Are homes for sale in Sequim and Port Angeles overpriced? This is a legitimate question. The answer is probably more accurately considered when you look at a particular home. In other words, while many homes are overpriced, many are not. Let me explain.

I heard an interesting story this past weekend. A FSBO (for sale by owner) is trying to sell her home for just over $200,000. What’s interesting is that she started a year ago listing it with an agent at $299,000.  As the story goes, nothing happened for many months until her agent came and said, “We need to reduce the price.”  The owner was upset.  She told her agent that she knew it was listed too high when she first listed it, but her agent listed it at $299,000. After this discussion they reduced the listing price to $269,000, which after many months proved to be too high again.  Hence, the current FSBO for just over $200,000.

I have a five acre, one bedroom home listed for sale at $225,000.  The owner lost his job and has moved, and this is going to have to be a short sale, meaning the sales price will be less than the balance owed to the bank.  The balance owed is about $256,000.  Any sale will be subject to the bank’s approval, of course.  Here’s my point about this listing.  When my client first called me to discuss listing this home, he asked me what I thought it should be listed at.  I gave it some thought and told him I thought a realistic selling price would be $225,000.  He said he agreed, but that the other agent he had interviewed had told him $325,000.  In his own words, he said, “I knew that agent was nuts when she quoted me $325,000 in THIS market.” Had she listed that house, it would have been $100,000 overpriced.  Wow!

On the other hand, I sold a house recently for $251,000 cash, and it would have cost $350,000 to buy the land and build the same house.  That home was listed with an agent.  The listing price was very fair, and even below FMV, but that’s what it took to sell it.  My buyer client got a steal, even in this market.

Some houses are overpriced, some houses are fairly priced, and a few are underpriced right now.  If you’re from out of town, I strongly urge you to work with an agent who has been around for a while and has the experience to differentiate prices for you.  You don’t want to pay too much for a home in this market.

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You’re on your computer in California, or maybe you’re in Arizona or Nevada right now looking at homes on the MLS in Sequim or Port Angeles.  “Darn it,” you say to your spousal unit.  “There are no photos of the back of the house or the rec room or the garage or shop in this MLS listing either.”  As your beloved multi-tasks from the kitchen, you hear this soft response, “Well, honey, we’ll just have to wait ’till we get there to see the rest of the house.”

I have good news for you.  You don’t have to wait until you get here to see more of that house or the property.  Email me or call me, and I’ll go take some additional photos for you.  I find that clients really appreciate being able to narrow down their search as long as they are fully informed, and that includes good photos of the whole house and property.

I love photography, so I try to capture good photos for my own clients, but let’s face it, most Realtors are not trained in photography or the use of software and the Internet to edit and upload good photos.  A look through the MLS and the photographs that are posted will quickly demonstrate that point.

I’m here as your Sequim Buyer’s Agent or your Port Angeles Buyer’s Agent to help you filter through the available homes in the inventory, so when you get here you don’t have to waste your valuable time looking at homes that simply don’t match your criteria.  Want more photos?  Let me know.  I’ll be glad to help.

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Yesterday I showed houses to a client from California.  We had a great day.  The sun was shining brightly without a cloud in the sky in Sequim and Port Angeles, and I always have fun looking at houses with my clients.  We toured eight houses.  For those hunting for a home here, this might be especially entertaining.

Of course my client had been using my online MLS search, and he had narrowed his search from 800 homes to less than a dozen with specific parameters, such as three bedrooms, his geographic preference, 1,800 square feet or more, and the price not to exceed $270,000, but the age of the house and the condition of the house were not limited in our MLS search by my client’s choice.

We started with the older homes as a matter of convenience in mapping out our driving route.  The first home was built in the 1920’s, and just trying to figure out where the original kitchen was located and how many additions there had been in the past 80 years was itself quite entertaining.  Once we got through the spider webs in the old slab garage, we played the game of guessing when concrete floors were added and how old the decomposing wiring actually was.  Price:  North of $230,000

The second house was built in 1913.  Touring this house was like going back in time before WWI.  Walking across the floors was an exercise in maintaining balance, since one side of the living room must have been two or three inches higher than the opposite corner.  The windows of that era were small, which meant the house did not get a lot of natural sunlight.  Staircases were narrow and steep.  I cautioned my 12-year old daughter, who came along for the fun, against bumping her head on the way down the basement stairs (and she’s only 4′9″).  Closets and the crawl space “were scary” according to my daughter.  Price:  Above $170,000

The third house was built in 1964, and like the others, was vacant.  The 1960’s were an interesting time in architecture:  dark brown panelling, small kitchens, cheap fixtures, square rooms and narrow hallways.  On top of that, the driveway was so steep, it made me nervous thinking about my car rolling down and into the living room of the house across the street.  According to my daughter, “the bathroom sinks were gross.”  Price:  Over $200,000

The fourth house was tucked in the trees and we almost didn’t see the sign.  We felt a bit uneasy walking down the walkway, which obviously had not been maintained since 1942.  But that wasn’t our greatest excitement with this house.  As soon as we entered, we immediately began to feel nauseous.  Have you ever walked into a home with the strong pungent odor of cat urine?  No sale.  Price:  Over $160,000  (Good luck selling this one!)

The fifth, sixth, and seventh houses are too boring to write about here.

The eighth house was a 1970’s style with add-ons and a makeshift apartment.  There were rooms and doors in odd places.  Apparently for someone this was the ideal home.  That someone would not be my client.  My daughter had no opinion at all on this home.  That concerned me.

At long last we arrived at a brand new home.  It was a spec home built by a builder who had kept building long after the recession started.  Everyone wondered what he was doing, building houses like it was 2005, but he had a line of credit at his bank, so he kept building.

It was a relief to walk through a home with a modern floor plan with the fresh smell of new wood and carpet.  While this home was what I would call “mid-level” quality in materials and construction, it was definitely much easier to imagine this one as home, rolling on the floors with the kids and dog, or relaxing in the bath tub off the master bedroom.  Finally, my daughter gave her nod of approaval.  How did my client feel?  This could be home.  Price:  South of $270,000.

Have you had any good entertainment lately?  Tour anyone?

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For decades real estate agents represented the seller either as the listing agent or as a sub-agent of the listing agent.  That meant that if you hired a Realtor to help you find a home and draft an offer and negotiate, that agent whom you thought was working for you was actually a sub-agent of the listing agent, and that was the law around the country.  In other words, “your agent” was really working for the seller.

But consumers woke up one day as if out of a long dark sleep, and demanded that the misrepresentation stop.  Consumers wanted their own agents who represented their interests and not the sellers’ interests, directly or indirectly.

In 1983 the Federal Trade Commission concluded that 72 percent of all buyers believed the agent they worked with was representing their interests. The report was the catalyst for a nationwide legislative movement that forced the real estate industry to disclose who their Realtor represents. By 1988, most states had disclosure laws.  This also woke consumers up to the need to be sure they addressed this issue when hiring an agent.  Agents began to respond to the need as buyer’s agents.

Janet Branton, executive director of the 44,000-member REBAC (Real Estate Buyer Agent Council) said, “A survey conducted in 2001 found 46 percent of home buyers used buyer representation. Buyer representation is not the exception anymore, it’s the norm. Consumers now know they have the right to be represented.”

Here’s something I find interesting.  Many buyers from outside the Sequim or Port Angeles area will see a sign and simply call the agent off the sign.  That’s fine, but here’s where it gets interesting.  The majority of these callers assume that the listing agent they call can represent them as their agent, too.   Many hire that agent to write an offer on that agent’s listing without any thought to the inherent conflict of interest.  I’ve interviewed many buyers and other agents, and there is almost never any attempt by buyers to interview their agent, to do their due diligence on experience and knowledge, or to discuss dual agency.

Dual agency is legal in Washington, and it is codified as legal in RCW 18.86.  That certainly doesn’t prove it’s in your best interests.

As much publicity as dual agency has gotten (and all the lawsuits over it), and as much as “buyer’s agency” has been discussed and written about, many buyers are still unaware of the need to hire their own buyer’s agent.

I strongly recommend that you hire your own buyer’s agent in Sequim or Port Angeles.

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Searching the Sequim MLS for homes and land (and Port Angeles MLS) on the Internet has made the gigantic challenge of finding the right home, filtering through the maze of listings (over 800 homes in our MLS) so much easier than it used to be.  Does anyone else remember the old printed MLS books?  They were about 250 to 350 pages thick in 10 point Helvetica and organized by area and then by price.  There was no easy way to search by parameters (bedrooms, square footage, acreage) and get an instant list of qualified homes.  But you can do that on the Internet now, and you can do it in a matter of seconds.

Technology has take giant leaps forward in the past three to seven years, and you are the beneficiary.  Some of my friends in the print newspaper business and in the print magazine business have gotten the short end of the stick in these shifting times, but consumers like you are coming out ahead.

What a difference a few years can make!  Thirty years ago traditional print media was the way to advertise and the way to find real estate.  Today, the Internet and the many tools available on the Internet, have left the old behind.  Thirty years ago this snow machine seemed like a modern marvel.  Who would think of trying to drive it today to get somewhere?  Why not use modern technology to help you find your next home?

You can use a very powerful MLS search website, one I had programmed and has the features my clients requested, including all the parameter and advanced search options, and the visual map search:   Search the Sequim MLS.  Don’t forget to bookmark this MLS website tool.

But do not sell the Internet short.  It is much more, much more than just a convenient way to search the multiple listing service.  It is also a powerful tool to find an experienced professional Realtor, who can make your search and negotiation so much more enjoyable (not to mention saving thousands of dollars in the negotiation).  Don’t underestimate the value of a true professional with 20 to 30 years of experience in your corner.  Did you know that a professional buyer’s agent does NOT cost you a dollar, but negotiates exclusively for you to get the best possible price, and the seller pays his fee at closing?  Is that amazing, or what?

The Internet is also a great information gathering tool on the communities of Sequim and Port Angeles, recreational activities, volunteer activities, hobbies, and nearly everything under the rain shadow of Sequim.  Do you have a niche interest?  Is it not amazing how powerful the Google search engine can be when you are searching for something rare or unique?

You can use this site, and the affiliate sites to search almost any subject on real estate for the Sequim and Port Angeles areas, including checklists for buying vacant land, tips on finding a builder who will build you the highest quality home at a guaranteed contract price, tips to avoid traps for the unwary, powerful and proven techniques to negotiate the best price, articles on earnest money, contract language, contingencies, adverse possession, easements, well logs, dual agency and how it can cost you money, and hundreds of other topics.

You’ll find photos of Sequim and Port Angeles, video tours of the area, links to the best local resources, and video instructions from an experienced local real estate attorney and now buyer’s agent.

Use the Internet as a resource right here.  All of this is given to you at no cost, courtesy of Chuck Marunde, your favorite buyer’s agent.

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Sequim home sales and Port Angeles home sales from January 1st through June 23rd (today) of 2009 are shown in this spreadsheet.  I’ve weighted the data to more accurately reflect the market by only including homes from $150,000 to $600,000.  This range represents something close to 95% of the homes sold.

The columns from left to right represent the number of bedrooms, the total number of listings, the total number of these listings that sold, the average listing price, the average sales price for those that actually did sell, the ratio of the listing price to the selling price, and the days on market for those that actually sold.  Those that did not sell are either expired (about a third of all the listings expired without a sale), or their DOM continues to increase (not shown in this spreadsheet).

It’s no surprise that the largest number of homes listed for sale are three bedroom.  That is the standard, and even for retirees, having one spare bedroom for company or family and a third room for a study or computer room is popular.  Of these three bedroom homes, a third of the homes listed did not sell and the listings expired (not shown in the data here).  Of those remaining listings in this category, only a fourth of them sold in this first six months of the year.  The average selling price was 95% of the listed price.  That means a home listed for $400,000 sold for $380,000.

All of this is worth knowing when it comes time to negotiate the purchase of your own home.

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When you write an offer on a house in Sequim or Port Angeles, you’ll have to write a check for the earnest money.  The earnest money is what makes the contract a legal offer that can become a binding contract.  In contract law there must be consideration, and the buyer provides that consideration with earnest money.  The seller’s consideration is the promise to sell you his house at the agreed price.

How much should earnest money be? There is no rule, just guidelines.  The more expensive the home, the more the earnest money should be.  I’ve seen earnest money for as little as $100 and as much as $10,000.  It is common to see earnest money checks in the amount of $2,000 for a house priced at $200,000 and up, but it is also common to see earnest money of $5,000 for more expensive homes, especially in these uncertain times where financing can be questionable.  If a buyer is serious and can afford to purchase a $350,000 or $750,000 home, he or she can write a check for $2,000 to $5,000.

The earnest money check is not even deposited until there is mutual acceptance on the price and all the terms.  Once that happens, the final contract and the earnest money check are given to the escrow company, and they deposit the check.  Most real estate brokers, including me, don’t keep a trust account for that purpose as the regulatory requirements have gotten far too cumbersome.  Escrow companies have trust accounts and are set up to account for all the debits and credits on the HUD-1 settlement statement.

What happens if you reach mutual acceptance, give the escrow company the contract and they deposit the earnest money, but subsequently a contingency is not met (like you don’t qualify for your loan)?  How do you get your earnest money back?

Your buyer’s agent must draft a termination of the transaction and release of the earnest money, and the seller must sign that agreement.  While this is not required by law, the escrow companies all insist that they have a signed release from both buyer and seller. You can imagine that if the sellers refuse to sign the release, the escrow company will not release the funds to you.  In that case, after 14 days, the escrow company must tender the money to the superior court, and you either walk away from your earnest money or you hire an attorney and sue the seller for the return of your earnest money.

The reality is that most sellers are going to sign the release.  They realize that if you did not get your loan, or could not satisfy some other contingency, you are entitled to the earnest money, and the vast majority of sellers gladly cooperate and move on.

I recommend you hire an experienced Buyer’s Agent to watch your backside when it’s time to make an offer on a home.  We live in challenging times, and it’s easy to get in trouble these days without even trying.  May I suggest you hire me as your Buyer’s Agent?  I’d love to work with you to find your perfect retirement home.

Chuck Marunde (retired real estate attorney and now Sequim buyer’s agent)
360-775-5424

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A short distance west of Port Angeles is a great area.  And there’s a super custom home built on a one acre parcel just waiting for you.  Here’s a brief description:

Extraordinary custom home, living room with three-sided propane fireplace, vaulted ceiling, formal dining room has oak flooring, vaulted ceiling and French doors to back deck. Gourmet kitchen with designer lighting, custom cabinets and appliances. Master suite with bath featuring heated floor and Jacuzzi tub. Separate shower with heated floor and double shower heads. Library has built-in shelves and pocket doors.

See the full listing data sheet with photos:  Port Angeles Custom Home for Sale

You can find it by driving west on Highway 101 and turning right on Highway 112.  About four miles later you turn right on Place Road and right again on Hunt Road.  Drive until you see a Sequim & Port Angeles Real Estate, LLC sign on the left.

Want a preview?  Here’s a little video for your viewing pleasure.

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What’s happening with the Sequim and Port Angeles real estate market?  What about the national market, which we depend on so much?  Have we bottomed out and are we on our way out of the recession?

For a quick perspective and reference to a nationwide study, read Housing Market Comback.

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I recently negotiated a transaction that presents some valuable lessons for buyers and sellers who are negotiating to buy or sell a home in Sequim or Port Angeles.  I represented the buyer as a buyer’s agent.  The lessons I have learned in 30 years in real estate are often full of nuances, small but important.  That’s what this story is about.  It’s about nuances that come from experience.

I read an extensive national study conducted by the business department of a University, and the focus of this multi-industry study over several decades was to address this one question, “How long does it take to become an expert in any industry or subject?”  The answer in every industry was 10 years.  This was true with brain surgeons, auto mechanics, lawyers, school teachers, and even real estate agents.

The study found that while many became very knowledgeable with great experience at the five or seven or eight year mark, those with the depth and breadth of knowledge with at least 10 years of experience broke through barriers that those with less had not.  Wisdom is not something that comes quickly, and the school of hard knocks is a part of gaining experience.  Negotiating real estate takes experience, because  the process is full of subtle but powerful moves and nuances.  The order of events is important, and can mean tens of thousands of dollars for you.

You’ve got to follow this sequentially to get it.  Here’s the sequence of events that led one party to end the transaction. (The specifics have been slightly altered to protect the innocent.)

First, the home was listed at $259,000.  It’s a single level home built by a builder who builds mid-level quality, and it’s a basic 3 bedroom, 2 bath with about 1800 square feet on a small city-sized lot.  It’s been on the market for about 210 days and was originally listed at $269,900, but that may have been too high in this market.

Second, my buyer makes an offer at $239,000, which is not an unreasonable starting point in this market.  Was that a low price to offer for this home?  Yes, but the home has not sold in over 210 days, and buyers are few and far between these days.  There are many nice homes in this price range, and my client knew that from looking at hundreds of homes in the MLS and many in person.

Third, the seller and his agent counter at $255,000.  (There were some other concessions, but let’s not get too detailed here, or we’ll never get to the main point.)  My client counters at $245,000, and asks me to convey with no ambiguity that his offer of $245,000 is absolutely his top dollar, and he is not willing to entertain any higher counters.  I did that.

Fourth, the seller and his agent counter at $250,000, at which point my client repeats what he had promised, that he would not go over $245,000, and the deal is dead. I report this to the other agent, and casually state in my communication that it appears the seller “killed the transaction” over $5,000.  I stated that I didn’t think that was wise in this market, but that “I could be wrong.”

Fifth, my client and I move on to look at other houses.

Sixth, the seller apparently was offended that I suggested he had killed the transaction over $5,000, and argued that he could just as easily have claimed that my client killed the transaction over $5,000.  I really like this seller.  I happen to know him.  He’s a great person, and pretty sharp, too.  This is not a character issue.  It is an experience issue in the art of negotiating and in the use of negotiating terms.  But it is also acceptance of the common use of old phrases in an old profession.  Killing a transaction is not necessarily bad.  Killing a transaction might be exactly what a seller should do.  In that case, the seller should not have trouble acknowledging that he killed the transaction.  He may feel it was in his best interests, and it may have been.

In negotiating, the sequence of offers and counters determine the legal implications and the precise language used to describe what has happened.  When my buyer offered his highest price at $245,000, that was an opportunity for the seller to cinch the deal at that price by accepting it.  (Don’t get side tracked here by price per square foot, fair market value, or what this house is worth.  The issue here is negotiating tactics and terminology, not what someone’s opinion is about value.)

Had the seller said “yes” to $245,000, there would be a binding contract, and that house that has been on the market for over 210 days would be off the market.

When the seller chose to reject $245,000 and counter at $250,000, it was the seller, not the buyer, who “killed the transaction.”  The buyer announced clearly and without ambiguity that he would agree to a transaction at $245,000.  The seller is the one who demanded an additional $5,000 to make it happen.  So in the long established parlance of real estate professionals (who have been in the business for more than 10 years, and I’ve been in real estate for 30 years), it is standard practice to call this what it is.  “The seller killed this transaction over $5,000.”

To suggest that the buyer killed the transaction over $5,000 would be to ignore the sequence of events and the logical conclusion.  Could the buyer have agreed to $250,000?  Yes, had it been in his budget and had he been willing to do that, but it was the seller who rejected $245,000, which was the last possible price at which this buyer would do the deal.  So it was the seller who blinked.  The last one to blink is the one who kills the transaction.  Now you know why sequence is so important in the negotiating process.  Sequence determines legal rights and responsibilities under a contract, and the last one to reject what would have been a firm price is the one who kills the transaction.

Of course, this phrase, “kill the transaction,” is nothing more than common language Realtors have been using for decades.  But for those who haven’t been in real estate sales for a decade or more, they might think it is a new phrase.  It’s an old phrase, and it’s simply a way of recognizing who blinked last, or who rejected the last price, or who could have taken the last step to seal the deal.  That person is the one who “kills the deal.”  And for decades we have said that person killed the transaction over whatever the difference in price was at the end.  In this case, it was $5,000.

Why is all this important?  It’s important because if you don’t have the experience to know the nuances of negotiating, you can make mistakes, you can misunderstand the sequence and draw wrong conclusions.  You can misinterpret events, and you can feel offended when offense is not justified.

In this case, did the seller make a mistake?  Only time will tell if the seller should have accepted the price of $245,000.  Without this sale the seller is stuck with a house in the worst real estate market we have ever seen in Sequim or Port Angeles, and the seller has to continue to pay property taxes and maintenance expenses while the house remains empty.

But this article is not about what the house should sell for, or whether the seller is right or wrong about the price.  This article is about negotiating and understanding who it is who ends a transaction.  Of course, killing a deal has implications.

Let’s face it–this house could be on the market for six months or another year, and then what will it sell for?  Less?  With interest rates climbing, the cost of buying a home is increasing for buyers.  Would you have sold this house at $245,000, or would you have killed the deal over $5,000?

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Sequim is well known as a retirement haven, and here’s the good news-it really is an incredible place to retire and to live.  I raised my own family here, and I can tell you there’s no place I would rather live.  Why?  A lot of reasons, but here are a few that might be relevant to you if you are considering moving to Sequim.

1. Sequim is a peaceful little community of 4,000 people in the city limits.
2. Sequim is far away from busy freeways and traffic jams.
3. Sequim is close to water with the Strait of Juan de Fuca and John Wayne Marina.
4. Sequim is within a short drive of the Olympic National Forest, old growth trees, and hiking.
5. Sequim is an incredible community of volunteers, more than I’ve ever seen anywhere.
6. Sequim is full of some of the most interesting people you will ever meet, including world travelers, rocket scientists, authors, artists, retired CEO’s of huge corporations, inventors, and boring people like me.
7. Sequim has an amazing variety of recreational activities, including biking, hiking, fishing, boating, running, kayaking, bird watching, golfing, and on and on.
8. Sequim has more hobbyists than any town I’ve ever seen.  Name a hobby.  There’s a group here for it, and they meet regularly.
9. Sequim is in a rain shadow, and the climate and weather are nearly perfect.  I can say that having lived in Alaska and in Nevada.
10. Sequim has no crime.  Well, that’s an exaggeration.  There was a bicycle stolen last year.  (Okay, I’m kidding, but there really is hardly any crime here at all.  Read the police blotter, and you’ll break out laughing.)
11. Sequim is about a 2 hour drive (plus, depending on your driving) from Seattle if you like to venture back into the metropolis.
12. There are so many water view lots and houses for sale here at reasonable prices, it’s almost ridiculous.  (Our market hasn’t crashed like many places in the country, so don’t ask if you can buy a beautiful 3 bedroom home for $150,000.)

Come and see Sequim.  You might just . . . love it!

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Sequim FSBO’s or expired listings, if you are selling a Sequim home or a Port Angeles home, you will want to know what is NOT working.  Most people know print newspapers have not been working well, but there is much more to the story.  Watch this video to pick up on what does not sell homes right now.

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When homes don’t sell quickly like they did in 2005, many salespeople in the real estate industry resort to gimmicks.  Some homeowners have picked up on these gimmicks thinking that they must work.  Gimmicks don’t sell homes, but real estate agents can testify that gimmicks do get homeowners to sign listing agreements.

Some gimmicks are just plain silly (not to mention expensive), and other gimmicks seem to have some potential, but closer insight by experienced professionals will tell you otherwise.

One of the more ludicrous gimmicks that has spread to a couple of places across the country is the offer of a luxury car to the buyer of an expensive home.  A Phoenix developer mistakenly took the counsel of his real estate advisor and offered a brand new $200,000 Bentley to anyone who purchased one of his multi-million dollar homes.

One of the homes, described as the “Old World European Villa,” is priced just under $5 million and is about 7,800 square feet.  The other, which is called “Tuscan Estate,” is under $4 million and is about 7,500 square feet.  [Read Real Estate Gimmicks to Sell Homes.]

This same idea was picked up again recently by a homeowner in Orlando, Florida.  Jim Benson is offering the buyer of his $699,000 home a vintage 1967 Rolls Royce.  Such gimmicks have never worked, and professional salesmen with experience under their belts will all share that.  Of course, someone will pipe up, “Well, it does get the guy some exposure and that’s promoting the home, right?”  Wrong.  Exposure without a sale is just wasted energy, right?

The goal is to sell the home, not to have gimmicks that the public finds entertaining for a few minutes in the news.  There are some gimmicks, however, that seem to have some promise.  Real estate brokers and agents around the country are coming up with new gimmicks to get listings.

It’s been a tough year for real estate brokers around the country as they struggle to explain (repeatedly) to their listing clients why their homes have not sold.  What many agents are thinking now is that they just need more and more listings.  It used to be that “listings was the name of the game,” and you could list homes and let other agents sell them.  Well, we got away from that, but many agents are thinking that if they have a lot of listings, just maybe some of them will get sold, and the agent can survive in this market to live and sell another day.

One of the gimmicks some agents use around the country is to “bid for listings.”  Homeowners who want to sell and get the highest possible price will most often list with the agent who promises them the highest listing price.  Not very smart of the homeowner (ignorance of the truth is no excuse), but it is especially not very ethical or professional on the part of the agent.  For some agents, the rule is:  Anything to get a listing.

Another gimmick large brokerage companies are toying with (remember, toys are for children), is to call expired listings or FSBO’s, and give them the latest hot sales pitch.  It goes something like this:

Hi, my name is [agent's name] and I’m a real estate consultant (a nice catchy new phrase) and Realtor.  I notice your home listing recently expired, and I’d like to tell you about an exciting new program we at [brokerage name] are offering absolutely free of charge to homeowners like you.  May I tell you about it?  [What homeowner won't say yes at that point.  Nothing to lose, right?]

Great.  We have a very powerful new program to help homeowners like you figure out what you can do to sell your home in this market in a very short time.  It works like this.  We bring six to twelve of our agents to your neighborhood and to your home.  We spend time looking it over and then we discuss it among ourselves–with you present, of course–right there at your home.  We discuss the value of your home, what you have been doing to sell it and at what price.  We discuss the state of the market, what is selling and where and for how much.  We talk about marketing and the latest and most effective techniques to sell a lovely home like yours.  We answer any questions that you have, and then we leave.  No obligation at all.  Of course, I would love to list your home and sell it for you in the next 30 to 90 days, but that would be entirely your decision, and there’s no obligation at all. Does this sound like something you might find helpful?

Wow!  I just drafted that script off the top of my head, but it sounds so good, I might just use it myself.  No, just kidding.  It’s nothing but a gimmick, and you have to think it through to realize that.

Imagine this.  Imagine a nice brokerage company with lots of agents.  The agents are individually struggling, because their listings are not selling in this slow market, the phones are not ringing like they were in 2005, and buyers are not exactly stampeding into the office lately.  To make matters worse, print advertising in newspapers and magazines is not selling real estate either, but it sure is expensive.

As a homeowner you wouldn’t really jump up and down with excitement to hire one of these traditional agents with no ideas and a 20-year old business model that is not all that exciting anymore. So here’s the big question.

Why would you think that putting six to twelve of these same agents in the same room is somehow going to be the catalyst of extraordinarily new and exciting techniques to sell you home?  A group think tank only works if the individuals in the group have something to offer.

Watch this.  Many homeowners who are desperate to sell and have not read this article will list with agents who read this script.  They don’t know it’s just a gimmick, and they’re desperate to try something.

Are homes selling with these gimmicks? The answer is no.  Gimmicks don’t sell homes.  Good marketing and connecting with the right buyer is what sells homes.  That’s why I’ve built the largest Internet brokerage in Sequim and Port Angeles.  The Internet is the single most effective way to sell homes.  Period.  But there is much more to the story about how to effectively price and market a home.

The answer is not group think.  If you have a home in Sequim or Port Angeles you want to sell, call me on my cell at 360-775-5424.  My name is Chuck Marunde.

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Retiring in Sequim or Port Angeles?  Many retirees have not found that perfect floor plan in the existing inventory of homes for sale, so they are considering having their own home built.  What next?

A homeowner can build their own home or act as their own general contractor, but is that a good idea?  Will you save money and get a quality home built the way you want it built?  Why can’t a homeowner simply find out who the best subcontractors are and hire them to do the job?

Playing golf looks pretty easy.  Why can’t a beginner just beat Tiger Woods?  Michael Jordan may be the best basketball player in history, but why can’t anyone tall and athletic go one-on-one with Michael?

What’s so hard about building a house?  It’s not exactly an athletic event.  The answer is much longer than we have space here.  I want to touch on three significant reasons to hire a GOOD general contractor.

Many retirees have been planning their dream home for years, and have looked at hundreds of house plans, options, materials, and compared costs.  You can purchase a nice floor plan, or you can hire an architect to design a beautiful home.  I’ve worked with both architects and builders, and here are some thoughts worth considering.

1.  The first issue is cost.  A good general contractor who builds quality custom homes brings a wealth of experience to the table in design and the selection of materials.  He can look at a floor plan and suggest ways to make the refinements you want for your perfect home, and he can also help you select materials that might be much less expensive than your first choice while achieving the desired quality result.  This is important, because architects are not typically tuned into the cost of materials as builders are who do this work every day.  An architect is focused on his design, and he understandably has a lot of pride in his work, but he is not necessarily designing with the goal of saving you every dollar he can on materials or the design itself.

2.  The second issue is quality.  A good general contractor maintains quality control during the entire construction phase of your home, and that includes quality control over the materials used and the quality of work of the subcontractors and their employees.  Without a lifetime of experience doing just that, you would be well advised not to attempt to be your own project supervisor.  Without a trained eye, you won’t know what to watch for.  One other thought on this issue.  Some assume that the county or city building department will be supervising to watch for code compliance and quality, but that is definitely not their job, and they won’t do it.  Code compliance is important, but they have checklists on the code and the quality or lack thereof of the construction or the materials is not within their authority or interest.

3.  The third issue is honesty and fairness.  A general contractor who has built many homes will have a discount contract with the lumber company and other suppliers, and an honest builder will tell you about these discounts and even pass them on to you.  These discounts can amount to 10% or 15% off retail you will pay directly if you act as your own general.  I should add here that if you do act as you own general and hire subcontractors, there are subs who will take advantage of you, and you will pay much more to that sub or subs than your general contractor would have paid.

There is one builder I highly recommend in Sequim and Port Angeles.  He has built homes here since 1981, has an incredible customer satisfaction rate (the highest), does get volume discounts, and knows how to pass savings on to you and keep design costs down.  His name is Rick Anderson and he does have a website at Anderson Homes, LLC.

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The Sequim Sunland Golf Course is very popular, and Sunland as a subdivision of nice homes in a beautiful residential community is a strong pull for southern California or Arizona residents considering retirement here.  Here’s a great example of a custom home for sale right on the golf course, and I’ve included photos so you can get a vignette of this Sequim community.

This is a stunning custom built home on the golf course. It’s a corner lot on the 17th green. The kitchen has granite, Corian and butcher block counters, a propane cook stove for the chef of the house, a custom bar you’ve got to see, 3 fireplaces, very high ceilings, a huge master suite with a walk-in double custom shower. There’s a guest room with an outside entrance off the back deck near the hot tub.  There are two bedrooms plus the guest room.  This is one of the highest quality custom homes in Sunland, but it’s priced to sell in the current market at a price that would be hard to replace if you had to build it, $439,000.  The seller will consider helping to buy down the interest rate for you by paying some loan points, but don’t wait too long if you are buying, because interest rates are going to continue a steady upward trend.

You can see the full listing detail on this custom home at Sunland Custom Home on Golf Course, and you view more photos, including the custom interior on the next page . . . Read the rest of this entry »

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Sequim real estate agents are wondering what Chuck Marunde is doing to sell so many homes and get so many qualified leads.  Neighbors of a home Chuck has listed in Sunland on the golf course are seeing the sign and the activity and wondering who this broker is.  They’re used to seeing the familiar franchise signs for sale on homes in Sunland.  So who is Sequim & Port Angeles Real Estate, LLC, and what’s all the hullabaloo?

“Back in 1995 I realized the Internet was going to be a major player in real estate, and I started a website then, but in the past two years the Internet has become the dominant tool buyers use to find a home,” says Chuck.  “So I built the largest Internet brokerage in all of Sequim and Port Angeles, and the results are stunning, but other brokers and many homeowners who are not paying attention to this Internet trend are still in the dark.  I don’t advertise in the local newspaper, because that is NOT where buyers from California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, and Montana are looking!  And it’s not Sequim homeowners who are the buyers.  I am reaching out directly to the buyers from out of state.  It just makes sense, but many people haven’t thought this through, including local real estate brokers.”

In the biggest real estate recession the country has seen in decades, and the worst real estate market in memory for Sequim and Port Angeles, many real estate agents have left the business, and some have not sold anything in over a year.  Many are working other jobs, including washing dishes (literally) just to survive.  Not Chuck Marunde.

“I feel very blessed.  I sold a home in January, one in March, one in May, and I have two pending transactions in June already, and I’m submitting another offer today or tomorrow.  Here’s the amazing thing.  I don’t waste my money or my client’s money on things that don’t work, advertising that produces no results.  My Internet presence is producing buyers who are delighted to work with a Realtor who gets it.  Clients tell me they appreciate the fact that I was a real estate attorney, and tthe articles I post for them at no cost so they can make intelligent choices when they move here.  I would just call this basic customer service.”

“I’m so fortunate that the pieces of my chaotic life seem to have come together at this time and place.  I spent a lifetime in real estate transactions and law, marketing and sales, and technology.  I also love to write, so all of this somehow uniquely fits me, but most importantly it fits clients who are buying and selling.”

Most real state brokerages are operating under a 20 year old business model, but they are being left behind by the Internet.  Selling homes in Sequim or Port Angeles is no longer a simple matter of putting it in the MLS, running an ad once every six weeks in the local paper or the home sales magazine.  Agents who are sitting at the desk staring at the phone while it does not ring and waiting for buyers to walk into their brick and mortar offices are getting nervous, but more importantly, they are not producing sales for their listing clients and they are not connecting with buyers.

“Don’t be fooled by agents who tell you they have your listing all over the Internet.  There is much much more to the story about what works and what doesn’t work.  While I prefer not to reveal secrets that have taken me years and a wheel barrel of money to learn, I will share those with my clients.”

Sharp buyers and sellers are not just using the Internet–they are using it intelligently.  They know how to filter through the garbage to find a good agent, how to search for property, and they are discerning the  difference between agents who are blowing smoke and the agents who have real experience and professional knowledge.

So this real estate blog continues to help buyers and sellers to buy and sell in this market, but this blog also continues to be a source of professional education for real estate agents.  Everyone is welcome here.

At least one agent in Sequim and Port Angeles is having fun.  Chuck Marunde can be reached at his email, which is chuckmarunde@gmail.com or his direct phone, which is 360-775-5424.

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A buyer makes a huge mistake, but he has no idea he is making it.  He’s in a very respected profession, and he’s a mature and intelligent man.  He has a good friend, and his good friend’s wife is a real estate agent.  So when he wants to buy a house, he automatically hires his friend’s wife.  After all, she is a real estate agent.  Notice that word “automatically.”

This is a true story.  As it turns out, his friend’s wife is not so competent and not so ethical or professional.  The details don’t matter for purposes of this brief story, but the bottom line is that Mr. Professional gets less than royal treatment, and that is the understatement of the century.  I’m being polite here.  At the time Mr. Professional had no idea how his own agent sabotaged his transaction with her incompetence and unprofessionalism. He never knew, that is, until much later, when he subsequently finds out, and later tells me the whole story.

What’s the moral of this story?  Just because your friend’s wife is a real estate agent does NOT mean she is a great agent who will do such a great job for you.  Why in the world would someone assume they must hire their friend’s wife or sister or friend?  I’ll tell you why, and when you think about it, it just seems dumb.  They hire that person simply because of that relationship.  Period.  That is the ONLY reason.  It’s hard to believe, but this happens regularly, and I hear the nightmare stories.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with hiring a friend’s wife as your Realtor, if she is truly competent, experienced, professional, and ethical, but for goodness sake, do some due diligence first.  Go out and interview at least three agents, and choose those three carefully by filtering through the Internet to first read about them and find the one with the best education PLUS experience PLUS a powerful Internet presence.  The first two should be obvious, but don’t forget that 85% of all home buyers start their search on the Internet today according to a national survey by the National Association of Realtors, so if your agent doesn’t have a powerful Internet presence, go somewhere else.

Honestly, I have heard so many stories from good people who hired a housewife as their agent because she was a sister of someone or a brother’s aunt’s daughter, and after they have made the same big mistake that so many before have innocently made, they shake their head in disbelief as they talk about it.

Why would I be so blunt and honest in this article?  Because I have seen this same scenario so many times as a real estate attorney and again as a real estate broker that I think I’ll scream it out–All real estate agents are NOT the same.  Hire a good one, not just someone who has a license and is your friend’s wife.  Many of these agents have no business background, no degree in marketing or sales, no real estate knowledge, other than the little online courses required to pass the test, and virtually no experience in hard negotiating or legal documents, and you’re hiring this person to spend your $300,000?  Eghad!

Okay.  I’ve said it.  Now you have some choices to make.  Hire someone who is bold and honest and has the experience like me, someone who will assertively represent you, or . . . hire Tom, Sally, or Jane who just happens to be a friend of a friend and got his or her license.

Not sure who to hire?  Call me and ask me anything under the sun, and I’ll answer your questions honestly.  Do the same with two other Realtors.  Then judge for yourself.  If you don’t think I’m the man for the job, then hire someone else, but don’t you deserve the opportunity to find out for yourself before you hire Jane or Sally automatically?

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Designing your retirement home in Sequim can be fun (and work), but smart design can create so much more than some of the obsolescent designs of the 70’s and 80’s, in addition to being more energy efficient or green.  Here’s a great short video I think you’ll find interesting.

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Home sales in Sequim and Port Angeles from 2000 to 2009 for March, April, and May are shown in this graphic.  Of course 2005 was the banner year for sales here, as it was in many parts of the country, and 2009 shows us that only 55 homes sold in this three month period.  I’ve weighted the chart for better accuracy by eliminating houses sold outside the bell curve, because the vast majority of homes sold in Sequim and Port Angeles are within the price range of $200,000 to $500,000.

What isn’t showing up in this chart for 2009 is the burst of buyer activity for homes that are currently under contract but not yet sold (closed), which means they won’t show up in the data for another one to three months.  There has been a burst of buyer activity here in this three month period.  Buyers are motivated by low interest rates as well as bargains in the inventory.

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You’ve got to love the Sequim weather suddenly-warm and hot.  It’s in the mid 80’s, and just beautiful.  Summer is finally here, and it feels good. The following image is used by permission from our local online newspaper, Sequim-News.com.

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