Dangers of Misinformation About Buyer Agency….

The Seattle Times lay-ed an unfortunate egg last Saturday when it elected to reprint a column by Washington Post syndicated columnist Mary Ellen Slater entitled: “Factors to weigh before choosing a buyer’s agent”.

Before jumping into this, I suggest reviewing the Washington State pamphlet: “The Law of Real Estate Agency”.

There are parts of this article that are simply not true in the state of Washington. As such, I challenge the Times to verify the applicability of the articles they reproduce.  How hard is it to call an agent, a broker, an attorney, and clear such articles for our region prior to publishing?

The following is the text from said article accompanied by my observations in bold type:

Thank You Mortgage Professor!

If it hasn’t happened to you, perhaps it has happened to someone you know. While interviewing potential lenders, whether to refinance or buy a new home, it is puzzling at best to discern what the various quotes mean. For example: (1) why is an interest lock free at one lender, but costs 1/4 pt (.25%) at another?; (2) why is the interest rate quoted in the good faith estimate (“GFE”) you were given not allowed to “float down” as interest rates fall prior to your closing?; (3) how do the various lenders cook up the various combinations of interest rates and loan origination fees (“points”), and how can you possibly compare them?

The Mortgage Professor’s tool/table, which shows WHOLESALE loan trends, may not answer these questions specifically, but may allow you to go toe to toe with lenders that you think are blowing smoke. As an example, and we hear this too often, our client might obtain a “no fee lock” on their new loan 30 days prior to closing. When our client hears about falling interest rates at another lender he might ask his loan representative if his rate will go lower. Too often the answer is, “you’ve already locked in your rate, there’s nothing I can do”, or “that’s just an offer from that lender to try to get more business and they are likely making up for that rate somewhere else”. This is standard parlance for, “you are on my hook, and I would prefer that you stay there and stop wriggling around”.

The fact is, rates change every day. It is a gamble as to which direction they are headed on a daily basis, but trends are notable. For the first time, you now get a peak behind the curtain to see what the lenders see: an amalgamation of the wholesale rates offered to lenders on a daily basis.

Sunday’s Seattle Times’ syndicated columnist, Jack Guttentag, has provided us with maybe the best mortgage rate tracking tool ever offered to the public………FOR FREE! Trust me when I say this is one link you will want to bookmark. The information is provided in that little unassuming table at the center top of his home page titled:

Today’s Conforming Wholesale

Mortgage Interest Rates

To appreciate the value this information, read the accompanying Sunday Times article: “Wholesale price data used to gauge market”.

Hot Tub? Do It The Right Way…..

Did you see the Saturday, Nov 10, ‘07 article in the Seattle Times about hot tubs? “If you don’t want hot tub, no need to get soaked”. We have experience with hot tubs, both owning one and selling houses that have them, and there are a few things you should know before you invest in one for your current home, or buy a home that already has one.

Numero uno: portable hot tubs do not enhance the value of your home. They hold no value for prospective buyers as they are often an imposing presence in a back yard, whether they are on the ground or on a deck. It is difficult to effectively landscape or decorate in a way that makes them less of an eyesore than they are when new, much worse after the wood siding has faded.

We bought a portable hot tub for our old house on Education Hill in Redmond. After addressing the hassles of pouring a patio on which to place it, and routing 220v power to it (very difficult when your house doesn’t really have a crawl space to accommodate such retrofits), we enjoyed our new hot tub enormously……..for about 3 months. We even purchased one of those expensive “Sunbrellas” to keep the rain off.

While it was enjoyable, it was a hassle to enter, requiring a small step ladder because the height of the thing.

Anyway, after 3 years of intermittent use, mostly the kids playing in it in the summertime sun, it conked out. I don’t recall how it came about, but that is when I met Damon Fletcher, owner of Elite Spas Northwest http://www.elite-spas.com/. He tried to get it going, but advised that it would continue to fail, as these types of tubs are not designed to last very long. I asked what the right type of hot tub entails, and learned more than I bargained for.

Damon advises that the most important consideration when contemplating a hot tub is the setting.

One mistake I made in placing our first hot tub was putting it under a huge tree. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but became a total nuisance keeping the hot tub cover free of leaves and other tree debris.

Planning for our new hot tub, I thought sinking it all the way into the ground would be the way to go. “Not really, and for a number of reasons”, said Damon:

1. Unless you want to install a railing, which can be unsightly, it is awkward getting in and out of such tubs;

2. The equipment, specifically the plumbing connections, are almost unserviceable;

Instead, Damon advised that the tub be sunk about 18″ into the ground, leaving the edge at about bench height for seating, and making it easy to get in and out of the tub by first sitting, then swinging your legs over the side, and slide in.

The site for our new, gas-fired hot tub was a big new patio with an area blocked out for excavation and setting the footwell of the shell of the new tub. Once the tub was in place, it was simple to build a support frame up from the patio to the edges that also became the framework for a nice continuous cedar bench that surrounded the tub. Next we built a large cedar trellis near the South side of the tub. The idea was to grow some vines on the trellis that would give the hot tub some shade during the Summer when we would drop the temperature and let the kids use it. Also, we mounted some outdoor speakers on the trellis.

Another amenity added was an ozone generator. This item eliminated the need for chlorine, taking over the sanitization duties, and eliminating the unpleasant chlorine odor.

All in all we ended up with a functional, attractive, affordable and fun amenity in our back yard.

To enforce this idea of creating an amenity vs having a portable type tub dropped in your back yard, consider the observation of the person that bought our house 10 years later: they had a hot tub at their old house that they NEVER used. It was an expensive portable that was plopped down on a patio beneath an existing deck. They absolutely loved our hot tub, the way it was set up, the lighting, the music, the surrounding landscape, and they used it almost every day.

All this thanks to the direction, consultation, installation and equipment provided by Damon Fletcher of http://www.elite-spas.com/

We have planned our next hot tub project to be installed beside our swimming pool at our current residence. Just saving up the cash to get it done.

 So before you get psyched up and buy that “special” on a hot tub at Home Depot or Costco, think very carefully about how it is going to look in your yard. For the same investment, and a little patience, you could get a nice set up that will be enjoyed for years as part of your overall landscape, will enhance the value of your home when it is time to sell, and you won’t be stuck paying someone $100 to get rid of it.