Silverdale Kohl's Grand Opening

The newest addition to the Kitsap Mall in Silverdale is getting ready to open its doors to the public!

Kohl's Department Store will have its Grand Opening on November 14, 2007. Kohl's offers quality name-brand items at great values. The store carries everything from fashion, jewelry and cosmetics to kitchen decor and toys.

According to a recent news article, the store opening will add approximately 150 jobs to the area. The store is located at 10315 Silverdale Way, Silverdale, as one of the anchor stores of Kitsap Mall. Other stores at Kitsap Mall include Sears, Macys, JC Penney, Barnes and Noble and World Market.

Kitsap Mall is about 5 minutes south of Bangor Submarine Base, and 15 to 20 minutes north of Bremerton Naval Station and Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

Military: Free Class on VA Loans Offered to Military

Be prepared when you buy your first home!

Military home buyers are invited to a free seminar on using a VA loan to purchase a home. The class will be held on the Bangor Submarine Base on November 6, 2007, from 6 to 8 p.m.

The class is free to active duty and retired military and their families, as well as reserve service members.

The class will cover various topics regarding VA loans, including the general process of buying a home, benefits of a VA loan, steps to obtaining a VA loan, and avoiding common first-time homebuyer pitfalls.

For example, you can use your VA loan more than once. Also, there is no such person as a VA inspector. Credit, eligibility, and negotiating are also discussed.

This information is offered by Kym Mason of Mason Mortgage and Marlene Scheffer and Terry Wimmer of Realty Station. The instructors are real estate professionals experienced in VA loans. Marlene Scheffer and Terry Wimmer are military spouses and have first-hand experience purchasing homes with a VA loan.

To register or for information on base access, please call Terry at Realty Station at 360-377-5699.

Kitsap Kids: Kitsap Moms Meetup

Want to meet more moms and help your young child make new friends? Want to have fun with your child or children as well as other moms in similar situations?

Kitsap Moms Meetup has several playgroups and events in and around the Kitsap County area. Some of our past events include meetups at local bookstores, the play area at Kitsap Mall, a trip to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, Silverdale Waterfront Park, Island Lake Park,a trip to the Seattle Aquarium, and a pumpkin patch and farm tour. We also have a weekly playgroup each Tuesday and Friday. Baby Playdays, for children under age 2, are scheduled for Wednesday mornings. Many more events are planned soon, including a trip to the Zone in Poulsbo, a MyGym playday, another morning at Chuck E. Cheese, and a Halloween party! We will be holding monthly moms night outs, field trips for the entire family outside of Kitsap County, and other special events so join now!

A Meetup group is a group of people with similar interests who get together to share experiences, support each other, offer advice and have fun! Kitsap Moms Meetup is intended for all moms and primary caregivers (including grandparents, foster moms, and nannies) with children under the age of six, who would like to get together to allow the kids to play and the moms to have fun!

Check us out at www.moms.meetup.com/1967. You must join Meetups to have access to our webpage, but it is a free service, and well worth it! If you have questions, feel free to call me, as always...

Kitsap Moms Meetup - where Kitsap Moms and Kitsap Kids come to play! www.moms.meetup.com/1967

Protect Your Identity and Credit by Protecting Your SSN

Having been in real estate for more than ten years, I have seen first-hand the devastating effects caused by identity theft. One of my clients, looking to buy his family's first home in Silverdale, was referred to one of my mortgage lenders. Everything looked good during the pre-qualification, but when they pulled his credit report, there were so many charges, open accounts, delinquent accounts, past due notices, etc. His credit score was horrible.
The problem was, none of those accounts were his. They did not belong to his wife, either. And try as they might, they could not convince the credit companies holding the accounts that the accounts were not his. The credit reporting agencies said they could not help, because the credit companies holding the accounts were able to 'prove' that the accounts were his.
He still has no idea who stole his identity, or how they did it, but it has been four years and he has still not recovered his credit enough to be able to buy a home.
One main component in protecting your credit is protecting your social security number. By law, consumers are not obligated to give their social security numbers to anyone except their employers, their banks, and the IRS. Banks include not just your savings and checking accounts, but any accounts or loans you hold or apply for, including your mortgage account.
Remember, when you give your social security number to one person at a company, everyone in the company that has access to the database system, including accountants, customer service people, admin assistants, and sometimes even receptionists, have access to your social security number. And unfortunately, not all of them are honest, law-abiding citizens.
You are not legally obligated to give your social security number to anyone else. Do not put it on your checks. If a cashier ever asks for your SSN to in order to accept a check, refuse. They can not require it. Offer them your drivers license number instead.
Even utility companies can not legally require you to reveal your SSN. They will tell you that they can not open an account without it (as they did me), but that is not true. They use the number as a personal identification number, so ask if they can use another number instead.
They will tell you that they can not open the account without it, and they may stick to that story. It is up to you to convince them, and if you can't see if there are other options. I could not get the electric company to open an account for us without it, so I ended up being forced to give them my number. Otherwise, we wouldn't have electricity. However, the other utility companies (water, sewer, garbage, etc.) allowed me to open the account without it.
By limiting which companies held my SSN, I took one more step in protecting my identity and my credit. I suggest you do the same.

A True Moving Story

My husband told me of a conversation he had with one of his fellow service members on the USS John C. Stennis. I met this man and his wife a few weeks ago, very nice couple that I am looking forward to getting to know better.
This couple had moved here recently, and had packed their personal vehicle differently this time than the last time they moved....
Several years ago, they moved from the Norfolk, VA area. Their belongings were stored for a time before they arrived at their new duty station. When they arrived at their destination, their belongings did not. When they called the navy to find out when their household goods were to arrive, they were told about a "problem". Apparently, a levy had broken near where their goods were being stored, and had flooded the storage lockers. Everything was gone, everything!
People think that the navy pays for everything when service members move. Far from the truth, in the case of damage. The navy offers service members extra insurance, but if the service member chooses not to purchase it, then service members need to have receipts. If not, the military pays for replacement value at 2X depreciation.
In other words, if you have a tv that you bought 7 years ago for $700 and you don't have the receipt, you're doing good to get $50 for it.
This couple lost everything. The husband said that they actually did have receipts for many of their items. But, guess where their receipts were? Yup, in their personal goods shipment. Flooded, in a warehouse. Gone.
Moral of the story: When you move, be sure to pack your personal inventory list, pictures of your personal inventory, and most importantly, pack your receipts in the car and transport them with you!
For more moving tips, feel free to contact us for a free brochure.

Military: VA loans and the military home buyer

In the past several years, FHA and VA loans have become unpopular. Withe so many other options, options that were often "easier" for loan officers to get and process, federally-insured loans largely fell by the wayside. Now, the mortgage industry has tightened their guidelines significantly, and all those 100% loans are all-but-impossible to get in todays mortgage market.

Well, guess what? 100% financing is still available for some home-buyers, specifically those who can qualify for an FHA or VA loan.

I'll address buying a home with an FHA loan in a later post. For now, I'd like to discuss many of the myths and misconceptions held about using your VA loan to buy a home.

First, you do have to be a veteran, retired or active duty military. Many members of the reserves will qualify as well.

Second, you do not get your VA loan directly from the VA. You will need to apply for a VA loan with a loan officer at a mortgage company, just like you would for any other mortgage. The VA guarantees the loans for the lender in case of loss, they do not actually grant the loan.

Third, there is no such thing as a VA inspector. There is a VA appraiser. The appraisers job is to be certain that the house really is worth what the bank is giving you for your loan. The appraiser works for the VA, not for the borrower or buyer. The VA appraiser usually willl not look in, let alone go under, crawl spaces. The VA appraiser will not usually climb up into an attic. The VA appraiser will not usually remove the front of an electrical panel to check the wiring in back. Buyers need to hire their own home inspector, apart from the appraiser.

Fourth, you can use your VA eligibility more than once. The funding fee structure varies slightly the second time you use it, but you can use it again. You can actually use your VA loan many times, as long as your eligibility has been restored.

Fifth, and most importantly, please be sure that your real estate agent has experience helping clients buy homes using VA loans, both professionally and personally, if possible. Be sure your lender has also had numerous successful experiences using VA loans.

Our office actually teaches classes to all eligible service memebrs, retired and active duty, in how to use the VA loan to buy a home. We have had such a successful response to the class, that we are offering the classes on a monthly basis. Feel free to contact us if you would like more information. Realty Station can be reached at 360-377-5699.

My assistant/partner Terry and I are well-versed in VA loans, being Navy spouses and having used VA loans to buy our homes. We enjoy helping other military families make successful home investments!

Refinancing an Adjustable Rate Mortgage

A client/friend called me the other day. She was in a rather panicked state. She had bought her home (with another Realtor, I might add) and had used an Adjustable Rate Mortgage at the time. Her interest rate was set to begin increasing soon, and she was afraid that her monthly payment was going to go through the roof. She was so afraid of the higher payment that she was actually considering selling.

We took a more detailed look at her deed of trust and adjustable rider, both of which your Realtor can get for you from your county courthouse. Her rates were indeed about to begin increasing, but not by several hundred dollars per month as she had suspected. Instead, her payment would go up no more than $60 a month for the first year. They rate would only adjust once a year, as many rates do. They were to be adjusted in February of next year.

Since the interest rates for a fixed rate mortgage are so good, she was still interested in refinancing. However, again, when we looked closer at her mortgage documents, she would have been hit with a prepayment penalty if she refinanced prior to April.

Looking at her options, we decided that she would wait until April to refinance her home. At that time, we'll sit down together and look at the options her mortgage officer gives her, so I can help her make the best decision for the financial well-being of her family.

Moral: Read the fine print!

Kitsap Homes: Charming Craftsman Home!

Darling Craftsman-style home in East Bremerton for sale! Two bedroom, two story home with one car attached garage. Old world charm with large lot, almost 1/3 acre. Fruit trees, huge deck for entertaining, incredible back yard. All appliances included, including newer washer and dryer.
Short sale, bring all offers! Priced at only $175,000!