***Back on Market! Buyer is no longer moving to WA...their loss is your gain, call us today for a tour!*** "Backdeck Fires, Hot Tubbing, a Boat Launch around the corner...AND on One Acre in Olympia? 2426 SF Rambler Equipped for Entertaining!" #olyhomes  4935 Meridian Rd NE, Olympia WA:  http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4935-Meridian-Rd-NE-Olympia-WA-98516/49356650_zpid/ 08/03/2015

Here is the Thurston County WA real estate market update for June 2015.               Is this positive trend sustainable? With all the good real estate news, I’m frequently asked whether this run is sustainable.  While I wish I could predict the future, what I can say is there are fundamental differences between this current trend and the last run-up that resulted in an unprecedented downturn.FIRST—lenders are not giving loans to unqualified buyers.  The last upward trend had loans given to people who could not afford them.  That led to an artificial boost in demand, which blasted the market to unsustainable heights.  Today, lenders are required to confirm information about a buyer’s ability to repay a loan—obviously a welcomed return to common sense.SECOND—large national builders rushe... 07/31/2015

Here is the Delphi / Black Hills WA real estate update for June 2015. Why live in the Delphi / Black Hills area?Delphi / Black Hills residents are in an area of homes on larger parcels of land. Buyers can find their coveted horse properties here! There are also some high-end neighborhoods including Field of Dreams and Cougar Ridge as well as the neighborhoods of Alpine Hills, Black Lake, Littlerock, Mud Bay, and Waddell Creek. This area also includes part of the Capitol State Forest. Schools: Many residents in this area are in the Tumwater School District. Types of Homes: There are a wide variety of choices between homes on a golf course, horse properties and larger acreage homes with mountain views. Buyers can also find unique, custom-built homes along with manufactured homes and homes... 07/15/2015

Here is the Summit Lake / Steamboat Island WA real estate market update for June 2015. Why live in Summit Lake / Steamboat Island areas?Northwest Thurston County not only features the major areas of Summit Lake and Steamboat Island but also Carlyon Beach, Gravelly Beach, Hunter Point, Madrona Beach, and Oyster Bay.For water views and beach access on a budget (at least less expensive than West Olympia!), you'll want to check out the Northwest section of Thurston County. People may look at a map and think it is too far from Olympia, and that's just not the case. You can get into town in about 10-15 minutes yet you feel far and isolated.Home buyers can not only find beach properties but also horse properties in this area of Thurston County. Mini-farms are sprinkled throughout, and resident... 07/14/2015

Here is the West Olympia WA real estate market update for June 2015. Why live in West Olympia?West Olympians love their part of town! There is The Evergreen State College and South Puget Sound Community College, Capitol Medical Center and the shopping mall to name a few amenities. The main north-south road, Cooper Point Road NW, leads to the homes with water views of either Eld Inlet to the west or Budd Inlet to the east. Investors can find opportunities with rental properties near The Evergreen State College while longtime, homesteaders enjoy their dream home in West Olympia and tend to stay put! Schools: Many residents are in the Olympia School District. Types of homes: West Olympia offers some residents with desirable inlet water views, new construction and vintage homes. Neighborhoo... 07/13/2015

7125 Kellogg Dr Ne Olympia, WA 98516 7125 Kellogg Dr Ne Amazing custom home on over 1 acre with year-round creek. There is plenty of space for everyone & everything: Spacious rooms, lots of storage & RV parking. Interior Features: Laundry Room, Den/Office, Dining Room, Central Air, Pantry, Walk-In Closet, Fireplace, Hardwood Floors, Main Floor Bathroom, Appliances, Forced Air. Exterior Features: View, Balcony, Deck/Patio, Landscaping, Shed/Barn. Price: $425,000 Type: Single Family Residential for Sale Floors: Multiple Parking/Garage: 2 Bedrooms: 3 Baths:2 Half Baths:1 Square Feet: 2813 Year Built: 1978 MLS #: 816545   www.sandynelsonrealestate.com/listings/889E7CDA-B946-4A82-B8FFD55FAEA360F5.shtml   For more information contact: Sandy Nelson Realtor®, ASP, GRI, VAMRES, SRESRiley Jackso... 07/13/2015

5312 Ashley Dr Ne Olympia, WA 98506 5312 Ashley Dr Ne Rare opportunity to own an impeccably maintained and updated Ron Ash-built rambler, located in the desirable Springwood community in Olympia. Interior Features: Family Room, Walk-In Closet, Appliances, Pantry, Dining Room, Central Air, Main Floor Bedroom, Disability Features, Fireplace, Hardwood Floors, Main Floor Bathroom, Laundry Room, Forced Air. Exterior Features: Shed/Barn, Fenced Yard, Deck/Patio, Landscaping. Price: $275,000 Type: Single Family Residential for Sale Floors: Single Parking/Garage: 2 Bedrooms: 3 Baths:1.75 Square Feet: 1759 Year Built: 1992 MLS #: 812034   www.sandynelsonrealestate.com/listings/6577E05A-99CD-55CA-65585F9B847B75F3.shtml   For more information contact: Sandy Nelson Realtor®, ASP, GRI, VAMRES, SRES... 07/06/2015

Bonfires, Hot Tubbing, a Boat Launch down the street AND on One Full Acre??? Want to see more? http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4935-Meridian-Rd-NE-Olympia-WA-98516/49356650_zpid/  06/13/2015

Realtors, being a social bunch, wouldn't pass up the chance to re-live some of their youth by playing in the annual Thurston County, WA Realtor's Softball Tournament.  However most of us are not in our youth anymore.  But that doesn't stop us.  Our Coldwell Banker team will go up against the other local brokerages in town later this summer.  We don't exactly have the best record but that's because we are too busy selling homes and dominating Thurston County to practice our game!   But every year, we also blame this one other local brokerage in town that we swear brings in ringers. And these "ringers" are in their 20s and I doubt they are even Realtors.  They don't have that exhausted look to them like a failed short-sale can do to a Realtor. I am old enough and smart enough not to parti... 06/04/2015

How to Win a Real Estate Bidding War without Being the Highest BidderWith the real estate market in the Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater, WA areas shifting to a seller’s market, buyers are finding themselves in a bidding war.  But buyers can win without being the highest bidder and here are the two key points buyers should know when preparing an offer: Understand the Seller’s Wants and Needs Understand What Your Competition is Doing  Sellers want to be guaranteed the buyer will go through with the purchase.Buyers must get approved by a local, reputable lender.  The key words to point out here are “approved,” “local,” and “reputable.”  Approved means handing over to your lender all your financial statements, tax returns, pay stubs and making an application for a loan.  A quick phone call tell... 05/20/2015

Olympia real estate news is fairly predictable—at least compared with some of the stories that filter in from the rest of the world. Here in Olympia, for instance, wherever a new home is being built, you’re likely to see familiar evidence like stacks of lumber and drywall, cartons of nail gun ammo, sacks of cement, and workmen hustling around as they put everything together. Nary a printer in sight.Not so in China. According to The Washington Post, the real estate news includes an item about an innovation from Asia. “Innovation” is perhaps a bit of an understatement, because the gist of the story was that in April a year ago, a Chinese concern built 10 houses in one day using a 3-D printer. Despite what you may be thinking, this item did not have an April 1 dateline.The 3-D printers we’... 05/19/2015

Olympia multi-family housing is the umbrella term covering all the various kinds of residences that shelter more than one family. Everything from duplexes and homes with guest cottages to apartment complexes fall into the category, which is most often thought of in terms of the solid investment potential it represents.While Olympia multi-family housing offers all of the same investment potential and more (the economies of scale can give an apartment building listing, for instance, many times the profit potential of a single family rental), a multi-family residence can also be the pathway to homeownership for a first-time home buyer. You might not think so, but when a prospective buyer will also be resident, standard financing guidelines—even for FHA loans—may apply. The lending particul... 05/18/2015

Whenever we think of how our Olympia home staging professionals approach their craft, it’s all the positives that come to mind—how they transform a ho-hum living room into a welcoming showplace; a run-of-the-mill front porch into a curb appeal magnet, etc. That is true, but equally important are the negatives they address. Stagers locate and eliminate elements that detract.This is all by way of pointing out that another element of the Olympia real estate industry—the home inspection part—provides an extremely positive contribution by zeroing in on negatives. It’s pretty darned important that a Olympia home inspection do just that!Picture this: it’s just under a year since you bought your home, but what started out as a dream home is beginning to take on aspects of a nightmare. Cracks ha... 05/17/2015

#CONGRATS  & #ThankYou  to Rikki & Jessica!  Your Stellar Recommendation of our Team is so appreciated, we are absolutely thrilled to have been a part of your 1st Home Purchase!!! Reviews & Past Sales can be seen at: http://www.quallsrealestate.com/cp/reviews/ or on #Trulia   #Zillow   #Redfin (Quincy Qualls - Qualls Team)#weloveourclients   #referrals   #recommendations   #realestate   #olympiahomes  #laceyhomes   #quallsteam   #quallsrealestate   05/13/2015

They really ought to teach this stuff in school: real-life, day-to-day economics. Olympia youngsters out on their own for the first time are usually left to trial and error when it comes to mastering things like how to lay out a personal budget or use credit advantageously. Or even how to go about selecting a bank, or opening a checking account…So when it comes to buying their first Olympia home, it’s very common for newcomers to put off confronting the whole daunting issue. When you’re still new to your career, tackling a purchase involving years’ worth of income channeled through a maze of unfamiliar procedures is easy to put off. But when the delay stretches well past the point in their financial lives when it would be clearly advantageous to own rather than to continue renting, it’s... 05/13/2015

It was only a few years ago that the last thing a prospective Olympia home buyer had to worry about was being outbid. Those were the days when the bottom seemed to be falling out of the Olympia real estate market. Anyone brave enough to be looking to buy at a time when the real estate market was frightening most folks away was not only plucky—they were also alone. Sellers who had to move no matter what found themselves forced to accept offers that they knew were well below their property’s true utilitarian value. The only saving grace was that those same sellers could turn around and buy in their new community at the same kind of crazy discount. That, as they say, was then—and this is now. As the real estate market in Olympia continues to revive, sellers’ mindsets have returned to norma... 05/10/2015

How easy or hard it is for Olympia home buyers to secure a mortgage with attractive terms is a key element in the local real estate picture. Olympia mortgage credit provides the oil that that keeps residential home sales moving smoothly; that, or it becomes a damper (or even something close to an emergency brake!).The Olympia mortgage credit situation is largely a reflection of what’s going on in the greater financial world, where the corporate banking interests, world economic conditions, and political realities converge. It is in that greater arena where the counterproductive effects of tightening mortgage credit availability have been acknowledged for some time. At first, it seemed to be little more than talk, but recently, changes have been stirring. The resulting tinkering seems to... 05/08/2015

The real estate market has improved in Olympia WA.  We were in a downward spiral for five years, and we’ve been slowly yet steadily improving over the last two years.  We are now at a point in our market where sellers are able to sell their homes for a profit, there are fewer short-sales depressing the market, and buyers have strong buying power with the low interest rates.  You’d think everyone would be happy, right? Why Buyers are UnhappyNope, no negotiations here. Buyers are encountering sellers who are not willing to accept their low offers and who are not willing to pay for the buyer’s closing costs.  Buyers are shocked when the seller counters their offer, or, *gasp,* rejects their offer.  Buyers haven’t adjusted their tactics to making an offer in an improved market.  (This is a ... 05/06/2015

It does seem that whenever a story about some faraway homeowners association finds its way into Olympia newspapers, nearly always it’s because something has gone awry. Either there’s an ongoing dispute about a flag display (“Indiana Couple Violate Rules for Flying U.S. Flag”), a fencing disagreement (“Border Feud is Childish and Dangerous”), or something else to catch readers’ eyes. The pettier, the better (“North Carolina Man in Dispute over Pansies Planted in Common Area”). Why does this hit the local news? Let’s face it: it is sort of fun to read about!The downside is that when those instances are all we hear about, it can lead Olympia buyers to believe they should stay away from properties with HOAs when they are buying a home. But the fact is, town homeowners associations exist to ... 05/06/2015

When you do a web search for “average house price in Olympia,” you come up with a lot of good, not-so-good, and just plain lame information. If you were looking for a general idea of what the current market says that homes like yours in your neighborhood are worth, the results are likely to be more amusing than anything else. You always come up with the national sites’ average listing price for homes for sale in the Olympia area. Depending upon how recently their data engine found and tossed out duplicates and errors, and that can be an interesting number. You will also get state real estate trends, a list of average sold prices (this one seems to be subject to error); an instant, somewhat dubious calculation for the average price per square foot of a house in Olympia; and ads. Lots and... 05/04/2015