Vancouver Wa Real Estate - Elite Realty NW

My friends at the Vancouver chapter of Greens Drinks are at it again. Here is the invitation for the March event. I hope to see you there!

Hello everyone! This month, we're excited to try out our eastern-most venue to date! We hope to see you there!

Come on out to Green Drinks. Meet other people who are concerned about the state of our natural surroundings. Mingle, mix and meet other like-minded greenies. We're a fun, informal group. (We've been called "networking that is not lame.")

We hope to see you Second Wednesday!

-- Terra Heilman, Dave Hu and Hilary Torres

Vancouver Green Drinks or find us on Facebook. Check out our calendar of community events and Terra's Blog.

*Please bring clean frozen food and chip bags and/or gift/credit cards to any of our monthly meetings! They will be used as raw materials in local art.*

These three ads have been my top performers for several weeks now. I mix these in with listings and the typical "FREE Search Tool" ad and these always seem to come out on top. I have a 4th one that has been performing well for a few days but I am saving it as a secret weapon. You will have to wait to see that one!

HOW MUCH WILL "DOG" SMELL SAVE YOU? (Felida Vancouver)

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words but how much is "doggy odor" worth?

This gorgeous Felida house is selling way below its market value because it doesn't smell so great on the inside. Nothing that a little paint and new carpet can't fix.

4 bed 2 1/2 bath
2164 sq. feet.
Priced to sell at only $200,000

Looking for other deals in Felida for about $200K?

Click Here To See Felida Homes For About $200K

Mark Hall | Keller Williams Premier Partners


I JUST RECEIVED A POST CARD FROM YOUR LANDLORD IN HAWAII (CLARK COUNTY)

He says that it's TIME TO BUY

In today's market you can actually OWN a home for less than you would pay to RENT a house.

Interest rates are at an all time low and lending is readily available. In October 2011 rates dipped below 4% and right now they are hovering at 4.1%.

Click HERE to search homes under 100K or create your own CUSTOM SEARCH today.

Our team is determined to find a great house for you that could actually LOWER your monthly bills!

Mark Hall | Keller Williams Realty

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FORECLOSURES WITH CARPET STAINS THAT LOOK LIKE CELEBRITIES! (Clark County)

OK . . . our online search technology isn't quite that sophisticated.

But you will be impressed that you can CUSTOMIZE your search criteria, SAVE your searches, and receive UPDATES whenever new houses hit the market that match your search.

Click HERE to with a list of everything "Bank-Owned" in Clark County or create your own personal search site to narrow down the results and find exactly what you're looking for.

We've created this site to help you search for homes your way!

Mark Hall | Keller Williams Realty

Who Says It’s a Buyer’s Market?

Yes, I know. The media is still saying it is a buyer’s market. Who is saying it is a buyer’s market who is actually in a position to know? NOT ME!

Certain price points in our Vancouver Wa Real Estate Market have been bombarded with multiple offer lately. Homes for sale VancouverWa at list prices under $200,000 have been flying off the shelves. The average days on market has dropped to 41 days as opposed to 109 days for the same period last year. Why?

The Perfect Storm. That’s why!

Prices are low – Prices are lower than they have been in the past 6 or 7 years. The banks are holding a large inventory of REO’s and are forced to get them off the books. They are selling them at severely discounted prices. In some areas, experts are saying that they have dropped to 1999 prices. It is like resetting the clock and being able to buy a home that you could never afford before.

Interest rates are low – Interest rates are at a historic low. Buyers are routinely getting mortgages with rates at less than 4%. Investors are getting rates for their rental homes in the low 4% range. It is like free money.

Confidence is high – Buyers feel like the time is right. I have been working with a big pool of buyers lately and they are very confident that now is the right time to buy. They have been watching the market and waiting for their time to jump in to a new home. They are confident that prices will not go much lower. AND guess what? They are probably correct. We have actually seen small areas where prices are going up!

All of this activity has made it difficult to get in on the deal when it presents itself. I am working with a couple who has written 5 offers in the past two weeks and have been out bid on every one. I am not talking “Low Ball” offers either. We have written full price offers only to be beaten by someone willing to pay more.

How do you get a deal in this kind of market?

Get a good agent and listen to them. A good agent can get you on the deals as soon as they hit the market and can guide you on how to write the winning offer. Find one and trust them to do their job. You will soon be moving into your new home and can rest easy knowing that you got a great deal in a competitive real estate market.

The Form 35R Request for repairs was much less demanding than we had anticipated. Out of the 19 things that the inspector called out, only 5 repairs were requested. Jackpot! We had thought that the inspection may have blown the deal. I was confident as I called my seller with the good news.

As they say, "one man's treasure is another man's trash" and my client wasn't nearly as happy with the requests. He looked at each request as a check that he had to write and didn't want to hear how I saw it as a small obstacle to overcome before closing on his FULL PRICE offer.

Of the 5 issues, 3 were electrical and dangerous, 1 was the replacement of faulty wall heaters (DANGEROUS!), and the last was a window with leaky seals. My thoughts were to agree to the 4 "things that could kill a guy" and let the buyer worry about the window. What I did not consider was the theseller/owner was the one who had performed the dangerous electrical work!

After an hour of heated discussion I finally reached an agreement with my client to repair the 3 electrical issues and replace the heaters which had been recalled. I was on the home stretch! (I thought.)

"REPAIRED OR REPLACED BY A LICENSED ELECTRICIAN" was how the request was worded but, I can now tell you, that was not what the seller read. The seller's impression of the contract seemed to be that he had to go back in and make the issues "look" like they were safe. Boy was he wrong!

Rather than call a licensed electrician to do the work, he decided to do the work himself and save a few bucks. He re-wired the spots in question, bought new heaters online and installed them himself. That seemed like a good idea until the bank appraiser guy comes along (who used to be a county building inspector) to do the appraisal and discovers the poor quality work. He called it out as a condition of lending and went on his merry way.

The seller blew a gasket but had no choice but to now hire an electrician to fix his shoddy work. Electrician's bill = $375.

Closing came and went without a hitch. On a cold day in November (about 2 days after the closing date) my phone starts to ring off the hook. It seems that the buyer/new owner decided that she needed a little heat in the home and turned on a few of her new wall heaters. The home filled with smoke in about 2 minutes flat and everyone evacuated. She gathered her courage and ran into the smokey house to turn off the heaters.

After several hours of convincing my client that it wasn't actually "her problem" and explaining the fact that he was most probably going to end up in court and ALSO POINTING OUT THE OBVIOUS FACT THAT HE COULD HAVE CAUSED THE HOME TO BURN DOWN AND MOST LIKELY KILLED SOMEONE, he finally agreed to replace the heaters (again) and have a licensed electrician repair the burnt wiring and install them. New heaters (this time the right ones) = $675.00. Electrician's bill = $450.00

In an effoort to save a few hundred bucks the seller cost himself an extra $1000 and almost landed in jail!

My friends Laura and Terra are at it again! Take a look!

Date:  Second Wednesday, February 8th

Time: Informal intros begin at 6pm, feel free to gather as early as 5:15

Location: Lacosta Mexican restaurant

5 minute spiel: February's Green Drinks presentation will be from Clark County's Environmental Services with development updates and participation information on Clark County's new Green Business Recognition Program.  Clark County has given roots to this new web-based program designed to help usher green and even not-so-green businesses into an environmentally savvy future. Get in on the ground floor and get the recognition your green business deserves.  Find out more at this month's Green Drinks. (See below for an invite to the program kick-off event!)

Some other community news we think you might be interested in:

Green Business program kick-off event: Clark County Environmental Services is pleased to announce the launch of a new green business recognition program designed to help Clark County businesses get green and stay green. Please join us in honoring the first recipients of the Clark County Green Business designation and learn how you too can earn this important recognition. February 14, noon to 2 p.m. Lunch will be provided, The Heathman Lodge, Fort Vancouver Ballroom, 7801 NE Greenwood Drive, Vancouver 98662 Register online. Seating is limited.

Bike Recycling opportunity (update):

After the last email (see below) we were connected with a non-profit that has many of the necessary elements in place already. The biggest stumbling block at this point is space. If you or someone you know has space that you think might be appropriate for a non-profit bike reuse program, please let us know!

Know someone who's passionate about bikes? Bike repair? Reusing bikes for needy families in Clark County? We are in the very preliminary stages of trying to start a program similar to Community Cycling Center and a few others (see below.) We have the resource (bikes diverted from the County transfer stations) but we need someone to spearhead the rest of the program. We're looking for some individuals who have the skills and enthusiasm to start a program like this. This program absolutely won’t get off the ground unless we can find a few people excited about it. Currently, all the bikes that end up at transfer stations are recycled for scrap metal. For more inspiration, see:  Bicycle recycling in Yamhill County and a Seattle program

Why can't everyone be this happy?

Photo Journal - Vancouver Washington Real Estate is a side project for me. My real estate blog was so filled with facts and figures that it would make your eyes bleed. My photo journals will be filled with pictures that I have taken around town. Hope you enjoy!

Follow this link to see the rest of Photo Journal - Vancouver Washington Real Estate

What is wrong with this picture? Anyone?

This E-Bay auction was only for the box yet there were 36 bids for it that drove the price up to $565.00. Obviously someone wasn't reading the details very well. Obviously there we quite a few people that weren't reading it!

That wouldn't happen to you, would it?

There is an agent in my office who is getting ready to put the proverbial screws to a large bank who signed and accepted a purchase and sale agreement that asked for seller paid closing costs, a new stove / range unit, and a new roof (up to $8000) to be installed before closing. At the time that the offer was signed around and returned, the listing agent commented on how unusual it was for the bank to make major repairs to one of their REO's prior to closing.  Escrow was opened and everyone was happily moving towards closing.

Until a few days before the scheduled closing and the HUD was drawn up!

As soon as the HUD was submitted to the bank it was rejected based on the requested repairs. They claimed that they had never approved such repairs and never would. When they were presented with the contract that had been signed by their representative they broke off contact and have been stalling for what has turned into a week.

Sounds like "Robo-Signing" has come around to bite them in the butt.

This isn't my transaction so I don't know that I will be able to report any more details. I will do the best I can. I would be very interested in knowing how this one turns out!

Here is the national real estate report for January 2012. Our Keller Williams International office produces this awesome video each month and I post it here for my clients, friends and family.

This month you will find out if waiting until the spring to list your home is really the best course of action. The answer may surprisee you. Watch this video for more valuable information.

Although this is a national report and does not take into account some of the nuances that you may be experiencing in your area, the information is still timely and useful for anyone who is considering buying or selling a home. Would you like the local report for the Vancouver Washington Real Estate Market? Please call us any time.