Nancy Braam

Bellingham Stats For Homes On Acreage

Have you ever thought about owning a home on acreage on the outskirts of Bellingham? The following chart shows the activity for the past 6 months and compares it to sales for the same 6 month period a year ago. If you have any questions, contact me.

Just to explain: The Original List price is the price they first came on the market with. The List Price At Time Of Sale takes into account that they reduced the price one or more times before they received an offer. Then there is the price they actually paid.

Not long ago, it was the dream of many buyers to own their own mini-farm. Grow food, have animals, have privacy and room to breathe. It seems that has changed. This segment of the market is sluggish at best. I believe many buyers are overlooking some real bargains. Many times you will pay as much for a house on a city lot, which means the extra land and, quite possibly out-buildings, are your’s for free.

Request a list of the very best deals.

7 Features Builders Are Leaving Out Of New Homes In 2012

1. Outdoor Kitchens & Fireplaces- Pegged as a way to spend a lot of money that could go into features that are used more (especially in the Pacific Northwest).
   

   Builder's are spending money elsewhere.

2. 2 Story Entries & 2 Story family rooms. Vaulted is as far as we get but we’re cutting out the massive air volume.
3. Media Rooms. Yep, they had a short life. Media is moving more central into the family and living rooms.
4. 40 showerhead showers. Nobody gets full use of them anyway. This will get toned down to multiple but much less.
5. Ditto on the whirlpool tubs. Finally! No one uses these either. Tubs will stay but will be more of a statement and less motorized.
6. Formal Living Rooms. The transition to the great room concept is complete. Most families still need a family room or bonus room, it just won’t be a living room.
7. Ditto on Formal Dining Rooms. We are elimiating the many rooms and making larger open rooms.

How Can Canadians Live In The US?

There are a number of ways Canadian citizens can legally live in the United States, here are the most common.

The Peace Arch

1. Second Home. Canadians can maintain a second residence in the US. In order to be legal, they must a.) keep a primary residence in Canada – must own or lease, it can’t be a place in the kids basement, b.) they must show that they can support themselves. and c.) they must go home.

Many people think they can stay up to 6 months per year. This is a misunderstanding. The 6 month rule is a tax rule, not an immigration rule. You are considered a permanent resident for tax purposes if you live in the US over 6 months and you must file a tax return. There actually isn’t an established limit to the time you can spend at your second home. The border patrol can make a judgment call on this and if it is determined that you are spending too much time at your second home, you can be turned back at the border. You are not allowed to work.

2. Permanent Resident Visa or Green Cards. For immediate relatives, including spouses, children under 21 and unmarried, and parents of US citizens over 21. Visas are also available to siblings of US citizens and spouses of permanent residents but these can take a really long time. For instance, the Philipines has a 30 years waiting list.

A substantial number of permanent resident visas are set aside for aliens based on employment in the US.

3. Investor. These visas are available to citizens of countries that have an agreement with the US which includes Canada. You must make a substantial investment ($100,000 or more) into a viable company and you must own at lease 50%. These visas are complex and is is highly recommended that you consult with an immigration attorney. 

A good place to start to gather information in www.cascadiaimmigrationlaw.com. For a consultation, I recommend Greg Boos who can be reached at 360-671-5945 or gdboos@americanlaw.com.

One Real Estate Investment Plan: Never Sell

This works best with 1st time home buyers, but can work for most people until you get into high-priced homes.

To start: Buy your first house and immediately start saving your next down payment. It will most likely take a few years to save it so this gives you time to enjoy your home and lay down some roots.

When you have your next down payment saved, buy your new home, but don’t sell your old house. Keep it for a rental. Most likely it will more than cover the monthly payments, so what you are really doing is letting the renters finish paying the house off for you. If there is excess money over the payments you can either apply it toward the principal and get it paid off faster or you can put the extra in the next down payment savings account.

If you buy into this plan, you will pick your first couple of homes with an eye toward rentability. Go for 2 baths if at all possible – you can get as much or more rent for a 2 bedroom, 2 bath than you can for a 3 bedroom, 1 bath. And there are less people to wear out the house. 3 bdrm, 2 bath is ideal though.

For other real estate investment ideas, click here.

French Flea Market Meets Driftwood Salvage – Design Trends For 2012

It means that most anything goes in 2012. With the housing market still in the dumps, many people are choosing to update their current home. Here are some tips from top designers.

Emphasis on contrasts… in textures, patterns and colors.

“The basics get bolder: Over the last year, we’ve seen wood finishes getting lighter, rougher and unfinished. As a result, upholstered furniture is fighting back from beige! We are seeing a slow trend towards bright, colorful and bold patterned sofas and chairs. It’s not “grandma’s floral,” but rather rich velvets, silks and chintz with bold patterns and contrast.”  Kelli Ellis Interiors, Orange County, CA

“Layers of silky fabrics and luxurious wool, the combination of velvet and brick, stainless steel and wood design ideas create attractive contrasts.  Mixing decor accessories, made of natural stone and shiny plastic, metal, wood and fabrics are interesting home decorating ideas that add charm and unique character to contemporary interior design.”  Accord Staging – see their blog.

What’s happening on the color front? We continue with deep and bold colors.

“The dominant color is Grey. Warm Grey, Light Grey, Charcoal Grey. On walls, furnishings, window treatments, artwork, grey will be everywhere. Also coming on strong will be Yellow! In addition, know that Orange will still be hanging around; Purple is on its way out and Brown, which had a very long run, is gone.” Stephanie Henley (Stephanie coined the title phrase.)

Remember: Paint is still the cheapest improvement with the most impact. Fresh paint makes everything look new. Pick a  modern color scheme to make your home current.

Supersizing is still in…giant mirrors, large wall art, over-sized graphic scale. On a budget? Try stencils, framed posters or enlarged photographs.

If moving isn’t in the cards for you this year, remodeling and updating can make your current home your dream home.

HUD Foreclosures In Bellingham and Whatcom County – Week of 12/26/11

There are more HUD homes for sale this week than normal. 9 total. Only 2 are new.

This new one is at 3625 W. Rusley and they are asking $205,000. It’s a 3 bdrm, 2 bath, built in 1968.  West Rusley is a little close to the freeway as you can see on the map, but not a bad area or neighborhood. It looks like a pretty good deal.

Click here to see the others available this week. Prices are as low as $73,800! The highest is $225,000.

If you’d like to make an offer, see inside or get more information, contact me.

If you don’t know about buying HUD homes, here’s what you need to know.

A Word About Hiring Contractors Your Friends Recommend

Ellen trusts Rudy. In fact, they go to the same church. Ellen needs some work done on her house before she puts it on the market. Rudy recommends Mike. Mike has been a contractor for years.

First Ellen hires Mike do to some odds and ends inside the house and he does a fine job. When they discover the roof needs replacing, she hires Mike to do that also.

I met Mike. He talks the talk. He knows a bunch of the local builders and developers and we swap stories. He completes the work and Ellen pays him. All said and done, about $7500.

The house sells in the next couple of months and the purchaser prudently has a professional inspection. Much to our surprise, the inspector says the roof was “unprofessionally installed”. There were a lot of nails showing and the shingles weren’t even fully overlapped. The valleys were tarred. We had it inspected by a professional roofer and they said that basically it was a hack job done by someone who didn’t know what they were doing.

Since we told the buyer that we just installed a new roof, this made them understandably uneasy, and they were ready to walk.

Luckily, Ellen is a smart woman and knew that if the problem wasn’t remedied with this buyer, it would have to be remedied with the next, or any buyer. Besides, she paid for a new roof and a new roof she would get.

We had a new roof installed by a professional roofing company that warranties their work and saved the sale. In checking on Mike, we found that his contractor license expired in 2002 and naturally he isn’t bonded.

Mike’s story is that the roof was installed okay, although now he is not returning phone calls or emails, and he didn’t bother to talk to the inspector or the roofer. Maybe he thinks the problem has gone away. What do you think?

We are prepared to go to small claims court if he refuses to pay for the new roof. I think it’s a slam dunk win. I love small claim’s court.  I’ll keep you updated.

Moral: Don’t hire people to do expensive repairs who have no way to guarantee their work.

Update! Mike stepped up! After several months of nagging and being ignored, Mike paid the cost of the re-roof. Happy ending.

How Many Stinking Offers Do I Have To Make?

Let’s call her Leslie. She’s a first time home buyer getting an FHA loan with 3.5% down payment and hoping for a little help with closing costs from the seller. Her credit is good. She is a professional with a good job and a bright future. Her price range is $200,000 or less. It sounds doable, right?

So why is she is making offer after offer and not getting a house?

1. It’s tough to compete with cash. In her price range there are some good bargains. This is also the price range in which investors are looking. Leslie feels justifiably slighted when the seller counter-offers a cash buyer who made a lower offer than she did. She’s the one that stepped up on the price. Her offer was even the first one written.
2. She’s making offers on houses out of her price range – hoping the sellers may be some of the really motivated one’s we’ve heard about. Is that a bad strategy? No, but it’s a long shot to start with, so most won’t work.
3. She’s making offers on short sales. This is a complete wild card. Even if you offer the list price there is no guarantee the bank will approve. More on short sales.
4. She doesn’t make a quick enough “buy” decision. There are a lot of folks looking for bargains right now. When one comes on the market, there is no time to do research or anything else. We have plenty of time for that after they accept. If you wait until there is another offer, almost anyone with a bigger down payment will take it away from you.

Under $200,000 in Bellingham is very competitive. If you are a low down payment buyer, just expect to stay in the game and keep looking and making offers. Keep your spirits up. Try not to take it personally. If you just keep going, I guarantee it will all work out.

The 5 Most Important Tips To Negotiating Real Estate Deals

Are Americans Wimpy Negotiators?

In the international arena of negotiation, Americans are considered wimps because we believe in fairness, so we tend to “split the difference” a lot. In many cultures, fairness is not in play at all…which is another whole story. Splitting the difference is not negotiating and the only time you should do that is when the price difference has been whittled down to a puny amount and negotiations have faltered.

This is straight from the top negotiators. Some of it is common sense.

1. Know the strength of your Plan B option. That means, what will you do if you don’t make this deal work? You’ve heard it said that the person most willing to walk away has the most power.

• If you are a buyer and have three other houses you like, you have a strong Plan B and therefore can negotiate from a position of strength. If you have 3 days to find a house or you will be in the street, your Plan B is not so strong.
• If you are a seller and you’ve already made an offer on another house – not much strength. If you have multiple offers – you are in a strong position to negotiate.

2. Inventory your bargaining chips.

• People tend to think only in terms of price, but there is a lot more. For buyers – maybe the seller would like 3 weeks to move out or they really love their refrigerator. Think about giving them that to get the price you want.
• Sellers can negotiate appliances, lawn mowers, extended closings or the deck furniture.
• Earnest money, title company, closing date, performance dates are all negotiating points you can use. Read the rest of this entry »

Buying HUD Foreclosures In Bellingham and Whatcom County

HUD Website

If you are like many buyers right now, you are looking for good deals.  Some of the best deals I’ve seen are HUD homes. These were government guaranteed loans, like FHA, that have been foreclosed and now the government owns them.

Like most times when you work with the government, the process has been “simplified” into the most convoluted and pain-staking way possible.Working through the process is worth it, though.

To make it easier to understand, let’s break it down into steps.

1. Finding HUD homes. Go to the HUD website by clicking here.  Click on the state, then on the county in which you want to look for homes or fill in the address or city in the Search Properties section below. If you use that option, keep it as general as possible, like just the city. There might be only a couple in your area at any given time but check back often because they turn over quickly and new ones are added daily. Read the rest of this entry »