New www.JimBiava.com with Blog and more!

Thank you for reading my blog. I hope you found something interesting and learned something from them. My new blog can be found on my new and improved www.JimBiava.com. There you will find lots of really good information. Check it out and if you like it or not please let me know. I value you opinions.

A Positive Step Forward with RSVP Real Estate

After 37 years and over 400 closed transactions I still find innovation and new ideas exciting and paramount in representing the interests of those people that I am honored to help find or sell their homes. The real estate market and marketing is constantly evolving. Keeping up with the cutting edge tools is important in helping my customers. This includes the latest technological tools.

RSVP Real Estate shares that belief and therefore I am now part of that team.

Seattle Magazine has named RSVP Real Estate a "5-Star Best of Seattle" brokerage in their magazine. We are honored to be recognized in this manner because we were nominated by recent home buyers and sellers for this award. Additionally, we were listed as one of the top real estate brokerages in the Puget Sound area by the Puget Sound Business Journal.

I am excited about the change. Using the new tools available to better serve those who want the latest technology coupled with the experience and personal touch that I provide is exhilarating.  The technology includes market updates and other information you need to keep up with the local real estate market. Therefore please send an email to me so I have your email address. I promise not to send ‘junk mail’ or provide your email to anyone else. Saving some trees in the process is a benefit to use all.

Feel free to contact me at jim@jimbiava.com. My new website is under construction and I will announce it once it is available. Thank you.”

Now That's a Recovery!

Wow the local real estate market has come roaring back! One look at the current stats that came out last week shows the market is back to the same supply and demand levels of 2006. Below are the comparisons of the market trend from 2006, which was the busiest time with little supply and high demand, and the current stats.

I see the demand staying high because of the amount of people that have put off buying when the market was so uncertain. The supply will be challenged by the demand because back in 2006 there was lots of new construction vs now when builders are just starting to build again. Notice the new listings which is the blue line on the graph. The supply of listings is also down tightening the market that much more. Conclusion is we need inventory and if you are planning on moving in the near future you might want to think about selling now when demand is high and supply is tight. Call me if you want to more specific details on your home.

Check out the market trends below and let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

We’re #5! We’re #5!

The latest statistics mirrors what I’ve been tracking locally about the housing demand and the supply of homes available. I see this continuing because the economy has been steadily improving. Five years ago the housing market, as well as the economy in general, was at the precipice of a much bigger fall. The latest consumer confidence index is rising and Americans spent more in the last quarter than any one quarter since the 2^nd Great Depression started back in Spring of 2007.

Here is the link to the report:

Realtor Mag: Top 10 ‘Turnaround’ Housing Markets

The Silent (?) Killer

This post is not about local real estate but another matter of significant importance to me and should be important to some of you too.

My Dad passed away last week. Part of what got him was untreated sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is something that is not to be ignored. More people have it and don’t do anything about it. I know I am one of those people who didn’t think it is/was a big deal and ignored it for many years. Luckily I learned from my Dad’s misfortune because when he was in the hospital last March for a couple weeks I saw firsthand what it does. I knew that I had to use a cpap machine. I’ve tried several times over the last 10 years and just couldn’t get used to it. I tried using a different mask called a “sleep pillow”. It is very easy to use and learned that my cpap is my friend. It is not that difficult to use. Some people just blow sleep apnea off as loud snoring and that is so wrong. If you are a snorer or if your significant other notice if you are holding your breath or breathing very shallow IF SO HAVE IT CHECKED OUT! It is not something you will win. It is a silent killer to the person with sleep apnea. To the person’s bedmate it is snoring then waiting while the person holds their breath to finally take a breath. Seriously if you snore at least mention it to your doctor. And guys don’t be too macho to mention it like it can’t affect you because the grim reaper doesn’t speak macho.

 Rest in Peace Dad.

Are We Back to the Future in Local Real Estate?

When the statistics came out last week for the month of September something jumped out right away. The graphs below are for single family homes in West Seattle. One graph covers February 2006 through July 2007. The height of the market occurred in 2006. March of 2006 had only 232 homes available (supply) and 200 pending sales (demand).

Contrast those numbers with August 2010 which had the most homes on the market (supply) at 655 active listings and  only 89 pending sales ).

Now check out the latest stats which include May 2011 through September 2012.. Notice the months of February, March, April, and December of 2006 along with January of 2007 look a lot like the last 3 months of July, August, and September of 2012.

It’s Time for Americans to “Wake the F*#@ Up!"

The housing industry is the engine that drives the economy. It has long ripple effect which benefits millions of other jobs. When people have more income they spend it. They go buy new shoes, they go out to dinner, buy furniture, appliances, roofing, and on and on. Don’t forget that the shoe salesperson, the furniture manufacturer and delivery drivers also prosper. Add into that group the companies that make the products have employees with families to feed. Their suppliers are another level of industry. The waiter/waitress makes more for their family and the ripple effect continues to drive the economic engine. Without home ownership this ripple effect stops and the economy stalls, homeowners lose equity (money) from decreased value.

The home mortgage interest deduction is an important tax deduction for millions of homeowners. Let’s look at some real numbers for real people. An average home here in Seattle is approximately $400,000. Let’s look at the savings for the homeowner who is financing 80% of the home at a 30 year loan with a fixed interest rate of 4% in the 28% tax bracket. To figure out how much this means to the middle class our example looks like this: $400,000 x .04 = $16,000 in interest deduction per year.  The property taxes are also deductible and in our example the tax on that home would be in the range of $4,000. Therefore the homeowner can deduct the $16,000 + $4,000 = $20,000 total income deduction  Now take 28% of $20,000  deduction and the homeowner receives an annual tax savings of $5,600 which is $466 per month into that middle class’s family pocket. And we all know that money will be spent on consumer goods.

The Defense Department’s budget is $800 billion to $1 trillion per year to support 700 military bases around the world. Each week we spend $2 billion just for the two wars. For every dollar that you send in for your income tax 53 cents (53%) of it goes to the military. This doesn’t include money for the CIA.

To put millions, billions, and trillions into perspective consider this. If you spent $100,000 per day it would take you 10 days to spend a $1 million, 27 years to spend a $1 billion, and 27,000 years to spend a $1 trillion.

Any proposal by any political party that calls for the elimination of the mortgage interest deduction which saves middle class taxpayers about $80 billion per year and bolsters the economy should not be supported. There are many more avenues to achieve fiscal stability, we still give hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks for huge multinational companies, there is massive waste documented in the pentagon budget.  The people at the top are raking in more money; the people on the bottom are getting poorer, when more of our brothers and sisters are living in tent cities, then leave the middle class alone! Regardless which political philosophy one choses to quote Samuel L. Jackson in a new video regarding the election, it is time for Americans to “Wake the f*#@ up!