Green Living Investments: Mastering Seattle's Eco-Friendly Real Estate Market | Strategies for Buyers and Savvy Home Improvements

Unlock the secrets of thriving in Seattle's green real estate market with your hosts, Aaron Morrow and mortgage maestro Bryan LaFlame. This week, we're peeling back the layers of what it means to invest in eco-friendly living spaces, from the price premiums of green-certified homes to the long-term savings they offer. Find out how to navigate the Northwest MLS for properties that boast certifications like Built Green, LEED, and Northwest ENERGY STAR, and learn why your next home improvement should not only boost your home’s value but also align with the planet's well-being.

Amidst the backdrop of a world still adjusting to post-pandemic shifts, we dissect how Seattle's real estate market is responding to changes in federal policies and interest rates. With a keen eye on what this means for first-time homebuyers and those contemplating a move, we illuminate the advantages blooming for buyers in this environment. Get the scoop on how to use a 30-year fixed mortgage to shield yourself from inflation, and why banks are sweating over the benefits it hands to homeowners like you.

As we wrap up, don't miss the chance to benefit from the wealth of knowledge Bryan LaFlame And Aaron Morrow bring to the table, especially if you're seeking tailored real estate advice in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties. Whether you're buying, selling, or simply curious about the potential of your current home equity, we've got strategies to share that will help you navigate your real estate journey with confidence. Tune in and let us guide you through the intricate dance of the Seattle real estate market, where every step is calculated to land you in a place you're proud to call home.

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Aaron Morrow Realtor Serving (King, Peirce, & Snohomish counties)
📱Call or Text: 206-451-3771
📨Email: aaronmorrow@livinginthegreaterseattlearea.com
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This is my Intro to every Podcast and YouTube video 

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:20

Hey everyone. It's Aaron Morrow, local realtor in the greater Seattle area, helping clients in King, pierce and Snohomish counties, along with my co-host, brian LaFlame, the mortgage guy washington resident washington resident.

Speaker 1: 0:34

He lives here locally. That's actually important for some of you when you're like, hey, I'm looking for a lender if I need them to be local. This guy's local in his office is in tacoma. Now, I'm just kidding, it's pronounced tacoma. It's an inside joke because I have a family member that pronounces it takama anyways. Um well, we are here today to talk about going green, and what I'm talking about is going green on your house.

Speaker 1: 1:02

So, like all of this, you won't like me when I'm angry yeah, you will like me when I'm angry um going green, uh with your house. You know, like green certification. I have an interesting article to share with you guys and some interesting stats to show how green certified houses and new construction in the area. The data from the article is showing that there's been actually more value added to the homes and has led to bigger purchases or purchase prices.

Speaker 2: 1:35

So, yeah, I feel like green homes definitely add value. This article will show that just that's how the data works out, but also there's intrinsic value that most people assign to something like this, to being more environmentally conscious. But there's also actual value. It's not just hey, I'm doing my part, you're also getting some money back for it, so why not? Why not save two birds with one stone, not kill because they're being green. Why don't you save two birds with one stone?

Speaker 1: 2:06

Fantastic and, as a reminder everyone, just housekeeping items. I'm going to put all of our contact information in the comments below at the end of this live, so if anyone from this needs to reach, I use to help service clients in the greater Seattle region. Basically, like a lot of Washington state actually uses this MLS. Uh, I feel like about like 70% of it, but all of like Western Washington is using Northwest MLS. Um, let me pull this up. So here's this article here. Um, so this is actually pretty interesting stuff here. In the last three years, northwest MLS brokers have sold more than Let me turn my AC off, by the way. Talk about going green.

Speaker 2: 3:03

Oh yeah.

Speaker 1: 3:06

Speaking of going green, in the last three years, northwest MLS brokers have sold more than 3,300 residential homes and condominiums that were green certified. So what's green certified? Green certification is an endorsement given to homes that are built to meet specific environmental, sustainable criteria, such as resource efficiency, energy conservation and waste. Um, these are pretty interesting because you know, you hear about all this like going green, zero emissions, uh, uh, net, um, what's, what's that word? I think it's called like, uh, net neutral, as far as like on your um, yeah, use your own electricity. I forget what that term is.

Speaker 1: 3:52

Um, yeah I'm starting to research this stuff because I'm finding it more fascinating. I think as the landscape shapes here long term in the greater seattle area, this is going to become more and more prevalent. Um, so I'm on board with uh looking into it. I will say that I am not an expert on any of this stuff as it stands right now.

Speaker 1: 4:12

I'm just an enthusiast at this point but I can definitely help all my clients, point them in the right direction, including what's really cool is you can actually set up your MLS search to look for houses that have these specific certifications and then you, you know, obviously can through research, research, figure out what specifically about the that house.

Speaker 1: 4:34

Let it that criteria, um, but yeah, let's uh keep looking through here. So, when listing or looking for homes, northwest mls brokers and by brokers they just mean, you know, realtor, listing agent, anyone, uh, broker, real estate broker I can advertise or search for various types and levels of green certification for their clients, including built green lead in northwest energy star. So I actually pulled up both of these because I thought, um, they were interesting. Here's where you can actually pull up the links yourself, and I'll put the links of these, uh, in my YouTube description and on LinkedIn, um, maybe even on Facebook too, because this has been multi-streamed to all the platforms. Now, if you're on Clapper or Instagram, you got to go to the other sources to be able to get these links, but it's not going to be a huge issue for you. But, yeah, so you can check this out and read through these. I'm definitely going to research it even more too, but that's where these two areas are coming from.

Speaker 2: 5:41

And you can search in the NMLS. If a buyer is saying, hey, I really want a green certified home, or I want an energy star home, or I want an energy efficient home, either for my own pocketbook or because I want to be environmentally conscious, you can weed those out. Weed them out, um uh, in the mls when you search for them, right I can?

Speaker 1: 5:59

yeah, right here, I was actually going to show you oh my gosh, we didn't plan this.

Speaker 2: 6:03

As if I have to say that that we didn't plan. No, it's going so smoothly so far.

Speaker 1: 6:08

You guys probably thought it was planned no, you didn't have it planned, but I I was like this is something that someone is obviously going to want to know about and you're obviously someone that wants you know.

Speaker 1: 6:20

so um yeah, you are someone. So, um, this is the MLS search and you know, like, let's say, for instance, I wanted to say what's in King County, right? Um, typically you know, when you're working with your agent or your, your buyer's agent, you're going to figure out like, let's say, price point. Um, let's say you're like under a mil, you know, and you need at least a three bed, and let's say it's at least a two, two plus bath. But you know, after talking to your savvy agent, and you've realized that you don't need both bedrooms to have two full bathtubs and you're okay If one of them just has a shower not a tub.

Speaker 2: 7:05

Every bathroom that I have must have two bathtubs in it. That's how I go green.

Speaker 1: 7:11

We've settled on 1.75 plus. Let's see what we get down here. Also, you've said to your agent I just want residential, or I want single family, no condos, no manufactured homes, but I'm okay with townhomes. We would maybe start with a search like that. So now we have like 682 matches right here because we said anything under a mill. But one thing we didn't do is the green certification. So and I'm actually testing this live with you I did not even test this right before I started doing this video, so let's see how well this works.

Speaker 1: 7:49

Um, let's say I I'm okay with any of these ratings and then, first, I'm okay with any of this, you know, just to filter out any sort of, you know, show me anything that's green. So that dropped it from 600. What was that? 682 options down to 11. Yeah so, but I mean, now we can take a look at these 11 homes real quick, you know? Um, let me pull it up real quick. Okay, let me flip it to like multi-view. So here's some listings here. Now I'm not surprised that most of these are like row style townhomes, you know, or new construction. A lot of them are actually in uh, seattle, in actual, you know seattle versus in some of the submarines. Actually, all of them are all of them are seattle um yeah check them out.

Speaker 1: 8:43

Yeah, and then you can like go into the listing and read um, figure out what. What about them? Makes it green certified. So like right here it just says four star built green certified. That's actually pretty good. That's like the next level up for me in five stars. So you know, I would actually call the realtor for you as my buyer to figure out what specifically made it four star.

Speaker 2: 9:07

And I'm sure the listing agent has a whole presentation prepared for it, because they're leading with this um to sell the house yeah, definitely so, and if they don't have it, they're gonna get it.

Speaker 1: 9:20

You know what I mean, you know so, so you'd be able to get that now. One thing I do want to quickly check out here is I'm I'm double checking here here just to make sure we don't have any comments here. Okay, no comments to answer yet.

Speaker 2: 9:34

People are being very green. They're conserving their comments.

Speaker 1: 9:37

Let's see what happens when I eliminate the price tag. So if we don't have so, in King County right now there are a total of 19 properties that have some sort of green certification that are currently active for sale. In them less. Let me take a quick look here. Anything extra they'll see. Renton now uh, this is uh 1200. This is a single family home. Check out this puppy right here. And then, uh, seattle, seattle, seattle. See it is the glow you got, is the core right here? Uh, you got another. And then Seattle, seattle, seattle. Is it the goal?

Speaker 2: 10:12

You got. It's the core right here.

Speaker 1: 10:13

This one's nice, Actually. Who wants to look at the 6.3 mil property with me real quick.

Speaker 2: 10:18

Let's do it yes.

Speaker 1: 10:21

Yeah, let's look at these photos. Okay, let me pull them up real quick. Actually, you know what?

Speaker 2: 10:34

The way to get around this just in case for my live stream, let me go.

Speaker 1: 10:38

Probably a good idea to rip to zillow, yeah, yeah, I, I mean I I hate to go to zillow or ripton, but I mean, for fair use, I'd rather not show the direct mls. Let me, let's see here, let's pull it up, there we go, okay, so here's some photos now. This is what. Now I'm just showing you zillow guys. This is public info now, um, but yeah, so check this out. So this has green certification here, um, this one's a 6.3 mil property in uhsaquah, so it'd be interesting to find out what does it say in the listing on Redfin?

Speaker 2: 11:18

Look at that backyard.

Speaker 1: 11:20

Yeah, seriously, now we're just looking at cool houses. You know that's what it's devolved into, but yeah, so like one thing that we could also test out here Let me go here real quick is what about if we eliminate? What happens if we get rid of the active? What is sold? Or like in the last six months, 40 houses have sold that were green certified in king county. I'm wondering how much is in king county versus like pierce or snow homish, though let's take a look yeah, so let's um.

Speaker 1: 11:58

So that's cute. Let me do pierce county. So nine properties have sold in the last six months that are green certified oh at least three bed here. Let me eliminate our our bed bath scenario, um, and I could even include condos if I wanted to and get rid of this, just to make it fair, okay, so yeah, nine properties total in the last six months in Pierce County have sold our residential. And then let's see here what are active right now. Ooh, there's actually quite a bit active right now.

Speaker 2: 12:36

There's nine in Pierce County.

Speaker 1: 12:39

In Pierce County. Nine total green certified listings sold in the last six months and now currently active. There are 29. So 20 more are available now currently. Yeah, that's interesting. I'm wondering what the marketing times are on this. Let me check. It'd be interesting to do a deep dive to figure out like what's the like to pull the data on this to in any one of the comments below, if you like this and you want to do it, if you want me to do a follow-up video on this where I'm actually researching marketing time, uh, for these green built properties, if they've lasted longer in the market or if they're quicker sales, those are things that we can dive into. Um, I'm not going to bore everyone on the live with that right now.

Speaker 1: 13:35

Um but, uh, yeah, those are things that we can definitely look into. It looks like uh, then, a lot of this is obviously new construction. Notice here you can tell there are new construction picks when you've got like the yeah it's like the 3d render, so you can see. That's where the trend is going to yeah well, and it even said in the article here. Let me show where did it say here. It said where was it? Was it in this? Builders know?

Speaker 2: 14:04

and kind of set the market forward.

Speaker 1: 14:06

Builders are very, very, very savvy and they see what the market needs, because they front a lot of money to build these houses. Yeah, definitely. I thought I read it somewhere where it was saying that primarily, all the homes were being built this way. Let me find, is it? Let me go here? Oh, right here. Okay, built green. Yeah, it was right, I was on this page, so I had to go deeper onto this, this other site for built green, to learn more about it.

Speaker 1: 14:35

So, here's some interesting stats for built green so 35,000 total units certified as of May 2019. Right here, 52% of new homes in Seattle are built green. Now, 32% of new homes in King County were built green in 2016. So these are older stats. They haven't updated this website, you know. But really kind of interesting that builders are definitely going with that with the trend 20% more, with a median sales price of 740,000 compared to the median sales price of 591,000 for homes without green certification.

Speaker 2: 15:34

There's not a lot of doubt here about what they originally sold for what they increase in value to, but you can see that there's a real benefit to this and, yeah, there's a real benefit to this. And, yeah, there's a real benefit. Not only do they sell for more, but they cost less to run.

Speaker 1: 15:51

Right, right, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 15:53

Now I think to get into it you'd have to figure out what types of projects you're doing to grow.

Speaker 1: 16:02

You know that's going to actually increase your value on homes, because you're always going to want to figure out what home improvements to do and what not to do.

Speaker 1: 16:14

That will actually really help you give more bank their buck, because there's a lot of home improvements that homeowners should really kind of look at that they're doing to really just be something that is better for them to enjoy while they're living on the property and they might get a return on investment, but it won't yield as much as some other projects that they could do around the house. So, like, those are things to just keep in mind when you're doing some remodels, and it would be interesting to look into the data to figure out what sort of specific green types of things add to that. So like, for instance, I am in the process of creating a second YouTube channel that is more focused on tech around the greater Seattle and some of this green stuff, and I'm going to be researching including solar panels, high efficiency windows, all of this stuff. I'm going to actually be researching this stuff and doing deep dive videos for you.

Speaker 2: 17:14

And you can search if you like. Speaking of, if you're remodeling and you want green, um certified um, um upgrades in your home, you can search on that build green website to find it, to see if your contractor is built green certified.

Speaker 1: 17:29

Yeah, definitely. So there's there's a tidbit there and again, I will provide all these links for you in this video so you can use this as like the uh, the jumping off point source for you to go look. Provide all these links for you in this video so you can use this as like the, the jumping off point source for you to go look into all this If you want to get down a rabbit hole on all this stuff. But definitely this is the way of the future for the Seattle area. More builders are going into it. I mean, I know it's a push so like not to get into any politics or anything, but they just, it, just is.

Speaker 1: 18:01

Yeah, they banned doing gas. You can't have natural gas in new construction anymore. So there's steps that they're definitely having builders go through in the area. Builders know what they can do to get a return on their investment.

Speaker 2: 18:18

Yeah, we're not taking a position on anything, we're just letting you know the facts.

Speaker 1: 18:22

Right, exactly. So I mean, here's just some examples of you know the types of green materials that you can do.

Speaker 2: 18:31

Energy Star windows will save you so much money.

Speaker 1: 18:34

Oh yeah, oh yeah. You've seen those tests where it blocks you so much money. Oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah. You've seen like those tests where, like, it blocks out so much heat but then traps the heat in for you and then insulation yeah, property, it's incredible I mean they help with sound, they help with uh the.

Speaker 2: 18:49

I mean, yeah, it will definitely help with the heat that leaks from your house from these non-energy star windows.

Speaker 1: 18:54

It's like, yeah, it's such a big difference if you are having to replace windows at that point. That's where it's worth it to look into the energy star, right, because if you're going to do it anyways, you might as well put in something that's going to be more efficient for your energy bill. You know, and weigh the pros and cons, you know.

Speaker 1: 19:13

Um, there's, seems there's, some people out there that, uh, I mean getting quotes for windows can be, can vary like wildly, like you could, you can get and you can be very surprised when you get the the quotes, how expensive they are yeah, you can get some pretty, um, pretty nice quotes and then you can have some people that are like, oh well, I had to take out, you know, part of my mortgage to be able to, um, like a good chunk to replace the windows in our house. So, like the, that's just like the. You got to be careful when you look into that, obviously, um, but yeah, definitely, uh, windows are a good option there. Um, but yeah, guys, this is just uh, this is just a, a cool article that I wanted to share with you that I feel like uh is definitely. We're heading that direction.

Speaker 1: 20:11

We've started putting all of this products in here in the greater Seattle area.

Speaker 2: 20:14

And if it's important to you, aaron, aaron will have the links available to you. Um, I think, aaron, if if I were watching this and be like, yeah, actually that's something that I really want, I didn't know how to get started on it I would just contact aaron. Uh, he showed you through the mls how he can do an easy search for you and then he can drill down from there. If there's a house on the market that is green star certified or energy star certified, I mean, aaron will know about it and they can walk you through.

Speaker 1: 20:38

why yeah?

Speaker 1: 20:49

and if the listing agent doesn't know, like if they listed it and just slapped that in there without knowing what specific was. We can still research and I can help you figure out. Figure out what's in the house. So there's you know. If you need a good buyer's agent that's going to help you find green certified in the area of what you're looking for, definitely reach out. I'd love to help you find the right green certified. It's going to be a little bit easier with the builders because they definitely they have dressed to impress and they're prepped to show you what's it, what they, and it is a lot easier to build a house green than it is to come in and put it back together.

Speaker 1: 21:25

Great and retroactively put it back in yeah, I completely agree. I 100, 100, yeah, good, well, I mean all right guys, that's there's not too much more that we have, so I didn't. We didn't get any comments. If anyone has questions, though, you can put them in the chat and you know, uh, we'll definitely address them uh later after the live, but um other than that, um thanks for hanging out with us again.

Speaker 2: 21:55

Yeah, this little thing we found interesting yeah, real interesting, we actually are gonna.

Speaker 1: 22:00

We're working on getting a foundation expert on our show too, so I'm in the works of figuring out scheduling to get him on.

Speaker 2: 22:09

His name is Bob and he's going to be an awesome consultant to bring on for you guys to learn about the importance of foundation, how pricey it can be and repair work it's really important, if you're thinking about starting out on the home purchase process, to understand some things about it, because your inspector is going to know, so you can talk to them about it as well.

Speaker 1: 22:31

It's a big one. So coming to this show is always the foundation of your home buying experience. I'm not laughing at that, no. Anyways, good Brian, any cool stories lately, any wild crazy.

Speaker 2: 22:48

No, you can get that. We can post and pillage the foundation jokes later. Okay, nailed it. Yeah, there's a bit happening in the market that we're going to talk about in a couple of weeks. So inflation continues to creep upward their consecutive month and that has had the Fed walking back their rate cut expectations. The Toyota Treasury has gotten above 4.5. And, a very interesting thing that I saw, the S&P has sold off by over 5% since the end of March. 80% of that sell-off came after the CPI report came in higher than expected.

Speaker 2: 23:23

Cpi, you'll remember from past shows, is an inflation report and then when the treasury market got above 4.5%. So the stock market does not like these higher yields either. But that is not normal. So normally in these flights of safety, when people pull out of equity markets they go into bond markets. It's a much safer investment in your treasury. Treasuries are the most safe investment in the world still so, even at these higher rates and even at this huge supply, because we are by far the largest and strongest economy and we will always be able to pay our debts until we can't, I guess. But so normally what happens is that floods buyers into the market and yields go down. But that is not what has happened. Post-pandemic as we have been, I like to refer to as like a Fed reactionary market, we are only now reacting to what the central bank, what we think the central bank is going to do, and they always are giving us mixed message. Powell's been pretty clear, but the rest of them have just been giving us mixed messages. The rest of the government.

Speaker 2: 24:28

So we have you know the little premature Fed talk at the end of last year that led to our rally for interest rates down through the end of last year and the beginning of this year. We are back up to highs that we have not seen yet this year, and interest rates are just going to do what interest rates are going to do. So that's what's happening in the market right now, and it's that way for a while. We're pretty sideways here for a while until we get some positive economic, negative economic data, negative jobs or lower inflation, but that's okay. The market is going to do what the market is going to do.

Speaker 2: 25:07

Real estate prices are still increasing and they're increasing more slowly, but that's okay. That's what we want. The one benefit that this has had is we have about 100,000 more homes to sell than we did this time last year. Nationwide Inventory is creeping up, and that means now, yes, we're coming from all-time lows, so it's not like we're swimming in it, but it is a little bit better, which gives you a little bit more ability to negotiate. If you are a buyer in this market, then you would have had it other times.

Speaker 2: 25:38

High rates bring more inventory, lower rates bring less inventory, and we know, that because, as we've talked on the show before, real estate markets are heavily first-time home buyer driven. Right now A normal market is going to be about 32, 33% first-time homebuyers. Last year we were at 55% of buyers were first-time homebuyers and those people are interest rate conscious. First-time homebuyers mortgage their properties at a rate of 97%. Almost everybody does. Some of them have rich family members, some of them buy cash, some parents buy for them. Almost everybody first-time homebuyer. You don't have a home to sell, to buy a home for cash, so they mortgage their property.

Speaker 2: 26:17

So interest rates matter and when they buy a house they take a house out of inventory without putting one back on. As rates go down, non-first-time homebuyers homeowners decide to list and buy and they're a net zero. So we have first-time homebuyers coming in and we have listers and buyers coming in. So as rates continue to be elevated, we don't have a whole lot of first-time homebuyers. We have much fewer. Now, when I say the normal market is 32% to 33% and last year 55% it's not like we had a glut of brand-new first-time homebuyers.

Speaker 2: 26:48

We just had a smaller pool of pie that they took from. So a relatively similar amount of first-time homebuyers for a smaller pie means their percentage went up. So inventory goes up. In elevated interest rate environments. This is your time to get out and buy. Get yourself something where you can be a little bit more in the driver's seat and get some concessions. Don't be afraid of higher interest rate. You can't control that Control. What you can control and what you can control is now you have a place where you can negotiate. So if you're armed with the right data and knowing what's happening in the market and then why it's happening, you're in a much better position to make a much stronger for you offer on a piece of property if you're looking to buy.

Speaker 2: 27:29

So that's my little market update.

Speaker 1: 27:32

Yeah, no, I think that was a great market update.

Speaker 1: 27:34

And any market, the higher the price, the less the buyers too. So this is gonna just exponentially this tip that you just gave even a first-time home buyer that's well qualified, that can actually qualify for even more of a larger price than uh, like basically above the median for the, for the County that you're looking to buy in, you're going to probably have a much easier time in this market, you know, just due to the fact that there's less competition swarming the type of houses that you're looking to buy and that's what we're finding too. But I completely agree with you too. I would say, ever since the pandemic this has been. Now I'm not saying down payment assistance buyers are just walking in buying properties like it's easy peasy anymore, but this has been the best time since the pandemic started, for, like my down payment assistance clients have had the easiest time of this time period. It's not quite like it was back in 2015 or you know, but it's still much better than any of the 2020s through, uh, even last year, you know.

Speaker 2: 28:56

Yeah, we are the number three lender in the entire state for down payment assistance loans at the Washington State Housing Finance Commission.

Speaker 2: 29:03

So we do them all of the time and I got to tell you, yes, it is the ability or not the ability. Yeah, the ability to purchase a home with a little bit of no money down and you have all the other qualifications going for you. You can't do it because I can't save up 100 grand. It keeps too many people out of the market and as those people are learning more and more that I don't really have to have 20% down, that's okay. Yeah, those people are moving into the market more and having a little bit better time than the easier time than they were before, because they're not really competing against the move down buyer who had cash or $400,000 down on a $500,000 house because they just sold their you know their other home. So, yeah, if you're looking and have been, you know we're competing against people that just had way more bullets in the chamber than you did before. Those people are out of the market now.

Speaker 1: 29:54

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I mean good sign of hope. You know for sure, if you are determined and motivated to buy and find out that financially it makes sense and you find a payment that works for you long term, this is a really good time.

Speaker 2: 30:13

Warren Buffett famously said when people are greedy, I get scared. When people are scared, I get greedy. This is a time where people are scared. It's a time to get greedy.

Speaker 2: 30:21

Yeah, well again we cannot put you in a mortgage that you don't qualify for. That 2008 thing that happened, where everybody lied and people went to prison for it. Legislation was put in place that requires us to be able to prove that you can afford this mortgage. So, yes, rates are higher. Yes, prices have gone up. That doesn't mean you have to buy the most expensive house at the highest rate, but you do get to look at what you can afford and what's out there in the market that matches that.

Speaker 1: 30:49

And I'm not a realtor to say what's the catchy phrase that's going around the date, the rate.

Speaker 2: 30:58

Marry the rate date the house. Yeah, marry the house date the rate.

Speaker 1: 31:02

Yeah, but really I'm telling all of my clients no, you need to make sure that you are comfortable with this payment indefinitely, just because we do not have a crystal ball, we don't know when rates will come back down. Do not have a crystal ball and we don't know when rates will come back down.

Speaker 2: 31:16

Do you remember the time when we first met? Do you remember the time? Is that too old for you? Dang it, we fell in love.

Speaker 1: 31:27

Hold on. Is that Earth, Wind, Fire?

Speaker 2: 31:34

I'm blanking now. We could sing the whole song Time when we fell in love. Do you remember when we went over the percentage of the percentage of people's income that goes towards housing for different age groups in the Seattle area? So the percentage of people who pay 30% or more for housing.

Speaker 1: 31:55

Yes, like on two lives ago or three.

Speaker 2: 31:57

Yeah, yeah, we can give you that chart and we can go over to get to. But the whole like marry the rate, marry the house, date the rate. That's cool. Whatever, it's a catchy way to say if rates come down, you can have the lower rate. The reality is like you just said pick a payment you can afford indefinitely. Your income will probably rise If it doesn't.

Speaker 2: 32:19

You can afford that payment. But the greatest hedge against inflation is a 30-year fixed mortgage. Your property will go up incrementally by the property tax amount. Way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way less than your rent will go up. So you, if you you kind of stop your payment in time and then you continue to increase your income. The banks would love right now to have a system where you had to refinance a seven percent if you had a three percent loan, because it would make a lot more sense for them. It. It'd be way better and a lot of countries do that. Canada just moved to a 30 year fixed mortgage a month and a half ago. Before that they had a. Very much like our commercial banking system is where you have to reify it for three to five years.

Speaker 1: 33:01

Better for the banks in America.

Speaker 2: 33:03

Better for you, the consumer, that you get 3% and rates are at seven. Now you get 7% of rates go to nine. Better, now you get 7% of rates go to nine. Better for you. You're still at seven. So in that instance you do. And then if rates go to five, you get to go down to that level. Now if your housing price goes down from 500 to 480, you're not forced to sell. If your house price goes up from five to 520, you can book those gains. You don't have to book the losses. You can book the gains. You don't have to book the losses, you can book the gains. You don't have to go up in rate, you can go down in rate. It is the best hedge against inflation and you got to live inside.

Speaker 1: 33:38

So I can't think of a better system Like I don't, I don't know For the, for the consumer.

Speaker 2: 33:43

It's really bad for the banks but it's great for like something to get their interest up front and nobody really keeps a mortgage for 30 years because they move around. But in environments like this where people have 2%, 3%, 3.5%, 4% mortgages, the banks would love to offload those Not happening.

Speaker 1: 33:57

Yeah, I know, I had to comment on one of my videos the other day. I'm at 2%, I'm never selling and I'm like you know what. That's actually a fantastic strategy, but if you want to upgrade, talk about or look into renting that first one.

Speaker 2: 34:11

Heck yeah.

Speaker 1: 34:12

And then upgrade into it to keep that mortgage on that first one.

Speaker 2: 34:16

If you have a 2% mortgage and you want to upgrade to a new house or you want to buy an investment property, you can leverage like the wealthy do. You can leverage your assets like a home equity line of credit to buy another asset. So now both of them are increasing. One of them is a rental, where you're either making money or break it even on for the most part, because you'll get to set the rental prices. I got to tell you guys also, mortgage mortgage payments have a strong correlation to rental prices.

Speaker 2: 34:43

A landlord is not going to buy a house in a place where they can't rent it out to at least cover their expenses. Rent it out to at least cover their expenses. It's not going to do it. So if mortgage rates go up, the rental market has to go up as well, or the landlord you know are going to go to buy in there, it's not going to do it. So that's an. You should never sell that 2% house. You can leverage it in other ways to buy other assets, to build your wealth, like the wealthy do. Yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 1: 35:09

Not until it's paid all the way off. The natural question for them was well, how would I pull out equity if I needed it for a down payment? And then that's where I mentioned looking to possibly like a HELOC scenario.

Speaker 2: 35:21

Yep, we got you.

Speaker 1: 35:22

So you're not going to have to ruin that 2% interest rate on the original.

Speaker 2: 35:25

Yes, you know.

Speaker 1: 35:26

Yeah. So there's so many options and strategies to look into and you just got to make sure you're talking to people, that you're hiring them as a fiduciary to make sure that you are getting the best, making the best financial move for yourself. Like I'm talking to a client right now, that they are really on the fence right now and they're researching if right now is a good time to buy and sell right now, and they are contemplating three things right now. They're either going to say, well, four things actually. Do we stay put in this condo we bought in Bellevue? Do we list it, sell it, move into something else that we buy right? Do we rent it out, buy something else else? Or here's even a fourth one right now they're actually even serious. They're considering renting and renting this out and then renting up right now as a possible option for the next two years while they work on, uh, increasing that, um, the money that they're bringing in.

Speaker 1: 36:31

so they are looking into all the options to figure out what is the best strategy for them, and all we can do is provide as much data as possible to help them.

Speaker 2: 36:41

Well, that is the classic case of every situation is different and people will make a statement how's the market? What should I do? Let's talk individually, and then we can see what the best strategy is for you. We can tell you about trends, but you know trends, have you know? Uh, people who fall within the trend, people fall over the trend and people fall under the trend.

Speaker 1: 37:00

Yeah, exactly yeah. Any market is the great market to make a move. If it makes sense for your family situation to make that move, if moving buying will improve the quality of your family situation or your personal financial situation, it's always a good move, no matter what yeah, what do we always say?

Speaker 2: 37:22

is it a good time to buy? Maybe it's always a good time to look into buying. Is it good time to sell?

Speaker 1: 37:27

maybe, so it's a good time to look into selling. Don't not look into it. Yeah, there's way too many people that just stop and don't look into it and it's like you could have unearthed diamonds for yourself. You know, I don't know.

Speaker 2: 37:40

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 37:40

But yeah.

Speaker 2: 37:42

All right guys. This took a left turn when we just started talking shop.

Speaker 1: 37:45

It's good, I just split it up into two.

Speaker 2: 37:46

I like it Two different lives.

Speaker 1: 37:48

So that's good. We just oh all right, we gave you a mini twofer session. You know what I mean.

Speaker 2: 37:54

You guys, you guys got a twofer today. Yeah, you paid for one podcast and you got to all. They are paying right.

Speaker 1: 38:02

No, all the tick talkers came in at the second half, though, so like they have no idea even what this live stream was about. So, but that's cool, like they got. In my instance, this is actually kind of even more valuable information. And then the first. What we did first is that's good for a niche amount of people that are looking in a green great. So we're gonna be just as a reminder. Guys, this video is gonna go up on my youtube channel. All the contact information is gonna be anywhere that you're watching this.

Speaker 1: 38:34

You can go ahead and go watch the live stream. Reach out to Brian or I if you want to talk strategies of home buying, home selling, you know, needing to rent, pulling out HELOCs, all of this stuff. Like we are here to be consultants for you to help you figure out what's a good financial move for you, your family, yourself. If you're an individual, reach out to us. Let's look into, you know, what makes financial sense for you to start building some financial wealth and real estate. So, yeah, I think that's all I have again Aramaro, local realtor, greater Seattle area.

Speaker 1: 39:07

that's all I have again. Aramaro, local realtor, greater Seattle area, Um King Pierce, Snohomish counties. Work with buyers and sellers. Brian Laflame he is the Washington resident, the man, the myth, the legend. Yeah, um again reach out to us if you need anything and um. Take you next week off and we'll be on um probably in two weeks, so see you again. Have a great weekend, everyone, and we will see you on the next one.