Northsound News Round-up

I'm a bit short on time today, but I've been saving up tidbits for the blog in my Google Reader, so I'm going to round 'em up and head 'em out!

This year's Seattle Street of Dreams home show is now in progress. This SOD differs from previous years in that the show is incorporating a focus on green building techniques. Though the homes featured are still large by any definition and of course they feature all manner of bells and whistles (this is about dreams after all!) , square footage is capped this year at just under 5,000 asf. Street of Dreams takes place in Quinn's Crossing, a community of 48 homes near Maltby.

Redfin has announced that it has received $12 Million in VC funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and is now open for business in the Washington DC market. This has been covered with varying degrees of seriousness all over the blogosphere, but I'm going to chime in with my own two cents here anyway.

The real estate industry today reminds me very much of the IT industry about 8 or 10 years ago. I was involved in that industry at that time, and I recall that retailers were very concerned that their brick and mortar business model was doomed to go the way of the dodo, with the advent of companies like Amazon.com, Drugstore.com, etc. There was a huge influx into the Internet marketplace of online retailers and discounters. Some of these retailers have lasted, and others burned bright and flamed out.

Take as an example, HomeGrocer.com. The media played it up that ordering groceries online was the wave of the future, and competing grocers were concerned that it was a threat to their business model. HomeGrocer soaked up huge amounts of VC funding, but never turned a profit and eventually went out of business.

Even those pure-play dot-com retailers that outlived the dot-com bust, such as Amazon, still struggle. Meanwhile, those companies that effectively combined the best of the web with a brick-and-mortar presence eventually won out. Look at Nordstrom--fabulous website, and fabulous service whether you visit their store online or in real life. At Windermere, we often look to Nordstrom as the gold standard of service and what we should aspire to in our business.

The major real estate brokerages had it good the last few years, with lots of easy sales and plenty of cash to go around--very reminiscent of the 90s dot-com boom. The industry has NOT been quick to adapt to changes in the marketplace but by and large we have a business model that still works. It could be more consumer friendly, and we need to be more proactive about adopting technology.

Technology will revolutionize real estate and the way we do business will change. But the real estate agent will survive, even if we do our jobs somewhat differently, because we provide a service that people want and need. Maybe not EVERY person will need a real estate agent in the future, but enough of population values what we do that we are in no danger of following the dodo into extinction. Though, I would say that the easy money of the last few years has inflated our ranks, and it's likely that there will be a thinning coming. And frankly, it will be good for the industry to have that happen.

What I hope from all this is that companies like Redfin will help the industry move in a more consumer-friendly direction, and that it will force the industry to embrace change, rather than resist it. But will Redfin be the one to outlast the field? I don't think so. They just don't seem to have a business model that will take them to profitability, and they don't have the kind of universal appeal that will allow them to work with the population at large. They are and will always be a niche player. But we do NEED what they are bringing, even if we don't always like it.

Okay, moving on!

There's been ongoing talk of converting the Smith Tower office building in Downtown Seattle into condominiums. Looks like we are a step or two closer to having that happen. The developer is down to the last city approval before they can move forward with the project. Seems like that would be a pretty cool building to live in, if they can upgrade the systems to modern standards. In particular, a faster elevator would be good! And it's a great way to preserve an important piece of Seattle history.

Last item. 3Oceansrealestate blog ran a great feature this morning on how to know when it is the right time to buy a home. Regardless of what the market may or may not be doing, here are the factors buyers should be thinking about:

• You found the home you really want and you can see yourself living
  there.
• It’s affordable.
• You can get a reasonable loan.
• It will serve you and your family for years to come.
• You’re not looking for perfection.
• No home is perfect.
• You’ve given up trying to beat the market.
• You’re comfortable with your compromises, whether it’s location, size,
  price, features, or condition.
• You’re confident the home you’ve chosen is desirable enough that you will be
  able to sell it in any market.

While it makes sense for investors to try to time the market, with home-buyers, it makes less sense since you are talking about a longer holding period, and also, there are other reasons--tax relief, pride of ownership, stability, etc.-- to buy besides the investment possibilities.

Okay, that's it for today. I. Am. Outta here!

Cool tools for finding property information

Here in Snohomish County, we are fortunate enough to be able to find a whole lot of real estate information online, for free, through the Snohomish County website. Snohomish County actually has won prizes for their website because of its extensive collection of online public records, and the tools are invaluable for anyone who's interested in buying or selling real estate in the county. You don't have to be a professional to use the site, either. It's all public information and free.

You can look up property information in a variety of different ways. For instance, if you drive by a parcel and are wondering who owns it and what they paid, you can search for it using satellite mapping of the county. If you know the street it's on but not the street address, you can use the map to find it. The property lines are overlaid the display in either the map or satellite imaging mode. So if you know the property is 3 parcels south of a particular intersection, you can look for it that way. Or, if you know the street number you can enter that into the search mode.

Once you find the property, you can click on it and all the tax information will come up, including the owner, date of sale, what they paid for the property, the assessed value, etc. This is valuable if you want to make an offer to the person who owns the property. Just write them a letter and send it to the address on the records. A lot of times, you can pick up a property this way for less than you might find one on the MLS. At any rate, if it's a particular type of property you are looking for that is hard to find, it opens up the possibilities beyond just what's on the MLS.

Another type of information that Snohomish County makes available is notices of foreclosure sales. For investor buyers, this is a great tool for identifying distressed properties for rehabs or flips. I use it all the time and love it. I check the notices, move over to the mapping and assessor's information to check further data on the property, pull up a radius search in the MLS to determine the loan-to-value outstanding on the homes, and then compile all of this information into a report that I email to my investor clients once a week.

Anyway, these are just a few of the tools that are out there, public and free, that anyone can use to find out property information. I'm sure other counties offer similar information though I think Snohomish County's site is one of the most robust and comprehensive. Anyway, if you have any questions about how to use these sites, feel free to contact me at sandy dot kaduce at gmail dot com for a tutorial.

Snohomish County Online Property Information (SCOPI) - this page takes you to the property mapping. Once you find a property using the map, you can click on it for a link to the county Assessor's online tax records.

Snohomish County Online Public Records - This is where you can go to find out about foreclosure notices and other types of public filings. Also, marriage records are available here if you are doing any genealogy projects, although I am not sure how far those go back. Also, if you ARE interested in doing genealogy and your search leads you to Snohomish County, you should know that a lot of historical records prior to 1910 are missing due to a fire at the original county courthouse. Little-known historical trivia!