Gordon Stephenson's Discussions

The section of the road in the south part of the Lake Forest Park, which includes the light at NE 153rd and Hwy 522 (Bothell Way), is slated to be done in "Fall 2007."http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR522/I5_SR405_Multimodal/btw, Lake City Way becomes "Bothell Way" north of NE 145th as the highway enters the city of Lake Forest Park (and Shoreline, west of Bothell Way)! It's aka State Highway 522.

I've run about a dozen EZ ads, for our company (just branding) and also for specific for sale listings in Seattle. For the listings, I've typically bought $50 worth of ads (5k impressions) in zips surrounding the listing. These have had the best results as far as click through rate -- close to 1% (i.e. for $50, I get 50/5000 people clicking through the EZ ad to my site). It's hard to quantify if this is getting me paid as we get calls and emails from a variety of sources. But for sure 1/our sellers love it; 2/it's getting us brand exposure for our company and 3/it's way cheaper than our Sunday Seattle Times ad for the same property, which runs about $90 and rarely nets us a call.

What is the address? what mpal said should have worked just fine and eliminated the listing. Be sure you're logged into Zillow as a user so it identifies the posting as yours.

ryjeor didn't mention if he was a fsbo. Either way, imho either seller or agent (if listed) needs to follow up. I'm always amazed as a real estate broker that listing agents don't always follow up with me after showings/previews, especially in a slow market. While it might not get the house sold, it might give information to the seller that will help in the marketing, or it might help to answer questions the agent had after showing (Listing agent: "What did you think of the basement?" Showing agent: "What basement? Was there a door somewhere?"). Sometimes it's a hassle for both agents, but email makes it simpler than trading phone messages and the dialogue can usually be mutually constructive.

Have the closing docs mailed around or if you close with a national title company, they may have a local office at which you can do a courtesy signing. Either way, even the most trusted real estate agent can slip up and miss something on the closing documents. It's more liability than you should ask your agent to bear, too.

I've had a tough time getting any reasonable stated income quotes from banks or brokers since the August meltdown. fwiw, 6 1/8th sounds great from where I sit -- assuming they can really perform for you.

Make no mistake -- you hold the deed, you are a homeowner.  The lender just has the rights of a lienholder, and as long as you uphold your end of the bargain (pay the note), their rights are limited to just collecting what they're owed.  They don't decide what color to paint the house, how to landscape, what to charge the tenants. 

3Girls, I don't know where you got the idea I was knocking renting.  No question, tenants' rights to their home are indeed similar to an owner's rights as far as possession.  And yes, in most markets it's way cheaper to rent a house than it is to own that same house.  And absolutely, renting is by far a better option than owning for many people. My point was that unless you hold a really long term lease on your home, as a tenant, your rights are terminable or at least subject to change beyond your control once your lease is up.  You can be made to leave your home.  The landlord may sell at the end of your lease, move into the home themselves, increase the rent to whatever level they choose (even if it's beyond what the market might bear). As an owner, your lender can't do that -- they can't kick you out (if you're complying with the loan terms); they can't increase your payments (on a fixed rate loan).  Sure it costs more.  Sure it's maybe not a great investment in many cases.  But it's your home. 

3Girls, when I said "they don't decide what to charge the tenants" I was talking about the rights of a lender for a homeowner who owns a rental property -- lender can't dictate to the homeowner what they choose to charge their tenants.  Again, not knocking renting and I read your profile and I can sure see what your point of view is on the topic.     

Even with this cut to 3.5% the Fed is nowhere near their 12/2003 low point of .98%.  Fed Funds rate history here.