Last year was a record year in the Olympia and Lacey WA housing market, and 2017 is on a path to exceed 2016's numbers. Here's a snapshot of 2016: 4,893 home sales in Thurston County, WA.  For comparison, in 2011, at the bottom of our market, Thurston County had just 2,600 home sales. $282,738 average sales price.  Since 2013, the average sales price has increased nearly 28%!    677 homes for sale as of December 2016.  For 2016, we nearly beat our historic low for active listings.  In 2011, there were 675 homes listed for sale in Thurston County.  For comparison, at the worst of our market, Thurston County had nearly 2,300 homes listed for sale. Predictions for 2017:Affordability will be a challenge.  In Thurston County, as the supply continues to diminish, the prices will climb.  But w... 01/17/2017

 Sooner or later, all children need to be warned about the fallacy of something for nothing. It’s an important lesson and a milestone. Very little ones are too young to be exposed to the idea that when they grow up, they should automatically examine the motives behind anything that seems to be offered for free. Until then, it’s one of the joys of parenthood to enjoy shielding the innocence of their kids for as long as possible. But sooner or later, for their own good, the basic lesson from the adult world has to be learned: outside the family, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.That could be why first time home buyers can be forgiven for having a degree of skepticism when they learn that the Olympia real estate agent who is offering to help them is willing to do so at no cost to them... 01/17/2017

  When, as the holiday lyrics have it, “the weather outside is frightful,” that makes it a good time to start planning the coming year’s home improvement projects. If you wait for ideal weather conditions to begin laying out your plans, you’re likely to wind up well behind schedule before you even start.If the home improvements you are contemplating can be handled by yourself, you are probably a Do-It-Yourselfer who knows that you’ll need your ducks in a row before you pull the first nail or make the first cut. Having plans drawn and materials at the ready saves time and work (but you know that).Should the scope of your contemplated home improvements go beyond the DIY approach, if you have experience in overseeing similar projects in the past, you know how important it is to hire the ri... 12/26/2016

I'm happy to say I've been awarded the Certified Residential Specialist Designation this month! This was one of my goals that unfortunately kept getting put off but I'm so glad I finally focused and earned this designation. What I liked most about this designation is that the classes were very pertinent, updated and taught by other industry leaders.  I thought the information was invaluable, and I look forward to attending more 'live' classes and webinars in the future.  I know I'm not the only CRS on ActiveRain, but I'm so happy to join the club!   12/13/2016

  Some breakthrough good news has come to light. It deals with first-time home buyers.Across the U.S., first-time home buyers have been staging a disappearing act for a worrisome long time. The causes were pretty universal across much of the country: a sluggish economic recovery and tight labor market contributed to the national phenomenon. Rises in Olympia residential prices haven’t helped those seeking to become new homeowners locally.For Olympia homeowners who follow such things, the phenomenon was slowly becoming a worrisome fact—one that didn’t look like it was going away anytime soon. When you own a home, its value as collateral and at sale depends on a healthy real estate market—one that supports sustainable activity.That means that new buyers should appear in numbers at least eq... 12/13/2016

Apparently, my 84-year-old mother, going on 24, is far more hip to the happenings in Olympia WA than I am.  She lives with us, doesn’t drive but reads the local paper, The Olympian, every day, and knows just enough of how to use the Internet to be dangerous.  And she is always highlighting activities for me and my husband to do in Olympia (because she thinks we don’t get out much). Today, she educated me on yarn bombing. “What the heck is that,” I asked.  Sounds pretty violent for a docile craft material.  Couldn’t there be another name for it?  I mean, really.  I’m concerned about writing a blog with the word, “bomb” or “bombing” in it. (Hey, NSA, how are you today?) Over the summer, while driving around town, I had noticed there were knitted “cozies” around trees, sign posts, and just... 12/08/2016

 Real estate articles that are really just lists are now being called “listicles”—and there are certainly plenty of them around. The other day one appeared that just had to be read: Bankrate’s “7 things that could turn off homebuyers.”The actual listicle may not have been the product of much real research into houses for sale, but it was amusing. In the best social media tradition, I’d like to add a few thoughts in order to come up with a modified/improved “7 things” (for starters, there are 9):9 Things Bound to Offend Olympia Homebuyers             Monkeys.             All right, that first requires an explanation. It headed up the Bankrate list, with a picture of a rhesus macaque clinging to a balcony railing. I’d have to agree that monkeys freewheeling around a Olympia house for sale... 12/07/2016

 It’s a fair bet that anyone who is taking a serious look at the current assortment of new homes for sale in Olympia is someone who places a value on sheer newness. It’s about more than prestige—although owning a new home does carry at least an element of the kind of special pride that goes with owning the latest model auto. More substantively, the first owner of a new Olympia home gains the advantage of not having to worry that some previous owner’s inattention to maintenance issues could cause trouble down the road.Like a new car, though, when it comes to buying a new home, it’s a good idea to take at least a peek under the hood. What you will be looking for is a number of new construction quality issues. Even when a new home bears the signature of one of Olympia’s premier builders, b... 12/01/2016

  If you put your mind to it, you can come up with excuses for why it makes sense to do just about anything. For instance, if it’s Sunday and you really should go shopping to stock the fridge for the week ahead, but you’re all settled in to watch TV, you can reason that the supermarket coupons probably aren’t valid until Monday. Or, if the leaves are four deep along the garden wall, you really shouldn’t rake them until the last ones fall. If the last ones have fallen already, didn’t you read someplace that letting them molder right there is good for the soil? And so on…That brings us to why it makes perfect sense for someone who is about to sell their Olympia home to “go FSBO” (For Sale By Owner). National averages do tell us that a touch more than one in 10 sellers will actually choose... 11/24/2016

3700 Pennant Ct NW, Olympia 98502 Luxurious Street of Dreams Best of Show Winner in a community of award winning homes. This is a must see home with too many upgrades to list. 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths with two master suites, one up/one down. High end kitchen with granite counter-tops, hardwood floors, SS appliances, huge island for entertaining, wet bar w/ice maker.Custom millwork w/crown molding, wainscotting,built-ins, media rooms,lots of storage,surround sounds & AC. 3 car oversized garage w/large covered patio on over 3/4 acre. Gail Smith(360) 561-0852The Ben Kinney TeamKeller Williams Western Realty 11/22/2016

For Dick Greenberg's contest, The ActiveRain 2016 Photography Contest, here is my entry for Real Estate Main Listing Photo.   For this one, I'm doing a before and after.  When I first visited the property to take the photos, the sun was setting, the seller's dogs were running around and I was trying to hurry because the seller had another appointment.  This first picture is what happens when I feel rushed and couldn't get more photos.  Emphasizing the garage was not my intention!So I went out again, and re-shot the house, and I think this is far more of a "money shot" than my first photo.  If I had taken the time to reposition myself on the first appointment, I wouldn't have had to go back out.It's always my rule to take multiple photos from different angles, and this lesson couldn't be... 11/15/2016

  If you weren’t among those who were surprised by last week’s election outcome, you were among very few. Opinion leaders in every corner of the media are still scrambling to explain why their prognostications had been so wide of the mark. When your job is to help people understand the fine points of current events, it’s just plain embarrassing when you get the big picture 180 degrees wrong!For both Olympia homeowners who will be considering putting up a ‘For Sale’ sign within the next year or so—as well as for potential Olympia real estate buyers they will need to attract—any shift in the currents in Washington are very likely to affect the market conditions they’ll encounter. There are three areas that can have profound impacts on the strength or weakness of residential home sales:   ... 11/15/2016

  For anyone who hasn’t gotten the word, this is a week that sees the kind of major happening that will affect every corner of the nation. Here in Olympia, this kind of titanic event can also give rise to questions about Olympia real estate, and whether (when the smoke clears) there could be significant effects on Olympia homes for sale, positive or negative.When events transpire that affect every man, woman, and child in Olympia, they can’t help but have an impact. Let’s stop beating around the bush: here’s what we’re talking about:We aren’t talking about the Chicago Cubs’ 10th inning 7th game accomplishment. That happened a lot longer ago (last Wednesday). And besides, there are men, women, and children upon whom it had little noticeable effect.And it isn’t about this week’s weather, ... 11/09/2016

 Ahoy, matey! Belay y’ur Olympia real estate musin’s fer a moment to consider how ye home equity be like treasure buried in ye back yard! Arrrrrr! It’s long past Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19), so we may have to wait another year to give this metaphor the proper growl and scowl it deserves—but for Olympia homeowners, the chest full of shiny home equity really could be buried out there in the back yard.Metaphorically, at least.The facts behind this were brought to the attention of those sharp-eyed Olympia homeowners who pay attention to the Economic Outlook releases that the real estate analysts at CoreLogic send out monthly. These economists aren’t very piratical in demeanor. They favor bow ties to eye patches and whiteboards to parrots. They confine their raids to the gems found... 11/01/2016

Just goin' with the Flo this Halloween!  Wishing you all a fun and Happy Halloween!!  10/31/2016

  For prospective home buyers who have been eyeing the Olympia listings without any particular sense of urgency, last week’s mortgage interest rate news could have added an element of angst. In the up-again/down-again world of consumer finance, even the threat of higher mortgage interest rates acts as a nudge in favor of action. And the lead story in USA Today’s Money section headlined it succinctly:“Mortgage rates, home sales hit 4-month high.”The actual rise in mortgage interest rates in itself was scarcely significant enough to spur potential Olympia buyers to action. The rise was tiny—just 0.05%. That was still below where rates were even a year ago, when they were near historic lows. Per The Wall Street Journal, “borrowing costs remain low…well below the September 2015 average of 3... 10/26/2016

 Conscientious Olympia homeowners keep on top of all the regular maintenance items pretty much automatically. Once you have lived in a place for more than a year or two, you know what you should be keeping an eye on. You have a handle on when major fixes and updates have to be addressed.When you begin thinking about moving on to new digs, though, the focus shifts. Your Olympia property is about to enter a beauty contest, after all—so more attention will have to be paid to moving it toward the dazzler category. The floor plan, interior décor, mechanical functions, and the other features that prospective buyers will delve into may all come into play eventually—but only after initial interest has been piqued.Call it what you will: “first take,” “initial impression,” or “curb appeal”—whatev... 10/21/2016

1717 Eastside St NE, Olympia 98506 Hot Neighborhood: Spacious 3 bed 2 bath San Francisco St Bakery Area Home. Many recent upgrades including newer roof & flooring. Close to Bigelow & Priest Point Parks. With elem & middle schools also nearby. Cooperative tenant related to owners and willing to stay or go with 60 days notice.  Gail Smith(360) 561-0852The Ben Kinney TeamKeller Williams Western Realty  10/20/2016

  When you go in for your annual physical, you’re hoping for a sunny prognosis. Realtor® magazine isn’t a medical journal, but it does have a feature called “Market Pulse.” It reports on the patient’s vital signs (if you imagine the patient being the nation’s housing market). The state of the national patient can be relevant here in Olympia. In fact, the direction of the wider U.S. market is probably the best prognosis for what lies ahead for our own Olympia housing market.The NAR’s attending doc is, as always, Dr. Lawrence Yun. When his latest Market Pulse report just appeared in the Realtor mag, it wasn’t hard to picture what would have happened if the good Doctor had performed the pulse-taking in reality.There would have been an efficient receptionist, and then, the examination room.... 10/14/2016

High quality custom built home on 5+ acres with built-in indoor pool.Main floor feats a huge kitchen with a formal dining room,living room,office,utility room and 1/2 bath.French doors lead to the 496 ft cedar deck.Upstairs master bedroom feats beautiful bath with tub, separate shower and huge walk-in closet.3 bedrooms on upper floor with additional full bath.Downstairs has 5th bedroom,billiards room,rec room with bar and sink,the indoor pool and bonus room.Detached garage/shop fits 16 cars,4080 sf with office space and 1/2 bath. Gail SmithThe Ben Kinney Team(360) 561-0852Keller Williams Western Realty 10/07/2016