Vancouver Wa Real Estate - Elite Realty NW

How Many Homes Has Your Agent Sold This Month? Vancouver Washington Real Estate

Although we are in one of the most challenging real estate markets in history, parts of the Vancouver Washington Real Estate market are heating up and you need to be positioned correctly to take advantage of it. A key component to positioning is to have an agent who has a proven track record and has demonstrated that they have the ability to make deals happen.

Whether you are looking for an agent to list your Vancouver Wa. home or you are thinking about replacing your current agent, you need to find someone who is actively involved in the Vancouver Washington real estate market and who is getting homes sold. After all, don't you want to hire the best real estate agent in Vancouver Washington?

Homes don't sell by accident and the best agents have systems in place to give their listings an edge over the others. They are the top agents for a reason - They know how to sell homes quickly and for top dollar.

Ask the tough questions of your agent and go with someone who shows you results rather than making you promises. Here is a photo essay of our April performance -

Call today and let us show how we can get your home SOLD.

Do You Like Chocolate Chip Cookies? Oatmeal?

This morning, Janice and I wrote up a listing that we have been working on for several weeks. The reason it took so long is that the owners are very particular about how they want the home to look when it is shown. They have spent the past few weeks de-cluttering, staging, and gardening. The home looks gorgeous. Even as we had them sign the contracts today, they asked us to do a walk through and point out areas that might need improvement.

As we were finally leaving the home to go back to get the listing entered into the MLS, Mrs. Seller asked, "What kind of cookies should I bake before an agent brings buyers over?" I just about died laughing and everyone chimed in with giggles.

"I like chocolate chip!" Hey, you never know. She may want to give me a special gift someday!

Save Yourself $9000 By Cleaning Your Gutters!

"My tenant just called me to tell me that there are mushrooms growing in the downstairs bedroom! Do you think that will affect the sale?"

That is how the call started a few weeks back when one of my clients called to let me know that we might need to withdraw the listing for one of his rentals. At the time, he didn't know what had happened. Two weeks and over $9000 later, the story can be told.

After receiving a call from his tenant he went over to investigate. The carper was soaked with water and there were 5 or 6 mushrooms growing in a corner. He couldn't identify the source of the moisture. I called in a favor with an inspector friend of mine who went over to investigate. After a quick inspection of all of the plumbing in the area, it was determined faulty plumbing was not to blame. An exterior inspection identified two issues: 1. A clogged rain gutter that was spilling over right next to the foundation, and 2. a crack in the basement wall that was located right next to where to dripping water from the clogged gutter was landing.

"There is the culprit." the inspector declared.

It seems that we have a clay rich type of soil here in Vancouver Washington. Generally, water does not penetrate the soil and just runs off to the lowest point. Because this run over drip was sustained and focused on such a small area, it managed to sort of drill its way through the clay and saturated the entire area with water. The weight of the wet clay pushed against the outside of the basement wall and caused it to crack. The water in the soil then seeped through the crack, soaking the carpet and creating the perfect environment for our shroomy little friends. A perfect example of where an ounce of prevention would have saved several thousands of dollars in repair! (and several weeks of mortgage payments without a tenant!)

One of my favorite things about springtime here in Vancouver Washington is all of the different types of flowering trees. It seems like everyones' yards just come alive with beautiful blooms and bright colors. Unfortunately, the blooms on these types of trees are usually short lived, not lasting more than a week or so. In some areas of the city, the trees dropping their petals make it look like pink snowflakes wafting in the breeze.

Early Morning Signing Session at the Title Company

Meet Deana. As of 4:30 this afternoon, she will be a new first time home owner! It was a long road filled with short sales and REO's and a deal that was rescinded by the seller, but we successfully got her into her own home.

See that smile on her face? That is what this business is all about. I love it!

Difficult Things To Learn On The Internet

I used to tell people that "If you can't buy it on eBay, then it probably doesn't exist." Of course, that was long before Google came along and dominated the entire internet with their search technology. No matter what the subject, Google has something to say about it. Give it a try, type anything into Google and press "search." There will be thousands of results to choose from, each claiming to be the "Know all, End all" experts on your topic. Sometimes there will be millions of results.

Knowing that, I have to wonder:

Just because you can find information on the internet doesn't mean it is safe to use? Here are a few areas where you might want to proceed with caution:

1. Do It Yourself Brain Surgery - I wasn't sure what I would find with this search, but as you can see, someone actually tried it in an attempt to cure her chronic fatigue syndrome. Hmmmm... What would have happened if she had dozed off halfway through the procedure? Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Don't do it. It could kill you.

2. Build And Fly Your Own Spaceship - Not only can you build it and fly it but it is available in kit form! This might be a fun project and impress all of your friends and neighbors but don't do it. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. It could kill you.

3. Cure Yourself Of Cancer - I am not looking to start any fights here. I know that there are huge numbers of people who believe that they have cured themselves of terminal diseases. I am just saying that you probably can find the answers with a simple Google search, but don't do it. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. It could kill you.

4. How To Build You Very Own Nuclear Reactor - Yep! This is real and the link takes you to the instructions. This topic seems to have a huge following among the nerds of the world. (I mean that in a nice way!) To read more about some of the more current garden shed reactors, go to The Open Source Fusor Consortium. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Don't do it. It could kill you.

5. Is some sort of nuclear explosive devise more your style? Instructions for that can be found at HOW TO BUILD HOMEMADE NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR PEACFUL & DEFENSIVE PURPOSES. Defensive nuclear bombs? Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Don't do it. It could kill you.

6. How To Sell Your Own Home - There are over 76 million results to this search! Most of these results are for FSBO companies who will put homes on the MLS for a flat rate. Most of them will not help with negotiations, appointments or any hands on work to get it sold. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Don't do it. While it won't kill you like the others will, it could cost you tens of thousands of dollars! We can show you how to use a real estate agent, be protected, and still end up with more money in your pocket than you would if you sold it yourself.

Use a real estate agent and use the extra money to hire a surgeon for your brain surgery. Or maybe you could spend it on a DIY spaceship kit!

SOLD In Just 4 Hours! Vancouver Washington Real Estate

Have you ever scheduled a listing appointment and when you walked through the front door, you felt like falling to your knees and screaming "YES!" ? That happened to me last week.

I pulled up in front of the home and the first thing that struck me was that the home was in exceptional condition and it was surrounded by gorgeous gardens. When I walked inside, I could see that the owners had taken excellent care of the home. The owners chose us to list their home and asked us for tips to get the home ready for sale.

When I showed up to take pictures for the listing, every one of our suggestions had been checked off the list! I know that some of you are thinking that I am writing about some kind of dream, but this is really true!

I shot the pics, and the listing went live on Thursday at 11:30.

At 11:50, Mr. Seller got his first call to schedule a showing. Then another call at 12:05. The first agent showed the home at 1:30 and they wrote a full price offer by 3:30!

I know this isn't any kind of world record or anything, but we sure haven't seen this type of thing in our market for a while. As much as I would like to take all of the credit for this quick sale, the sellers really made some smart choices to get such a speedy response:

1. For the past 2 years they addressed all of the deferred maintenance issues that had been adding up over the years.

2. They listened to our suggestions and de-cluttered and staged the home appropriately.

3. They listened to our suggestions and aggressively priced their home to move it before the market declines any further.

Oh yeah, Mrs. Seller's awesome gardens sure didn't hurt anything!

I had a chance to take this morning off to go fishing and I took it! The Kokanee at Merwin Lake were biting this morning, so my mortgage lender, Stephen Bowdon, and I took a "Sick Day" in order to catch a few. The weather was great, the fish were biting, and we both caught our limits in about 2 hours. Looks like we are have Kokanee fillets for dinner!