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January 30, 2010

Anchorage Economic Corp 2010 Forecast

Filed under: Alaska,General Real Estate Industry News,Life in Anchorage — Tags: , , — Dan @ 5:34 pm

Every year, Anchorage Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) gives an economic health report on the city of Anchorage.  Between their board member businesses and local economists, they forecast what they believe the coming year will be.

An Icy Winter Road

AEDC is made up of many important corporations doing business right here, right now, in our community and State.  Some of the AEDC board members and event sponsors are AT & T, GCI, CIRI, Alaska Regional, Providence, Wells Fargo and ConocoPhillips – and this is just the short list!  This is a pretty impressive group of core companies to have as board members, wouldn’t you agree?  In past years, this marriage of business and economists has proven to be fairly accurate in their forecast into the coming year.

I had the good fortune to attend a market forecast this past week. I believe this was the largest economic luncheon event AEDC  had ever sponsered with over 1,400 attendees.    In attendance at the Dena’ina Convention and Civic Center was Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan and Governor Sean Parnell as well as many people currently in public office.

In short, AEDC forecasts employment in Anchorage will decline through the first half of 2010, continuing a downward trend that began mid-year 2009.  Their report broke out the economy by sectors such as transportation, Business and professional services, leisure and hospitality and retail.  Overall, employment in Anchorage is expected to decline by about 1,200 jobs in 2010, a loss of about -o.8;  Employment in the oil and gas, government, and business and professional services sectors are expected to remain at about 2009 levels. 

Even though Alaska has been somewhat insulated from the national and international recession, Alaska and Anchorage have not been immune.  To get a greater detail, log on to the AEDC website downloading the 2010 Economic forecast in a PDF format.

January 25, 2010

Great “Wolf Team” 2009 Market Statistics

Filed under: General Real Estate Industry News,Marketing,Price & Value — Tags: , , , , , , , — Dan @ 11:00 am

Hoar Frost built up on shrubs on a cold sunny Alaska Day

Anchorage Multiple Listing Service compiled and released statistics showing market penetration by licensees.  The Dan Wolf Team was number one for volume of sales for all types of property in Alaska in 2009!  I knew we worked hard and were doing better than most, but I didn’t know we hit number one until I saw this report.  Before I even saw the report, other real estate agents kept calling me with congratulations.

Real estate agents are known to boast and puff about what they are good at.  I even giggle myself when I see an agent say “Top Agent 1975 – 2010″.   What is cool about these particular statistics is they aren’t manipulated, they are coming straight from MLS as a study of what real estate licensees are selling what volume of property.

This is a little different;  I was completing a questionnaire for a relocation company.  The form had questions about how my company, Keller Williams Alaska Group, stacks up against other real estate companies in the Anchorage area.  I asked a staff person at MLS if they would get the the statistics the company was requesting from me, so I’m considering this from a neutral source and not just me trying to adjust a query until the data fits what I want it to say.

Get a load of this: 

The Anchorage market had 3,442 total sales from all companies last year (2009).  Keller Williams Alaska Group sold and closed 804 of those sales (23%) which is great.

This is the part I really like, though.  Of the 804 sales Keller Williams did, the “Dan Wolf Team” officially did 92 sales or 12.33% of the overall company!  Nice statistic, and there’s more!

The average days on market for the entire MLS was 74 days.  Keller Williams company average days were 10 days shorter at 64 days for the average sale. 

The Dan Wolf Team’s average days to sell those 92 sales was 55 days, or 25.7% less days than the overall average of Municipality sale!

January 21, 2010

Municipal Tax Appraisals Hit Street

Filed under: General Real Estate Industry News,Price & Value,Property Values — Tags: , , , , — Dan @ 4:06 pm

I just got my municipal “green card” from the Anchorage Tax Assessors office. My overall assessed value came down slightly from the 2009 assessed value.  I asked several people how their home values faired.  It’s inconsistant, at best!  Some folks say there house went up slightly and other say it stayed the same, or in one case, the value went down!  It’s looking like it your results will vary from area to area and the type of property you have.

An Attractive Cape Cod Style Home

Now that we have our values, we have a narrow window if we wanted to contest the assessors value. You can click here to go to the “Muni.org” site to see the process to contest your property value.

In a couple weeks, the Anchorage Assembly will announce what the mill rate will be.  I predict in light of the current budget crunch the City is under, the mil rate will increase at least a percent.

There are different mil rates around Anchorage depending on services in your area.  For instance, upper hillside doesn’t have public sewer service, so they don’t pay quite as much.  Some outlying areas don’t have city police service so they pay somewhat less. 

For 2009 a “round average” mil rate might be 15 mils.  To figure the impact on you, take your assessed value and multiply it by the mil rate.  At 15 mils, you pay $1,500 for every $100,000 of assessed value. 

Most commonly, most people pay 1/12th of their taxes when they make their monthly house payment.  The municipality actually bills for the tax to be paid in two installments, June 15th and August 15th, which should about deplete your reserve account at your lender.

The Last Home Sale – Selling in Probate

Filed under: General Real Estate Industry News,Life in Anchorage,Property Values,Saving Money — Tags: , , , , — Dan @ 3:53 pm

It’s inevitable, all of us get to the end of our personal journey one day.  The “cycle of life” starts with being born and our path, here on earth anyway, ends when we pass away. Hopefully, you and I will take the necessary steps so those we leave behind will have a clear path to follow as far as our intentions and how we want our property divided to our heirs. One thing I know from being involved with many people who have been through the process, it’s a lot of work being the person who takes the job of paying the final bills and selling the properties.  And, the timing isn’t always very convenient for those left behind, I’ve noticed.   

Frozen Roses on a Grave

Whether there is a written plan in place (a will) or not, the state has a process and laws in place to get the estate of the deceased settled.  The process is called “probate.”  It is a good idea to have an attorney in place that is familiar with probate laws to handle the process.

In probate, someone has to be the personal representative for the deceased.  If someone hasn’t been assigned in the last will or other document left behind, the State may assign a a family member or friend to be the personal representative.  The probate process assures that creditors are paid properly and that assets are distributed to the heirs. 

The probate process begins with a petition or request to open the estate and name a personal representative to be responsible for the administration of the deceased persons property. There are basically two types of estates, those where the person who has passed away left a written will, called testate (meaning a legal will)  to be followed and those without a will, known as intestate. 

Estates can get complicated for many reasons for instance, multiple properties, if the properties are in other States and if a will is contested.  Probate laws are complex to cover many situations. 

An attorney familiar with probate laws, time-frames and the process will be invaluable to guide the remaining family through the process.  Seeing the process first hand as a friend of the family, I know I want to have my affairs in order as much as possible.  I know none of us know the day and time we leave this earth, so plan ahead.  Your family will appreciate you even more.

January 20, 2010

Your First Home…An 8 Step Plan

Filed under: Financing,General Real Estate Industry News,Inspections,Maintenance,Price & Value,Uncategorized — Tags: , , , — Dan @ 7:45 am

Keller Williams recently produced a great educational and practical first time home buyer brochure called “Your First Home – The Proven Path to Home Ownership.“  These are notes (much paraphrased)  from the pamphlet and a link to it if you want to download the “real deal.”

Step 1:  Decide to Buy!   Above all else, when done right, home ownership can help lay the foundation for a life of financial security. If you are renting and have a stable job with some savings, and a credit score in the upper 600 range, you can likely qualify for a FHA or conventional financing. 

An interesting tree root washed up in Cook Inlet

Very few people can afford to buy their dream home when they buy their first home.  In fact, according to the National Association of Realtors, 69 percent of first-time home buyers compromised on some features of their first home.  So you make some compromises, buy your first home, and start building equity.  This approach takes you further and faster down the road to bring able to own your dream home than if you hadn’t purchased a home at all.

Step 2:  Hire Your Agent.  Your agent will educate you about the market, analyze your wants and needs, guide you to homes that fit your criteria, coordinate any needed professionals, negotiate in your behalf, and all the while check and double-check your paperwork and solve any problems that may arise.

Step 3:  Secure Financing.  Your lender will approve you for a loan amount, but ultimately, YOU will decide what you are comfortable paying every month.  In other words, you don’t have to get a loan as high as you qualify for…you are the boss.  When you pre-qualify for a loan, both you and your agent know you aren’t just wasting time; if you find the right property, you can move forward on it.

Step 4: Find Your Home!  Your real estate agent will help you sort this out.  Which is more critical, size or location?  Are you interested in a condo?  A duplex?  Do you need a yard?  You’d like a 3 bedroom, but will two bedrooms work if everything else is good?

Step 5:  Make an Offer.  This is done in writing on a proper “purchase money agreement”.  Your agent will help you decide what a fair offer is.  An offer includes several important things such as the price you are offering, when you want to close, a home inspection, who pays what closing costs as well as what things go with the sale like refrigerator or window blinds.

Step 6: Due Diligence. Very few homes are absolutely perfect.  This is where you hire a professional to inspect your home, hopefully with you in attendance.  The inspectors job is to check for code compliance and for construction problems – large and small. 

Step 7:  Closing on your home.  You’ll need to get home owners insurance and put utilities in your name.  Your real estate agent will check your work schedule and look for available appointments with the loan closer.  In our market, you sign one day and “record’ the transaction the next day which is the official day you own.

Step 8:  Protect Your Investment  Learn to give your new home the love and care it needs.  you will need to learn to perform routine maintenance on your home’s system, depending on it’s age and condition.  A good rule of thumb is to watch for signs of leaks, damage and wear.

January 17, 2010

New Custom Home Listing-5461 Heritage Heights

Filed under: Just for fun,Life in Anchorage,Marketing,Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , — Dan @ 8:58 am
Looks inviting, doesn’t it? Evening Exterior

I don’t talk about individual houses in my blog very often, but wanted to show off this house and let you see this photo.  The house is brand new, never lived in.  It is 4,500 square feet on two levels with “a lot of 4′s”, that is four car garage, four bedrooms, and 4.5 bathrooms.

The lot is 1.25 acres and there is a nice view of the city lights, because the house sits on a ridge. That ridge made it hard for me to take this photo, because the street is lower than the house and there is a bunch of snow building up. Notice the snow machine tracks in this photo’s foreground?
I shot this photo from the roof of my Toyota 4-Runner (another 4!) in my stocking feet, so I didn’t scratch my roof .)   The photo is called a HDR, for High Dynamic Range.  Basically, you take 3 to 7 exposures and sandwich them together with a special software.  The different exposures are exposed at different exposures, above and below the “normal” exposure.  When you put them together, you end up with greater depth of field and more of the photo ends up being properly exposed.  This photo is five separate exposures.


View Larger Map

To me, this photo in very inviting.  It feels like a house you’d like to come into from the cold, doesn’t it?  It is begging for a Christmas tree with lights on. 
In the winter time, it’s hard to get a photo of the exterior of a house that is interesting.  I wanted the primary photo in the MLS to stand out from the other listed houses and that is why I took it.  

January 13, 2010

Window Blinds

Filed under: Just for fun,Life in Anchorage,Maintenance,Price & Value,Saving Money,Uncategorized — Tags: , , , — Dan @ 3:27 pm

My own house was built thirteen years ago and we’ve owned the home about eight years.  The previous owner had some of the windows covered, so my wife and I pretty much stayed with the blinds the home came with.  Some of our

Double Honeycomb window blinds

 windows don’t face into houses close-by so we didn’t make blinds a priority - and if you’ve ever looked, window blinds are pretty pricey! and, we reasoned that since the days are short, we want all the sunlight we could get.

This year, we decided to put window blinds up on the remaining windows.  We have taken to keeping the blinds closed during the day when we weren’t at home and in the evening when we go to bed.

Both my wife and I have commented how much warmer our house is when the blinds are closed!  When you lift the blinds in the morning, you can feel the cold air that has been trapped behind the honeycomb blinds that fit inside the window opening.

I suppose the main reason we purchased the blinds was for personal privacy.  This winter we’ve learned that keeping the blinds closed is really about making the home more comfortable to live in.  The home is warmer and less drafty – a bonus!

With utility costs going up all the time, window blinds definitely enhance other energy saving efforts!

January 11, 2010

Representing Estate Properties

Filed under: Life in Anchorage,Marketing,Price & Value — Tags: , — Dan @ 4:39 pm

Frozen Flag and Flowers on a winter grave

When you’ve spent the best years of your life as a real estate agent, you get to a point where some of your past clients and friends will pass away. I’ve had a couple of friends pass on in the last year. 

In one situation, a friend wrote his family instructions with details on who to call for each item he figured he’d need taken care of when he died.  Sure enough, when he passed away, I got the call from remaining family.

Another time, a friend actually put my contact information in his last will so when the day came, his family didn’t have to interview real estate agents they didn’t know.

It is with mixed feelings when I walk through a home of a client I sold the home to at the point they are actaully gone.  In my last experience, I remembered actual conversations we had as I walked into rooms.  I still remember how pleased they were when they bought the house, etc. 

When I represent the family, I still have the memory of the deceasedand often times get a real feeling that I am actually helping my old friend and client.  Hopefully, being able to take the responsibility for the sale relieves pressure from the remaining family who still is dealing with the grief from the loss of their family member.

January 7, 2010

Move Down Buyers Eligible for Tax Credit, Too!

Filed under: Financing,General Real Estate Industry News,Price & Value — Tags: , — Dan @ 1:04 pm

The addition to the real estate stimulus package that allows a $6,500 credit for people who sell their existing property and buy another has been dubbed a “move-up” program.

Cold morning three sided cabin logs

Lenders and Realtors have been pitching selling the small condo and upgrading to another home to get the tax credit.  But, let the record show, you can move up, move down or move sideways;  It doesn’t matter!  Which ever direction you move, financially, you may still qualify for the new tax credit available to current homeowners! 

The credit has too often been characterized as a credit for “move-up” home-owners.  The phrase implies that the new home must cost more than the sale price of the former one.

Even the White House Press Release on November 6th said the credit would be available to qualified home-owners who “wish to step up to a new home”, when, in fact you qualify if you change your residence smaller or larger.

January 5, 2010

New Federal Lending Disclosures

Filed under: Financing,General Real Estate Industry News,Saving Money,Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , — Dan @ 9:01 am

Effective January 1  U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development  (HUD) is requiring new forms and disclosures to people who pre-qualify for a loan.  There are new forms and requirements for a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) lenders must comply with.  The form gives you a written estimate of your proposed settlement charges and loan terms on the loan you are qualifying for.  You can use the written GFE to compare with other estimates you may get if you get if you shop more than one lender or loan type.

Pine cones on cold Anchorage morning

The required form is written very plainly & simply and should be easy for anyone to read and understand.  The good faith estimate actually has columns built into the form to allow consumers to compare ”loan one” with at least three other loan types.  You would log individual loan details such as loan amount, loan term, interest rate and other details such as whether or not the interest rate can change and at what intervals.

In addition to the new Good Faith Estimate there is a new Settlement Statement to be used when you close the loan at your real estate purchase.

The new form is still called a HUD-1, but the look is different.  There are similarities to the old HUD closing form, but is easier to read and written in a much simpler form so everyone will be able to understand the detail on the form.  The HUD-1′s purpose is to show all the costs of obtaining the loan, all the bills paid on the transaction and to re-iterate the loan program you are closing on.

There are more rules that lenders and loan closers must follow.  Lenders have been scrambling to understand the new reporting requirements which are dictated by Washington D.C. and are effective immediately.  As usual, it will take some time for everyone to understand the form and exactly how to implement it. Lenders and loan closers will interpret the new rules very strictly and cautiously as they learn to comply with Federal requirements.

At closing,  charges from repairs and other things come to the closing to be paid out of the closing.  The new form will require the bills get to the lender early and the documents be prepared early to get buyer and seller three days to review the documents prior to closing. 

Many times documents for a loan closing are being prepared as the buyers are sitting in the lobby waiting to close on their property.  In the beginning, the new forms will undoubtedly slow down a transaction as title company closers allow more time intended for buyers and sellers to review loan terms.

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