Welcome to Friday & the end of a week where we officially said goodbye to summer and welcomed in fall. And oh, September 21st happened – thank you Ann O’Neil for sending this little ditty on Tuesday morning to start my day! Still worth us all turning up the volume and moving a bit to this ditty – right here! *especially great being my 15 year old told me this week no more signing and dancing in the car to school. Sorry buddy, I can’t stop moving;) Ok, what happened in real estate this week…

No, that isn’t an picture from our office(s) this week (although Halloween is coming soon?)! This is the Ted Lasso crew at the 2021 Primetime Emmy Awards after scoring big. What did happen – Windermere Eastlake assistant manager Dina Harvey Jardine text me this photo as we received a call from the DOL starting in on yet another office audit. Her exact quote, “this is the energy we bring to the Eastlake audit.” Another moment the made me smile this week. Anyhow, a heads up that the DOL is back auditing. A general reminder that our offices are as audit proof as our partnership with all of you in doing so. We are getting pretty good at this – thank you!

This week I hosted two legal CE classes, “Suits of the Past” with Demco Law Firm. I have blog content for weeks. In proper Friday “sweep” form, I’ll share practical application over the coming weeks in what came out of class. First up, “or sooner” commentary within our purchase and sale agreements…

Question: Does writing in phrases such as “or sooner” or “on or before…” etc. constitute unauthorized practice of law? Does it matter if such a practice is widely accepted in the industry?

Answer is: Despite the prevalence of phrases such as “or sooner” – these phrases should be avoided. At best, these phrases legally accomplish nothing, as the parties would have subsequently agree to change the closing date, anyway. At worst, these phrases can be ambiguous, misleading and can lead to lawsuit (and did – as shared in class this week). The best practice is to leave these phrases out and just insert a Closing Date. If the parties can and want to close sooner, they will execute an addendum doing so.

…another way to think of this – agreements to agree are not enforceable and can lead to confusion in expectations between buyer & seller. *I know, your next question then becomes – why does escrow ask us to add “or sooner” in an addendum? Just explain to escrow that you’ve been advised not to and that all parties are amicable to closing early and we’ll send a Closing Date addendum with new date if that becomes possible!

Could it be true?! Learned just today while visiting our Ballard office that paint stores will now accept latex paint! This is huge! At least, news to me. Oil paint still needs to make its way to hazardous waste sites.

That’s a wrap from my desk this week. To close it out – carrying thru last week’s blog focus in mental conditioning from Trevor Moawad. Stealing Madison Park broker Susan Stasik social post from today…

“What happened happened. Okay. Fine. What happened after this has nothing to do with that.” – TM

Be good to yourselves everyone. As pictured at the top of this post – bought myself some flowers on the way home from the Ballard office today. What will you do for you this weekend?

All in, for you. All in, for us. – Laura

…I’m going to teach you how to become neutral in your thinking. I take an athletic approach to our business; and if you know me well, you’d probably say the same thing about my life. So when we brought in Trevor Moawad on mental conditioning to a recent Windermere virtual kick-off event, he took my mental conditioning game to a next level.

This week, we lost Trevor to cancer. What we didn’t loose was his impact. Fitting for me to again share his focus as a 1. nod to Trevor this week and 2. as a nod to doubling down on our mental conditioning.

“At the physiological level, we all talk to ourselves. A lot of time we don’t know how often we do – we do about a 1000 words a minute at the subconscious level. – Tevor Moawad

Sports Illustrated named Trevor the best sports mental coach in the field. Sharing these next 34 minutes and 19 seconds with you – a conversation with Trevor.

Much of our lives comes down to influence. We owe it to ourselves however to influence ourselves first. You matter. Then you become a meaningful influence to others. Thank you Trevor Moawad for your influence. – Laura

Welcome back to Blue Fridays in our region! I’m wearing new blue pants for the occasion – good luck to our Seahawks this weekend vs. the Colts! The following week we’ll welcome back our Tackle Homelessness campaign when the Hawks again take their home field. More on that next week!

This week a few odds & ends to keep us moving forward – as I amplify last week’s post & story in to KMF (“keep moving forward”)…

I was reminded this week of NWMLS Form 35C – worth taking a glance at again – as it was added to our toolbox during the most recent forms revisions. If you have PSA with an inspection contingency and your Buyer does not yet have consent to send inspection report (or any part of it) – 35C can be your friend post inspection. It takes a little art in getting it done yet can be a strong tool.

I was also reminded this week in the importance of a proper rescission. While you brush up on forms – take a good look at NWMLS Form 51 – Rescission Agreement. Most likely at the point of rescission we are naturally focused on the use of this form to bring an understanding between Buyer & Seller. Paragraph #1 most likely gets only a glance in process yet today I want to bring attention to it. It’s a paragraph that can give you & your firm a little more certainty moving forward…

NWMLS Form 51. 1. Release. The Agreement and all other agreements or undertakings between Buyer and Seller with respect to the Property are rescinded. Each party releases the other and all real estate firms and brokers involved with this sale from any and all liability in connection with the sale, except as agreed below. Nothing herein shall be constructed to terminate any existing agency relationships or related agreements unless otherwise agreed in writing.

That’s a wrap for this week. Schedules are back for so many, we are back to driving 20mph around schools (be safe, be smart!), fantasy football drafts have taken shape, Biden’s plan for private sector companies with at least 100 workers was released on vaccinations – more on that in the coming week(s) – and we are watching our speed limit on our market. Let’s keep moving forward; together….

Sharing a school photo from my kiddos as they are often a guide for me in keeping to move forward – these kids can often teach us! #KMF

– Laura

Welcome to the end of the week, welcome September & welcome to the launch into the long Labor Day weekend! Content light today, instead a story that keeps coming back for me – a sweet story from summer.

My family was able to road trip in August to Sun Valley (ps, lesson learned – fly Laura fly – that is a long drive!). Each morning, I the first one up in the house. Coffee in hand, dog by my side we headed out for our morning walk. On one of the strolls, at the base of a mountain – an elderly gentleman with two walking sticks was coming down from his morning hike. As I do, I engaged with him & inquired, “how was it” and it was in his reply that this stranger is now etched in my mind…

His reply…”KMF” to which I said “tell me more” to which he said, “always Keep Moving Forward, that is all we can do. I just go where me feet take me…”

I offer this story & message to us all as we head into the holiday weekend, a ton of transition for many people (aka, school is back – with that comes a lot!) and the beginnings to change of season to fall. I will celebrate the work we get to do, go where me feet take me and always KMF…

All in, for us. All in, for you. All in, for KMF.

– Laura

Welcome to Friday, let’s sweep this week and give a nod to an uncertain moment around the pandemic and lean into what we can call certain. In times like this, I look for what is certain to recalibrate and have confidence this moment will pass. You’ll notice throughout this post images of the sun setting. All pictures taken this week. All taken from the same spot; yet naturally unique. What dawned on me when I looked at these pictures – they do have one thing in common – the certainty that the sun rises each day and sets each day. Not rocket science, yet I appreciate this knowing and for this week, being reminded.

Ok, let’s talk real estate. Remember last week’s post around KCM’s analogy of the speed limit and our market? Well, Windermere manager Rob Graham took that to a whole new level this week. Sharing here…

Note: #’s referenced are for single family homes in the City of Seattle.

“The conversation came up in my meeting last week about, “Is August a bad time to list”.  I promised my brokers I would go back and do some geeking out on the numbers and let them know what I find.

I went back and looked at each month going back 10 years and here are the bullet points of what I found:

*August has averaged an average Sales Price to Original List Price of 100.4 over the past 10 years.  The average for that entire time over all months was 100.3.

*August has averaged 23.1 CDOM over the last 10 years.The average for that time across all months was 27.5
I only pulled single family homes in the city of Seattle. 

*I think the conversation that I am going to have with them is around never overpricing regardless of month and that the sentiment about August may be more a product of the change in momentum.  In August as we transition to fall it feels like going from 70 mile an hour to 60, while March feels like going 50 to 60.  Both are 60 miles an hour but because of the direction of the momentum, it feels very different.”

*ps, text me (206.227.7133) if you want the graphs Rob shared beyond his bullet points above. Love me some geek!

A reminder this week for listing brokers! This is a re-share as the need came up this week. Redfin has a tool for you when you need support when your listing needs editing on their website. Remember, Redfin is a Firm with the NWMLS – meaning Windermere has zero control on syndication to Redfin – they; like us – receive their data direct from the NWMLS (IDX feed). That said, when you are in a panic – here is a support link…

“Real Estate Agent Looking to: Edit a Listing” – support here.*bookmark it! Or, if lost – give me a text/ring.

Note: I haven’t been able to track down the same kind of direct broker support for Zillow. That said, I know people that know people if we need to escalate a problem on their site. Again, they too now receive their listing feed direct from NWMLS.

That will wrap my sweep this week! Let’s double down on our superpowers – mask, distance & wash out hands. These big 3 are certain – as are the sunrises and sunsets – even if we can’t see them at all times. It is reassuring to know they are certain.

I’ll leave you to ponder this thought – what brings certainty for you? Good time to double down on that!

All in, for you. All in, for us. – Laura

Welcome to Friday and yes, the lead story on today’s blog is the anticipation of the reinstatement of our WA State mask requirement for everyone, regardless of vaxx status, in indoor settings. Full update from the NWMLS here – if you haven’t digested it yet. The good news I pulled from the Covid-19 update for us & our industry is this…

“Real estate firms may continue to open their offices at 100% capacity, provided that firms comply with the mask requirement and all other recommended health guidelines.”

And if you join me in a bit of confusion around this current moment in time – I found this week’s article from The Atlantic, “Delta Has Changed the Pandemic Risk Calculus. If you’re confused about what you can do right now, you should be.” to mirror where my thoughts have taken me…

Read full article in The Atlantic here.

In turning the page back to real estate, sharing again one of my favorite sources of information to aid in the above graphic – aka, helping people make decisions not 100% based on emotion. Each month when I invest my time in watching & listening to KCM’s monthly market report I feel a wee bit smarter and ready for those “how is the market” infamous questions we all encounter. It’s a solid monthly habit for me – join me?

In this month’s Keeping Current Matter’s market report (21 minutes this month) – the team at KCM speak to bubble chatter (or not), forbearance concerns (or not), Q2 “buyer traffic” (still strong) and a nice summation analogy around our market possibly beginning to drive the actual speed limit the second half of 2021…

“We’re in August right now, and here’s the analogy I would give you. Where we’re at in the real estate market is the analogy of going, flying down the freeway. We’re doing 95 or whatever miles per hour, and you see an officer up on the hill ahead, and you start to slow down. Maybe you slow down to 70, 65 miles an hour, and it feels like you’re crawling, but you’re actually doing the speed limit. We’re coming back into a little bit more normal market, seeing some normal appreciation forecasts.” – KCM, August 2021 monthly market report

*as a reminder the KCM site is updated by the 10th of each month. If you’ve never visited the site yet – there is a complimentary 2 week trial awaiting you there – worth your time! If you just want a look every now and again – feel free to text me and I’ll let you borrow my log in information for a test drive. 206.227.7133*

And as we close out this week’s FWL post – let’s take this moment to double down on Going Slow & Doing No Harm – for the good of all. – Laura

*below – attempt at a family selfie in the middle of the Big Wood river last week & our ride up to 9150′ in the air! #peace

Welcome to Friday (almost) everyone! I’ve hit the pause button and the open roads with my family. First stop – 3v3 basketball tournament and then off to digest the grand outdoors in search of mountains, lakes, streams and time together. The goal is to power up our batteries in prep for the upcoming fall. I hope you too are finding intentional ways to soak up summer & prepare to power up for a strong finish to 2021.

…before I turn on the autoresponder – I’m sharing a video break down (7 minutes) around the state of forbearance from Eric Thompson. With “forbearance” in the news – Eric does a nice job in simplifying and helping us move beyond the headlines. As with anything, the better we educate ourselves the better we can educate others. Our words matter.

Will Forbearance Cause a Housing Meltdown? (Hint = No) – Eric Thompson

Ok, T-minus a few hours until autoresponder turns on. FWL will return when my battery is fully charged again. For now, an August pause…

Be well, stay well. – Laura

Welcome to a Friday, let’s quickly sweep this week! Well, my front door found it’s color – that just makes me happy! *as picture above. What else makes me pleased from this past week? Sharing…

Wrapping up our Department of Licensing audit today and we came thru very nicely with our findings. To the 12 brokers whose files were randomly audited – thank you! Going thru an audit is a true moment of partnership with you all – we are only as “audit proof” to the tune of a broker’s compliance in turning in what the Firm is required to hold & on time. I’ll be putting together a full recap – yet of interesting note in the immediate for me became NWMLS Form 42A – Agency Disclosure Multiple Brokers. We were missing this form in 3 of our 12 audited files. Take a look at the form when you get a chance & yes, it is only necessary in the Firm file when there are multiple brokers providing real estate services to a client and hasn’t yet been disclosed somewhere else. Frankly, I wasn’t aware this was necessary within the PSA. Always learning!

And as always, I’ll gently harp on the the DOL’s “two day rule” – this is where we as a Firm (office) will always be a sitting duck being only you know what a client has put ink to. The layperson’s definition to this rule is anything your client signs needs to be delivered to your office within two business days. Here is how the DOL describes such…

“Designated broker responsibilities include, but are not limited to ensuring affiliated licensees submit their transaction documents to the designated broker, branch manager or delegated managing broker within two business days of mutual acceptance.“

What else makes me happy this week? 106 brokers to whom dedicated their week to our first LIVE Seattle Windermere Ninja Installation post pandemic. Those picture above come from my offices. Congratulations to all in your dedication to the craft and investment in yourselves. We are your fans. We are here to help! *oh, they had no fun at all – kidding – pink boa tells a different story for this esteemed group of brokers!

Ok, one local update worth shouting out for planning purposes from August 9th thru September 3rd! *thank you Diane Terry for sharing on social – I stole it…

That’s a wrap for today – it’s summer – I know, I will only capture so much of your time on a beautiful Friday! Welcome to it- get after it in productive work & play!

All in, for you. All in, for us. – Laura

Welcome to a Friday, let’s sweep this week! Locally we welcomed IN the Kraken draft on the shores of Lake Union – full bleacher report here on the athletes who will make Seattle their home ice – here. I appreciated digesting this NPR article on “why it is taking longer to build homes in Seattle” – here. I’ve begun delivering our summer issue of Windermere Living to my advertisers next week to drop in their marketing toolkit! Eye candy for all with a focus on featured listings, out-of-the-box charcuterie boards, trending textures & ways to upcycle – flip the pages right here! And oh, for all of you Ted Lasso fans – season 2 premiers today – love him!

…and 4,782 miles away we welcomed IN the 2021 Olympics as Windermere gives a nod to our local athletes and going all in for them in coverage sponsorship!

Windermere Sponsoring Olympics Coverage on KING TV

The 2021 Olympics are here and Windermere has gone all in to support our local Northwest athletes! Tune into KING TV to catch one of our commercials during their live coverage of the games.

Windermere is also the official sponsor of KING’s Olympic Zone series, which will feature interviews, highlights, and upcoming events with an emphasis on Northwest athletes. The Olympic Zone will also feature minute-long vignettes with our athletes that include interview questions centered on “home” and what it means to go “all in” for something.

Our sponsorship includes both broadcast on KING TV and online streaming on the KING website from 7/22 to 8/7. Be on the lookout for Windermere commercials during live coverage and check out the upcoming Olympic Zone episodes:

Thurs 7/22 -Danielle Lawrie (UW/Canada Softball)

Sat 7/24 – Ali Aguilar (UW/USA Softball)

Mon 7/26 – Jen Salling (UW/Canada Softball)

Tues 7/27 – Kaite Lou Samuelson (Storm/USA 3×3 Hoops)

Wed 7/28 – Kelsey Blum (UW/USA 3×3 Hoops)

Thurs 7/29 – Harrison Maurus (Auburn Riverside HS/USA Weightlifting)

Fri 7/30 – Breanna Stewart (Storm/USA 3×3 Hoops)

Sat 7/31 – Jewell Loyd (Storm/USA 3×3 Hoops)

Mon 8/2 – Nevin Harrison (Roosevelt HS/USA Canoe Sprint)

Tues 8/3 – Katrina Young (Shoreline/USA Diving)

Wed 8/4 – TBD

Thurs 8/5 – Megan Rapinoe (Reign/USA Soccer)

Fri 8/6 – Sue Bird (Storm/USA Hoops)

Sat 8/7 – Jacob Riley (Bellingham/USA Marathon)

Friday has begun – it’s again PNW gorgeous yet I too acknowledge friends close by are navigating a very hot summer wildfire season – strength to all those enduring smoke, concerns & coming together as community.

Another summer weekend awaits us – be well in however you chose to play & real estate! We’ll be celebrating this guy today as #15 has crept us on all of us. I’m a lucky mom. #beyondgrateful

All in, for us. All in, for you. – Laura

Despite being amidst mid summer there is lots going on and a handful of things worth bringing to your attention this week – let’s give it a sweep! Of particular note, the DOL is back auditing offices and I am mid-audit now. Coming soon to a FWL post will be an audit proofing summary as our offices are only as audit proof as our engagement with you – the broker. Anyone recall the DOL’s “two day rule”? – hopefully a concept not unfamiliar to you. This is the sort of thing I will deconstruct once audit is complete.

Ok, moving on from that riveting topic and moving towards this…

…what is this group above up to? Well, Inman summed it up pretty well this week. And couldn’t be more proud to be a part of this work – pinch me!

Windermere launches BIPOC-focused internship program

The eight-week internship is in partnership with the University of Washington College of Built Environments and will focus on educating students on the residential real estate market in the greater Seattle area. Full Inman article here!

…and ps, while nice to see impactful PR around this – even more so is what we are learning from these students. I can already guarantee to you we are learning as much as they are. My mind is wide open.

Seattle Waterfront LID prepayment assessments notices are here – aka, in the mailboxes of homeowners.

Let’s start with the background…

An LID is a funding tool governed by state law, by which property owners pay to help fund the costs of public improvements that directly benefit their property. For the Waterfront LID, property owners will contribute to a portion of the improvement costs based on the “special benefit” they will receive from those improvements.

The LID is a key component of the Waterfront Seattle Program funding plan, along with City and State funding and private philanthropy. An LID was included in the Waterfront Strategic Plan and approved by Council in 2012.

On June 14, 2021, Council passed the Waterfront LID Assessment Roll Ordinance. This is the ordinance to confirm the final assessment amounts for the Waterfront LID.

For property owners that reside within the Seattle Waterfront Local Improvement District (LID) – they have now received their prepayment assessment along with other information. I’d suggest digesting this fully – details here (along with a sample notice).

Looking for a readers’s digest version and why we as brokers should care?

Disclosure issue for Sellers. Heads up for buyer brokers. Assessments role has been published and available with two clicks. Sellers can pay off and get discount (8%) or can pass on the buyer Like sewer capacity charge. Line 13 of NWMLS form 28 & 21 important. *side note, Demco Law Firm working on an advisory on this for us.

Wrapping this week in amplifying a well done HUB post from Windermere Tech. They have expanded hours in support and put together a thoughtful best practices in how to better connect with them for help. Often how we access and what we provide from the get go in detail (or lack of detail of problem) – can slow responses down. Take a look here – worth digesting. As always, if we can help find a solution – just ask. Managers & staff are here to help track it down.

That’s a wrap from this week – a full one! And to end on a light summer note – sharing a song I heard for the first. time on one of my Peloton rides this week – FireFlies (Own City). It brought me back to the summer wonder I had as a young child visiting my grandmother in Illinois and watching fireflies. To the wonder + play of summer – let’s go find that too. Happy Friday everyone!

All in, for you. All in, for us. – Laura