Spokane's Most Expensive Listing

Have you ever wondered what the most expensive listing in Spokane looks like? Look no further.

This beautiful estate is located on Spokane's South Hill. The listing reads:

"Turn of the century rare masterpiece home designed by Kirtland Cutter. Impeccably maintained and updated in keeping with the original character. Magnificent English Gardens, city views, garage carriage house with full apartment. Original Ballroom, Fabulous family room with bowling alley and wine room. Price includes all designer furniture."

This home is listed with 7 bedrooms, 8 baths and over 20,000 square feet. If you'd like to see more photos check it out on my website at: http://josiahboone.mywindermere.com/lid33855584

You can have all of this for a price tag of only $3,250,000!

How Does a Rise in Interest Rates Impact Your Buying Power?

If you didn't already care about buying while rates are low, you probably will after reading this.

It is pretty amazing how much more you can buy for your money when rates are so low. If you qualify for a $200,000 dollar home at 5% you may want to jump on it. Later, if rates go up even a little to say 6% you will only qualify for a $179,000 purchase. That's a $21,000 difference!

Now imagine you stay in the house for 10 years and let's say the home appreciates at 5.4% per year which is the historical average. Your $200,000 home would now be worth about $338,404. Your $179,000 house would be worth about $302,871. If you want to get technical you can reduce the difference of the initial $21,000 and that still leaves you ahead by nearly $15,000 or about $1,500 per year. Not to mention you go to live in a considerably nicer home during that 10 years.

Plus, if you buy now, you may qualify for the $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit or the $6,500 home buyer tax credit.

Think about it...

10 Mistakes that Sellers Make

I love my job, I get to go out and look at homes almost every day. But it has always struck me as odd that nearly every time I do I find something on the outside or inside of the home that dramatically reduces my opinion of the value of the home.

Now, I'm pretty objective and after doing this for years I know I have become somewhat immune to the pet odor, nic-nacks, dirty carpets, and other things that ruin the impression and value of a home. But what about the buyer that I'm showing the home too?

I know from personal experience that anything I see, smell or otherwise notice my buyer is noticing 10 fold. After all, this could be the house they ultimately end up living in, raising their family in, retiring in.....you get the point.

In this video you'll see 10 common mistakes that sellers make and why you should avoid them. If you won't do it for yourself, and ultimately your bottom line will you do it for me? Please!

Buying Real Estate - Putting it All Together

An old friend emailed me out of the blue today. His email read,

"Good morning Josiah. How were your Holidays? My girlfriend and I are going to start looking for a house. Our lease is up in May and we would like to have an idea of what we want by that time…possibly even buy if we can find the right home."

It went on to say, "We are both first time home buyers, so this is new to both of us." And, "Where do we go from here?"

What a good question, "where do we go from here?" Well I recommend that you get in contact with your Realtor. If you don't have one, find one. You want someone that you trust, someone that values your business but does not necessarily need it.

Your Realtor should be an excellent source of information for you, should help you arrange your financing, help you locate a home, negotiate a fair or better-than-fair price for you, and guide you through the process of finalizing the home sale.

This video will help you understand a little bit more about the home buying process and what your Realtor will do for you.

For current, up-to-the-minute listings, current mortgage rates, mortgage qualifier tool and more visit my website www.josiahboone.com. If you have any questions leave a comment, email, call, or IM me, I'm always hear to help!

Sell in the winter? Isn't spring the best time to sell? Maybe not in 2010!

Many of the clients I work with have the idea that you should wait until spring to sell. After all, the house looks nicer with fresh-cut green lawn, nice flowers and sun outside. Plus, what buyer is going to be out looking for a home on a cold rainy or snowy day in Spokane?

This year home buyers in Spokane are seeing an almost perfect confluence of fair prices, low mortgage rates, a fair amount of inventory to choose from, combined with some incredible government programs designed to stimulate the economy (see my post from December 30th) that end on April 30th.

You say, "Great Josiah, what does that mean to me? Did you forget...I'm SELLING my house?" No, I didn't forget that you're SELLING. What you need to understand is that most home buyers out there are well aware of the great opportunity they have and will be out shopping very soon, if not already. They don't want to miss out on the government programs that are set to end, nor do they want to miss out on the other opportunities.

Let's do the math, it is the beginning of January homes are selling in about 90 days. That means if you put your home on the market today at fair market value it would likely sell by the end of March or early April. If you wait until spring it will likely be too late for the influx of home buyers to take advantage of the great opportunities!

And by the way, let's not forget, normally when you sell you're looking for a new place to buy as well. Why not take advantage of the same opportunities that the buyer of your home will? It's a win-win!