This is just to serve as a public announcement and general way of not being able to deny that I am making the commitment to improve my business. While I am a great Realtor® according to my clients both current and past I know that I can do better. The thing I can improve on is my lead generation. By meeting more people who need or want to buy and sell real estate in Tacoma I can help more people and improve my skills with each transaction.

On Bloodhound Blog (a national real estate blog) there have been a lot of discussions recently about being accountable and actually working 40 hours a week. The posts have hit a nerve with me and I have committed to prospecting six or more hours a day 5 or more days a week for the next 120 days. Between today September 1st. 2010 and December 31st. 2010 I will be sharing my experiences both the successes and the shortcomings on Classic Homes Northwest. Since this is not a site designed to be a site about me I have created a page that if you are interested you can visit without having it be the first thing you see each time you visit the site.

The page where I will be updating my efforts can be found here. You can also find it in the sidebar.

As potential clients of my services you will benefit from the increased focus on prospecting and the increased business it will generate. How? by working with a focused and driven to succeed Realtor® you can be comfortable that your needs will be the priority. The efforts that will be put in on your behalf will be focused on exactly what you want and need. This laser like focus will make the whole process easier and better for you the client. I look forward to talking with you soon.

I was holding an open house yesterday and as usual I had a fair number of people come through to take a look at the house. I find that open houses are great excuses for the neighborhood to stop by and look at what their neighbors house looks like. I also find that a lot of people are out driving around and stop by simply because there are signs on the side of the road saying Open House.

In any case many people are asking questions when they visit an open house and I thought it would be interesting to post some of the questions and my responses here for others to read.

The first question in our conversations about real estate is: What types of homes are you selling right now?

Interesting question and it made me think and do a bit of math in my head before I could really begin to answer it correctly. My initial reaction would be to say I am selling bank owned and short sales to buyers right now. This in my specific case is not accurate for 2010. This year in the transactions where I have represented the buyer  85% of my transactions have actually had a individual seller on the other side. Now in a few cases the seller lost money but they were able to cover the loss by writing a check at the closing table.

Of the transactions that are scheduled to close in the next 30 days I am representing buyers who in 100% of the transactions will be buying directly from sellers. With these specific transactions all of them are sellers who are selling former rental properties. I am not sure why they have decided to liquidate their rental holdings at this time.

One other generalization I would of made when asked What types of homes am I selling? is that I was selling homes to first time home buyers. In 2010 I have sold NO homes to true first time home buyers. In a couple of cases one of the buyers in the transaction is a first time buyer but the other party has owned one or more homes in the past. When I put some thought into this I was still surprised as in 2009 almost 80% of my business was true first time home buyers. In the transactions I have closing in the next 30 days I do have one true first time home buyer buying a home. The others are all past home owners.

I find this very interesting that in the local Tacoma Pierce County market that my business has been to non first time home buyers. I hope that this is a sign that the local market is getting stronger and that given the prices and the amazing interest rates that we will finish 2010 on a strong note.

I currently have 7 listings active and they are all being sold by individuals who for one reason or another have decided to sell the properties now. I have not tried for bank owned listings or short sales as ways of obtaining listings. I have been having conversations with another real estate agent and I believe that I will begin to work on obtaining bank owned listings in the very near future. This of course will change my statistics.

Like any good conversation when asked a particularly direct question the answers are often different than one would answer without giving it any thought. For me this was a particularly good exercise as it really put in focus the specifics of who I am doing business with right now. I would of mistakenly answered I am selling homes to first time home buyers! if I would of not given a few moments to reflect on the actual facts of my business before answering.

I will keep posting the conversations as they happen. If something is interesting I will share it here. If you have any questions you would like answered about real estate in general or buying a home in Tacoma or selling a home in Tacoma please feel free to ask. I will take a moment and actually give you an accurate answer based on my actual experiences.

The State of Washington is offering Property Tax deferral for the October billing.

Homeowners on limited incomes can apply to defer paying their second half property taxes due Oct. 31.

The application deadline is Sept. 1. First-half taxes that were due April 30 must have been paid.

Applicants must have an annual household income of $57,000 or less in 2009, have owned the home for at least five years, use it as their primary residence, and have sufficient equity.  Deferred taxes cannot exceed 40 percent of equity.

The deferred taxes must be repaid, with interest, when the property is sold or no longer used as the homeowner’s primary residence.  The interest rate is 3 percent for 2010.

For more information, see the Department’s publication Property Tax Deferral for Homeowners with Limited Income, call 360-570-5900, or contact your county assessor.