Olympia Real Estate Blog

The current state of the Thurston county area real estate market is very, very slow.  A combination of too much inventory and too few buyers has made it a “buyer’s market”.  Showings have slowed, and the amount of days that properties are sitting on the market has increased significantly. With all of these factors, home … More Current Market Conditions

Market Snapshot – it’s currently a buyer’s market. I had some friends over to my house that other night and of course, the topic of the current real estate market came up over drinks.  My friend stated that they were expecting a real estate market crash and that prices will be declining steeply.  I do … More Buyers’ market or Sellers’ market?

When showing homes to buyers, one of the most dreaded questions in the industry often arises, “where’s the property line?”  What seems like a relatively straight forward question, often gets a less than a straight forward answer. When looking at a new subdivision, that has recently been surveyed, finding the survey pins in the four … More Where’s my property line?

Whenever I list a property, I ask the homeowner to go to two places they generally don’t want to go:  The crawl space and the attic. In the attic, sellers are looking for several things including missing or moved insulation, a leaky roof, disconnected ventilation tubes and possibly mold.  If these conditions exist, they need … More Crawlspace and Attic Woes

What is a contingent offer? Your home is on the market and an agent brings you a “contingent offer”…  In general, that means the prospective buyer needs to sell their home before they can purchase yours.  OR…you’d like to buy a home and need to sell yours first and to free up equity to buy … More Don’t Fear the Contingent Offer!

The truth is there is no standard commission. In fact, there was a large “east coast lawyer” lawsuit regarding this issue. The big loser from the law suit was the National Association of Realtors and its members. I’d like to say that the big winner was the consumer, but I’m not sure that’s exactly accurate. … More What is the “standard commission” to pay when selling your home?

Historically, the very best time to put your home on the market has been late spring, through the summer, and up until school starts.  That was the rule of thumb up until the Covid crisis.  During and after the pandemic, those rules went out the window. Similarly, listing a home in the period of time … More When is the best time to put my home on the market?

If you are buying a residence that is more than a few years old and that is connected to a sewer line, a sewer scope is a must have add on to a home inspection. Plain and simple. The scoping itself can be done by a licensed home inspector while they are looking at the … More Sewer Scope Wisdom