Sequim Real Estate Blog published its 1,000th article this week.  That’s exciting news, because these articles have helped thousands of buyers over the years.  These articles have also helped many people who are not buyers, including Realtors.  The Sequim Real Estate Blog is the brain child of Chuck Marunde who has spent a lifetime in real estate and loves to give everything he has ever learned away free to anyone who reads this blog.

Sequim Real Estate Blog Hits 1,000 Articles for Clients

The Sequim Real Estate Blog represent a lot of hard work, many years in the school of hard knocks, 37 years in the real estate business (20 years as a real estate attorney), thousands of hours of writing and editing, thousands of photographs (not to mention the editing), over a hundred videos, a passion for the subject of real estate and a heart to give his clients all they need to make wise decisions about buying real estate.

The blog has been a huge success with people all over the country who regularly express their appreciation for the rich content and all the free information that truly cannot be found anywhere else.  All the content here is original and is written by Chuck Marunde specifically for the readers, buyers, and clients of Chuck Marunde.   There is absolutely no registration requirement for anyone to access all this information.  There are no gimmicks, and there are no required contact forms.

Sequim Real Estate Blog is Free

“I believe that people want to find good relevant information when it comes to buying or selling their home, and I also believe they want the truth and credible answers to their questions and concerns.  But I also think people want it free without having to reveal any personal information, so I give it all away.  I write about every real estate issue that comes up for buyers and sellers, and I share what I call insider information that is not classified by any means, but is rarely ever discussed outside the real estate profession.  I think buyers and sellers deserve to know the truth about marketing, sales, and how real estate agents work (or don’t work).  So I give it to them in the Sequim Real Estate Blog.”

Do You Like the Sequim Real Estate Blog?

If you enjoy reading the Sequim Real Estate Blog or you have found it helpful in the past, would you comment below?  Let us know what you like and how you’ve benefited.  Of course, you’re also welcome to tell us what you would like in the future, and if we can provide it, Chuck Marunde will on the Sequim Real Estate Blog.

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Many buyers want to know how to get a home loan in this real estate recession, especially because it’s commonly known that it has gotten much harder to get a home loan.  Higher credit scores are now required.  660 is the new 620.  Manufactured homes are getting a lot of scrutiny these days, and many banks have quit lending on manufactured homes.  In this interview with Buck Gieseke of Integrity One Home Mortgage, learn more about how to get a home loan on a manufactured home.  This is Part 3 of our “How to Get a Home Loan” series.

How to Get a Home Loan – Manufactured Homes

Did you know that the land value cannot represent more than 30% of the total appraised value of your manufactured home and land?  Did you know that manufactured homes cannot have structural changes in the trusses?  Did you know that a garage attached to a manufactured homes must meet strict foundation requirements?  Did you know that you cannot get a home loan guaranteed by the VA if it was ever moved from another property?  A manufactured home must be 1976 1/2 or newer to be financeable.  Your debt to income ratio must be no more than 30% of PITI (principle, interest, taxes, insurance)  and no more than 41% of your PITI plus other monthly obligations that come up on your credit report (they don’t count your cell phone or gasoline).

You also cannot have modifications to the roof lines, dormers, or trusses (like the garage roofline).  As with all home loans, borrowers must have a two year job history.  It is still possible to get a 96.5% FHA loan on a manufactured home, but conventional loans require 10% to 20% down.

How to Get a Home Loan – Manufactured Appraised Values

Appraisers are required to use true comps when doing an appraisal on a manufactured home, which means they look for very similar manufactured homes, not site built homes.  This can result in a lower appraisal for a manufactured home compared to a site built, which Buck Gieseke explains in this audio series.

Get a Home Loan Interview Part 3

In this interview Buck addresses many of the most difficult issues when getting a loan on a manufactured home.  [You can contact Buck Gieseke at buck@iohmi.com.]

Get a Home Loan on a Manufactured Home at a Local Bank

Get a Home Loan Part 1
Get a Home Loan Part 2

 You may be able to get a home loan for a manufactured home at a local bank, but they also may charge a higher interest rate.  Options for manufactured homes are dwindling as values drop and banks drop out of the manufactured home loan programs.  I hope this audio series on how to get a home loan is helpful.

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How will the downgrading of the U.S. credit rating from triple-A to AA+ effect real estate?  Recently S&P downgraded the U.S. credit rating for the first time in history.  The reason given was the high ratio of the Federal debt to GNP, the recently passed bill to increase the Federal debt which did not reduce the debt nearly as much as financial experts say is necessary, and the political gridlock which does not bode well for the future resolution of the continuing debt crises.  But how will this effect retirees who want to retire and buy a home?

Downgrading of the U.S. Credit Rating Not Good

Downgrading of the U.S. Credit Rating Effects Retirees

The experts are all over the map on the economic implications of the downgrading of the U.S. credit rating.  But there will be some serious consequences in my opinion.  We are already seeing violent gyrations in the stock market and in markets around the world.  The talking heads argue two opposite positions.  One is that the downgrade was justified, and the other is that it was not.  The former view seems to be the conservative perspective and the later the liberal perspective.  Regardless of your world view or your political perspective, it is very likely that this downgrading of the U.S. credit rating will reverberate throughout our economic system.

Downgrading of the U.S. Credit Rating Will Impact Real Estate

I believe the real estate market will be effected by this downgrading, and here is how.

First, retirees who have large retirement funds in the stock market will pause to take an inventory of their financial situation and the risks they are facing.  While the traditional Registered Financial Advisers will continue to argue, “Buy and hold for the long term,” one cannot help but sit up and take notice when the Dow Jones Industrial Average drops by 300 to 500 points in a single day.  At that rate it does not take long for the cumulative drop to reach a couple of thousand points.  Today the Down Jones ended the trading day down 634.76 points.  Of course, the argument is that the market will come back up.  All of this means that some retirees who are feeling the pain of mutual funds taking a hit may put their plans to buy a home on hold for a period of weeks or longer.

There is a good argument that the downgrading of the U.S. credit rating is not the major reason for the stock market decline.  It is one reason, but is not a complete explanation.  Other experts are saying that the reason for the current market decline has more to do with Wall Street and investors reacting to what they feel is the massive failure of Obama’s economic policies and the continuing growth of Federal spending that is clearly out of control.  Both parties have kicked the can down the road without resolution, and the crisis looms.

Second, interest rates are almost certainly going to increase in the weeks ahead.  How fast and how much are complete unknowns, but increased interest rates are likely to be a consequence of the downgrading of the U.S. credit rating.  There is a legitimate argument that it may not be as pronounced as one would think since buyers of treasuries are still buying, and that is keeping interest rates down.  This means that retirees who believe interest rates will increase may be motivated to buy now before interest rates do increase.

For retirees who feel financially secure, this is a buyer’s market, but whether they decide to buy a home now will depend on how they feel the downgrading of the U.S. credit rating will effect their financial future.

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How to sell my Sequim home?  This is a question being asked by many.  Here’s a story that may interest you.  The creator of the national website for FSBOs, ForSaleByOwner.com, whose name is Colby Sambrotto, just sold his personal residence using a real estate agent and paid a standard commission of 6% after months of trying to sell it himself.  Why?  How could the guru of FSBOs abandon the core philosophy of all For-Sale-By-Owners across America?  This is relevant for anyone asking how to sell my Sequim home.

How to Sell My Sequim Home

Homeowners who want to sell a Sequim home have the odds stacked against them.  Nationwide 85% of FSBOs end up listing with a real estate agent because they cannot sell it themselves, and after loosing a lot of precious market time (like the spring and summer months).  Of the remaining 15%, the majority take their homes off the market in frustration.  Very few homeowners ever get their own homes sold.  Why?

Apparently Colby Sambrotto spent six months trying to sell his own residence, but finally sold it through a real estate agent for $2.1 million and paid a 6% commission.  The real estate agent actually raised the price by $150,000 and sold it to a buyer that Sambrotto had failed to sell it to.

This is a text book example of why FSBOs fail over 95% of the time.  We don’t have complete statistics for Sequim, but I think I’m not far off.  Real estate agents here are selling 20 to 30 homes every month, but I think you can count on one hand the FSBOs that have sold during the entire past year.  I fully realize that FSBOs don’t like to hear the truth on this subject, mostly because they don’t believe they will fail.  But the vast majority do fail.

How to Sell My Sequim Home – Why They Don’t Sell

Why don’t FSBOs sell?  Here’s my short list of why FSBOs don’t get their homes sold (but it’s not the complete list):

1. Buyers are not searching for FSBOs, including FSBO sites.  I know.  I’ve asked hundreds.  A few will stumble onto a FSBO site, but selling a home should not be a game of chance.  Don’t believe the sales hype the FSBO sites give you.  Their sites are not very successful.  Many buyers have told me they avoid FSBO sites. (The owner of a FSBO site called me years ago in Sequim to ask me how to do it, because he had never even owned a home himself.)
   
2. Buyers prefer to search MLS sites with hundreds of local listed properties.
3. Buyers prefer to hire an experienced professional agent as their buyer’s representative.
   
4. A real estate agent with a large Internet marketing system will reach hundreds of potential buyers for every one  that a FSBO reaches.  This is not an exaggeration.  This is the biggest issue for anyone asking how to sell my Sequim home.
   
5. The average FSBO is overpriced, and buyers who have stumbled onto a FSBO that is overpriced, figure that out real quick, and they are gone without ever looking at the home or talking to the sellers.  (Years ago I did a study in Spokane and discovered that FSBOs were overpriced with comparably listed homes by an average of $8,000.)
   
6. The vast majority of home sellers simply do not have the experience to price their home right, and
7. Do not know how to professionally negotiate the best price and terms, and
8. Do not know how to put together the contracts, appropriate addendums, and handle the inspection and transaction details, and
9. Do not know how to overcome buyer objections.

No wonder FSBOs don’t get sold.  All of these are true.  These are the key answers to the quere how to sell my Sequim home. Sure there will be the occasional FSBO who has the experience to price and negotiate and draft documents, but we’re talking about the vast majority of home sellers here, not the few. Even the home seller who can do these things, does not have a large Internet marketing system that generates hundreds of leads from qualified buyers.  They are operating with a huge disadvantage.

Even the King of FSBOs, the founder of the nation’s biggest FSBO site, ForSaleByOwner.com, could not sell his own home without a professional real estate agent who is plugged into the buyer market.  That should send a huge message to FSBOs.

FSBOs often tell agents they will pay a 3% commission if they bring a buyer.  Agents will not say anything, but they won’t work with FSBOs without a listing contract.  So if you are a FSBO, don’t get your hopes up that an agent will bring a buyer.  They won’t.

How to Sell My Sequim Home for the Best Price

Want to sell your Sequim home?  You will sell it faster and at a higher price if you list it with a real estate agent who knows what he is doing.  That’s the honest truth.  I’ve been in real estate for 37 years, 20 as a real estate attorney, and now I am a full-time real estate broker with a huge Internet marketing system that I’ve spent a lifetime learning to build and tens of thousands of dollars building.  With all due respect, as a home owner who wants to sell your own home, you cannot compete with this.  Be honest with yourself.  If you own a Sequim home you want to sell, don’t you want every advantage you can get to sell your home?  Don’t you want to sell your home in the shortest time period for the highest price?

Email me at chuckmarunde@gmail.com or call me at 360-775-5424, and I will come out to your house and share with you my impression of your home based on what retirees want and are currently buying.

How to sell my Sequim home is a question many Sequim home owners are asking but what will you do with the answers?

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The Sequim real estate market has heated up.  This is both surprising and understandable with some further consideration.  There is a lot more activity this time of year than there was last year and the year before.  Not only are more buyers looking at homes in Sequim, but more are pulling the trigger and closing.  Considering the fact that the national economy continues to drag and there is no indication that our economy or real estate market are recovering, why would retirees be making their move to Sequim now?  I’ve been thinking about this and asking the buyers themselves.  Here’s the answer I’m getting.

Sequim Real Estate Market Heating Up

In this Sequim real estate market retirees are doing their due diligence online, examining the MLS listings, comparing homes and prices, and they are noticing that homes that they saved as favorites end up selling within a month or two.  They have noticed that the best homes in the best areas at the best prices are, in fact, selling now.  These homes, which are the better homes that appeal to them, and which they planned to look at when they arrived in Sequim, get sold and taken off the market essentially forever.

I spent all day yesterday showing clients homes, and we have a list of homes to view today.  Three of the homes on our list are sold out from under us.  How does that happen in a real estate recession with so many homes on the market?  It happens because retirees tend to have very similar interests, and they end up focusing on the same two or three dozen homes, and these are the best of the best.  These are the homes that are selling.

Sequim Real Estate Market Prices

In addition, clients are telling me that rather than wait two or three years, they have decided to buy now.  Why?  Because they don’t see prices going up dramatically on their own homes (in California or Colorado, etc.), and they expect interest rates to start rising soon.  If prices do go up, selling their own homes and buying a home  in Sequim is probably a wash. 

I would concur with my clients on their interpretations.  I also believe this is a good time to buy.  I don’t see prices going lower in Sequim, and I do see interest rates increasing, but probably more importantly, the best homes are selling and gone forever (or for 10 or 20 years).  The inventory in Sequim is small, so there are not that many homes that retirees would consider their ideal home.

The Sequim Real Estate Market is Strong

The Sequim real estate market is healthy and buyers are making their move this summer.

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Sequim real estate brokerage eXp Realty, also known as Sequim and Port Angeles Real Estate, has been nominated as an Inman News 2011 Innovator Awards Finalist in the “Innovator or Brokerage” category.  The Inman News Innovator Awards, created in 1997, recognize technologies, tools and services that improve the real estate transaction process and experience for consumers and industry professionals.  I am Chuck Marunde, and I am the the eXp Realty Sequim Real Estate Managing Broker.  I am pleased, but I am not surprised.  The very reasons this Sequim Real Estate Brokerage (as a national brokerage) was nominated are the same reasons I joined eXp Realty after a great deal of due diligence myself.  Here are the reasons I joined eXp Realty.

Sequim Real Estate Company Nominated

eXp Realty is leading the way for real estate brokerages.  Here are some of the reasons:

1. eXp Realty is the first real estate brokerage built from the ground up with today’s Internet technologies.  While older companies are trying to re-tool and adapt and restructure (and bridge the gap), this Sequim Real Estate Brokerage is and has been operating with the best technologies and powerful Internet marketing from the beginning.
2. eXp Realty is a Virtual real estate brokerage that takes full advantage of the Internet superhighway.  This is a stark contrast to a traditional bricks-and-mortar brokerage that is burdened with too much of the old business model that isn’t working so well anymore.  The overhead is killing many franchises today, and many have been going bankrupt, merging, and closing their doors.  50% of Sequim real estate agents have quit since 2006.
3. eXp Virtual is an online virtual office where agents meet daily for meetings, training and seminars.  Top producers and national trainers from all over the country meet in eXp Virtual to train agents who can be anywhere in the country.
4. eXp Realty has some of the nation’s top technology and SEO experts, which translates to effectively marketing properties and connecting with buyers, and since over 90% of buyers are now using the Internet to find their next home, this is extremely important.
5. eXp Realty has gone completely digital with all transactions, which clients and agents love.
6. eXp Realty has top ranking websites and blogs, and is an early adopter of social media.
7. eXp Realty allows agents to work from home to reduce overhead, take advantage of technology, and increase net commissions.
8. eXp Realty gives agents the opportunity to recruit agents for the company and earn a revenue sharing income from the corporation

My clients love what eXp Realty has done for them, and buyers love the online resources we give them.  One Sequim client shared this:

I am impressed by the way Chuck has integrated internet services into his real estate business. He probably knows more about this process than any other Realtor in the country. In this tight market it is important to use every possible means to spread the word about available properties…to reach the few people who might be interested in a particular property.

Sequim Real Estate Brokerage Offers Powerful Online Resources

Buyers constantly tell me how much they appreciate the free online resources we give them, and this Sequim Real Estate Broker has the largest Internet presence of any agent in the county and maybe the state.  With over 970 articles on one Sequim real estate blog, it is the largest Sequim real estate resource online.  All of the articles are written by a local broker and retired real estate attorney.  We give our buyers more information about buying Sequim real estate and a wonderful programmed Sequim MLS online site to search all of Sequim’s listings.

We never stop working to give our clients more than they have ever gotten before, and we are on the cutting edge of technology and Internet marketing to make it all happen.  As the Sequim Real Estate Managing Broker I am pleased eXp Realty has received this nomination.

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