Then along came the State of Washington and State Health rules (Chapter 246-272A WAC) requiring the local health jurisdiction to ensure that all owners of onsite sewage systems have their system inspected and evaluated on a regular basis, and prescribe an inspection at the time of property transfer as one of the
options to attain these inspections.

I totally agree that something had to be done with the septic inspection process. The days of permit, install and done are over. There must be some checks and procedures to protect all.

In Washington each county takes on the responsibility of tracking a process.

In Kitsap County where I work the process is fairly easy. The Northwest Multiple Listing Service has procedures spelled out in document form that take the guess work out of what we need to do in order to comply with the state law.

We have a general septic addendum that outlines what type of OSS (on-site sewage system) the property is serviced by, that the seller represents that, to the best of their knowledge, the OSS is in working order and doesn’t violate any regulations or have any material defects.

This document supersedes any provisions in the purchase and sale agreement except for the provisions of a county specific septic addendum.

Here is where local area Brokers seem to have a learning curve. In Kitsap County the Kitsap County Board of Health Ordinance 2008-01 Section 13.D sets out in more detail the process that must be completed prior to the close of a home sale transaction.

It is a pretty straight forward form and details what the seller must do.

1. Specify type of system
2. Deliver Evaluation Report (from the Health Officer of Kitsap County Health District)
3. Deliver to Buyer maintenance records, if available.

If the seller has no evaluation report listed in item 2 they must complete an application, inspection and evaluation with the Health Department. The process is very simple and spelled out in simple terms on the addendum and on the Kitsap County Health Department site.

Why this process is so difficult for Brokers to understand I just don’t get. I have had to “argue” with Brokers what the process is over the last few transactions. This is a process that really should be done at the time the home is listed for sale. Why we don’t just do this all up front is in my mind a disservice to our sellers. I know the reason is probably one of funds. Yes, it costs to process this form with the county. Yes, it costs money to pump the tank. That is why this process is so hard for some Brokers to understand. They don’t know how to get their sellers to spend money prior to close.

I just want other Broker’s to understand the law and conform to it. I am tired of having to educate other Brokers about the process when I write a purchase and sale agreement. It is our responsibility to understand these documents and council our sellers.

Kitsap County has some great information available on their web site. I have had to on more than one occasion send these links to other Brokers in the area to make my point.

INSPECTION AND EVALUATION OF ONSITE SEWAGE SYSTEMS FOR PROPERTY CONVEYANCE
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Onsite Sewage Program

Mike Rowe learns how to clean a septic tank.

During the month of June there were 88

If you want to learn more about how we transfer property in Washington State a really great site to visit is the Escrow Association of Washington site. There you can find definitions and explanations of the home buying process for Bremerton Washington.

Let’s look at those 88 Bremerton homes -

Average List Price

• $217,283 [May- $199,895 -April- $197,429 - March -$202,739 - February -$220,258 - January -$203,640 December -$224,396]
• $128

Average Sold Price

• $209,182 [May-$195,044 - April -$192,860 - March -$198,231 - February -$213,465 - January -$201,166 - December -$218,171]
• $123

The average sq ft of these 88 Bremerton homes was 1701 sq ft. These homes spent an average of 108 days on the market (DOM).

The list to sale ratio for these homes was 96.27 percent. What that meas is that buyers offered 96.24% of what the seller requested.

What do these numbers mean? Is it a good time to buy? Is it a good time to sell. It all depends on your individual situation. I would rather buy in a buyers market and I would rather sell in a buyers market if I have to buy another home with the proceeds. I am a fan of the NORMAL market – everyone can feel more comfortable and real estate transactions are not as stressful.

If you would like to find out the value of your home please feel free to contact me via phone or email. I would be more than happy to supply you with a FREE Market Analysis.

If you would like to purchase a home in the Kitsap County Real Estate Area please give me a call or contact me via email. We can discuss your future plans and I can set you up on an email campaign to receive the hot new listings quicker than YOU can find them.

“Statistics not compiled or published by NWMLS.” Equal Opportunity Housing All information deemed reliable, but not guaranteed”

From the very beginning of my career deadlines have been very important to me. I have always made sure my clients know what “time is of the essense” meant and that it wasn’t just a “saying”.  I would educate them on what our “computation of time” pargargph in our purchase and sale agreement meant and wanted them to take it as serious as I did.

I see this as one of the most important function of a licensed real estate agent. There are deals that have been lost because agents didn’t abide by the contractual dates stated on acceptance.

What has always bothered me with this part of the home buying process is there are those involved that don’t take the contract dates seriously.

In 2003 I went to work for First American Title/Escrow in Yucca Valley, California.  Having come from a real estate agent background I knew a lot about the contract.  When I started to question why we were not trying to meet the deadline for closing per the contract I was told that date was “an estimate” – I thought to myself – “AN ESTIMATE!” That isn’t an escrow call or a lender call!  I soon found out that we would just advise an agent to process an addendum to extend the contract.

Sure, it wasn’t totally an escrow issue.  Escrow being the final destination in most transactions is rarely given the time to complete their tasks.  The issue would arise based on lender requirements (in a non-cash transaction).  If the lender couldn’t get their documents to escrow on time, escrow couldn’t preform within contract.  So many times the lender has a total different idea on what date they need to meet.  Many times lenders have told my buyers what their definition of closing is and usually it is not what the legal meaning of the word really is for the State of Washington. Of course that is a topic for a whole other blog post.

Lately, I have seen the parties to a transaction act so flipant when it comes to the contract closing date.  In my last 5 transactions with 3 different lenders it has been the lender that just couldn’t preform.  All of these lenders have pre-approved the buyer prior to a contract being written.  All of these lenders had met the buyers in person.

On a couple of occasions the lender has laid blame on the buyer.  The buyer didn’t get all their paperwork to them in time, the buyer did not sign this or sign that, the buyer didn’t send in bank statements, or their W2′s.  These kind of excuses just tick me off!  If you are a lender and you have not received these items in the first 5 days after meeting with my client – CALL ME – I will help you!  I have been known to get the documents from a buyer and drive them to a lender.  Don’t blame my buyers. Some of them are new to the process and really don’t understand unless we help them!

Now, don’t get me wrong there are lots of people in the business that do play by the rules.  I just don’t understand why everyone doesn’t.

I see the extension of most contracts as an excuse – excuse that someone didn’t do their job. The only time an extension should be acceptable is when something happens that is out of everyones control at the time a contract is written.  We may not know there are several title issues until we are several days in.

I just get irritated when I have to write an addendum to extend a closing date when I have done my job, my clients have done theirs, the other buyer/seller has done theirs as well as their agent.  I am tired of others not preforming knowing that if the seller wants to sell and the buyer wants to buy they will all sign an extension (or will they).  Why take the chance?

On Saturday, May 29th, from 7:00AM-10:30AM enjoy a Pancake Breakfast (where Mayor Lent will be cooking until 9:00AM) on the Bremerton Boardwalk prepared by the Bremerton Lions Club.

For more information, including festival schedule, please visit theKitsap Harbor Festival website.

The Bremerton Farmers Market is now open! Every Thursday, 4-7PM, at Evergreen Park you’re invited to come on down and connect with your local farmers and community members.

Check out the Bremerton Farmers Market website details on vendors, live music performances and more!

That’s the song that I sing when my husband heads out on a deployment. Yep, he is in the Navy but I have never had the pleasure of being involved with a Navy command.  We have spent all of our years together hanging out with the Marine Corps.

Deployment can be a very difficult time in a military family’s life so; we have to find the positives. Saving all the deployment pay is one!  The first tour to Iraq that my husband went on was my first deployment experience as a military spouse.  I knew a little about the extra pays and was eager to learn more. I did pay attention at the Deployment Brief. I took all the pamphlets and brochures I could carry.  I remember the LtCol standing at the front of the meeting room leaning on the overhead projector and emphasizing about our budgets.  He had projected up on the screen the extra pays that our spouses were going to receive.

• Hostile Fire Pay (HFP)/Imminent Danger Pay (IDP). $225.00 a month (HFP/IDP)
• Family Separation Allowance $250.00 (FSH OR FSA)
• Hardship Duty Pay-Location  $100.00(HDP-L). Indicated as Save Pay on the Leave and Earnings Statement (LES)
• Depending on the Command and the Branch of Service the service member usually gets to keep their BAS – Basic Allowance for Subsistence . $265.00

That is a TON of extra pay!! But the bottom line gets even better because all the pay while deployed out side the country in several tax free zones is just that TAX FREE!!!!!

Now that does add up. Depending on the length of deployment you could end up with a pretty nice chuck of change for the purchase of a house, condo or vacant land. Remember how important it is for Military members to own real estate!!

Upon return service members usually receive per diem pay too – that rounds around $3.50 per day and adds up too!!

So add this all together and you could be saving around $800,00 – $1000.00 per month.  Multiply that buy the normal deployment of 7 months – oh except for the Army and IA’s which is between 12-15 months and that is a huge amount to invest in your future.

Do you own your home? Are you afraid of having to sell in 3, 4 or 5 years?  If you are smart and do the right things then homeownership for a military member should not be scary!!!!

Never before has the military population owned a higher percentage of homes. The days of base living has changed drastically. With most installations switching over to PPV the climate has changed. The thought of waiting until retirement to purchase a home has become a scary thought with the way housing prices in most areas have skyrocketed.

So as a military member do you purchase a home?

It is a very complicated process which needs some investigation and education before making a decision. You should ask yourself some questions like these at the minimum.

• Do I have upfront money to buy a home?
• Can I get financing?
• Is my tour of duty going to be longer than 2 years before the next PCS?
• Will I have the opportunity to do another tour here or will I have an opportunity to come back?
• If I had to be a long distant landlord would I have the time or recourses?
• Could I afford a property manager?
• What if I had to pay the mortgage for 2-3 months while the home is waiting for new renters?

BUYING VS. RENTING

	ADVANTAGE	THINGS TO CONSIDER
BUY	Build Equity	Responsibility of Maintenance
	Income Tax Incentives	Property Tax Payments
	Stability and Security	Loss of Equity
	Ability to “do what you want”	Less Mobile
RENT	No responsibility for Maintenance	No Equity
	Easier to Move	No Tax Benefits
		Vanilla Walls

So after you have considered all the possibilities, searched the internet for information and asked around your shop. Are you ready to buy?

Being a military spouse and real estate professional it was still a decision that I wavered back and forth. After sitting down and writing out all the pros and cons my husband and I decided to purchase. My husband is in the Untied States Navy and at the time we decided to purchase we were looking at the second tour to Iraq, at living in southern California and at a PCS 30 days after his re-deployment. We didn’t know where we were going, how long we would be there or how the finance industry would view our dreams.

My husband left for Iraq and I knew that I wanted our next PCS to be a “door to door”. I started to look at houses in the Bremerton, Washington area over the internet. Having my license but not practicing in the state of Washington I had to find a real estate agent too. I was lucky because I had several contacts from my days of selling homes in Washington. On a trip up to Washington I viewed a property and made an offer with my POA.

My husband just so happen to call while I was in the process. I told him what I was doing and promised to email pictures when I arrived back home. I can tell you that it was not a totally smooth process, but I can also tell you that I am writing this article in the home office of the house that we purchased so, all in all a happy ending. Well, almost. My husband didn’t receive orders to the Bremerton area. He received orders to ALASKA!!!

We are now building equity in a home we will retire to in several years. I live here and he lives there and we are Continental frequent flyers. What’s that phrase “Semper Gumby”? Yes we are! I am back to the profession I love, he loves Alaska and we have the house we plan to retire in or so we think at the moment.

Do you own your home? Are you afraid of having to sell in 3, 4 or 5 years? If you are smart and do the right things then homeownership for a military member should not be scary!!!!