Real estate and appraisal education
Remodeling can turn boring into wow but will it add to the value of your home? If your goal is to sell your home at a higher price after you doll it up, it pays to first ask some serious questions about the house, the land it sits on, and the neighborhood.
This article …
Read more
In these tough economic times, it’s always tempting to look for ways to bring in extra income. So how about fixing up your basement so that you can rent it out? It would be nice to have an extra $800.00 or so coming in every month. But are there questions that should be answered …
Read more
In many American communities, buying a home is now less expensive than renting. And with the economics tilting in favor of homeownership, many first-time buyers are jumping into the market.
After eight years of renting, Kitsy Roberts and her husband, Janko Williams, are practically giddy about their new Seattle home. And like proud parents, …
Read more
If you buy a house and shortly after moving in you’re surprised to find a big crack in the foundation or the septic tank bubbling over, wouldn’t your first question be, “Did the seller know about this?” Seattle-area real estate appraiser Richard Hagar says it’s bad news all around if problems are not disclosed …
Read more
As Seattle continues to focus on urban density, parking for those living within the urban core is becoming harder to find.
Developers are promoting new apartments with hundreds of parking stalls just for bicycles. Others are making room for car-share companies such as Zipcar to park their vehicles. That has KPLU’s John Maynard …
Read more
Many of us have heard about houses and even hotel rooms that have been used to cook methamphetamine. But most of the time, the pictures of those crime scenes show a rundown house in a rural area or a seedy hotel that few of us would frequent.
This article first appeared on KNKX. …
Read more
Millennials are the most connected generation in history. In fact, The Pew Research Center calls them “history’s ‘always connected’ generation, treating their handheld devices ‘almost like a body part.'”
So when it comes to buying a home, Millennials (those born after 1982) are more likely to do most of their research online as well …
Read more
The air above your house could be worth a lot of cash if you have a view that’s enjoyed by others in your neighborhood.
If you have a low-lying home that sits on a bank overlooking Puget Sound, for example, chances are the neighbors on the hill behind you may want to pay you …
Read more
Say you have out-of-town friends who are moving to Seattle. They want advice on whether to buy a house right away or rent first. What would you say to them? Seattle real estate appraiser Richard Hagar tells KPLU’s John Maynard that he would urge them to buy right away.
This article first appeared on …
Read more
Interested in buying a home that’s on a register of historic places? If so, you could be stepping into a lovely slice of history, but it’s likely you will be expected to help preserve and maintain it. This goes for stand-alone houses and condos that are part of a historically-significant building.
This article first …
Read more
Apartments in the Seattle area are in high demand, but the retail space in many of the new mixed-use complexes are not filling up as fast.
Local appraiser Richard Hagar tells KPLU’s John Maynard that there’s a surplus of retail space and that’s keeping the “for lease” signs up longer on vacant store-front windows.…
Read more
Want to know the value of a house? There are plenty of online resources to help you find the answer, including popular sites like Zillow. But KPLU’s John Maynard wants to know whether online sources for property values are enough to go on.
This article first appeared on KNKX. Read the complete article …
Read more