Kitsap County • April 7, 2012

What’s Up With Kitsap County Property Taxes

by Dave Jones

Were you surprised when you received your 2012 property tax bill in February? If you lived in Central Kitsap your assessed value may have dropped another eight percent while your taxes increased six percent.

Why? Chalk that up to the passing of several referendums last year by us, the voters. But if you believe your tax bill is incorrect you can appeal your assessment to the Board of Equalization. Click here and you’ll be connected to information about the appeal process.

This is time sensitive and the clock is running!

Local real estate trends • April 6, 2012

More Foreclosures Coming This Summer?

by Dave Jones

Information I’ve been reading over the past week suggests there may be an increase of foreclosed properties that will be listed in late Spring or early Summer this year. The easy answer is banks holding the mortgages have been cleared of the signing fiasco so these houses can be brought to market.

What’s important is potential sellers need to take this into consideration regarding their timing and pricing if they plan to list their house for sale this year. This could also be a plus for potential buyers if they don’t have a problem making repairs.

Check with your local Title Insurer or Escrow company since they usually watch for these trends since it affects their business.

Remodeling information • April 3, 2012

Remodeling Websites

by Dave Jones

Here are two websites which may provide helpful information if you’re considering remodeling projects for your home. Click here to see comparisons between cost and value for 35 remodeling projects. Then click here to get some general information about home remodeling.

Uncategorized • March 30, 2012

Supreme Court Proceedings

by Dave Jones

I usually don’t blog politics so I’ll address the general procedure The Court follows when in session.

The justices meet each Friday to discuss cases they’ve heard that week and informally take a vote. The senior justice of the majority side selects who will write the majority opinion. Likewise, the senior justice of the minority side decides who will write the minority opinion. The junior justice takes the notes. The decision is provided to each justice but not publicly released until sometime in the future. Any justice can change their vote at any time prior to the decision being made public. Only the justices and their law clerks know the vote tally and do not “leak” information.

I understand that oral arguments heard this week will probably be made public no earlier than the last week of June 2012.

National real estate trends • March 29, 2012

Inexpensive Home Repairs

by Dave Jones

It’s that time of the year to make home improvements whether just to make repairs or in preparation for placing a house on the market to sell. It also seems that frugality is at the top of this year’s list, e.g. replacing the front door.

Here is a list in no specific order which can be done by the homeowner(s) or contractor:

Replace the front door
Exterior painting (house, fence, detached garage, gazebo, etc.)
Cleanup of the yard and beds with new plants and beauty bark
Prune any overhanging or encroaching trees or shrubs
Interior painting
Carpet cleaning
Replacing outlet covers and floor louvres
Replacing cabinet and closet fixtures

As I said many of these jobs are do-it-yourselfers and can be accomplished in a month of weekends.

Finance • March 28, 2012

Refinancing and the Mortgage Interest Deduction

by Dave Jones

If you own a home and are itemizing your tax deductions on Schedule A, you’re probably deducting your mortgage interest (referred to as the mortgage interest deduction).

But did you know that you’re only allowed to deduct “acquisition interest?” Let me explain. The tax code only allows us to deduct mortgage interest incident to a purchase (called acquisition interest). The point is that if a homeowner refinances and takes out equity, the additional interest cannot be deducted.

For example, the initial mortgage of $100,000.00 is subsequently paid down to $90,000.00 and refinanced to $100,000.00. Only $90,000.00 of mortgage interest may be deducted on Schedule A (the remaining portion of the acquisition interest).

Our tax code is constantly being revised so you should always check with your accountant to ensure you’re complying with the current rules.

Market statistics • March 22, 2012

Kitsap County’s Absorption Rate Defined

by Dave Jones

Absorption rate is defined as the time needed for the market to consume the existing inventory of homes for sale. I compute absorption rate weekly by dividing the total number of active listings for an area (or neighborhood, or style of home) by the number of closed sales for that particular week. I compare this with the number of newly pended homes for that week.

I believe absorption rate is much more sensitive to changing market conditions than any of the other indicators. And using this calculation I can generally predict a change within three to four weeks of its occurance.

Absorption lets us know what’s happening in our markets today.

Certified Residential Specialist • March 20, 2012

Why You Want a Certified Residential Specialist (CRS)

by Dave Jones

Less than five percent of all Realtors@ throughout the United States take the time to earn the Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) designation. It’s recognized as the top professional designation for residential real estate. CRSs are involved in 26% of all residential real estate transactions in the United States (and have been for many years).

Don’t you want the best for you and your family when involved in a real estate transaction?

Info from NAR • March 18, 2012

Transfer Fees No Longer Allowed

by Dave Jones

On Thursday (March 15, 2012) the National Association of Realtors@ (NAR) announced that transfer fees were being disallowed from this point on. Transfer fees were being used by city, county and state governments to generate addidional income for government spending by increasing the price of a home sale by a percentage of the sales price.

Finance • March 15, 2012

$25 Billion Payout

by Dave Jones

It’s been about two weeks since the States Attorneys General from several states have reached agreement with the five lending institutions (led by Bank of America) to help “underwater owners” with their financial ills. The further we get, the more likely we will be to receive specifics of the “deal.”

Regardless, these lending institutions are still liable for criminal charges according to the latest information from The Wall Street Journal for March 12, 2012.