Geordy Rostad's Discussions

Every lot around me shows up but mine is not there so I'm unable to place the map marker on it. The address is 8811 NE 116th Pl, Kirkland, WA 98034 Tax number is 376050-0610

My best ones were 24 clicks out of 2000 shown and 66 clicks out of 5000 shown.   No calls directly related to these ads though as far as I know.  I'm a bit ticked though because it seems like Zillow has converted the EZ ad system to something which doesn't allow you to place $15-$20 ads any more.  Now you have to run it for 30 days and have to pick a percent of the zipcode's shows that you want.  Anyone else run into this problem?

I think it's pretty lousy of zillow to railroad you into running 30-day ads if you don't want to. The area I want to run in costs $140 minimum for the 25% level of hits. I liked the ez ads with the option of running for 1 week or 1 month and ME choosing my budget. It allowed me to experiment with different ads and see which yielded the most clicks. Come'on Zillow, bring back the EZ ads or I'm just going to spend my ad budget somewhere else.

@clvngodess &  Maureen Fox:The virtual tours are certainly a nice tool but I have all but stopped using them entirely.  People seem to make up their minds about the property before even coming out to look at it.  There is a lot of "feel" in a property that cannot be captured in any amount of pictures.  Also, the older style virtual tours with the 360 degree shots I find to be very detrimental.  Everything tends to look skewed and it's nearly impossible to light up the space properly to capture the scene. The best tool as always is like  TiffanyBond said, just take them out in your car and show them the comps. I do think my area, Seattle, hasn't been hit quite as hard as other locations like Vegas and California but there are still plenty of sellers asking 2006 prices.  Seems like everyone is waiting for the other shoe to drop on this election before they make any decisions.  Luckily that's coming up soon so we'll see.  Also, the feds are coming out with some amazing new financing products to try to curb some of these foreclosures from sitting empty.  Any of you agents out there need to update yourselves with your mortgage broker/banker right away if you have not already done so.  There is a new rural FHA derivative that allows near 100% financing and a program for buying HUD foreclosures for $100 down!!!   It is at least partially up to us to help turn this market around a bit or soften the blow where we can.  If we have a negative attitude and going around moping about it, clients certainly will tighten their pocketbooks but there is always a bright side to everything.  Perhaps that first time home buyer you were working with in 2006 got priced out of the market or kept losing deals...  Time to talk to that person again and make something happen.

My advice to your client would be to clean it up but not put much (any) money into it.  It's better to try to sell the house for $5000 less than to put $5000 into it at this point.  There are buyers out there but whatever you've got has to be the absolute most attractive bargain for the money.  DEFINITELY not time for a makeover.  People are sick, tired and completely disgusted with anything that remotely looks like a "flipper remodel" at the moment.  Remodeling a house for resale almost always comes off like this.  Whatever your seller can do to put the house in as close to original condition for the property is best.  DON'T paint dark millwork, use some old english on it to freshen it up.  DON'T replace formica counters, use some bon'ami on them.  Caulk the showers.  Weed the yard.  Simple stuff to make it shine for what it is.

Yes, that is a very good point RE:FHA since FHA buyers are the vast majority now in the sub $500k price range.  An FHA appraiser just nailed us on a chimney flashing being incorrectly installed and having a splotch of paint between two windows on the outside of the building that was not the proper color.  The carpet has to be of a certain thickness and cannot have any holes in it for instance.  It would be worth looking up the list of criteria.

NE 116th Street can be really nasty in the morning.  You'd almost be better off to sneak up market street and through the East of Market neighborhood down to 85th in the morning.  Still 25 minutes is probably a good average.  Another question though, which campus?

I'd worry about getting an appraiser to sign off with such issues.  You weren't planning to use FHA financing, were you?

You're saying you want $80k+ off to fit in your budget.  Does that mean you have the $80k to fix all the problems?  Generally when the problems are THAT extensive, you can find yourself in a snowballing remodel.  I'd advise you to be aware of this.  There may be a better deal around the corner after all.

I have heard that the assessor generally tries to use 2 year old comparables for setting the assessed value.  By that logic, they could even go up more next year but I expect if they do that, they will be buried in appeals.  The assessor also has been known to do the lazy and unexpected.  I had this new construction home listed about 4 years ago for $1,375,950(or so).  The assessor grabbed the real estate flyer and used the EXACT amount I had on there.