In 2000, Sarah Susanka, author of the best-selling The Not So Big House, wrote a new book entitled, Creating the Not So Big House. The new book took 25 homes that applied the principles described in her first book. Those principles of home design valued quality over Continue Reading
Archives for 2012
Why photos and Virtual Tours Can’t Sell Houses
I’ll admit I’m an old-fashioned realtor. I like meeting buyers at open houses where I can get to know them a little bit and them me. I like to watch the interaction between couples as they mentally try to fit their lifestyle into a new home and go exploring down a Continue Reading
2011 Market Forecast, Part I
If your New Year’s resolution was to buy a new home in 2011, you may have a hard time keeping it. In fact, it will probably be harder to keep than your resolution to lose weight and we all know how hard that is. According to Alaska Economic Trendsmagazine for January Continue Reading
Just One House
It’s hard to believe it but here is a shocking Anchorage housing statistic: there is only one brand new home for sale between $600,000 and $700,000 in Anchorage. It’s being built by the John Hagmeier Company in the Potter View development located above Potter’s Continue Reading
Should You Remodel or Move?”
It’s a dilemma that literally thousands of Anchorage homeowners are facing because the vast majority of Anchorage’s housing stock was built prior to l990. That makes the majority of Anchorage’s homes at least over 20 years old. If you reside in one of these homes Continue Reading
How To Price Your Home For Sale
The market value of your home is not what your neighbor’s home sold for six months ago.  It is not your tax assessed valuation. Nor is it the value the appraiser placed on it when you refinanced it a year ago. The market value of your home is what a qualified buyer Continue Reading
Why Are Lots So Expensive?
Driving around Anchorage, you see lots of vacant, undeveloped parcels of land. I’m frequently asked the question ‘Why doesn’t somebody develop such and such a parcel? And although that seems like a good idea what you see out your windshield or side mirror is not Continue Reading
First Time Home Buyer Choices
If you’re a first time homebuyer looking to purchase your first residence under $250,000, you are in luck due to the lowest interest rates in over 50 years. For you, buying is cheaper than renting—something I do not usually say because not all renters are well-suited to Continue Reading
Title 21
The title 21 rewrite began during the real estate boom years of the early 2000’s. What better time to hire an outside consultant from Colorado and pay him hundreds of thousands of dollars  to tell us how they did it outside and how we should do it here, forgetting that Continue Reading
Is The Upper End Market Getting Soft?
There are currently 103 homes above $700,000 listed for sale in the Anchorage Multiple Listing Service which includes Anchorage, Eagle River and Girdwood. According to MLS, this amounts to over a two year supply based upon current absorption. The amount of inventory and the Continue Reading
Connie Yoshimura, Owner/Broker of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Alaska Realty.