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And the winner is…
January 27, 2010 /Pickett Street Properties is proud and honored to announce that all 4 of us just received the “2009 – 5 Star Realtor Award, Best in Client Satisfaction,” recently published in Seattle Magazine. This is a great honor for us - because our greatest desire is to serve our clients incredibly well. Only 758 local Realtors received this award of the over 20,000+ licensed Agents in our area. Here’s how the awards are determined: First, over 22,500 people who recently bought or sold homes were surveyed by mail and phone. Next, professionals in the mortgage and title industry were surveyed for their nominees. Stacks of surveys were received, screened and scored by Crescendo Business Services. Finally, a blue ribbon panel of local industry experts reviewed the finalists list - and the winners were announced! Those surveyed were asked to evaluate their nominees based on nine criteria: Customer service, communication, finding the right home, integrity, negotiation, marketing the home, market knowledge, closing preparation, and closing satisfaction. We want to thank our clients and those we work with for nominating us. We are thrilled with the awards, and will continue to do our best to exceed our clients’ expectations and goals. Several Agents…Read more
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The cost of waiting
January 13, 2010 /I just listened to a great call with an eye towards what we can expect in the year 2010 in the housing and rate market. A great point was brought up about the cost of waiting. Right now the government has pushed some major incentives into the market. In December of 2008 the government announced a purchasing program that pushed rates roughly 1% lower than where they were the previous month, and had been for almost a year. The Government is also allowing for a TRUE TAX CREDIT of $8000 for first time home buyers that is set to expire in April. These 2 things can make a huge difference for a first time home buyer. If you wait to buy and rates go up the roughly 1% that most experts are forecasting, you would be looking at a cost of about 5% of your loan amount upfront to buy down your mortgage rate back down to current levels, on a $200,000 loan that is $10,000. Add to that the loss of the tax rebate, that is nearly $20,000, or about 10% of the purchase amount. A more impressive number is the lifetime cost of a mortgage that is 1%…Read more
