Ken Crotts's (kencrotts) Blog

For the past 3 years I have been working with a client base that, more than normal, consults with their lawyers regarding the issues surrounding their real estate transactions. I am speaking, of course, of distressed homeowners who are facing foreclosure. As a Certified Short Sale Specialist in K...

Photographs are the primary medium where buyers and agents form their first impressions of a property. Whether we like it or not we form opinions about each property as we look through the 5 to 15 photos of each property. To properly market a property it is essential to have those photos tell a g...

Here in King County we are having one of the best summers ever! There is no more beautiful place to live thanSeattle/King County when the weather is cooperating. With the sun comes the need to water our lawns more often to keep the emerald green in our lawn that King County residents have come to...

www.kencrotts.com Savvy homeowners who have been struggling to sell their homes may get a boost from the expiration of the $8,000 first time home buyers credit on November 30th of this year. The Puget Sound market has been brisk with sales of properties under $300,000 for the past month as buyer...

The thing I am finding out about short sales is that you have to remain flexible and you never know what is going to happen next. One of my career short sales was referred to me almost a year ago. A good friend of mine referred a nice young couple to me and we proceeded to market the house as a s...

I know many articles have been written about short sales and their impact on our market. I have spent the last two years immersed in the short sale arena working every day to improve our processes and closing ratio's. By their very nature short sales are difficult. I won't go on about the challen...

I know it is still February but somehow I have started looking for signs of spring. The other day I noticed some defiant bulbs that had already begun to grow in a container that was tossed away last fall, and my mind has already started formulating the projects we will embark upon this summer. Lo...

Ahh...the dream of homeownership. White picket fences, patios filled with family and a friends, lighted Christmas trees with presents all around, it's the quintessential Norman Rockwell vision of America. We see it in advertising every day. In fact, the fee simple form of real property ownership ...

Many homeowners who are struggling financially have been holding out hope that the new administration will be passing legislation that will help them avoid foreclosure. Unfortunately they are going to be waiting in vain. Even with massive bailout programs sailing through congress there is little...

  The State of Washington Department of Revenue issued a letter to the President of the Escrow Association of Washington dated December 12th which outlines their position on the calculation if the Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) on all real estate transfers within the Washington State. In short the...