Seattle Backyard Cottages Approved:  You may remember that I wrote about Seattle backyard cottages coming to a vote yesterday. The proposal was approved and city wide Seattle (unless you are in the Shoreline District) is allowed one ADU - either as a backyard cottage on lots that qualify in size (have to be more than 4000 square feet, etc.) or an ADU inside the house walls.  You can only have one, but now there are more options than just your basement for an ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) in Seattle! 

Seattle Backyard Cottages and Real Estate:  Are you interested in finding Seattle real estate that qualifies for a backyard cottage?  There are already many firms stepping up to advertise their backyard cottage services.  I look forward to seeing how this plays out!  Density does belong in the city and this is a great way to make affordable housing as long as quality construction and design is respected!  I know a perfect Greenwood home offhand that would be a great candidate and it is on almost a third of an acre!

Thinking about converting your basement or attic into rental income?  Seattle has a great policy for allowing accessory dwelling units (ADU) on residential properties.  This is a great way to be able to rent out part of your home and allow someone to legally live in a separate part of your home while you live there. Additionally, you can live in the ADU yourself if you choose and the renter can live in the main home.  It doesn't matter as long as you stay within the city's guidelines for establishing an attached accessory dwelling unit.

Seattle ADU rules, rquirements & guidelines (you have to meet all of them although there are some variances allowed if applied for properly): 

1. the home has to be occupied by one or more owners and the owner has to have at least a 50% interest in the property.  Additionally, the owner occupant has to live there for at least 6 months a year.

2. Unless all residents in both units are related to each other, the limit is eight people in the entire structure.

3. One off street parking space must be provided for ADU( you can apply for a waiver on this one).

4. Only one ADU for each home (this includes backyard cottage or ADU).

5. ADU can only be 1000 square feet although there are some more details for getting around this if the ADU is all on one floor and structure was in existence prior to 6/1/1999.

6. Usually only one entrance can be located on front or side street locations. Ther eare some exceptions.

7.  Window for sleeping room has to be a certain size - according to city literature:

"In sleeping rooms located in buildings constructed after Aug. 10, 1972, or in rooms converted or established for sleeping purposes after August 10, 1972, there shall be at least one operable window or exterior door approved for emergency escape or rescue. The window or door must be operable from the inside. All emergency escape windows shall have a minimum net clear opening of 5.7 square feet (grade floor openings allowed to be 5 square feet), a minimum net clear openable height dimension of 24 inches, and a minimum net clear openable width dimension of 20 inches. The window must have a finished sill height not more than 44 inches above the floor. The sill height may be measured from the top of a constructed step with a riser of not more than 7 inches."

 8. The ADU has to meet all current Seattle residential standards for building, mechanical, electrical, and energy codes.  (Look for good ceiling height and egress. )

9. Electrical boxes either have to be located in common areas or in the areas for the units they serve.

(Make sure and check out the city's application here: http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/publications/cam/cam116a.pdf)

 Seattle Mother In Law, Backyard Cottage, ADU... 

 These are all different!  An ADU is different than a mother in law (MIL) apartment which is a separate residence within a home and allows you to rent out the MIL apartment without having to live in the other part of your home. Backyard Cottages are also different.  An ADU us the best way to live in your home and have either legal separate living quarters fro your nanny or housekeeper or make extra income to offset your mortgage. 

Are you interested in finding a   Seattle home that you can convert part of the space into an ADU?  Seattle is ADU friendly and Seattle real estate has opportunities for just this type of set up!

Thinking About Buying in 2009?

 It is different than it has been in the last ten years or so. Many first time home buyers like to ask their friends and family a lot of questions along the way and tend to rely at times on these lifelines.  It is great to have this kind of support, but make sure and get a professional as well.

Unfortunately, new Seattle buyers might find that asking questions might not get them the correct answers for the current Seattle market.  Buying a house any time is a huge task, but being a first time Seattle home buyer on top of that makes it ridiculously intimidating for many.

These are some of the things well qualified First Time Home buyer has already done:

Do you need info on being a first time home buyer in Seattle?  Need a free home buying guide? Want info on the $8000 tax credit?  courtney@cooperjacobs.com  Cooper Jacobs Real Estate, Seattle real estate, @CourtneyCooper

The new Making Home Affordable Program...

It could really help many homeowners who might not otherwise qualify for help.  Making Home Affordable aka Stay in your house and make it cheaper!    Rhonda Porter first talked about this program last month on RainCityGuide.com, but here are some new details for anyone who is interested or might be able to take advantage of the help being offered.

General info about this program and how you might be able to get your mortgage rate adjusted without refinancing:

http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/

And a good FAQ document:

http://www.financialstability.gov/docs/borrower_qa.pdf

You will need to determine if Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac owns your loan.  Here are the look up tools involved to help:

http://loanlookup.fanniemae.com/loanlookup/

https://ww3.freddiemac.com/corporate/index.html

Make sure you are wary of anyone calling your home offering to help.  There are many scams going around in regards to this. 

 Courtney Cooper, Designated Broker, Realtor, EcoBroker, Cooper Jacobs Real Estate Services, Seattle real estate, Serving Seattle Neighborhoods & Seattle Suburbs - help finding Seattle homes. www.CooperJacobs.com Follow me on Twitter: @CourtneyCooper Courtney@cooperjacobs.com 206-251-5948

Seattle real estate: Sunset Hill Park in Ballard

7531 34th Ave. NW

Ballard is amazing and I absolutely adore Sunset Hill Park in this neighborhood of in Seattle! It is such a wonderful part of Ballard overlooking the Puget Sound! Sunset Hill Park is a great place to walk to for Sunset Hill and other Ballard residents. The park was gifted to the city in 1903 and is actually 2.7 acres, but seem like it is less than half an acre because most of it is on a slope overlooking the Sound and the Olympic Mountains.

Sunset Hill Park: It's About The Views!

This Sunset Hill park has benches and a small walking trail, but the big attraction? The view! Many people go just to sit down and read a book in the sun or check out the sailboats down below. My personal connection is that my dear hubby proposed to me right there! Sunset Hill Park is a wonderful spot and we are lucky to have it!

Sunset Hill and other Ballard Neighborhood Real Estate - Wonderful Houses Out There!

Are you interested in living in Sunset Hill or other parts of Ballard? You can search Sunset Hill real estate or Ballard real estate and also get up to the minute listings! realestate@cooperjacobs.com

 Courtney Cooper, Designated Broker, Realtor, EcoBroker, Cooper Jacobs Real Estate Services, Seattle real estate, Serving Seattle Neighborhoods & Seattle Suburbs. www.CooperJacobs.com Follow me on Twitter: @CourtneyCooper Courtney@cooperjacobs.com 206-251-5948

There are always a few bad eggs to screw everything up...

I am so pleased to be working in Seattle real estate and to be able to run into Seattle Realtors that are truly amazing, but every once in a while I run into a few that I am surprised are in this business. It is upsetting to me that there are bad agents out there because they do reflect badly on all of us.   

OK, here is a scenario:  Your house has been on the market for over 150 days and there are about three real estate business cards from the only agents who have shown or previewed your house in that time.  Your agent's listing flyer says that you have hardwood floors when you actually have laminate ones and your family room is nonexistent to potential buyers because it is "Staged" to look like a ridiculously large eating nook.

  The bulb on your front porch is burned out and no one can see in the dark to get into the house and show it anyway, but luckily one agent does bring a buyer who loves the house FINALLY.  You get an offer for $50,000 over what you just bought the house at a foreclosure auction for a few months back, but roughly $40,000 under list because the one buyer that likes your house wants to negotiate.  Your agent tells the buyer's agent that you don't want to even counter because you don't feel you are close enough. 

Here is the first tip in real estate - let's call it real estate 101:

  If you get an offer from a qualified buyer in a softer market then you need and absolutely have to counter it aka go back and make a counter offer.  Counter it at full price if you must, but don't have your listing agent call their agent and tell them to go away. This is just not smart and if your agent advised you to do this then you should fire them because they clearly don't understand the market or real estate.

This really happened!  This week in fact! 

 Seattle real estate is definitely stronger than many areas in the country right now, but this is not the seller's market that this listing agent thinks he/she is in.  Not only did they come back at full price for my buyer, they increased the earnest money which was already ridiculously big for this particular house.  I wanted her to submit a strong offer so we put in a nice big earnest money check.  This listing agent's attitude was combative and high and mighty and nit picky, but it was also just plain weird. I would never hire this person in my company and hope I don't have the pleasure of working with them again. 

Good Bye Good Bye

Unfortunately, we just can't weed these kinds of characters out of the biz or the world in general!  I always try to envision the type of buyer or seller who would hire this type of agent and I admit to having a lot of trouble.  I guess that is because they probably wouldn't hire me:).   My buyer has smartly (and thankfully) decided to let this seller sit on their property and their truly terrible listing agent and we will find another property.  It still makes me feel sad for the seller because with the proper real estate counseling they should have been able to respond to our offer in a fashion that would have most likely kept my buyer around and they could have closed in less than thirty days.  Instead, I will surely watch that listing sit for much longer and will pay careful attention to the final sales price when/if it eventually does sell.  I am willing to wager that they won't do as well as they think they will.

Courtney Cooper, Designated Broker, Seattle real estate company:  Cooper Jacobs Real Estate Services

Seattle real estate - Geez Louis!

I drove 350-something miles since Friday showing houses to four different Seattle real estate area buyers.  I showed houses all morning, all day, and until the clock on the key boxes wouldn't let me open any more doors.  I had to coordinate tours, keep time, answer questions left and right, and generally be "on" the entire time.  I have a headache:)  I did manage to write up a couple offers out of all that so I will see where it all goes, but the two things that were made even more glaringly clear to me than before are these:

1.  If you are a real estate agent and you want to sell houses, you need to actually work on the weekends, show up on time, and return your phone calls.  I ran into several agents who did not answer their phones at all.  I understand being tied up, but at least call me back when I clearly have an interested buyer.  One agent got a call form me at 9AM on a Sunday  - I asked him if he was going to be having an open house that day because I saw his seller required 24 hours notice (don't even get me started) - I knew I could not show the house based on the 24 hour notice requirement so I figured I would squeeze in a showing via an open house.  He called me back this morning (Monday) at 10:30 to tell me that he did have an open house.  It must have been too busy for him to check messages?

2.  If you are a seller, you need to let people see your house. It is hard enough to have to coordinate appointments perfectly to show up on time and make sure that the tour progresses properly plus be professional and even be courteous and take my shoes off in your home.  There should be no need for me to have to convince you that my buyer actually can buy a house.  Believe me, I am sorry that you don't feel like cleaning your house and making it available for me to show it on the weekends, but I assure you that I would not be asking if I didn't think my buyer had a serious interest and was actually able to buy.  I just don't waste my time like that and thought you wanted to sell your house. I actually ran into some great sellers and thankfully the majority of Seattle sellers understand how to be accommodating.  There are those few, though, that I felt like submitting a resume of qualifications for both me and the buyer might have been more helpful than just trying to schedule an appointment.  I literally got the third degree in some cases. Weird.

To me, these are two major issues of selling houses in today's real estate market.  There are buyers out there, believe me, but you have to be available in the evenings and on the weekends whether you are a Seattle real estate agent or a Seattle seller!

Courtney Cooper, Seattle Realtor & Designated Broker for Cooper Jacobs Real Estate Services, Seattle Washington real estate courtney@cooperjacobs.com

I have been working with a lot of Seattle buyers lately trying to find good Seattle real estate out there, but the choices are extremely limited right now!  I know that many of the houses on the market right now are great houses, but because of the giant media scares everywhere and longer market times, some sellers are deciding to not list their house for now.  I understand this decision and respect it, but it is still making it difficult for me to find my buyers the perfect house.  I liked it better when there were more choices earlier in the year.

  Now that we are in the December market 2008, many sellers are staying put and the competition to sell your house if you want to is much lower.  This is good for the houses on the market, but if they happen to not be a good fit for my client and your house would be, how about getting it back on the market and making my job easier, okay? 

Alright, in all seriousness, now is a good time to sell your house, but go ahead and get through the holidays so that you can relax a bit because having your house on the market is stressful even with the best agent.  Know that when you do get it back on the rates will most likely be even lower than they are today and the lending programs will have opened up a bit if all I am hearing is true.  The buyer pool will still be smaller than it has been in years because of larger down payment requirements and stricter guidelines, but more buyers are creeping back out as the rates go lower.  Even King 5 news said this weekend that it is a good time to buy.  They did this with no qualifications so if the media is jumping on board, you can be sure that more buyers will be out and about and they will want to see your house!

Cooper Jacobs Real Estate Services, Serving Seattle real estate and Seattle suburb real estate - Realtor, e-PRO, member Built Green.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have a lot to be thankful for this year!  Cooper Jacobs Real Estate Services had a had a successful year even with the challenges that were thrown this way!  Seattle real estate in 2008 has been anything but easy - that is for sure, but I have been successful at helping my clients do what they wanted to do and I am thankful for it.

Rates have dropped seriously this week and I wanted to pass on that as of yesterday the 30 year fixed rate was around 5.43%!!!!!  This is incredible and definitely worth being thankful for if you want to do a refinance or purchase real estate.  Let me know if you need a lender to talk to - I am also in town if you decide you want to go peek at any property!

Thanks so much, Seattle, for making it a great year!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Courtney Cooper, Designated Broker, Cooper Jacobs Real Estate Services, Seattle real estate

Sunset Hill real estate is filled with amazing places to see and live! This is a great Ballard neighborhood with wonderful views and neighbors! But are the houses selling? Here is a round up of all residential Sunset Hill real estate activity for the last six months in 2008 (excluding Sunset Hill townhouses which I like to break out separately):

Active Sunset Hill Listings:

There are currently 31 Active listings in Sunset Hill ranging in price from $399,500 for a fixer with amazing potential and even some views (more if you go up a level) to $1,695,000 for a gorgeous home ready for you to move in and love this Ballard neighborhood. The average days on market for these active Sunset Hill listings is 59 days. The median price of Sunset Hill houses is $699,000 and the price range with the most houses here is the $650k to $700k range with 6 Sunset Hill listings.

Contingent:

(The sale is contingent on them selling their current home.)

One Sunset Hill house is contingent currently. It is listed at $895,000 and has been on the market 74 days.

Pending:

There are 5 Sunset Hill listings marked as Pending right now. They range in price from $479,950 to $850,000 with an average days on market of 73 days.

Sold:

OK - sales in Sunset Hill: 27 closed Sunset Hill sales in the last six months. The range of price for these closed sales is $398,000 to $1,250,000 with an average days on market of 56 days. The interesting part of this data is looking closer at the price ranges break down of the closed sales here. Six of these closed sales were priced between $600,000 and $650,000 and the average days on market in that range was only 12 days! Median price range for solds is $595,000.

All stats taken from the NWMLS data and compiled by me, your Sunset Hill Realtor! Let me know if you have any questions at all! I am here to help! Through the end of 2008, Cooper Jacobs is running a promotion: All Sunset Hill closed sales using Cooper Jacobs Real Estate Services as your Realtor - $2000.00 towards your closing costs ! Email for details: realestate@cooperjacobs.com