Eastside Deal of the Week

Each week I’m picking out the Deal of the Week out of my Eastside Value Buyer’s List.  I’m looking for a house that is already discounted to fair market value at the list price and is in good repair.  I visit the house, take 60+ photos, and record a video of my impressions.  Read on about my property analysis and bidding strategy:

Eastside Deal of the Week

Eastside Deal of the Week

Eastside Value Buyer’s List

Today I launched a weekly series of MLS searches to discover the best prospects on the Eastside for investors and handy owner occupiers to buy houses at a discount.  This is an amalgamated list of bank owned homes that already appear to be fairly priced, estate sales, out of state owners, listings with data entry errors, houses sitting unsold for an excessively long time – a whole variety of searches I use to find situations with distressed owners.

Learn more here:

Eastside Value Buyer's List

Sammamish Washington

Came in 15th on the Top 100 cities population 46,700

If you’re looking for the Pacific Northwest ideal–snow-capped mountains and scenic lakes–Sammamish might be for you. Puget Sound and ski resorts are both an hour from this affluent Seattle suburb. High-tech employers in the area include Boeing, Amazon, and Microsoft, which is headquartered just 15 minutes away. Incorporated just over a decade ago, Sammamish still doesn’t have a real center where the community can gather. But local officials are working on a new downtown with retail, recreation, and town services.

Newcastle Washington:

Last but certainly not least was Newcastle Washington at 18th of the Top 1oo cities of the Best places to live with a population of  10,200.

The volunteer spirit is alive and well in this former coal-mining town 13 miles from Seattle. Despite serious budget cuts that threatened the city’s summer 2011 events, local businesses and citizens offered time and cash to keep the community’s concerts and fireworks afloat. There’s a 350-acre golf course here, not to mention 12 parks; the 3,115-acre Cougar Mountain Wildland Park is right next door. Newcastle residents can jump on a trail in the city and end up in the “Issaquah Alps.” Tech employers such as Microsoft are almost as easily accessible

eXp Realty would like to welcome its newest real estate investment expert, Bob Kelly, to our team in Bellevue, WA.  Bob is a newly licensed agent, since June. He lives with his wife and three sons in Bellevue, WA.

Real estate investment background:

Bob and his wife have purchased six rentals houses between Bothell and Olympia. They own a vacation rental beach house out at Pacific Beach. They self-manage all of those properties. That experience has taught Bob about advertising, blogging, and building websites. He began last year to turn over the rental portfolio on lease options and owner financing for greater cash flow, and recently learned about the business of flipping mobile homes in senior parks. His first project is currently for sale on the MLS (#152530).

Bob Kelly joined eXp Realty for the technology platform, training in Social Media Marketing, the company leads, and the reasonable fees. He is excited to be the first agent on the Eastside (Bellevue, WA),  and looks forward to the opportunity to build the company’s business over there.

Unique Real Estate Services:

Investors: Bob likes working with investors. He’s a member of the REIA in Bellevue , a real estate education and networking club. He will fearlessly make low bids for investors.

Vacation rentals: Based on his personal experience, Bob can help buyers with the acquisition, furnishing and set up, remote management, and advertising of a vacation rental property. He also offers a vacation rental marketing service, where he will photograph the property, create a new website, and post daily ads to Craigslist.

Bellevue Real Estate Services: Bob Kelly has  lived on the Eastside since age 3, so he expects to fill out the company’s websites with articles about Eastside communities and make Bellevue his area of expertise.

Education:

1. Data Processing at Bellevue Community College – 1983 to 1985
2. Lots of real estate investor seminars and programs: Robert Shemin (wholesaling), Dean Graziosi (wholesaling), Todd Toback (lease options), Jerry Lucker (mobile homes), Jeff Adams (REOs), and Rich Dad.

Former career: Computer Programming (25 years). His favorite part was the six trips to Italy to work with Olivetti in the late 80s and early 90s.

So, if you are a real estate investor looking in the Seattle, Bellevue or Greater Puget Sound area, Bob is your guy. He’s been there, and he’s done it, so you can bet he will get you a good deal.

Bob Kelly is a real estate broker with eXp Realty in the Bellevue, Washington area, near Seattle. He specializes in residential investment property. He can be reached  at (360) 480-9154 or bob.kelly@bellevuepowersearch.com

Rob LeRoy is a Seattle real estate agent and social media marketing coach with eXp Realty.

Welcome to the "NEW" Pine Lake Park

This week my curiosity overcame me and I had to go out and see what was going on in Pine Lake Park. The park is located on the Sammamish Plateau on the East side of the lake on the intersection of 228th Ave. SE and SE 24th Street. The park is one of Sammamish’s most prized possessions. People have been coming here for more than 90 years to relax and take in the pristine nature. As the name suggests, the lake is surrounded by beautiful tall pines. There used to be a resort in the early decades of the 20th century. This resort operated well into the mid 1960. In 1969 it was totally demolished and removed. For some time there were 2 buildings, which were used as kitchens.

Over time the city put in a parking lot, a baseball field, a basket ball field, a climbing structure for smaller kids and several playgrounds. The park is heavily used by Sammamish residents in summer and on sunny days. It is a great spot for fishing as well. On the dock you could find many people fishing for trouts, that are being stocked by Fish and Wildlife. It is not uncommon to catch trouts up to 30 inches in length.

View from pier to the beach area

In 2003 the city decided to improve Pine Lake Park to preserve its pristine beauty. And what a great job they did. The entire shoreline has been landscaped and beautified with a pebble beach and tree logs and new plants. There is a new boat launch area for non motorized boats only. You can drive with your car right to the lake and launch your canoe or kayak right there.

Another great addition to the park are several new picnic shelters that can be reserved through the park and recreation department. these structures are also brand new and seem to have been built for eternity. There are a few smaller ones and one large one for big groups of people. Stationary charcoal grilles are available and hot coal disposables are right next to them.

Grill shelter at Pine Lake

The other great and big improvement is the brand new pier. It seems to be twice the size of the old pier. It encircles a larger swim area as well, where there are no boats allowed within 100 ft of the pier. That makes swimming safe for the kids. During summer this pier is a popular hangout for the teens of Sammamish. The pier forks out to the West also, which means you get a lot of space for the sun worshiping crowd and the people who like to fish.

The great pier

A new concession stand and bathroom facilities can be found at the lake shore. All walkways have been improved and large granite rock steps lead down to the beach and pier. Benches have been placed strategically as well. No more stumbling over exposed roots here.

The park is used during summer for community events like Summer Nights at the Park, music concerts, plays and outdoor movies.

Photographers also like to come here to take pictures of  bald eagles frequently diving into the lake for trout, or just catching a nice sunset, or the reflections of the shoreline in the calm waters. Another common sight are the “floating docks”. Property owners with a dock have converted part of it to float. Equipped with a small electric motor, these 8×8 floating docks are an oasis for the owners. They have been seen to BBQ and have a relaxing glass of wine while watching the kayakers go by.

The lake is surrounded by about 140 properties, all of which have lake access. The homes rarely change hands and when they do, they sell for about 1 million$ and up. Currently (04/16/09) only one property is offered for sale for 599,000$. That is for the lot only, there is no structure on the land. In the last 12 month only 3 properties changed hands.

Sunset at Pine Lake

Parks and Recreation

Lake Sammamish and Issaquah’s Lake Sammamish State Park offer water recreation. Sammamish is a very green city, with views of the woods virtually everywhere. There are many hiking trails and scenic woods to enjoy around the housing developments. There are four major city parks: Beaver Lake Park, Pine Lake Park, NE Sammamish Park, and East Sammamish Park. Parks being planned in the recently-incorporated city include Soaring Eagle Park, the Sammamish Commons, and Ebright Creek Park. The East Lake Sammamish Trail, opened in April 2006, connects to a regional trail system. A skatepark is located across from Skyline High School.

Schools

The city is part of two school districts: Lake Washington School District (LWSD for short) serves northern Sammamish and Issaquah School District (ISD for short) serves southern Sammamish. There are two high schools, Eastlake High School of the LWSD and Skyline High School of ISD exist within the city limits, as well as three middle/junior high schools, and nearly a dozen elementary schools.