Annette Sievert's Real Estate Blog

A few days a go I saw another expired listing that was formerly listed with a company from out of the area, aka 1.5hrs away. The owner "owed the broker a favor" and the broker was willing to take a much lower commission. So what did this owner gain? Nothing. The house is not sold, the quality of ...

Being from another country it took me a while to understand title insurance. In Germany there is a "Ground Book" (in former times literally huge books in every community), it contains the chain of title and and undeniable right of the current owner to the property. When the Wall fell there were o...

Looking for input: is there an expert who can, like an inspector, show a home owner what to do to make the house more earthquake proof?  

A lot of agents are a bit timid when they are meeting a buyer for the first time to ask for their qualifications / funds / pre approval... Especially when you have somebody who is looking upwards of 800K. When they say they have that kind of cash, who are we to doubt that? The air of lots of cash...

Met a client in the supermarket yesterday. She told me about a stager who had moved here from CA and who would like to work. If that lady could cotact me. Sure. I am working with a great stager but it is always good to have a second address. Back home, the recommended stager called me. I asked he...

Philomath           Price Range Active Listings as of 2/20/2011 Sold Listings Last 6 Mos. Average Sold Per Month Months of Inventory Av. Days on Market Solds $0 - $99,999 * 3 0.50 * 147 $100,000 - $149,999 7 2 0.33 21.00 348 $150,000 - $199,999  4 7 1.17 3.43 99 $200,000 - $249,999 4 3 0.50 8.00...

Albany (Linn County)         Price Range Active Listings as of 2/20/2011 Sold Listings Last 6 Months Average Sold Per Month Months of Inventory Av. Days on Market Solds $0 - $99,999 24 37 6.17 3.89 119 $100,000 - $149,999 69 61 10.17 6.79 148 $150,000 - $199,999  73 73 12.17 6.00 139 $200,000 - ...

Corvallis           Price Range Active Listings as of 2/20/2011 Sold Listings Last 6 Mos. Average Sold Per Month Months of Inventory Av. Days on Market Solds $0 - $99,999 2 * * * * $100,000 - $149,999 5 9 1.50 3.33 191 $150,000 - $199,999  21 29 4.83 4.34 129 $200,000 - $249,999 43 47 7.83 5.49 ...

The plan to seriously curb and reform Freddie and Fannie aka phasing them out (http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/10/real_estate/mortgages_break_barrier/?iid=MPM) will lead to a lot of things but two are standing out: 30 yr mortgages will in my opinion become rarer, and the downpayment hurdle will beco...

I often google my listings and see if the data out there is correct. More often than not is incorrect. A price change is ignored by Zillow for days (they say they get their feed form Listhub/Coldwell Banker.com but if it is correct there how often does Zillow update??). I took over a listing in D...