GREETINGS from the great northwest! (Priest lake Pictured) I am a lifelong resident of Spokane, Wa. and if you have never visited the inland northwest...well you may want to consider it. The real estate market here is steady, stable, and still doing well all things considered. In 2007 we had aproximatley an 8% increase in appriciation overall, and we are predicted to have an increase of somewhere around 4.2% this year. Even more enticing than the market here, is the quality of LIFE! There is so much to do in the greater Spokane area, especially if you love the outdoors. We have DOZENS of lakes within a 20-90 minute drive from downtown. I mean GREAT FISHING, boating,hiking, and so much more. These lakes provide an incredible day trip for those of us who live here, or if you are fortunat... 03/24/2008

Hello Everyone,OK, we have all seen the signs stapled to the side of the light poles, "We Buy Houses Cash" No Equity, Blah, blah, blah. I have had some of my clients call these numbers and now just today, I got a postcard in the mail from a guy who says 'he is not a realtor' and he does not require a commission. The problem is people fall for things because they want to believe it's this great deal that just fell in their lap. Guess what, The cheap orange sign that is written with the sharpie is not the answer to your woes. Most of these wannabe investors and late night infomercial watchers just want to offer you less than the home is worth and prey on the desperate to pick up great deals they can make money on by turning around and selling just like you were.But what about the 7 day cl... 03/24/2008

If you are looking to purchase a home in Spokane or in the state of Washington you might look at getting a Buyers Rebate.  Get up to a 2% rebate when you buy a home using The Rebate Realtor.  What that means is that if you purchase a $200,000 home in Spokane, Washington you could get up to $4,000 back.  The Rebate Realtor is the only Realtor in Spokane that is offering a 2% rebate.Mel MillerThe Rebate RealtorRealteam Real Estate 03/21/2008

  Where do I get the scoop on real estate in my area?Why, at www.SarahSpokane.com !!!  With the introduction of the internet to the real estate market, buyers and sellers now have a much more extensive line of information available to them. With this expansion, Real Estate Agents have also exponentially expanded the information systems available to them in order to keep track of market happenings. Using what is commonly known as a Multiple Listing Service, agents can provide a glimpse of your local marketplace with great efficiency.  We have a great site full of information!  www.SarahSpokane.com   Check it out! 03/20/2008

   How do Pre-Qualification, Pre-Approval and Loan Commitment differ?Any individual can be pre-qualified by a lender, by a Real Estate Agent, or by themselves. This simply means that someone has taken a quick look at your finances and plugged them into a debt-to-income ratio formula. This type of qualification gives a very general and dirty look at what an individual can afford. It can give an interest rate and help to determine monthly payments.Pre-approval designates when a lender has taken a look at both your credit report and your income. They then tell you the maximum loan they will give you, and what programs you will qualify for. An interest rate might be locked in at this point. After pre-approval, an individual can have confidence about their buying power, but the credit report... 03/20/2008

   How do Bank Loan Officers and Mortgage Brokers differ?Bank Loan Officers are representative of one lender, and work to provide you with a product that suits your individual needs. Should your application and personal credit be approved, the lender moves to the property purchase transaction.Mortgage brokers are considered more as freelance agents, as the provide links between dozens, sometimes hundreds of lenders and an invidual. They are paid a fee to bring these two parties together. They analyze a person's credit to determine which lender is best for that individual.Sometimes there are few differences from the individual perspectives when considering local lenders. Some mortgage brokers choose out of town lenders who may not fully comprehend local situations and market conditions, ... 03/20/2008

   As a buyer in Spokane, where do I start? If you are completely unfamiliar with the purchasing of real estate in the Spokane area, a conversation with me, or one of our buyer specialists  would be wise. The market here has changed and I am happy to say...YOU'VE GOT THE POWER!!!  This discussion should not be concerning whether we should represent you, but should give you an overview of the process, as well as the current market situation in this area. Any information you give us will be helpful in determining what we can provide you versus what you are looking for, but it is up to you how much you provide us with.  It will be the beginning of a wonderful adventure.Give us a call...we'd love to help you  :)  Have a great day and we look forward to meeting you soon! 03/20/2008

  How long will it take for my property to sell?There are three main variables which impact on how long your home remains on the market in the Spokane Area.Price of the House Condition of the House Current Market Conditions Sellers can impact upon the first two of these variables. A well-maintained home with a realistically determined price will sell much more quickly, even in a slow market. Your Real Estate Agent will be able to tell you more about the current market condtions in relation to these other variables. I would love to meet with you (Starbucks is my second home) and have a cozy chat about this in detail  :)  Give me a call!  03/20/2008

  How do I help improve buyer perceptions of my property?Every buyer comes into a home with two buckets...a "yes" bucket and a "no" bucket.  My job is to fill the "yes" bucket to full capacity so your home stands out as THE ONE.  I can not controll the "no" bucket to some degree (ex. couple fighting on the way to the showing, spilled coffee in lap and was bit by a spider on the way over), but I can make sure I have marketed amazingly, helped you to price the property right, and have encouraged you to stage your beautiful home to perfection  :)While each buyer will carry different preconceptions about real estate to your property, there are some commonly accepted notions which tend to either attract or drive customers away. These can be summarized in a list of "Do's and Dont's" when prep... 03/20/2008

 How do I decide on a price?Price is one of the obvious factors that help to sell your property. While appraisals give a concrete justification to a maximum number, appraisals sometimes fail to compensate for the entire market valuen of a property.A good first step in determining the overally value of your home is to have a discussion with several Real-Estate Agents to develope a general consensus on the market value. Because opinions can vary between different agents, it is important consider highly important to compare these analyses and pull any shared characteristics from them. These can then be weighed against an appraisal, and a final value can be determined.Spokane has had some market shifting.  And, we are still buying and selling homes (BTW, I'd avoid the gloom and doom on CNN)... 03/20/2008

  I'm not sure how to post this story I just ran accross but wanted to share this news story with you all....Mar 20, 12:05 PM (ET)JEFFERSON, Wis. (AP) - A 71-year-old real estate agent was found dead inside a home she had been showing, and authorities said Thursday that the man she had met there was arrested. Ann B. Nelson, of Cambridge, was found dead Tuesday night next to a smoldering mattress at the smoke-filled rural home in the town of Oakland, authorities said. The man she had seen there was arrested after he was brought in for questioning Wednesday night, said Jefferson County Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Lawrence Lee. The man, James Hole of Brookfield, Ill., was being held on a tentative charge of first-degree intentional homicide, Sheriff Paul Milbrath said in a news release. Inves... 03/20/2008

Each spring the excitement of Easter fills the air....Many churches prepare special Easter programs about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. At home mothers color Easter eggs, and parents hide the brightly colored holiday symbols around the house and lawn so that, come Easter morning, their children can excitedly hunt for them. In Spokane, Washington, Donna Henry is getting excited for the Real Estate market to be picking up!  While so many markets are plummeting in value, Spokane is still rising.  The experts are projecting this area to still go up 4% this year (which in my opinion is a bit on the low side). With nature starting to come to life, the seeds starting to stir, the trees opening up their buds, the buyers are following their lead and awakening also.  I'm starting to... 03/19/2008

 Buying and Selling real estate is a great way to produce wealth for you and your family.  However, it is also a breeding ground for scam artists.  They prey on the naive and the trusting.  So, watch out and work with a respected Realtor with whom you have researched and checked some references...like me  :)Real estate fraud has historically proved to be a reliable--if criminal--source of income for many a sophisticated flimflam artist. (Anyone want to buy the Brooklyn Bridge or swampland in Florida?) Given the fact that people have poured much money into real estate over the last few years, it seems an obvious market in which fraudsters would play--especially considering the volume of activity. Most cases revolve around forged deeds, or sales of developments and properties, or trusts, ... 03/19/2008

If you wonder why downtown is so busy this weekend...Here's why!!This weekend and next, Spokane will be site of the 11th annual Pacific Northwest Qualifier at the Spokane Convention Center, Eastern Washington University and the Valley HUB.The tournament, hosted by Evergreen Region Volleyball, first started with 70 teams and has increased 114 teams this year to 390 mainly because of Open Division growth that qualifies teams coming from 13 states to various USA Volleyball age-group national tournaments. There is also a Club Division for less advanced teams.Friday-Sunday includes ages 12-15, including two open classifications. The week of March 28-30 is for 16-18-year-olds with open tournaments in all three age groups.The Spokane Regional Sports Commission estimates 9,000 guests for up to ... 03/19/2008

Hello Everyone, As we are getting ready to look for Spokane Homes for Sale and get homes ready to sell in Spokane Wa, we have to break one bad habit. That is the habit of thinking things are the same as last year. In a market where you buy and sell, and where supply and demand are at play. Yesterday is gone and if you want to be successful in this market you have to know in what environment you are playing. Look at the stock market. People monitor it everyday to see how the market environment is and that effects their choices. Yet in real estate people work off of vague memories and shadows of national news stories that many times are not accurate for your local conditions. We will see a trend as the market gets more competitive, that Realtors will need to know their local conditions mo... 03/17/2008

 Stress Relief-Physical ActivitiesEveryone has heard of stress. Most people will readily admit that they have some in theirlives. It is helpful to understand stress andlearn how to cope with it.Definition and SymptomsStress is the non-specific physiologicalresponse to external stimuli. Some examplesof stress include headaches, muscle tension,sweating, queasy stomach, fatigue, inability toconcentrate, moodiness, and changes inappetite. Stress experiences are different forall people. The relief of stress is an importantlife task. There are physical strategies toprovide relief as well as mental strategies. Thefollowing examples are physical strategies forstress relief.Progressive RelaxationProgressive relaxation is an activity thatincludes tensing and relaxing muscle groups insequence. To ... 03/10/2008

Short on cash but ready to renovate? Think new door handles, not new doors, and spiffed-up appliance fronts, not new appliances. Looking for ways to spruce up your home without putting yourself in the poorhouse? Whether you're getting ready to sell your home or want to spiff it up inexpensively for your own enjoyment, I've got 10 good strategies for you to consider. The actual cost and payback for each project can vary, depending on both your home's condition and overall real estate market values in your region of the country. 1. Make your kitchen really cook. The kitchen is still considered the heart of the home. Potential home buyers make a beeline for this room when they first view a home for sale, so make sure your kitchen looks clean and reasonably updated.  For a few hundred dolla... 03/10/2008

  Located in Spokane's Riverfront Park, this giant wagon is the work of artist Ken Spiering, commissioned by the Jr. League of Spokane. According to an article from Washington's Outer Limits, "... artist Ken Spiering's ideas for a bronze sculpture had dried up - he knew it the instant he drew a sketch of a child urinating in a pond. So, after six weeks of struggling to devise the perfect piece of interactive public art, he gave in. He quit. But just days before the submission deadline, Spiering had another vision. This time, the child was pulling a red wagon. That's it, he said to himself. A big red wagon. What could be a better symbol of childhood? He quickly devised a plan and submitted it. " We arrived in the middle of George Dubbya's arrival in Spokane for a $1000/plate 'benefit' fo... 03/10/2008

 Imagine yourself gently guiding your birch bark canoe through the serpentine meanders of the Little Spokane River. You stop your pelt-laden canoe only long enough to check the next trap or perhaps study the long-legged Great Blue Heron fishing the shallows for some unlucky rainbow trout smolt.Such was the scene that early fur trader and explorer David Thompson may have viewed with his interpreter and guide Jacques Finlay as they canoed the river in search of beaver and muskrat in the early 1800's.Today, you may still explore the Little Spokane River and experience much of the same environment as David Thompson discovered almost 200 years ago. The river remains pristine, undisturbed by the march of civilization occurring just a couple miles away and seemingly centuries removed. The Litt... 03/10/2008

 3 Stages of Buying ForeclosuresThe strategy of buying pre-foreclosures is to create a situation where everyone wins. This type of strategy involves just you, the homeowner, and in some cases the lender. Because the homeowner has been delinquent on his or her mortgage payments, they are now in a position to entertain offers made by investors. Keep in mind, you may not be the only investor looking at this property. However, when buying pre-foreclosures, you can expect very little competition. When buying pre-foreclosures like this and in turn make a profit, you must do some research on these types of properties. The following are some basic guidelines: locate loans in default, evaluate each property by comparing and contrasting location, price, and property condition narrow your selectio... 03/10/2008