Auburn WA Real Estate | Mortgage Costs to Watch Out For Mortgage Costs to Watch Out For when purchasing a Home in Auburn, WA Faced with plunging property values and rising defaults, lenders are charging borrowers higher mortgage rates and adding fees. Not all of these added costs are set in stone, however. If you’re looking for a loan, vigilant shopping and a little haggling can go a long way toward landing a better deal.  Yes, some closing costs are negotiable or removable all together.  You will want to make sure your Homefront Realty buyer’s agent looks over your good faith estimate with you, they might be able to point out what we have called back in the day, junk fees.             Originally Posted at: Homefront Realty 02/15/2012

I was a bit (well, a lot) skeptical about whether we’d end up with a storm of the magnitude the weather folks were predicting early last week. We were to get 12-18” of snow. Uh huh … right! In my area of south King County, we’d had a number of just wet little snow blizzards that melted about the time the flakes hit the ground. What I didn’t know, was that the worst of the storm was just laughing at me … waiting for me to go back into the house to finish my skeptical blog post. For my area of the Auburn east hill, snow was late to arrive, but when it did, it was daggone serious. Now, remember you east coasters … we’re talking about the Seattle area here. We don’t get much in the way of snow. We may get a few inches here and there, close the schools for a day, and then melt off. There’s l... 01/28/2012

What is Earnest Money? How does it work here in King County? Earnest Money Deposit:  This is the deposit you make to show your good faith that you are committed to purchasing the home.  The deposit will not be refunded to you after offer acceptance unless one of the purchase and sales contract contingencies is not satisfied.  Your earnest money deposit is credited back to you at closing towards down payment or closing costs if the offer is accepted.   Every time I  write a Purchase and Sale Contract (Form 21) for my buyer clients I am obligated by the contract terms to collect the earnest money.  The Purchase and Sale Contract spells out in detail what happens to this earnest money. Earnest Money. Buyer shall deliver the Earnest Money within 2 days after mutual acceptance of this Agreem... 01/25/2012

2011 Market Report Condos for Auburn, Washington2011 Market Report Condos for Auburn, WashingtonAuburn real estate was on a lot of residents minds this last year. Now that the year is over we can report activity, averages and trends in this 2011 Market Report Condos for Auburn, Washington.Auburn condo activity was brisk and picking , on the available information and the experience of the Phil Leng Team. We sold 68 homes this past year, with an average market time of 49 days.However the overall statistics for Auburn are sobering. Look at this graph. The red bar is the number of houses for sale in any given month. The Green bar is the number of houses sold in any given month. Which of these two categories would you want to be in? The red category, or the green category? If you use The Phi... 01/22/2012

New home-building in Auburn, WA continues to increase, as evidenced by a quick drive through the area. One of the most ambitious new developments in Auburn is The Bridges, by MainVue Homes, located just east of 124th, between 304th and 288th. A few years ago I watched as the area was cleared and developed with streets, lights, and playgrounds, and then the real estate economy tanked and the property sat idle … until recently! Unfortunately, it appears that the folks at MainVue homes have decided not to list their homes on our local MLS. Visiting both their Web and physical sites indicate that several homes have already been sold, model homes are available, and homes are for sale. Marketing is driven specifically to consumers and Broker/Agent participation appears to be discouraged. With... 01/18/2012

My husband, the amateur weatherman, has been obsessively following the build-up to the “Megastorm” of decades, currently predicted for our greater Seattle region. We’ve been watching for days, experiencing a bit of snow here, and a bit of snow there. At our home in east Auburn, so far we’ve accumulated a couple of inches, which largely went away today even through additional flurries of wet heavy snow. I grew up in Seattle and remember a few good-sized snow storms from my childhood; even one or two while raising our own children. This storm, however, is expected to dump somewhere between 12- and 18-inches in our yard, according to the “Futurecast” radar displayed on one of our local news sites, KIRO7. That’s a significant amount of snow. Significant! According to AccuWeather, the histor... 01/17/2012

I’ve always loved the Lakeland Hills area of Auburn, which technically straddles the King County / Pierce County borders and includes both Auburn and Sumner addresses. Perched above the Auburn valley, there are some staggering views of the valley, southeast of Mt. Rainier, and east to the Cascade foothills. Much of Lakeland Hills is new(er) construction in a planned community with a variety of housing choices and prices, shopping, parks and entertainment. Here you’ll find apartments, condominiums (both attached and detached), along with single family homes. A large portion of the newest homes, perhaps those built from about 2007 and later, sit on typical new construction smaller lots--under about 6,500 square feet. Older neighborhoods with homes built in the ‘70’s or so may have yards t... 01/17/2012

2011 Market Report for Auburn, Washington2011 Market Report for Auburn, WashingtonAuburn real estate was the topic of many conversations this last year whether around the family table or around the office water cooler. Now that the year is over we have accurate activity, averages and trends for you in this 2011 Market Report for Auburn, Washington.I would characterize Auburn real estate activity as brisk and picking up based on the experience of the Phil Leng Team. We sold 68 homes this past year, with an average market time of 49 days!However the overall statistics for Auburn are sobering. Look at this graph. There are nearly 10 times as many homes for sale each month as there are home that sold each month. The red bar is the number of houses for sale. The Green bar is the number of ho... 01/15/2012

Auburn WA Real Estate | December Homes Sold 2011 During the month of December Auburn had 90 homes sell. This includes detached homes, town-homes and manufactured homes on owned land.  Below you will see a map with some Auburn, WA sold homes. These Auburn WA homes actually had a transfer of home ownership. Contracts complete and Lender funds available. The home buyer and seller signed all of their documents and escrow prepared the closing packages. Once all the I’s were dotted and the T’s crossed there where deeds recorded at the King County courthouse that transferred the property into the new home owner’s name! If you want to learn more about how we transfer property in Washington State a really great site to visit is the Escrow Association of Washington site. There you can find defini... 01/13/2012

Truly! Snow is coming! The world will come to an end in Auburn in three days! At least so say the weather stations. The greater Puget Sound metropolitan area is a unique place when it snows. We’re hilly around here and our typical warm ocean breezes prevent us from getting much in the way of significant snowfall, which means most of the cities and towns in our area have a minimal amount of snow equipment to deal with the mess. We don’t dump a lot of sand or salt on the roads. Some … but not a lot. Oh sure, once a year or so we get dumped on with a couple or three inches, but then it rains away within the next day or so. I know, I know – you Seattle’ites remember the recent great snowfall of ‘ought eight’ when we had 6+ inches on the ground for a week or so. It was darned cold out there ... 01/12/2012

Auburn, WA Homes For Sale Below you will see all homes for sale in Auburn that are currently listed in the NWMLS with a real estate company. We update this information daily so you can find any new listed home for sale instantly. Save your MLS Auburn home searches and your favorite houses with a FREE account. Also you may opt-in to receive email notification of new listings that meet your Auburn real estate search criteria. Contact us if we can help you buy or sell in Auburn or or any West or South Sound area. 01/10/2012

The end of the year is a good time to take a look back and see how things shaped up. After all of the negative press, residential real estate sales in Auburn improved, both for the month of December 2011, and year over year compared to 2010. Here’s a quick look at the numbers:     Who says the economy still not improving!? Compare the numbers from 2008! The next chart compares year end stats: I’m jazzed! Look at that nice up-tick in closed sales! So … what sold in Auburn in December?   Traditional sales are creeping up in number …. a really good thing, but equally good is noting that Bank-Owned property sales are also closing, getting some of those low, low priced homes off the market. I expect to see a gain in short sale property closings in 2012 as some of the big banks are finally ge... 01/03/2012

By all indications, it appears that 2012 will be a year with even more short sale listings … and closings than 2011. Some of the major banks have embraced the idea that short sales can be a bit more profitable than letting houses sit for months on end and then ultimately end up in foreclosure. With the number of real estate transactions on the upswing here in the Auburn, WA, south King County, and Pierce County areas, it only makes sense that we’ll also see more short sale transactions. Around the water cooler, I’m hearing that some real estate brokers are fed up with the lengthy and time consuming process of working with short sale clients and have decided not to work with short sales any longer. I can sure understand that attitude! Short sales are difficult, at best, and so many short... 12/30/2011

Today I received my Housing Trends eNewsletter and found this blurb very interesting.... "Home Ownership matters…to people, to communities, and to America. Why? • For every two homes sold, one job is created in the U.S. • Each purchase generates as much as $60,000 in economic activity over time." So off I go to read the Houselogic article for details.   Listed are several pluses of ownership that I have always agreed with. Net worth Community participation Quality of Life   There is also the stat about job creation and economic stimulus for each home sold. I have thought for a few years now, since the housing bust that until we can fix the housing market we are in for a very slow recovery. There were times in my childhood that my family was homeless, so I guess that has also shaped my v... 12/27/2011

I’m especially honored in 2011 to have been chosen as a Five Star Professional in their real estate category. I’m new to this one, so please forgive me as I carry on for a moment about this special award. It’s my understanding that this award is the result of polling of both the homeowners and other professionals involved (such as escrow, title and mortgage folks) for closed transactions for 2011. I understand that they asked for specific opinions about the folks with whom they dealt, looking for the highest standards of customer service, knowledge, and professionalism. As you know, for me, customer service is number one on my agenda. After all, a real estate transaction is all about you … my treasured clients. I want you to know that I care about your purchase or your sale more than an... 12/22/2011

We're hard at work baking Christmas cookies this morning, so hope you'll forgive the early Christmas message. No 'nog' involved (darn it ... too early in the day) ... but the tunes are playing and I've a few minutes between batches so thought I'd send this along now. The Irishman to whom I am married comes up with limericks and good thoughts for almost every occasion. Having absorbed these for many years, I like to use versions of one of his sayings in every Christmas card I write: "May 2012 bring you many blessings of good health, loud laughter, much love, and great prosperity." However, this morning, a wonderful Christmas and New Year blessing came my way via Old Republic Christmas wish. It's definitely something to share: "May your walls know joy, may every room hold laughter, and ev... 12/19/2011

Yesterday I posted information about what to do as soon as you fall behind in your mortgage payments. As a second step in the foreclosure process in Washington State, the Foreclosure Fairness Act stipulates that if your loan is through one of the big banks, after receiving notice that a Notice of Default has been filed, you’re entitled to have your situation formally addressed through Mediation. The purpose of Mediation is to determine whether there is any alternative to bank foreclosure of your property. Ideally, the outcome of mediation might allow you to restructure your loan, save your home, or agree to sell it as a short sale. In fact, a decision maker for the bank is required to be present at the Mediation meeting – at least by phone. Of course, if no agreement is reached, the ult... 12/14/2011

Originally posted at www.homefrontrealtyonline.com Auburn WA Real Estate Looking Back at the Years 2006-2011 In a couple of weeks the year will be over.  What will the final stats for the Auburn real estate market show?  One fact we know now is that more homes have sold in Auburn in 2011 than sold in 2010, 2009 and 2008.  However, home prices have continued to drop.  Until short-sale homes and bank owned homes become the exception instead of the rule prices will probably continue to drop.  As of today there was a 13.891 decrease in average sold price compared to 2010.  This could be the fourth straight year with declining prices.  What I find alarming is that we are at this moment in a double-digit decrease once again. Last month (November 2011) there were 55 homes that sold, of these 5... 12/13/2011

Originally posted at www.homefrontrealtyonline.com Auburn WA Real Estate | What sold in November? During the month of November Auburn had 55 homes sell.  This includes detached homes, town-homes and manufactured homes on owned land.  All of these home buyers will probably be in their new homes before the holidays! How exciting to be in a new home for all of the family gatherings!  Below you will see a map with some Auburn, WA sold homes. These Auburn WA homes actually had a transfer of home ownership. Contracts complete and Lender funds available.  The home buyer and seller signed all of their documents and escrow prepared the closing packages. Once all the I’s were dotted and the T’s crossed there where deeds recorded at the King County courthouse that transferred the property into the... 12/08/2011

Excellent opportunity! Don't miss out on this 2 bedroom, 2 full bathroom condo with its own one car garage, private patio entry and fully fenced yard! At 1324 square feet, this condo's open floor plan is very utilizable and spacious! There is plenty of storage in this well thought out floor plan, including two pantries. Enjoy the advantages of a gas fireplace, gas stove, side by side stainless fridge with water/ice maker and hardwood floors throughout. This secluded home also offers a separate office with french doors. The master bedroom is large, with a private bathroom offering dual sinks, a separate shower and tub, plus a large walk in closet. There is even a washer and dryer in the unit. Enjoy the amenities of this private location and lovely gem of a home!       Your Auburn Real Es... 11/22/2011