Seattle Has Another Legion Of Boom, It’s Housing Market

Ed Kaminsky: [00:00:14] All right good day everybody. Ed Kaminsky with sports star relocation on location in Los Angeles California.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:00:20] We’re so excited today to have a guest on the phone all the way from rainy country Seattle. And we’ve been seeing a lot of that inL.A. lately. Well we have Jen Daniels. Jen let me give you an opportunity actually to introduce yourself. Your name the company or with and let’s start with that.

Jen Daniels: [00:00:42] OK. I actually wish I was also on location in L.A. because we’ve had so much snow here that we are feeling very frigid. But so my name is Jen Daniels I’m with Remax integrity here in Seattle that we’re actually looking on the east side of Seattle where I mostly work is for rent in Bellevue area. I have been with Remax for four years sports star I believe for five now. Yes. And just plugging away apparently inside of Seattle.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:01:16] Right. Well let’s start with that. You know Assuming someone’s listening to this or watching and they’ve never been to Seattle or certainly trying to not looking from the residential real estate side if someone’s coming into Seattle What is the difference between Eastside Westside North Side or how would you describe it. Could you give us a picture what that is.

Jen Daniels: [00:01:37] Yeah. So there’s a lot of difference and I in my opinion a lot of it is psychological. We have the city of Seattle which is Seattle proper it’s on the water on the sound and it tends to be your traditional Seattle where everyone thinks about the adults. Very eclectic very musical very artsy. And that pretty much scales the whole we have the sound as if we have Seattle then we have Lake Washington and Seattle really would be considered that entire chunk of land in between the two bodies of water. Then you have the east side which is on the east side of the lake which is a lot more. How to describe it more business related there. It’s I would say more into the sports less artsy. We laugh because there’s two major freeways that go across the lake. And if you want to live in Seattle you really don’t ever want to cross that bridge and vice versa because of traffic.

Jen Daniels: [00:02:47] And Todd. No it’s just two very different set of people. OK. So possible trying to live. Yes.

Jen Daniels: [00:02:54] So people who want to live in Seattle don’t ever want to come to the Eastside and kind of vice versa and then you have the South Bend which is like Pierce County and the north end and they’re pretty somewhere in terms of it’s farther out in the country. So there’s a lot you get a lot more land. It’s cheaper and that pretty much starts from the south side of the lake on the north side of the lake. But really the most of the business most of the concentration of people would be the east side and then Seattle and it’s just to get very different worlds.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:03:33] And when someone’s come and they’ll say the athletes are coming to town I know they choose their place to live I know in L.A. based on most of time where they practice and putting on the stretch. How about in Seattle where where do players like to congregate as far away I see.

Jen Daniels: [00:03:51] Yeah. With us NFL players. That’s the same. So their practice facility is on the wall on Lake Washington in Renton and I would say including coaches. Ninety five percent live from Bellevue is the quarter Renton which is this little triangle right there. The Mariners players obviously practice in their facility in Seattle but actually a lot of them live on in Mercer Island which is an island in the middle of the lake or on the east side. And I think my personal opinion on why that is instead of living in Seattle is where they tend to live. The schools are just as good as private schools. They can get really any amenities on the east side that they can in Seattle. And it’s just the quick jump across the lake on the 520 bridge. So it’s not really an issue on commuting time but it is a little surprising that not more that the baseball players live in the city of the city of Seattle since they you know sit there and commute there so often.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:05:01] So you mentioned schools. What what can people expect as far as the school systems go. There is a great public schools average do people prefer private what what’s what’s going on up there education wise.

Jen Daniels: [00:05:17] So the Seattle Public Schools are hit or are very hit or miss. So you can have one little pocket. A lot likeL.A. I’d say actually you can have one little pocket where the school’s great for the most part. The school district is rated average. And so I can test this because as you get to high school the great elementary schools and really good middle schools end up going and converging and it’s overcrowded. So a lot of people end up if they’re in Seattle and have the money going to private school on the east side though. The Lake Washington School District Bellevue School District Thomas School District which are really the big three is a school district. So I guess for along the east side are all always raised in the top five of the state. And I think that’s number one because they don’t tend to get overcrowded. Number two they’re very diverse. So we have schools in the Bellevue School District that are just for kids who are into computer programming. We have schools that are linked in the language so there’s really a lot of specialized schools within the public school district that a lot of other school districts can’t get unless you go to the private school.

Jen Daniels: [00:06:39] You tend to get some of the the coaches send their kids to private schools just for the isolation factor because you know they don’t want their kid feeling the backlash thing doesn’t go all right.

Jen Daniels: [00:06:58] So and we tend to see code not necessarily players that coaches send their kids to private school but because the schools are so great on that side a lot of them you know even send them to public schools. Will we ever really specialized really high end public school system on the east side.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:07:15] Well tell us about these side pricing what what can you expect for let’s start with an average sized home of let’s say 3000 square feet or 4000 square feet. What kind of places are in that location.

Jen Daniels: [00:07:30] So the benefit of Seattle is that I don’t know how long this will last.

Jen Daniels: [00:07:35] But the benefit of Seattle in the last probably mean years and years is that if you live in this theater in the city of Seattle or in the city of Bellevue you’re going to probably pay two million dollars for that part of the house that you know a move in updated three to 4000 square foot house. But literally 20 minutes away in Renton is the clock in one bill in north Seattle. You know and 20 minutes is the commute time with traffic. You can definitely get that cut in half if not more. Wow. And it get Yeah. And again you still have a really good school for you aren’t you aren’t. You know getting rid of any sort of amenities with the House now again Bellevue has become so expensive that I do think the surrounding areas will start to feel that but you can get that 30 500 square foot house in Renton which is the neighboring city to Bellevue to the south for under a million dollars now what was them driving economic power in Seattle.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:08:49] I know tech is up there and Starbucks is up there right. Places like that. Is that is it driving market prices up like it does in Northern California or what’s happening there economically.

Jen Daniels: [00:09:03] So I think there’s a couple of factors. We definitely have a lot of tech into what’s happening is Microsoft and we have a huge Google. Even though Google is not headquartered here we have a huge Google campus as well. We have Redfin it it’s headquartered out of here it feels a lot of tech. And what’s happening is they will find a smaller tech company I can’t tell you how many times this happened with clients smaller tech company out ofSt. Lewis out of Chicago out of Ohio they buy that company and bring that you know majority of their employees here under salary for X money years and then a lot of them end up staying. So you do definitely do you have that. It’s a lot of young really hungry tech kids like San Francisco area that are coming in but we also have an interesting situation where VancouverB.C. I don’t know. Now four or five years ago imposed a foreign investor tax on real estate. So what happened is a lot of the Chinese and Asian buyers have now come to Seattle. So what they’re what’s happening especially in the entry level market. I will have you know a new construction community with 100 houses at least 10 if not 15 will be bought by foreign investors that never see the house. Wow. And so obviously what ends up happening is that that hurts the supply of you know especially first time homebuyers in the four to five hundred thousand LA range that are here. I mean I can’t. I would say a majority of the rentals that I do in this area are foreign investors that never see the property.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:10:53] So what is the you know the three year turnaround market look like. As you know a lot of players come in are there for two years and there for three years and they’ve got to skedaddle. Yeah. One reason or another. Are they safe to purchase and then sell and be safe financially or is it better for them to rent.

Jen Daniels: [00:11:16] So we have had a market situation where rents as well as sales prices have gone up year over year for the last five years. So in my opinion it’s incredibly safe. First of all because we’re at about 9 to 10 percent I think it’s going to slow down a little bit this year but we’re still looking at let’s say 8 9 percent year over year for a home they own in value but also rent. I mean I tell these guys who are contemplating whether they should rent or sell that if they bought or rent or buy. If they buy and then have to move in a year I can rent their house to another player and or a tech. You know Joe Schmo for at least how much they’re paying in mortgage. So that’s kind of a safety net in terms of what happens if I had to leave and can’t or doesn’t want to sell.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:12:12] So does that happen. Can you share any stories where a player moves out and another player moves in the same house on the same team. When a player buys yeah or they’re just the other moving out they’re either selling another player buys it or another player rents it. Do you see a lot of these homes going from one player to the next player.

Jen Daniels: [00:12:34] So I do. So I have a really good relationship with the team so the player engagement person and I have a really good relationship in terms of communication. So I’ll give you a couple examples. I sold a house to a linemen last season. Yes last season he ended up for a lot of various reasons. We had injury issues et cetera. Got getting cut midway through the season and picked up by Indy he’s now still in Indy, he got a nice big contract this offseason. But when having that discussion I had three players lined up that I knew that wanted to rent his house because it was central to the VA, our practice facility. He had put enough down where it was. I mean the rent that I wanted to rent it for to these guys was right in the wheelhouse of what it should be rented at. So they took the heat instead of deciding to sell it. Maybe had a little bit of a loss. We just decided to keep renting it. And he’s just basically sitting on it and until he wants to sell but every year I’ll be able to rent that house easily.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:13:49] It’s covered actually, for a player who’s covering the mortgage.

Jen Daniels: [00:13:53] Yes covering the mortgage. And secondly I had a player who was renting a really cool house right down the street from our practice facility right on the water. He had been signed in the offseason and got traded during training camp. So the house was sitting empty. He was going to be on the hook for it. We ended up trading for another big name player. Three weeks later I had negotiated for that player just to take over the lease. So essentially the original player had secured him a year lease, been in the house for probably five months at that point summer and then training camp. So instead of this new player that was traded to us having to sign a new lease midway through the season I just negotiated and negotiated for him to take over the lease so he could then in the off season look for a new home. I mean to be able to go in there and you’re saving two people a ton of money right.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:15:01] And now this guy can sign a half of a lease right. That’s brilliant. Great job.

Jen Daniels: [00:15:06] Yeah. So it worked out well because I have a great relationship with the team I was able to to to send them remind them that this house is available for this new player.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:15:18] You know if you wanted it you know you’ve been helping a lot of players for for a long time. What are some of the things that you feel you do as an agent for them that’s outside the norm that we as real estate agents do around the country that you do for these players.

Jen Daniels: [00:15:37] So I mean obviously we do a lot of rentals which in Seattle and I think a lot of markets outside o of L.A,. New York, Miami, etc. We just don’t get paid that much money. But I understand the greater good. You know they don’t get a lot of help per say in terms of reading a lease going through that lease what their rights are. All of that. And so I will go through and take a lot of time to make sure that they’re in a good situation if they need to get out they can get out what their rights are what they’re you know what the landlord’s rights are. And I think that’s endearering me to the team because it’s been years of doing that where a lot of work for not a lot of pay a payoff in terms of those leases. Right. It’s great pay off in terms of my relationship with the team but it’s not an immediate payoff let’s say A.gents are willing to do all that because you don’t get paid immediately. Right. Another thing I actually really enjoy doing is taking wives and girlfriends who kind of are the forgotten under my wing and really helping them I put together guides for them if they have kids what to do where to go play places where to get your hair done all that kind of stuff and then just have have made it clear that I can be a resource I want to be a resource because I think a lot of times and our team is pretty good about it. But I think a lot of times they’re just left to their own devices on their own with a lot of hands with kids and people don’t realize how disruptive it is for their life.

Jen Daniels: [00:17:27] Oh my God. They just ripped out of a city just after the kids made new friends they just got to understand their teacher.

Jen Daniels: [00:17:33] And they finally found their favorite hairdresser and yet they’re gone.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:17:39] Exactly.

Jen Daniels: [00:17:40] And they’re you know their friends that they’ve had they’ve known for the last two or three years that the acts are now you know not there anymore. And also that play dates for them with other wives try to help them get to know people that I like that I know are you know inclusive really friendly helpful so that it’s not just me because I don’t I mean I’m not a wife. So I don’t know everything that goes on. But you know I really try to connect the dots with other wives too.

Jen Daniels: [00:18:09] And just think of them as as complete persons as opposed to just someone moving in. You know it might only be here for three years and then move out was a reminder again.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:18:18] We’ve got a lot of Jen Daniels all across the country when these players are leaving town and if any of your players are doing so and need that kind of service in other cities you know reaching out to our other reps is great. It’s also an opportunity to maybe finally get you paid. If they decide to buy another city right now the way we touched on a bit of the pricing on the east side is there also condo choices down in Seattle that the players like I see that in a lot of cities where they’re just easy to move into and move out of and be away from the off season. Is that a common choice.

Jen Daniels: [00:19:00] Yeah for sure. So we have high rises both in the city of Seattle as well as in Bellevue and Kirkland crippling list of high rises but definitely condos that they like. And I see that a lot. Especially guys who are on their second contract so maybe I’ve made more money. They definitely venture to buildings with good amenities where they can have some things delivered and there’s a concierge there. You know that type of thing and we have plenty here for them to choose from. And it really depends on where they’re at in life right. If they have if they have kids they tend to not want that. Right. But certainly many many of the guys who and I mean their girlfriends too who are young and just want the amenities want the service.

Jen Daniels: [00:19:59] They’re incredibly popular.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:20:01] And what happens when a player retires or the coming towards the end of their season. Are they all leaving the town or any staying there. What happens as Seattle is a permanent home for players.

Jen Daniels: [00:20:14] So that’s one thing that’s been interesting sinc we won the Super Bowl a few years ago. It seems like since that team and I think it just coincides with really Seattle becoming a booming city in terms of business not just a forgotten city in the north that I feel like a lot more players which I love are staying not only in the offseason but also many of the retired players from that team and a few years before are now buying houses here staying here. It was interesting for me to hear so Cliff Avril who’s a client he has a radio show here now. So he’s retired. He has a radio show here and he hadK.J. Wright who’s entering free agency this year. They hearK.J. Wright on his show and they were talking about is K.J. going to leave if you signed with another team. K.J. is saying nope he thinks he’s going to stay. And he has no ties other than being with the Seahawks to this team and they got into how a lot of guys used to go home right and when they go home there’s I mean they’re top of the food chain there’s not really a lot of other other opportunities. And you’ve seen this in L.A. where guys will go to L.A. for opportunity. Well we really hadn’t seen that here until recently. And this long conversation about how there’s so many opportunities here outside of football. Whether that be in the media whether that be in business you know whatever that is. And ten years ago I mean guys couldn’t wait to get out of here because they just felt like no one knew their name right. Felix Hernandez is a good example. A lot of people don’t know Felix is simply because he’s been in Seattle for a long time. But I really feel like that’s changing and I love that. And it’s good for our reputation it’s good for our. I think it bodes well for our economy and what they see in what. Because they’re inL.A. they go to New York and they really feel like the ATL is still a good opportunity to stay. Again not just in the off season but after they’ve retired.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:22:36] Right. It’s an interesting thought.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:22:39] I wonder what the data would be if you have a winning team that players are more I know stay in that city that they won in because I know they earned that name and reputation.

Jen Daniels: [00:22:50] It would be fascinating. I agree with you.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:22:53] Yes I tend to find that players choose warmer climates like the West Coast the Southwest obviously. Yeah. And Southeast with Florida and Texas are being places that are a draw. Florida and Texas because of taxes. Right. Because you have L.A. and other opportunities post retirements. So anyway interesting data. Let me just give you an open ended question because I’ve asked everything I want to ask so far. Anything else you want to share about what you’re doing in your marketplace or the market in general that I haven’t touched on.

Jen Daniels: [00:23:34] I think here were just my folks at my particular focus and I think a lot of focus of Realtors people in the industry here is we you know we’ve had Redfin for a long time here. That started in Seattle that sort of headquartered here. But in terms of technology in terms of really branding marketing I do feel like we’ve been sort of behind other markets in terms of setting the bar high for ourselves really presenting Seattle luxury real estate in a light that is competitive to New York toL.A. to Miami. And so my personal goal and I think a lot of people now in my age bracket and behind me are really doing a good job trying to prove that we’re not just behind. You know we can present a listing we can be the luxury market ofL.A. of New York. I think we’ve been a little brother and sister for a long time but our prices have really risen. I am and this is how fast our prices have gone up in the last six years. I moved back fromL.A. in 2012. We sold our house last year and my house doubled in price in six years my house doubled in price. And I think we need to represent that market better. Right. And I think that’s really and I think if we do that along with our industry and our business it will really start to put us on the map with other areas of the country in terms of thinking of luxury. So I think this area is really pushing hard to try to do that.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:25:24] Now you know I’m not supposed to ask this question but you brought it up. You said your age bracket. Can you help people understand what you were referring to there.

Jen Daniels: [00:25:34] So I’m 35 so I’m not that young anymore. But I do feel like a lot of a lot of Washington State real estate has been behind in terms of going to paperless. I mean I feel like we’ve always just been a step behind in everything that we’ve done and marketing is one of them. And I think that hurts us when people think of luxury because I mean people people around the country are just doing amazing things presenting these luxury homes.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:26:10] So what do you what do you doing personally to catch up. I.

Jen Daniels: [00:26:15] Yeah. So I’ve tried to really work with and in me personally just because I get it’s hard in this area where you have we now have contests coming we have Redfin we have these Internet driven company or real estate companies that I would say are marketing Ford per say. You know I’m with Remax so that’s not necessarily their focus. Their focus is hasn’t always been something else in this area in terms of agents you know really hiring the best agents I would say. So I really went out and tried to hire my own independent branding particularly branding not necessarily the marketing but branding consultant so that so that when I do have a listing that is you know luxury and does required. I would say that extra special touch that we can do something different we can do then something innovative that may be the standard marketing programs don’t have. So I’ve really tried to get an independent forward outside of the box thinkers to help me with my branding of those homes.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:27:35] Well that’s great. I mean you always gotta stay stay you know observant of what other people are doing especially if you look outside your own market you learn a lot your course always welcome to come down here to Southern California and see what’s happening down here when they need to. Yeah. For sure. Well good. I think we’ve got it well covered. A better understanding of the Seattle marketplace. Jan was great having you on the call. If someone wants to get a hold of you personally what’s the best way to do that.

Jen Daniels: [00:28:07] So I am everywhere but my I guess I can just my phone number 2 5 3 6 8 6 1 0 3 6 but my website Jen Daniel’s group dot com is a good way to get a hold of me it has all my contact information as well so Jen Daniel’s group dot com.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:28:27] Perfect easy enough. Well thanks again for for getting on the call today and filling us in on the Seattle market place and being a part of sports star relocation you’re doing amazing things for it for the clients and players out there. I hear good things from them and they really appreciate the extra effort that you put out there for them. It just goes a long way. People just don’t understand. Just because you get paid a big paycheck it doesn’t make it easier to move. It’s a frustrating process for sure.

Ed Kaminsky: [00:28:59] So thank you again. This is Ed Kaminsky in Los Angeles. As for star relocation. Thanks for listening and or watching. We’ll see you again soon.