Get Ready to Garage Sale

A well-planned garage or yard sale can make room in your home, get rid of unused items and make some money but it needs some planning to be successful.

• Start early to research and plan
• Promotion is key
• Display items attractively
• Price items right
• Organize checkout

In Olympia, Fridays are generally the best day but there may be some exceptions.  Experienced garage-salers believe that a well-planned one-day event will do as well as a multi-day event.  Serious purchasers will look for the “new” sale and most people don’t come back multiple days.

Advertise in local newspapers and free online classified sites like craigslist.  If several families are going together for the sale, mention that in the ad; it will be a big draw.  Mention your bigger-ticket items like furniture, equipment and baby items. Tools are a big draw too.

Garage sale signs can be purchased or made at Staples, Fedex Office or Kwik Signs.  Signs need large lettering so they’re easy to read while people are driving. Most important info: Garage or Yard Sale, address, date and time.  Directional signs are also important.  Balloons and streamers to attract attention to the signs are very helpful.

Consider using the service Square so that you can take credit cards.  The cost is 2.75% per swipe and can be done on your smartphone or iPad.  You’ll need to sign up at least two weeks in advance to receive your reader.

Unless you’re having an estate sale, keep your home locked.  You don’t want people wandering through your home while you’re outside.  If you start to accumulate a lot of money, take some of it inside.  Don’t discuss how much money you’ve made during the sale or how successful it has been.

People will want to bargain; it’s the nature of the game.  Consider this strategy: less negotiations early in the sale and possibly, more toward the end of the sale.

Spring market “not waiting for tulips” but limited inventory frustrates homebuyers

New figures from NWMLS show year-over-year increases in pending sales, closed sales, and prices, while inventory fell by double digits.  Many brokers are city inventory levels have never been this low, in the last 20+ years.  The number of active listings in the NWMLS dropped 11% in the past year.  We saw sales at a higher pace this superbowl season, as compared to last years.

In today’s market, we often see multiple offer situations.  How can a buyer prepare to enter this market?  They must be “buyer ready” so they can react quickly.  Not only should a buyer have a firm pre-approval before they begin there search, they should have an honest and real conversation with their agent about expectations – not only of the agent, the market, as well as themselves.

US Housing Market - Booming with Millennials

In the wake of the Great Recession, lots of those millennials have been stuck either staying at home, or moving back in with their parents. As economic conditions improve, they will become more likely to strike out on their own:

That process of venturing out and forming new households may have already begun. There has been a spike recently in the rate of household formation.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/us-housing-market-2015-2#ixzz3UWaUMXXB

Did you know? Puget Sound Blood Center vs. Red Cross

The Red Cross is actively and aggressively trying to schedule blood drives in this area, even though any blood they collect will be taken out state. The Red Cross does not supply any blood to Western Washington. 100% of the blood that is supplied to hospitals in our region comes from PSBC donors.

 

To donate, go online to www.psbc.org

Despite tight inventory, Northwest MLS brokers complete more than 77,000 sales valued at nearly $28 billing during 2014

Members of Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported 77,276 closed sales during 2014 to outgain the prior year’s volume by 1,759 transactions for a 2.3 percent increase. Measured by dollars, last year’s sales of single family homes and condominiums were valued at nearly $28 billion. Compared to 2013, that dollar volume represents a 9.4 percent gain. The sales activity reflects the work of more than 22,000 brokers across 21 counties in the member-owned Northwest MLS.

Last year’s completed sales included 66,716 single family homes (about 86 percent of the total) and 10,560 condominiums. The total units and dollar volume are the best since 2007 when members registered 82,197 sales valued at $32.3 billion.

The area-wide median price for last year’s sales of single family homes and condominiums was $285,000, improving on the previous year’s figure of $270,000 (up nearly 5.6 percent). Prices for single family homes (excluding condominiums) rose about 5 percent from 2013, increasing from $281,000 to $295,000. Condo prices jumped 11.4 percent, rising from the 2013 figure of $202,000 to last year’s median selling price of $225,000.

Home buyers who shopped during 2014 often had lots of company – and competition. Brokers notched more than 102,000 pending sales (mutually accepted offers) during 2014, while adding 107,722 new listings to inventory. Brokers said depleted inventory led to bidding wars for homes in the most desirable areas, and led to disappointment for indecisive or unprepared bidders.

During 2014, the average area-wide supply, as measured by months of inventory, fell below 3.5 months. King County had the lowest level, averaging only 1.9 months of supply. Industry insiders tend to use a 4-to-6 month range as an indicator of a balanced market, favoring neither buyers nor sellers.

Further evidence of a housing recovery is reflected in high-end sales. Northwest MLS members reported 2,069 sales of single family homes priced at $1 million or more, up nearly 28 percent from the 2013 total of 1,621 “luxury” sales. Condos priced at $1 million and up accounted for another 152 sales. A total of 878 condos commanded sales prices of $500,000 or more, up 20 percent from the figure for 2013.

The highest-priced single family home that sold during 2014 by a member of Northwest MLS was a property in the Town of Hunts Point that commanded $9.1 million. Topping the chart of high-priced condominiums was one in a downtown Seattle high-rise that sold for $6.1 million.

Among other highlights in its annual compilation of statistics, Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported:

• About 46 percent of last year’s single family home sales had three bedrooms.
• The median price for a 3-bedroom home that sold in 2014 was $250,000, about 5 percent higher than the previous year’s figure of $262,500. A comparison by county shows the median price for this size home ranged from $143,500 in Pacific County to $410,000 in San Juan County.
• More than three-fourths (75.2 percent) of condos that sold had two or fewer bedrooms.
• Of the condo sales, about six of every 10 (61.9 percent) were located in King County, primarily in Seattle or on the Eastside.

Every 30 Seconds

2230 157th Lane SW, Tenino 98589 FOR SALE $269,000