2/11 – BusinessWeek reports that Seattle sees the biggest drop in rental prices. Our average monthly rent fell 13.8%
Short sale: are you a Greater Seattle seller thinking you may be in this boat? Or a buyer thinking about purchasing a short sale property? I’ll soon be posting a comprehensive resource for both situations. If you need it now, let me know.
You may need this IRS form to claim the first-time homebuyer tax credit. You’ll need to provide supporting documents. Learn about it here.
Celebrating Black History Month: A PRX piece narrated by Mae Jemison about the significant role NASA played in Civil Rights.
Came across this excellent rap video Fear the Boom and Bust that gives the 411 on the nuances of bull and bear markets. Your economics class was NEVER this fun! (it’s an econstories.tv production)
Did you know … Assessed value lags the market. This Assessor’s Time Frame chart shows you how Assessments – Sales Time Frame 2009 TY
Receive up to 3.5% seller assistance if you buy a Fannie Mae owned HomePath program. Read the 1/28/10 News Release. Search HomePath for qualifying properties.
Homebuyer Tax Credit resources:
Excellent resource re First-time Homebuyer Tax Credit Q & A: Basic Information.
Learn 10 Facts about the First-Time Homebuyer Credit.
If you got the credit you may need to fill out IRS form 5405. Note: can’t e-file the form.
Ok now you can look at the other posts. Cheers!
In this short piece, Richard Wiseman talks about his study of Luck including traits of lucky and unlucky people and techniques that can improve one’s good fortune. Does any of this resonate with you?
This little Toshiba Escargot has got to be the hippest coolest sleekest vacuum cleaner on the planet and I SOOOOO want to use it. So far, this adorable machine’s only available in Japan for the equivalent of about $130. Toshiba, I’d love for you to send me one so I can review it for our U.S. market.
environment + design + symbiosis
 “Pocket neighborhoods” — a lifestyle concept familiar to local talent Ross Chapin Architects that’s gaining attention and popularity in our area — are communities of well-engineered and smartly designed cottages built around a usable landscaped commons with parking screened from the street. The emphasis: intimacy with boundaries, livability, safety, quality, eco-consciousness. The Danielson Grove community in Kirkland is featured below.
Innovative zoning | Pioneering design
The Cottage Housing Development (CHD) zoning code preserves housing diversity, affordability, character, and discourages sprawl. It allows for up to double the density of detached homes in all single-family zones (with some provisions).
The flow from public to private spaces are well thought out to create harmony between mingling and privacy. When homes are wrapped around a commons, visibility can alert neighbors to shady activity.
Danielson Grove
This award-winning pocket neighborhood is located in Kirkland on North Rose Hill and offers six different architectural plans/footprints. A mix of 16 3-bedroom homes and 1 and 2-bedroom cottages are arranged around shared garden courtyards and community clubhouse. The homes are tailored for a simple yet rich lifestyle in a setting where neighbors can know one another. The houses are BuiltGreen | EnergyStar certified and subscribe to the “Natural Yard Care” program. HOA fees pay for common-area expenses.
Small homes can feel large with enough natural light and storage. Danielson Grove homes feature high ceilings, open floor plans, built-ins, expansive windows, huge closets, open kitchen, spacious bedrooms/bathrooms, deep sills, nooks, spacious/ functional porches, ample storage, and walk-in closets.
When looking at small homes, walk through without looking at the square footage and ask yourself “Is this home livable and functional?” It’s a different question from “What’s the square footage?” Well-engineered homes are exceptionally functional. Size isn’t everything ya know, it’s how ya rock what ya got.
This home in Danielson Grove sold for $515K in November. What do you think?
$8000 First-time Homebuyer Tax Credit – UPDATE
The $8000 tax credit is for first-time homebuyers only (IRS definition: not having owned a principal residence during the 3-year period prior to the purchase.
Doesn’t have to be repaid.
Equal to 10% of the home’s purchase price up to $8000.
Applies only to homes $800,000 or less.
Sales occurring on or after January 1 2009 and or before April 30 2010. If a binding sales contract is signed by April 30 2010 a home purchased completed by June 30 2010 will qualify.
For sales occurring on or after January 1 2009 and or before November 6 2009, the income limits are $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for married couples filing jointly.
For sales occurring after November 6 2009 and on or before April 30 2010, single tax payers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples with incomes up to $225,000 qualify for the full tax credit.
$6500 Move-Up / Repeat Buyer Tax Credit – UPDATE
Buyers must have lived in their previous home 5 consecutive years out of the last 8.
Doesn’t have to be repaid.
Equal to 10% of the home’s purchase price up to $6500.
Applies only to homes $800,000 or less.
Sales occurring after November 6 2009 and on or before April 30 2010.
Sales occurring after November 6 2009 and or before April 30 2010. If a binding sales contract is signed by May 1 2010 a home purchased completed by July 1 2010 will qualify.
Single taxpayers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples with incomes up to $225,000 qualify for the full tax credit.
 This is cool, one-of-a-kind, functional art that’s sought after by Seattle homeowners and a growing number of businesses.
It’s whimsical custom concrete art for your unique purpose. Creative patterns, textures, and designs featuring your address, family name, or business logo. They make thoughtful closing gifts for homebuyers. Ask Kelle about their special birth stones and remembrance stones. Visit Landsview Interior Design.
The Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) establishes standards for solicitation, selection, compensation, conflicts of interest and appraiser independence. It’s effective May 1, 2009 for any mortgage that will be sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) mortgages are not covered in the agreement).
With HVCC mortgage brokers lost the right to order appraisals for conventional loans going to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Realtors and mortgage brokers are prohibited from selecting appraisers. Lenders are may use in-house staff appraisers to conduct appraisals; however, the loan production staff is prohibited from selecting, retaining, recommending, or influencing the selection of an appraiser and conducting any substantive conversation with an appraiser or appraisal management company (AMC) regarding the appraisal assignment.
What this means: The most experienced appraisers are leaving the industry because AMCs have dramatically cut their wages, in some areas by as much as one-third. The best are also leaving because industry integrity has deteriorated. With this scenario you can imagine whose left doing appraisals and why this ineptitude is creating national concern.
What to do? Write in the P&S Agreement that the property must be appraised by an appraiser with an office from the same city or county? Remove the key box to subvert surreptitious appraisals? Ask your lender about using AMCs. Ask which local and experienced appraisers they hire on a regular basis and if they pay prevailing fees or discounted fees.
Short sales, no sales, bank-owned sales – we need the best appraisers more than ever. Assigning inexperienced and underpaid appraisers to unfamiliar markets is a harmful byproduct of this code. HVCC was well-intended but short sighted and didn’t take into consideration how the industry worked or would be impacted.
(edited excerpt by Paul Hart)
You can click this link to help reverse HVCC.
When asked “What’s most rewarding about Interior Design?” my answer is “Being surrounded by beauty can transform a person.“
Recently I helped a friend relocate her mom from a hospice facility to an adult family home. Her mom made a profound, unexpected recovery in the beauty-filled surroundings of the hospice center and my friend wanted to create a similar environment at the adult family home. Her mom’s previous residence was larger but gloomy, so we brainstormed a bright, cheerful Nantucket seaside theme and found new coordinating furniture on craigslist. There was no time to paint so coordinating fabrics were chosen for pretty window and wall treatments which my friend sewed. These simple accessories tied together the colors of the walls, carpeting, and furniture and helped the room feel finished.
Often there are restrictions regarding how far you can go with redesign in these types of situations. Working with existing resources of wall color and floor covering, the tools of my trade were boiled down to the essences of color, texture, pattern and placement. Guided by a small budget to make a Fresh, Calming, and Pretty environment, we succeeded in creating a lovely 12′ x 12′ living space. Friends and family visit more often and stay longer because this new environment feels good.
Her mom is still adjusting to all the changes. A new address, a smaller room, new people, a teetering awareness and denial of declining health and mobility, loss of control, and she’s afraid. Being in a pretty environment supports her mental health.
There’s a Navajo blessing “May you walk in beauty.” Beauty is both a path you travel and what surrounds you on the path. Beauty can transform a room, and a heart. And aren’t both “interior” design?
This experience led my friend and I to talk about providing this interior design and selective color integration service to other seniors and their families.
Kelle Boyd, BFAID, ASP
Landsview Interior Design
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