casey bui: Spring fishing season in Edmonds, WA - 05/05/12 12:57 PM
Spring fishing in and around Emdonds, WA is here!
You can now get your fill of halibut, lingcod, trout, spot shrimp and razor clams. Lingcod fishing opened on Tuesday and should provide healthy catches this season. In addition to areas just off the Edmonds Marina, you can try the green buoys off of Alki Point and Shilshole Marina and Elliott Bay in Seattle. Scatchet Head and Possession Bar off the south side of Whidbey Island are also known to be catch areas.
I had hoped to do some halibut fishing myself this weekend but was not able to get away. The … (1 comments)
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casey bui: Spring buying season is here! - 04/03/12 12:42 PM
Spring buying rush has begun...Happy spring to everyone! On the eve of Easter, it's clear that the spring buying spree for real estate has begun in earnest. From other real estate brokers, appraisers, inspectors and even some other buyers who aren't my clients (shame on them), word on the street is that the spring rush is on for homes that are in good shape, decent location and reasonably priced. I personally have written three offers that ended up being multiple offer scenarios recently. The lessons are twofold:
For Buyers: If you're seriously considering purchasing now, be ready to write up offers … (1 comments)
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casey bui: New refinance option for those who are underwater but still current on their payments! - 04/03/12 12:40 PM
New (and real) help for homeowners underwater but current on their loans...The Obama Administration introduced a new program to allow millions of borrowers to refinance their homes even if they are under water. Traditionally, homeowners aren't able to refi without at least some equity in the home... often 20%. This means if your home is worth $300,000 you'd only be able to refi up to $240,000 into a new loan (20% equity scenario).
This newest revision to the original Home Affordable Refinancing Program (HARP) holds the most promise for those who have been making payments regularly and on time … (1 comments)
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casey bui: Just for the halibut... - 06/03/11 06:12 PM
Is there anything much better than taking advantage of the natural beauty around us? I particularly love the fishing options we have here in the Northwest.
My dream vacation?
Catching the Edmonds ferry to Kingston on a sunny, calm day. A nice drive to the Olympica Peninsula. A week at the cabin just outside Port Angeles and fishing and enjoying the outdoors.
With sun, please.
Enjoy this first wonderful sunny weekend in 7 months folks!
CaseyEdmonds, WA
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casey bui: The hidden "costs" of refinancing - 06/02/11 04:08 PM
I read this very interesting article about some of the hidden costs of refinancing too close to a sale date. I thought re-posting it would be beneficial to my readers. Let me know what you think.
Obviously, this means that the decision on whether to refi or not will be on a case-by-case basis. Feel free to contact me if you have questions on whether it is the right decision for you.
Click here to read the article.
Casey
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casey bui: Proposed bill in Congress to raise FHA minimum down payment requirements - 05/26/11 04:42 PM
Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee have drafted legislation that would raise the minimum down payment for FHA mortgages to 5% and cut the maximum FHA loan amounts in many markets. The bill looks to be more of a philosophical response - rather than a fiscal one - to the question of how much the federal government should be involved in the housing market. Ironically, the program originated during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when the rates of foreclosures and defaults rose sharply, and the program was intended to provide lenders with sufficient insurance. So, its contraction in … (0 comments)
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casey bui: Edmonds, WA schools ratings - 05/17/11 02:56 PM
My wife and I are expecting our first son this summer which, naturally, prompted some questions about the schools in Edmonds, WA and how they rate. There are a plethora of websites and organizations out there that rate schools and school districts. Based on the ratings of one website (www.greatschools.org), I've compiled some very broad ratings. Not comprehensive at all, so forgive the brevity! It's just a website I happened upon that rates schools. Their criteria for rating schools is listed at the bottom of this blog post. I would love to hear your own thoughts and feedback of the schools … (0 comments)
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casey bui: Have you HEARD the housing price woes??? - 05/10/11 06:19 PM
Earlier this week I posted some new data that showed that 30% of home sellers lost money in March '11. The fine folks at NPR recently asked a Juliard opera performer to sing the home prices from 2001 through 2011. They charted national home prices from the well-known Case-Shiller Housing Price Index (see attached graph) into musical notes.
You can hear the NPR story here. Happy reading. Or listening.
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casey bui: Cheaper to buy vs. rent, says new report - 05/02/11 02:30 PM
It's an age-old question: is it better to rent or buy? The question has many facets and can be complex to answer depending on an individual's situation. But generalizations are sometimes useful to view market-wide trends.
I ran across a news story that reported that it is cheaper to buy than it is to rent in 39 of the 50 largest cities in the US. The report was issued by real estate site Trulia. Their rent vs. buy index compared the median list price with the median rent on two-bedroom apartments, condos and townhomes as of 4/1/11. "With home prices nearing … (2 comments)
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casey bui: FICO now to track "strategic foreclosures" - 04/27/11 03:55 PM
You've been paying your mortgage faithfully every month - even as your home's value has plummeted quicker than Charlie Sheen's image. You watch as your neighbors walk away from their mortgages and you wonder why you shouldn't do the same. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city index shows price declines in 19 cities from January to February. The index fell for the seventh straight month. Prices fell at a faster rate in 11 markets in February compared with the previous month. Have you ever thought you were so under water with your home that you might just simply walk away?
More and … (4 comments)
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casey bui: Edmonds budget shortfall may mean additional levies - 04/27/11 03:23 PM
It's no surprise that with the current economic straits our various communities are in that the city of Edmonds also has issues. One ongoing issue is the lack of funds to pave our streets. Here's a good overview of what city leaders are considering. Come August, it looks like we'll be asked to vote on at least one levy to raise more money for Edmonds street maintenance and possibly parks.
Casey
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casey bui: Edmonds inventory a mixed bag - 03/10/11 03:06 PM
In a previous post I mentioned that a new national economic study had suggested that the (national) housing market would lag the overall economic recovery. And while it's always nice to get the "big picture" sense of how we're doing, it's also very important to localized and focus on our own area - Edmonds, WA.
One of the metrics folks use to determine the health and type of market is by calculating the level of housing inventory. Typcially, when it is determined that there are 0-3 months worth of inventory, it's considered a seller's market. When ther are 3-6 months of … (0 comments)
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casey bui: Make sure you get all the tax deductions you deserve! - 03/04/11 04:22 PM
You may be leaving serious money on the table every year by failing to deduct certain allowable costs from your taxable income. And to add salt to that financial wound? Uncle Sam will never complain or let you know that you "forgot your wallet" as you leave.
Every dollar you fail to deduct can translate into as much as 50 cents in taxes that you may be unnecessarily paying.
And you don't even have to be a homeowner. For instance, renters may be able to deduct home offices on their taxes. If you are a homeowner, your home office, in the … (2 comments)
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casey bui: FHA may increase allowable closing cost credits - 03/04/11 01:23 AM
Here's some good news that should help make selling (and buying) a home a little easier:
Last year the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced that it intended to cut the maximum seller contributions from 6 percent to 3 percent for purchasers using FHA-insured mortgages. Seller concessions or contributions are oftentimes a critical component to FHA-financed transactions since many buyers need the seller credits to pay for closing costs. They make otherwise unaffordable deals affordable by allowing buyers to use their cash towards down payments and allowing sellers to pay closing costs.
FHA is now considering a more flexible approach that may … (3 comments)
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casey bui: "Built Green" home on cul-de-sac, greenbelt. Lake Stickney/S. Everett. $270,000 - 03/04/11 01:09 AM
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casey bui: New statistics fo Edmonds/Lynnwood/Mountlake Terrace housing - 11/02/10 03:32 PM
New stats came out this month that show our neck of the woods is still suffering from economic jet lag. For the Edmonds/Lynnwood/Mountlake Terrace neighborhoods, housing sales volumes dropped from 158 homes sold last September to 126 this September, for a drop of 20.3%. Year to date, though, we've actually sold more units than last year at the same time. But it might still be too optimistic to say we're out of the woods based just on that statistic alone. After all, the median price of $295,000 for Sept '10 is still 2.5% lower compared to last year ($310,000). Oh, and … (0 comments)
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casey bui: PMI Housing and Mortgage Market Review - 10/19/10 06:29 PM
Here are some statistics courtesy of PMI and the National Association of Realtors.
These housing and mortgage data may be a bit much but it gives you a good snapshot of what the national market looks like today.
You can follow this link for regional data.
CaseyEdmonds, WA
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casey bui: Realtor estate agent #10 most stressful job - 10/19/10 02:04 PM
According to CareerCast's 2010 list of most stressul jobs, real estate agents have cracked the top ten list at #10 (out of 100 that were rated).
If you're interested to see if your job is any more stressful, here's a link to the article.
Real estate agent came in No. 10 as most stressed occupations on a list of 100 jobs. Have you hugged your Realtor lately?
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casey bui: Economic update - 10/13/10 03:54 PM
This is just a quick update to let you all know how we're doing in our little corner of the world. I'll try and provide these updates monthly and make them super easy to read in 10 seconds via bullet points. Charts are courtesy of Bill Conerly.
Bottom line?
Big business if pretty confident right now but small business and consumers are not. The cost to borrow money is still ridiculously low. WA state poverty is lower than national average (thanks to a stronger state economy). Employment growth has actually been positive in Tri Cities area (thanks to federal money) … (4 comments)
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casey bui: Mortgages frozen around the country - 10/13/10 03:38 PM
You may have heard that mortgage lenders like Bank of America have started to freeze their foreclosure processes because of lax protocol. In most, if not all, of the cases uncovered thus far, it's likely that the borrower was indeed behind on payments. That's not the question at hand. The problem is that the lenders haven't bothered to follow their own rules on the process of getting to actual foreclosure. If borrowers are required to dot their i's and cross their t's, well it makes sense that the lenders should do the same.
But keep in mind that these lenders have … (3 comments)
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