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Chuck Marunde, J.D., Broker, Attorney (Ret.) Text: 360-775-5424

Real Estate Award Given to Sequim Realtor

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We are pleased to announce that an important Real Estate Award has been given to a top agent in Sequim, Washington. Sequim Real Estate Broker Chuck Marunde has received the prestigious Five Star Professional Real Estate Award, which is only given to 7% of the agents in the entire Seattle area real estate market, out of  25,000 Seattle area real estate agents.

Real Estate Awards

Real Estate Award – The Five Star Professional

The Five Star Real Estate Award is designed to identify real estate agents in a given market who satisfy objective criteria that are associated with providing quality services to clients. Award candidates are identified through nominations received by consumers. To receive the Five Star Real Estate Award, a real estate agent must satisfy five objective eligibility and evaluation criteria.

The ten criteria include customer service, integrity, market knowledge, communication, negotiation, closing preparation, post‐sale service, finding the right home for buyers, marketing homes effectively, and overall client satisfaction. Additionally, respondents are asked whether they would recommend the agent to a friend. This information is incorporated into a client scoring algorithm as a cross check against their average rating. Chuck received the highest scores in all categories, and was eminently qualified for this real estate award.

Real Estate Award – Chuck Marunde

Chuck Marunde is a Virtual Real Estate Broker in Sequim, Washington, with over three decades in real estate, 20 years as a real estate lawyer, author of half a dozen books, author of thousands of magazine and Internet articles (and videos), adviser to Realtors around the country, and national expert on real estate transactions. Chuck is a consistent top producer and the #1 individual selling agent of homes in volume for the calendar year 2013 for Clallam County, competing against other teams and franchise bricks-and-mortars. He is #3 for 2014, unless you don’t count the first two who have other agents and/or assistants working together as part of a team of people, in which case, Chuck is also #1 individual selling agent of single family homes by volume in 2014.

Some believe he has magic powers since he connects with so many highly qualified buyers and closes so many transactions all year long. Combining the power of the Internet, personally designing and optimizing his Internet marketing, writing and publishing books for the local Sequim and Port Angeles market, and giving clients the highest level of personal customer service with uncompromised integrity has created the real estate brokerage of the future. It is not a surprise that Chuck would win the Five Star Real Estate Award.

Buyers from all over the United States do their research and then hire Chuck to be their Buyer’s Agent in the State of Washington. Some buyers are scheduling their appointments as far as a year ahead of their visit to make sure he has time to represent them. Appointments and showings are easily booked on his calendar at SequimRealEstateNews.com.

The Sequim Buyer’s Guide

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The Sequim Buyer’s Guide is here. The all new 2nd edition of Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide is now available. This Buyer’s Guide has been very popular with buyers looking at Sequim, including buyers in more than 25 states from Alaska to Florida and Hawaii to New York.

Buyer's Guide

Buyer’s Guide Packed Full

Why do buyers like this book so much? It’s full of “secrets” that agents know, but few buyers know. You will learn about the real estate issues that are unique for the Sequim area, dealing with due diligence issues, and much more. With over 200 pages packed full of tips and hard learned lessons from the school of real estate knocks, this is an excellent read before you come to look at homes in the Sequim area.

A Buyer’s Guide You’ll Love

This Buyer’s Guide is the result of over three decades in real estate, including 20 years as a real estate attorney. Chuck Marunde is the founder and broker of a very successful virtual real estate brokerage. He is the author of a number of real estate books, thousands of articles about buying, and he’s a top selling buyer’s agent. Chuck was just awarded the prestigious Five Star Real Estate Award for 2014, an award granted to less than 7% of over 25,000 Seattle area agents.

If you’re going to spend six figures on a home in Sequim or Port Angeles, $24.95 for this Buyer’s Guide is a bargain. You can order directly online from the publisher at Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide, or in a few days you will be able to order directly from Amazon.com, too. This may be the best Buyer’s Guide written for buyers today.

Finding Your Sequim Home is Not Easy

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Finding your ideal Sequim home is not necessarily going to be easy. You could get lucky, like a couple who hired me to be their buyer’s agent. They bought the first home I showed them in Sequim. That’s unusual, but it was exactly what they had been hoping to find, and the price was really reasonable. So they pulled the trigger. They are very happy Sequim residents now.

Finding Your Sequim Home

Finding Your Sequim Home

But for most buyers, the process is more involved and takes months. It starts with searching the Sequim MLS online months before coming to Sequim or Port Angeles. While some buyers search sites like Zillow and Trulia, eventually most realize those sites are full of listings that are not for sale or that have lots of incorrect information. Getting bad information on properties is the last thing you need when you are searching for your retirement home. So most end up using Sequim-Homes.com, simply because it is a dedicated Sequim MLS site (and Port Angeles MLS site) that is 100% accurate by getting all it’s source data from local Realtor‘s listings.

Finding Your Sequim Home by Saving Favorites

Most buyers watch the videos on Sequim-Homes.com so they can learn to get the most out of their home search. They learn to save their search parameters, and then they start saving a favorites list of homes, so when they come to Sequim or Port Angeles, they will have a short list of homes to look at with their buyer’s agent. Learning to use an online MLS site takes time, but it can be a welcome challenge, because the goal is to find your perfect retirement home, and that’s a worthy goal.

In the months before they arrive in Sequim or Port Angeles, they email and talk on the phone with their buyer’s agent. I can write about this entire process, because I am the buyer’s agent in these cases. I work with over 100 prospective home buyers every year, and I’ve designed and programmed this MLS site to be convenient and powerful for buyers.

It will take time and many trial and error searches on Sequim-Homes.com, but you will find your ideal home, even if it takes a little time. There are some great links already set up for you on this site, and you might get lucky and find your perfect home right away. If you want some guidance or help along the way to finding your Sequim home, email chuckmarunde@gmail.com anytime.

Winter is a Good Time to Buy a Home

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The winter months are a very good time to buy a home in Sequim or Port Angeles. Here’s the reason I say this. First, many sellers are motivated to sell their home in the winter months. They probably had their home on the market earlier during the summer or fall months, and now winter has set in, and they still want to get it sold. They may be highly motivated and negotiable in the winter months.

Good Time to Buy a Home

Winter a Good Time to Buy a Home

Second, there are fewer buyers to compete with in the coldest winter months. Less competition means not losing the ideal home to another buyer who beats you to the negotiating table, or at least a less probability of that having.

Third, it’s a good idea to see a home in the ugliest months of the year when there is little vegetation and the clouds are most likely to be overcast. November through February are those months in Sequim.

Good Time to Buy a Home

If you’re planning to look at homes in the Sequim and Port Angeles area, and the timing works out for you, I encourage you to come and look at homes during the winter. It’s a good time to buy a home.

What Will Happen This Winter with Sequim Real Estate?

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Sequim real estate sales typically slow down in the coldest winter months, but if you were thinking that buyers quit coming and stop buying during the winter months, think again. I’m showing houses today, the coldest day so far this winter. Here it is 36 degrees F, and I have buyers arriving during the coming weeks all the way up to Christmas day. Granted, it slows down, but it does not stop. Why are buyers still arriving and buying? I’ll tell you why.

Sequim Real Estate

Sequim Real Estate in Winter

The retirement timeline is not controlled by the weather, and apart from long term retirement planning, people have a retirement date that is set on the calendar. Some will choose to retire later than planned by one or two years because of the economy or other financial considerations, but by and large people retire based on their own calendar. Retirement dates differ, so people retire every day of the calendar year, and that means people come to look at Sequim real estate when it is convenient for them. That may be prior to that magic day on the calendar, or it may be after, but come they do throughout the year. Even in the winter months Clallam County will normally have at least one home selling every week day.

Sequim Real Estate in Summer

Sequim real estate sales do pick up in late February or March and then the market is pretty busy through September in the fall. But why do retirees buy homes from October through February? Because they know that there is less competition, and if they wait until the spring, the ideal home they want will most likely will be sold. So they plan, they shop, and at the right time they buy, regardless of what month that is. That’s why Sequim real estate keeps selling all year long.

Real Estate or Gold

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Real estate or gold? That is the question. But the answer is kind of easy, isn’t it? Since July of 2011 the price of homes have slowly and steadily increased, and in some areas of the country, there have been 25% to 50% increases over this same time period. But gold has dropped precipitously from over $1,900 per ounce to $1,216 today (update on Nov 12, 2014 with gold at $1,162), which is a 37% dramatic drop. Hence this article about real estate or gold.

Real Estate or Gold

Real Estate or Gold

Real Estate or Gold

There is no guarantee that buying your retirement home in Sequim is going to be an investment that immediately begins to appreciate, but there is a high probability that we are at or near a bottom in real estate prices and the high likelihood is that homes are going to slowly appreciate over the next decade until we are back at 2005 price levels. We can’t have that same confidence in the price of gold. What is bothersome about gold is that the gold peddlers have been claiming you need to buy gold every single day since it has fallen 37%. Wow. Could anyone offer worse investment advice? No, but here’s how they claim they never recommended it as an investment. They claim it is a hedge against inflation. Right. Meanwhile they earn a commission every time you buy (or sell) gold. Thank you very much. What would you choose today, real estate or gold?

I strongly recommend buying a conservatively priced home in Sequim as your retirement home. Don’t you think that’s a better idea than buying gold?

Luxury Homes Selling Again

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Luxury homes are selling again. This recession, which by my count lasted seven years, hit luxury homes pretty hard in the Sequim and Port Angeles area. But we are seeing a resurgence of buyers for luxury homes of late. This home is now pending with a price close to $700,000.

Luxury Homes

Luxury Homes Selling

You can see homes that are currently active and available at Sequim Luxury Homes for Sale, and you can also see luxury homes above the price of $600,000 that are currently pending in Sequim at Luxury Homes Sold. These links are live and not static, meaning that it doesn’t matter when you click on these links, they are updated for you.

Luxury Homes

You can adjust your search and now you can use the Advanced Search to look at Active properties, or pending transactions, including short sales that are pending, and transactions contingent on the buyer selling their home. Watch this video entitled Sequim MLS Status Search.

Sequim Homes in Waiting

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There is such a thing as Sequim homes in waiting. What are they waiting for? They are waiting for just the right buyer. I’m not kidding. Some homes only sell to that one unique buyer who falls in love with it because it is perfect for them.

Sequim Homes

Sequim Homes Waiting

I recently showed Sequim homes to a couple from California, and I sold them a beautiful custom built home with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths in 2,300 square feet all on one level acre. One prospective buyer took one look at the property and said, “Oh my, look at all that grass to mow. Wow! Oh my goodness! Holly cow! I can’t mow that much grass. No way. That’s not for me.” And then I showed it to another couple who said, “Oh my gosh, this is absolutely perfect. We love it. And what a beautiful lawn.” And the second couple bought it for $415,000.

Unique Sequim Homes

Sequim homes tend to be unique. We don’t do tract housing here, so nearly every home is a custom home. Like this home in the photo. This is a 4 bedroom home plus a den, plus 2 and a half baths. The kitchen is modern with custom cabinetry and granite countertops, and the kitchen and dining room and living room are an open floor plan. The house sits almost in the center of a level one acre lot with half of it fenced for a great dog run. Raised garden beds on the other side of the house are growing organic vegetables. Among all Sequim homes, this one is unique too and just waiting for that one unique buyer who falls in love forever. Kind of like a fairy tale. And they lived happily ever after in Sequim, Washington.

About iRealty Virtual Brokers

iRealty Virtual Brokers is a Washington State Brokerage providing clients access to all the Northwest Multiple Listing Service properties, and thousands of original articles written by the state's foremost real estate expert, Atty (Ret.), Broker, Author, and Video creator. Our flat fee listing service can save sellers thousands and tens of thousands of dollars.

iRealty Virtual Brokers
125 Olympic Ranch Ln, Sequim, WA 98382
360-775-5424

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Call Chuck Marunde at 360-775-5424.

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