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.

There are some rules of thumb

We’ve been using home ownership wrong. The idea is that 30 years after you buy your home, it will be paid off and you will own it free and clear. If you get a 15 year mortgage or make bi-weekly payments, you’ll get it paid off much sooner. It used to coincide nicely with retirement. Now instead of getting our homes paid off -we are refinancing every 3 or 5 years to grab a lower interest rate. The problem with that is you go back to the start of the 30 years, again and again and again. How long does it take to pay off a loan with no end?

We get blasted with marketing at every turn. Take that dream vacation. Put your kid through college. Remodel. US Bank has an advertisement with a faucet on the side of a house and that’s exactly how we are using it. This is a big part of the reason some people are upside-down in their homes – they refinanced and spent the money. Now the house has depreciated and they just cooked up a recipe for disaster.

I talk to sellers all the time who say they are going to lose money selling their house because they will barely be able to pay off the mortgage. They aren’t losing money – they already spent their profit when they pulled extra money out of their house when they re-financed.

We’re an instant gratification society. We want to buy something big right now. We look at lowering our house payment a couple hundred dollars a month and that looks good. We figure we’ll be paying less interest and that’s good too, isn’t it? Maybe.

Before you refinance, figure out why. Is it to “pay-off” high interest credit cards? To lower your monthly payment? To take advantage of low interest rates?  Next, figure out what it’s costing you and when you’ll reach the break-even point. Sometimes that alone will render the idea ineffective.

A word about the credit cards. You are not paying them off - you’re just paying them off over 30 years. If you owed $10,000 at 18% interest and paid it off over 3 years, you’d pay $3014 in interest. The same $10,000 at 4% interest paid over 30 years would have you paying $7186 in interest! Over double.

If you decide to refinance, to counteract the extra years you are adding on, think about getting a shorter term, like a 15 year loan, or start bi-weekly payments or pay one extra payment each year (which is exactly the same). What if you banked the amount you save with the refinance? A couple hundred a month is $2400 a year. Ideally, you’d put that in your real estate investment account and save to buy more real estate for your retirement.

Just remember – there is more involved in refinancing than just the interest rate. Put “Owning my home free and clear.” back on your bucket list. It’s a worthy goal and one that will keep your golden years untarnished. You’ll never get there if you keep refinancing.

As of April 1st, sellers of single family homes, condos and mobile homes must install carbon monoxide detectors. So far this just applies to selling but in January 2013 it is likely that all homes will be required to have detectors.

Homes that have electric heat are not exempt and homes without attached garages are not exempt.

Bank owned properties are are exempt. Short sales where the seller is living in the house must comply.

New construction has been required to install detectors since January 2011.

The building code requires detectors outside each sleeping area, and on each floor. If all the bedrooms are upstairs, you must still install one on the main floor.

Detectors cost around $25 and may be battery operated.

Whether you are selling or not, why not protect yourself and your loved ones?

Source: Realtor.org

Below in Bellingham – $200,000-250,000 is smoking. Buyers: If that’s your price range, be quick and expect to compete.

Further down, there is a definite drop off at the $400,000 mark.

To see all the other areas… (Ferndale, Sudden Valley, Lynden, Blaine & Birch Bay…

In Sudden Valley, there is only one home pending over $300,000, and NO homes closed this week.                                                                          

Ferndale’s sweet spot is $200,000 to $300,000.

Mainly because of Semiahmoo, this area has 9 homes pending over $400,000 and 3 over $600,000.

The last column… in these 4 areas, a whopping 14 homes closed this past week.

What can you learn from this? If you are putting your house on the market, there are definite sweet spots where you have a much higher chance of getting your house sold, and for closer to the asking price.

For buyers… not all segments of the market are “buyer’s markets”. If you are buying in the $200-300,000 range, I hate to break it to you but it is competitive. Don’t think you can waltz in and lowball. If you do, you’ll be going home alone over and over, so to speak.

Need a consult? Right here.

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.

Cherry Point today

Cherry Point is the last deep water port location available on the West Coast. A company named SSA Marine has started the application process to built the Gateway Pacific Terminal. This has caused a HUGE controversy.

Here are the key points:

1. Shipping Coal to China
2. Increased traffic of super heavy coal trains (Our railroad tracks run right along the coast and right through town)
3. Coal dust

Shipping Coal to China

This is the big environmental issue that I don’t believe will be solved one way or the other whether this terminal is built or not. Would we like to get rid of coal burning altogether? If yes, will not building this terminal accomplish that? Will building this terminal increase coal burning?

Increased train traffic

Currently 15 trains per day run on the tracks. There are already these super heavy coal trains running on the tracks but Burlington Northern won’t say how many. The historic high appears to be around 26 total trains per day. I can verified when I checked one time 10 years ago they told me there were 23 trains per day (mostly at night).

According to the terminal builders, the new terminal can handle 8 trains per day at maximum production. They say these will not be 8 new trains because they expect to waylay some of the trains already on the tracks headed for terminals in BC.

Opponets say the heavy trains will compromise the bluffs along the route causing property damage and unsafe conditions. Burlington Northern says they routinely handle slides and it is their job to keep the tracks operational and safe. They say they are all over it.

A question I keep asking is, “What control do we, as citizens, have over how many trains can be run on the tracks?” The answer appears to be “None.” At least one case made it to the 9th Circuit Court who upheld their right to run as many trains as they want.

Coal Dust

It’s nasty, there is no doubt, but is it a risk to local residents? The Northwest Clean Air Agency has had no coal dust related aliments reported in the 20 years they have been monitoring.

At the loading terminal itself, opponents march out photos of 30 year old terminals with huge coal dust clouds eveloping the area. This is deceptive. It would be impossible to build those same terminals today anywhere. You can go to their website and check out SSA Marine’s proposed plans. It seems like they embrace state-of-the-art designs for dust containment.

I’m not sure that I support the terminal, although it certainly would be nice to have the high-paying jobs that Bellingham so desperately needs. I’m also not sure I support the opposition to the terminal. There are a lot of issues that are skewed and then emotionally charged and fed to the public. It is succeeding in riling up the locals.

What I do know is there are about 15 government agencies that have to be satisfied. Way too many for any palm greasing or funny stuff. The odds of this going through are pretty slim.

How do you feel? Where have you gathered your facts?