It’s Friday, let’s sweep! First up, a brain teaser…

The more you take the more you leave behind? What am I? Where is Laura going with this? Stick with me…

First, a note worth shouting out from broker, Mike Woods:

“After 25 years as the Foundation Rep for Ballard I’ve made the difficult choice to step down and hand over the keys to Sara Medford the Ballard Windermere Foundation Representative.

I’ve been on the look out for a replacement for the past few years and Sara came along with such leadership, energy, idea’s and focus that it made the decision very easy that I could turn over the reigns and to the foundation duties at our office knowing they are in such great hands.

It’s been a real honor and privilege these past 25 years to serve the Foundation as the representative for the Ballard office, it’s made me a better person and has been a very grounding and humbling experience.   I’m very grateful that you lend your support to keeping the Foundation going and growing each and every year, it has such a huge impact on so many people lives it’s hard to put in words how important it is.  Thank you all very much, it really makes a life changing experience for all those that we are able to help out.” – Mike Woods, Windermere Real Estate Co. | Ballard

Brain teaser answer is: footsteps…

Mike Woods, your 25 years of footsteps in service has made a tremendous impact within the fabric of our local communities – one that is felt well beyond any one of us will really ever  know. We all thank you for each footstep and in helping our Windermere Foundation to flex that beautiful muscle to help others in need. Can’t thank you enough!

Ready for a few digestible bites in trends thus far in 2019?

Let’s look at the science thru February 2019:

Full report here Ps, need the password? Text me: 206.227.7133

Too early to call after two months yet the early signs are in that we are returning to a multiple offer market.

Based on Seattle Residential and Condominium

Multiple offers are happening, and with increasing frequency (still short of the frenzy of past springs).

20% of February closed sales sold for more than original list price vs 64% a year ago (up from 11% in January 2019)

13% of February closed sales sold at original list price vs 12% a year ago (up from 11% in January 2019)

Interest rates are equal to a year ago and down ½ a point from a recent high in November 2018. *Payments on median closed sales price is down from $3,546 (February 2018) to $3,443 (February 2019).

Prepare our Buyers to be competing with other buyers:

*Pre-inspections *Become eligible for Penrith’s Guaranteed Loan *After getting a Guaranteed loan from any lender, talk with Buyer Capital to make your offer as good as cash. Note: we’ll be working to run your thru this new resource in Buyer Capital!

Listings are coming, see the new listings taken in the month for March through June for the past three years.

Sellers still need to consider pricing towards the bottom end of the value range instead of the high end:

47% of sellers in February had to change their price to create a sale. As stated above, listings coming…

…and oh, why not add a little luck to the mix as well!

A special note:  be on the look out next week for an email from Julie Day – WRE Services, VP of Marketing. Julie will begin to prime the pump for our media campaigns. Let’s just say that rumor has it, starting March 21st…Windermere will be hard to miss!

All in, for you,

Laura Smith, Co-owner | Windermere Real Estate Co.

 

It’s Friday, let’s sweep! Coming off of last week’s blog post around Seller Conversations I would be remiss to not share that indeed we did sell our home. Closing date is set for March 25th, 2019. In the immediate, I’ll give the play by play – the digestible bites, the x’s + o’s of how things played out. Once we are Closed I’ll write and podcast more in depth, specifically around the hidden things we brokers can naturally forget when we ourselves haven’t transacting in some time. For us, The Smith’s hadn’t transacted for 14.5 years. April’s podcast will run through the “emotional investments of buying and selling.” Maybe it is the psychology degree in me – this stuff fascinates me! And yes, our little family of four had BIG “feels” around all of this transition.

Here is the play by play…

List date of Wednesday, February 27th.

We did decided to review offers on Monday, March 4th.

$1,250,000 list price, View Ridge neighborhood

As Sellers we had decided to control for all that we could control for prior to list. We did a sewer scope (that yes, turned into sewer line work = worth every penny). We staged (worth every penny). We had one bathroom we had not remodeled – we remodeled (worth every penny). We had windows washed. We had power washing done. We painted anywhere that needed touchup. We had carpets professionally cleaned. We refreshed landscaping, including new sod in the back.

Once I knew we had controlled for what we could, I trusted in the process. The process worked.

Monday, offer review date: We had two offers – one good, one GREAT. One broker presented to our listing broker, the other broker chose to present to us (hint hint: the GREAT offer chose to present to us). Both offers had pre-inspections. *Earnest Money was converted to a non-refundable deposit and is in our bank account. If this gives you any indication of spring market…well, game on.

Closing date is quick: March 25th, 2019. I’m filling out our Sellers Packet from CW Title & Escrow today!

Coming soon – post successful Close of our home: Podcast, episode #12, The Emotional investment of buying and selling. Any side bets if I can get my husband Chad on this Episode? Ps, I’m serious + hoping so! We’ll see if he reads this – stand by on that!

Before then, let’s hit repeat on last week’s podcast – Seller Conversations. All very relevant to preparing for spring! And keep in mind, more often than not, it’s the timing of having these critical Seller Conversations that makes them most impactful for both you and your Seller! Tune in…

If you’d like to dive even deeper around critical “Seller Conversations” + earn three clock hours + take a ferry ride to Bainbridge Island to do it all – check this out + register! Again, day trip anyone?

Ok spring market…#Let’sGo #HereToHelp #WeAreWindermere

Laura Smith, Co-owner | Windermere Real Estate Co.

Episode #12 | Double Down | Podcast is ready!

This month Nicole Mangina mic’d up with us to discuss key themes that have continued to bubble up in her “Seller Conversations” clock hour class. Seller conversations are indeed a very relevant topic heading into our spring real estate market. WRE Eastlake broker, Fiore Pignataro and Demco attorney, David Daniel also joined us for the conversation. Thank you all for sharing your wisdom!

Ps, being that our home came to market this week – I am that Seller – that needed all the wisdom I could gather…

Episode #12 also highlights a handful “legal bites” – from the Seller optic: (1) em delivery and appropriate responses to lateness; (2) good broker advice for seller clients on making complete disclosures; (3) broker ensuring disclosures are updated as need (such after failed sale etc…)

Ready to join the conversation? Just under 45 minutes with Nicole, Fiore, Dave and myself – when you can find the time – https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/583509447&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true“>tune in here! 

…and if you’d like to dive even deeper around critical “Seller Conversations” + earn three clock hours + take a ferry ride to Bainbridge Island to do it all – check this out + register! Day trip anyone?

Ok spring market…#Let’sGo #HereToHelp #WeAreWindermere

Laura Smith, Co-owner | Windermere Real Estate Co.

 

 

 

The Seattle winter freeze & melt really did happen. Kids are slowly returning to schools post mid-winter breaks (ps, thank goodness). Our offices are starting to fill back up with humans. What a wild couple of weeks! I’m seeing, hearing and looking for signs of spring post melt. I do see them popping up in the ground. Are you feeling + seeing signs of a spring in our real estate market? Guest blogger, Windermere Eastlake broker,  Sol Villareal put a few stats together this week worth sharing as we look towards spring. *NOTE: if you are looking for the password for windermerestats.com – text me – 206.227.7133 cell.

Recording TODAY! Episode #12

Double Down Podcast

Podcast topic(s): Legal Bites + Seller Conversations. You’ll begin to notice a trend in monthly “ideas worth spreading” to intentionally reflect digestible bites from some of the newer content that ProDev is coming up with for clock hours. This month Nicole Mangina will be mic’d up and feature key themes that have continued to bubble up in her “Seller Conversations” class. Post podcast, if you are looking for a deeper dive around this subject – you can go to class = win/win! WRE Eastlake broker, Fiore Pignataro will join us for the conversation along with Demco attorney, David Daniel.

Podcast legal bites to include: (1) em delivery and appropriate responses to lateness; (2) good broker advice for seller clients on making complete disclosures; (3) broker ensuring disclosures are updated as need (such after failed sale etc…)

Tune in next Friday! Ok spring market…#Let’sGo #HereToHelp

Laura Smith, Co-owner | Windermere Real Estate Co.

www.wreimpact.com

 

 

 

Are you, your people, your neighbors ready for The Seattle melt of 2019? It’s on…

Windermere Broker Michael Doyle shared this on Facebook this morning – too important not to share. In some ways our conditions seem more dangerous than in our previous days. Hope these tidbits help you or someone you know!

“Here are a few thoughts about melting snow, possible water intrusion and houses from Don McFeron at Scout Building Inspections:

Gutters and downspouts full of snow and ice can back up if it starts raining before the snow and ice melt.

Water backing up in the gutters can be a real problem if you have a house without much of a roof overhang, because instead of wetting the soffits, it can get into the walls.

Roof downspout in-ground drains can ice up, and then the water coming down the downspouts can spill out next to the foundation. If the house has a finished basement, the water next to the house could get into wall cavities through the footing-to-foundation joint, and any through-wall penetrations or cracks. Make sure that water coming out of the downspouts runs down into functioning in-ground drains, or route the water on the surface far enough away from the foundation that the water cannot run down next to it and get into the basement or the crawl space.

Snow in a basement window well can get up against the windows and window trim. When the snow melts it could get in through small gaps between the windows and trim.

Water from melting snow that has piled up against a door can get in through weep holes and weather stripping as it melts.

When you shovel a walkway, be careful to not pile the snow up against the side of the house.

Snow on a roof can get up under the flashing around skylights, chimneys, plumbing vents, attic ridge vents, etc. Pretty much all of the flashings and roof boots are designed to protect against water that is flowing down hill. Blowing snow can get under the edges of flashings or pack in around them and then drip down behind them as it melts. Usually the amount of water would not be noticeable, but in a situation where there are several inches of snow followed by a quick melt and a lot of rain, it could be a problem.

I cleared the snow off of my roof top deck tonight because the snow was deep enough that when it melted it could have gotten up under the siding, through gaps between the door to the roof or through perimeter flashings and into the house.  The through-wall drains were packed with snow so that water may not have been able to drain through them.

Keep dry,

Don”

I’ll ditto what home inspector Don articulated, stay dry…and stay safe! We lost a big cherry tree last night in our yard – sad. We are safe + sound – the best news.

Laura Smith, Co-owner | Windermere Real Estate Co.

www.wreimpact.com

Welcome to Friday, let’s sweep! Snow that is…it really is here!

Several agencies, including NOAA have called todays snow to be one of the largest storms in Seattle’s history.  Time will tell around this prediction! In the immediate, I realize I may have very low readership today…instead of blogging content I had prepped (dusting off EM reminders, final call for converting your email account to 2-step before it is forced up on you (hint hint: “forced” 2-step begins Feb 15th! etc…) I’m simply going to give an idea worth spreading while the storm rolls in…

An idea 💡 worth sharing. Earlier this week while it was snowing my husband Chad called his clients – those specifically that he thought might need a little extra help during the snow + cold while he was getting around town just fine. He simply asked if they needed anything…

Think about those people who might appreciate that call – those that can’t get around, those not feeling well etc…might be the perfect lift in their day.

We “own” the human side of this business – always fun to find thoughtful ways to connect…

Stay safe + keep warm + be well👊🏻 Let’s help each other out as winter comes rolling in!

Ps, if you need anything – here to help☺️

Laura Smith, Co-owner | Windermere Real Estate Co.

www.wreimpact.com

Welcome to Friday! A couple digestible bites to wrap up this week and prepare for next… ps, welcome to February, it’s here! Wow, January was a blur.

Remember KCM’s Steve Harney’s (Keeping Current Matters) four goals for brokers in 2019? 1. don’t panic 2. stay current daily 3. control the narrative and 4. every day, list *and when you list, price for what the home will sell for today = make prices compelling.

Here is a good blog post with respect to goal #3 “controlling the narrative“…I ran across this in helping two brokers prepare for their upcoming Home Buyer class!

“Is Student Loan Debt A Threat to Homeownership? No!” – Keeping Current Matters

Need a login to KCM to read article? laurasmith@windermere.com | password: impact2019

For those of you getting ready to launch homes to the market – [aka, goal #4 above!]  – a small reminder with significant consequences around Listing Input! A tip to assure a successful launch!

On page #1 of Listing Input there is a yes/no drop down for “Internet Advertising” – choose yes if you want your listing to sweep and syndicate to the world correctly. Choosing “no” has significant consequences – aka, you’ll wonder + be waiting to see your new listing sweep to Windermere.com etc…to no avail. Imagine your angst and your client’s frustration if “no” is accidentally marked on LIP. It happened to one of our listing this week which brings me to “the why” in adding to FWL this week!

 

People have been asking about my tattoo commentary – stay tuned – next Friday more to come on that. A few pictures above to prime the pump. What is Laura up to? Lights + camera + action!

Welcome to Friday, good luck in a productive weekend in work & play!

All in, with you.

Laura Smith, Co-owner | Windermere Real Estate Co.

www.wreimpact.com

What did you do last Friday night?…

Me? Tried to stop a crook.

It happened to us. Real wire fraud. Earnest money wired from one banking institution to another. The money is gone. Good news (hardly “good” in the big picture), our broker was on two-step verification on her email and thus appears she herself did not fall culprit to a phishing scam. Bad news, the optics appear that the client’s email/computer was hacked. The timeliness of the hacker was uncanny – sending an email to the Buyer pretending to be Broker (included appropriate broker email signature) giving wire instructions for Earnest Money the same day Buyer got into contract. Broker calls the Buyer Friday afternoon to T up obtaining their Earnest Money check in the “next couple of days” only to find out “oh, we already wired the money.” Eeks. I won’t go any further here in detail – I’m no dummy – my blog is a public domain – hackers included in access.

That said, this is what I have to say…

The very best protection we can do is continue to educate the consumer on wire fraud. Thus far we’ve been able to provide proper steps in disclosure – between you and client. Let’s now strongly consider taking our education one step further – an added addendum within the Purchase & Sale – giving all parties another point in education and frankly, potentially more meaningful in timing vs. lost in the shuffle during disclosure packets.

(Note: Demco still wants the Wire Fraud disclosure to be a stand alone document with your client vs. lumped into one large disclosure packet)

Your manager will go over the details of our new addendum at your next office meeting – Wire Transfer Addendum. (WRE Form 49). This addenda has been penned by Demco and now lives within Company forms on NWMLS. I figured the best and only way towards adoption was to house this on the NWMLS. Once we see this addenda out in the field and in play it may need revisions. For now, we’ve got it – let’s use it + see how it goes…

Friday’s wire fraud is unfortunate fuel to push us getting to 100% adoption onto two-step verification with your email address. Great news, I believe our offices are just about 100% there – that was a heavy lift – THANK YOU ALL!

Real stuff. Thanks for keeping wire fraud + cyber security Top Of Mind with your clients and in your practice.

Ps, I’ll give a shout out to our tech folks who created WindermereSecurity.com (WORC password required for login). This was a helpful resource to all of us involved last Friday night and helpful in taking action – where we could.

I am certainly looking forward to a better Friday night tonight than last week! First though, off to Skin & Soul Tattoo – more on “the why” in the coming weeks! Hint hint: think video shoot, think marketing, think surrounding yourself with creative people is a good thing! Stand by…

By the way, did you see this muscle flexed this week? A beautiful muscle…

That was an easy media share – and one very much worth flexing…#WeAreWindermere and we are very much rooted actively within our communities. All in, with you.

Laura Smith, Co-owner | Windermere Real Estate Co.

WINDERMERE REAL ESTATE CO.

www.wreimpact.com

 

Welcome to Friday! I have plenty to say, plenty to share – let’s get right to it! First, a couple housekeeping items to digest…

Office Hours and Computation of Time

Offices Closed this Monday in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr Day. If you are working within purchase and sale agreements nice & early in the year (aka, now and heading into the weekend) – when computing time, regard Monday January 21st as a legal holiday.

On Tuesday, the security around the NWMLS website is being updated = meaning we’ll all need to do a one time heightened security login. A 3 minute video has all the scoop – click here if you are curious, before Tuesday.

By The Numbers & Beyond the Headlines

Windermere Stats thru December are out with refreshed talking points for both Seattle & Eastside. Ready for you to digest… Click here. *if you need this month’s password: text me, 206.227.7133. We approach another season in setting Seller expectations – pricing for “the now” & educating Buyers – these facts & figures do a good job in setting the table for both you and your clients. Designed for YOU!

I’m optimistic for 2019 – I do believe we are going to have an absolutely fine year and may even see an increase in sales for 2019 – overall.  That said, I heard a very good story worth sharing as we will continue to face more headlines that we’ll need to move beyond and work with. Let’s call these headlines “trade winds.” We will have wind…

On the eve on of one of The Master’s golf tournaments, Tiger Woods was asked – “what do you think of the wind?” Tiger’s reply…

…”the wind doesn’t both me. However the wind can create doubt, doubt creates tension and tension can effect my golf swing.”

A collective goal for us this year will be to not let “wind” bother us – aka, impact our golf swing. In order to do this I agree with KCM’s Steve Harney (Keeping Current Matters) and his four goals for this year coming out of his January Monthly Market Report: 1. don’t panic 2. stay current daily 3. control the narrative and 4. every day, list *and when you list, price for what the home will sell for today = make prices compelling. *I must thank the KCM team for the Tiger Woods story, on wind.

What is your word?

Up for a challenge? Good, let’s do it. Set one word for the this year. Setting a word can help guide you throughout the year with clear intention and keep you on track, both professionally and personally. Think of this word as a mini business plan – it’s easy to remember – especially if you hit a patch of “wind” – which we all will. In 2017 my word was Impact. In 2018, my word was Play. In 2019, my word is FOCUS.

Why is Laura’s word FOCUS? Glad you asked…

Recently I was listening to a podcast with Oprah & author, Daniel Goleman’s, on “Emotional Intelligence and why it can matter more than IQ”.  At one point in their conversation they referenced “focus” as a flabby muscle and one that needs to become more fit. The gist, people are distracted most of the time.

Then, good friend and broker, Tammy Heldridge from our Sand Point office share this article with me…seriously, read it! Click here.

How to Actually, Truly Focus on What You’re Doing

Tired: Shallow work. Wired: Deep work.

There you have it. As I was searching for my “word” for 2019, I can thank Oprah, Daniel and Tammy for FOCUS. Ps, I’ve asked many of you what your word is for 2019 – and so far this is what I’ve heard…

grind + shift + hopeful + cautious + focused + strong + awesome possum + resilience + new + balance + brave + excited + winning + improve + appreciation + baller status + boom + impactful + trump + confidence + ownership + advance

What is your word? I really do want to know! This stuff matters.

Laura Smith, Co-owner | Windermere Real Estate Co.

Why oh why am I hearing from Laura on a Monday, it is not Friday?

Answer is:

Lining up my next podcast for 2019 and I want to hear from YOU in what content + conversations you want more of!

Please text, email or post a comment on this blog post if you have an opinion. The content + conversations are designed with YOU in mind. Next up I’ll no doubt get Demco Law Firm & David Daniel back mic’d up…

What else?

Who else?

Guests outside of our real estate industry?

With gratitude, Laura Smith

…206.227.7133 (cell)

*and yes, you’ll still hear from me this Friday – I have plenty to say in the New Year. Welcome 2019! I am glad you are here and extremely optimistic about YOU.