Are you considering selling your home or property in 2021? If so, here is a quick, really quick, video from Toby Barnett on the Snohomish County housing market and why now is one of the best times in local history to sell a property. If you'd like to reach Toby, his number is 425-210-0709 and email toby@barnettassociates.net.

If you'd like to learn more before contact, check out the Team's YouTube channel and Facebook page to see how Toby goes above and beyond for each on of the Team's sellers / buyers.

Its no surprise that Snohomish County is, and has been, experiencing an ever decreasing supply of homes for sale and with that, a strong seller’s market. I’m currently assisting sellers in preparing their homes for sale and part of that process to review Active, Pending & Pending Inspection, Contingent, and Sold properties to determine the property's real time market value.

To my surprise, housing inventory is far less than realized and if you’re considering selling, now is the time.

Below are the total Active residential homes for sale in their respective city. Be prepared for a bit of shock.

The Boeing Company's plan to move the 787 Dreamliner program to South Carolina has created shock and some panic; however, amongst us Snohomish County locals the writing has been on the wall.

The 787 program has been slowly outsourced, a topic of displeasure within my circle of friends and a discussion for another time, to South Carolina over the years.

When the most recent news broke of the planned move, there was immediate discussion on the impact to the local economy due to possible mass layoffs and increased unemployment throughout the county's aerospace industry and eventually, how those economic factors will drive down housing values.

Being Boeing is a major local employer and its employees direct their income back into the local towns and businesses; there is no doubt that losing the 787 program to Charleston will have some economic impact.

Yet, will the perceived mass exodus impact home values?

In my opinion, Boeing moving the 787 program to South Carolina will not impact Snohomish County home values.

On May 1st, Governor Inslee announced an extension of the "Stay Home, Stay Healthy" order (the “Order”) and introduced a four-phased approach to re-open business in Washington. All counties start in Phase 1 and will be admitted into Phase 2 by the Governor, based on epidemiological and other indications specific to each county.

On May 19th, in cooperation with Washington Realtors, Governor Inslee announced modifications to the Order for real estate activities in counties that have been approved for Phase 2 re-opening, provided specific protocols are followed. The modifications for Phase 2 include:

• Real estate firms may open their offices in a limited fashion;
• Commercial brokers can engage in the same in-person services as residential brokers;
• Three persons (as opposed to two persons) are allowed on site for permitted in-person real estate activities for both residential and commercial brokerage (for both improved and unimproved property); and
• Sign installers may install real estate signs.

For both Phase 1 and Phase 2 in-person real estate activities, real estate brokers and industry partners (e.g. appraisers, inspectors, photographers, stagers, etc.) must wear cloth face coverings and should encourage clients and customers to do the same.

Public and broker open houses and similar invitations to view a property without an appointment are not permitted in Phase 1 or Phase 2. Only previews and showings by appointment are allowed. Brokers must adhere to the “phase” protocols for the county where the property is located, regardless of the location of the broker’s office or home. Brokers conducting real estate activities in a Phase 1 county, must continue to abide by the Phase 1 protocols, which include only allowing two persons in a property, including the broker, at one time.

A complete list of County Phases can be found here.

With the Governor's Stay Home, Stay Healthy order in place there has been lot of talk within our industry on how the order applies to real estate brokers, their services, and the greater home buyer / home selling industry in Snohomish County.

As you can imagine, the definition of essential business has been quite the talk-of-town and endless industry debate. I've been caught up with discussing since reading the Governor's Essential Businesses webpage, our Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS or MLS for short) bulletins, NAR publications and so-forth. So, to clear the air on what we know right now, here is a list from the NWMLS that was updated a few minutes ago.

LATEST NEWS FROM NWMLS MARCH 23, 2020

On Saturday, March 28th, in cooperation with Washington Realtors, Governor Inslee agreed to certain modifications to the Stay Home, Stay Healthy Order (the “Order”) for the real estate industry. Due to the fact that the vast majority of real estate brokers are abiding by the Order, several of the original restrictions on in-person activities have been revised –provided that strict protocols for social distancing are implemented.

The clouds have parted and Spring is upon us Washingtonians. In the continuing series of Preparing Your Home for Sale, Toby Barnett briefly covers landscaping to prepare a home for Spring selling season. Use this weather, social distancing, and bit of manual labor to clean flower beds, trim bushes and hedges, plant flowers, mow and edge the lawn, and to do any other clean up to increase your home’s curb appeal.

During this social distancing time, please like and subscribe for more quick videos on Preparing Your Home for Sale and out shine the competition. Also, if you’d like to hire Toby to sell your home please contact him directly at (425) 210-0709 and toby@barnettassociates.net.

On the surface, Preparing a Home for Sale doesn't seem to be all the involved. Make the beds, clean the kitchen, vacuum the floors, and schedule pictures right? Maybe for some it can be that easy yet for many its not.

Preparing a Home for Sale takes more time than most think and starting now, while the weather is nasty out, is great use of time. Here, in two videos, Toby shares tips on getting a home ready to sell this spring.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

In this video we look at the Out of Sight, Out of Minds items that home owners may not think about till the home inspection response, or an issue arises.

Property taxes have increased across Snohomish County due voter approved tax measures and school levies that will go in affect in 2020.

Though not uncommon for Snohomish County residents to approve levies and tax measures, its that these increases have caught residents off guard due with their size and those residents have been voicing frustration across social media.

This frustration is not unwarranted and is actually understandable. Why? Some Snohomish County towns will experience double digit increase with Marysville being the highest at an average of 32% tax increase. 

King5.com broke the story earlier this week and even had related articles on Marysville's massive tax hike and Pierce County's. Here is King5's video on Snohomish County's tax increase.

KING5.com Video

I was not only horrified by Marysville's increase, I was shocked when reading Darrington's average tax increase of 18.1%.