house if it was built prior to 1978.

As you can see in the chart below, buying a newer home is easier said than done. Of the 37 houses (out of 231 sold) that were built in the year 2000 or later, only 18 of those cost $700,000 or less and 15 of those 18 were in Redmond and many of those 37 were in less than ideal locations given all of the best lots already have old houses on them. "tear downs" near Microsoft are not nearly as common as they are in Downtown Kirkland (as example), so buying a newer home at an affordable price usually means going out to Education Hill in Redmond or over to Issaquah or Sammamish...more travel time to work.

Often if a home buyer sits down and writes down everything they want in a home, they will NOT be finding those things "close to Microsoft" as in within 2.5 miles of work. While 60% of all homes sold in Redmond 98052 in 2010 were two story homes, only 85 of the 231 homes sold close to Microsoft were two story homes. The larger majority of homes sold were older 1 story homes or split entry homes.

If you are planning to buy a home near Microsoft, you need to know that many of the best homes are NOT awesome bargains and it is not a "buyer's market". It's not a "seller's market" either, and is pretty much a house to house issue.

231 homes sold YTD 2010 and 185 are For Sale.

On the Bellevue side in this radius there were 136 homes sold and 111 currently for sale.

On the Kirkland side in this radius there were 29 homes sold and 17 currently for sale.

On the Redmond side there were 72 sold and there are 57 currently for sale.

A lot of that has to to with the schools...particularly on the elementary school level...but that's the subject of another post for another day.

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(required disclosure: The Statistics in this post and its charts are not compiled by, verified by or posted by The Northwest Multiple Listing Service.)

The Federal Truth-In-Lending Disclosure Statement is a scary but very important document you will receive when applying for a mortgage, either at time of purchase or when you refinance your mortgage. Here is a good Sample Form of a Federal Truth-In-Lending Disclosure Statement in pdf format.

The question I am asked most often (as a Real Estate Broker vs a Lender) is about the Interest Rate shown in the first block under "Annual Percentage Rate". Most people are looking for the rate quoted by their lender on this form and are very surprised and alarmed to see a higher number in that first block at the top of the TIL. The primary purpose of that number is for comparison purposes, and to disclose what the ACTUAL rate is when you combine the up front costs with the stated mortgage rate. It is meant to be an easier way to compare total cost when shopping for a mortgage.

As example, if you are quoted a 4.5% interest rate by two different lenders, one with high up front costs and one with low up front costs, the APR will reflect which of the two mortgages is actually the better deal. The lower cost mortgage may show an APR of 4.883%, while the higher up front cost loan might show as 5.117%. BOTH are quoting you a rate of 4.5%, and in that regard are equal. BUT the APR will highlight the total cost scenario making it much clearer to you which is actually the better choice of the two mortgage offerings.

One might think that comparing the detail of the costs is a better way to compare, but that is not the case as most Lenders include costs of 3rd party venders like Title and Escrow costs, and a direct comparison of ONLY the loan costs as shown in the APR is a much better way to evaluate which is the best mortgage for you.

Mortgage Insurance is typically required unless you have 20% or more down payment at time of purchase. The "1st mortgage" is for 80% of the value of the home. Any additional amount financed is covered via mortgage insurance. This insurance protects the lender who financed any portion of the amount over the 80% loan to value, in the event the homeowner defaults on the loan and the home is sold at less than the original purchase price. You can get more detail on what mortgage insurance is and why it is required HERE.

There are several ways to get rid of MI. On conventional loans MI (Mortgage Insurance) is commonly referred to as PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) and on FHA loans it is known as MIP (Mortgage Insurance Premium). On Conventional Loans it is most often a monthly payment and on FHA loans it is a combination of an upfront (most often financed) payment plus a monthly payment.

The purpose of this post is to point out that at time of purchase, the Mortgage Insurance is determined by the Purchase Price AND NOT THE APPRAISED VALUE of the home. The VALUE for mortgage insurance purposes is either the purchase price OR the appraised value...whichever is LESS.

So if you purchase a home for $300,000 with 5% down and it appraises for $340,000, the mortgage insurance is based on the $300,000 and not the appraised value. BUTafter a short time, usually a minimum of six months, IF you refinance the property you can often get the mortgage insurance eliminated.

At the time of the refinance, the Loan to Value is no longer based on the Purchase Price. If the home appraises for an amount that causes the NEW LOAN to be 80% or less of the home's value, mortgage insurance will likely not be required on the new loan and you can save a bundle.

See details on one young man's success story in Truliaboy Refinances His Short Sale Purchase.

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Before you go out looking for a home to buy, draw yourself a basic box floorplan of what you want.

The "ideal" house today, in most any area of the Country...the one most often wanted by the "Average Joe" if they can afford it, looks something like this.

You can change the room sizes to match your budget, but you should expect a home like this to cost $700,000 give or take, depending on where it is. In Bothell you can get it brand new for about $600,000. In Redmond on Education Hill you can get it for about $700,000. In Bellevue it could cost as much as a million dollars, mainly because the areas where new housing is built also comes with a "view consideration" price tag or "status neighborhood" price tag.

This type of "ideal" home is near impossible to find in Seattle as the lot size needed to build this house is rarely available. In Kirkland I would say you could have it for $800,000 and up, depending on the neighborhood.

I am surprised to see local builders in the Seattle Area, excellent quality builders with sound reputations, offering homes that eliminate some of the main features of "the ideal home" without reducing the price tag. So be careful not to overlook some of these main components unless the price is low enough to warrant "giving up" some of these features.

Just because "you" don't care about a formal dining room or a formal living room doesn't mean the house is not MISSING these features, and it should be priced accordingly.

The bedrooms would be on the 2nd floor of this floor plan, and the math is shown at the top with the main floor at 1,386 and the 2nd floor at 1,760, since "the box" of the second floor goes partly over the garage. You can change the total square footage and price by playing with the room sizes. Just remember that when you are finished, it still has to be a box and the second floor must be supported by the first, so you have to adjust various rooms in unison. Try adjusting the total depth and width...and then the room sizes to fit that new "box" configuration.

The house should have at least 2 1/2 baths with two full bathrooms up, the master being what is called"a five piece master bath". Toilet + 2 sinks + shower + tub = 5 pieces.

For the highest of resale value, there should be 4 bedrooms up and three baths up, so the occupants of the 3 bedrooms do not ever need to use the master bathroom.

There is no huge rule for the 2nd floor layout, so I'm not showing that, but know that most people like the master bedroom and bath to be in the rear vs. the front of the home.There is often a discount if the master bed or bath is on the street facing side of the home.

VERY IMPORTANT: Rule of Thumb for a two story house with NO bedrooms on the main floor and at least three bedrooms up, is regardless of total square footage, you want to have 1,000 sf on the main floor if at all possible. Do not value 800 on the main the same as 1300 on the main, even if the total square footage of the two homes is the same. NEVER, EVER value square footage below the main level at the same price per square foot as the main or bedrooms "up" vs. bedrooms "down".

Now let's go to the REALITY side of Seattle Area Housing.

The diagram above gives you the basics of the Evolution of a Home.

1950s = 3 bedrooms, 1 bath as the norm. usually there was a laundry room IN the garage. Often the garage was a 3 sided "carport" vs a full garage with a door. There is no master bedroom per se, and there is no "family room". Neither term was "invented" yet.

1960's and 1970s, pretty much the same but with a full level UNDER that basic house. If the main floor sits on the ground/lot level, it is called a "1-story with basement". If the main floor is raised about 4 feet or so, it is called a "split-entry" But basically the same main floor footprint plus a lower level with no second floor. The first "family rooms" appeared on the lower level, often sharing the same fireplace chimney as the main floor living room.

By the late seventies and early 80s, the first "master bath" appeared. It was very small with only a shower, a sink and a toilet. But the parents didn't have to walk into the hall in a towel :) The first family rooms off the kitchen on the main level also appeared at this time.

By mid 1980 the true 2-story home became the norm for home builders.The main drawback of an "80's" home is not the floorplan. It is the extensive use of dark "earthtones" for doorframes, doors, and baseboard. In the Seattle Area those homes can feel too "dark" for people who live most of the year with no sun. Gold everything was the norm. Gold doorknobs. Gold casing around the shower in the master bath. Gold faucets and gold light fixtures. Even gold "sills" between the carpet areas and the vinyl floor areas.

The 1990's became the decade of "light, bright and airy". More windows. More white moldings and doors and window casings. White...and Gold Fixtures. The very early 90s have some tell-tale drawbacks. Mauve and gray. 4" white tile. Too much grout on the kitchen counters and lots of gold colored light fixtures, faucets and doorknobs. Some of those are "leftovers" from the 80s.

2000 and beyond of course is "The Decade of GRANITE!!"More people overpaid for a home, simply because it had granite countertops, than most any other feature of the home. A close second from around 2003 on would be "stainless steel appliances".

I'm going to write a 2nd post using these floor plans differently, to discuss what you SHOULD NOT pay more for, on Rain City Guide...so I'll end this here.

You would be wise to draw your own "box plan" of home and test it against "reality" of your price range, before going out to look at homes. Make it your standard "doodle" until you come up with the right combination for you and your family.

King County Home Prices, as relevant to anyone planning to buy or sell real estate in the next 9 to 18 months.

The graph below offers a context "for the foreseeable future".That being within 5% this way or that of the highs and lows in recent history, which takes us from 5% below "the bottom" of 3/09 at $363,700 - minus 5% - or roughly $345,000 as the potential floor.

If and when the market takes a move in the opposite direction, which I do not expect before 2013, the median would have to rise above $420,000 to become of note, or at least of considerable note.

Thus the below graph, including the high and low with no "green points" at present, should serve as the visual context of all possiblities for nine to eighteen months from here.

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It is becoming much more difficult, if not impossible, to gather data on a County-wide basis in a non-biased format from non-biased sources. I do not think that is "coincidental". That makes it all the more important for us to track the market using as much credible available info as we can get from a variety of sources. Don't be surprised if you are seeing huge variances in reported data since May 6 or so of 2010. Some sources are combining the condo sales with the single family home sales, producing a median price that becomes of no use to anyone.

We continue with a struggle toward true transparency, with many of those fighting against it and pushing toward spinning their own "story" trying to make it near impossible to 2nd guess the press releases with real data. Even though there are only a handful of real estate writers, me included, pushing through that potential impasse, there are enough for us to keep the stats and information flowing toward real market conclusions.

Below is the update of The Raw Data for May and June in a modified format.

The Data above is most relevant to our future determinations and market predicts in the block of 7/07 at $485,000 as the peak median home price and in the blue outlined square of 3/09 as the lowest median home price.

My expectation from here is a downward trend back to the blue square pricing, so we must use forward projections on a week to week basis vs hindsight to follow the housing market back to the eye of the storm at $362,700 and likely beyond.

More on that in the next blog post...

(Required Disclosure - The stats in this post and both of these graphs is not provided by, compiled by, verified by or posted by The Northwest Mulitple Listing Service)

There is a HUGE variance in what is happening in the real estate market in different areas. There has been a lot of arguing around the internet that "King County" statistics such as those provided by Case Schiller and the like are equally relevant in all areas of the County.

Clearly not so. While the below graph is only a one week snapshot, it has been fairly apparent that areas like Auburn, Kent and Renton have had significantly more of their sales as distressed property than close in to Microsoft or Seattle, especially North Seattle.

The bulk of this post is over at Rain City Guide, but this last graph wouldn't post for some reason in that article, so I'm showing it over here. The new mls system makes it near impossible to do stats for longer periods, so I'll be running the data every Monday and then combining when I get several weeks worth.

(required disclosure - the stats in this post and graph were not compiled verified or posted by The Northwest Multiple Listing Service)

You have to have a compelling reason to buy a home on a busy road. Often that is that you can't afford a house off of a busy road.

For instance, I know many parents who want the very best schools for their children, but can't afford to live within the school boundaries. Often the house on the busy road accomplishes their primary objective, which for them is to live in that school boundary.

What is your primary objective and can it be achieved without living on a busy road? If the answer is no, then maybe a house on a busy road is for you.

As to problems of living in a house on a busy road I will add dirt in the house, to the obvious danger to children and noise factors. The road traffic kicks up more dirt into the air and you will need to clean and dust more and change your heater filters more often, etc...

Once in awhile a house on a busy road is a spectacular home with a lot of character, built in the days when it was the only home on a very large lot. Over the years the land was sold to developers, leaving the gem of a house on a busy road.

There was one like this in Kirkland recently that sold for over a million dollars. There was a "compelling reason to buy" that house on a busy road...it was awesome and could not be duplicated in a quieter location.

What is your compelling reason to buy that house on a busy road? You may have a good one. If you don't, then the answer is don't do it.

I will point out one other "problem of selling" the house on a busy road, or near freeway noise, or with an electrical tower in the yard that is not in the internet photos, or any other negative that is not in the picture display.

The "no show".

People see the house on the internet. It looks fabulous. They make an appointment to see it. You clean for two hours making everything perfect and leave your home during the showing.

The agent pulls up with the clients and the clients say "I don't want to go in" or the agent forces them to go in and pretend they are "looking at the house" even though they decided from out front that they don't want it. Or the agent rushes in, sees no one is home, leaves the clients in the car and just puts the card in the house so the owner knows they have come and gone.

It's a heartbreaker, and a huge inconvenience especially for a family with children. The Mom is usually crying that she made her children not touch anything for two hours, cleaned her house to showing condition, took the kids and the dog around the block 50 times waiting for the people to "come"...and they don't even come inside.

If you are a single person who travels a lot...not such a big deal when it comes time to sell the house. But if you are a family with a dog and 2 small children when it comes time to sell...the Mom is usually on the verge of a nervous breakdown by the time it sells. That's the hard reality that agents see time and again over the years.

It's a heartbreaker. Lots of stress and tears usually by The Mom...vs the man of the house.

That is why you MUST have "a compelling reason" to buy that house...and that compelling reason has to be the reason someone else will likely buy it from you...when you want to leave.

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