Reviewing the Condo Resale Certificate - A Workshop Post
The "condo" development I am looking at today has slightly over 200 units, and those units are side by side townhomes. The townhomes were built between 1995 and 1997, and there is no clubhouse or pool. What I am looking for IN the Resale Certificate is governed by the major components of the total community. Reviewing a Resale Certificate without having seen the townhome complex as a whole, is not as good as knowing in advance what you are looking FOR vs. AT.
The packet is usually between 2" and 5" thick.Remember, this is a RESALE Certificate, so this is not how you conduct a condo new construction review.
I am the Agent for the Buyer. If I were the Agent for the Seller, I might look at a few things differently. WHO I represent when looking at something, influences what I am looking for. From a Buyer's point of view I am projecting forward, more than when I am looking at a Resale Certificate from a Seller's point of view. That goes without saying, I think, but just in case - worth mentioning.
1) The first thing I do is grab the small 5 page or so document that was especially prepared for this buyer shortly after the buyer and seller signed this specific Purchase and Sale Agreement. These numbers are as of NOW, for the most part, and so the most relevant.
For instance The Balance Sheet might seem most important, but it is as of 12/31/08. The information in the form titled "Washington State Condominium Resale Certificate" (in this case) has the most current and relevant info. The main reason you review this first is, if there is something there that strongly suggest you wouldn't want to buy in this complex, you are done. You cancel based on the Resale Certificate and go find a different condo in a different complex to buy. So to avoid wasting your time...start with the most current and relevant data.
A quick review shows me:
1) There are amazingly few delinquencies. Over 200 townhomes and less than 2 months of dues in arrears. That is beyond good. Looks like 1 person is 1 month behind, plus a penalty fee for being delinquent. In today's economic enviroment, that is astoundingly good and somewhat unexpected. Makes me wonder if Uncle Guido is their dues collection enforcer. THAT good :)
2) The document confirms that there are no Special Assessments. Don't rely on the property Listing Information in the mls in that regard. Always look for special assessments in the Resale Certificate. Big Red Flag here...determining if FUTURE Special Assessments might be an issue, is much more difficult, and not in this step #2 of the review of this form, but hugely important. In fact, likely the biggest mistake that condo buyers make is taking everything at "face value" in the Resale Certificate, and not adequately ascertaining if future Special Assessments are imminent, though not yet identified as such.
3) I skipped "current monthly dues" above, as most times you already know that before you make an offer to purchase the townhome. A quick glance so see that the regular monthly dues are "as expected" takes about two seconds. Important, but the instances where that is not the case are very small, particularly in July. Most times when they are higher in the Resale Certificate, it is due to a recent change since the property was listed for sale. Most increases happen on 1/1, so this will often happen if the property is listed in December. It can also be the case if the condo has been on market for many months, and a change happened during the term of the listing.
4) Amount in Reserves - This is probably the most important number, and yet the most difficult to determine as to sufficient or insufficient. In my opinion, no one who has not seen the complex can adequately advise regarding this all important aspect of The Resale Certificate. Hiring someone to Review the Resale Certificate for you, who has not seen the complex ever, is pretty much a waste of time and money. If they have the full and complete Reserve Study (not just the summary page) maybe...but rarely does a Resale Certificate have the Reserve Study, or even the relevant portions of the Reserve Study, as they are not required in WA to be in the Resale Certificate. There is a recent law compelling a complex to DO a Reserve Study, but not yet one requiring the Summary Page be IN the Resale Certificate, to the best of my knowledge. Even if you have the Summary Page or even full Reserve Study at your disposal, but have not been to the complex, that is only 80% OK. Reason being, the Reserve Study may have missed or misrepresented the cost of a Major Component of the complex (and that is often the case).
Parts of the package I do not review as the agent for the buyer, unless there is a reason for me to do so, are listed below. I expect the buyer to very carefully examine the House Rules. I only look at House Rules if my client had a parameter that included something that may be prohibited by the House Rules, such as pet issues. If I have no such issue to look for, then the buyer is to review the House Rules on their own, as I have no basis for judgment of which House Rules they may have a personal issue with.
1) Condo Owner's Association Management Agreement
2) Condominium Declaration
3) By-laws
4) Full Master Insurance Policy
(I do look at what is called "The Dec Page" which is a brief declaration of basic coverage. In this one I see a $5,000 deductible, which is twice as good as I expected, so OK on that and I look at the Earthquake deductible of 10% which is 30% better than I expected, so OK. I expect a $10,000 deductible on general claims and a 15% or more deductible on Earthquake. So $5,000 and 10% is good.)
5) Big list of unit nos. and addresses
I do glance at the financial statements, and look more closely when I am not happy with the total amount held in reserves. All HOA dues break down into X dollars for Operating and X dollars for Replacement Reserves.
Operating tells me they have a surplus operating net income. So OK. I note that the largest single expense is landscaping and the second largest is insurance. All OK
This is a particularly well run community with what appear to be adequate reserves. Since there is no Reserve Study, I will make an appointment with the management company to review the Reserve Study in detail. I also have a few questions regarding a current replacement project, and the information in the Resale Certificate does not match what the agent for the seller said and what the Form 17 said. That is reasonable, as most owners know "a story" that is either true or not true, when it comes to what repairs are being done in the complex. The facts need to be checked and the only info you can rely on is the info that comes from the Management Company, not the unit owner. I am making copies of a few things that I need to double check on next week.
The unit owner needs to be accuarate as to what he owns singularly, and the Resale Certificate has to be accurate as to what the unit owner has an interest in with regard to common area and overal complex management, repair and maintenance.
I glance through the minutes for red flags, but expect the buyer to carefully read all of the minutes in the Resale Certificate and note any questions that they may have.
I now deliver the Resale Certificate to the buyer for his review. My review is complete except for a couple of questions I need to address with the management company regarding the Reserve Study and current repair project.
If this were a different buyer and or a different complex, I would likely have different steps, so I will try to do a workshop post each time I review a Resale Certificate, so people can see the various issues one might look for during their review.
Jul. 16, 2009 - 2009 Housing Market - Where is it going?
King County Home Prices are in what we call the "Spring Bounce" period. Using month to month or year to year comparisons is a fool's game. It's for people who like to create drama. A serious housing market evaluation will compare to a benchmark cycle of change.
Below is the benchmark expectation for Spring Bounce period, taken from pre-subprime 2001
Below is the 2009 Spring Bounce period. The visual abnormality is readily apparent. In the Seattle area, the year started off in a fairly typical and robust Spring Bounce manner. The expection would be 3% up at the onset as it was in 2001. That would put February at 190, and the market surpassed the expectation by going to 192 (median price per square foot)
As you can see in the graph above, Spring Bounce was interrupted sending home prices downward, vs. upward or stable at the new highpoint expectation of 190 - 192.
This "market bottom" of 187was created by the announcement of the $8,000 Home Buyer credit, prior to it being passed.
Back to graph 1 for a minute, let's say a reasonable expectation for Jan vs June price would be 4% or so increase (131 to 137) in a year that is flat to moderate by year end. That would set the expectation for 2009 at 185 plus 4% at 192 for June.
So in the graph above, we are "on track" if you envision the market having gone 185, 190, 192, 192, 192, 196 in a more typical benchmark pattern. So where we are now is "as expected" and the "price slump" of 187 was a "bottom" created by the housing credited waiting period.
In fact if prices recede a bit from 196 back to 192 or so in July & August (which I expect)...we would continue to have an erratic pattern for 2009, but with the same standard result of expectation set in the benchmark pattern year.
To answer the question "Where are prices going?" you have to remember that in any flat to moderate-increase year, the market giveth and the market taketh away. Both graphs above and below show that what a market is doing is based on where it starts and where it ends, not on the fluctuations in between.
In an UP market, the Dec end number will be higher than the Jan beginning number. Let me say that again, when a year STARTS at 127 and ends at 132 such as 2001 (benchmark year) that means the market is on an upswing.
While some will report in that year that the market is "down", because the market went from 137 in Spring Bounce to 132 by year end, that would be incorrect. A down year equals the final month number being LOWER than the start month number, not a decline from Spring Bounce to 4th quarter.
Using month to month or year to year comparisons is a fool's game. It's for people who like to create drama. A serious housing market evaluation will compare to a benchmark cycle of change.
So...where is the market going? If 2001 is 127 in Jan to 132 in Dec, at a 3.9% increase, then to be "on track" prices in 2009 should end at $192 median price per square foot for King County.
I think the housing stimulus will equal "recovery" at prices "propped" up at the Jan 2009 level (flat year), vs. "pushed" up to $192. I expect the year to end about where it started, at $185 median price per square foot.
The market giveth...and the market taketh away. I think Spring Bounce will be eradicated between now and the December numbers, but I don't expect the year to end lower than it started.
Still a further study of volume stats (to follow) may cause me to rethink that stance, so let's move to volume.
Required Disclosure - The data used in this post is not compiled, verified or posted by The Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Hand calculated by ARDELL.
There is no question that the Housing Stimulus Package passed by President Obama is working, and produced a "recovery" as to home prices.
Until you ask 5 people who don't agree with one another. That is because everyone answers through their own filter of expectation. Let's study the results in the graph below with regard to King County Home Sales on a Median Price Per Square Foot basis, 2nd Quarter Home Prices vs. 1st Quarter Home Prices.
The market is "supposed to" produce an increase in home prices in the 2nd Quarter of a given year, vs the 1st Quarter. That is not prices going "up". That is a "normal" seasonal variance". Prices UP in the 2nd Quarter is an accurate "expectation" of the marketplace.
To understand the above graph you have to picture yourself pulling a little red wagon. You expect it to go further in a given period of time when you are pulling it downhill or on a flat surface vs. pulling it uphill. You expect it to go further in a given period of time if someone is pushing it from the back vs. pulling it from the back, as you are pulling it from the handle in front.
In 2008, the market was pulling the wagon from the back, trying to get it to go downhill, while the seasonal factors were trying to move the wagon uphill. On a combined basis those forces virtually negated "spring bounce". So much so, that the second quarter prices were only $1 per square foot "up" compared to the first quarter.
To set an accurate expectation for "normal" seasonal variance, I went back to 2001. Exotic loan programs started moving out of control in late 2003. I say this based on previous studies that I have done that show zero down loans beginning in the latter half of 2003. To be safe in my example I went back more than a full year prior.
In 2001 Spring Bounce was a 3% increase moving from $131 per square foot to $135 per square foot. A FULL "market recovery" takes us back to a year before subprime loans, NOT back to "peak" market conditions.
So as to Price Increase/Decrease, the market experienced a full recovery back to the "normal" 3% increase from $188 median price per square foot to $194 in the second quarter, similar to the 2001 pre-subprime movement.
Is that temporary and only due to the $8,000 1st Time Homebuyer Credit? I would have to say that it is. Without the Stimulus Package introduced by President Obama, there is no question but that there would have been fewer home sales in 2009. In my next post we will look at volume vs. price. As to price..."the jury is IN" vs. OUT, and the verdict is FULL recovery as to seasonal price movement.
In my next post we will look at how far we need to go, as to volume, for that recovery to be permanent vs. temporary. Remember on a blog "next" will equal the post above this one, vs. the one below it, since most recent shows at the top.
(required disclosure: Stats are not compiled, verified or posted by Northwest Multiple Listing Service)
Jul. 9, 2009 - "Bad" Neighborhoods - Where NOT to buy
Where to live; where not to live...that is the question. Finding homes on the internet is great...but let's talk about how the internet can "hurt" you.
One of the reasons some neighborhoods appreciate more than others, is largely due to the fact that free information seems to stop short of "don't live THERE". Consequently word of mouth draws a large portion of homebuyers to the same neighborhoods, and those neighborhoods appreciate more than others as a result.
You can google thousands of real estate agent blogs and thousands of articles written by the real estate sections of area newspapers. But rarely will you see a list of "live here - don't live there".
The reality is:
1) You have to listen very closely to what is NOT being said.
It is no surprise (or shouldn't be) that you can get more home or a better home for your money in an area that is deemed to be inferior for some reason or another. Could be crime, could be inferior schools, could be lots of things no one is talking about out loud. Consequently when you spend too much time sorting homes via the internet, you may be targeting the worst areas and neighborhoods, as they will have the "too good to be true" values.
If you are getting too much for your money...there has to be a reason...right? Finding that REAL reason is easier said than done.
A real estate agent will not sit you down and give you the facts of life about where NOT to live. Reality is they often can't, for a lot of reasons we won't go into here.A good agent WILL point you in the right direction, but they will do that without harping on the reasons WHY where they are NOT going, is the "wrong" direction. In fact. if you ask them why, they likely can't answer. If you press the subject, they will bring you "there" against their better judgment". Don't pay high commissions, and then push an agent to give you bad advice by forcing them to go off their best judgement and best advice path.
Put your list of homes together. Then without showing the agent your list, simply ask the agent to come up with a list of the 5 best houses on market. They can't do that online, as in our mls there is a rule against openly discussing other agent's listings, even if you are saying good things about those homes. It is considered "advertising another agent's listing" and makes the agent subject to a $5,000 fine for EACH of the homes they talk about on the internet.
5 homes = $25,000 fine. So DON'T expect agents to be listing the 5 best homes on market on a blog or website. All they can give you is their own listings, or their friend agent's listings (with written permission from friend agent). So publicly available info is really just an ad "best home on market".
We're not allowed to tell you the REAL "best home on market", unless you are our client, and even then, we can't do it publicly. So if you see those words on the internet, it is obviously an "ad" vs. a true unbiased observation.
2) You have to choose an agent that you trust to represent your best interests, and then trust them to "DO" vs. "SAY".
When the agent gives you the list of the 5 best homes as noted in point 1) above, look for the homes on your list that match the homes in their list. Those are likely the best of the best. If there are no matches, go out to see your top 5 and the agent's top 5. Then after seeing them all, ask the agent to list THEIR top 3 before you give the agent YOUR top 3.Let them DO what they do best, without directing them to move away from their best advice.Often if you do it this way, why they picked theirs vs the ones you picked, will be somewhat obvious...sometimes not.
Most often when we finish, the top 2 or 3 houses come from my list vs. theirs. If you hire an agent to ONLY show houses that YOU pick vs. ones THEY pick, you are leaving lots of value on the table, and paying full commission for a lesser result.
3) You have to study the stats, and notice areas that sell well vs. those that don't sell well, and pretty much rely on "the crowd's opinion".
Since the items 1) and 2) above involve how to operate well when using the expertise of a good agent, I'm throwing in this third advice for people who don't want to use an agent at all, or who want to use an online agent who "shows homes" at a reduced agent cost vs. helping pick the ones they "should see" at a higher agent cost.
Google "Absorption Rate" as there are many sites that will give you this statistic for various neighborhoods. You will see one area has a 2 month absorption rate and another has a one year absorption rate. Often this has to do with "price tier" vs. "neighborhood". But if you can get the absorption rate of all homes in the same price range in various neighborhoods, that would give you a better idea of which are the preferred neighborhoods and which sell much less easily OR have the most "issues".
Absorption Rate = the number of sellers trying to sell divided by the number of buyers buying "there". You may never be able to find the real WHY people are or aren't buying in various places, but simply knowing that is happening is of value, even if you never figure out exactly why.
Example:
42 people trying to sell "there" (Active Listings) in that price range; 3 people bought "there" in the last 6 months.
vs.
12 people trying to sell "there"; 24 sold in the last six months
"The wisdom of the crowd" is a time honored principle. Yes, it would be great if "the crowd" would come out, and online, explaining all the whys of their behavior. But they really never do, so stop wishing so much for that.
It is much more likely that those having MORE trouble selling, will be speaking the loudest in places where you can see them, than the ones that have less trouble selling. Think about that for a minute...and you may realize how very right I am on this.
The very, very best home on the internet...is more likely to be in the very, very worst location, making it appear to be the "Best Value", on a price per square foot basis.
The floor below is made using pennies as "tiles" with dark grout.
Another version used by a homeowner in a smal bathroom uses light grout, but I don't think that is practical as lots of light grout is difficult to keep clean, especially around a toilet.
I'm not totally sure that I like the idea, but it was interesting enough to pass the idea forward.
Last week I helped one of my buyer clients put an offer in on a short sale - pre-foreclosure property. The owners had already moved away, and like many pre and post foreclosure properties, left a few projects undone. Often this is because their original hope is to improve the property, so as to sell it at a high enough value so the loan payoff is not "short". But once the market dips low enough for their hope to not be short diminishes, they leave behind half finished projects.
In this case there were wood trims removed around the door frames, but replacement of them was not complete.
I saw this handy tool at my sister's house, and borrowed it (actually she had an extra that she gave me) as I thought it would be usful for matching attached wood trims without removing one and bringing it to Home Depot to get new wood trims. Sorry I don't know what the name of this tool is, but she did get it at Home Depot. She uses it for ceramics projects.
The tool is basicly a bunch of stiff wires.
You simply push the tool against the wood trim as shown above. The wires push through in the exact pattern of the wood trim.
Then you only need to bring the handy tool to the store with you to match against the various trims available. The wires stay in place until you push the bottom against a flat surface. It works well on an irregular and even curved surface. In this case the right side of the trim is not a flat wall, so the left side is the most accurate as to the depth of the trim needed, and the center portion defines the number of grooves and size of those grooves.
Even if you are not matching existing trims in the same house, you can carefully use it to measure a piece of trim you like in most any house. Often people go to other people's homes before a remodel project in theirs. With this handy tool you can replicate a nice trim you see in someone else's home.
I'm sure I'll find many uses for it, and just wanted to pass on the info about a new tool you might find a handy use for. I'm sure it's not expensive, and you just might want to add it to your toolbox.
When Home Inspections fail, it is usually because the participants didn't pursue the problem at hand to a satisfactory conclusion. No amount of money will resolve an unknown problem, as you can't determine if the amount is sufficient to cover that problem.
A recent example involves the buyer's home inspector determining that there was a higher than normal water reading inside the floor (underneath the hardwood floor) and in the wall (outside wall) of a cantilevered 1/2 bath (powder room). Now we know we have a problem, but we don't really know what that problem is.
The buyer submitted a request to have a contractor come in and make a hole in the exterior siding above the front door. Even if the seller is willing to allow this, it is not a good idea for a buyer to take on the cost and liability of making big holes in the seller's house that he may not buy once he sees what is inside that hole.
In most inspection negotiations, the contract would fail once the seller answered "no, you can't make a big hole in my house". Not many people would say yes to that. In the instant case I was the agent for the seller. I paid for a 2nd inspection, of that one issue, to see if there was any way to determine the cause, and thus the fix, without tearing the house apart. My partner Kim and I met the seller and my inspector (not the buyer's inspector) at the property. Because the higher level of moisture was not around the toilet, indicating the problem was the wax seal of the toilet (most obvious likely cause) we identified 3 or 4 possibilities. It could be the washer in the room above the 1/2 bath, as the plumbing pipes were stacked. It could be a roof vent leak, because the moisture could be coming down the wall and into the 1/2 bath floor, instead of from the floor and into the wall. It could be a leak in the window or siding in the outside wall of the half bath. Lots of "could be" and after about 30 minutes with the 2nd inspector, no clear definition of the problem.
My most excellent seller client grabbed a hammer and started making a whole in the siding covering the overhang under the toilet. (see photo below) We were dumbfounded at his response. He will forever be one of my favorite clients as he chose "let's get to the bottom of this" vs. "how can we make this problem go away".
An inspector can't make a big hole in the house to see the problem. Having the best inspector in the world isn't always going to help you know everything you need to know about the house. The buyer, the seller, the agents and the inspector (and sometimes 2 or more inspectors) are sometimes needed to get to the real and right answer.
The seller then proceeded to make a whole in the wall in the powder room next to the toilet and near the window. The seller and the inspector studied all of the wet areas under the toilet and in the wall, and still the likely cause of the problem could have been any of the above possibles except the window leaking. The area was dry closest to the window. The inspector climbed up on the roof and the seller pulled out the insulation and studied the water marks on the insulation for pattern of water flow. The roof vent was ruled out as the pattern of water on the insulation did not reach the top, and so could not have come from above. That ruled out the washer as well.
A wax seal is often an obvious answer, but this property was only 4 years old, so we were not satisfied with that conclusion for a number of reasons. The seller pulled out all of the fixtures and part of the wood floor. In the meantime the buyer via their inspector asked for a new wax seal as the remedy.
At that point the seller could have agreed, except we all knew the problem wasn't simply the wax seal. Here's the wonderful part of this inspection. The seller could have signed off on the wax seal and the contract would have proceeded to close. Instead, we (the seller's side of the fence) determined that a new wax seal would hold for a short time, as the original one did for a few years, but the REAL problem was the builder had cut the pipe to the toilet too short. If a builder doesn't allow for a hardwood floor thickness vs. a laminate floor, the pipe will be cut at the wrong height. That was the final determination of the problem, but not the end of the fix.
To understand why that is, you have to understand what "cantilever" means. There are very specific rules for cantilevered aspects of a home. Usually the cantilever is a deck, and any time you see a short deck off a second floor, you automatically expect it to be a cantilever. When the bottom of any cantilevered area gets wet and is subject to rot, that rot can travel under the floor and inside the home floor joists. A cantilever, be it a deck or a part of the home, extends the floor joists on a 2/3 to 1/3 ratio as the support of the extended portion. All too often an inspection fix for "new wax seal" for the toilet does not address the areas damaged by water while the wax seal was failing. Subfloor, joists, behind baseboards, drywall...all potential mold issues causing further continued rot and mold contamination.
These issues are like a cancer. You have to address the area completely, or new issues will surface long after the buyer has a potential claim against the seller, especially if the seller MERELY does what the buyer asks for.
Instead of simply adding "new wax seal", the pipe was extended to its proper height by a plumber before the new wax seal was put on. Here's the hard part. We still didn't know if it was the toilet or the siding that failed. There is no way to know without testing it and there is no way to put the wax seal on without putting the toilet back and there is no way to put the toilet back without adjusting the flange to the hardwood floor level, so the hardwood floor has to go back. The buyer is asking for their inspector to come back and look at the fix with everything open (don't put anything back into place). But there is no way to fix the problem and test it to see if it IS the problem (water stops leaking and starts drying out) without putting things back into place so you can flush the toilet repeatedly and see if any water is still leaking.
Sometimes an inspection phase will fail because the buyer is asking for the wrong thing, or something that is not possible or practical or even sensible. In the meantime the seller HAS to fix it correctly for several reasons. One, if the buyer does not close, the seller has to be assured the problem is fixed for the next buyer. Two, if the problem is fixed incorrectly, the buyer could have a problem a few years later and not know it, as the water travels in places that are not easily seen when the problem is easily fixed at the onset of water leaking.
There is no problem this big and complex without frustration from everyone, including both inspectors, both agents, the buyer and the seller. My job became managing everyone's emotional positions at each turn, while moving forward with the long process of finding and fixing this problem. You have to keep things "open" so they dry out before you close them. NOW, how the heck do we get the buyer's appraiser through so the loan process and escrow can proceed, with big holes all over the place including above your head when standing at the front door.
Truth is, while all of this was a royal pain in the butt for a long time...I loved it. I loved that we moved forward in a positive way that would really fix the problem, and not just "keep everyone happy". In fact, in most cases the process of fixing it right made no one happy, because it prolonged the inspection timeframe, it prolonged the loan timeframe, it required an extension of the close date as we had to delay the appraiser coming out until the fix was complete...but it was done well and done right. At one point we had to decide between fixing it right and maybe losing the buyer in the process, and just making the buyer and the buyer's agent happy. We chose fixing it right, and I am so proud of my seller client for making that choice. It then became my job to keep the communication level going, so that we both fixed it right and did not lose the buyer and escrow. Mountains of extra work to do it well.
The seller thanked me at the end for my perseverance, as there were many times when the buyer wanted to just walk. There were many times when the seller wanted to tell the buyer to just walk. But my job is to be the glue that holds everything together, and get the job done well without losing the participants on all sides.
I'll take a minute to thank the nuns who pretty much raised me for 12 years. In my brain they branded this saying which never shakes loose: "Anything worth doing, is worth doing WELL."
Jun. 14, 2009 - How long does it take to sell a house
For the most timely data, I'm looking at the days on market of homes that are still pending and the median number of days from the time the homes was listed until it received an acceptable offer. If your home looks good and is priced right, it still isn't likely to sell in the first week...the odds are against that happening. No impossible, but don't be dissapointed if it takes buyers awhile to look and decide.
Single Family Home in Redmond 98052 - 65 days.
Condo in Redmond 98052 - also 65 days.
Single Family Home in Kirkland 98033 - 45 days
Condo in Kirkland 98033 - 56 days
Single Family Home in Kirkland 98034 - 60 days
Condo in Kirkland 98034 - 49 days
Single Family Home in Bellevue 98007 and 98008 - 56 days
Condo in Bellevue 98007 and 98008 - 64 days
The papers are full of stories about the housing market woes, yet it seems people are still surprised when they don't get an offer the first week they go on market. Perhaps the above median timeframes will help people understand that buyers are really being careful, taking their time, and expecting a lot of value for their hard earned dollars.
Jun. 14, 2009 - Pottery Barn Paint Color for Bathroom
Popular Sherwin Williams Pottery Barn paint colors. Blues are back!
Bathroom paint color:
Create upscale themes like the one below, without the expense of designer tiles, with paint! Same look and feel, and easier to change your mind a few years later.
aqua = water = bathroom
The four Pottery Barn paint colors above, from left to right are Cool Aqua,Aqua Sky, Aquamarine Blue and Babylonian Aqua. When I last wrote about Pottery Barn Paint Colors, many people wrote indicating that they weren't good at picking the right color tone.
Just take a picture of a bathroom you like from the internet, like the one above, and line up the possible matching colors under or around the photo as I have done above. If you still have trouble matching, bring the picture with the color swatches that the get from MyPerfectColor to friends, or even strangers at the coffee shop. People will love to help you pick.
In this case Aquamarine Blue is the right color tone, but you don't want to paint a small room too dark, or it will close in on you and don't, don't ,DO NOT paint the ceiling the same color as the walls.
When you order the paint you can choose it darker, but not lighter. The smaller the room the lighter you want to go. If you don't want a white ceiling, put a little bit of the wall paint into white paint. It will look more like the walls are reflecting in the ceiling than a colored ceiling.
In this case, none of the lighter paint colors are the same tone as that bathroom or Aquamarine Blue, so have the have the store make the color lighter for you first, so you have the formula in case you need more. Save some in a glass jar for touch ups over the years before adding white to do the ceiling.
Change your colors often. It's a lot cheaper than buying a new house :)
ARDELL
DellaLoggia
On Seattle Real Estate including Kirkland, Bellevue, Redmond, Green Lake and most areas around Lake Washington North of Downtown Seattle.
Phone: 206-910-1000 - Mailto:Ardell@RainCityGuide.com
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