Anyone been in a cave? In the outback of Alaska? Both, possibly? Good, thanks for the show of hands.

If you haven't heard, read, or had suth-sayed (past tense of sooth?) for $1.99 a minute, nationally the housing market is experiencing a "management restructuring." This is a politically savvy way of saying that the earth is righting itself, lending has returned to Planet Earth, and bidding wars on Mike Brady's home that reached half a million might have gone the way of the McRib (you'll be missed).

It's hurt, but not like Apollo Creed hurt, more like Rocky Balboa hurt, and not including the last two Rocky's. My apologies to the other three guys in the world who saw Rocky 5, and to the nation for the last one.

And while the national market is down, anxiously awaiting a song by Survivor, parties interested in investing are stepping forth: relocators, first time home buyers who are recognizing affordable prices while the last few years kept them in rentals, investors, flippers, floppers, moms and dads looking to see at least something come out of 5 years (sorry! rugby) of college, Greasers, Soch's, and basically anyone who's read a book by Robert Kyosaki.


And in the blue corner, the most ferocious of opponents: sellers. It's not the most optimal time to put one's home on the market, and yet, they stand in the face of adversity due to need, want, requirement, short sale, or foreclosure, when the bank ACTUALLY sells the shorts. Third-rate puns aside, the inventory is out there.

From the borrowing, begging, or stealing that occurred to get us here, and I include "US" like the royal "us", we still have the ingredients for a viable market: Buyers and Sellers.


The last time it took someone this long to get to a point, there were a few base camps involved but: Low Offers are going to happen. People are anxious to see what will be taken, how large a barrel a seller is over, and how creative they can get with an offer.

People with extra income from a strong base of equity are investing their dollars in homes that would normally be out of their price range....sound familiar? Almost as if this will build as more and more people become confident in the market, until suddenly there are multiple bids on the same property. It's the Circle of Real Estate, Simba.




So buyers, if you put in a low offer expect the following:

1. A harsh counter-offer the first time around (you've just taken the porch their grandfather built with his two hands from a tree they grew up swinging on, and erased its value)
   


2. No help with items on the inspection (they'd rather walk you through a plate-glass window than the workings of the radiant floor heating system)
   


3. Utter silence. Absolute ignoring of the offer. As actions speak louder than words, and ignoring doesn't require a fax machine.

Sellers, here's your chance to sell your home!

1. You've captured the elusive unicorn of this market, an interested and pre-qualified buyer, don't let it go because the coloring looks "splotchy".
   
   
2. Take a deep breath. This helps the life process. Then figure out what a good counter offer would be. While offers at listing price are happening, they might not be happening to you for a reason, whatever they may be.
   
   
3. Take it as a compliment: they liked your home/condo/yurt/78 Gremlin! So much that they took the time to write an offer. Think of other offers in your life that might not have been the best you'd expected....if you were lucky enough to not have been raised by Neanderthals (sorry, Thag), you'd politely decline, or offer another option, or keep trying until you reached an agreement.

As a Buyer's Agent, I've written my share of low offers, and bore the brunt of the hell that do hath fury much like a woman's scorn. I've also had clients who've passed on writing offers on a home because they thought their offer might have been to low, only to see the "Pending" or "Sold" for a number close to theirs.

"Well, we would've paid THAT!" doesn't keep them cozy. Your home might have. This first offer could be their "toe in the water" and you're response could be the difference between their moving forward, and "I'll just watch from the side, while my waterwings deflate from shame and cowardice." Strangely enough, waterwings are symbols of both, but that's for another blog.

Low offers are going to happen. But the difference between an emotional response and a seasoned and skilled negotiator could be the sale of a home.

Which is why you might need an agent. I'm here when you need me.

Chris McNamara
BuyerTours Realty, LLC
chris@buyertours.com
360-303-1034
Read about Whatcom County
http://www.realestate.bellingham.net/
http://www.bellinghampowersearch.com/

Labels: Chris McNamara, low balling, Low Offer Technique, Low Offers, Negotiation

Labels: Bellingham Waterfront, Chris McNamara, Unique Runs in Bellingham, Zuanich Park

This weekend was a rough one on the trail around Lake Padden, as the weather doesn't seem to be coinciding with the date (snow last weekend). With each morning, getting out of the car, looking at my MP3 player, and wondering why I didn't sleep in, I wonder when this feeling will start to dissipate.

My main motivation still ignites from getting beat by the woman in the Bumble Bee costume at the Jingle Bell run this year. It was a huge costume. And she beat me by a couple of lengths. I think she was running to Clay Aiken, and you can't beat that.

I vowed never to get beaten again by someone in a costume, after the "push-up" contest debacle against Goofy at Disney World this year (look at the size of his head, you can almost smell the Human Growth Hormone). But each day at Padden, I tap the Dr. Pepper machine, start my watch, and cruise past the tennis courts, the horse trails, and into the woods. Depending on the direction you run in, it varies in what you're workout will be. Could be flats for a while if you run clockwise, or immediately into the hills, and want to stay out of the winds that whip across the lake, and run counterclockwise.

Lake Padden is a gift, wrapped in a 2.6 mile loop (still trying to break 19 mins), about 5 minutes from the Sehome Haggen's. Surrounded by parks, fields, access to Galbraith and a couple great lengths of single track, you're only problem could be finding parking during the summer. And a lifeguard, as budgeting cuts have taken their toll on staff there. But barbecue, bring your dog (leashed here, unleashed there), and as long as you keep the two mutually exclusive, you can get an idea of why parks were created in the first place; to bring folks together in the Great Outdoors.

And yet, alone, on the morning of April 2nd (afternoon sun wasn't going to help much), I decided it was time to start swimming again, and waded into the Lake for a length across and back. I got to about my calves, then dove in, and after the Lady of the Lake stole the breath right out of me, I got right out. On the list of Bad Decisions I've made this year, this one hit the top ten. But we'll get there.

The location of Padden, off of Samish Way, makes the swims deviate from commonplace; high winds can produce an ocean-like chop, fog can set in, and by the time you're halfway across the lake, you can get pretty disoriented. And then there are the mornings where it's coffee table of glass, and the sun rises as you make your way back to the beach, and the chill of the water can't even knock the smile off your face. But it tries it's best, and this year, got the jump on me.

Sticking to a couple runs in the Chuckanut area for the next weeks will make my list for good decisions this year, and before I try to tap the Dr. Pepper machine at 18:59, give the Lake another go in May.

Advantage, Lake Padden.
Chris McNamara

Labels: Chris McNamara, Chuckanut, Fun Trail Runs, Lake Padden, Samish, Sehome, swims in Bellingham, Trail Runs

Labels: Bellingham Trails, Boulevard Park, Chris McNamara, Lake Whatcom, Northshore Trail, Trail Runs, Unique Runs in Bellingham

We've all heard the lexicon of Real Estate used to put a little "lipstick and rouge" on a home's description to garner at least a second look. "Small" turns into "cozy." "Limited only by buyer's imagination" is a personal favorite; it puts the weight of potential back onto the purchaser's shoulders, like an overbearing T-ball coach, "I guess you folks just didn't want to win badly enough" (sorry, Dad). It's almost as bad as using quotation marks too often to get your point across.

But peek-a-view and quarter-inch corridors when you stand on top of the toilet aside, waterfront is waterfront. It's a world of difference from water rights, beach rights, shared private areas, or docks; it means that the only thing in between your flip-flopped toes and the water is personal discretion or an 80 foot drop.

Thanks to a litigious society, and a penchant for John Grisham, there's a warehouse somewhere filled with reasoning behind some of the wording in listing descriptions. But as a Buyer's Agent in Whatcom County, I'm finding playground rules start when the buyer gets out of the car, with a waterfront property in mind, and finds the Emperor fully clothed or, well, nekkid. And the situation is usually about as uncomfortable.

How to avoid this? Find someone who knows the inventory, inside out, and on a personal level, AKA getting out from behind the computer and previewing your home. It's going to save YOU time and frustration, and make the whole experience better.

Travelling to the Louvre, to find that it's been filled with oil paintings by the slightly lesser known FRED Monet, of Cherry Hill, NJ will only breed contempt.

Our website www.realestate.bellingham.net takes information directly from the multiple listing service, and if it's been indicated that a home, condo, or parcel of vacant land is waterfront, the inventory is so vast, these "stretches" are hard to catch. Unless.

Always unless. Unless you've got a great buyer's agent. Your best line of defense is a buyer's agent who knows her or his inventory. And because the profession breeds creativity, we're inventive problem-solvers should there not be any waterfront place that meets ALL of your needs, we'll pull in options from outside the box.

So in summary, waterfront= wading in slowly, or falling at roughly 9.8 meters per second per second to a watery conclusion, possible lifeguard rescue, and get-well cards from your closest of friends.

Any thing else= angry buyer.
Chris McNamara

Labels: Buyer's Agent, Chris McNamara, Waterfront

With 137 acres of waterfront to use as a palette for the Bellingham's new oceanscape, you'd figure that the endless possibilities would excite and ignite the masses. But, just as the camel was the product of a committee, with both the City and the Port of Bellingham working collaboratively, the people on the street should get ready for more deliberation than the Scopes Trial, with a murkier verdict. Which is brilliant. Venice developed over the course of a lot longer than the time we're giving ourselves here, and it still floods. Boardwalks like Boulevard Park, that you remember for a lifetime might need almost as long to plan; ocean-side parks like Marine Park, that we pass down to our kids should start with architectural design that was passed through generations of architects. Have you ever gone on a city tour in Europe where the architecture is more than 400 years old? Those buildings that draw a picture of the city they're in span over governments toppling, changes in history. To know that the statues, structures, parks, and seascapes weren't just the product of a few groups of people, but rather a few generations collaborating to elevate the history of Bellingham, sounds like a better destination than a quick cab ride to a marina and waterfront condos. The existing structures on this acreage we're to work with were built in a short amount of time, for the short term gain of a few. Maybe we could teach our kids that we learned our lesson, and we're taking our time.

Chris McNamara

Labels: Bellingham Waterfront Development, Chris McNamara, Opinion