Too bad, so sad.....not so fast

Loss #1

A Paul Thiry designed home in Normandy Park is slated to be demolished. Thiry often called "the father of Northwest modernism" designed the home in 1962, the same year in which he was the lead designer of the Seattle Center for the World's Fair.

The home in Normandy Park was featured on the cover of Sunset Magazine in 1967. Attempts to sell the structure and move it to a different location have not been successful despite extensive effort to do so.

It is a shame to lose architecture like this. Please click on Seattle Times to read more about it. Make sure to click on the slide show under "related" on the middle right which shows 22 pictures of the home.

Loss #2

It was announced that Seattle would not have a major firework show for the first time in something like 90 years. Not unlike the Thiry home another Northwest tradition was in jeopardy. Radio host Dave Ross asked small business to pitch in to save it. Ewing & Clark, Inc. was one of the first to contribute. So hopefully we can save the event. To see who has donated click here. Maybe, just maybe, the fireworks will be saved....and we can cross our fingers for the Thiry home as well.

High Property Taxes?

I read an article which had a summary of high property taxes on Forbes entitled "Where Americans Pay Most in Property Taxes" with a subtitle "A national look at the county-level costs levied by Uncle Sam." I thought the title and subtitle were both misleading. While I think the title is technically correct, it is misleading because it is based on taxes paid rather then the percentage of tax compared to the home value. So it is skewed towards counties where the value of the homes is high. So for example all the counties they highlighted in the "West" where in California (mostly in the Bay Area) where home values are very high, but then when I did a quick calculation I saw that the percentage based on the value of the home was relatively low (0.5% when as a rule of thumb it is usually around 1% in Seattle: approximately double). Do not get me wrong I think California pays a lot of tax: they have a high income tax and sales tax, but the point being the houses in those counties are worth a lot, thus they pay more property taxes.

As for the subtitle, I always thought Uncle Sam represented the federal government. Property taxes are levied by local governments; therefore, I do not think Uncle Sam has much to do with it.

Refinance Program Extended

According to the Seattle Times, Obama’s administration has extended the Home Affordable Refinance Program to June 30, 2011. This program is targeted to allow borrowers who owe up to 25 percent more than their homes are worth to refinance to lower interest rates. Currently, about 220,000 have utilized from this program, according to the Treasury Department and the Obama administration was hoping it would at least help a few million borrowers.

Unfortunate News re Seattle Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences

In case you missed the news, the Seattle Four Seasons building, is facing claims by several contractors and subcontractor’s stating that they haven’t been paid in full. According to the Seattle Times, “They have recorded claims totaling more than $34 million against the downtown Seattle building. The largest lien, for $23.7 million, was filed in August by Lease Crutcher Lewis, the project's general contractor.” To read further information on this topic, please click on the link above.

Mortgage Market Stabilizing?

According to CNNMoney, the mortgage market may have started to turn around finally due to some new statistics that showed fewer borrowers delayed their payments on mortgages in the last three months of 2009. In 2009, the percentage of mortgage loans that were late was at 9.64%, which have fallen to 9.47% in the fourth quarter (National Delinquency Survey). Economic and real estate analyst’s say this is only a slight change, but this change does show a reduction in mortgages heading towards the foreclosure process.

National Average Mortgage Rates: (Provided by Bloomberg.com)

30-year Fixed: 5.09
15-year Fixed: 4.51
30-year Fixed Jumbo: 5.93
15-year Fixed Jumbo: 5.44

*These rates should not be relied on. Talk to your mortgage broker, bank, etc. for more information on interest rates.

Extended Tax Credit Ends in April!

As I promised a while back, here is more information on the tax credits (and a reminder not to wait much longer):

For those of you that were excited that the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers was extended, but haven’t done anything about it then you might want to get the ball rolling. According to the IRS, if first-time home buyers want to receive the $8,000 tax credit, they need to enter into a binding contract to buy a house before or on April 30, 2010. Also, they must close the deal before June 30, 2010 to receive the tax credit. There is also good news for current homeowners. Under the new law that was passed on Nov. 6, 2009 that extended the tax credit, homeowners that have lived in their homes and used the same home for primary residence for at least a consecutive five years can receive a $6,500 tax credit towards buying a new home. For additional information on these tax credits, please go to IRS.gov.

Children’s Hospital Expansion and Condos

Congratulations to the Laurelhurst neighborhood and Seattle Children’s Hospital. Although there are more hoops to go through, Seattle Children’s Hospital has reached an agreement with the Laurelhurst Community Club to build a scaled back expansion of the hospital. One of the hoops that Children’s Hospital still faces is the hospital had agreed with the homeowners to buy their 136-unit condo building for $93 million or an average of over $683,000 per unit. Per the Seattle Times (see last 3 paragraphs) a third party is questioning if Children have paid enough for the condos and refers to the law that requires that lost housing be replaced.