Held today, August 16th, 2008. The Garland Street Fair is an all-day family event featuring arts and crafts, games for kids, live music on 3 stages, classic cars, face paiting and food vendors.
The Garland Street Fair is a tribute to Judy Garland and The Wizard of Oz.
The bright yellow brick road bobs and weaves through the center of Garland street, leading visitors from one end of the Garland street fair to the other.
Today was HOT HOT HOT but thankfully a few booths offered shade, and a place to plop down for a few minutes and catch some time under a fan.
There weren't too many food vendors today, so Kim's Teryaki (always a Garland District treat) was packed with hungy and thirsty patrons who could catch a break from the sun.
Take a look at some pics:
Today at WalMart on North Division from 10am - 2pm.
After doing a little shopping with Olivia (while Rebecca slept after working an overnight shift at Sacred Heart), I popped over. I wouldn't have known about the free car seat safety check except that I drove right past it!
The volunteers were amazing. Several volunteers helped get me checked in, and a Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician performed the car seat check.
After filling out a brief survey and taking an optional safety quiz, a Safety Technician came over and got me started. At first she checked the belts and buckles with Olivia in the car seat, then had Olivia pop out. She and her assistant removed the car seat, recorded the model and year made and did a search for any possible past recall notices. Then, she showed me how to (properly) install the car seat back in our car.
The best part of the car seat check was the safety education. The questions they address are:
Is the car seat installed correctly?
Is the car sear the right size for your child?
Has your car seat been recalled.
Our technician talked to me about the benefits of newer car seat models. Ours car seat was made in 2002, which is on the cusp of what the safety experts would consider optimal. She also explained how different car seat models install differently in different cars depending on what safety features your car has. We also had a discussion about the increased safety of keeping Olivia rear-facing instead of forward-facing in her carseat.
The Spokane County Traffic Safety Commissions puts these car seat safety check workshops on about once per month.
Their last free check station was on Saturday, June 21, 2008 at AAA located at 1717 W. Fourth Avenue Spokane, WA.
Their next free check station is on Saturday, September 27th, 2008 at Dishman Dodge
I LOVE the South Perry District of Spokane, Wa, so I am very happy to be able to post this video of South Perry District on South Hill. Here is a Spokane real estate video tour project I've been working on for several months now (OK, several years actually).
I'm creating video tours of Spokane's neighborhoods, as a way quick way to hightlight what each neighborhood has to offer potenial buyer's who are considering investing in one of Spokane's homes for sale. I've been accumulating photos and videos over the past 24 - 36 months and am just starting to put them all together in video format.
What a blast, I hope I'm able to adequately capture the beauty of Spokane's neighborhoods and landmarks.
... continued... there is plenty more... Such as:
Thanks to those who helped with this project Links to the business and landmarks you see in the video
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Condos aren't common (yet) in Spokane real estate, condos for sale in Spokane represent less than 5% of all Spokane homes for sale.
However, for those that choose to purchase a condo as their Spokane real estate investment, this is an important topic.
A client of mine, who purchased a condo about a year ago, wrote to me today asking about limiting the percentage of condo units that can be used as rentals to 10%:
A neighbor of came by and had a petition to sign - that would limit the percentage of condos that could be rented - to ten percent of the total number of condos.
At first thought, it sounded good to me because it prevents the neighborhood from deteriorating with ever-increasing numbers of rental units. However, on second thought, I wondered: If that's such a good idea, why permit even ten percent? Why not vote to prohibit rentals altogether?
The rub, as I see it, is that after the first ten percent of owners eventually rent their condos out - then effectively virtually nobody else can do it regardless of unexpected circumstances or need. But, what would I do if I were transferred to another job location and forced to move - and found I could not sell at a reasonable price because of some downturn in the resale value of the condo?
I'm conflicted over the pros and cons of this issue - so I'm really curious about your take on it. I fully appreciate how dreadful it would be to have 1/2 the condos eventually turned into rentals. All the riff-raff would make the condo little different from living in an apartment - and that would obviously torpedo the resale value of the units.
On the other hand, I dislike the idea that the first 10% of condo owners to rent their units out, are free to do so if it suits them - but then the gangplank is pulled up and for all practical purposes nobody else can do it - even if there was an unexpected and important need....
What's your take on this interesting conundrum?
My Response: It's a good policy...
As far as a 10% cap on rentals, I tend to agree with it. My experience is that a 0% cap leads to lower property values and no cap leads to lower property values.
The reason 0% leads to lower property values is because you've decreased demand for the units by effectively cutting out any potential buyer who has either long-term or short-term plans of turning their new home into a rental. I actually had this happen. A client of mine wanted to purchase a condo and turn it into a rental in about 2 years when he purchased another home. We found a wonderful condo, quite a good value (cheap), and he really wanted to purchase it. I found out the association didn't allow ANY units to be rentals, so he ended up not putting an offer on the condo.
The reason no cap leads to lower property values is...
... continued... there is plenty more...
Such as: Why 0% cap leads to lower property demand Why no cap can lead to lower property values How to get to be in the 10% that CAN use their property as a rental
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WOW! I've sometimes wondered if "business ethics" is an oxymoron, and in this case, it is. If you've received an email from ePerks.com (similar to what I show here, I get these about 6 times per month), it would be in your best interest to Google ePerks and read up on their lawsuit against Vlad Zablotskyy from and decide if you REALLY want to do business with a company that employs the unimaginable business tactics they have. I was never inclined to, but now I know I absolutely will never do business with ePerks, period.
EXCERT FROM ePerks SPAM/OFFER: "I need to establish a relationship with a reliable buyers agent that my broker can work with to close transactions for our clients and who are open to paying us a 19% referral fee after closing a transaction with the buyers. This is not a lead generation program. I will not send you lists or ask you to cold call customers or charge you per-lead fees. Our clients come to you when they are prepared to buy or sell their home because they are using our program to get a significant amount of cash back from us when they close escrow with one of our partnered agents."
My understanding of the case is that ePerks.com CEO Ben Behrouzi originally hired blogger Vlad Zablotzkyy (from Go-Beyond-MLS.com) to write a paid review of ePerks.com. Comments from Vlad's post poured in with disgruntled, angry and flat out p***ed off agents and brokers who felt they had been duped by the company.
Needless to say, ePerks didn't expect the result and wanted the comments and negative press removed. The served Vlad with a Cease and Desist order to remove the comments. Around the same time as all of this, false child molestation charges started popping up on the web against Vlad. Vlad put together anecdotal evidence that these charges were coming directly from ePerks! Because of the anecdotal evidence he posted, Vlad is being sued by eperks. The complaint states that Vlad incorrectly accused ePerks of making the false child molestation claims against him. The truth is that he simply provided anecdotal evidence.
If I could I'd send FHA a little love note and flowers and take FHA out on a date. We'd go to the new Churchhill's steakhouse in town, then head for a nice stroll along Riverfront Park. I hope my wife doesn't mind, I've invited FHA to move in with us.
FHA-insured mortgages have been the saving grace in an otherwise bloodied lending landscape. My clients have benefited immensely from FHA-insured mortgages. Just this week a client of mine, about to close on a house using an FHA mortgage, wrote to me and said "Thankyou for all the small but significant things you do for us besides the big things... helping us with our investment planning (two homes)..."
See if this scenario works for you...
The Scenario:
My clients' credit score is marginal, right around 600
They only have about $2,000 in savings
My clients own a beautiful home in Spokane in a neighborhood they aren't particularly fond of
They are do-it-yourselfers, hooked on DIY-network and have done about all they can to their current home, it is absolutely darling
They'd like to move into and rehab a similar-sized home around Corbin Park, a neighborhood they've been eyeing for a few years
Although they don't like their neighborhood, my analysis shows their neighborhood will appreciate at an above average rate due to certain coming, positive changes in the neighborhood
The Solution: Turn their current home into a rental, purchase and move to the Corbin Park home
My team pre-approved them for an FHA mortgage, and we got them a wonderful Corbin Park house under contract
I photographed and built them a website to post their current home for rent (to protect my clients' privacy, I haven't linked to their website)
I taught them how to create Craigslist postings to drive traffice to their site
I set them up with a rental application form and prefilled rental agreements and instructions on how to find a tenant
Why FHA:
With their low credit score, they'd be paying about 1/2 % higher mortgage rate if they
... continued... there is plenty more...
Such as: How much my client was out-of-pocket in order to move into their new home (it closed today, actually. They have the keys and are already starting renovations) What happened to their loan when my client lost their job
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2 Agent Misunderstandings That Can Ruin Your Transaction
Two of the more common mistakes I see on real estate contracts is
The use of escrow "allowances" such as carpet, paint, roof or landscaping allowances for the buyer after closing
Incuding personal property in the real estate transaction.
The short answer is, neither of these is allowed by lenders.
Allowances / Holdbacks / Credits
The idea is, you'll buy my house from me, at closing I'll let the escrow keep $xxxx dollars from me for you to use on repairs to the house.
Just this morning I ran a search on the Spokane MLS for the word "allowance" and found 37 listings offering escrow allowances:
Buyer to receive $10k roofing allowance w/acceptable offer at closing.
$4,000 exterior paint allowance to buyer at closing.
Up to $5,000 driveway allowance, paid at funding.
With acceptable offer seller will offer $10,000 credit on HUD as a repair allowance to the buyers.
Seems fine and dandy, until you try and get your loan funded. The loan underwriter will shoot this down faster and harder than Dick Cheney taking aim on a quail hunt.
What we are NOT talking about is having the seller contribute cash toward the buyer's loan closing costs. This is a perfectly legitimate and accepted practice from the lender's eyes. What we are talking about is the seller leaving a credit, at escrow, for the buyer to make repairs to the house post-closing. Let's see what the loan underwriting guidelines say...
From CitiMortgage Conforming underwriting manual, Section 806
Escrows for repairs on existing properties are not permitted
No sugar-coating here. Note, escrows are allowed on new-contruction homes only.
From BB&T Mortgage Conforming Underwriting manual, Chapter 4:25
BB&T does not encourage escrowing for completion or repairs, However, if the improvements or repairs cannot be completed for valid reason, i.e., inclement weather or shortages of materials, funds may be escrowed
Seems fair, BB&T is willing to bend the rules for situations absolutely out of control of either buyer or seller.
Certain expenses... paid on behalf of the borrower, as well as other inducements to purchase, result in a dollar-for-dollar reduction to the sales price before applying the appropriate LTV ratio. These inducements include decorating allowances, repair allowances, moving costs, and other costs.
Aiy Aiy Captain! No-can-do!
Why would a lender care about this? If your house appraised for the sales price (or more), what does the lender care what the seller does with their money? If the seller was feeling generous and wanted to leave a $100,000 credit for improvement to the new buyer, why is it the lender's business?
... continued... there is plenty more...
Such as: A solution to leaving the buyer a credit at closing Problems related to purchasing personal property in addition to the house you have under contract A little wit and humor thrown in the mix (hey, why not?)
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Our Spokane real estate market according to the Spokane Association of Realtors
What the Spokane Association of Realtors says about Spokane Real Estate:
There were 489 sales reported in May compared to 441 reported in April. The average sales price was up 1.3% from April. May's average sales price was $206,284 while the median sales price was $183,000."
Again, here is what the MLS data tells us....
When we look at the Spokane MLS Real Estate statistics, what are we really looking at?
Everything. Every property type. Every city within the MLS. Which is why I don't like using the MLS stats. Generally, when we discuss the Spokane real estate market, I want to know about single-family homes in and around Spokane, not in Colville, Spangle, etc. Not condos. Not 120 acre parcels. Nothing wrong with these communities or property types, but I want to know about, analyze and discuss Spokane houses.
So, let's look at Spokane houses (a subset of the Spokane Real Estate MLS data), as of June 9th, 2008:
(The footnote states: Includes sales data from Spokane, Spokane Valley, Millwood, Veradale, Liberty Lake, Medical Lake & Airway Heights on Single Family Houses on <= 1 acre.)
... continued... there is plenty more...
Such as: 5 additional bar and chart graphs Analysis of the trends in the Spokane real estate market
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I just launched my blog for Spokane Real Estate at TheSpokaneDirt.com which I am rather proud of. I find creating useful content for others is quite a time consuming challenge, but once an article is written and out there, I am so proud and happy that I can contribute to other.
Many sale agreements require buyers to apply for a mortgage within a specific time period, say five business days after the contract is signed. This is a negotiable item, however, and can be any period agreeable to both parties. Of course, a stronger offer would have a shorter time period.
This is an important matter because if an application is not made in the agreed upon time period, then a buyer may be in violation of the sale agreement. A violation of the sale agreement, in turn, could be grounds to forfeit the earnest money deposit to the seller. Thus, buyers should go through the sale agreement with great care before signing to assure that all obligations are known and understood. Work with an appropriate professional such as a buyer's agent (if you are in the Spokane market, give me a call) when reviewing a sale agreement.
When you meet with a lender, be certain to obtain a letter stating that you met and showing when. Immediately provide this letter to the seller's broker in the manner required by the sale agreement.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
Allowances / Holdbacks / Credits
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