The Cascade Team Blog - DeAnna Crysler

Selling Your Home? Don't Be Left In The Dark

In today’s changing market, there’s more to a successful closing than just getting the offer accepted. Make sure you have an agent capable of guiding you from start to close!

The old school three p’s — “Plant a sign, Post on the MLS and Pray” — employed by some agents in hot markets, will not work as things begin to cool off. The adage, “You have a minute to sell your home,” beginning the moment a prospective buyer pulls up in front of a property, is no longer true.

That minute has become 10 seconds or less and happens on a buyer’s mobile device nowhere near the listing. If buyers do not like what they see, no amount of open house signs will get them into your listing — they will swipe left and move on.

This year’s market is not the same as…

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Pricing Your Home in Today's Market

Pricing Your Property Is A Balancing Act:

On the one hand, you want to set a listing price that maximizes interest among qualified, motivated buyers who will be willing to pay top dollar for your property. Indeed, such buyers will ultimately determine your property's top market value.

On the other hand, you do not want to set a listing price that attracts a lot of buyer prospects, but sets the stage for negotiations that result in your getting less than what your property is really worth.

Your Home's Actual Market Value

In a perfect world, your home's value would be everything you think and need it to be. However, simply put, your home's value is not determined by you, but by what the market is willing to pay for it at a given time. These…

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Northwest MLS Housing Report for April Signals Good News for Home Buyers

The Northwest MLS April stats are in!  The market looks healthy and the inventory is growing, giving buyers more options to choose from. Combine that with low mortgage interest rates, now is a great time to buy a home.  Here are a few key takeaway points:

• There was a 2.4 percent rise in median prices for sales of single family homes and condos
• 5.8 percent gain in pending sales
• Seven counties had double-digit growth in inventory from a year ago, led by King County (up 78.5%) and Snohomish County (up nearly 57%)
• Northwest MLS members added 11,697 new listings to inventory during April for a year-over-year gain of nearly 3.8%
• Home prices for last month's completed sales of single family homes and condos rose 2.4 percent area-wide compared…

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Housing Market Rebounds From February Freeze

KIRKLAND, Washington (April 5, 2019) - Both pending sales and new listing activity around Western Washington surged during March as buyers, sellers, and brokers emerged from February's record snowfall.

Brokers added 10,516 new listings of single family homes and condos to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service inventory last month, the highest monthly volume since August 2018. Compared to the same month a year ago, new listings across the 23 counties in the report were down slightly (79 fewer units).

MLS members also reported 10,261 pending sales during the same timeframe, the highest number of mutually accepted offers since July, and nearly matching the year-ago total of 10,311.

"After the housing adjustment in 2018, this year's spring market is…

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Heavy Snowfall "Ices" February Housing Activity Around Western Washington

The NWMLS latest Press Release showed an Icy February market.  A reflection on the weather?  Some think so, and I happen to agree!  Although inventory levels rose, pending homes dropped.  The snow certainly had an effect on people's ability to get around (myself included!) which only makes sense the market had less than normal activity.  Here are a few key points:

• February pending sales dropped nearly 14 percent.
• Showing activity dropped more than 41 percent the week of the heaviest snow.
• Inventory levels show a 42.3 percent jump from twelve months ago.
• Prices appear to have bottomed out to around year-ago levels.
• As February temperatures plunged, prices in most counties started heating up, rising from a year ago as well as when…

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2019 Real Estate March Madness: It's Time to List Your Home!

There’s no shortage of advice online about the best time to list, and it all goes something like this: The vast majority of home sales occur when the weather heats up, and homes sold during this time of year tend to attract high prices. Conventional wisdom tells us it’s best to list early in the year. That way, you’re sure to benefit from the Spring peak in sales, and the premium pricing during the warmer months as well. List too late, we’re warned, and you could miss this warm weather bump.

At first blush, this conventional wisdom seems particularly wise. After all, there’s one thing that all homeowners looking to sell have in common — they want to do so as quickly as possible, and for as much money as possible. Listing early, in theory, means…

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The Importance of a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) In Selling Your Home

Selling your home these days isn’t as simple as it used to be. With the explosion of real estate marketing on the Internet, prospective buyers can do their initial home shopping online. While this means that your listed property will be viewed by more prospective customers, it also means that many other properties will also be showcased, making for a much more competitive market.

While sales in the existing home market are expected to take a tick up early in 2019, there is a lot of concern about raising interest rates and economic uncertainty in the future. We are also looking for increasing inventory levels to start as early as March of this year with predictions of the greatest amount of housing inventory to hit the market in five years by May.

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Homebuyers Resuming Search Amid Improving Inventory, Attractive Terms

Thinking of buying in 2019?  This might be your year!  The Northwest MLS January press release highlights how the market started out 2019.  Here are a few key points:

•                 Increases in pending home sales of nearly 7.5% in King county, and 3.8% in Snohomish county
•                 MLS members added 7,090 new listings of single family homes and condos during January, up from 6,805 in January 2018
•                 16 counties, including all four in the Puget Sound region, reported more inventory than a year ago.
•                 Prices have  increased area-wide with a gain of just over 5% on January’s 4,865 closed sales of single family homes and condos.

Read the full article below.

KIRKLAND, Washington (February 7, 2019) -…

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January 2019 Market Snapshot

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The Pieces To The Home Buying Puzzle (Part Two)

In today’s changing market, there’s more to a successful

closing than just getting the offer accepted. Make sure you have an

agent capable of guiding you from start to close!

Once you've made an offer on a home and all contingencies have been met by both parties, closing on the property becomes final. Closing costs are generally 4% of your loan amount, but this can vary. To help get a sense of what's left to be done, here are 10 steps involved in closing the deal:

1. Draw up a purchase offer with detailed contingencies in place
2. Seller accepts the deal or counteroffers with contingencies and price changes of their own
3. Submit your deposit, also known as "earnest money"
4. Apply for your loan if…

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