North Idaho Real Estate Blog Keeping the “invisible” property owners of Kootenai County in-the-know, as if you were here on a daily basis. 208.769.9464 * dreamteam @ nidt . com * Author: Christina Ethridge, REALTOR(R)

I have been very behind the times on keeping y’all updated and I sincerely apologize.  I don’t know that I’ve ever truly found the “balance” between truly working with buyers and sellers and keeping this blog updated so that buyers and sellers can stay informed.

Frankly, blogging takes a lot of time.  The beauty is, I very much enjoy my interactions with y’all, both virtually and live.  It’s been busy the past 2 months.

So, what does “busy” mean?

The North Idaho Dream Team LLC is now powered by SKE Realty Group LLC. The brokerage we were affiliated with, GMAC Northwest Real Estate essentially went “belly-up”.  The owners closed down the business and we had all of 24 hours to relocate.  Thank goodness we had already begun the work necessary to form our own brokerage.  It was our intention to open our brokerage in late spring of this year (2009) but with the advent of the actions of our previous brokerage, we opened on January 5th, 2009.  So, it was up to me to do 5 months worth of work in as short of a time as possible - and yes, I achieved that, but not without some downside - one being consistent updates to y’all via this blog.

I also was inaugurated as the local chapter President of the Coeur d’Alene Chapter of the Women’s Council of Realtors. An honor and I very grateful for and am enjoying immensely.

AND, although number of sales are down this year over last year (so far), I’ve been incredibly busy working with sellers (and Chuck has been busy working with buyers) and well, actually ASSISTING you in your real estate transaction is our number 1 priority so this blog became a #3 priority.  But that is OK!

So, although we are still very busy helping you buy and sell real estate, I’m not as busy with the “nuts and bolts” of opening up a new business (SKE Realty Group LLC) as I was in January and February and, I feel as though I’ve “settled in” to my position as President so, I am fairly sure I’m back to keeping you updated on the real estate goings on of Kootenai County.

It is my absolute pleasure to assist you!

Posted under For Buyers, For Sellers, General Real Estate

The Washington Post reports that a team of housing economists believe “predictions of further large housing price declines are greatly overblown.”

The Post gathered some of the nation’s top economists to study the housing crisis. They concluded that in reality only four states – Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada – have had home price declines of more than 4 percent in the past year.

The economists said the home price index compiled by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight was the most comprehensive of the various indexes.

The Post said, “Our analysis reveals, unsurprisingly, that foreclosures and home prices have negative effects on each other over time, but this does not imply a vicious cycle of collapsing prices. Our models predict that as foreclosures continue to climb in many states, house prices will remain flat or decline in those states — but will not collapse.”

More info here.

©Realtrends.com

Posted under General Real Estate

All too often we get caught up buying when everyone else is buying and selling when everyone else is selling.  Every once-in-a-while we get lucky and do the opposite.

Why does it seem that people like Warren Buffet and Donald Trump always do it right?  It’s because they are contrarians.  What’s a contrarian?  Someone who sells when everyone else is buying and buys when everyone else is selling (in a nutshell).

So here’s the thing… We are at the bottom of the market.  Do you know how I know this?  Because there are signs - obvious signs and little known signs.  A good investor doesn’t wait until everything points up.  A good investor doesn’t wait until the media says it’s good.  A good investor watches the signs and follows the direction the signs lead.

One of my goals on this blog is to help you know and see the signs in the North Idaho Real Estate market.  I see them every day.  The last 2 years we’ve been at a standstill - prices have held pretty steady with minimal loss of value.  Inventory has sky rocketed, but we have to take that with a grain of salt (inventory is naturally going to be higher since our population base is higher and the number of housing units that are now existing are higher - I’ll get to a post on this whole issue in a few weeks).

Here’s a sign:  Every once in a while, the media allows something to come through - although they will seriously down play it just to make sure we all know they are the investment guru’s.

What’s the sign?  “Surprise” rebound in housing.

Construction of new homes increased by the biggest percentage in more than two years in April…

The Commerce Department reported Friday that housing construction rose by 8.2 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.03 million units. While apartment construction rose by 36 percent, building in the much larger single-family sector of the market fell by 1.7 percent

Applications for building permits, considered a good sign of future activity, recorded an increase in April, rising by 4.9 percent to 978,000 units.

The housing report showed that construction activity was up in most regions of the country in April, rising by 24.4 percent in the Midwest, 18.5 percent in the West and 3.6 percent in the South.

Is it a surprise or was it expected?  It was expected by some - with so many foreclosures, people must have a place to live.  The rebound was seriously strengthed by growth in the multi-family market.  Multi-family building trends tend to following single-family home trends by anywhere from 18-24 months.  Hum… let’s think about that.  About how many months has it been since the peak?  Anywhere from 18-30 months, depending upon your local market.  Looks like real estate is sticking to it’s historical cycle.

Article here.

Posted under For Buyers, For Investors, General Real Estate

The use of ‘rebates’ is nothing new in the real estate industry - in fact, rebates have been used for years, all around the country.

The idea is somewhat ‘new’ to the North Idaho area (in it’s current form) and a local real estate company is now offering ‘rebates’ (cash back certificates) as an incentive to get buyers and sellers to use their real estate services. Each seller client can receive up to $5,000 for each transaction (doubled up to $10,000 if they don’t sell your home within a specified time period). Each buyer client can receive up to $10,000.

Wow, it sounds like there is a potential for a client selling their home and buying another one could possible receive up to $20,000 cash! Let’s do it!!

Thud.

That’s the sound of reality.

Here is how the program works from the client’s perspective:

1. Client uses the agent or brokerage offering the incentive - to either buy or sell (or both for that matter).
2. At the closing table, client receives a ‘cash back certificate‘ for up to $5,000 or up to $10,000.
3. Client must ‘register’ their certificate within 7 days of closing and ‘redeem’ their certificate 36 months after closing. No earlier.

Here is how the program works from the agent/brokerages perspective:

1. They offer the client a cash certificate incentive based upon a sliding scale (essentially, the value of the transaction to the broker).
2. Client closes and records the transaction, broker hands over a certificate to the client. At the same time, broker puts cash into an annuity - usually less than 1/2 of the value of the cash certificate.
3. Broker is done with their portion - it’s handled by an outside company from here on out.

Here is the fine print (aka the reality):

1. 47% of all Cash Rewards Certificate recipients do not even make their initial claim within the first 7 days, as required!
2. A huge number of people given Cash Rewards Certificates will never make their claim, or they will not follow the rules, or will forget, or will lose their certificate or the documentation, will die, inherit money, etc.
3. The Certificate is redeemable 36 months after the closing of the transaction.
4. The Certificate is forfeited if you die and is non-transferable.
5. If you miss a requirement by day 1, your Certificate is voided.
6. If you lose or destroy your Certificate it cannot be replaced and you will not be eligible to make a claim.
7. There are strict timelines within which documents must be sent. All documents must be sent certified mail.
8. You do not have the use of, nor obtain interest on, the money while it is in the annuity during your 36 month ‘holding’ period.

Fine print here.

Sound like fun? Sound easy? Does it sound worth it? Probably not.

How about not going through all of these loopholes and receiving more than $5,000 immediately upon closing, without strings attached?

The North Idaho Dream Team sells clients homes for 3.4% more than the Coeur d’Alene Multiple Listing Service average. That means that when you list a home with us, our average sales price is 99.6% of the listing price and no, we don’t undercut market value. The MLS average (meaning, other agents in Kootenai County) sell their homes for 96.2% or less of the listing price.

Let’s use the same numbers this ‘rebate team’ uses.

Their example is a $290,000 house. One a $290,000 house, you would receive a $5,000 certificate if you sold your house using the rebate team. As shown above, you can potentially receive that $5,000 3 years after you have sold your home and moved on. How does that look…

$290,000 listing price means a likely sales price of $278,980 (96.2% of listing price). That’s $11,020 lower than your listing price. Of course, if you follow all of the loopholes and don’t lose your certificate, you’ll receive $5,000 in 3 years.

What does it look like when you use the North Idaho Dream Team to sell? You’re nearly $10,000 richer…

$290,000 listing price means a likely sales price of $288,840. That means you have $9,860 more in your pocket, without loop holes, without time periods, right at the closing table.

This doesn’t even address the interest you lose via the ‘rebate team’ because your $5,000 is sitting there in a certificate that isn’t redeemable for 3 years.

Now that you know the facts - you make the decision. $10,000 now or $5,000 in 3 years?

Posted under For Buyers, For Sellers, General Real Estate

The use of ‘rebates’ is nothing new in the real estate industry - in fact, rebates have been used for years, all around the country.

The idea is somewhat ‘new’ to the North Idaho area (in it’s current form) and a local real estate company is now offering ‘rebates’ (cash back certificates) as an incentive to get buyers and sellers to use their real estate services. Each seller client can receive up to $5,000 for each transaction (doubled up to $10,000 if they don’t sell your home within a specified time period). Each buyer client can receive up to $10,000.

Wow, it sounds like there is a potential for a client selling their home and buying another one could possible receive up to $20,000 cash! Let’s do it!!

Thud.

That’s the sound of reality.

Here is how the program works from the client’s perspective:

1. Client uses the agent or brokerage offering the incentive - to either buy or sell (or both for that matter).
2. At the closing table, client receives a ‘cash back certificate‘ for up to $5,000 or up to $10,000.
3. Client must ‘register’ their certificate within 7 days of closing and ‘redeem’ their certificate 36 months after closing. No earlier.

Here is how the program works from the agent/brokerages perspective:

1. They offer the client a cash certificate incentive based upon a sliding scale (essentially, the value of the transaction to the broker).
2. Client closes and records the transaction, broker hands over a certificate to the client. At the same time, broker puts cash into an annuity - usually less than 1/2 of the value of the cash certificate.
3. Broker is done with their portion - it’s handled by an outside company from here on out.

Here is the fine print (aka the reality):

1. 47% of all Cash Rewards Certificate recipients do not even make their initial claim within the first 7 days, as required!
2. A huge number of people given Cash Rewards Certificates will never make their claim, or they will not follow the rules, or will forget, or will lose their certificate or the documentation, will die, inherit money, etc.
3. The Certificate is redeemable 36 months after the closing of the transaction.
4. The Certificate is forfeited if you die and is non-transferable.
5. If you miss a requirement by day 1, your Certificate is voided.
6. If you lose or destroy your Certificate it cannot be replaced and you will not be eligible to make a claim.
7. There are strict timelines within which documents must be sent. All documents must be sent certified mail.
8. You do not have the use of, nor obtain interest on, the money while it is in the annuity during your 36 month ‘holding’ period.

Fine print here.

Sound like fun? Sound easy? Does it sound worth it? Probably not.

How about not going through all of these loopholes and receiving more than $5,000 immediately upon closing, without strings attached?

The North Idaho Dream Team sells clients homes for 3.4% more than the Coeur d’Alene Multiple Listing Service average. That means that when you list a home with us, our average sales price is 99.6% of the listing price and no, we don’t undercut market value. The MLS average (meaning, other agents in Kootenai County) sell their homes for 96.2% or less of the listing price.

Let’s use the same numbers this ‘rebate team’ uses.

Their example is a $290,000 house. One a $290,000 house, you would receive a $5,000 certificate if you sold your house using the rebate team. As shown above, you can potentially receive that $5,000 3 years after you have sold your home and moved on. How does that look…

$290,000 listing price means a likely sales price of $278,980 (96.2% of listing price). That’s $11,020 lower than your listing price. Of course, if you follow all of the loopholes and don’t lose your certificate, you’ll receive $5,000 in 3 years.

What does it look like when you use the North Idaho Dream Team to sell? You’re nearly $10,000 richer…

$290,000 listing price means a likely sales price of $288,840. That means you have $9,860 more in your pocket, without loop holes, without time periods, right at the closing table.

This doesn’t even address the interest you lose via the ‘rebate team’ because your $5,000 is sitting there in a certificate that isn’t redeemable for 3 years.

Now that you know the facts - you make the decision. $10,000 now or $5,000 in 3 years?

Posted under For Buyers, For Sellers, General Real Estate

If you know what Standard & Poor’s Case-Schiller Index is, you know who Karl Case is. He’s the “Case” in Case-Schiller. For those who don’t know:

The S&P/Case-Shiller® Home Price Indices measures the residential housing market, tracking changes in the value of the residential real estate market in 20 metropolitan regions across the United States.

Karl has this to say about the real estate market today:

Bucking widespread gloom about the state of real estate, Wellesley College housing market guru Karl Case sees strong signs of a possible rebound.

“Every single time we have gotten to this point, at this time, almost to the exact decimal point, things start to rebound,” Case said.

According to Case, the decline in housing starts nationally has reached a key threshold, dropping below the 1 million mark last month.

Over the past 30 years, this has signaled the end of a real estate market downturn. Housing construction rebounded sharply in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s after reaching this low point, Case said.

He expects the same phenomenom to be true this downturn as well.

Posted under For Buyers, For Investors, For Sellers, General Real Estate

“Virgle’s goal is simple: the establishment of a permanent human settlement on Mars. Larry Page, Sergey Brin and I feel strongly that contemporary technology is sufficiently advanced to make such an effort both successful and economical, and that it’s high time that humanity moved beyond Earth and began our great, long journey to explore the stars and establish our first lasting foothold on another world.”

Amazing!

Posted under General Real Estate, What the heck!?

This is not related to North Idaho Real Estate but it is still on topic (real estate in general).  Plus it’s just plain interesting. . .

Dutch architect plans for a floating future . . .

The inevitable rise in sea level that comes with climate change is going to make it increasingly difficult to control flooding in low-lying Holland. But instead of cursing their fate, architects are designing a new Holland that will float on water, and the Dutch government seems willing to try out the scheme. Holland has made other countries begin to question, too. Who says you have to live on dry land?

Enjoy.

Posted under General Real Estate, What the heck!?

Just a word of warning, this is wholly unrelated to North Idaho real estate (but is related to real estate in general) - but it was so intriguing to me I decided to share it anyway.

“Fueled by the engineering expertise and imagination of Nakheel, The World rises from the sea with velocity and momentum, with 94% of the islands already reclaimed. Each and every day, The World moves closer to becoming the most exclusive destination on earth. “

“An array of island parcels means an array of possibilities. Engineered to be flexible and designed to be unforgettable – a blank canvas in the azure waters of the Arabian Gulf. An incomparable destination, The World is a collection of private islands that form a singular expression of exclusivity. Located off the coast of Dubai’s most desirable address, and created by Nakheel, Dubai’s premier developer, The World is quickly evolving into a one-of-a-kind destination and investment opportunity. “

I thought this was intriguing and just a little bit “cool”.

Posted under General Real Estate, What the heck!?

The wealthy invest in real estate. The “soon to be” wealthy invest in real estate. Want to be wealthy? Invest in real estate.

Investment in income producing real estate is a staple for many wealthy families and a great way to pass on intergenerational wealth.

There, now it’s not just me saying it.

Article

Posted under For Investors, General Real Estate