The Real Estate Blog by Cari McGee

Did you ever stop to wonder how smoke detectors work? Every house needs at least one. Even in the very oldest homes, that were built before it became the law, one is recommended for each bedroom and in the hall leading to the bedrooms. Sometimes I’ll sell a house without a smoke detector, and we don’t even think about it until the inspector points out that there isn’t one in the house. They cost less than ten dollars and can save your life.

I’ve written countless posts around this article about Tri-Cities home sales, and I keep deleting them. They’re kind of all over the map in this- Business is great, but business is down. People here are worried about gas and food prices, and jobs at Hanford, but everything here is peachy keen and it’s a great time to buy. Which is it? Answer - truly, we’re riding a hiring wave, so it is a very good time to buy if it makes sense for YOU and your life picture.
These guys are building green in a really cool way.

Sometimes when I’m out showing houses, people want to, well, use the facilities. That’s fine when there’s running water in the house - but if I’m showing a vacant, winterized house, we’ve got a problem. Not any more - I’m bookmarking this site for the future.
And, finally, the McGee household was all atwitter this week, as my husband joined the social media extravaganza that is Twitter. If you’re on it as well, follow him - the faster he gets to 500 followers, the faster $1000 goes to the AWF!

That’s all for now. I’m offline next week (quelle horror!), so no posts for a while.

Night!

People who are relocating here always ask me how much they can expect to pay for their utilities. My husband pays the bills, so I don’t know.

Well didn’t know until I asked. Here’s what he told me -

Water base rate: $34/month
Water consumption: anywhere from $5/month (winter) to $75/month (summer)
(Add the base and consumption together for total water bill)

Trash: $16/month

Electricity (winter): $225/month on average
Electricity (summer): $175/month on average
These numbers are for a four-person household, in a fifteen-year-old house in West Richland. Like with any figure estimate, your mileage will vary.

The local news recently detailed why we pay less than many areas around the country. It’s all the water - hydropower, my friends. Cheap, plentiful and renewable. Excellent!

What a fantastic weekend, weather-wise! In the 70’s, blue skies studded with puffy-white clouds. Perfect property-showing weather.

Look, look!  Move into your new house and decorate it with this groovy stuff!

The age-old question (no, not THAT one!) - buy or rent?  Looks like renters will pay a pretty penny here AND in the Seattle area, as occupancy rates are up all over.

I loved Sleepless in Seattle (who didn’t?), and now I could own a piece of film history.  The houseboat where the Baldwins lived in the movie is up for sale.  Here’s the thing - buying a houseboat is like buying a manufactured home on a rented lot.  The big value in any home purchase is the land you purchase that the home sit upon.  When you buy a houseboat - no land there.  But, over in Seattle, you get views and convenient access to the water (obviously), and in this particular case - you get a great stage upon which to recite oft-quoted lines and re-enact your favorite scenes!

This guy is my son’s hero.  You may recall we’re not WASL fans in our house. The kids in our schools just finished their testing for this year.  I kept urging my son to incorporate something about fashion into the writing portion of the exam.  He didn’t.  Some kids just don’t listen, I guess!

I have a client searching for the perfect house for her, her family, and her dog. We recently discussed the offer process…
“How much less do I offer?” she asked me.

Red flags waved in front of my eyes - “What do you mean?” I asked.

“What’s the number less I offer?” she queried. ” Do we always offer a set amount off, like five or ten thousand dollars, or do we use a percentage, like 3% or 10%?”

I shook my head and said, “Sometimes we offer full price. Sometimes we should offer less, if it’s overpriced, and sometimes, in a multiple offer situation, we might wind up offering more. If we always offer, say 10% off of asking with every house you like, you’re going to lose a lot of houses, because that’s not the way it works. Some houses will sell for more, some will sell for less, but we cannot make a blanket policy to always offer a certain amount off.”

She understood, because she’s a reasonable woman, and we discussed earnest money, terms and conditions, inspections, etc.

I know, that in the somewhat recession-proof Tri-Cities, we still have access to news from all over. And in many places in America, there are housing markets that demand a lower offering price, because there are desperate sellers. We’re not one of them.

Buying a house can be a numbers game, and I know that for some people, the bottom line is the only one that matters. But I see my role as not just a negotiator, not just an allay, not just a salesperson, but I’ve got knowledge I want to share. What does that make me? A teacher?

In the Tri-Cities we offer what the house is worth, according the market data.  We don’t automatically discount because we think we should, or because that’s what they’re doing elsewhere.

Some of these houses I understand their inclusion on the list of just awesomely bad celebrity homes, but some aren’t all that bad!

One day I’ll post a picture of the ‘luncheon china’ I inherited from my paternal grandmother. Imagine a time in America’s not-too-distant past when one invited other women over for lunch (not hastily gobbled at a restaurant in the prescribed sixty minutes, or nibbled upon while standing up at the breakfast bar while refereeing your children’s ardent Yahtzee! game out of one eye and reading the paper with the other) and you had china specifically for that purpose. Much like that concept is foreign to the modern entertainer, the foods they served on the last meal on the Titanic are as well. Vegetable Marrow Farci, anyone??

The weather this week has been nutty - in the 80’s a week ago today, freeze warnings for the orchardists for the past couple of nights. Makes me think of the hazy, lazy (?ha! not anymore, now that I’m a grown up!) days of summer and the Tri-Cities Water Follies and the very cool Columbia Cup races. Every Tri-Citian should attend at least once.

That’s all for now - have a great week!