I have to admit, I’m kind of a sucker for lists of what is supposedly in and what’s out. I ran across just such a list recently at the National Association of Realtors' online magazine, which pulled the items from a survey done by Mark Nash of Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate in Chicago.

Here are some of what the poll said is in and out, plus my take. Let me know what you think.

IN
Reduced carbon footprint. How your home and you impact the earth matters to more buyers who want a home that lets them save energy and lessen their contribution to global warming. DW: Green couldn’t be bigger right now. The challenge is knowing what truly saves energy and/or is the more environmentally responsible way to go.

Outdoor living: Massive fireplaces, outdoor kitchens and under-patio heating to extend the season are not just for the Sun Belt anymore. DW: The Northwest doesn’t seem all that well-suited to outdoor living for at least half the year. But I’d like to know what you’ve done, if anything, to make your outdoor space more livable. And do you actually use it?

Floating homes: Not your father’s houseboat, these nonmobile homes are basically ranch houses sitting on stationary barges in a lake or river. DW: I like the concept. Anyone seen homes on barges or lakes around here?

Home elevators: Even builders of mid-priced homes are adding this essential for boomers wanting to age in place. DW: I saw the ability to add an elevator recently touted as a big plus for a new-construction house but thought it was more of a luxury item than something you’d see in a mid-priced home. So boomers, is this an amenity you’re looking for?

Pet showers: Clean pets mean clean homes, and who wants to mess up the bathtub when this feature can be a part of the garage or mudroom? DW: This item seems a little ridiculous. But, then again, I don’t have a dog. If it was called “the place we wash the dog” rather than a “pet shower,” I might be more inclined to go along with it.

Bathroom suites: Whether it’s multiple flat-screen TVs or a mini fridge and cappuccino maker, you’ll soon have a whole home inside this one room. DW: OK, I’m all for a sizable bathroom as part of a bedroom suite, but I can wait to exit the bathroom for my morning cappuccino. Same goes for the mini-fridge – not the setting I prefer for chilled food/drinks.

OUT
Living rooms: The incredible shrinking parlor has ceased to exist in some homes. DW: I guess the utility of a living room comes down to how you use it. If you’re lucky enough to have other rooms that serve as gathering spots, then I can see why the living room wouldn’t be a great use of space. But I have plenty of friends and family with lovely living rooms that have been the setting for lots of good conversation, glasses of wine and time spent together.

Tiny balconies: Room for only one chair is worthless; balconies must now function for entertaining too. DW: Couldn’t agree more. I don’t see much use for an outdoor space that can barely contain two people and what they’re sitting on. Doesn’t need to be huge, but let’s make room for at least four and maybe a barbecue.

McMansions: Could it be that “small is beautiful” finally is gaining traction? DW: This fits well with the downsizing that supposedly draws boomers to condos and cottage-type living that was the subject of this recent post.

A large luxury home built in Georgia by the reality TV show "Extreme Makeover" is about to be offered up at a foreclosure auction, according to an Associated Press story. How do you lose a free home for which you're even given money to maintain? Use it as collateral for another loan.

Here are some additional details from the AP:

More than 1,800 people showed up to help ABC's "Extreme Makeover" team demolish a family's decrepit home and replace it with a sparkling, four-bedroom mini-mansion in 2005.

Three years later, the reality TV show's most ambitious project at the time has become the latest victim of the foreclosure crisis.

After the Harper family used the two-story home as collateral for a $450,000 loan, it's set to go to auction on the steps of the Clayton County Courthouse Aug. 5. The couple did not return phone calls Monday, but told WSB-TV they received the loan for a construction business that failed.

The house was built in January 2005, after Atlanta-based Beazer Homes USA and ABC's "Extreme Makeover" demolished their old home and its faulty septic system. Within six days, construction crews and hoards of volunteers had completed work on the largest home that the television program had yet built.

The finished product was a four-bedroom house with decorative rock walls and a three-car garage that towered over ranch and split-level homes in their Clayton County neighborhood. The home's door opened into a lobby that featured four fireplaces, a solarium, a music room and a plush new office.

Materials and labor were donated for the home, which would have cost about $450,000 to build. Beazer Homes' employees and company partners also raised $250,000 in contributions for the family, including scholarships for the couple's three children and a home maintenance fund.

ABC said in a statement that it advises each family to consult a financial planner after they get their new home.

The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area continued to see housing prices drop in May, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index released today. This time around the year-over-year decline came in at 6.3 percent. As you can see below, the newest numbers top off 11 months of of slowing gains and then decreases in the index for the region. (Month-to-month, prices dropped 0.5 percent -- below the 0.7 percent increase seen March to April.)

All 20 areas followed by the index also saw annual price drops, but some are pretty incredible compared to the ones we’re seeing here. Miami: -28.3 percent; Phoenix: -26.5 percent; Las Vegas: -28.4 percent. Perhaps year-round sunshine isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

By another measure, this area is outperforming some previously hot markets and shows values here are holding up stronger than elsewhere. The index ties the price of a typical house, and its appreciation, to what that house was worth in January 2000. In the Seattle-Tacoma area, the value of a typical house has grown 78.7 percent in the last 7 1/2 years. A few other areas have seen prices decrease so fast that appreciation for the same time period has fallen below this region’s. San Francisco’s price growth for the same time period, for example, is 62.7 percent, Phoenix’s is 57.3 percent and Chicago’s comes in at 50 percent. Each had bigger year-over-year price drops than our area in May.

Nationwide, the 20 metro areas tracked by the Case-Shiller index fell by a combined record 15.8 percent compared to May 2007. Here’s a look at year-over-year changes in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area:

May: -6.3 percent
April: -4.9 percent
March: -4.4 percent
February: -2.7 percent
January: -1.3 percent
December: +0.5 percent
November:+1.8 percent
October: +3.3 percent
September:+4.7 percent
August: +5.7 percent
July: +6.9 percent

The big national mortgage bill received congressional approval this weekend and should be signed shortly by President Bush. While the legislation provides financial backing for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and often is termed a mortgage rescue bill, there are elements that could have an impact on you and the local real estate market.

Here are some notable parts of the soon-to-be law, thanks to stories from the Washington Post and CNN:

• Permanently increases the size of home loans that Fannie Mae and Feddie Mac can buy and the FHA can insure to $625,000 for the priciest markets. You might remember that earlier this year Pierce County’s conforming loan limit grew temporarily from $417,000 to $567,500. The idea behind raising the limits is to move loans in the $450,000+-range from the pricier jumbo loan category to the cheaper conforming rates in areas where home prices have moved beyond the previous limits.
• A tax credit that’s really more of an interest-free loan of up to $7,500 for first-time home buyers on houses bought between April 9 and July 1 of next year. The credit must be repaid.
• The FHA gets $180 million for pre-foreclosure counseling to struggling homeowners.
• Lenders are required to show how high a borrower’s payment could get under the terms of a particular mortgage.
• Homeowners who don’t itemize on their tax returns could deduct a portion of their property taxes, expected to be $500 for single filers and $1,000 for joint or married filers. This would be particularly helpful to homeowners who have no mortgage and, therefore, no mortgage interest to deduct and no other reason to itemize.

Rich Bennion, executive vice president of Seattle-based HomeStreet Bank, said this afternoon that he expects the new conforming loan limit for Pierce County to come in at $522,100. Increasing the limits helps open up lending possibilities to more borrowers, he said.

Also important for the South Sound, he said, is a provision that allows the FHA to streamline the process for making a condominium elibible for an FHA-insured loan. Previously, an entire building would have to meet FHA guidelines, he said.

Though it’s unclear how the FHA will alter its condo-lending requirements, Bennion said he expects the changes to help first-time home buyers.

“That’s significant in our area because increasingly condos and condo converstions are more and more the affordable entry-level kind of housing. They’re less expensive and up til now you couldn’t get FHA loans in the typical condo project,” he said.

J. Lennox Scott, CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate, said this morning in an e-mailed statement that the legislation “is an enormous step forward for homeownership.” He emphasized the opportunity for first-time buyers to take advantage of the tax credit, which he said will help spur home sales activity.

“The ripple effect of increased sales in the more affordable markets will eventually cause a chain reaction of sales up the price points, helping to stabilize the entire housing economy,” Lennox said.

The newest foreclosure numbers released this morning put Tacoma at No. 43 among the top 100 metro areas in the country for foreclosure filings, according to RealtyTrac. For the second quarter of 2008, Tacoma’s filings increased 112.8 percent over the same time period last year. That compares to – and is less than – a national increase in such filings of 121.4 percent, RealtyTrac reported. Foreclosure filings include auction and default notices and bank repossessions.

Here’s a look at some of the areas on the top 100 list for the second quarter of 2008, their ranking, how many foreclosure filings each had for how many households and the year-over-year change.

We know people use gift cards, furniture shopping sprees and even free cars to sell a home. But a gift card for signing up with a specific agent?

Patricia Graham, a new agent in Orting, is offering a $1,000 gas gift card or the equivalent in cash to customers who list a home with her or use her services to buy a home. The giveaway comes at closing, she said.

Graham said the idea grew out of a marketing plan she designed with the help of her broker to build clientele. Living in Orting, she knows many residents work far from home and thought a gas card giveaway might catch their eye. (Her husband drives daily to his Boeing job in Everett. It’s 125 miles roundtrip.)

Graham, who’s working at Northstone Real Estate, said she was drawn to today’s market because she’s wants to get involved on the investment side.

“It’s been a dream. It’s just something I have a desire to do,” said Graham, who has an eclectic work background, from hair dresser to shoe saleswoman to bus driver.

Graham got started in real estate in April and launched her gas-card giveaway about two weeks ago.

“I have a lot of people who think it’s a great idea, but I haven’t had any action on it yet,” she said.

Any thoughts? Would the prospect of a $1,000 gas card entice you to sign up with a particular agent?

A new real estate survey says home sellers remain pretty well satisfied with their agent if their home is sold in five months or less. Which is longer than I would have thought but shorter than the six months it took to sell the average home. Results of the survey, by J.D. Power and Associates, say a seller’s satisfaction averages 794 on a scale of 1,000 among those whose homes sold in five months or fewer. But the number declines to 730 if selling the home takes seven months or more.

Other tidbits of interest, according to the survey:

Prospective buyers, on average, see about 13 homes before buying.

Sellers, on the other hand, said their home was shown about 11 times, on average, with about five open houses conducted. Anyone else surprised by the number of open houses? Seems high, though I know that the down market has agents turning more often to open houses to market their listings now than they did a couple years ago.

Almost half of customers found their agents by talking to family or friends. About 28 percent used the Internet and 23 percent used an agent they’d previously hired.

J.D. Power also ranked real estate companies according to customer satisfaction and gave top honors on the buy side to Keller Williams and to Prudential for sellers. Go here for the buyer ratings and seller ratings.

According to The Associated Press, the widow of producer Aaron Spelling paid $47 million for a two-story condo in the Century City area of Los Angeles. My favorite feature: A bedroom bigger than most houses. How big? 4,000 square feet, which amounts to almost one-quarter of the entire condo.

The story says that the price paid by Candy Spelling for the 16,500-square-foot property works out to $2,848 a square foot, a record price for a Los Angeles condo unit, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

The condo, which is still under construction, isn't the first record-breaking residence for Spelling. Her current abode, a 123-room mansion that she and her husband dubbed "The Manor," is the largest home in Los Angeles County at 56,500 square feet, according to The Associated Press.

There's more: Spelling's new digs will have a living room with two working fireplaces, a dining room for 25 guests, the 4,000-square-foot master bedroom suite and a conservatory with a rose garden, as well as a swimming pool and deck, according to the AP.

Goldberg said Spelling was moving to downscale her living space after her husband's death in 2006.

I was putting together a post on one thing (use of the term “below market” to market and sell a home) when I noticed something even more interesting: Prices on three of five homes I spotted with “below market” in their listing remarks on June 3 are still for sale. (The other two are no longer listed.) These were homes that, according to the listing remarks in June, were already priced below market value. And all three have since seen price drops.

Two are located in Sumner and one is in Gig Harbor. Here’s a breakdown of each:

Sumner five-bedroom: Price dropped from $719,950 to $675,000, a change of 6.7 percent. The listing on this 3,295-square-foot home puts it near Lake Tapps. The home was built in 2006 with 2.75 bathrooms, including a master suite, landscaped yard with sprinkler system and built-in bookshelves.

Gig Harbor three-bedroom: Price dropped from $690,000 to $667,250, a change of 3.4 percent. This 3,209-square-foot house sits on 1 acre with a wetbar, slate countertops, birch hardwood floors and a six-burner gas stove in the kitchen.

Sumner four-bedroom: Price dropped from $559,950 to $539,950, a change of 3.7 percent. This 3,064-square-foot home is advertised near Bonney Lake as "a steal” and “well below market value.” It has a den and bonus room and a five-car garage. It’s also in a gated community and was built in 2006.

I reached Windermere listing agent Melissa Moller, who's selling the Gig Harbor home, and she said the house appraised even higher than the June price -- at $749,000 in November 2007.

“It’s within a mile of the most desirable area, downtown Gig Harbor, so when it was built we assumed that would be a plus. And so did the appraiser and it also has all kinds of features,” she said.

The house was listed about a year ago at $735,000 and came down to $667,250 near the end of June, Moller said.

“If you can’t sell them, you’ve got to lower them to where the market is,” she said.

Moller pointed to the lack of financing options, and therefore buyers, as fundamental to today’s difficulty in getting homes sold.

“The creative loan options just aren’t there. I can’t say they need to be there. There’s just such a swing as the market adjusts. That needed to happen,” she said.

A few similarities stand out among these three listings: All are around the same size and all have what appear to be top-of-the-line amenities. All are a drive from major employment centers and could face some gas-price resistance from prospective buyers who feel disinclined in today's economic climate to commute. And all are more than double Pierce County’s median home price of $259,950.

For some additional context, prices on homes across the county have dropped in recent months. From January to June, for example, the median price fell 5.5 percent on closed sales compared to what was sold in the first six months of 2007, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

A Wall Street Journal story examines some Puget Sound subdivisions populated by cottages centered around common courtyards. And when they say cottages, they mean small, particularly by traditional subdivision standards: 800 to 1,500 square feet.

Even some of the condos being sold as ideal for downsizing in downtown Tacoma are bigger.

From what I read – built-in bookcases, corner windows, skylights – there’s a lot to like in these houses, which also tap into today’s bent toward conservation. Less home takes up more space and uses less energy. But they tend to cost more for their attention to detail.

What do you think? Worthwhile or trendy or fine for the Prius set but few others? The big question: Could you be enticed to buy one?

Here’s an excerpt of the story:

While falling home prices and sluggish sales have slashed new housing starts by a quarter in the past year, Messrs. Chapin and Soules say they field a dozen calls a week asking, “When’s your next project?” They have one house left for sale, a two-bedroom, two-bath cottage of 1,000 square feet in Redmond.

At $599,950, it isn’t cheap. The median price last month for a single-family home in the neighborhood was $542,500. Residents of the tiny tracts say they don’t mind paying a premium for such touches are hardwood floors and custom cabinets because the two men develop more than just housing.

“We walk into each others houses and borrow sugar and do all the kinds of things you did in the 1950s,” says Pat Hundhausen, a retired special education teacher. Her Umatilla Hill development, like the others, is a throwback to the bungalow courtyard, a design that appeared in the 1920s, before traditional, single-family tract housing gave form to postwar suburbia. Mrs. Hundhausen and her husband left Waukesha, Wis., their hometown of 40 years, after visiting friends a couple of years ago in Umatilla Hill. It took the couple less than a week to buy a nearby lot.

The small-home buyers are a mix of single professionals, young families and retired empty-nesters. While aspirants to the traditional American Dream seek ever bigger, more secluded homes, residents here say they prefer making do with less. Getting to know the neighbors is a bonus. Todd Staheli and his wife are raising two daughters in a 998-square-foot house surrounded by people they greet by name. “There are a lot of eyes on them as they ride their scooters and bikes,” says Mr. Staheli.

The houses are painted in Easter-egg pastels of salmon, yellow and avocado green, adding to the tract’s storybook feel. Residents tend thickets of poppies, lavender, catmint, roses and lilies. Their front-yard gardens are surrounded by a knee-high fence, leading out to a sidewalk and the grass commons. Single-car garages are built along an edge of the tracts, which are usually set back from a main street or connected by private road.

Click below for the full story.

=> Read more!

An economic outlook released today by Global Insight predicted that construction of new homes in the United States this year will dip to the lowest levels since World War II. One of the main problems: Financing. According to the Global Insight release, “Many regional banks, which homebuilders depend on for financing, are running into problems because of rising delinquency rates. Even banks with solid balance sheets are reluctant to finance any project related to housing.”

Construction is off locally. In the second quarter, which includes all of April, May and June, permits issued to build houses (excluding condominiums) in the county dropped by 53.9 percent compared to the same period last year, according to statistics provided this afternoon by Bill Riley, vice president of government affairs for the Washington Realtors and an owner of GMAC Real Estate in Puyallup. For some additional perspective, I wrote in May about local builders leasing unsold homes, rolling out the incentives and slowing construction as they grapple with today's market.

More than two years after opening The Esplanade to reservations, the nine-story waterfront condo project is on the brink of closing its first sales. And at a time when Pierce County’s real estate brokers and agents struggle to convince ever-hesitant buyers to take the plunge.

Not to mention receding prices countywide and a slowdown in condominium sales.

The Esplanade has 162 units priced $240,000 to $980,000, from one bedrooms measuring 800 square feet to penthouses topping 2,000 square feet and with views of the Sound and Mt. Rainier. Judy Mayfield, the project’s listing agent, said she emphasizes value, price and historically low mortgage rates to prospective buyers.

“If anyone’s going to get off the fence, I think they’ll get off the fence here,” she said.

Sales are happening, she said, but they are sluggish. Mayfield said she went through two buyers before putting together an agreement on the largest penthouse. (No worries if you’re still in the market for a waterfront penthouse: The next largest one at 2,172 square feet is still available for $922,000.)

Two models opened in April at The Esplanade, where Mayfield has 23 purchase-and-sale agreements. She expects the first of those to close in August, when construction should wrap up on the building’s common areas. The sales office also will move then from Thea’s Landing to The Esplanade.

“I’ve been selling real estate for 18 years and I’ve never experienced the feeling of frustration I’ve experienced this year,” Mayfield said. “It’s been a tough market. It is frustrating because you’ve got an awesome product. The pricing is really very reasonable, a great value for your money. You do everything you can and people still sit on the fence and, yes, that’s frustrating.”

For the first six months of the year, sales in the area that includes most of downtown Tacoma’s condos and the Foss Waterway have fallen by 47.2 percent compared to the same period in 2007, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. That compares to a 33.1 percent drop in sales of all homes – houses and condos – countywide.

One market factor hurting sales, she said, is an issue other agents say they, too, are grappling with: Buyers who want to buy but can’t sell the home they have.

The Tall Ships festival, however, brought a welcome boost. Mayfield said 90 prospective buyers asked to return for one-on-one tours of the project after seeing it briefly during the maritime event.

The Esplanade isn’t marketing any specific bonuses or sales incentives, but Mayfield said there’s room for negotiating if buyers are looking for a little extra, such as a storage space, a break on closing costs or getting some homeowner’s dues prepaid. (Monthly homeowner association fees range from $280 to $480.)

“We have people who love the building and they’re going to buy when they start feeling more comfortable with the marketplace,” she said.

I ran across a list of seven home price negotiating blunders at U.S. News and World Report and thought I’d pass them along, add some of my thoughts and ask for some of yours.

1. Not understanding the seller. In a home price negotiation, it's essential to look at the deal from the opposite side of the table. "You want to make best use of the seller's fears," says Ed Brodow, a negotiation expert and the author of “Negotiation Boot Camp.” So the question is: What are the pressures on the seller of this house?"

Good things to be aware of, but you never know who's paying the mortgage. If the seller has taken a job out of town, her new employer could be footing the bill. A young military family already transferred? Their parents could be covering the cost until a good offer comes in.

2. Forgetting your homework. Some of this needed information is readily available. You can get the sale prices of comparable homes and discover how long certain listings have been on the market from a real estate professional or an online resource, says Joshua Dorkin, the founder and CEO of real estate networking and information site BiggerPockets.com. To find out the seller's motivations, try getting in touch with him or her directly. Some will refer you to an agent, but others will chat candidly.

Any buyers out there ever called the seller directly? If the seller was represented by an agent, I would always assume that’s the point of contact. But perhaps not?

3. Showing your cards. While looking for information on the seller, it's important to divulge as little about yourself as possible. Any knowledge you provide could be used by the seller as leverage.

I’m always surprised how much agents say is given away in negotiations, from appliances to information used to knock good money off the price.

4. Not having options. When you begin negotiating on a specific property, make sure you have identified several other homes you'd be happy with as well. Furthermore, it's to your advantage to tactfully—either directly or through your agent—let the sellers know that theirs is not the only property you are considering.

Easier said then done? Agents often say once you start seeing your furniture in a house, the game’s over.

5. Skipping face time. Instead of handling the negotiation process by phone and fax, it's important to meet the seller in person. If the transaction is being handled by real estate agents, the sellers should request that their agent get together with the buyer's agent in person to discuss the prices.

Makes sense and is probably doable in a slower market. But I also assume that given today’s reliance on technology that a lot (most?) negotiating goes via the computer, cell phone and/or fax machine.

6. Offering a specific number. When extending an initial offer, present a range of figures—say, from $420,000 to $450,000—rather than a hard number. An offer of a specific number that is considered too low could upset the seller enough to derail the negotiations altogether, says Cohen. A price range, however, affords you more flexibility.

I’ve never understood the supposed advantage behind offering a price range. If you offer a range, won’t the seller just take the top number? And wouldn’t a range leave you with less room to negotiate than if you offered something in the middle of your price range?

7. Getting caught up in the game. Remember, your goal is to purchase a home—not beat the seller. So what if the seller doesn't bring the price down as much as you had hoped? If you really like the house, the price has been reduced enough to fit your budget, and you've given the negotiation process your best shot, consider declaring victory.

Good advice. My favorite of the seven tips.

Any tips you'd like to add? Any of the above you've put to good use?

The Federal Reserve today issued new rules intended to rein in shady mortgage lending practices. But at least some of it looks a little late coming to the party.

According to The Associated Press, these are among the new rules:

— bar lenders from making loans without proof of a borrower's income.

— require lenders to make sure risky borrowers set aside money to pay for taxes and insurance.

— restrict lenders from penalizing risky borrowers who pay loans off early. Such "prepayment" penalties are banned if the payment can change during the initial four years of the mortgage. In other cases, a penalty can't be imposed in the first two years of the mortgage.

— prohibit lenders from making a loan without considering a borrower's ability to repay a home loan from sources other than the home's value. The borrower need not have to prove that the lender engaged in a "pattern or practice" for this to be deemed a violation. That marks a change – sought by consumer advocates – from the Fed's initial proposal and should make it easier for borrowers to lodge a complaint.

First of all, the new rules apply only to new loans. And I talked this morning with Chris Dunayski, president of Highpoint Mortgage in Puyallup, who said, “It’s interesting because a lot of what was released today sounds great, but a lot of this has already been done by banks themselves.”

Months ago, he said, banks began requiring many borrowers (and providing incentive for others) to include tax and insurance payments in the monthly mortgage payment. Qualifying borrowers based on the higher, adjusted rate they’ll pay down the road is new but not so useful in the near term as 30-year fixed mortgage rates are as good or better than adjustable-rate mortgages, he said.

Getting halfway through the year allows a longer look at how the Pierce County real estate market is progressing. Earlier this week, we looked at median home prices for the first half of 2008 compared to the same period in 2007. Now, let’s take a look at sales activity.

Every one of the 17 areas in the county tracked by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service has seen sales decline. Overall, sales year-to-date declined 33.1 percent, from 6,608 houses and condos sold in the first six months of 2007 to 4,421 for the same stretch of time this year.

Any predictions on when sales might move to positive territory? Every area also saw a year-over-year drop in May and in June, which wasn’t the case in April. So perhaps more decreases ahead?

Foreclosure filings continued their upward swing here last month, so much so that numbers released Thursday placed Pierce County No. 1 in the state.

According to research firm RealtyTrac, there was one foreclosure-related filing for every 483 Pierce County households in June, an increase of 75 percent from the same month in 2007. Nationwide, foreclosure filings were spread among one in every 501 households.

Pierce County took the top spot in RealtyTrac’s monthly release after two consecutive months of placing second.

Washington, on the whole, remains near the middle of the pack for foreclosure filings, which include auction and default notices and bank repossessions, according to RealtyTrac.

As promised, here are the median home prices for the first half of 2008 compared to the first half of 2007, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Some are remarkably close to the monthly numbers I posted yesterday, but others reveal a far different picture.

For some context, the countywide median home price for January through June was $259,950, which is a drop of 5.5 percent compared to the same time period last year, according to MLS numbers. The only markets on the upswing in the first half of the year were Roy and DuPont.

Look for half-yearly sales activity comparisons later this week.

Though Pierce County’s median home price declined year-over-year in June, a breakdown of areas around the county show a few stood out from the crowd with price increases, according to Northwest MLS numbers released Monday. (The countywide median price was $259,250, a 6.6 percent year-over-year decline.)

There were three that saw price boosts, plus one where the median price remained flat, according to the MLS. Any guesses on which ones? Gig Harbor led the pack followed by Fife, Lake Tapps/Bonney Lake and DuPont. The biggest declines came in Browns Point and the Graham area.

Here’s a look at 15 areas, their median home price in June and the percentage change since the same month in 2007. Areas with fewer than 10 sales were left out.

Stay tuned later in the week for how the same areas fared in sales activity. And, as promised last month, I’ll provide some stats examining how the first half of 2008 is shaping up.

The median home price in Pierce County continued to drop in June but so, too, did the number of homes awaiting buyers.

Statistics released Monday by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service put the county’s median price last month at $259,250 – a 6.6 percent decline from the same month a year ago and 9.0 percent below its Aug. 2007 peak of $285,000. The median means half sold for more and half for less.

June’s year-over-year price decrease is the ninth in the last 10 months, though the declines have not been as steep as seen by many other areas around the country. And the price remained essentially flat from May.

Shrinking inventory could indicate a market shift in Pierce County as fewer houses and condos were for sale in June than the same month last year, which, if the listing decline persists, could eventually move the advantage from buyers to sellers. Not only did the overall inventory of listings dip by 5.7 percent, but the number of new listings dropped year-over-year by 20.3 percent.

While fewer houses and condos were also new to the market last month in King, Snohomish and Kitsap counties, Pierce County was the only among them to have fewer homes for sale than in June 2007.

Still, the supply of homes for sale here remains above the region’s. Statistics pulled June 30 showed Pierce County with just below an 11-month supply of homes compared to nearly a seven-month supply for the four Puget Sound counties combined, according to Dick Beeson, an MLS director and a Windermere broker. The industry standard for a market that equally favors buyers and sellers is six month’s supply, meaning it would take six months to sell everything that’s on the market.

Bill Riley, broker-owner of GMAC Real Estate in Puyallup, said Monday that he’s encouraged by the reduction in listings, though he’d like to see supply get down to nine or 10-month territory.

“What it means in Pierce County is folks figured out that they’re not going to get their price, and they don’t need to sell. They’ve decided not to put their homes back on the market,” he said.

Plus, he said, the number of new homes has dropped off as builders either sold or leased empty houses. And they’re not putting up as many as they had because financing is so difficult to attain, said Riley, who’s also vice president of government affairs for the Washington Realtors.

On pricing, neighboring counties also decreased year over year, from 3.6 percent in King County to 9.2 percent in Thurston County, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

The June numbers from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service were just released and show another year-over-year drop in the county's median home price -- a decline of 6.6 percent to $259,250.

But, interestingly, the number of homes listed for sale also continued to fall and the number of properties that were new to the market last month dropped by 20.3 percent. Other nearby counties also saw fewer homes added in June but King, Snohomish and Kitsap counties continue to have more homes for sale this year than last.

Any guesses as to why Pierce County's selection is shrinking and what that means to the market? Is the don't-sell-if-you-don't-have-to message from agents getting through? How will already-hesitant buyers react to a drop in inventory?

On pricing, here's a look at Pierce County's year-over-year median price changes for the last 18 months, according to the Northwest MLS:

2008
June: -6.6 percent
May: -7.8 percent
April: -4.3 percent
March: - 6.02 percent
February: -7.8 percent
January: -2.5 percent

2007
December: +.01 percent
November: -4.4 percent
October: -1.4 percent
September: -2.4 percent
August: + 4.4 percent
July: +3.3 percent
June: +0.82 percent
May: +6.9 percent
April: +3.2 percent
March: +5.8 percent
February: +12.5 percent
January: +5.3 percent

I am often asked where one can find information on homes in the foreclosure process (or already bank owned) that are for sale or being auctioned. As far as I know, there is no clearinghouse of free info for such homes, other than county records.

ForeclosurePoint, though, now gets pretty close with addresses and square footage and other stats on homes with foreclosure filings. But if you want the parcel number or auction date, the Web site says you'll have to pony up. Whether or not you pay ForeclosurePoint, you'll have to take a moment to register. (RealtyTrac also provides some of this information, but it looks like you have to pay for addresses.) ForeclosurePoint also has teamed up with Zillow so some of what's listed has Zillow's estimated value attached. And you can match that up with what ForeclosurePoint has determined will be the estimated opening bid at auction.

Happy hunting. And, if you spend a good deal of time perusing ForeclosurePoint, let me know what you think.

Happily, today’s mortgage interest rates appear a little lower than they were this time last week. But with so much economic uncertainty, it’s anyone’s guess where rates will head in a month or a year.

According to Bankrate, the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage today is 6.16 percent compared to 6.3 percent last week. While hovering above 6 percent counts as a historically low rate, it’s a bit higher than rates landed by a lot of buyers in recent years. And let’s not forget that just two weeks ago, the AP reported an average rate of 6.42 percent for 30-year mortgages.

The possibility of northward rate movement is one of the main factors in the "buy now" argument made by agents and mortgage brokers. But how much more would you pay each month, if rates increased?

I used a mortgage calculator at Bankrate to figure the monthly payment on a $300,000 mortgage and the total interest paid with rates ranging from 5.75 percent to 8 percent.

Here’s what it looks like:

5.75 percent
Payment: $1750.72
Total Interest: $330,258.68

6.0 percent
Payment: $1798.65
Total Interest: $347,514.57

6.25 percent
Payment: $1847.15
Total Interest: $364,974.58

6.5 percent
Payment: $1896.20
Total Interest: $382,633.47

6.75 percent
Payment: $1945.79
Total Interest: $400,485.94

7.0 percent
Payment: $1995.91
Total Interest: $418,526.69

8.0 percent
Payment: $2201.29
Total Interest: $492,465.74

We all know that lower interest rates translate to lower payments, but looking at the rates laid out like this shows what a difference a full percentage point can make. A monthly payment on a 30-year mortgage for $300,000 increases by $197.26 from a loan with 6 percent interest to a loan with 7 percent interest.

If you want to play with Bankrate's mortgage calculator, you can find it and others here.

As if it wasn't frustrating enough for today's prospective mortgage borrowers to be turned down. Some are being taken advantage of by companies that promise to help them navigate today's tougher lending climate, but instead take the fee and run, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Here's an excerpt from the story:

Federal and state authorities say the nation's housing slump and credit squeeze are resulting in a spike in reports of companies preying on frustrated borrowers who are having difficulty securing commercial loans through conventional sources.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and state regulators across the country say they have seen an increase in "advance fee" loan schemes in which companies charge would-be borrowers upfront fees but never seriously try to find financing for their projects.

The FBI says it recently received "several hundred" complaints about advance-fee loan schemes. "We saw some in 2007, but not nearly to the level we're seeing this year," says Cathy Milhoan, an FBI spokeswoman in Washington. On its Web site, the agency includes "advance fee scheme" in a warning to the public about "common fraud schemes."

"Clever con artists will offer to find financing arrangements for their clients who pay a 'finder's fee' in advance," the Web site states. "Victims often learn that they are ineligible for financing only after they have paid the 'finder.'"

The FDIC says consumers should be wary of companies that request fees via a wire system, and of upfront fees, saying that "loan fees are normally paid to a business after the loan has been approved."

Click here to read what the FBI has to say about advance fee schemes and how to avoid them.