If you go looking for insights from successful Lacey real estate investors, depending on which areas they concentrate on, you could come up with a variety of takes. Despite the distinct differences that separate the commercial and residential investment spheres, there are some time-worn truisms about the real life experience that would have most investors nodding their heads—            Expect to work at it. The myth of buying real estate, watching it appreciate, then just cashing in is a two-dimensional expectation. A typical Lacey real estate investment has to be discovered, investigated, negotiated, cared for, cared for some more—and sometimes sold—for it to ring up the profits that make real estate investing so lucrative. The best investors relish doing all of it.            Expect... 09/29/2016

 It was fairly clear that the table had been set for last week’s Federal Reserve meeting to result in a minimal rise in mortgage interest rates. Their Fed Funds rate directly influences the mortgage interest rates that banks observe. Since Lacey real estate activity can be spurred or dampened by the monthly payment amounts Lacey mortgage lenders offer applicants, this national story has meaningful local repercussions.It wound up as a non-event that nonetheless spawned action—albeit in a minor way. In May, Chair Yellen had said that a rate increase would be “appropriate” over the summer months. In the lead-up to last week’s meeting, other Fed governors had strongly implied that it was now time for a slight Fed Funds bump.Still, most commentators kept their prognostications vague; they ha... 09/27/2016

      Marketers for any Lacey business want to know as much as possible about their “customer base”—the population of potential buyers who might be attracted to their product. If you are in the process of selling your Lacey home, the speed at which you succeed and the amount of profit that results will greatly depend on how effectively you appeal to your offering’s customer base: the folks who might be interested in your Lacey property.When you take me on as your selling agent (a good idea, for sure!), you’ve relieved yourself of the vast majority of the burden of marketing. It’s what I and the resource partners I use do as a full-time job—and we’re successful at it. You can certainly let your friends and family know that you are selling your home (and what a great place it is) if you c... 09/21/2016

  “Time is of the essence!” is the kind of everyday phrase you might hear any time in Lacey. Most often it’s tossed off casually—as when someone gets impatient, waiting for a friend who’s been dillydallying. That’s when it means “we’re gonna be late!”In Washington legal contract phraseology, it has a more precise (and serious) meaning. To lawyers, including that phrase means that the parties must perform X by date Y or else! It means that missing a deadline will cause material harm. “Time is of the essence” in that connection is literal: the time element has value—it’s essential to the deal.When you examine an investment in Lacey real estate, the actual phrase doesn’t have to appear in any agreement docs for time to play an important part “of the essence” of the investment. This isn’t j... 09/16/2016

 When last week’s surprising news (on the plus side) about consumer confidence was announced, it was one more sign Lacey homeowners might have felt nudging them in the direction of putting their home on the market. U.S. confidence rose to an 11-month high in August—a turnaround from consumer blahs that had ruled during the first half of the year.Even when there’s some time pressure to sell your Lacey home, one snag that can stall the decision—especially for those with older homes—is the thought of the cost of bringing the place fully up to date. Even if the mechanicals (heating and cooling systems, plumbing and electrical) are actually in perfectly fine working order, it can seem as if potential buyers will be hard to convince that it’s the case. And if the appliances are veterans, even... 09/08/2016

 Like careful consumers who are investigating any major purchase, Lacey home buyers need to address some of the same basic queries. Among home buyers, those who already own Lacey homes may think they have different questions than do first-timers, but even for those who have successfully navigated the process before, if it’s been a while since then, some basics may need refreshing:             1.           Should I buy or rent? This is quite rightly the lead question any Lacey home buyer needs to answer. It’s not one that many Lacey residents who are already home owners spend a lot of time on since the answer for their own family has already been a “yes.” For them, unless some major changes have come to pass, they can safely assume that homeownership is still a no-brainer.              2... 09/06/2016

It’s not a coincidence that the same word is used in both dramatic undertakings and Lacey residential real estate preparation. Both describe preparations that seek to establish a feeling within the beholder. Of course, staging for Lacey home showings differs fundamentally from its theatrical homonym. With our kind of staging, the presentation is real—not make-believe.That’s not to say we can’t borrow an idea or two from the theater. Some stage directors begin first rehearsals by encouraging the actors to overdo their readings; to “make it big—really big!” The idea is that later on, after they’ve rehearsed the same scene dozens of times, it will be harder to think creatively about interpreting their characters. There will be plenty of time to tone down wildly overdone acting, but after m... 09/05/2016

 If you are looking for the Lacey real estate agent who will do the best job for you, it’s logical to seek the best agent. Less obvious is what traits distinguish the best real estate agents. If you look through summaries of commonly agreed-upon qualities, most are the same as for other successful people. A common #1 listed trait is “a problem-solver mindset”—but that would be true for most top producers in any number of occupations.Going at it from a different perspective, the nature of the industry might make the most useful distinguishing characteristics largely personal ones. From my own point of view, four are all but indispensable:The best agents are nice. The selling and buying of a home is serious business, so “nice” might not seem to be required…but even a hint of rancor is a b... 09/01/2016

   Once you have decided to sell your Lacey home, one of your first action items is to recruit a top sales team. About 90% of sellers choose a licensed Realtor® to head up their effort—not just because it’s the popular thing to do, but because the alternatives are few. You could recruit a business person from some other discipline, but few do that. Most in the minority group decide to do it all themselves—to go the FSBO route: “For Sale By Owner.”The reason for settling on this choice is usually a dollars and cents one: to eliminate the real estate commissions. Any home sale in Lacey is a weighty transaction—so pocketing that percentage looks like a businesslike decision. It usually does have financial ramifications, but not necessarily the kind that the Town FSBO seller was hoping for:... 08/28/2016

     If you are one of Lacey’s real estate investors (or have been interested in how real estate stacks up against other investment classes), the insights of AIG investment honcho Doug Dachille would likely get your attention. Dachille is American International Group’s Chief Investment Officer. That makes him the decision-maker for the insurance giant’s $350,000,000,000 (that’s billion) portfolio.On Friday August 19th, Bloomberg TV aired a candid interview on the subject of how he feels real estate investors are likely to fare. The attention-getting interview ran under the heading, “AIG’s Dachille Rejects ‘Bubblicious’ Critique of Real Estate.”It might seem that your typical real estate investor in Lacey has little in common with the director of such a gigantic bankroll, but that’s not ... 08/24/2016

  “Homeownership is the bedrock of the American Dream!” was long an unchallenged byword in American culture. Certainly most Lacey homeowners agreed during most of the 20th Century. That premise may have been rocked a little during the early phases of the Great Recession that shook the country starting in 2008, but as the housing recovery gathered steam, faith in the concept eventually returned for most folks.The economic advantages of owning your own Lacey home have been particularly dramatic lately, as historically low mortgage interest rates have made the benefits of homeownership on the family budget dazzlingly apparent. One of the further benefits was just offered in a seminar given by a prominent research economist.As you might guess from the description of the speaker, some of the... 08/20/2016

  The best real estate agent schooling isn’t something that takes place in a classroom. That kind of school is necessary, of course, because some of the most important work every Lacey real estate agent does has to do with being intimately familiar with the letter of current state laws and Department of Real Estate strictures.Observing best practices—keeping on top of all the current professional guidelines and legal regulations—does form a solid foundation for building a career in the profession. But important as that is, it’s only a foundation. You have to get busy and build something on it.As every Lacey real estate agent soon discovers, doing the kind of effective job that sets you apart begins early in the morning, and often continues long past what is quitting time in many a 9-to-... 08/16/2016

  It’s probably just an inevitable part of the human condition.For almost everyone, awaiting any Lacey home inspection is pure, unadulterated jitters time. Nail-biting time. Edge-of-your-seat time.It isn’t because anyone seriously expects any of our Lacey home inspectors to be ogres. Certainly the inspectors I recommend are uniformly courteous, professional, and quite empathetic. They should be empathetic, because of the situation—which consists of a buyer standing by, ready to become the proud owner of seller’s Lacey dream house. With only the home inspection remaining to be conducted…In other words, the inspector is asked to perform a professional service, the purpose of which is to uncover any previously unknown defects.Potentially derailing the otherwise blissful scenario of uniting... 08/15/2016

  You don’t have to be planning to add your own home to the Lacey listings to be curious about how it would do if it were up for sale. If you are considering a change of residences, it’s twice as likely that you have been checking out the latest listings in Lacey to see what comparable properties are asking, which are already under contract, and which have been listed for the longest times…Most important in the interest any listing elicits is the photography—combined with the Big Three: Asking Price; Number of Bedrooms; and Number of Bathrooms. But there is also the list of possible amenities—and how each stacks up with buyers across the nation. Some of them seem to attract the most eager buyers, while others seem to draw the most yawns. I’ve done an informal (and definitely unscientifi... 08/12/2016

  As every college freshman will tell you, it’s those “Introductory” classes that can wind up being the most time-consuming. Since they cover a lot of territory dealing with subjects that are new to you, they can be the hardest to keep up with. If Lacey real estate had its own college department, its “Introduction to” class might be a lot easier than some of the other departments’—but there would still be a few basics some of the freshmen might need to master before proceeding much further.When it comes to Lacey real estate, the equivalent of the freshmen are the first time home buyers. They don’t need a whole class to be prepared to dive in, but they should be aware of some basics. Some financial preparation comes first:          For openers, find out what your credit report says. If t... 08/08/2016

  For Lacey real estate watchers, it was The Washington Post that came up with the most interesting angle on the last week in July’s most commented-upon real estate headline—which was that across the U.S., home ownership rates had slipped to 1960s levels.CNBC went with the straight numbers (“Home ownership rates drop to 63.4%”); while website zerohedge decided on a more attention-grabbing route (“Homeownership Rate Crashes to Lowest Since 1965”).Lacey readers whose brows might have been furrowed by zerohedge’s “rate-crashing” spin could have been relieved somewhat had they fled to sites like businessinsider, which added, “but may be bottoming” to the sobering news. Yet it was still The Washington Post that made off with the most interesting exposition. Their take was to zero in on the “... 08/06/2016

   If you set your sites on selling your Lacey home in short order for the best price, one of the most reliable ways to add to your effort is to introduce effective home staging. If you have the requisite artistic flair and some time to devote to the project, you can try your hand at staging your house yourself. Alternatively, you can turn the project over to a professional Lacey staging company.And for quite a while now, there is a third alternative.The importance of good staging is undeniable. It is sometimes called “the gentle art of temporarily redecorating a house”—and it’s a gentle art that’s been found to be an effective adjunct to many a home’s marketing campaign. The National Association of Realtors® research shows that staged homes are on the market for 17 days fewer than comp... 08/04/2016

  Owners of Lacey homes for sale each have their own individual goal hierarchy. The bottom line is nearly always at—or close to—the top of the list, like everything people sell. But there can be other considerations that rival fetching the largest amount of cash. Some of the Lacey homes that are for sale are adjacent to family members—or long-time neighbors who are just like family—so another wish might be to hand off to a new owner who seems likely to keep the place in good order.More commonly, high among target goals is the wish for a speedy resolution. In fact, for some, personal or professional demands warrant that their homes for sale need to be completed as quickly as possible. Where speed is absolutely the overriding objective, the first tactic is also the one most likely to achi... 08/02/2016

5918 Beltway Lp SE Lacey, WA 98513 5918 Beltway Lp SE You'll love living in this spacious rambler so close to all Lacey amenities and parks. The bonus room can be used as a 4th bedroom, office, den, etc. Interior Features: Family Room, Walk-In Closet, Appliances, Den/Office, Dining Room, Main Floor Bedroom, Disability Features, Main Floor Bathroom, Laundry Room, Forced Air. Exterior Features: Deck/Patio, Landscaping. Price: $229,900 Type: Single Family Residential for Sale Floors: Single Parking/Garage: 1 Bedrooms: 3 Baths:2 Square Feet: 1562 Year Built: 1993 MLS #: 968796   www.sandynelsonrealestate.com/listings/A49BE4E5-A5B2-303A-7C0DF31C60972BBF.shtml   For more information contact: Sandy Nelson Realtor®, ASP, GRI, VAMRES, SRESRiley Jackson Real Estate Inc. Cell: 360-789-7505 sandy.... 06/30/2016

1128 Villanova St NE Olympia, WA 98516 1128 Villanova St NE Location! Location! Location! Live in a tucked-away neighborhood, yet only a few minutes from I-5, shopping, restaurants, etc. Interior Features: Family Room, Laundry Room, Den/Office, Dining Room, Main Floor Bedroom, Walk-In Closet, Fireplace, Main Floor Bathroom, Appliances, Forced Air. Exterior Features: Fenced Yard, Deck/Patio. Price: $269,900 Type: Single Family Residential for Sale Floors: Parking/Garage: 2 Bedrooms: 4 Baths:3 Square Feet: 2283 Year Built: 2003 MLS #: 959824   www.sandynelsonrealestate.com/listings/5BB8ECFA-F360-DE9A-E0F3307231956114.shtml   For more information contact: Sandy Nelson Realtor®, ASP, GRI, VAMRES, SRESRiley Jackson Real Estate Inc. Cell: 360-789-7505 sandy.nelson@comcast.net www.sandynelson... 06/16/2016