Homes for First Time Home Buyers + FREE Class

If you would like a list of homes for first-time homebuyers, please email your name and email address (which will remain confidential) at homes@iglide.net, and I will email a list to you. Currently, there are 69 homes for $150,000 and less and over 100 homes for sale for $180,000 and less in Moses Lake and the surrounding areas (Ephrata, Othello, Warden).

If you would like to participate in a First Time HomeBuyers program, and would like to qualify to receive up to $5,000 matching funds for your down payment, call me and let me know which lender you are working with so I can help you. If you have not contacted a lender, that is okay. I'll help you get started in the right direction.

To reserve your spot at the FREE First Time Home Buyer's Class, taught by Eric Slyter, the Housing Director of the Prosperity Center at the North Columbia Community Action Council, please call him at 509-431-1650, and let him know Connie referred you.

Please feel free to set an appointment with me so I can discuss this more in detail with you. I look forward to helping you find your first home!

Connie Suehiro, Realtor
Gary Mann Real Estate
305 E. Third Ave.
Moses Lake, WA
98837
509-431-5804 direct
homes@iglide.net

Buyers Tell Us How They Found their Realtor

We surveyed our Buyers here at Gary Mann Real Estate to find out what kind of marketing tools they used in order to find the best real estate agent for their needs.

58 buyers responded and here are their answers:

20 searched the internet

12 read a home advertising flyer

4 saw the real estate sign in the yard

7 called from newspaper advertising

5 contacted us from the Home Magazine

5 visited an Open House

Buyers are very savvy on how they want to get the best real estate agent.

This is something for you sellers to be aware of too. If you want to sell your home and put it on the market with us, we'll use every one of these methods (plus an online Virtual Tour) for advertising your property so that it will sell for you. Let us do an up-to-date Market Analysis for you to see what the current market value of your home is, and then sell it!

We understand that you want us to treat your confidential information with respect and realize that you don't want your name and phone number sold, so we keep it where it can not be given away.

If you would like to buy a home, please leave your name and number at my email: homes@iglide.net or call me at 509-431-5804. I will be glad to help you.

If you would like to sell your home without the pressures of doing it on your own with all the required paperwork, and use all of our marketing tools listed above, call me at 509-431-5804, and I will be glad to help you!

I look forward to meeting you!

Sincerely,

Connie

A Home for a .... Mouse?

I talk alot about real estate for buyers and sellers, and you may think it a petty thing for me to talk about homes for mice, but it's an important topic too, albeit, very small in comparison to Washington real estate.

You know, as we think about the pets we have in our homes, I'm thinking about the pet, yes I said PET mice in our home. And one gerbil. Joey the gerbil. They all need good homes whenever you get a pet, whether it's a dog, cat, or a few mice. I have a family member (or two) who call them "rodents." But I forgive them. :)

Well, the reason why I bring up this topic is because our kids have these pets in our home, and they are so tenderhearted that they cry alligator tears when their pets die. So, my point here is that if you have or decide to get mice, rats, gerbils, or hamsters for your family in your home, take good care of them by getting them a nice, warm, quiet cage that they will be happy in. A home that smells nice and clean, gets changed regularly, has plenty of toys, and love from the family members, is really important for healthy, fun, and trained pets. They will give back love to you, more than you can imagine if you don't have them yet. Joey likes to chew, so we give him chew toys like (and my daughter is filling in for me here.....) empty toilet paper rolls, empty paper towel rolls, plastic bowls sometimes, exercise wheel and a couple of blocks of wood.

If you get mice, we like the ones that are multi-colored down at Pet Town USA in Moses Lake. They are the most friendly of the various colors of mice.

Have a great weekend!! And happy home-hunting for your pets!

By the way, if you are looking for a home for yourself or ready to sell your home, please call me on my cell phone at 509-431-5804 and I will be happy to help!

Connie Suehiro, Realtor
Gary Mann Real Estate
305 E. Third
Moses Lake, WA 98837
509-431-5804 direct

Homes in Grant County in Foreclosure

Great news! Out of all 16 counties in Washington state, Grant County (which includes Moses Lake) is #1 and has the least number of home foreclosures in the state. According to RealtyTrac Inc., only 1 out of every 5,184 homes in Grant County is in foreclosure.

That's in comparison to Cowlitz County, which has 1 in every 431 housing units in foreclosure, Pierce County (Tacoma area) with 1 in every 534 housing units in foreclosure, Spokane County, with 1 in every 1,206, and King County, with 1 in every 1,341 in foreclosure. Up at the top with Grant County is Chelan and Douglas Counties with 1 in every 4,040 and 1 in every 4,755.

I'm so thankful that Grant County's housing market is so healthy! It's a great time to buy and sell homes in Moses Lake!

If you are a first-time home buyer, we have a great class available for you to attend. It's the North Columbia Community Action Council's First Time Home Buyer's Class, held monthly at the new WorkSource building in Moses Lake on Balsam and Fifth. Thank you to all the students who attended last Saturday from 10-3pm. It's a great education on buying a home, and sometimes, buyers decide to attend two or three times so they don't miss anything. Eric Slyter, Cori Bautiste and I teach this class together. You learn all about the home buying process from interviewing a Realtor to getting pre-approved for a loan, and how to budget for the first home you want to buy. For more information, call me at 509-431-5804. I'll be glad to help! Our next class is in August.

Connie Suehiro, Realtor
509-431-5804 direct

Gary Mann Real Estate
305 E. Third Ave.
Moses Lake, WA 98837

"For Sale By Owner - Best Buy!!"

"First $300,000 takes it!"

"Save $$$!!!"

I saw these ads in the paper today.

My congratulations goes to all those homeowners who have done a lot of hard work and have learned how to process all the paperwork (including the required five-page Seller's Disclosure Statement) and don't mind spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on advertising here and in Seattle's paper, many hours of preparation, running home from work on lunch break to show their home to the buyers who are looking for a deal ("after all, everybody's in foreclosure nowadays, right?"), and learning all the paperwork and new laws about selling their home in today's market. Because you know what? It really does take a lot of work to sell a home. And it takes a lot of work for a buyer to get pre-approved for a loan.

And how do you know if a buyer is pre-approved or not? You ask. Do you feel comfortable asking? Does the buyer feel comfortable telling you? Well, as a Realtor, I don't mind at all asking if a buyer has a pre-approval for a loan. I want to make sure I'm using my time and my clients' time wisely.

If you're thinking of selling your home on your own, be prepared to find buyers who are hoping for a good deal and will offer you as low as possible so they can buy your home. Some buyers are hoping that every home on the market is getting ready to be foreclosed on so that they can own a home. You never know when one is going to show up on your doorstep waiting for the opportunity of a lifetime and end up wasting your time.

Let a Realtor like me take the headache out of buying or selling your home for you. I specialize in educating first time homebuyers to go through the home buying process and in teaching sellers how to competitively price their homes so it will sell at the current market value by doing a Comparable Market Analysis of 1) homes that are SOLD, 2) homes that have sold in the PAST SIX MONTHS, and 3) those homes are within a 1/2 mile of your home, your neighborhood, very similar to the process a bank appraiser would use.

Call me for help in buying or selling your home today, and let's unlock the door to your new house!

509-431-5804 - direct

Connie Suehiro, Realtor

Gary Mann Real Estate

305 E. Third Ave.

Moses Lake, WA 98837

509-431-5804 call me direct

Ten Steps to Homeownership

Before you buy a house, it's a good idea to educate yourself on the steps to prepare for buying a home.

In summary, as seen on the Realtor Magazine website, you'll find these topics:

Step 1:
Are you Ready?
Step 2:
Get a REALTOR®
Step 3:
Get Loan Preapproval
Step 4:
Look at Homes
Step 5:
Choose a Home
Step 6:
Get Funding
Step 7:
Make an Offer
Step 8:
Get Insurance
Step 9:
Closing
step 10:
What's Next?

When you go to http://finance.realtor.com/HomeFinance/Guides/Buyers/default.asp? you will find all of these topics available for your help in finding and buying a home.

As you go through these steps and have any questions, please feel free to call me at 509-431-5804, and I will do my best to assist you in buying (or selling) your home. I cover all of Moses Lake, Ephrata, Warden, Othello, and Royal City, WA.

Talk to you soon!

~Connie Suehiro, Realtor (r)
509-431-5804
Call me today!

Cleaning Tip: Cat Odors in the Carpet

Do you deal with cat odors in the carpeting of your home? Or rental?

My husband and I used to live in Tacoma, and we put a deposit on a "no-cats" rental and signed the contract. Then, the owner shampooed the carpet on a hot day and we showed up while it was still wet.... and SMELLY. Ugh!

A friend recommended a product to us, and we went down to the janitorial supply company, Sarco Supply (I think it's still there) and bought a gallon of LIQUID LIVE and a spray bottle. We used it straight (not diluted) and sprayed it all over the cats' favorite corner. It worked great! Now, we always have a gallon of Liquid Live on hand.

What is Liquid Live? It is a powerful, all-purpose, safe-to-use remedy that has live micro-organisms in it. The little critters actually consume the odor, and we've never had to deal with that odor again.

So, you can either remove your carpets and clean them and throw out the pad, which is what you just might need to do. But first, try Liquid Live, or something similar to it, and see if you can save yourself some money and backaches!

***********************

Are you interested in buying or selling a home? Call me at 509-431-5804, and I will help you with a smooth transaction. Or, if you would like a free Market Analysis of your home, let me know and I'll stop by and give you an idea of what your home's value is.

Connie Suehiro, Realtor

509-431-5804 direct

Gary Mann Real Estate

305 E. Third Ave.

Moses Lake, WA 98837

Rent vs Buy Calculator - How Much Will YOU Save?

I found a handy tool online at the Realtor.org website. If you would like to see if you can save money buying a home instead of renting, go to: http://finance.realtor.com/Homefinance/Calculators/RentBuy.asp?lnksrc=FINLRNAV016

And if you're ready to buy, call me at 509-431-5804, and I'll get you started on the road to investing in your future by buying a home. I specialize in helping first-time homebuyers buy homes in Moses Lake, Ephrata, Warden, and Othello.

Three tips to buying your first home:

1) Do your homework on lenders who have first-time homebuyer programs where you can put money into savings and the bank matches your savings. (I know of one, call me at 509-431-5804 for details.)

2) Attend the Moses Lake NCCAC First Time Homebuyer class to educate yourself on buying your first home. Saturday, July 19, is our next class. Call me to get the details on make a reservation to attend this FREE class.

3) If you attend the First Time Homebuyer's class, it will help you qualify for a first-time homebuyers program that just landed on my desk yesterday.

See you soon!

Connie Suehiro, Realtor
509-431-5804 direct
email: homes@iglide.net

Moses Lake Homes for Sale - List for Buyers

Hello, Buyer! Have you been interested in finding out in one list what is available for you in Moses Lake or the surrounding towns of Ephrata, Othello, or Warden? Do you like being anonymous when you do this? We understand that you may be in the information gathering stage and may not be ready to open up about who you are or your real estate needs at this time. If you are not comfortable providing all your contact information that is perfectly okay. Just send an email to me with your email address so we can send you the material you requested. Your privacy will be kept confidential. Email me at homes@iglide.net with the following criteria:

Town of interest:
Price range:
Number of bedrooms:

Optional:
Number of bathrooms:
Square footage:
Acreage:
In town or country:

I will do a thorough search and email a list of homes that fit your criteria.

Have a great week!

Connie Suehiro, Realtor
Gary Mann Real Estate
305 E. Third Ave.
Moses Lake, WA 98837
509-431-5804
email: homes@iglide.net