lonniesnyder's Blog: All Categories

Lonnie Snyder is a full time real estate agent and REALTOR® with Keller Williams Realty specializing in Residential Real Estate for buyers and sellers in Washington’s Kent, Renton, Newcastle and South Bellevue.

If you think it's about time you bought a home instead of renting, a little homework before you start looking will increase your odds of finding the best buy for you. Here's how:

Dig up your down payment

Know where your down payment cash will come from. If it's coming from stocks, go ahead and sell them. If Aunt Jessie is loaning the money, get it in hand so you are ready to go.

Nail down your financing

It's tough to home shop if you don't know what you can afford. Together with a reputable lender, we can help you determine how much home…

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Generally speaking, there are two ways to go when you are thinking about home improvements. Either you splurge for something purely for the pure pleasure of having it -- that Italian marble bathroom you've dreamed about; that skylight that your spouse has been hinting at for the last six years -- or you take a pragmatic approach, putting in such amenities as a new kitchen or a redwood deck because you want to increase your home's market value.
Don't ever expect to score on both counts. Just because you pour $20,000 into your home doesn't mean that your house is worth $20,000 more, I had a guy who invested $100,000 in a $130,000 home after he lived there for four years. He put it on the market at $225,000. He was offered $170,000.  His mistake: spending…

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These numbers are based on a three month historical analysis that is updated on a weekly basis.

MLS Area 500 (Newcastle, Bellevue South of I-90 & Issaquah South of I-90)
Single Family Homes
Average Days on Market: 93 Days (No Change From Last Week)
Inventory of Active Listings: 603 (Up from 591 Last Week)
Inventory of Sold & Pending Listings: 225 (Up From 165 Last Week)
Average List Price: $888,917 (Up from $888,342 Last Week)
Average Sale Price: $751,967 (Up from $737,816 Last Week)
Median Sale Price: $623,000 (Up from $615,000 Last Week) (1/2 sell for more & 1/2 sell for less) Analysis of MLS Area 500 for Single Family Homes: This market has seen rate increases for three weeks in a row. However, the area still favor buyers over sellers.  A… Read Full Post

 

 

 

It's every home seller's dream -- a fast sale. In today's market, crossing the finish line first, fortunately, isn't a matter of luck. To win the home-sale race, you have to stay ahead of the pack. Price the house right, market the house competitively, and make sure the house is in move-in condition.
Here are 3 key ways you can get your home on the home sale fast track:
      1. Price To Sell
  Don't over price.
A nationwide survey of the National Association of Realtors found homes that sell within four weeks of the initial listing sold for close to the original asking price. Homes on the market for up to six months sold for about 7% less than the asking price. Listings that languished for more than six months sold for 15% less than… Read Full Post

Very few things in life are quite as exciting as buying your first home. It's part of the American dream. And although home prices keep rising, ownership is within the realm of possibility, even for those who don't make humongous salaries. Of course, the larger your down payment, the lower your monthly payments. And if you can come up with 20 percent, you avoid paying expensive private mortgage insurance (PMI).

Why you want to avoid paying PMI: PMI typically costs about 1/2 of 1 percent of the loan. For example, if you put down 10 percent on a $100,000 house ($10,000), your annual PMI costs will be $450. And, these payments are not tax deductible. If your down payment is less than 20 percent of the sale price, you must take out PMI.

Here are seven…

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During the moving process it’s very convenient to use credit for everything from your home loan to your furniture financing to those fluffy new towels. While you’re busy filling out application after application, inquiries are being added to your credit history! Too many inquiries can lower your credit score and prevent you from obtaining future credit at the best rates possible.

By following these three simple steps, both you and your credit report can emerge from the moving process in a healthy state:

Watch out for department store credit card offers

Department stores love to promote their store cards. Oftentimes, a discount is offered if you apply for a card at the time of purchase. Don’t forget--when you apply for their card an inquiry…

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If you’re considering buying a house that’s more than a few years old, there may be some hidden problems you can discover before you make a purchase offer. Although putting a professional inspection contingency in the contract will help protect you from surprises, doing your own inspection before making an offer could save you considerable time and money.
How can you tell if a property is worth buying? Here's how to look at the big picture -- for structural concerns, major repairs that are needed, appliances that have to be replaced.
Crawl The Walls
Start going to the right when you enter the house, and keep on following to the right. You will check each wall that way. Do the same on every floor. Look for settlement cracks, separating joints, defective…

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These numbers are based on a three month historical analysis that is updated on a weekly basis. MLS Area 500 (Newcastle, Bellevue South of I-90 & Issaquah South of I-90)
Single Family Homes
Average Days on Market: 93 Days (Down From 97 Last Week)
Inventory of Active Listings: 591 (Up from 562 Last Week)
Inventory of Sold & Pending Listings: 165 (Down From 253 Last Week)
47 listings are absorbed by demand each month on average. (Down From 51 Last Week)
11 Months Worth of Supply (Up from 8.5 Last Week)
Average List Price: $885,342 (Up from $883,481 Last Week)
Average Sale Price: $737,816 (Down from $747,990 Last Week)
Median Sale Price: $615,000 (Down from $625,000 Last Week) (1/2 sell for more & 1/2 sell for less) Analysis of MLS Area 500 for… Read Full Post