July 19, 2008
Call me cynical, but I have a difficult time believing that any group of people living in tight quarters together can really get along. Heck, people can’t even get along for 40 days for $1 million dollars! So, imagine my cynicism when I ran across an article on “cohousing.” In principle, it sounds just fine and dandy–that is, if we could all just get along.
Cohousing takes community-style living one step further beyond the traditional master-planned community. Though members of a cohousing community each have their own private residences, including kitchens and laundry areas, these communities are characterized by the inclusion of extensive common areas, including a large kitchen, dining area, laundry facility, gym, outdoor garden area, and even child care facilities. Cohousing allows its members to share duties, such as cooking for the community, child care or even laundry.
Different strokes for different folks, they say. As for me, I’ve worked on enough “group projects” through the years to know that there are doers and slackers in every group. I would be horrified at the prospect of actually living a group project. Then again, the house-drawing personality test I took said that I “always want to live alone,” so it shouldn’t be a surprise.
However, in case the photo above strikes your fancy, here are some sales and rentals in our area:
For sale in the Seattle area:
Jackson Place Cohousing
800B, Hiawatha Place South, Seattle
2 br/ 1 ba, 857 sq.ft.
For rent in the Seattle area:
Duwamish Cohousing
1 br + loft duplex
For Sale in Port Townsend:
RoseWind Cohousing
2 br/1.75 ba, 1590 sq.ft.
For a listing of more cohousing groups in the Washington area, check out this directory. It also lists new co-housing groups that are currently forming in Bothell, Port Ludlow, Port Townsend, Tacoma, and Seattle, so that you can get in on the get go, if this is your cup of tea.
July 19, 2008
If you’re in West Seattle this Sunday, check out these open houses. All have been for sale for at least two months, and each of them has come down in price anywhere from 5-16%:
3615 57th Pl SW (4 bed, 2.75 bath, 3,420 sf) Sun 1-4
This came on the market in February at $1,195,000 and it’s come down $70K, just under 6%, since then, to $1,125,000.
5023 SW Grayson St (3 bed, 1.75 bath, 2,290 sf) Sun 1-4
This originally went up for $780K in early May, but has come down about 5% in the two months since to $739,500.
2307 45th Ave SW (3 bed, 1.75, 1,660 sf) Sun 1-4
This one has come down from $599,950 in early April to $505,000 now, nearly 16%.
July 18, 2008
If you’re shopping for a brand new condo on Capitol Hill, these places are worth a look:
The Lakeview Residence at 1114 Lakeview Blvd E offers six 2-bedroom units with impressive views for around a million dollars.
Trace and Trace North at 12th and Madison offer a variety of sizes and price-points. You can’t beat the location. Though parking is included, you could certainly live car-free here.
The Montage at 1461 Boylston also boasts a great location. If you like to go out-and-about, you can do it all on foot.
July 18, 2008
If you are selling a house you are probably in for a long ride. It’s not news to anyone that you’re going to have to work harder to get your house sold than a year or two ago, and you’re going to get less money for your work. C’est la vie.
There are, however, some obvious ways to improve your odds of selling. David Crook of the Wall Street Journal lists some tips. He gives good advice. To paraphrase:
- Don’t wait around
- Fix it up and clean it up
- Price it cheaply
- Hire a top real-estate agent
- Promote, promote, promote
- Play the banker
- Take the offer
Items #1 and #3 are obvious–a house that isn’t on the market won’t sell, and an overpriced house won’t even get a second glance (”Why didn’t anyone come to my open house?”). The second item seems like it would also be a no brainer, but I am repeatedly surprised at how many people didn’t get this memo. Toys are usually the biggest eyesore, scattered around the yard or strewn across the bedroom floor like a plane crash. Clothing, blankets, and other textile offenses come in a close second, draped over the couch, piled on the bed, or mashed into a corner. Really? You couldn’t make a ten minute run through the house and shove it all in a Hefty bag?
Items #4 and #5 go hand in hand. A seller’s real estate agent has a lot of work to do in this climate, and it’s going to take more than cold lemonade to get an offer. Crook recommends securing the, “best, most aggressive selling (listing) agent you can find”. Yes, this would be nice, but realtors in the 90th percentile are a small minority and not so easy to find (realtors: don’t flame me, this is true of every profession–engineers, dentists, vets, etc.). Not to mention that a rock star realtor may simply not be interested in selling your house.
Whether you can find an all star realtor or not, you could do worse than follow item #5’s advice and promote the hell out of your house yourself. He gives good examples, but didn’t mention one thing that has worked for me in the past, namely buying a domain such as 123MainStreet.com and creating a simple web site with larger, high-resolution images (preferably professionally done), better descriptions of the property, and links to nearby places of interest or sources of information.
Since credit is hard to come by these days, Crook suggests financing the buyer’s purchase. This may be a good idea for a seller who has the capital to handle the financing, but every time I’ve sold a house I just wanted to close the deal, get my money, and move on. The last thing I need is the headache and stress of being someone’s bank.
Finally, he suggests taking the offer. This is related to item #4 about hiring a top agent. A good agent will let you know when an offer is worth taking or leaving. Unfortunately for most sellers, almost any offer is worth taking right now.
July 18, 2008
Wondering what to do with your free time this weekend? Get out and take a look at these Redfin open houses!
1.) 4615 123rd Ave SE
Bellevue, WA
Sunday, July 20th, 1-4pm
2.) 535 Lake Washington Blvd S
Seattle, WA 98144
Sunday, July 20th, 1-4pm
July 17, 2008
Gotta love the Garfield Playfield and Community Center (and on those hot summer days, the Medgar Evers Pool!). If you’re looking for a place within walking distance of these Central Seattle institutions, check out these open houses this weekend:
2108 E. Jefferson St., #A
OPEN: Sun., 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Price: $419,900
Specs: 3 bd/3.5 bath
Size: 1,790 square feet
201 22nd Ave.
OPEN: Sat. & Sun., 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Price: $500,000
Specs: 2 bd/2.5 bath
Size: 1,950 square feet
317 31st Ave.
OPEN: Sun., 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Price: $899,000 (reduced from $949,000)
Specs: 4 bd/3.5 bath
Size: 3,410 square feet
July 17, 2008
Foreclosures are hitting all segments of the population, and the rich and the famous are not excluded from this list. CNN recently reported in on some famous foreclosures including:
- Jose Canesco, former baseball star who recently ditched his 7,300 square foot Encino, California home. Canesco too the property in May, at which time Canseco owed over $3.3 million.
- Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson’s former sidekick, owes $4.8 million on a home that he paid less than $1 million on in 2000!
- Evander Holyfield, ex-heavyweight champion, recently managed to pull himself out of foreclosure status on his 54,000 square foot mansion.
- Michael Jackson (no description needed), also managed to work out a deal before auction proceedings moved forward on his 3,000 acre Neverland ranch. The mortgage balance on this baby, a whopping $24.5 million!
- Courtney Love, widow of rock idol Kurt Cobain, allowed her modest 13 acre bungalow to slip into foreclosure in 2006 for a measeley $386,000, mere chump change for this group!
The “Celebrity Foreclosure” list on the Luxist adds even more celebs to the growing collection of stars in debt, including Aretha Franklin, Latrell Sprewell, and Whitney Houston.
The foreclosure aspect doesn’t baffle me half as much as the fact that these people had mortgages to begin with! For example, Evander Holyfield has grossed over $200 million in his career, yet had a mortgage balance of $10 million on his home! When you’ve made that much money, why is a mortgage even necessary?! Sigh. The more money you have, the more money you need, apparently.
July 16, 2008
Say what?
That’s right, a neighborpedia. Coined by Localism, the ActiveRain Real Estate Network’s freshman essay into the neighborhood blogosphere, the term connotes that exclusive, pop-culture competence we’ve come to expect of sites like StreetAdvisor, Yelp, and even Wikipedia (suspect sometimes, I know, but pretty reliable).
The site functions as a blog, searchable by neighborhood. We’re talking comprehensive, here: type in just about any neighborhood name in the U.S., and you’ll likely find an entry. That isn’t to say, however, that the entry will boast content — “Central District, Seattle” turns up a CD-dedicated page, but zero info. It even lacks a serviceable map: the search pulls up a pic of North America. Specific, right? Type in Seattle’s hipster ‘hood — “Capitol Hill, Seattle,” that is — and you’ll get a handful of posts. Nothing neighborpedia-worthy, really, and nothing new, either. Just some real estate adverts. Worth noting, of course, is that the site is maintained by realtors, all members of the ActiveRain network. Adverts, pay, I suppose.
But what of the claim of being a “neighborpedia”? Fishy, right? I’d love to see Localism grow; having a comprehensive look at a neighborhood can be uber-helpful in making a home purchase decision. For now, however, I suppose neighborhood blogs (CD News, the Miller Park Neighborhood Association blog, Capitol Hill Seattle, and Sweet Digs, to name a few) remain the go-tos for local news and info. Check out the other neighborhood-specific blogs and sites in the sidebar.
Next on my Localism look-up list: Plymouth, MN, and Naperville, IL. Maybe it’s their sweet ‘hood factor that’s sent them to the top of the CNNMoney.com Best Places to Live list that Rick mentioned yesterday.
Via Seattle Bubble.
July 16, 2008
Recent posts on Sweet Digs Seattle:
Most people are a first time home buyer only once. Buying that “starter” home is often a harrowing experience and you figure that it will be easier when you’re ready to trade up because you have so much more knowledge. Well now the complexity doubles because you have to juggle buying the new home while selling the old one. The Get Rich Slowly blog has some advice on Selling Your Existing Home While Buying a New One from a Smart Money article on the topic.
If you sell your home first, she says, you’ll have the cash needed to make the transition, but you’ll be homeless until you’re able to close on the new property.
- In some cases, you may be able to stay in your existing home by renting it back from the new owners.
- If this isn’t an option, you’ll need to find temporary quarters: rent an apartment, stay in a hotel, move in with friends or family.
Neither option is ideal, especially since you’ll likely have to move your stuff twice. But financially, this is by far the smartest choice.
If you buy your new home first, you can end up in a cash crunch, especially in this current market. If you don’t have enough in savings, you’ll need to borrow money until you can sell your existing home. You can tap into your home equity, take out a “bridge loan”, or (as a last resort) borrow from your retirement savings.
When Kris and I bought the house we live in now, a sympathetic banker gave us a home equity loan to provide a temporary cash infusion despite the fact we intended to close the loan in only a month or two. (She wasn’t supposed to allow such a loan if she knew it wouldn’t be long-term because the bank would lose money. We’re grateful she did anyhow.)
Your best option, of course, is to plan your move, and to save up enough cash to be able to buy your new home first. This isn’t always possible. And in the current real estate market, it’s difficult to know just how much you’ll need to save. My youngest brother bought a new home before selling his old house, and has been carrying both mortgage payments for two years. The last I heard, it’s possible that he’ll lose both houses.
[Smart Money: Selling your home while buying a new one]
Most people I know get a home equity loan for the down payment on a new house then sell the old one. While saving up for the down payment is the smartest thing, you might not want to liquidate your investments to put down when you’ll be getting equity out of the house anyway when you sell. It’s also is a huge burden to sell your existing property and have to move your stuff twice - once to a rental or storage unit then to the new house. Most people get in trouble when they can’t sell their old property for as much as they had hoped when they took out the home equity loan. The bank appraisal is a best guess, everything sells for a price - and that price might be a lot lower than you had hoped.
July 15, 2008
The latest Best Places to Live ranking, released by CNNMoney.com, is a perfect example of how statistical models often miss the point entirely. No doubt the number one city, Plymouth MN, is a nice place– but I certainly wouldn’t want to live there. In fact, I wouldn’t want to live in any of these supposed top ten cities:
1. Plymouth, MN
2. Fort Collins, CO
3. Naperville, IL
4. Irvine, CA
5. Franklin Township, NJ
6. Norman, OK
7. Round Rock, TX
8. Columbia/Ellicott City, MD
9. Overland Park, KS
10. Fishers, IN
Sure, the named cities probably have low crime, affordable housing, job growth, etc.; but if these places are so great, why are they mostly anonymous little burgs relegated to cornfields in the center of the country? To my mind, the modelers left out several key variables:
- Climate: Ever been to Minnesota in January or July? Having spent the first 20-odd years of life in the Midwest, I recall bone-chilling winters and inhumanely humid summers. Global climate change has pretty much done away with spring and fall in the middle states. I prefer not to live in a place where I’m confined inside for at least half the year.
- Diversity: Though I haven’t studied the ranking cities’ demographics, I’m betting they’re not real diverse populations. As a member of the global community, I prefer a bit of color in my environs–not to mention some spice in my food. During my latest parental visit (I grew-up somewhere between Chicago and Fishers IN), I was unable to find a single Thai, Indian, or Vegetarian restaurant within a 15-minute drive. (Though I did find a couple of Chinese restaurants.)
- Branding: Humans are a strange lot, with emotions and desires beyond control of rationality and logic. Part of our humanity is a desire to be relevant, to believe we contribute to the world. For lots of us, our identity is tied-up with where we live. While an association with New York or San Francisco might make me proud, hailing from one of these top ranked cities would prompt feelings of inadequacy and irrelevancy. (This human fraility is why we’re so susceptible to marketing. Who wouldn’t prefer an I-Phone over a Blackberry?)
Such are the short-comings of statistical models: if the input variables are wrong or incomplete, the results are meaningless. This ranking falls into that category.
With my day job being in the modelling biz, I’m well aware of the arguments on the lips of these modelers: “We’re only comparing things like quality of schools, housing prices and job growth. These other things are not our concern.” Maybe, but these other things are a major concern for most folks. If your model really did work, this wouldn’t be the first time most Americans have ever heard of many of these places.
I’m not saying these places are evil or bad, but some of the best places to live? In the entire United States? I’m not buying it. Don’t believe me? Ask the next twenty people you meet where they’d most like to live. I bet not a one will mention Roundrock, TX or Norman, OK . . . regardless of what the numbers say.
