Great eats in New Orleans- Lukes

From Anna & Karl Matsunaga, Team Momentum Keller Williams Realty Tacoma- Areas serviced Pierce and Thurston Counties including Tacoma, Lakewood, University Place, Dupont, Olympia, and more.

253-212-1252

If you are attending Family reunion and just arrived or if it's years later and you're visiting New Orleans for the first time, we decided to help since we got here early and have had time to explore and play before work.....

So on our first night here ( actually our 2nd, we had a canceled flight that lost us a day here and got us in close to midnight) we had dinner at a great restaurant called Luke's

We did have a reservation, and we'd suggest one for you too.  Here is their menu

Karl had the Shrimp "Etouffee"  It's made with heirloom tomatoes and garlic and is amazing and wonderful.


I ordered the Salad Luke.  It was very fresh and made with a medley of wonderful and colorful ingredients all of which I liked except for the beets. ( no one can make those so I like them so I will not hold it against them)

The service was great & the restaurant was great for conversation, not too quiet or too loud.

Added bonus, they have amazing honey that tastes like berry honey to me and it was not delivered in packets, it was delivered in a little pouring pot  and I added it to my hot tea which was a real treat as well.

Karl was partial to the bread and I will have to take his word for it because I don't do gluten.....oh, and they have a nice selection of gluten free items too, which we've found harder to find here in New Orleans than we do at home in Tacoma.

Here is a link to their website


Have fun in New Orleans-  I hope we get to see you!

From Anna Matsunaga, Realtor, Team Momentum, Keller Williams Tacoma
253 212 1252

How to pay off your home early

So, you are a home owner and you are enjoying the tax write offs, the gaining equity and the freedom to do what you like with your house.  What's next?  Are there ways you can make owning a home even more valuable?





Firstly, if you are looking at long term stability and looking to the day where you no longer have a payment on your home it is important to do your best not only to maintain a good credit score.  ( in case lower rates make it make sense to refinance for a lower rate) Want to at some point be mortgage free?  Think twice about taking out home equity loans.  There are times where doing so is a sound investment strategy, but if it is just to buy depreciating items ( car, etc) or to take a vacation or to pay off debt only to wrack up more....stop and think first. 




Better yet, instead of just not adding to your debt, what if you could save tens of thousands of dollars in interest and be able to stop paying a mortgage completely years if not even a decade or more earlier?  How can you do this?  Well.....it's as simple as making extra payments to principle.  The earlier in your loan the better.  Not sure how it will impact your interest paid out or how long you pay on it?






Here is a link to a mortgage calculator to help you figure out what extra payments would do for you.
Use it to figure out how much extra to principle you'd need to add to meet your goals for when your home will be paid off.



What will extra mortgage payments do for me? 

If you budget won't allow you to pay the same extra every month or sometimes it won't allow any extra, don't despair, any extra does make a difference  and the sooner you start, the bigger difference it makes. Even if you only do extra when you have extra that will help too.  Maybe make a goal of always paying some extra.  During some very hard times economically when our family struggled to even pay our mortgage putting an extra $5 a month made me feel better.  Did it make a big difference?  No, but it kept me in the habit of always paying more than needed. 

How soon do you want your mortgage paid off?  Make a plan and stick with it.

Thinking you want the equity you have to help you get into a different home?  Call me for help planning your  transition and I can also help you find a lender with pay off options other than just a standard 30 year mortgage.

Anna Matsunaga,
Team Momentum, Keller Williams Tacoma
253 212 1252

Having a hard time finding an affordable home with 5 bedrooms in a good neighborhood? Look no further!

Team Momentum Of Keller Williams Tacoma Presents 2407 North Orchard, Tacoma, WA 98407

MLS # 1153856

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is an aerial view of this spacious home.  It has RV parking, fenced back yard and is located in close proximity to the desirable N.Proctor District in Tacoma WA

 Open living room concept

 Stairs to entry behind half wall

 Fireplace

 Living room opens into dining and kitchen areas

 Eat in kitchen

 Open kitchen perfect for cooking and entertaining

 Dining area is open to kitchen

 One of 3 bathrooms

 A large bedroom with shelving and large closet

 Master bedroom

 Master bath

 Another kitchen view with stainless steel appliances

 

Family room

 Down stairs hall way


this home also has a huge fenced back yard and deck as well as a total of 5 large bedrooms and a garage.  All close to schools, parks, waterfront, 6th Ave district and Proctor District as well as easy freeway access.


For your personal tour of this or any listed property call Anna Matsunaga, 253 212 1252
or 253 353 2662

Want to be there for the open house?  It's Sunday 7/9 from 1-3pm

Mid May Lakewood Real Estate Market update

From Anna Matsunaga, Team Momentum, Keller Williams 253-212-1252

Here is a quick report:

In the last 30 days in zip codes 98499 and 98498 there have been 49 homes sold. 

The real diversity of housing in Lakewood is demonstrated in the fact that these residences sold for between $70,000 and $1,800,000 in price.  Good news is if you'd like to live in Lakewood WA, you have choices from the ultra affordable that would give you a mortgage near $600 a month, on up the fabulous with beautiful garden like estates and waterfront also being on the menu.

The average sales price in the last 30 days was $278,156. 

See the charts below to give you an idea of the increases in price per square foot over the last few years in Lakewood WA.

As you can see, prices are on the rise per square foot, which is good news for sellers of any type of Lakewood home.

More good news for sellers?

See this chart, which shows months of inventory available now vs the other months so far in 2016, this chart too is for 98499 and 98498

Below is the actual volume for 98499 and 98498 in closed residential home sales January-so far in May this year.....these charts are current as of May 16th.

Good news is, for buyers, there is still affordable housing in Lakewood WA, for sellers?  It's a good time to sell, interest rates are still with in reach for most consumers, prices are rising, although not like the crazy bubbles of a few years ago and inventory is low, so demand for your home is high.

Want to get a report on stats in your own specific neighborhood?  Curious what it would take to sell your home and what it might be worth?  Considering up or downsizing?  Now is a good time. 

Contact me for a free consultation

I want to buy a home....but I don't have a down payment. Good news, you may not have to.

 For most, owning a home is far more desirable than being a renter.  However, there are obstacles that seem to make it either not a possibility for you, or keep the dream of your own home far in the future. 


One of the largest is a down payment.  Gone are the days of conventional loans with little documentation and no down payment.  ( and this might be a good thing)  However, for owner occupied homes, even FHA loans require about 3.5% down.  If you are buying a median priced home in our county ( Pierce County WA) you would be needing to come up with almost $8500.00, and that is if are not talking about covering your own closing costs, which could be close to the same amount.




S

Many would be home owners just don't know where they will come up with that much money.

If you would make a good home owner,  ( you want to live in one place for at least a few years, you are willing to maintain your home, you have the income to cover mortgage payments and a few unexpected expenses) and you would like to purchase, but your have not figured out how to overcome the down payment issue yet....there is hope!

Good news is, there are still ways to purchase with zero down.  One of these methods is to get a USDA loan.  Now I know you are likely used to seeing USDA in association with this......   But believe me, the USDA does much more than regulate meat.  USDA also has a loan program where you can qualify for zero down.  You do not have to be low income.  You do not have to have, worked for the USDA or any other organization.  The trick is you have to purchase as home that is located with in chosen areas that are approved for USDA loans.  Since USDA stands or United States Department of Agriculture, you may assume that this would be for the purchase of farm land....or at least a home in a very rural setting.  Actually however, this is not true.  I actually sold a condominium town home in downtown Gig Harbor under this loan program a while ago.  Currently I am helping clients find the home they want under the program as well, and let me assure you they are not shopping in rural areas.  

If you want to find out more about this program and be referred to a lender who can help you with a USDA loan, please call me and I will help you get started on finding a great lender who can help you get qualified for this type of loan.  If you want to know how to know if a property is eligible, I will be happy to help with that too.  If you know someone who would benefit from this information, again, please contact me or pass on my information and I will be glad to help.

Anna Matsunaga, Team Momentum, Keller Williams Realty Tacoma 253-212-1252

First time ( and not so first time) home owner series, What exactly is titlte insurance?

If you have bought a home or had a friend or family member buy a home, you likely have heard of title insurance.  However, even experienced home buyers and sellers often do not understand what exactly it is.

Knowing what it's for has become even more important now that, as of August 2015, regulations here in Washington as changing so that it is not REQUIRED that you have title insurance in order to close.  So....some may want to save money and not purchase it.  This however, could be even more financially dangerous than driving with out any insurance.

Here is a link to a video with a brief explanation of what title insurance is.  What IS title insurance?

Want to know more about all the steps to selling or buying a home?  Call me for a free consultation, I'd love to help!

Anna Matsunaga

Just want to just browse area homes on a site that updates data in real time?  Click here!

Pierce county prices jump.....real estate values update.

Prices are jumping and the good news is it is still a good time to buy ( interest rates are at an almost historic lows) and it is definitely also a good time to sell ( prices are up and interest rates are still low, while they are buyers can afford to pay a bit more for a house, where as when interest rates rise, well they will either not buy, or will buy for less.)

So....if you are thinking of buying or selling, now is really honestly the time. 

Here is a link to a news story I was blessed to be featured in on the subject which was featured on King 5 news.....


http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/tacoma/2015/01/08/pierce-county-home-prices-jump/21476147/

If you would like a free consultation on selling or buying a home or other property, please call me to schedule your time.

Anna Matsunaga, Team Momentum, Keller Williams Realty Tacoma

253-212-1252

Want to know more about what the value of your Pierce county home is go to www.piercehomevalues.com for a free market analysis or any other information on selling your home.