This Sunday, November 11, is Veterans Day – a special day set aside to honor those who have served our country through the armed forces. Here at Windermere, we are very blessed to work with many Veterans, as real estate agents, clients, and members of the communities we serve. We would love to hear your stories about the Veterans you have in your life and how you will be honoring them this weekend.
To our Veterans, thank you for your service and dedication. We are proud to work alongside you.
When we work together, we truly can make a huge difference in the lives of our neighbors!
Ten of our offices in the greater Seattle area team up every year for fundraising and giving. This year they exceeded everyone’s expectations, giving $140,000 to organizations and programs that benefit low-income and homeless families in their local communities. Here are some of the organizations they supported this year:
Kirkland Interfaith Transitions in Housing
Shoes from Santa
A special congratulations to the Bellevue West, Bellevue, Bellevue Commons, Bellevue South, Issaquah, Kirkland Central, Kirkland NE, Redmond, Woodinville and Yarrow Bay Windermere offices for the great work you did this year!
If you have purchased or sold your home through Windermere, you are a part of the Windermere Foundation. Each of our offices raises funds through transaction donations, fundraising efforts, and personal contributions. The funds they raise go back to their communities, to benefit local nonprofit organizations and programs that support low-income and homeless families. We are starting a new series to highlight the organizations and programs that benefit from the Windermere Foundation. If you have a story you would like to share, email foundation@windermere.com. Or you can donate at www.windermereandyou.org.
It is storm season, and between British Columbia earthquakes, Hawaiian Island tsunamis and East Coast “Frankenstorms”, it is time to take a few minutes to think about storm preparedness and making sure you and your home are as ready as possible for whatever nature throws your way this fall and winter.
Over the next few weeks we will share some valuable tips on preventive home maintenance, disaster preparedness and post-winter storm cleanup.
Preventive home maintenance:
Control where the water goes. Water in the wrong place can do a whole lot of damage. Start by ensuring your gutters and downspouts are doing their job. Don’t attempt this task yourself if you have a multi-story house with a deep roof; hire a professional instead. Your gutter maintenance will depend on your property. If you have tall trees nearby that can drop needles or leaves, you will want to check your gutters quarterly.
First, make sure your gutters are secured, flush to the roof. Repair or replace sagging and broken portions of the gutters. Then clean out your gutters and downspouts, checking that outlet strainers are in good shape and firmly in place. Finally, ensure that your downspouts direct water away from the house, not straight into the foundation. You may want to consider gutter/downspout extensions to redirect water away from your foundation.
If you have a sump pump under your home, test it. Run a hose to be sure draining water travels directly to the pump (dig small trenches if needed), and that the pump removes the water efficiently and expels it well away from the house.
Check your roof, doors and windows. Now that the rain has started again, check your roof for any leaks. Check the underside, looking for moisture on joints or insulation. You can mark any damp spots and have a professional come out and repair any leaks. Don’t wait for wet spots to appear on the ceiling; the damage will be much more expensive if the insulation and dry wall is soaked. Waiting can also lead to larger problems such as mold, a health hazard.
Also check your windows and doors to ensure they are properly sealed. If you feel any drafts, isolate the location using the match trick. You may want to use silicon to repair any gaps between the frame and wall, or if the window itself is drafty you can use weather stripping. With doors, you may want to use weather stripping, or if you have a large gap at the bottom of your door, a draft dodger may be a simple solution.
Maintaining your heating and cooling systems. Fall is a smart time to have your home’s heating and air-conditioning systems checked and tuned up if necessary. Don’t wait for extreme temperatures to arrive, when service companies are slammed with emergency calls. Between maintenance calls, keep your system performing optimally by cleaning and/or replacing air filters.
If you have a wood-burning fireplace, a professional inspection and cleaning will help prevent potentially lethal chimney fires and carbon monoxide poisoning. Even if you don’t use your fireplace often, always keep a supply of dry firewood or sawdust composite logs so you have a backup source of heat in case of an emergency.
Next week we will have more information about preparing your family and your home for winter storms, from power outages to natural disasters.
Last Friday, Windermere offices in California, Nevada, and Arizona took some time off from selling houses to make a big difference in their communities. Over the past week, we have heard some remarkable stories about the rewards of volunteering as a part of our annual Community Service Day.
Southern California
Windermere Downtown San Diego spent the day at the Gary and Mary West Senior Center. Agents and owners worked together to serve more than 600 senior residents lunch, as well as an additional 200 lunches for home delivery; they also organized other fun activities throughout the day.
“We hope to continue to inspire by example the tradition of donating and volunteering in our community where we live and work.”
-Francine Finn, Windermere Owner, Downtown San Diego
Northern California
This year, the Windermere Clayton, Diablo, and Bay Area offices teamed up to help the Boys and Girls Club of Diablo Valley. All three offices worked together to help clean and restore the center.
Nevada
Windermere Offices in Henderson, Anthem Hills, and Lake Las Vegas teamed up to make a big difference for local elementary students at the Twin Lakes Elementary School in Las Vegas. Agents and staff spent the day cleaning up the school, including refreshing interior doors with new paint. The offices also elected to donate more than 725 new pairs of shoes to the students, most of who are on assistance programs.
Arizona
Windermere Prescott has spent the last few weeks collecting warm winter clothing, and spent their community service day packing up jackets and blankets to help local families stay warm for the winter.
And the Winners of the Photo Contest are…
Last week we also announced that each office that posted a photo on the Windermere Real Estate Facebook page would be entered in a “Photo Challenge”. The following offices participated and have earned a $100 donation to their Foundation fund:
Arizona:
Prescott
California:
· Clayton
· El Sobrante
· Walnut Creek
· Diablo
· Bay Area
Nevada:
· Lake Las Vegas
· Henderson
· Anthem Hills)
The office with the most “likes” on their photo won an additional $1,000 donation benefiting their Windermere Foundation fund which supports low-income and homeless families.
The winners of this contest are our Northern California group! Windermere offices in Clayton, Diablo, and the Bay Area all worked together to encourage agents, friends and clients to vote, collecting 170 “votes” on their photo
Congratulations to all our Windermere offices for the great Community Service Day!
You can see more photos from Community Service Day at www.facebook.com/WindermereRealEstate and a complete list of projects here.
Greetings from the Windermere Foundation,
Thanks to you and the wonderful support the Windermere Foundation has received so far this year, we have raised over $885,000 – up 13% from this time last year! Funds raised will be distributed to qualifying social service organizations dedicated to serving low-income and homeless families throughout the western U.S.
Our amazing agents, staff, and owners, along with public supporters, continue to generously contribute both time and money to the Foundation.
Here are a few of the great programs that recently received Foundation support:
Friends of the Children of King County received funds from the Seattle-Oak Tree office. Friends of the Children supports the most at-risk youth in its community to help them shape a secure future by giving them skills necessary to become successful and productive members of society. They are the only youth development program in the country breaking the cycle of poverty and violence by selecting the most vulnerable children in kindergarten, and making a 12 year “no matter what” commitment to their success through high school graduation. This bond helps uncover the child’s potential and builds a lifelong foundation for success through friendship, education and advocacy.
Assistance League of Everett received much-needed support for their Operation School Bell program which provides new school clothing to low-income students grades K to 12, throughout Snohomish County.
“In the fourth year of the longest and deepest recession in 70 years, the demand for new school clothing for low-income students is almost without precedent. Last year, and in response to a record level of need, we served 2,958 students through the traditional In-facility program and another 802 through the innovative and highly effective Teen Retail program.”
– Assistance League
Backpack Projects
Thank you to all of the offices that helped get backpacks to low-income children this fall.
“We are grateful for your support of Readiness to Learn Foundation’s ‘Back to School Project!’ Thanks to you and other community members, we are able to provide children with a sound start to their school year. Your donation will be used to fund this important program that allows children to start school with new backpacks, supplies and clothing gift cards. Thank you for helping ensure that children begin the school year with a solid foundation!”
– Readiness to Learn Foundation
As always, thank you for your continued support of the Windermere Foundation. Many homeless and low-income families are receiving basic necessities because of your commitment to helping others.
Best,
Christine Wood
Windermere Foundation
Want to read more news about the Foundation?
Become a fan on Facebook to learn and share your stories about all the amazing things the Foundation is doing throughout the year.
On Friday, October 19th, Windermere offices in Arizona, California, and Nevada will be closed for a very special reason. For the past 28 years, Windermere has dedicated the third Friday of October to our annual Community Service Day*. On that day, you will find our team doing a variety of projects, including cleaning, landscaping, and painting at local community centers and schools, collecting coats for low-income and homeless families and working with local nonprofit organizations to ensure kids in our communities are getting the resources they need.
This year we want to do a little bit more. For each office that posts their Community Service Day photographs and videos on the Windermere Real Estate Facebook page, (www.facebook.com/WindermereRealEstate) the Windermere Foundation will donate $100 dollars to that office’s Foundation fund, to benefit low-income and homeless families. We encourage you to “like” your local offices Facebook page, as well as your favorite Community Service Day photos. The office with the most photo/video “likes” and comments will receive a $1,000 donation for the Windermere Foundation charity of their choice. The contest will end next Wednesday, October 24th.
*Windermere’s Northwest offices hold their Community Service Day in June
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Arizona |
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Prescott |
"Warm for Winter Coat Drive" |
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Prescott Valley |
"Warm for Winter Coat Drive" |
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Scottsdale |
"Warm for Winter Coat Drive" |
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California |
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Clayton |
The Boys & Girls Club in Martinez |
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El Sobrante |
The El Sobrante Boys & Girls Club |
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San Diego- Downtown |
Food drive and serving lunches to more than 600 seniors |
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Santa Rosa |
Habitat for Humanity |
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Walnut Creek |
The Boys & Girls Club in Martinez |
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Walnut Creek- Diablo Realty |
The Boys & Girls Club in Martinez |
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Windsor |
Habitat for Humanity |
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Yucca Valley |
Rotary- redecorate Child Protective Services receiving room |
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Nevada |
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Henderson- Anthem Hills |
YMCA of Southern Nevada & The Twin Lakes Elementary School |
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Lake Las Vegas |
YMCA of Southern Nevada & The Twin Lakes Elementary School |
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Las Vegas- Henderson |
YMCA of Southern Nevada & The Twin Lakes Elementary School |
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Services Nevada |
YMCA of Southern Nevada & The Twin Lakes Elementary School |
Firstly, let’s get a little scholarly and break down the job numbers that came out last week:
These figures drew a ton of attention in the media because, on the surface, they were rather bullish! The good news, according to the report, was that the U.S. created 114,000 new jobs in September. Furthermore, the data for August was revised to show that, rather than the employment base expanding by 94,000 jobs, the actual figure was 142,000 jobs. What was even more astounding, however, was that the unemployment rate was slashed from 8.1% to 7.8%!
So what the heck is going on here?
I am not going to comment on potential conspiracy theories about the “books being cooked” because it insults the economic process that I am closely linked to. Rather, I’m going to focus on how the data is gathered. The government does this in two ways. The first is the household survey (a.k.a. Current Population Survey) and the second is the Current Employment Statistics survey – also known as the payroll survey. One calculates the unemployment rate, while the other calculates the number of jobs created in a certain timeframe.
The household survey is a monthly sample survey of approximately 60,000 households, while the C.E.S. survey is far larger and addresses 141,000 business and government agencies that cover approximately 486,000 establishments (or businesses).
According to the latest household survey, the number of employed adults increased by a whopping 873,000, while the number of adults saying they are either unemployed or looking for work increased by 418,000. The number of unemployed workers fell 456,000 and, therefore, the unemployment rate fell 0.3 percentage points to 7.8%. Much of this was due to the number of part-time workers that soared by 582,000. The payroll survey, however, increased by just 114,000 – the reported figure in the jobs report.
As an aside, it was also pleasing to see that there was a large decrease (-206,000) in unemployment among 20- to 24-year-olds. I am sure that there are a few readers of this blog who have children living back at home after having graduated from college. Hopefully these numbers are an indication that they will be headed off soon!
So what does this all mean? Well, my take on it is that the market continues to exhibit growth in jobs, but I suspect we will see some major revisions to these numbers as we head into the winter. That said, at this point, the glass is certainly half full.
The decision to buy a home rests on many factors. In addition to the obvious ones – the ability to qualify for a loan, finding a home that you want to buy, seeing a housing market that is either stable or starting to appreciate – we need confidence in the economy and, specifically, the job market. During the past couple of years, we haven’t had this confidence but that is starting to change. Our confidence in the job market is improving and, therefore, our consideration of buying a major asset, such as a home, has started to improve as well.
My belief in this statement is supported by home sales data from many parts of the country that continues to exhibit stability – albeit with woefully low levels of inventory – and modest increases in home values.
Confidence appears to be returning and this, in turn, is likely to become self-perpetuating. One month’s data is insufficient to state that all is better now, but improving job numbers are key to confidence, and confidence is key when it comes to the housing market.
Today the WAV Group, one of the largest real estate consulting firms in the nation, published the results of an independent study that compared listing information on real estate brokerage websites like Windermere.com with those of national real estate portals, such as Zillow and Trulia. The study focused on 11 major markets and found that local real estate brokerage websites have the most complete, accurate, and up-to-date information about homes for sale.
You can read more about the study here. The study’s main findings included:
– Local real estate brokerage sites display 100% of the agent-listed homes for sale compared to about 80% for the national portal sites.
– Local real estate brokerage sites show newly listed homes for sale seven to nine days earlier than national portals.
– Local real estate brokerage sites almost never show a home listing as active that has already sold; about 36% of listings that appear as active on national portals are no longer for sale.
So what does this mean for home buyers and sellers? It means that local real estate brokerage websites like Windermere.com are your best bet for the most complete and accurate information about homes that are for sale. To learn more about the differences between local real estate brokerage websites and national portals, and how it impacts buyers and sellers, please see the WAV Group study.
OB Jacobi is the president of Windermere Real Estate. For more information please visit www.Windermere.com.
On Friday, October 5, Windermere’s Redding office will host its first annual Fashion Show and Fundraiser at the WinRiver Casino. The net proceeds raised will go to the local Make-A-Wish and Wings of Angels Foundations. Funds will be used to raise awareness about cancer and other illnesses, as well as to celebrate the strength of the area’s young survivors.
Windermere Redding owners, Wayne and Fredricka Martin, have a long-standing relationship with Wings of Angels and they highly value the mission of the Make-A-Wish Foundation . Both organizations support local children facing serious medical conditions by providing unique life-changing experiences and ensuring that their most basic needs are met. The evening will consist of a fashion show hosted by Susan Abplanalp, local designer and boutique owner of Emery Street Designs—with featured pieces available for immediate purchase. There will also be a Texas Hold ‘Em Tournament, live auction, and Dutch raffle. To learn more about the event and see some of the prizes, check out our Facebook group.
Listen to our radio spots: Wayne and Freddie
Thank you again for supporting the Windermere Foundation and all the great projects we do.
A few weeks ago we shared some insights into why home staging is an important part of the selling process. Below you will find some of our tips for staging and photographing your home for sale.
With a little time, effort and imagination, you can stage your home to showcase its best features, sell it faster and get top dollar.
Clean up, pare down, and toss out: By simply getting rid of excess furniture and clutter, you can make any room look larger and more inviting.
Make it professional, not personal: Remove family photos, mementos and other personal items from the space. This not only eliminates clutter, it helps potential homebuyers envision their lives in the space.
Repurpose rooms: Do you have a “junk” room? You can transform a liability into an asset by turning an underused space into a reading nook, a craft room, a yoga studio or a home gym. Just clean it up, add a coat of paint, some furniture and the right accessories.
Lighten up: Light, airy rooms look bigger and more welcoming. You can create a pleasing effect by using the right wattage bulbs and multiple light sources. The right window treatments can also have a big impact. Choose fabrics that are light and gauzy, rather than dark and heavy.
Try a little color: Paint is the cheapest, easiest way to update your home. Stick with warm, natural hues, but try darker colors for accent walls and to highlight special features. You can give old furniture new life with a coat of shiny black paint—and freshen up the front door with a bold, cheerful color.
Add some decorative touches: Art, accessories, plants and flowers breathe life into a home. Make rooms more inviting with accessories that are carefully grouped, especially in threes. Pay attention to scale, texture and color. Bring the outdoors in with plants and flowers.
When it comes to looking for a home most people start on the internet. The photos in your property listing can make a powerful first impression. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, professional photos can increase home views up to 61%. Make sure your home is “ready for its close-up” by following these simple guidelines before the photographer shows up.
For exterior photography:
· Make sure no cars are parked in front of your house or in your driveway.
· Sidewalks and streets should be cropped out
· There should be up-close and angled shots, as well as long shorts that emphasize space.
· Clear away or trim vegetation blocking the front door or path to the door.
· Make sure lawns are mowed, hedges clipped, etc.
· Remove evidence of pets.
· Put away children’s toys.
· If you are selling a condo or townhome, such amenities as tennis courts, a gym, a garden patio or clubhouse should be photographed.
For interior photography:
· Make sure your house is spotless, windows are clean and rooms are decluttered.
· Repair all visible damage, e.g., bad water stains, gouges, chipped paing.
· Drapes and blinds should be open and lights on.
· Remove trash cans, close toilet seats.
· Use floral arrangements in kitchens and dining rooms.
· Make sure that interesting details and attractive features—e.g., wood floors, a carved mantel, marble countertops and ornamental tile backslashes, etc. – are photographed.
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