This month's Women's Resource Networking Group in Tacoma, WA were hosted by the Dragon Boat Association.  Despite the unseasonable thunderstorm, this fearless group of women braved lightening and rain to paddle together...20 to a boat.  We were challenged to follow the leaders in the front of the boat, trust the person steering and directing us from the back of the boat, and paddle in unison in order to reach our destination quickly and with purpose.  What a fitting metaphor for what it takes to be successful in business in today's economic climate!  Plus, paddling a dragon boat has been on my mom's bucket list for a long time, so it was truly awesome to do this together.  Mom and I work together at Keller Williams in Tacoma, so if you need Realtors who can work as a team to accomplish great results, give us a call!  Photos of the Dragon Boat Event are posted at Flickr - here's the link:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/kwtheresa/sets/72157621944807509/

The Homeownership Prevention Foundation, a non-profit, provides answers and offers comprehensive telephone counseling to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.  Options can range from loan modifications to short sales or other methods of debt relief.  Check out their website at www.995hope.com and view the new video on Foreclosure Scams, which outlines several things homeowners in trouble should be aware of. If you or someone you know needs help this would be an excellent resource to share with them - their number is 888-995-HOPE.  I am committed to helping homeowners in the Pierce County, WA area avoid foreclosure.  You can reach me at 253-376-4717.

Home sales warming up

C.R. ROBERTS; The News Tribune
More home sales closed in Pierce County in July than in any month since August 2007.

Nearly 21 percent more sales - of single-family homes and condominiums - were pending than were pending a year ago.

"I'm a happy camper at the moment," said Windermere Real Estate broker and Northwest Multiple Listing Service director Dick Beeson on Wednesday.  "It's good news on a lot of levels," he said.

Northwest Multiple Listing Service on Wednesday released its monthly data snapshot of residential real estate activity in the state.

In Pierce County in July, 903 sales were closed - compared with 747 in June and 796 in July 2008. Not since August 2007, when 1,120 deals were closed, have so many transactions been completed.

MLS also reported that 1,251 sales were pending in Pierce County in July, compared with 1,036 a year before.

The median sales price for closed sales was $228,500, compared with $255,000 in July 2008. Median means half of the homes sold were priced above and half were priced below.

In Thurston County in July, 284 sales closed, compared with 322 in July 2008. Statewide, 5,527 sales closed in July - against 5,271 a year before.

"It tells me, number one, that buyers are getting smarter, they're taking action, they're getting off the fence," Beeson said. "Number two, the median price has stabilized. We've literally stayed the same. With buyer demand going up, and inventory going down, we're getting back to a near-normal market."

The median home price in Pierce County in June was $230,000.

Theresa Bastian, a Tacoma Realtor and principal at Keller Williams, said Wednesday, "I'm cautiously optimistic. I think we're seeing several things going on in the market right now."

Bastian noted that her office is seeing bank-owned properties "being aggressively priced. People are falling in love with a good deal. Yes, it's a wonderful time to be a first-time buyer, but this isn't helping the move-up buyers. It's not helping people sell their homes and move up."

A major part of the apparent rebound comes from activity in the lower tier of homes for sale, Beeson said.

"What's being sold is mainly $250,000 or less," he said. "It's a strong market. I'd say that the higher end, $450,000 and up, and the midrange, $300,000 to $400,000, are still twelve months away. There will be sales made, but I think it's still soft."

He noted that there are 489 homes for sale in Pierce County priced at $750,000 and above.

"We still see a lot of activity in the lower end," said Bastian. "Which is wonderful - it's better than no activity."

She said she had seen other data - which calculate active listings in relation to pending sales - that indicate a property's likelihood of selling. These data show a home in the Gig Harbor area, placed on the market, had a 13.2 percent chance of selling earlier this summer. A home in the southeast of Tacoma had a 37.8 percent chance, and in Spanaway a 32.1 percent chance.

The number of closed sales of condominiums in Pierce County in July stood at 65, according to MLS, compared with 116 a year before. The median price of a condominium, $196,990, was down 9 percent from $216,475 in July 2008.

C.R. Roberts: 253-597-8535

c.r.roberts@thenewstribune.com

Keller Williams scored highest on the customer-service rankings among home buyers, and Coldwell Banker ranked first among home sellers in the annual J.D Power and Associates 2009 Home Buyer/Seller study.

The study measures customer satisfaction with the largest national real estate companies. The most significant factor is the buyer/seller experience with the practitioner. Other factors include overall experience with the office and satisfaction with special services offered, like referrals to inspectors and lawyers. Home sellers also rate marketing.

The 2009 Home Buyer/Seller Study includes more than 3,100 evaluations from 2,801 respondents who bought or sold a home between April 2007 and June 2008.

Among the related findings:

• Home sellers report that, on average, 3.2 open houses were conducted for their property in 2009, compared with 4.5 in 2008.
• Approximately 64 percent of home sellers used a Web site listing to market their home in 2009, up from 61 percent in 2008.

Here are the home buyer rankings on a 1,000-point scale. (The home buyer average score was 791.)

• Keller Williams, 806
• Coldwell Banker, 801
• RE/MAX, 798
• Century 21, 795
• Prudential, 781
• ERA, 744
• GMAC, 731

Here are the home seller rankings on a 1,000-point scale. (The home seller average score was 786.)

• Coldwell Banker, 815
• Keller Williams, 801
• RE/MAX, 784
• Century 21, 770
• Prudential, 753

(NOTE: ERA and GMAC were included in the study but not ranked due to a small sample size.)

Source: J.D. Power and Associates (07/30/2009)

Sunday was our first sampling for the Pierce County Lakes Algae Watch Project. I volunteer with this project in order to protect the safety and usability of the lake my family lives on - Lake Steilacoom in Lakewood, WA - and also to show my kids that science is useful and fun.  I never thought that when I was growing up! 

On Sunday after dinner we laid out all the sampling equipment provided by the Pierce County Health Department, reviewed the instructions, packed everything into the van and drove to the Edgewater Park boat launch.  Edgewater Park on Lake Steilacoom is the official water sampling spot for the project. 

My son Lukas helped me read the water temperature from the thermometer and Sophia was in charge of stacking the water sample bottles back into the cooler once they were filled.  We all worked together to complete the forms describing the lake usage, water color, and particle count.

It was interesting to be part of the data collection for this experiment and the kids took it quite seriously - probably because it was 'real'. Of course we don't know how this water quality sample will fit in with the other samples taken from other lakes across Pierce County, WA, but we hope this does a small but useful part in helping identify and prevent the toxic algae blooms that Lake Steilacoom and other Pierce County lakes occasionally experience.  We will continue to sample the water every two weeks throughout the summer.

If you want to remain updated on the activities of the Toxic Algae Watch Project, you can check back here of follow me on Twitter.

It's been a busy spring for Theresa Bastian and The Bastian Team!  You may have seen the News Tribune article  in which Theresa was interviewed to gain deeper understanding of our local market statistics, especially the 14% drop in housing prices last month.  But you might have missed the Seattle Times interviewing Theresa onsite at the foreclosure auction  and touring a bank owned home.  

Bottom line:  it's a smart time to invest, and we have the skill to assess where the best opportunities  are and to put a strong plan together to get you the return you are looking for.   

I invite you to attend our Real Estate Investor Seminar  to identify your personal investment goals.

Pierce County:  Wed. May 13^th 6-8 pm at Keller Williams Tacoma - 5825 Tacoma Mall Blvd, Tacoma WA 98409

Thurston County: Tue. May 19^th 6-8 pm at Keller Williams Olympia  - 1217 Cooper Pt. Rd, Olympia WA

Please reply to this email or call 253-376-4717 to RSVP or ask questions.  I look forward to seeing you!

Pierce County's median home price fell to $225,000 in April, a 14.5 percent decrease when compared to a year ago, according to figures released Tuesday by the Northwest Multiple Listings Service.

That's one of the largest year-over-year drops the county's seen since the real estate market started its downward march almost two years ago.

The median home price in March was $228,375. The median home price in April 2008 was $263,051.

Local real estate agents attribute the price decline to a number of factors.  Foreclosures and short sales - homes being sold for less than is owed on the loan - are taking their toll on the market.

And many of the homes that are selling are in the lower prices ranges - often $200,000 or less - as first-time home buyers take advantage of low interest rates and tax credits, said Theresa Bastian, operating partner with Keller Williams Realty Tacoma.

"We're still seeing home buyers almost always offering less than the asking price," she said.

Homes in Pierce County were spending an average of 131 days on the market, according to Al Morken, a local real estate analyst. That's a 16 percent increase from last year at this time.

Steve Ketz knows first hand that it's a tough time to sell. He's had his Northeast Tacoma home plus two adjoining lots on the market since September.  He's received two offers on the house, now listed at $249,000. The most recent offer fell through after the buyer's financing was declined. Ketz turned down a previous offer made last fall.  "I might look at it again today," he said. "Six months ago I thought it was too low, but the market has not improved -- in fact I think it has declined."

There are a few bright spots: The area's active listings dipped by 26 percent to 1,556 homes and condos currently for sale. Much of the decrease was due to a slowing of new listings.  A shrinking inventory can help push home prices back up and the supply begins to better match the demand.

Pending sales - homes where offers had been made, but the sales had not closed - were also up 18.9 percent. The number of closed sales for the month was down compared to April 2008.

The uptick in pending sales reflects increased buyer activity, though some of that growth might be attributed to a number of buyers who are simply waiting for short sales to come through, Bastian said.

Rhonda Lien, 56, recalled helping her son buy a home in the Puget Sound area about four years ago when homes often had multiple offers and buyers found themselves paying above the asking price.  Lien's looking for a home again, this for herself and her husband, who are moving back to the Tacoma-area from Wisconsin.  "That was crazy," she said. "This feels more rational."

Several weeks ago the REO Division of Keller Williams Tacoma arranged a trip to the Pierce County Foreclosure Auction.  A group of agents and s few investor clients met at the Keller Williams office in Tacoma to review the basic procedures and terminology of what goes on at the weekly foreclosure auction.  Basically, buyers must pay cash at the auction and purchase the properties without inspections, etc - so even though the deals are often very good, only 5-10% of the homes actually sell at auction.  Doug Arbogast, Keller Williams Tacoma agent and long time foreclosure auction specialist, took time in between the auctions he was involved in to explain what we were observing.  This way we all learned to identify strategies to assist investors and other clients for whom buying at the foreclosure acution makes good sense. In order to get a sense of the 'life cycle' of a home that has been foreclosed on, we then toured several bank owned homes in Tacoma.  A reporter from the Seattle Times interviewed us and created a video that features my commentary and several of our Keller Williams Tacoma agents, and the listings of REO listing agent David Hitchcock.  I am thrilled that the efforts of our agents who are attacking the Market of the Moment received htis type of media attention.  Please forward this Seattle Times article and video to your sphere, and I invite any Realtors in Pierce County who want to really understand the REO market to attend our REO Division meetings every Friday from 12-1 at Keller Williams Tacoma.