Julie's Escrow Blog

Audio link:   http://www.esd.wa.gov/newsandinformation/releases/audio/index.php   Layoff-avoidance program saves jobs   OLYMPIA – More than 20,000 Washington workers got paychecks instead of pink slips in 2009 by participating in the state Employment Security Department’s Shared-Work Program. The...

Kris Wales gives sound advice! Just as we suspected would happen, FHA has now had some major changes and it is now going to cost you more out-of-pocket money to purchase a home.             New - Sellers concessions are limited to 3% of the purchase price.             New - Upfront mortgage insur...

Thank you Nestor and Katerina for this post.  Condominium closings are getting tougher to close by the day, as I point out in my earlier post regarding the new Mortgagee Letter 2009.The Unintended Consequences Of The HOA in Short Sales! We have a notice of expectations that all our Florida short ...

Fabulous Friday's song while you blog and get ready for your weekend is by Blind Melon and is called "Change".  This song applies as much today as it did when in came out in the early 90's.  I had not seen this version of it before today - I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Have a great weeken...

OLYMPIA – Jan. 21, 2010 – The Department of Revenue has published Tax Reference Manual 2010 on its web site. Last revised in 2007, the 225-page report provides an overview of Washington’s tax system and summarizes state and local taxes.  It cites their purpose, history, rate changes, and revenue ...

The South Sound Regional Escrow Association hosted an LPO clock hour last night at the LaQuinta Inn in Tacoma with Ben Comilang from Golf Savings Bank being our speaker. Ben covered different issues that the real estate market has been faced with including foreclosures and short sales and also ta...

The new Safety Cameras have "caught" me making a right turn on a red light!Imagine my surprise when I opened up an envelope from the Federal Way Police Department to find a "COURTESY WARNING NOTICE" complete with photographs of my "infraction".   I thought they were going to ask for a donation, b...

On December 16th, I blogged about my girlfriend, Fayes granddaughter, Macey who is battling cancer for the third time and she is only 19.  Macey was standing by for her bonemarrow transplant when she got a virus that shut down her kidneys, then her liver went and then most of her intestines. Mace...

Rick Davidson, President and COO of Coldwell Banker Commercial was our keynote speaker at todays Federal Way Chamber of Commerce breakfast at The Commons. He proved to be a good speaker with all of the statistics that led us down the road that we find ourselves on right now.  Here are some highli...

Fabulous Friday's song while you blog and get ready for your weekend.  Today's song is by Jonathan Edwards and it's called "The Shanty".  I wonder how many of you know this song?  Just curious.  This song is played on my radio station every Friday at 5 and I had no idea that Jonathan Edward wrote...