Pre-Qualify for a Mortgage Online

June 26, 2020 by Chuck Marunde

This is a great way to pre-qualify for a home mortgage online in minutes. If you plan to purchase a home and get a loan, you will need a pre-approval or pre-qualification letter to demonstrate to the seller that you are in fact able to get a loan and close the transaction. There’s another reason to get pre-qualified, and that is to know exactly how much you can qualify for, and what kind of down payment you’ll need. That’s important information to have before you make an offer on a home. You can simply go to this Pre-Qualify for a Mortgage Online page to complete the online form. Just click on this image and you’ll be taken to the Pre-Qualify page.

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Why is Sequim so Wonderful?

January 16, 2017 by Chuck Marunde

Why do so many retirees love Sequim? There must be a hundred reasons. It’s almost surprising how many people around the country know about Sequim. Sequim has been written about in retirement and travel magazines for several decades. People even sit in coffee shops in San Diego, Denver, Dallas, Naples, Phoenix, Anchorage, and Seattle talking about Sequim, only to be interrupted by someone at the next table who knows about Sequim, too.

Sequim a Wonderful Place to Retire

Sequim is a wonderful place to live. I moved to Sequim 20 years ago, finished raising my children here. I’ve also talked to hundreds of people who moved to Sequim and bought a home. Here’s why Sequim is so popular.

I guess there’s no such thing as perfect, but Sequim certainly comes close. Sequim really has a blue hole or a rain shadow, and it rains only one-third as much as nearby Seattle. Sequim is nestled between the Olympic Mountains and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. With plenty of sunshine, a panorama of nature’s glory on all sides, and pristine air coming gently off the ocean, Sequim is a piece of Heaven.

Sequim is two hours off the I-5 corridor and far from the metropolitan traffic that so many hope to escape in their retirement years. Our crime rate is extremely low by any comparison. Our recreational activities are phenomenal, and that alone is a long list of activities. The stress level in Sequim is many levels below the hustle and bustle of most of America.

Sequim a Rural Community

Sequim is a rural community with an agricultural history going back over 100 years, but we also have our little subdivisions. Some communities have clubhouses and walking trails, and some have golf courses, like Sunland. Some communities are on hillsides with almost every home having a water view, and some communities specialize in mountain views. Of course, there Sequim has beachfront communities, too.

Some of my clients have dreamed of having a home in the country with acreage for a horse or two. Others want an organic vegetable garden where there’s plenty of sunshine and just the right amount of rain. And then there’s the woman who already knows exactly what her quilt room will look like while her husband is intent on having a large shop. We have those too.

The Sequim school system is one of the best in the country, and while your children may be all grown up, isn’t it nice to know that the kids are actually polite and considerate, and drugs and adolescent crimes are almost non-existent. School plays, musicals, and trips to Mexico to help build homes for the needy are common. Sometimes I feel like living in Sequim is like going back in time 20 or 30 years in terms of traditional values.

Then there’s the fishing, the hiking in the Olympic National Park, the old growth forests, kayaking, running and bicycling, many active clubs in Sequim, the Lavender Festival, and the Irrigation Parade. But I think maybe the best way for you to discover one of the “Best Places to Retire” is simply to come and visit Sequim. If you’re considering retiring here and buying a home.

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Horse Ranch for Sale

November 22, 2015 by Chuck Marunde

Are you looking for a small horse ranch? You will see more than one horse ranch from Port Townsend to Sequim to Port Angeles, but a horse ranch for sale is hard to find for the discerning horse owner. This is one horse ranch with an ideal property and ideal horse setup. Here is an aerial video of this horse ranch.

Horse Ranch For Sale

You can learn more about this horse ranch, including more photos, property details, and a 3D Virtual Tour of the inside of the home by going to Horse Ranch, and you can look at every horse ranch for sale in the Sequim and Port Angeles are by going to Horse Properties. By the way, you may have noticed that no broker in the Sequim and Port Angeles area is doing these kinds of high quality aerial videos and extraordinary three dimensional virtual tours, except one–iRealty Virtual Brokers and its owner/broker Chuck Marunde. Why? Chuck says, “I think buyers want reality. They need to know exactly what a property looks like outside, and for a property like this horse ranch, there’s no better representation than an aerial video. And buyers also want to know exactly what the inside of a home looks like and where all the rooms are, and the 3D virtual tour gives them the reality of walking through the home online just as though they were there in person. Clients love this kind of reality.” Hence the name, iRealty Virtual Brokers.

Horse Ranch

Clallam County is farm and animal country and has been for well over a century. For those with a little acreage out of town, horses, cows, sheep, goats, and even chickens are common. One of the reasons Sequim appeals to so many people retiring is because it is a very peaceful community far from the hustle and bustle of metropolitan life. Are you a horse owner in the market for a horse ranch? Email chuckmarunde@gmail.com and let Chuck know exactly what you are looking for in a horse ranch.

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Sequim Real Estate Questions Answered

October 22, 2015 by Chuck Marunde

Buyers have a lot of Sequim real estate questions, and if you are a buyer wanting accurate and thorough answers to your questions, you need to know where to find those answers. What if there was a free online site or affiliated sites where you could find the answers to any of hundreds of Sequim real estate questions? There are two sites that do answer your questions, and these two sits answer literally hundreds of questions that buyers have been asking for two decades about Sequim.

Sequim Real Estate Questions

The first site is this Sequim MLS site, which is full of articles answering questions. As the best Sequim MLS site, it was designed and programmed specifically by me in exactly the way buyers have wanted. It is not only easy to navigate, it is very powerful and offers buyers many options on how to search for the ideal property. In addition to this site being a 100% accurate and powerful Sequim MLS site to answer your questions about all the properties listed for sale in the Sequim area, this site also has articles addressing primary concerns. And if that wasn’t enough, there is more.

Sequim Real Estate Answers

In the right margin of the pages, there are links to hundreds of more articles answering Sequim real estate questions. Those links lead to a second site, which is the largest Sequim real estate blog with almost 2,000 articles written specifically to answer Sequim real estate questions. That blog is found directly at SequimRealEstateNews.com.

In addition, you’ll find many links on these two sites to additional affiliate sites and online tools that answer Sequim real estate questions on nearly every issue that has been asked. Now, here’s a bonus. If you cannot find the answer to your question, you can get the answer, because the man behind these sites is a real veteran with over three decades in the business, 20 years as a real estate attorney, author of ten books, mostly real estate books (including books written for buyers, i.e. Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide), and author of all the answers to these Sequim real estate questions. So if you cannot find your answer, you can email ChuckMarunde@gmail.com or call or text 360-775-5424.

There is no more thorough and authoritative source than these for all your Sequim real estate questions.

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Best MLS Sites

October 13, 2015 by Chuck Marunde

Today I share the best MLS sites you can use to search and find your home or land. I will tell you exactly why these are the three best Sequim MLS sites.

Best MLS Site #1

Our number one pick for the best MLS site in Sequim is Sequim4Sale.com, also known as Sequim-Homes.com. Unlike many MLS sites that are created and maintained by a corporation far away from Sequim, or other MLS sites that are awkward to use and not very friendly, this Sequim MLS site was designed and programmed specifically for Sequim buyers. It is easy to navigate, powerful in its search capacity, and you can save favorites and set up email alerts. 100% of all the Olympic Listing Service (OLS) listings are on this site. All local agents use the OLS, so this is where you will find all the local listings. There’s an introductory video, and a series of videos to help you get the most out of this Sequim MLS site. There is also a 24/7 technician standing by to help you if you have any questions. This is by far the best Sequim MLS site. Period.

Best MLS Site #2

Our second pick for the best MLS site in Sequim is LuxuryWaterViewHomes.com. This site includes all the Northwest MLS listings for homes and land in the Sequim area as well as most of the state of Washington, including the entire Seattle-Tacoma metropolis. Only 55% of the Sequim brokers are members of the Northwest MLS, so roughly half of the Sequim listings are in this system. But this site allows you to search a much larger area for other listings.

Best MLS Site #3

The last but very powerful Best MLS site is SequimForSale.com (as opposed to Sequim4Sale.com). This site includes all listings from both the Olympic Listing Service and the Northwest MLS, which makes it a very powerful site. Even Seattle area Realtors use this site to look at Sequim listings.

Use one or all three of these MLS sites, but if you are looking only at Sequim listings, we recommend our first choice at Sequim4Sale.com.

UPDATE: See the latest updated article on the NWMLS v. OLS last edited January 17, 2021.

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Sequim Real Estate Maps and Documents

September 24, 2015 by Chuck Marunde

Sequim real estate maps and documents are hard to find online. The Internet addresses for these Sequim maps are impossible to remember, especially the long government websites that don’t have logical names. I’ve collected some of the most useful links to Sequim real estate maps so you can easily find all the information you need on particular properties.

1. Tax Assessor’s Site is packed full of useful information on their Sequim maps where you can look up any home or vacant real estate in the county by address, name, or tax parcel number.

Sequim Real Estate Maps: Clallam County Tax Assessor’s Site

You may be interested in reading this article about How to Use the Tax Assessor’s Website.

2. The County Parcel Maps have a tremendous amount of information available at your fingertips. You can look at Sequim maps showing boundaries and dozens of selectable map features (roads, streams, lakes, tribes, DNR land, the Discovery Trail, city and county boundaries, etc.). By the way, the county programming on this Sequim real estate map will not load the map if your browser is sized too large. If it doesn’t load properly, reduce the size of your browser on your monitor. This is true for all the county online maps.

Sequim Maps: Clallam County Parcel Maps

3. The County Boundary Maps are where you can see many more specific pieces of information about a property by selecting options in the right margin, like which irrigation district a parcel is in, school districts, hospital districts, precincts, fire districts, and so on. This looks very similar to the last map, but they are different. On the last map, for example, you won’t see irrigation districts.

Sequim Real Estate Maps: County Boundary Maps

4. The Parcel Status is where you can see the complete status of a property on all county issues. You can find out on this page if the land is included in the Dungeness Water Management area. You type in the tax parcel number and hit search, and up comes a screen with a link on the parcel number, and when you go to that link, you’ll get a page full of more information and links on documents effecting that parcel. Copy and paste this tax parcel number (033029550130) into the page below, and you’ll have an excellent example of the information you can see. All tax parcel numbers in this system must be typed with exactly 12 digits. If you have more zeros, delete them.

Sequim Real Estate Status: Parcel Status

5. The County Auditor’s site includes all recorded real estate documents. This is where you can look at warranty deeds, deeds of trust, foreclosure notices (Notice of Trustee’s Sale), CC&Rs (Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions), plats, and much more.

Sequim Real Estate Documents: Real Estate Recordings

These Sequim real estate maps are very useful when you’re thinking about buying a property. You need to know about the property restrictions and what you can and cannot do. If your property will have a private well, you need to know if you’re in the water management rule that restricts residential use to 150 gallons per day for an entire family. If you will have a mini-farm or animals, you may want to be within one of our irrigation districts so you can have access to more water from April 15 to Sept 15.

There’s no way to memorize these url’s. They’re too long and not intuitive, so be sure to book mark this page for future reference.

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How to Intelligently Search for a Home

September 6, 2015 by Chuck Marunde

Do you know how to intelligently search for a home? In other words, do you know how to effectively search without wasting time on poor websites or syndicated MLS sites with inaccurate information? Do you know how and where to search for answers to your questions an area or buying a home, and do you know the difference between credible information and unreliable information?

Why is this important? When you’re retiring, the last thing you need is a nightmare that costs you money and creates tremendous stress for you! I don’t doubt your ability as a buyer to make wise decisions for yourself and your family, provided you have accurate information and you get good advice from your Realtor. But this is where many buyers fall down. They don’t know where and how to get good and accurate information and credible advice when buying a home.

For example, many buyers are using Zillow to do their home search. I have written elsewhere about the grotesquely inaccurate information on Zillow. The list of problems with Zillow is well known across the country, but buyers still use it. [Read Bad Zillow Information.]

I strongly urge buyers to use a Sequim MLS site that includes all the local listings and that is 100% accurate because it pulls all its information from the source listings.

The single most reliable real estate information on questions buyers ask all the time is found at the largest Sequim real estate blog. If you are on a mission to search for your retirement home, you definitely want accurate and reliable information about buying Sequim homes. You’ll find thousands of articles written for buyers at Sequim Real Estate Blog. These are carefully written by a Sequim real estate attorney (ret.) and broker who has lived in the area for 20 years.

There are multiple links to other reliable and accurate sources in the right margin of that real estate blog. In addition to all these accurate resources, Chuck Marunde is available as your personal advisor, and that means you can be assured that you are getting honest and professional advice you need to avoid a nightmare scenario. It also means you will be equipped to make wise decisions as you search for a home.

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7 Myths of Selling Your Home – How to List a Home for Sale

July 1, 2015 by Chuck Marunde

Home sellers who want to sell their homes have major decisions to make. The challenge for the vast majority of home sellers is that they have not had a career in real estate, and there is much they do not know about how the real estate industry really works, the differences between listing agents and selling agents, and they don’t know the gimmicks that listing agents use to get listings. Having been a real estate attorney and now a real estate broker, I have a passion to protect consumers and give them the absolute truth. This book will show sellers what they need to do to get their homes sold, and what they should avoid.

How to List a Home for Sale

Most home sellers do not know the dramatic differences between a listing agent and a selling agent. Some think they are the same person, but they are not. Today listing agents, as they have for several decades, focus on getting listings. The more listings they have, the more money they can make, because other “selling agents” will sell their listings for them.

Selling agents are the agents who market directly to buyers, and it is selling agents, not listing agents, who have large marketing systems. Home sellers typically expect listing agents to have large marketing systems, but it just isn’t true most of the time. This book challenges traditional thinking, and as a result many home sellers are deciding to list their home with a selling agent who actually does everything a listing agent does but a whole lot more when it comes to marketing.

List a Home

If you are going to list a home for sale anywhere in the United States, I strongly recommend you read this book first. It will save you from making some potentially big mistakes, which could mean tens of thousands of dollars for you, not to mention delays for months and all the stress. You can learn more about how to list a home by going to Amazon at 7 Myths of Selling Your Home.

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Sequim Videos on Real Estate

March 9, 2015 by Chuck Marunde

Did you know there is a Sequim Video Youtube site all about buying real estate? There are Sequim videos on the real estate market, videos on the area, and instructional videos about how to find and use some powerful Sequim resources online.

Sequim Videos

Just go directly to Sequim Videos, and you’ll see a home page with some videos, but you can also go to “Playlists” which you will see near the top under the banner, and there’s a link to all the videos, too. If you’re in the market for a home in Sequim or Port Angeles or Port Townsend, you will find many videos on how to find and use the best MLS site for the area and how to get the most out of that MLS site.

Sequim videos are just another service offered to buyers courtesy of iRealty Virtual Brokers and Chuck Marunde.

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Sequim Buyers Coming From the Deserts

February 1, 2015 by Chuck Marunde

Where are Sequim buyers coming from? Sequim buyers come from every state in the union and a few foreign countries, but we do have a lot of Sequim buyers coming from the hot southern states, like southern California, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas.

Sequim Buyers Coming From Everywhere

I’ve sold homes to Sequim buyers from about half the states in the U.S. and from the Netherlands too. I’ve had buyers from Alaska and from Texas. People from the north who are retiring are thinking they don’t want to live in 40 or 50 below zero anymore, and folks from the southern hot zones are thinking they’ve done 110 degrees long enough. In this photo above, my son and daughter are enjoying the sights of Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas. We had a great hike that day. But Nevada can get hot.

Sequim Buyers Love the Weather

Sequim buyers are attracted to Sequim for many reasons, but one of the major reasons is that Sequim does not have temperature extremes. Read all about the Sequim Blue hole. The Sequim weather is almost too good to be true, but it is true. If you’re coming from a hot southern state, let us help you find your home. This Sequim MLS site may be the most accurate local MLS site, 1,000 times more accurate than Zillow or Trulia, which have thousands of listings with defective and incorrect data. Wherever you are coming from, if you are like other Sequim buyers, you will love visiting Sequim.

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Chuck Marunde, J.D., Broker, Attorney (Ret.), Serving Sequim for 24 years.

Pre-Qualify for a Mortgage Online

Why is Sequim so Wonderful?

Sequim a Wonderful Place to Retire

Sequim a Rural Community

Horse Ranch for Sale

Horse Ranch For Sale

Horse Ranch

Sequim Real Estate Questions Answered

Sequim Real Estate Questions

Sequim Real Estate Answers

Best MLS Sites

Best MLS Site #1

Best MLS Site #2

Best MLS Site #3

Sequim Real Estate Maps and Documents

Sequim Real Estate Maps: Clallam County Tax Assessor’s Site

Sequim Real Estate Maps: County Boundary Maps

How to Intelligently Search for a Home

7 Myths of Selling Your Home – How to List a Home for Sale

How to List a Home for Sale

List a Home

Sequim Videos on Real Estate

Sequim Buyers Coming From the Deserts

About iRealty Virtual Brokers

Your Sequim Buyer’s Agent

Mortgage Calculator

Current Mortgage Rates

Articles from the Largest Sequim Real Estate Blog