Home Seller Tips 7 Ways to Make Life Easier When Selling Your Home When it’s time to sell a home, we all dream of a flawlessly executed transaction where everything goes smoothly and ends with a win-win for you and the buyer. Here are seven tips to help make that happen—and avoid surprise expenses along the way… 1. Repair Your Home First Making repairs to your home before […]
Living & Community Which Documents Should You Shred, and When? As the spring cleaning bug hits, many of us will finally be tackling those stacks of paperwork that have been piling up throughout the year.  It’s tempting to chuck it all in the recycle bin and be done with it. However, did you know that it’s actually legal for someone to dig through your trash/recycling […]
Home Seller Tips Preparing to Sell Your Home: A Complete Checklist Getting your home ready to sell can feel like a circus act. Without the right organization, juggling the countless moving parts involved in this stage of the selling process can take its toll. This is the perfect opportunity to create a checklist to keep yourself on track and within your budget. The following information will […]
Living & Community Property Tax Relief Programs in King County More than 26,000 low-income seniors and disabled people in King County who qualify for a tax exemption haven’t claimed it…are you or your family member one of them? If you are homeowner, make $58k or less per year, and are either age 61+ or retired due to disability, there is a good chance you qualify. […]
Market Reports Q4 2022 Western Washington Economic & Real Estate Update The following analysis of select counties of the Western Washington real estate market is provided by Windermere Real Estate Chief Economist Matthew Gardner. We hope that this information may assist you with making better-informed real estate decisions. For further information about the housing market in your area, please don’t hesitate to contact your Windermere Mercer […]
Market Reports Matthew Gardner’s Top 10 Predictions for 2023 This video shows Windermere Chief Economist Matthew Gardner’s Top 10 Predictions for 2023. Each month, he analyzes the most up-to-date U.S. housing data to keep you well-informed about what’s going on in the real estate market. 1. There Is No Housing Bubble Mortgage rates rose steeply in 2022 which, when coupled with the massive run-up […]
Home Buyer Tips What Is an Adjustable-Rate Mortgage (ARM)? Securing the most advantageous financing for your situation is an integral part of the success formula of buying a home. After getting pre-approved but once you’ve found the home you’d like to pursue, one of your primary tasks is exploring different loan products to see which best fits your situation. This is the fork in […]
Market Reports How’s the Market? Q3 2022 Real Estate Review   While still considered a seller’s market, our July-September home sale activity signaled the return of some much-needed balance.  Seattle and Eastside home prices still posted year-over-year gains in Q3, but rising interest rates markedly slowed the pace of both listings and sales.  Houses also stayed on the market longer than we saw during the […]
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Living & Community Your Fall Home Maintenance Checklist A clever person solves a problem; a wise person avoids it. As the days shorten, you can mitigate many mid-winter headaches with some preemptive prep. Proper weatherizing can help protect your home from preventable damage, save money on energy costs, and, most importantly, keep you and your loved ones safe and warm throughout the winter […]
Market Reports How’s the Market? Q2 Real Estate Review While Seattle and the Eastside are still considered a seller’s market, buyers experienced some much-needed relief in the second quarter with new listings outpacing the number of homes sold. Rising interest rates have initiated a shift toward a more balanced market. Opportunities abound for both sellers (who are still seeing higher sales prices than this […]
Living & Community 10 Tips for Sustainable Gardening Sunny days are finally here, the flowers are in bloom, and the timing is perfect to give your garden some love. Having a healthy garden is one of the best ways to create a sustainable home and reduce your household’s carbon footprint. Below are some eco-friendly tips that will help to make your garden even […]
Home Buyer Tips How to Avoid Overpaying for a Home in a Transitioning Market Look Carefully at the Home Itself Here are four home attributes beyond the number of bedrooms and baths that you should have your eye on…   Home (building) quality: Very well-built homes are a rare find and typically worth every penny of their price. Don’t confuse them with so-so homes that just measure up to […]
Home Seller Tips Should You Remodel or Sell Your Home As Is? Homeowners who are preparing to sell are often faced with a dilemma about whether to remodel or sell their home in its current state. Each approach has its respective advantages and disadvantages. If you decide to remodel your home, it will likely sell for more; but the increased selling price will come at the cost […]
Living & Community 2022 Home Trends Hello 2022! Life in the new normal goes on, and with it continues a trend toward all things natural and nostalgic. We’re still seeing the Scandinavian concept of “hygge” live on in warm accents and cozy textiles, but with a newer emphasis on “perfect imperfection” (known as “wabi-sabi” in traditional Japanese art). Irregular curves, handmade […]
Living & Community Pro Lighting Tips to Brighten Your Home As we approach the darkest days of the year, a few tweaks in your interior lighting scheme can brighten your home (and your mood) from the inside out.  Here are some great tips from Real Simple for a lighting scheme that is flattering and functional…   Use a combo of overhead and up lighting for […]
Living & Community Give Back This Season “We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.” Giving to others can enrich our own lives in ways we never imagined.  With that in mind, here are some of our favorite Seattle-area organizations who are in need of time, resources, toys, and more to help improve the […]
Market Reports How’s the Market? Q3 Real Estate Review The frenetic pace of Seattle-area real estate continued in Q3, with the number of sales and median sales prices both up across the region compared to this time last year. Seattle condo sales saw a healthy year-over-year jump as they continued to recover from the COVID slump we saw in 2020.   While buyers still […]
Home Seller Tips Why Taking Care of Your Buyer is Good for You Too How you leave your home matters more than you think…   In our extreme seller’s market, today’s home buyers are paying top dollar (or beyond) for their home purchase, and like many people paying a premium, they expect to get what they pay for. As a result, they have little tolerance for adverse surprises. This […]
Market Reports How’s the Market? Q2 Real Estate Review Buyers found no relief as our region’s extreme sellers’ market continued skyward. Strong home buyer demand simply outpaced the number of available properties for sale. Fierce competition drove prices up 15% in Seattle and a staggering 38% on the Eastside as compared to Q2 of 2020. While COVID played a factor in early 2020; all […]
Home Buyer Tips What is FIRPTA Certification? A complete overview on why you need to know about it…   If you are purchasing property from a non-US individual or entity, you may be required to withhold taxes under the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act of 1980 (“FIRPTA”), 26 U.S.C. 1445 (unless one of the exceptions in the Act applies). The […]