Are you feeling bombarded about “greening your home?‘ There’s so much stuff out there to absorb. There are articles flying around about all the good “green” things to do. Don’t get me wrong, I think reducing our carbon footprint, going green, and hopefully, saving money are all important.
But, I just recently came across two articles that look at the costs of going” green” more closely. Just because something is “green” doesn’t mean it truly reduces our carbon footprint or helps you to save you money. One of the biggest offenders is bamboo flooring. Since most bamboo is sourced in the Far East, the cost and impact on our carbon footprint for transporting bamboo may outweigh the fact that it’s a renewable resource.
During these crazy times it’s important to analyze how you spend your money on your home. It’s important to think about the payback to you and the environment, in addition to the payback for when you might sell, even if selling your home is in the future. Going “green” is important to consider, but according to some, there are different ways to handle going green.
Two recent posts on different blogs talked about this very issue. The Bigger Pockets blog listed 7 green items that could be a waste of money. I’m not sure I agree with all that is said. For example, CLF’s, Compact Fluorescent Bulbs are more expensive than standard light bulbs, but they are a fairly inexpensive way to reduce our carbon footprint. Sure they are more expensive than standard light bulbs and may become cheaper, but it’s important to start now and with CFL’s, it is a great place to start. From the EnergyStar website:
If every American home replaced just one light with a light that’s earned the ENERGY STAR, we would save enough energy to light 3 million homes for a year, save about $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent 9 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year, equivalent to those from about 800,000 cars.
CFL's
Other things, such as location, factor into making a “green” decision. Bigger Pockets felt solar panels were not efficient enough yet to warrant the cost. If you live in Seattle, it probably isn’t cost effective to install solar panels, especially with all the gray 65 degree days we’ve had this summer! However, in Southern California it makes perfect sense. I have a friend who installed solar panels and is receiving a substantial rebate for the first five years, plus a check from the utility company for helping to supply power back to the grid. The payback for these people will be 5-7 years. Not a bad return for a fairly expensive item. But these folks have no plans to move, so the investment should more than pay for itself over the years.
The bottom line is everyone should be thinking about making changes, both big and small to save energy and money. Some things work better for some people, homes, and locations than other “green” changes. It is important to decide what works for you. Do the research and make good decisions to maximize your dollar and to save energy.
What ways do you find to save energy and reduce your carbon footprint? If you’ve got some “green” tips, ideas, etc., please do share.
Let’s face it, buying a home is an expensive prop0sition. There are different ways to try to save some money when buying a home. One of the issues I see is home buyers not thinking of the future when buying a home. Home buyers don’t think about how a home could save them money over time. Home buyers want a “deal” when first buying a home, which is not surprising, but they often don’t think about how well a home could work for them. There are a few different ways to think about how a home could be more cost effective over time.
For example, most people don’t think about the floor plan or how easy it is to live in a home. Think of buying a home that’s a great deal, but has 4 levels, meaning a lot of running up and down stairs. This style of home is great, but can get tiring, literally and physically. It gets old after awhile when you have to cart groceries and laundry up and down stairs. Most home buyers don’t think about a floor plan that’s easy to live with over many years. But there are floor plans out there that work for a lot of people and a lot of lifestyles.
Enter “Aging In Place.” The name suggests we’re talking about older people who want to stay in their homes. But “Aging in Place” has another term associated with it, Universal Design, design that works for everyone, young and old alike. The teen who breaks a leg playing soccer or the Mom who is navigating the front doorway into a home with a baby stroller and packages are all people who benefit from “universal design,” design for everyone.
Most people think aging in place or universal design has too many restrictions to be attractive to multi-generations. This is not true, if a home is designed and done right. The Aging Well Consortium blog has terrific photos of a variety of homes with universal design elements. The design would easily appeal to most buyers who live on Seattle’s eastside. Plus if universal design features are incorporated into a home when it’s built, it’s not any more expensive to build.
Gourmet Kitchen with Wider Passageway
Maybe one way to save money over time when buying a home is to look at a home as truly a long term investment, a home that works for you no matter what may change in your life. Few home buyers ever do this. Moving can be expensive when you’re selling a home and buying a new home because you no longer can stay in your home. Think about it.
There were no sellers’ market in July. “Red” indicates a sellers’ market with homes selling in less than 3 months. If you look at the map above, all the Seattle markets are either a buyer’s market or a balanced market between buyers and sellers.
There’s a mix on Seattle’s eastside. Some markets are buyers’ markets such as West Bellevue and the Sammamish plateau cities of Sammamish, North Bend, Preston, and Fall City. Homes in these real estate markets took on average over 6 months to sell. The majority of Seattle Eastside real estate was a balanced market with homes selling between 3-6 months.
The state of the real estate market is a huge contrast from just three months ago when there was no “green” on the map at all.
King Snohomish Counties Real Estate Market 4-30-10
Clearly, the tax credit did its magic during that time.Is it the economy, job situation or is it the lack of urgency with interest rates slated to be low for a long time that is keeping buyers from making a home purchase? I’ve heard opinions about all three reasons as the cause for the slow moving real estate market. What do you think?
The map is divided into the numbered areas as defined by our Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS). Downtown Bellevue is area 520 and East Bellevue is area 530, as an example.
What do the colors mean?
Red means it’s a sellers’ market, a sellers’ advantage.
Yellow means a balanced market between buyers and sellers.
Green means it’s a buyers’ market.
If you take each area as shown on the map and look to the area number on the side of the map, it will tell you how long it would take to sell every home currently for sale if no other home came up on the market in that area.
(The absorption rate, the percentage of condos selling, is the number of condos for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of condos sold that month. So if the absorption rate or chance of selling is 10% that means out of 100 condos for sale, 10 received offers and sold.)
July, 2010 1552 condos for sale 144 condos sold 9% odds of selling.
June, 2010 1487 condos for sale 131 (was 154) condos sold 9% (was 10) % odds of selling.
May, 2010 1425 condos for sale 117 (was 125) condos sold 8% (was 13%) odds of selling.*
July, 2009 1441 condos for sale 159 condos sold, 11% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s original numbers to reflect the actual number of condos sold and closed. Some of the sales originally reported last month failed and did not close. Some of the reasons sales fail are the buyer and seller don’t agree on the building inspection, the condo does not appraise for the sales price or the buyer’s financing does not come through.
How did July, 2009 stack up to July, 2010 in your neighborhood?
(Click on the cities below to see real estate trends for the past 5 years. You’ll find the median pricing for each city and whether the number of homes for sale and the number of sales went up or down. The odds of selling a home in each area is a result of the number of homes for sale divided by the actual number of home sales.)
Median pricing increased from $499,000 to $548,000.
The number of homes for sale increased by 1% and sales decreased by 5%.
Although real estate numbers are mostly down on Seattle’s eastside, 3 areas, similar to last month, showed an increase in median prices while the others all showed a reduction. Most likely, this was a result of more high end sales than seen previously this year. Many of the first time buyers bought because of the tax credit, so there are fewer first time home buyers making entry level purchases.
The high end real estate market is performing better than it was earlier this year. In July, West Bellevue had a 37% increase in the median pricing, a direct result of the homes that sold that month. This number greatly influenced the trend in the eastside showing the median pricing to increase in July. Median pricing is a function of the actual homes that sell during that particular month.
So I’d recommend not getting too excited if the median pricing went up this past month in your neighborhood. It will be important to see if the trend continues and it’s not just because more high end homes are selling.
Seattle-Eastside Residential Real Estate Sales, July 2010
The odds of selling a home on the Eastside in July, 2010 ranged from a low of 11.5% to a high of 17%, with an average 14% absorption rate.(The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in a month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.)
July, 2010 3468 homes for sale 501 homes sold 14% odds of selling.
June, 2010 3360 homes for sale 475 (was 503) homes sold 14%(was 15%) odds of selling.*
May, 2010 3209 homes for sale 492 homes sold 15% odds of selling.*
July, 2009 3819 homes for sale 516 homes sold 13.5 % odds of selling.
June, 2009 3859 homes for sale 563 homes sold 15% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s numbers to reflect the actual number of homes sold and closed. Each month some sales fall apart and don’t close. A lower number of home sales may be reported at a later date to show the actual number of sales that did close.
For the past few months, the absorption rate for all the Seattle-eastside areas has been in the teens, hovering around 13-15%. May, June, and July all had similar absorption rates. Since May of 2009, the number of homes that have sold each month has not varied all that much, with the exception of March and April of this year. March and April had higher sales because of the tax credit.
Where we see more of a difference is in the number of homes for sale on Seattle’s eastside. Last year there were 3819 homes for sale in July, 2009. This year there are 10% less homes on the market. But even with less homes on the market, the odds of selling are about the same.
We have the lowest interest rates since 1971. Plus, our Seattle eastside real estate market is clearly a buyers’ market again, since the absorption rate is so low. It’s very obvious when shown on a map of the area. I’ll post a map of the Seattle eastside showing where buyers and sellers markets are located later this week. The reality is, however, that most of the real estate markets are buyers’ markets right now.
So why are real estate sales so sluggish? My guess is the “fear factor.” People are still worried about the economy. Plus, with interest rates predicted to remain low for the foreseeable future, there’s also no sense of urgency to buy.
Why do you think the Seattle eastside real estate market is slower?
July, 2009 Seattle-Eastside real estate market compared to July, 2010:
The average asking price of pending homes (recently sold homes) went from $558,397 to $573,617. (This does not show what the homes actually sold for.)
This week, there were 14,414 King County homes (houses and condos) for sale.
Two weeks ago may have been the peak of the number of homes for sale this year when 14,639 homes were on the market.
Home sales on Seattle’s Eastside: down 13%.
Number of homes for sale on Seattle’s Eastside: down 10%
Best odds of selling: Carnation and Redmond, from downtownto north and east, with 17% of the homes getting accepted offers. Ironically, last month this area had the worst odds of selling at 9%.
Worst odds of selling: West Bellevue, with 11.5% of the homes getting accepted offers.
Biggest increase in sales from last year: A 5% increase in South Bellevue home sales, which is the biggest increase.
Smallest increase in sales from last year: Kirkland, with a 3% increase. There were only two areas with an increase in the number of home sales on Seattle’s eastside.
Decline in real estate sales from last year: There was a decline in 5 out of the 7 Seattle-eastside areas with the largest decline in home sales in West Bellevue with a 31% decline in the number of homes sold.
The peak of homes for sale in 2008: July, 4370 homes.
The peak of homes for sale in 2009: June, 3859 homes.
The number of eastside homes for sale at the start of 2010: 2584 homes
The number of eastside homes for sale in July, 2010: 3468 homes.
Rate of home sales that failed and did not close: 6%
For a picture of King County sales, check out The Seattle Times. The headline states sales are down, but prices are up. Keep in mind the headline may not represent each area. Prices are up slightly in some areas, down in others, and sales are down in 5 out of 7 eastside areas.
It’s ironic that the articles about schools linked below were recently published, as last week I met with a past client who raised this very issue. My last post commented on home values and school systems.
My client bought his first home from me 5 years ago. It was a new home in a city with an excellent school system, but not the top school system on Seattle’s eastside. Now that his daughter is 5 years old, he’s looking at the different school systems even more closely. He’s done his homework and checked out such websites as Great Schools and Education. com. He’s read about the different school systems in the area and narrowed his choice down to the Bellevue, WA Schools. The Bellevue Schools have been honored in a variety of places. The high schools listed are in Newsweek’s Top 100 list and US News’ list.
But is the Bellevue School district affordable? My client wanted to know. He had questions about what he could afford and find in Bellevue. He owns a 5 year old home with 2300+ square feet out in Sammamish.
According to the article, Bellevue is not an affordable town. (Affordable is a relative term and each area will have a different affordability scale.) No matter where you live and what the affordability is of homes in your area, the rule of thumb is if a home is in a desirable school district, then it’s probably more expensive than a similar home in a less desirable district.
But even in some expensive school districts, prices can vary.
So what types of homes and prices can you find in Bellevue, WA? Here’s a snapshot of a typical week’s homes for sale during a week in July, 2010, which is representative of the housing available in Bellevue.
In Bellevue, homes can be found ranging from the high $200′s to multi-million dollar homes. If you divide Bellevue into areas, it’s easier to see what you can get in each area of Bellevue. Bellevue is divided into three main areas, West, East, and South Bellevue.
West Bellevue
The home of Bill Gates Jr, Charles Simonyi and other billionaires and uber-millionaires has some of the most expensive real estate in the country. (West Bellevue, also includes the towns of Hunts Point, Yarrow Point, and Medina, some of the priciest locations in the state and the country.)
Here’s a sampling of the homes available this week in West Bellevue:
Under $500,000- 4 homes
some of which are truly lot value with small, older homes. One home is a remodeled, most need to be remodeled and are small.
$500,000-$1,000,000- 35 homes
Ranging from homes built in the mid 50′s to the 60′s with 1400-2000 square feet to larger homes with a huge variety of square footage. Most of the homes were built from 1950-to the end of the century. Newer homes in this price range are generally smaller.
$1,000,000+ 66 homes
often with gracious appointments, lush grounds, views or waterfront. There’s an abundance of styles, ages, and square footage available. These homes are among the priciest homes in the area with a significant number of multimillion dollar homes.
East Bellevue
Under $300,000 10 homes
older ranch style homes with square footage usually around 1500 square feet. Some homes are bank owned, some in need of remodeling.
$300-$500,000 105 homes
(notice how many more homes are available in this price range than the other Bellevue neighborhoods. Here’s where you can find more home for your money and in less expensive neighborhoods)
$500-$1,000,000 79 homes
You’ll find large ramblers, 2 story hoomes, and all other styles. the homes in East Bellevue in this price range are usually terrific homes. East Bellevue is the most affordable part of Bellevue to find a home.
$1,000,000+ 18 homes
some with waterfront on Lake Sammamish, others are new construction.
South Bellevue
Under $300,000 4 homes One is a short sale, 1 is partially remodeled, and two are older smaller homes.
$300-$500,000 33 homes
Ranging from small rambler (ranch style) homes of 1000 square feet up to two story homes built in the 1960-1980′s with 2800 square feet. There are mid-entry and tri-level homes along with one and two story homes in this price range. Mid-entry and tri-level homes will be the most affordable and offer the most square footage for the money. If you want a home with some size and in good condition, you’ll be spending closer to $500,000. The lower end of this price range buys you a small home.
$500-$1,000,000 57 homes
Here you’ll find larger one level homes with 3 and 4 bedrooms. Two story homes built after 1980 with square footage ranging up to 3000+. You’ll also find large mid-entry and tri-level homes.
$1,000,000+ 37 homes
Upscale neighborhoods with drop dead gorgeous views of Seattle, Bellevue, the mountains, and lakes abound with homes ranging from mid-century modern ramblers on large lots to all styles of homes with views and lots of square footage. Many of the homes were built after 1980. Homes can be found with substantial square footage, high end amenities, and excellent quality and finish work.
The most affordable part of Bellevue is East Bellevue, although there are affordable houses all over. However, what you can get for your money is vastly different in each of these areas as you can see from the above. There are options, though, and everyone has to decide the value of the schools in relation to the type of home available.
Are there great schools in other parts of the Seattle-Eastside? Yes, if you look at the lists above, other schools in Lake Washington School District, as an example pop up. Woodinville High School is another great school. These are not the only great schools. There are more out there on the eastside. Bellevue has some affordable housing, but some home buyers may want newer or larger homes for the money and may need to look at other Seattle-eastside cities.
The beauty of the Seattle-eastside is there are great schools and some great housing all over. There are options.
Looking for a home and want a good neighborhood which maintains its value over time? Even though prices have dropped considerably and homes are more affordable, it’s important to investigate everything that could add value to your home purchase. No matter whether you’re a single person, have a family or are an empty nester, look at the reputation of the local school system. It can add or detract from the value of your home and its ultimate price tag when you go to sell. It’s something to think about here on the eastside as we have many good schools in several school districts, but the Bellevue Schools come to mind first, since they’ve been mentioned both in Newsweek and US News.
Check out local city websites and school system websites. It’s so easy today to google a specific school system and find out all kinds of information.
When housing markets go south, “areas with exceptional schools tend to hold their value better than the market overall,” says Michael Sklarz, president of Collateral Analytics, a Honolulu-based firm that specializes in real estate data analysis.
From Sarah Max of The Wall Street Journal:
State assessments, independent ratings from websites like GreatSchools and Education.com and annual magazine rankings of America’s top high schools have not only made it easy for parents to factor school test scores and parent-teacher ratios into their buying decisions, they’ve cemented the relationship between home prices and school quality.
But nothing comes without trade offs. Because good schools add dollars to the cost of homes, it could mean a smaller or older home or a smaller lot. The decision to purchase the bigger or newer home in a less desirable district has to be weighed with the options for a home available in the better school district. For some people, the bigger house works better and is more important. For others, the quality of the schools themselves may be more important than the house.
(The absorption rate, the percentage of condos selling, is the number of condos for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of condos sold that month. So if the absorption rate or chance of selling is 10% that means out of 100 condos for sale, 10 received offers and sold.)
June, 2010 1487 condos for sale 154 condos sold 10 % odds of selling.
May, 2010 1425 condos for sale 117 (was 125) condos sold 8% (was 13%) odds of selling.*
April, 2010 1437 condos for sale 281 (was 316) condos sold 19.5%(was 22%) odds of selling.*
June, 2009 1491 condos for sale 161 condos sold, 11% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s original numbers to reflect the actual number of condos sold and closed. Some of the sales originally reported last month failed and did not close. Some of the reasons sales fail are the buyer and seller don’t agree on the building inspection, the condo does not appraise for the sales price or the buyer’s financing does not come through.
In this month’s post I’ve included the condo real estate statistics for April to show the sharp contrast with May and June of this year. Seattle-eastside condo sales dropped like a stone from the high of 281 in April to 117 in May and 154 in June. We’re seeing a lull in Seattle area condo sales, which is partly seasonal as people are out playing in the sunny weather.
But have condo buyers forgotten there are still good deals after the tax credit? Don’t forget, there’s a huge number of condos available on Seattle’s eastside as we’re at the high point in Seattle-eastside condos for sale so far this year. There are some great choices out there. Plus, the added bonus is interest rates are at a 30 year low.
There’s no “red” on the Seattle-eastside real estate map, which means there were no seller’s markets in June, 2010. The Seattle-eastside real estate market has turned “yellow” for a market balanced between buyers and sellers, and “green.” “Green” on the map indicates a buyer’s market. It’s not surprising to me that certain areas stay as a balanced real estate market longer than some others.
Which Seattle-eastside areas have remained stronger as a balanced market between buyers and sellers?
East Bellevue and Redmond near Microsoft (530 on the map)
It’s traditionally one of the strongest areas, because homes are so close to jobs at Microsoft. The neighborhoods abut the main Microsoft campus and are an easy commute to downtown Bellevue, the economic hub of the eastside. Plus, housing can be found from the $200′s and $300′s to million+ dollar waterfront. Housing in many neighborhoods is in the affordable range for the area.
South Bellevue and Issaquah (500 on the map)
The area south of I-90 is a big drawing card for Seattle commuters. Again, there’s a variety of home styles and ages, good schools, and a fabulous commute either to eastside economic centers or downtown Seattle.
Sammamish, Issaquah, Preston, Fall City, and North Bend. (540 on the map)
Another area that’s consistently one of the strongest is the plateau areas of Sammamish, Issaquah, Preston, Fall City, and North Bend. The different eastside cities here have a huge variety of homes from estates to acreage to newer construction and town homes. Good schools and some good values keep the area strong.
King & Snohomish County Real Estate Maps, 6-30-10
There are still great homes and condos out there to buy and interest rates are at historic lows. The loss of the tax credit may not make much of a difference when calculating the savings in monthly payments over time.
How did June, 2009 stack up to June, 2010 in your neighborhood?
(Click on the cities below to see real estate trends for the past 5 years. You’ll find the median pricing for each city and whether the number of homes for sale and the number of sales went up or down. The odds of selling a home in each area is a result of the number of homes for sale divided by the actual number of home sales.)
Median pricing decreased from $529,950 to $474,950.
The number of homes for sale decreased by 4% and sales decreased by 42%.
Although real estate numbers are mostly down on Seattle’s eastside, 3 areas showed an increase in median prices and one area remained similar in pricing to last June. West Bellevue, the Sammamish plateau areas, and Woodinville, North Kirkland, Bothell and Kenmore had a 5% increase in sales prices. Last month, West Bellevue was the only area with an increase in median pricing over last year and that was at 17%.
The three other Seattle-eastside neighborhoods experienced a reduction in sales prices. These areas are South Bellevue, Redmond and Bellevue near Microsoft, and the downtown area of Redmond.
The number of homes for sale is near the highest for this year, but still 11% less than the number of homes for sale on the eastside last year, so that’s a good thing.
I expect the numbers to be down over the next month or two as summer is one of the slower times in Eastside real estate. Traditionally, people take a lot of time to enjoy the sun and the outdoors, since it is so fleeting.
The odds of selling a home on the Eastside in June, 2010 ranged from a low of 9% to a high of 23%, with an average 15% absorption rate. For the past few months, the absorption rate for all the Seattle-eastside areas had been in the double digits. This month, downtown Redmond and Carnation are in the single digits, at 9%. It’s a stark contrast to April, 2010 with its low of 20% to a high of 35%, averaging a 27% absorption rate.
June’s real estate activity is more similar to May, when the numbers started looking more like last year’s real estate rather than the highs of April, 2010. It’s ironic, in a sense, the tax credit did offer buyers a true incentive to buy, but if one looks at the total picture, there still may be many opportunities to “get a deal.” With the lowest interest rates in 30 years and the higher number of homes on the market, it’s becoming more of a buyer’s market again. ( I’ll be posting the map showing the different markets later this week.) Plus, summer is the time to play outside for Seattleites, so there are usually less buyers competing for homes.
(The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.)
June, 2010 3360 homes for sale 503 homes sold 15 % odds of selling.
May, 2010 3209 homes for sale 492 (was 563) homes sold 15% (was 17.5%) odds of selling.*
June, 2009 3859 homes for sale 563 homes sold 15% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s numbers to reflect the actual number of homes sold and closed. Each month some sales fall apart and don’t close. A lower number of home sales may be reported at a later date to show the actual number of sales that did close.
June, 2009 Seattle-Eastside real estate market compared to June, 2010:
Surprisingly, the average list price of pending homes (recently sold) went from $547,381 to $553,772.
As of this past week, there were 14,235 King County homes (houses and condos) for sale.
Is this the peak of the real estate market for the number of homes for sale this year?
Home sales on Seattle’s Eastside: down 20%, which follows a much smaller drop of 7% in May.
Number of homes for sale on Seattle’s Eastside: down 11%
Best odds of selling: Redmond, near Microsoft, and East Bellevue.
Worst odds of selling: Carnation and Redmond, from downtownto north and east, with 9% of the homes getting accepted offers.
Biggest increase in sales from last year: A very small 3% increase in East Bellevue and Redmond, near Microsoft, home sales.
Smallest increase in sales from last year: Same as above. This area had the only increase in Seattle-eastside home sales in June.
Decline in real estate sales from last year: There was a decline in 6 out of the 7 Seattle-eastside areas. Redmond and Carnation had the largest decline in home sales with a 43% decline in the number of homes sold. This area also had the largest decline in home sales last month.
The peak of homes for sale in 2008: July, 4370 homes.
The peak of homes for sale in 2009: June, 3859 homes.
The number of eastside homes for sale at the start of 2010: 2584 homes
The number of eastside homes for sale now: 3360 homes.
Rate of home sales that failed and did not close: 13%
The sun is out now in Seattle (although a little late today), which tends to slow Seattle Eastside real estate sales. The number of home sales could remain on the lower side in the near future for two reasons. One is the slow down after the tax credit rush and the sunny weather and summer vacations. People in Seattle like to play outside in the sun.
The slower home sales is ironic, given the high number of homes for sale, which means lots of choices and the screamingly low interest rates. I believe there are some great deals out there for buyers right now.
I remember when I bought my first home in the mid 1980′s. I was so excited, the interest rate was at the bottom of the double digits, considering what the early 80′s had to offer with rates in the high teens. I had friends who purchased in Brooklyn, NY in the early 80′s and were paying almost 17% for their mortgage. The interest rate for my first home was just above 10%. Granted the home prices were significantly less, but the monthly payments were high, considering the lower prices of the times.
Fast forward to 2010, with interest rates the lowest in 30 years and prices at 2005 levels.
What’s the difference in monthly payments with the more recent interest rates we’ve seen?
If you decide to purchase a $400,000 home, this is the difference in principle and interest payments over the last couple of years.
July 2008 – 5.75% – $2,334
July 2009 – 5.25% – $2,209
Jan 2010 – 5.125%- $2,178
May 2010 – 5.0% – $2,147
July 2010 – 4.50% – $2,027
Seattle-eastside home values have dropped significantly since the peak in the real estate market in the summer of 2007 and rates have also dropped as well. If you were to purchase a $400,000 home now, the payment would be approximately $300 less than two years ago, plus the home prices are also lower. In King County, WA, the choices are terrific because the number of homes for sale is just below the high so far for the year. Right now, in King County, there are 13,921 homes for sale.
So is it the right time to buy a home? You decide.
Did we hit the peak a couple of weeks ago when the number of homes for sale in King County, WA hit 14,198?
Number of King County, WA Homes for Sale, 7-06-10
There are a lot of homes for sale in King County Washington right now, although the number may be beginning to drop if this year follows typical patterns. The peak may have been the week of June 28th. In 2009, King County reached the peak of inventory, homes for sale at the end of July. Typically, there are more homes for sale during the summer and this year follows that typical pattern.
Since the beginning of the year, there have only been 6 weeks when the number of homes for sale dropped. This past week, 277 homes came off the market, which is one of the biggest declines in homes for sale. The next several weeks will determine whether we have reached the peak in the number of King County homes for sale as rarely does the peak not fall during the summer months.
What’s happening in your area? Is the inventory of homes for sale at a high point in the year?
Seattle-eastside Real Estate Sales 2010-1st quarter
The eastside sales here include South Bellevue and Issaquah all the way up to the Snohomish County line and from Lake Washington out to North Bend, Duvall, and Carnation.
If you look at the real estate statistics above:
Almost half of these Seattle-eastside real estate sales were below $500,000.
Over 80% of the eastside home sales were below $750,000.
Twenty-seven home sales were below $250,000.
Thirty-six home sales out of the 1119 were priced above $1,500,000.
Only 2% of the sales were above $2,000,000. Out of 1119 home sales, only 18 were priced above this $2,000,000 mark.
24% of eastside sales were short sales or bank owned properties, contrary to what many think. Most of the homes were sold by the actual home owner.
The sweet spot in Seattle-eastside real estate is between $250-500,000, with many of the homes priced between $350-500,000. Pre-2008, the sweet spot was the $500-750,000 price point.
In recent home sales, not only do the buyers want a good price for the home, which is expected the way the real estate market has been, but some home buyers don’t want to buy a home unless the systems are all new or newer. Buyers have asked for a new furnace when the furnace worked fine and money to cover a future roof replacement that would not be happening in a condo complex for at least five years. Buyers are asking for replacements for systems that are older, but still working.
Are you seeing the same thing happen with some home buyers?
Home Sales Activity for King and Snohomish Counties, May, 2010
During May “green” crept back into a number of Seattle areas. One large area on the eastside, Woodinville, Bothell, Kenmore, Duvall, and north Kirkland was “green,” back as a buyer’s market.
April was the first month in a very long time in which there was no ” green,” no buyers’ markets in almost all the Seattle-eastside areas. In April, the Seattle area real estate market was the strongest in years. This is most likely a direct result of the 2010 tax credit. Both buyers and sellers were rushing to buy and sell before the expiration of the credit.
May represented a lull in the Seattle real estate market. Was this a temporary lull or our new normal? The next several months will be good indicators, although summer tends to be a slower time every year in Seattle real estate. Home buyers and sellers are like everyone else. Seattleites play outside in summer. Of course, that’s providing the sun ever comes out this year!
The good real estate news is there are still great homes and condos out there to buy and interest rates are at historic lows. The loss of the tax credit may not make much of a difference when calculating the savings in monthly payments over time.
Interest Rates 6-2010
It may be the fall before we can determine the true pace of Seattle real estate. I’ll keep you posted.
King Snohomish Counties Real Estate Market 4-30-10
What do the numbers on the map mean?
The map is divided into the numbered areas as defined by our Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS). Downtown Bellevue is area 520 and East Bellevue is area 530, as an example.
What do the colors mean?
Red means it’s a sellers’ market, a sellers’ advantage.
Yellow means a balanced market between buyers and sellers.
Green means it’s a buyers’ market.
If you take each area as shown on the map and look to the area number on the side of the map, it will tell you how long it would take to sell every home currently for sale if no other home came up on the market in that area.
(The absorption rate, the percentage of condos selling, is the number of condos for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of condos sold that month. So if the absorption rate or chance of selling is 10% that means out of 100 condos for sale, 10 received offers and sold.)
May, 2010 1425 condos for sale 125 condos sold 13% odds of selling.
April, 2010 1437 condos for sale 281 (was 316) condos sold 19.5%(was 22%) odds of selling.*
April, 2009 1441 condos for sale 145 condos sold, 10% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s original numbers to reflect the actual number of condos sold and closed. Some of the sales originally reported last month failed and did not close. Some of the reasons sales fail are the buyer and seller don’t agree on the building inspection, the condo does not appraise for the sales price or the buyer’s financing does not come through.
Are we back to what may be normal in Seattle-eastside condo sales or is this the lull after the “storm of buyers” we had before April 30th? The odds of selling Seattle-eastside condos before April 30th was the strongest sales seen in years. With the 2010 tax credit behind us, we should continue to see people who need to make a move out there buying or selling a condo. We may see a lull in Seattle area condo sales. But I expect condo sales to get back to business as usual in the near future, once buyers get used to the tax credit having gone away.
How did May, 2009 stack up to May, 2010 in your neighborhood?
(Click on the cities below to see real estate trends for the past 5 years. You’ll find the median pricing for each city and whether the number of homes for sale and the number of sales went up or down. The odds of selling a home in each area is a result of the number of homes for sale divided by the actual number of home sales.)
Median pricing decreased from $569,895 to $519,950.
The number of homes for sale decreased by 17% and sales decreased by 18%.
When compared to May, 2009, only one area of Seattle’s eastside showed an increase in median prices. West Bellevue had the highest with a 17% increase in sales prices. Last month the area had the most significant decrease in pricing. The return of some strength to the high end market is a good sign. The high end was the least affected by the tax credit.
Most other Seattle-eastside neighborhoods experienced a reduction in sales prices.
Home sales also took a dip in most areas of the eastside. Two areas, Kirkland and the plateau area of Sammamish, had increased home sales, but only in the single digits.
Seventeen percent less homes are for sale on the eastside this year than last year.
Has your area seen a drop in home sales since the expiration of the tax credit?
The odds of selling a home on the Eastside in May, 2010 ranged from a low of 12% to a high of 20%, with an average 16.5% absorption rate. Contrast this with April, 2010 odds with a low of 20% to a high of 35%, averaging a 27% absorption rate.
May’s numbers look more like May of last year than they do of April of this year. This month may mark the back to reality of Seattle-eastside real estate or maybe not. We’ll need to see how the rest of the year plays out as so many people rushed to buy and sell before the end of the tax credit. There are still buyers who want to buy and the sellers who need to sell, although this may be a time of adjustment.
(The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.)
May, 2010 3209 homes for sale 529 homes sold 16.5% odds of selling.
April, 2010 3084 homes for sale 770 (was 847) homes sold 25%(was 27.5%) odds of selling.*
May, 2009 3841 homes for sale 547 homes sold 14% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s numbers to reflect the actual number of homes sold and closed. Each month some sales fall apart and don’t close. A lower number of home sales may be reported at a later date to show the actual number of sales that did close.
May, 2009 Seattle-Eastside real estate market compared to May, 2010:
We are back to reality with Seattle-Eastside home sales. The tax stimulus pushed both home buyers and sellers to act more quickly this year, so the high number of home sales in April may have contributed to the drop in number of eastside home sales in May.
The end of the tax stimulus had a greater impact on lower priced homes compared to higher priced homes.
The average list price of properties that are pending went from $512,060 to $646,545. This is an unprecedented change month to month.
As of this past week, there are 13,615 King County homes (houses and condos) for sale.
The median price was down by .9%, an insignificant drop.
Home sales on Seattle’s Eastside: down 7% The first down month in 2010.
Number of homes for sale on Seattle’s Eastside: down 17%
Best odds of selling: Sammamish plateau areas of Sammamish, Issaquah, North Bend, and Fall City with the best odds of selling as 20.5% of the Sammamish homes got offers.
Worst odds of selling: Woodinville, Bothell, Kenmore, Duvall, and North Kirkland with 12% of the homes getting accepted offers.
Biggest increase in sales from last year: A small 6% increase in Sammamish home sales was the highest increase in Seattle-eastside real estate sales. Quite a contrast to the double and triple digit increases we’ve seen the last few months. As an example, there was 102% increase in the number of Kirkland homes sold in April, 2010 when compared to April, 2009.
Smallest increase in sales from last year: Kirkland home sales increased by 3%
Decline in real estate sales from last year: There was a decline in 5 out of the 7 Seattle-eastside areas, unlike the last few months when every eastside neighborhoodexperienced an increase in home sales.Redmond and Carnation had the largest decline in home sales with an 18% decline in the number of homes sold.
The peak of homes for sale in 2008: July, 4370 homes.
The peak of homes for sale in 2009: June, 3859 homes.
The number of eastside homes for sale at the start of 2010: 2584 homes
The number of eastside homes for sale now: 3209 homes.
Rate of home sales that failed and did not close: 10%
Seattle Eastside real estate tends to slow down a bit when the sun comes out, which hopefully is any day now! The number of home sales could remain on the lower side in the near future for two reasons. One is the slow down after the tax credit rush which we are now seeing and the upcoming (think positively) sunny weather and summer vacations. People in Seattle like to play outside in the sun. There are a number of people who are “gearing up” to make a move, so we may see stronger eastside real estate sales when summer comes to an end.
Ironically, when people ask me when is the best time time to sell a home, I tell them spring and fall are usually the best times. However, homes sell each month and the ones that show the best and are priced competitively will be the ones to get the offer.
Mr and Mrs. Home Seller ask: “Why don’t we let the buyers pick out the new carpet? We don’t know what color they may want.”
New carpeting Creates a Fresh, Clean Look
This is one of the most common sentiments I’ve heard over the years from home sellers. Sellers often think it’s best to leave the old carpet, offer a carpet allowance if needed, and let the buyer choose their own carpet.
Is this right? Do buyers want to choose their own carpet?
NO. Not in the Seattle-Eastside real estate market. Buyers DO NOT want to choose, pay or replace carpet when buying a new home. In this area, Seattle’s eastside cities of Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, and Issaquah, etc., buyers want to buy a home that’s move-in ready.
On Seattle’s eastside, the typical buyer is a very busy person(s) who may work a lot of hours. Most buyers aren’t looking to do structural or cosmetic updates to a home. They don’t have the time or the inclination. They want to move in and continue on with their lives with the least amount of disruption. They don’t want to be replacing carpet. Besides, there are lots of Seattle-eastside homes to choose from and many of the other homes have been updated and are ready to go.
Most home sellers don’t want to replace carpet either, but think about it. The buyers don’t have to replace your carpet because they don’t have to buy your home. They have other homes to buy. However, as the seller, you have only one home to sell and so you’ve got to do it. Remember, if you feel like you don’t want to replace the carpet, the buyer probably feels the same way. The catch is, they don’t have to do it, they can buy another home.
So if you want to get an offer to buy your home and make the most money while selling your home, replace your carpet if it’s worn, discolored, has stains, you name it. Make sure it looks fresh and clean, otherwise it will cost you money in the sales price for your home and it could even cost you getting a buyer.
Should you spend a lot for expensive carpet? Absolutely not. You should put in a good grade of carpet, but one that is similar to what builders install in new construction. Make sure you pick a neutral color and install a good 8 lb. pad underneath the rug. A thin pad with new carpet won’t work. It’s easy to tell that either the carpet or the pad are thin the minute you step on it. It feels like you’re on cement.
As of late last month, businesses that repair or renovate older buildings—specifically homes, schools and daycare centers built before the federal government banned the use of lead-based paint in housing in 1978—are required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to adhere to strict lead-safe work practices. To comply with the new regulation, those working on older sites will need to invest in lead-testing kits, plastic sheeting, respirators, protective clothing and other lead-safety materials.
“Can I start out pricing my home higher and then come down in price?” This is one of the most common questions I get asked by people planning to sell their home.
Statistics from March Seattle-eastside home sales show a home will sell faster and for a better price if priced correctly to start. Overpricing a home can result in a longer market time and a lower price.
Moving Your Home From "For Sale" to Sold
So do you want to start with a higher asking price and come down? If you’re serious about selling your home, price it right, otherwise you risk putting a “for sale” sign in your yard, but not selling your home.
King Snohomish Counties Real Estate Market 4-30-10
What do the numbers on the map mean?
The map is divided into the numbered areas as defined by our Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS). Downtown Bellevue is area 520 and East Bellevue is area 530, as an example.
What do the colors mean?
Red means it’s a sellers’ market, a sellers’ advantage.
Yellow means a balanced market between buyers and sellers.
Green means it’s a buyers’ market.
If you take each area as shown on the map and look to the area number on the side of the map, it will tell you how long it would take to sell every home currently for sale if no other home came up on the market in that area.
The first time in years, literally, that there were no buyers’ markets on the King-Snohomish County, Washington map of real estate. Last month, there was one area, Vashon Island, which is now coming up as a balanced market.
The two hottest selling markets on the eastside in April, 2010?
The first is Redmond, near Microsoft, East Bellevue and the second is the plateau area which includes Sammamish, parts of Issaquah, North Bend, and Fall City.
(The absorption rate, the percentage of condos selling, is the number of condos for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of condos sold that month. So if the absorption rate or chance of selling is 10% that means out of 100 condos for sale, 10 received offers and sold.)
April, 2010 1437 condos for sale 316 condos sold, 22% odds of selling.
March, 2010 1356 condos for sale, 241 (was 281) condos sold, 18% (was 21%) odds of selling.*
April, 2009 1315 condos for sale 155 condos sold, 12% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s original numbers to reflect the actual number of condos sold and closed. Some of the sales originally reported last month failed and did not close.Seventeen percent of condo sales originally reported in March failed to close. Some of the reasons sales fail are the buyer and seller don’t agree on the building inspection, the condo does not appraise for the sales price or the buyer’s financing does not come through.
Seattle-eastside condo sales were popping the past two months with the strongest sales seen in years. With the 2010 tax credit behind us, we should continue to see people who need to make a move out there buying and selling their home. We may see a little of a lull in Seattle area condo sales, but I expect condo sales to get back to business as usual.
How did April, 2009 stack up to April, 2010 in your neighborhood?
(Click on the cities below to see real estate trends for the past 5 years. You’ll find the median pricing for each city and whether the number of homes for sale and the number of sales went up or down. The odds of selling a home in each area is a result of the number of homes for sale divided by the actual number of home sales.)
Median pricing decreased from $554,950 to $514,995.
The number of homes for sale decreased by 11% and sales increased by 32%.
When compared to April, 2009, only one area of Seattle’s eastside showed an increase in median prices. This area encompasses Woodinville, Bothell, Kenmore, and Duvall.
The most significant decrease in pricing was in West Bellevue, just like last month. Home values in West Bellevue dropped by 23%. The other Seattle-eastside neighborhoods experienced a reduction in sales price, but not by as much.
Home sales, on the other hand, continued to be strong all over the eastside. Sales increases ranged from 18% in the Woodinville area to 102% in Kirkland, the only area with a triple digit increase in home sales this month.
Eighteen percent less homes are for sale on the eastside this year than last year.
What’s happening in your area? Are home sales strong? Do you expect it to continue?
The odds of selling a home on the Eastside in April, 2010 ranged from a low of 20% to a high of 35%, with an average 27% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.)
April, 2010 3084 homes for sale 847 homes sold 27.5% odds of selling.
March, 2010 2923 homes for sale 695 (was 778) homes sold 24% (was 27%) odds of selling.*
April, 2009 3600 homes for sale 477 homes sold 13% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s numbers to reflect the actual number of homes sold and closed. Each month some sales fall apart and don’t close. A lower number of home sales may be reported at a later date to show the actual number of sales that did close.
April, 2009 Seattle-Eastside real estate market compared to April, 2010:
Home sales continued on a roll in all Seattle-Eastside cities.
As of this past week, there are 13,102 King County homes (houses and condos) for sale.
Overall, the Seattle eastside number of homes for sale continues to rise as the year progresses with only a few dips in numbers for sale since the first of the year.
The median price was down by 5%. (Keep in mind this is comparing last April’s numbers to this April and is not an indication of the total drop in price for the year.)
Home sales on Seattle’s Eastside: up 47%!
Number of homes for sale on Seattle’s Eastside: down 18%
Best odds of selling: Redmond, near Microsoft, and East Bellevue with the greatest odds of selling as 35% of the homes got offers.
Worst odds of selling: West Bellevue, with 20% of the homes getting accepted offers.
Biggest increase in sales from last year: There was 102% increase in the number of Kirkland homes sold this April than last April. Kirkland was the only area with a triple digit increase this month.
Smallest increase in sales from last year: Woodinville, Bothell, Kenmore, Duvall with an 18% increase in home sales over last year.
Decline in real estate sales from last year: None on the eastside.More homes sold in all areas of Seattle’s eastside this April than April, 2009.
The peak of homes for sale in 2008: July, 4370 homes.
The peak of homes for sale in 2009: June, 3859 homes.
The number of eastside homes for sale at the start of 2010: 2584 homes
The number of eastside homes for sale now: 3084 homes.
Rate of home sales that failed and did not close: 13%
Seattle Eastside home sales should continue to be strong in May. My team and I are getting phone calls from both buyers and sellers who still want to make a move, but may have not been ready to do so simply for the tax credit.
What’s happening in real estate in your area? Are homes selling? Do you think you’ll see a change in real estate because the tax credit is gone?
Make more money selling your home is my series on getting your home sold, not just getting it ready to sell, but getting it sold. These posts are a series of suggestions for things you can do to update your home before you sell it. Updated homes sell faster and for more money than homes in need of work. Better yet, if you want to do some of these things while you’re still enjoying your home, go for it.
You may not do everything, but if you read all the posts, you’ll have a good idea of what home updates will get you more money. You can decide how best to spend your money and what works for your budget. Read Parts 1-4, planting some “green,”when to set the sales price,yard clean up, and dressing up a front door and the rest of the series (coming soon), to pick what your home needs to get it “dressed up” to sell in the competitive Seattle real estate market.
Spending some money updating your home will help you make more money selling your home. In the Seattle real estate market, particularly on the eastside, most buyers are looking for homes updated and ready to go. There’s a very small pool of buyers looking to fix up a home on Seattle’s eastside.
Today’s topic: moldings and doors. Clean, fresh white moldings and doors. Some homes will have a theme and look better with wood doors and moldings, but many homes will look great with white woodwork. If you’re starting from scratch, you can pick from many different door styles. In today’s home market, doors can be anywhere from two to 6 panel, with the two panel doors growing in popularity.
New Doors Dress Up a Home for Sale
Before you pick the style of door, think about the type of neighborhood where your home is located. If it’s an upscale, high-end neighborhood, buyers will expect top quality. You’ll throw your money out if you go with inexpensive finishes. If the home is situated in a starter neighborhood, then go with hollow core doors, so you’ll save money. Solid doors are far more expensive. Pick something simple that matches your decor. Be practical and spend the least amount of money, while getting something that looks good and is the quality to fit your neighborhood and style of your home.
Moldings: Does your home have those skinny, outdated flat moldings from the 60′s or the 70′s? If so, it’s time for a change. Go with thicker baseboard moldings to dress up a room. Moldings finish a room off, making the overall finished look richer and better. Again, keep it simple and buy pre-painted moldings, if available.
Thick Baseboards Add A Quality Look to a Home
For the high-end neighborhood, maybe it’s repainting existing moldings so they look fresh and clean. Maybe it’s adding more crown moldings or chair rails in different parts of the house.
Dressing Up a Room By Adding Chair Rails
Don’t have the money to replace all the doors and moldings? Then paint them white, so they look fresh and clean. Make sure to use the right painting tools and paint. If you’ve never painted doors and moldings, then find out how to paint them so the surfaces will be smooth. Use a semi-gloss paint and it will help make the moldings pop. It will also help keep the moldings clean when done.
If painting is not your thing, it’s probably better to hire someone who knows how to paint these surfaces. Again, don’t throw your time and money out by doing a poor paint job.
Whatever your budget allows, the doors and moldings should be fresh and clean when you sell your home. If they’re not, it will cost you time and money in the sale of your home.
Do you have any other ideas about making doors and moldings look good?
Twelve days ago I wrote a post that King County properties for sale was rapidly heading up to the 2009 high. Just last week we were within 300+ homes/condos of the 2009 peak, which stands at 13,861. There 13,515 homes/condos for sale in King County that week.
This week we see the first big decline, with a drop of 570 properties. The number is back below 13,000, at 12, 946.
Phew, I was just beginning to wonder if we were going to surpass 2009′s real estate totals in the Seattle area. We may, as 2010 is still young, but it’s a breath of fresh air in the real estate market to see a drop in inventory (the number of homes and condos for sale). Sales have been brisk as many buyers were anxious to buy a home in the Seattle area before the expiration of the 2010 tax credit, which could explain the decline in inventory.
The next few weeks will be interesting. Normally the number of homes for sale does increase in the summer months in Seattle, but I’m wondering if a lot of sellers put their home on the market earlier this year to capture the activity with the 2010 home buyers’ credit.
Do you think the numbers will increase as we head into the summer?
King County Washington Properties for Sale, 5-3-10
You’re a home buyer out looking at homes. You pull in front of a home that looks kind of interesting. You stand by the front door as your agent gets the key out of the key box to open the door. You look around the entrance and notice dirt and scuff marks on the front door. The brass plate is all tarnished, there are scratches by the key hole and the door mat is dirty. It looks like there’s been years of wear and tear and you haven’t even been inside.
A dirty front door and scratched hardware is not a big deal, or is it?
Buyers, what do you think?
Tarnished front door handle
Scratched front door key hole
I heard from past buyers that it raises a lot of questions. Mostly, the buyer is wondering how well the home has been maintained if something so obvious sticks out when you first walk up. Will this buyer be taking a closer look at the house? Will the buyer start wondering if there might be maintenance issues. Possibly.
A nice front door and shiny hardware make a big difference. It keeps the level of positive energy and interest up. It’s like seeing a blind date for the first time, you want that person to look good from the “get go,” not with messy hair or dirty clothing.
A Beautiful Front Door Creates a Great First Impression
Flowers By The Front Door Add a Nice Touch
So home sellers, stand out in front of your home by the front door, just as a buyer would. Look at what the buyer would be looking at when standing at the front of your home.
Is your front door dirty?
Is it in need of paint?
Is the hardware gleaming and fresh or is it scratched?
Are the railings in good shape?
Are the steps neat and clean?
Do you have flowers providing color by the front door?
So before you sell your home, think of it like getting ready for a date or going to a party hoping to meet someone. In this case, your home is meeting a potential buyer. The buyer has a lot of options to choose from, like you might at a party. Help the buyer to choose your home by getting it ready for the party, oops, I mean to sell.
Escala, here in front of us, it’s 230 units. And they’ve only sold two in the last year-and-a-half.
The over-building is visible in surrounding cities as well, like Bellevue, where the new Bellevue Towers added 550 condos to the market.
Bellevue Towers- before completion
Jeff Tyler interviewed Michael Brandt, who purchased a unit in Bellevue Towers last year.
Brandt: I’m actually not paying home owners’ dues right now, and won’t be for potentially a year-and-a-half or two years down the road.
So, the perks for condo owners now are no home owners dues or lines to use the public spaces and/or equipment and the quiet. The negatives are no representation on the home owners’ association board until 60% of the units sell, a mostly empty building, and real difficulty reselling a condo now, since there are still so many unoccupied units for sale.
Some buyers may still want to buy in one of the condo towers because the hope is to get a screaming deal. For certain buyers who plan to stay and make one of the new condos a home, then it may make sense to do so. The Bellevue-Seattle condo real estate market should come around again, But don’t buy in one of the towers if your plan is to sell anytime in the next 5 years. In fact, I’d plan to stay put for a good 10 years. Maybe the condo market will change before that time, but I’d go for a really good deal and plan to stay for a long time if I were buying a Seattle or downtown Bellevue condo.
It’s very late in the game with the 2010 home buyer tax credit, the finish line is only days away. My purpose in mentioning this issue now is so something like this doesn’t happen again. The next time Congress enacts a piece of legislation such as this, there shouldn’t be any discrimination against people because they’renewly married.
My team is working with a home buyer who just discovered he and his wife are not eligible for the 2010 home buyer tax credit. He qualifies for the repeat home buyer tax credit because he’s owned his home for more than 5 years. He married 3 years ago, so his wife does not meet the 5 year rule to qualify. She, of course, is eligible for the first time home buyer tax credit, but he is not.
For married taxpayers, the law tests the home ownership history of both the home buyer and his/her spouse. That is, both spouses must qualify as long-time residents, with at least five years of principal residency for each.
Does a married couple qualify for any home buyer tax credit in the following situation? Spouse A has lived in and owned the same principal residence for at least five years. Spouse B has lived in and owned the same principal residence for less than five years.
In this situation, the couple does not qualify for any home buyer tax credit. Because the couple is married, the law tests the ownership history of both spouses. Spouse A clearly does not qualify for the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit, so neither does Spouse B.
Ironically, if they weren’t married, they could qualify:
How can two unmarried buyers allocate the tax credit if one qualifies for the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit and the other qualifies for the $6,500 repeat home buyer credit?
The buyers can allocate the tax credit in any reasonable manner, provided neither claims a tax credit higher than the one they qualify for and the home purchase does not yield a total of more than $8,000 in tax credits. For example, the repeat home buyer could claim $6,500 and the first-time home buyer could claim $1,500. Alternatively, both buyers could claim a $4,000 tax credit.
The language is very much the same with regard to the first time buyer tax credit:
How can two unmarried buyers allocate the tax credit if one qualifies for the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit and the other qualifies for the $6,500 repeat home buyer credit?
The buyers can allocate the tax credit in any reasonable manner, provided neither claims a tax credit higher than the one they qualify for and the home purchase does not yield a total of more than $8,000 in tax credits. For example, the repeat home buyer could claim $6,500 and the first-time home buyer could claim $1,500. Alternatively, both buyers could claim a $4,000 tax credit.
Does a married couple qualify for any home buyer tax credit in the following situation? Spouse A has lived in and owned the same principal residence for at least five years. Spouse B has lived in and owned the same principal residence for less than five years. In this situation, the couple does not qualify for any home buyer tax credit. Because the couple is married, the law tests the ownership history of both spouses. Spouse A clearly does not qualify for the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit, so neither does Spouse B.
Spouse A does appear to qualify for the $6,500 repeat buyer credit, but because Spouse B has not owned and lived in the same principal residence for at least five years, neither of them can claim the repeat home buyer tax credit.
So, please tell elected officials not to discriminate against married, unmarried or newly married people. Everyone should have had an equal opportunity for the home buyer tax credit.
The number of properties for sale in King County Washington is climbing. The total took a big jump over the last few weeks when 783 properties came up for sale. Since January when the year started with 9726 King County properties for sale, the numbers have gone up by 28%. Right now, the total is just 452 shy of the highest number of properties on the market in 2009. The big difference in 2010 is sales activity is going strong and beating 2009 numbers by a huge margin in all areas. Some Seattle neighborhoods, like Queen Anne, are seeing multiple offers. In the area where I work, Seattle’s eastside, has had double and triple digit increases in home and condo sales.
The increasing number of listings may change that some in the coming months. I’ll be watching the real estate sales numbers and keep you posted.
Professionally staged and photographed-photo by Layne Freedle, Staging by Pam of Staging for Charisma
Professional photography and staging are, without question, necessary to sell a home in today’s marketplace. We have our stager and photographer ready for our sellers when they’re needed. I wouldn’t list a home for sale without professional staging or photography.
The Same Room Unstaged and Not Professionally Photographed
There are, of course, some homes which show beautifully and don’t need the staging, but we all know, even if we don’t admit it, staging and photography are necessary marketing tools to get a home sold.
Sometimes we forget, great staging and photography are only the start. They’re not the complete story. You’ve got to get out and see the house “in the flesh.” This advice, by the way, is both for Realtors and home buyers. You can’t do an effective market analysis as a real estate agent or fall in love with a house as a home buyer unless you see it, smell it, and hear what’s going on in the neighborhood. You need to “touch” the house in a variety of ways to determine its true value.
I was reminded of this very thing yesterday when my business partner, Angie Bondurant, previewed a home that’s strong competition to an upcoming listing. The home looked gorgeous online, which it should in order to attract the most buyers, but two things were not apparent until Angie went to see the home. It smelled and it was dark. A smelly house, whether it’s that “old” smell, food smell, dog smell or something else, can be a total turnoff to a buyer, even if the home is gorgeous.
A dark house is the kiss of death in Seattle. Of course, it rains 24/7 here as the world thinks, so light, airy homes are popular. (In reality, there are a lot of gray days in Seattle, but it doesn’t rain all the time by any means) A bright home is always a plus in this climate.
This home ended up with two strikes against it, both of which had to be experienced by seeing the home. It was dark and smelly. Granted it was finished beautifully and this will help it to sell, but the other factors may limit it’s market time and final sales price.
So besides the amount of light and odors, other things to consider that aren’t apparent when you see photos online:
How loud are the neighbors? Come visit the neighborhood a few random times.
How loud is road noise with or without the windows open? Stop by during rush hour.
How big are the rooms, really? Wide angle lens accentuate room sizes in photos.
Check out the backyard for its true size.
What do you see from each of the home’s windows? From the backyard?
What else should be experienced when viewing a home?
Want to Make the Most Money Selling Your Home? Clean up your yard. I spoke about planting flowers previously, now I’ll talk about having your yard looking good.
Unsightly looking lawn hurts a home sale.
You’ve heard of a “bad dye job”? This is a bad lawn job. This lawn exists in front of home for sale, a home that has a sign in front of it! Seriously.
If you were a buyer, what would you think? Would this lawn make you question how well the home is maintained? Would you question whether the owners cared for their home? It leaves a terrible impression.
A green lawn that's ready to go
This is the front yard of another home. The yard is not fancy, but it looks well taken care of, creating a nice first impression. It doesn’t raise any red flags about maintenance, but instead helps a buyer focus positively on the home, rather than creating a negative feeling from the “get go.” Help buyers get out of their car to see your home. Make them want to come inside, not drive away.
A yard should not look like this when selling a home
The yard above should look more like the one below. Some homeowners neglect the little back corners of a yard. There can be some simple, inexpensive fixes, which make the corners of the yard look neat and organized. Gravel, bark, and some edging, whether it’s bricks or stones or something else, give it a finished, neat feel. None of these materials cost a lot of money. They can be somewhat labor intensive, so the choice would be to pay for it and do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you. It would depend on your budget, time, and energy. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, this video form the DIY network gives some basic tips for ‘greening” your lawn.
A Nicely Organized Corner of the Yard
Regardless, you need to clean up your yard to make the most “green” when selling your home.
(The absorption rate, the percentage of condos selling, is the number of condos for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of condos sold that month. So if the absorption rate or chance of selling is 10% that means out of 100 condos for sale, 10 received offers and sold.)
March, 2010 1356 condos for sale, 281 condos sold, 21% odds of selling.
February, 2009 1333 condos for sale 161 (was 194) condos sold 12 %(was 14%) odds of selling.*
March, 2009 1300 condos for sale 107 condos sold, 7% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s original numbers to reflect the actual number of condos sold and closed. Some of the sales originally reported last month failed and did not close.Seventeen percent of condo sales originally reported in March failed to close. Some of the reasons sales fail are the buyer and seller don’t agree on the building inspection, the condo does not appraise for the sales price or the buyer’s financing does not come through.
Seattle-eastside condo sales were up by 120 or 57%, the best sales record in several years.
How did March, 2009 stack up to March, 2010 in your neighborhood?
(Click on the cities below to see real estate trends for the past 5 years. You’ll find the median pricing for each city and whether the number of homes for sale and the number of sales went up or down. The odds of selling a home in each area is a result of the number of homes for sale divided by the actual number of home sales.)
Median pricing increased from $481,450 to $529,450.
The number of homes for sale decreased by 21% and sales increased by 18%.
When compared to March, 2009, three areas of Seattle’s eastside showed an increase in median prices including South Bellevue and Issaquah, Redmond and Carnation, and Kirkland. South Bellevue and Issaquah home prices remained steady for the third month in a row, which is the only area on the eastside to experience a consistent upswing in pricing.
The most significant decrease was in pricing was in West Bellevue, where median home values dropped by 22%. Most Seattle-eastside neighborhoods experienced a reduction in sales price.
Home sales, on the other hand, continued to be strong all over the eastside. Sales increases ranged from 18% in Redmond and Carnation to 154% on the plateau, Sammamish and Issaquah.
Twenty-one percent less homes are for sale on the eastside than last year. Although over 200 more homes are for sale than in February, which is typical for this time of year.
Seattle eastside home sales should continue to be strong through April. We’ll see what happens after that time, however, I don’t expect much to change for the higher price ranges. And nothing may change at all. We could continue to have a strong real estate market.
The odds of selling a home on the Eastside in March, 2010 ranged from a low of 18% to a high of 34%, with an average 27% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.)
March, 2010 2923 homes for sale 778 homes sold 27% odds of selling.
February, 2010 2706 homes for sale 506 (was 599) homes sold now 18% (was 22%) odds of selling.*
March, 2009 3711 homes for sale 305 homes sold 8% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s numbers to reflect the actual number of homes sold and closed. Each month some sales fall apart and don’t close. A lower number of home sales may be reported at a later date to show the actual number of sales that did close.
March, 2009 Seattle-Eastside real estate market compared to March, 2010:
Home sales were up in all Seattle-Eastside cities, a trend which we’ve seen since the first of the year.
Last week, we hit 12,726 properties for sale in King County, exactly 3000 more properties than the first week in January.
This week we saw the first significant drop in the number of King County properties for sale as the number dropped by 120 to 12,606. There’s only been one other week this year where the amount of homes for sale dropped and that was only by 8 homes.
On Seattle’s eastside the number of homes for sale continues to rise as over 200 more homes came on the market this past month.
The median price was down by 7%, the same as last month. (Keep in mind this is comparing last March’s numbers to this March and is not an indication of the total drop in price for the year.)
Home sales on Seattle’s Eastside: up 85%!
Number of homes for sale on Seattle’s Eastside: down 21%
Best odds of selling: Redmond, near Microsoft, and East Bellevue with the greatest odds of selling. Thirty-four percent of the homes got offers.
Worst odds of selling: West Bellevue, with only 18% of the homes getting accepted offers.
Biggest increase in sales from last year: The plateau cities of Sammamish and Issaquah, plus Fall City and North Bend, with 154% increase in the number of home sales from last year.
Smallest increase in sales from last year: Redmond and Carnation, with an 18% increase in home sales over last year.
Decline in real estate sales from last year: None on the eastside.More homes sold in all areas of the eastside this March than compared to March, 2009.
The peak of homes for sale in 2008: July, 4370 homes.
The peak of homes for sale in 2009: June, 3859 homes.
The number of eastside homes for sale at the start of 2010: 2584 homes
The number of eastside homes for sale now: 2923 homes.
Rate of home sales that failed and did not close: 16%
What have you seen happening in your area? Are real estate sales popping?
Seattle-eastside real estate is starting to see “red.” Red is a sellers’ market, which means the average market time to sell a Seattle eastside home in the areas marked in red is from 3-6 months.
I sell a lot homes in the “hottest Seattle eastside area, which we call area 530, East Bellevue and the Redmond neighborhoods around Microsoft. Homes sales were hopping this past month, with sales often happening in two weeks or less. If you live in any of the areas marked in “red” and your home is not selling, it’s priced too high compared to competition. If your home is overpriced, you’re helping to sell other homes and they’re selling at your expense.
Seattle proper remains the “hottest” area overall, but if you’re looking to buy on the eastside, all the areas are either a real estate market that’s balanced between buyer and seller (yellow) or in “red,” a sellers’ market.
Buyers markets were absent in March. There’s no green (for a buyers market) left on this map, with the exception of Vashon Island, so the buyers’ markets we’ve been experiencing over the last few years were no where to be seen in in March.
Will the map show the same colors next month? I believe April will also be a very strong month for Seattle-eastside real estate.
Which King/Snohomish County Areas Are Selling Faster?
What do the numbers on the map mean?
The map is divided into the numbered areas as defined by our Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS). Downtown Bellevue is area 520 and East Bellevue is area 530, as an example.
What do the colors mean?
Red means it’s a sellers’ market, a sellers’ advantage.
Yellow means a balanced market between buyers and sellers.
Green means it’s a buyers’ market.
If you take each area as shown on the map and look to the area number on the side of the map, it will tell you how long it would take to sell every home currently for sale if no other home came up on the market in that area.
What may happen in the Seattle area economy in the future?Appraiser Richard Hagar spoke with John Maynard about this topic on KPLU the other day. The piece was geared to the glut of high end condos in downtown Seattle that are now selling with significant price cuts, but then Mr. Hagar shared more about what he sees in Seattle’s real estate future. He wasn’t talking about the near term, but some significant issues to consider when looking at Seattle real estate in the next 5-7 years.
Some of the highlights from Mr Hagar’s talk:
Real estate prices have gone down in the past, even in the 30′s and the 70′s, but they’ve come back up both times.
Population in the Seattle area is increasing. Last year there were 60,000 people new to the area, in ten years the projection is for a total of 600,000 people new to the area, all whom will need a place to live.
Builders are grabbing up land, finished lots for $35,000, which is steal, in the south end locations Auburn, Kent, and Puyallup.
And lastly, “The Rich Get Richer” by planning ahead and making good buying decisions for the future, not just for now.
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Making good buying decisions is the key. If you decide you to buy now, then make sure to consider the future in your decision. Look for areas with good growth potential:
Check out the neighborhood and make sure the homes are well maintained throughout.
Seattle is going to grow, which will be a benefit to all of us in terms of the economy in both jobs and the real estate market. Consider this future growth in your buying decision. You’ll end making a better buying decision for the long term.
Selling your home? Wait until the last minute to set the price, and I mean the last minute.
Why would you do that? Because real estate prices can be a moving target. What worked a month or even a week or a day ago may not be the right price for your home.
When home sellers call me months before they plan to sell, I always give a price range rather than an exact price for their home. I tell sellers they’ll need to wait to measure the real estate market right before the home goes on the market.
Again, why should you hold off until the last minute?
Because if your home is not the best value, you’ll help to sell the other homes. Or you could be leaving money on the table, even in this market.
So here’s what needs to happen. Before pricing a home for sale, I look at it when it’s completely ready for the market. I look at the home as if I were a buyer. I’ve also got to know the competition the very day your home goes on the market. The buyer will know the competition, and probably will have seen it, so I’ve got to do the same thing. I’ll visit the other homes, looking at them, too, as if I were a buyer, and then compare them to your home.
You might be able to ask a higher price if your home shows better than the competition. Or maybe there are more homes competing with your home, so you need to be at a better price. The price you ask for your home when you head out of the starting gate is critical, so get the price right and wait to set your asking price just before you go for sale.
King County has a lot more properties for sale than the first week of the year. The first quarter of 2010 has passed and there are now 24% more homes and condos for sale, exactly 3000 more. Each week of the year has seen an increase in the number of properties for sale with the exception of one week. Right now there are 12,726 properties for sale and we started the year with 9726 available properties in King County.
This is typical of the Seattle area real estate market. Each spring the number of properties for sale increases dramatically. The good news is most Seattle areas are experiencing a huge jump in real estate sales. But that’s for another post!
There’s a saying in real estate, “Plant a Little Green, Make A Lot of Green.” (From a CRS newsletter)
Beautiful Flowers Fill A Front Yard
Since spring is here, I’ll be doing a series about things you can do to dress your home up and get it ready for the party, oops, I mean a home sale. The series will be called “Make More Money Selling Your Home.”
My last post said to get your camera and take photos of your yard while there’s spring and summer color. I suggested taking photos so you’d have them available when you decide to sell your home, after all you may need to sell in the depths of winter. Remember in January your yard looks like it’s died a slow death. Everything looks so bleak and uninviting.
This post is for those of you who have work to do in your yard first, before you take the photos. It’s for those of you who must plant a little green, to make some green. It’s for those of you who need to do some yard cleanup and painting. And it’s for those of you who have never thought about planting anything before. You’ll need to get that garden equipment out and get to work. I know you don’t want to bother, but you will make more money whenever you sell if you have some great photos of your yard.Street appeal is everything when you want to get people inside your home.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. Keep it simple. Clean up your planting beds or, if you’re lucky, pay someone to do that. Then plant some annuals right now and take some photos. Winter pansies and ranuculus work really well and are simple and easy. Winter pansies cost about $1.49 each. Plant 15 annuals, take photos, total planting time should be 30-45 minutes. I just did this planting bed below, so I know the cost and the time. You don’t even need a green thumb to do this. I don’t have a green thumb. You don’t even have to worry about maintaining the plants on a long term basis (because they are going to die since they are annuals), but you can plant these plants easily for a little money. If you have more planting beds, you should plant more flowers.
The Planting Bed Before
The Planting Bed After, Filled With Color
Don’t want to do anything now? Geraniums and other annuals are coming soon. So take a little time this spring or summer and think a little green. It will make you more money when you sell your home.
Are you selling your home in the next 5 years? Well, grab your camera now and take pictures of your yard. Seattle is beautiful right now, so take advantage of the natural color that surrounds your home. You’ve got a few months coming up, so start now and take photos throughout the spring and summer season. After all, you never know when you may decide to sell your home, it could be in the dead of winter when everything is gray here in Seattle. Photos of your home in any season can be used when selling your home, no matter what the time of year.
King and Snohomish County WA Real Estate, February, 2010
The truly “hot” Seattle real estate areas in February, 2010, those in red, are in the core neighborhoods of Seattle itself. However, almost all of the map is in “yellow”, which means the average market time for a home to sell in other Seattle areas is between 3-6 months. This means we’ve had another month with a very balanced, “normal” Seattle real estate market. A normal real estate market is when supply and demand balance out to be 3-6 months to get a home sold. A balanced market is not a reflection of home values, but a reflection of the real estate sales activity.
On most of Seattle’s eastside, home prices are down, but sales have gone up dramatically, anywhere from 52% to 193%, depending on the neighborhood. Prices are lower in most eastside areas, fewer homes have been on the market compared to last year, and more homes are selling.
Will the colors on the Seattle real estate map stay the same in the coming months? It’s hard to answer this question now, but I do know the number of homes coming up for sale is growing pretty quickly. The increase in the number of Seattle-eastside homes and condos for sale could impact the total number of properties that sell and the market time to get a sale. With the April 30th deadline for the home buyer tax credit, much will depend on how many homes are on the market and the interest rates. Check my March eastside blog posts next month to find out what will happen.
What’s your prediction for Seattle-eastside real estate in the coming months? Will “yellow,” representing a balanced real estate market between home buyers and sellers still be the predominant color on the map?
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What do the numbers on the map mean?
The map is divided into the numbered areas as defined by our Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS). Downtown Bellevue is area 520 and East Bellevue is area 530, as an example.
What do the colors mean?
Red means it’s a sellers’ market, a sellers’ advantage.
Yellow means a balanced market between buyers and sellers.
Green means its a buyers’ market.
If you take each area as shown on the map and look to the area number on the side of the map, it will tell you how long it would take to sell every home currently for sale if no other home came up on the market in that area.
(The absorption rate, the percentage of condos selling, is the number of condos for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of condos sold that month. So if the absorption rate or chance of selling is 10% that means out of 100 condos for sale, 10 received offers and sold.)
February, 2010 1333 condos for sale, 194 condos sold, 14% odds of selling.
January, 2010 1217 condos for sale, (now 121) 141 condos sold, (now 10%) 12% odds of selling.*
February, 2009 1195 condos for sale 85 condos sold, 7% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s original numbers to reflect the actual number of condos sold and closed. Some of the sales originally reported last month failed and did not close.Fifteen percent of condo sales originally reported in January failed to close. Some of the reasons sales fail are the buyer and seller don’t agree on the building inspection, the condo does not appraise for the sales price or the buyer’s financing does not come through.
There’s been a 9% increase in the number of Seattle-Eastside condos for sale but the number of home sales jumped up dramatically. There were 73 more condos sold on Seattle’s eastside in February than in January. The sales numbers are still behind the peak of sales in September and October of 2009, but they’re inching closer to those numbers, which is a good sign.
More condos are coming up on the market as Seattle-eastside home sellers traditionally put their homes on the market in the spring. The push to get a home or condo on the market is compounded by the 2010 home buyer tax credit deadline of April 30th.
There are 45 days left to usethe home buyer tax credit into 2010. If you’d like to move and take advantage of the tax credit, you need to get a move on!
How did February, 2009 stack up to February, 2010 in your neighborhood?
(Click on the cities below to see real estate trends for the past 5 years. You’ll find the median pricing for each city and whether the number of homes for sale and the number of sales went up or down. The odds of selling a home in each area is a result of the number of homes for sale divided by the actual number of home sales.)
Median pricing decreased to $474,950 from $524,900.
The number of homes for sale decreased by 27% and sales increased by 90%.
Median home prices in February, 2010 increased only in one Seattle-Eastside area, which includes Woodinville, North Kirkland, Bothell, and Duvall, when comparing 2-09 to 2-10. Although, if you look at the full year, prices in that area did not increase. Remember, this post only compares the month of February’s numbers to last February and does not include the entire year’s activity and information. South Bellevue and Issaquah home prices remained steady for the second month in a row, which is a very strong sign for those neighborhoods.
Most of the other Seattle-eastside neighborhoods experienced a reduction in sales price. The most significant decrease was in Kirkland, where median home values dropped by 21%. Sales in Kirkland, however, are up by 106%. I think Kirkland home buyers are feeling that real estate prices are more manageable in Kirkland and are more willing to buy a home in Kirkland now.
The increase in the number of home sales ranged from 52% in West Bellevue to 193.5% in South Bellevue and Issaquah. However, with the exception of West Bellevue, the increase in Seattle-eastside real estate sales was no less than 90% more than last February’s home sales.
The number of homes for sale in all Seattle-eastside neighborhoods was lower than last February with an average of 25% less homes for sale. This number will not be as low come March as more Seattle-eastside homes have been coming up for sale since the beginning of the month. Stay tuned for next month’s report, when I’ll have all the real estate data for the month.
I anticipate Seattle-eastside home sales to continue at this strong pace during the month of March as home buyers scramble to use the 2010 home buyer tax credit.
Seattle-Eastside Residential Real Estate Statistics-Feb 2010
The odds of selling a home on the Eastside in February, 2010 ranged from a low of 16.5% to a high of 29%, with an average 22% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.)
February, 2010 2706 homes for sale 599 homes sold, 22% odds of selling.
January, 2010 2588 homes for sale, (n0w 477) 539 homes sold, (now 18%) 20% odds of selling.*
February, 2009 3574 homes for sale, 264 homes sold, 7% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s numbers to reflect the actual number of homes sold and closed. Each month some sales fall apart and don’t close. A lower number of home sales may be reported at a later date to show the actual number of sales that did close. (see explanation below)
February, 2009 Seattle-Eastside real estate market compared to February, 2010:
Home sales were up in all Seattle-Eastside cities.
The number of homes for sale has begun its “spring creep up”. The year started out at the lowest point in three years. We’re now seeing more on the market. Expect to see a jump in homes for sale with the March report coming next month.
The median price was down by 7%. (Keep in mind this is comparing last February’s numbers to this February and is not an indication of the total drop in price for the year.)
Home sales on Seattle’s Eastside: up 103%!
Number of homes for sale on Seattle’s Eastside: down 25%
Best odds of selling: Redmond, near Microsoft, and East Bellevue with the greatest odds of selling. Twenty-nine percent of the homes got offers.
Worst odds of selling: West Bellevue with only 16.5% of the homes getting accepted offers.
Biggest increase in sales from last year: South Bellevue with 193% increase in the number of home sales from last year.
Smallest increase in sales from last year: West Bellevue, with a 52% increase in home sales over last year.
Decline in real estate sales from last year: None on the eastside.More homes sold in all areas of the eastside this February than last February, which is no big surprise.
The peak of homes for sale in 2008: July, 4370 homes.
The peak of homes for sale in 2009: June, 3859 homes.
The number of eastside homes for sale at the start of 2010: 2584 homes
The number of eastside homes for sale now: 2706 homes.
So before you call a real-estate agent, go over the property to determine what needs to be repaired or possibly replaced. Make a list of both major and minor jobs. Tackle big projects first.
I disagree, call your Real Estate agent first! Why? Because your agent can help you with this list, saving you time and money.
Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:
I’ll never forget the time an excited client called me to list their home. They’d spent several months preparing their home for sale. Teal blue carpet greeted me when the front door was opened. My heart sank. It was brand new carpet. They were so proud of it. They just loved the color. Unfortunately, this carpet color was the number one complaint I heard from buyers and other agents. Buyers didn’t love the teal blue. It took a lot longer to sell the house because of the carpet color, costing the sellers time and money with the sale of their home.
I could give other examples, but the point is a seasoned real estate professional who’s out working with buyers on a regular basis will be in a position to tell you what needs to be done. Since agents are out seeing homes all over Seattle’s eastside and work with both buyers and sellers, they’ll know what’s expected in the marketplace. Buyers will need to be excited about your home, see it as fresh and ready, and a good value in order to buy. The agent can help you establish what the right amount of repairs and remodeling is so to meet the expectation of your local real estate market and the local buyers. You don’t want to overdue it nor do you want to “under do” it either. You don’t want to replace your bathroom vanity, as an example, if you don’t need to do so. Maybe a dimensional formica or engineered granite will work in your home instead of granite. Maybe you don’t need to do a complete kitchen remodel, but new appliances will do the trick. The goal is to have your home looking “mahvalous” as Billy Crystal would say, by only doing the things that really should be done.
Your agent will help you develop a list of the important things that must be done down to the “it would be nice to be done” category. By doing so, the real estate agent will help you spend your money wisely. A good agent will know some of what an inspector, appraiser, and a buyer will expect to be done. It’s impossible to know everything, since not all things are visible and every home and buyer are different, but a real estate agent can add quite a lot from past experience. They’ll have a list of skilled contractors who show up on time and do the job right. Your real estate agent may also know contractors who are more reasonably priced who could do the job.
If you don’t already have an established relationship with an agent, interview agents right away. Establish a working relationship with the agent you select to represent you. Expect this agent to be your home advisor from the “get go,” well before the buying public knows you want to sell. The agent should spend time helping you create your repair list, making contractor and materials suggestions, and provide general advice about the local real estate market. This should all happen well before you go on the real estate market and the “For Sale” sign is posted in your yard.
Should you buy a home now on Seattle’s eastside now or wait until after the tax credit expires at the end of April?
People were talking on the Wall Street Journal site and on Zillow about this very issue. Today people don’t just ask, “How’s the real estate market?” They ask, “What do you think will happen to the real estate market after the tax credit?”
Here are some of the things people are wondering:
Do I buy now?
Do I wait?
Will I get a better deal now or if I wait?
Is it worth passing on the tax credit and waiting to see if prices come down after April 30th?
Is it better to buy now because there is a healthy number of homes for sale and good interest rates?
Will there be more homes to choose from later?
Will interest rates go up and cancel out any possible decline in prices?
I believe there are good deals on a home now and will be after the tax credit, but it’s on a case by case basis. Here’s why I say this:
Right now…
$6500-8000 home buyer tax credit available for most buyers.
Historically low interest rates.
Good selection of homes, many with very realistic home sellers and prices.
Having the tax credit of $6500-8000 and terrific interest rates, increases buying power. Typically, your loan payment is amortized over 15 or 30 years, a lower interest rate means more dollars per month in your pocket.
Later…
Will prices drop after the tax credit goes away on April 30th? No one really knows. There may be more homes on the market, which we typically see in the summer months in the Seattle area. If so, the law of supply and demand will kick in. More homes + less demand= lower prices. But we really don’t know if this will happen. We don’t know if there will be less demand. We can only guess. We can only gamble on what may be.
However, there’s a good chance interest rates will go up, which means purchasing power will go down. If rates go up 1%, then purchasing power goes down by about 10%. This means if you could afford a home for $330,000, if rates do go up by 1%, you would then qualify for a home at $300,000.
The impact of interest rates on buying power
Buying a home will, obviously, be less expensive if prices drop (but we don’t know if they will), and mortgage rates could also be a higher ( again, just a guess, but looking pretty certain), which could more than cancel out any savings in the price of the home. Remember, I’m not just talking about your initial investment, I’m talking about spreading the total cost out over the time you own your home.
The location factor:
Real estate is hyperlocal. There is no one size fits all real estate locales, individual buyers or individual sellers. Some areas of the Seattle- eastside real estate market will remain stronger than others. Within each city on the Eastside, Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, it will vary. The East of Market neighborhood in Kirkland may be vastly different than Kirkland’s Rose Hill real estate market. We see that today with a difference in real estate sales performance in different areas on Seattle’s eastside. So no one should make a “one size fits all” about the real estate market. It will depend on how hot the area is, how many homes are on the market, and how hot the house may be. ( The Queen Anne neighborhood in Seattle seems to remain hot through most real estate markets, as an example.)
Some neighborhoods will be full of homes for sale and the homes in these areas will need to be priced more competitively. Other areas will have fewer homes to buy. These areas will have stiff competition among the sellers to grab the buyers. Buyers will be looking harder at the overall value each home brings them.
The home factor:
In every real estate market, you’ll find fabulous homes. These homes will be perfect, priced right, and terrific values. Homes that shine will be the ones to sell in any market.
The emotional factor…
For most people, it’s a huge personal decision when to buy and what home to buy. If you find a great house and are able to get it for a reasonable price for the real estate market at the time, it may make sense to you to buy. There are the financial aspects of buying a home and the emotional aspects. You might find the home you can’t live without and it’ll be worth it to you to buy now rather later. You may not find a home now and miss using the home buyer tax credit, but you may not want to buy a home now just to get the tax credit.
There are going to be great homes now and in the future. There are also going to be great deals now and in the future. The difference in today’s market is you’re dealing with a known quantity. You have to decide what works for you.
What do you think will happen with the Seattle-eastside real estate market later this year?
Everyone who has wanted to sell on Seattle’s eastside in the last few years seems wants to sell in the next 60 days, including me.
I know some home sellers Angie Bondurant, my business partner, and I will be representing have been madly getting their homes ready to sell. I bet contractors on Seattle’s eastside are busier than they’ve been in a long time. The contractor I use has gone from working on a rental home I plan to sell to a client’s home. As home seller wanna-bes, we’re all in the same boat, scrambling to meet the looming deadline of April 30th. We’re hoping to catch that home buyer who wants to get the benefit of the 2010 home buyer tax credit. (By the way, I don’t think the market will fall apart after April 30th, 2010, but those thoughts will be for another post)
Right now, the number of homes and condos for sale in King County is doing it’s normal spring time creep up (yes, it’s spring here in Seattle). So far, the number of properties for sale isn’t unusually high.
A big part of my job as a Realtor is to help home sellers prepare their homes for the market by giving people ways to add value to their home so they’ll get the highest sales price. I’m constantly looking for different and cost effective ways to give sellers options for updating a home. I also encourage past clients to contact me when thinking of remodeling, so I like to keep up with the latest home remodeling ideas.
Did you know most locks on the doors to your home can be “bumped”open?
Not something you want to have happen with your home. I first heard about locks that can’t be bumped open when a client of mine told me about changing the locks on her home. Her home security alarm had gone off 4 times. She thought it was time to upgrade her home’s door locks to the bump proof variety.
Stainless steel paint? It sounds like it could be a terrific way to go, but I’m having trouble picturing paint looking like smooth, cool stainless steel. I’d love to know if this really works.
Has anyone tried it? If it does work, it would be a great thing.
Check these home products and remodeling tips out. Let me know if you try any of the items. I’d love to be able to tell people about experiences you’ve had with these products or other cost effective remodeling ideas.
“Aging in place?” Yes, we’re all aging, even as we just stand in place, but “aging in place” is really about growing older safely and comfortably in the familiar surroundings of your home. Since no one gets out of “here” without aging first, except Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, this post is for all us, our friends, family, parents, etc. Even if you’re a twenty something today, you’ll be thinking about these issues sooner for family members and, later, for yourself. Some boomers are now in their mid-60′s, so it’s definitely time for both boomers and their families to think about where the boomer generation wants to live comfortably and safely. So listen up, it won’t cost you anything.
Aging in place has a number of different and similar names, such as universal design, barrier-free living or accessible design.
universal design boils down to making housing spaces and commonly used features more accessible to the broadest range of occupants.
Universal design works not just for the aging, but comfortably for everyone, hence the design qualities are “universal.” The person navigating a front stoop with a baby carriage would benefit from a level threshold, just as someone who has difficulty walking, which is the beauty of universal design.
Would you like to learn more about aging in place from some local experts?
If you attend next week’s Seattle Home Show, Emory Baldwin, Mike Vowels and Tom Minty will be presenting two seminars at the show, together with Andrea Petzel of the City of Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development. Their talk is about “Backyard Cottages: A Sustainable Approach to Adding Housing Capacity,” using a universally designed backyard cottage for changing family needs.
Two presentations will be given one on Tuesday, February 23rd at 12:30 PM, and then again on Saturday, February 27th at 11:30 AM.
The first part of 2010 is going to be the best part of the year for Seattle area real estate.
This was the message over 2000 Windermere Real Estate agents heard at last week’s kick off meeting held at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall. The good news, according to economist Matthew Gardner, is “the recession is behind us.” However, the last 6 months of 2010 are “murky,” said Gardner.
Here are some highlights from his talk:
Home sales skyrocketed by 25% in the fourth quarter of 2009.
There was some stability in home pricing in late 2009.
The stimulus package has not been as effective as hoped.
Seattle was late to the recession and is later on recovery.
Prices and sales will continue to improve in the first half of 2010.
But as Mr. Gardner said, the rest of the year looks murky. With changes in FHA guidelines, projected increases in interest rates, and costly jumbo loans, the latter half of 2010 is not clear.
Given the information available to us now, I think Matthew Gardner is right. I’ve been recommending to potential home sellers to make a move early this year, since the latter half of the year is so unclear. We may be doing just fine with our economy and with real estate, but no one knows where we will be once the second half of 201o begins. Our crystal balls are a bit “murky,” as Mr. Gardner said.
What do you think about his predictions for 2010 Seattle real estate? What are your predictions for 2010 and beyond? Of course, when 2012 arrives, we only have to worry about surviving, never mind real estate or the economy!
There aren’t going to be any more cul-de-sacs in new developments in the State of Virginia. Yes, Virginia will have no more cul-de-sacs. Cul-de-sacs have been banned from new neighborhood developments. Cul-de-sacs are the quintessential icon of the 1980′s-2000′s American suburb.
Here on Seattle’s eastside, new neighborhoods were generally built all over with cul-de-sacs sprinkled throughout. If the neighborhood was a new pocket neighborhood on infill lots in an older part of Kirkland or Redmond, as an example, there might not be room for cul-de-sacs, but if you look everywhere else on the eastside, cul-de-sac neighborhoods were the standard. Woodinville, Sammamish, Issaquah, Snoqualmie, Redmond, and Kirkland all have neighborhoods where cul-de-sacs prevail. Streets with cul-de-sacs were the prized streets to live on, the premium lots, the more expensive lots. Realtors and builders would tout the benefits of living in a cul-de-sac:
No through traffic
A place to play
A place for neighbors to congregate, meet and greet each other at the mailbox.
So why did Viriginia ban cul-de-sacs in future development?
Cul-de-sacs unite the people who live in the cul-de-sac, but separate them from other streets by foot and by car. It’s harder for fire and emergency vehicles to respond quickly when a neighborhood doesn’t consist of through streets. Road maintenance is more expensive with cul-de-sacs instead of through streets.
The New York Times magazine finishes each year with an issue highlighting the great ideas from the past year. The most recent great ideas issue had an article about the cul-de-sac ban in Viriginia. The concept fits with the new sensibility rising in many places as highlighted by the popularity of sites such as walkscore. Walkability and connectivity are this decade’s buzz words for living. Planners are looking more for connectivity, walkability, and better traffic flow for neighborhoods. People are now looking for easy commuting, more connectivity, and more places to walk.
Since I’ve been busy telling people now is the time to sell a home if planning to sell in 2010, I thought I’d bring up a friendly reminder about some of the top things to do around your home before you go on the market. This is by no means a complete list, but it focuses on some of the most obvious structural items both buyers and building inspectors will notice about a home. This list also is separate from a list of strictly cosmetic suggestions such as updating carpet and flooring or painting walls. Many blog posts could be written about the items you should check when preparing your home for sale, but this list is a good start.
Here’s my top ten list, with an added #11 thrown in because I’m dealing with it right now:
1. The Condition of roof – Does it need to be cleaned? Repaired? Replaced?
2. Earth/wood contact – Be sure all soil is 4 – 6 inches away from siding, planter boxes, decks, skirting, posts, etc.
Pull any dirt or bark away from the siding so you can see the foundation wall
This is not a deck that makes you feel warm and fuzzy. Check all deck boards and supports
4. Electrical – Non professional work? Panel breakers match wire size? Non grounded outlets?
5. Handrails Are they secured to wall? Are they installed where they should be?
Make sure there's s a sturdy railing so no one goes sailing down the stairs
6. Shower tile grout and sealant conditions?
Does the grout look clean and fresh?
7. Condition of the bathroom floors at tub/shower and toilet?
Check the floor for soft spots, clean, regrout, and reseal
8. Smoke detectors? Are they working? Do they need batteries?
9. Furnace Has the furnace been serviced recently? Does the filter need cleaning or replacement?
Your furnace must be a clean machine
10. Crawl space? Is there moisture in crawl space? Is a vapor barrier installed? Ventilation adequate? Wood scraps or debris which needs to be removed?
11. My new personal favorite is to check your chimney and fireplace. Hire a professional if you have not had your chimney checked or serviced. Make sure it is safe to use. (I’m having some fun doing this now and will fill you in at a later date as to what is involved.)
Who knows where the time goes? (“Who Knows Where the Time Goes”- written by Sandy Denny, but made famous by Judy Collins) Sometimes it seems like the past has gone in the blink of an eye. Ironically, it feels exactly the opposite when we think of the future. It’s human nature to think there’s all the time in the world, whereas the past seemed to happen in the blink of an eye.
We have the real estate trifecta here in the Seattle area right now and it could be gone in the blink of an eye. If you’re someone whose thinking of buying or selling, if you wait too long to act, the trifecta could be a thing of the past. The trifecta is a boon for both buyers and sellers.
Remember, the $8000 tax credit still exists for first time home buyers, but many people don’t realize almost all home buyers are eligible for a $6500 tax credit. This is an important deadline for home buyers and home sellers, not just the buyers. Home buyers who are serious are out shopping and buying homes.
There’s a lower number of homes on the market in King County, but there’s still a healthy amount of good homes to choose from. (Yes, home buyers, there’s a number of great houses out there.) It’s a more evenly balanced real estate market between buyers and sellers, which means some homes will sell right away if they are priced right and stand out from the competition and others will take longer to sell and will sell with more negotiation in price.
Number of King County Properties for Sale, 1-18-10
So home buyers and home sellers get out there now and take advantage of the real estate trifecta. April 30th is not far away.
Seattle-Eastside Condo Real Estate Sales, Dec 2009
(The absorption rate, the percentage of condos selling, is the number of condos for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of condos sold that month. So if the absorption rate or chance of selling is 10% that means out of 100 condos for sale, 10 received offers and sold.)
December. 2009 1174 condos for sale, 125 condos sold, 11% odds of selling.
November, 2009 1289 condos for sale 140 (now 126)condos sold, 11% (now 10%) odds of selling.
December, 2008 1150 condos for sale 70 condos sold 6% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s original numbers to reflect the actual number of condos sold and closed. Some of the sales originally reported last month failed and did not close.Thirteen percent of condo sales originally reported in October failed to close.
The number of condos for sale also dropped by 115 units, which is 9% decrease in the number of condos available for sale on Seattle’s eastside. The eastside condo sales remained about the same as November. The year finished out with sales happening, but not as many as September and October. Those months were affected by the 2009 first time home buyer’s tax credit.
December, 2009 Seattle real estate finished the year off on a more positive note. With so much of the Seattle area real estate market showing “yellow,” there was a solid return to a real estate market more evenly balanced between buyers and sellers. This is more like the real estate market we saw in the 1990′s.
There was still a significant increase in real estate sales from December, 2008, with West Bellevue leading the way on Seattle’s eastside. The number of West Bellevue home sales shot up by 279%! Because home prices in West Bellevue tend to be among the most expensive on Seattle’s eastside and in the Seattle area in general, this signaled more of return to confidence in the real estate market. Prices for high end homes have dropped to the point that buyers were more comfortable buying. Since most of these sales had nothing to do with the first time home buyer credit, this signaled a strong change in buyer confidence and willingness to buy.
The year ended with the lowest number of homes on the market for all of 2009. The amount of properties for sale was similar to what was available in 2007. This does not mean the market will return to 2007 real estate activity, but it is a good thing to see that there were, and are, less properties for sale in the Seattle area.
What’s in store for 2010?
I expect the extension and expansion of the 2010 home buyer credit to continue to spur real estate sales on. I also expect it to bring more home sellers into the market, so competition could increase again. The number of properties for sale is a huge factor in pricing and market time. The first part of 2010 should be pretty active for both home buyers and sellers. After April 30th when the home buyer tax credit goes away, much will depend on how many homes are on the market and the interest rates.
As I’ve mentioned before, be prepared for any and everything with real estate sales in the coming months. There’s no “one size fits all.” Home sales will depend on the price point, location, the home’s condition, the competition, and/or a combination of these things. Some homes will sell quickly and for a good price, others will still undergo significant price reductions to meet market expectations, and others will sell, but for less than one would expect. This, actually, is what we expect to see in a normal, more balanced real estate market.
What do the numbers on the map mean?
The map is divided into the numbered areas as defined by our Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS). Downtown Bellevue is area 520 and East Bellevue is area 530, as an example.
What do the colors mean?
Red means it’s a sellers’ market, a sellers’ advantage.
Yellow means a balanced market between buyers and sellers.
Green means its a buyers’ market.
If you take each area as shown on the map and look to the area number on the side of the map, it will tell you how long it would take to sell every home currently for sale if no other home came up on the market in that area.
The odds of selling a home on the Eastside in December 2009 ranged from a low of 11% to a high of 20%, with an average 16% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.)
December, 2009 2584 homes for sale, 419 homes sold 16% odds of selling.
November, 2009 2943 homes for sale 503 (now 457)homes sold 17% (now 15.5%) odds of selling.*
December, 2008 3413 homes for sale 207 homes sold 6% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s numbers to reflect the actual number of homes sold and closed. (see explanation below) Each month some sales fall apart and don’t close. A lower number of home sales may be reported at a later date to show the actual number of sales that did close.
December, 2008 Seattle-Eastside real estate market compared to December, 2009:
Several important trends this month:
Home sales were up in all Seattle-Eastside cities.
The number of homes for sale dropped to the lowest number since March, 2007. This is a huge factor in our real estate market. For most of the past two years, there’s been a large number of homes on the market. In 2005 and 2006, when the real estate market was booming, we saw the numbers of homes for sale on the eastside in the 2000-3000 range.
The median prices were down by 3%.
Home sales on Seattle’s Eastside: up 81%!
Sales prices: down 3%.
Number of homes for sale: down 24%.
Best odds of selling: For the third month in a row, the cities of Sammamish, Issaquah, Fall City, Snohomish, and North Bend, with 20% of the homes selling.
Worst odds of selling: West Redmond, near Microsoft, and East Bellevue with 13% odds of homes selling.
Biggest increase in sales from last year: West Bellevue, with 279% more home sales, which translates to 34 home sales in 2009 vs. 9 home sales in 2008.
Smallest increase in sales from last year: East Bellevue/Redmond area around Microsoft with a 6% increase in sales over last year.
Home sales in Bellevue and Redmond were tops for several years and have now dropped off when compared to other eastside cities.
Decline in real estate sales from last year: None on the eastside.
The peak of homes for sale in 2008: July, 4370 homes.
The peak of homes for sale in 2009: June, 3859 homes.
The number of homes for sale at the start of 2010: 9726 homes
Rate of home sales that failed this month: 9%
Why home sales fail to close:
This can be the result of inspections in which buyers and sellers do not agree, an appraisal that does not justify the sales price, lenders who do not package the loan properly or the great number of short sales that are out there.
Short sales are sales in which the selling price for a property is less than the price owed to the bank, so the seller is “short.” Many of these offers do not stay together because it often takes months for a short sale to get approved by the bank. There’s no guarantee the bank will accept an offer. I’ve heard only 4% of the short sales actually close in King County. Since there’s a huge number on the market, if you’re someone willing to take a chance and accept that your offer may never be looked at or accepted, then a short sale may be a way to go. With the extension of the home buyer tax credit, home buyers have more time to go after short sales. However, months may still be needed to get the short sale closed, if it is to close at all. Since most buyers truly want to purchase a home and close on it, I would recommend NOT making offers on short sales. I’d also recommend reading as much as you can about short sales before attempting to make an offer on a short sale. This way you’ll be prepared if you choose to go the route of a short sale.
My team and I are closing on a short sale this week. The original offer was written in August. There were two lienholders, two banks with mortgages on the property, which complicated the process. Short sales can happen, but a buyer has to expect a rocky ride through the sales process, if the banks actually respond to the offer. Be ready for most anything and most of all, be patient and not under any time constraints.
How did December, 2009 stack up to December, 2008 in your neighborhood?
(Click on the cities below to see real estate trends for the past 5 years. You’ll find the median pricing for each city and whether the number of homes for sale and the number of sales went up or down. The odds of selling a home in each area is a result of the number of homes for sale divided by the actual number of home sales.)
The number of homes for sale decreased by 20% and sales increased by 87.5%.
Median home prices increased in December, 2009 from December, 2008 in two eastside areas: South Bellevue/Issaquah and Woodinville/Duvall/North Kirkland/Bothell. In all the other eastside areas, median pricing was down, with the most significant decrease in Kirkland. However, the more positive tone in the real estate market is mirrored by the huge increase in the high end real estate market of West Bellevue. Sales were popping there in December with a huge increase over last year.
Since the number of homes for sale on Seattle’s eastside stands at the lowest number since March, 2007, it bodes well for Seattle real estate. With the extension of the home buyer tax credit, smaller numbers of homes for sale, low interest rates, real estate activity should be brisk in the first part of the year. For those reasons, if you want to sell your home and move in 2010, do it now, rather than later in 2010.
The new buyers had moved in just a week before and were expecting their first guests. The doorbell rang. They opened the front door, not to the expected friends, but to a man with a dog. The man had found the dog wandering nearby and had brought him home. Brought the dog home? The home owners didn’t own a dog. But the dog tag had their address on it.
The dog belonged to the previous owners. Somehow he had gotten loose and had come “home.” The new home owners had no way to get in touch with the previous owners. They contacted their real estate agent, who in turn contacted the sellers’ agent. The sellers’ agent called the sellers and it all ended happily with the dog returned to its owners.
However, it might not have turned out so well. If you’re making a move, make sure Fido goes with you. Fido should be licensed, so your dog will have a dog tag with your contact information. Contact your local municipality to obtain a pet license. (Here in King County, WA, animal control is undergoing changes, so if there are changes to the licensing program, I’ll update this post) Get Fido microchipped at your vet.
If you move, update the microchip registry with your new contact information; otherwise, the microchip will be useless if your dog gets lost. (Dogs can easily panic and disappear during the frenzy of moving.) Also, make sure you update them (the microchip) if you get rid of your landline or change your (phone) number for whatever reason.
There are different microchips, so find out what kind your pet will have and what scanner is available to read the chip in your area. Make sure your pet’s chip can be read by different organizations.
There’s a far better chance your dog will be returned to you, if the dog is licensed, has a tag, and is microchipped. Dogs who do not have these are more likely to be turned over to universities or euthanized.
Should your pet be microchipped even if you’re not moving? Yes
One of the most frequent email messages on my neighborhood’s website is about lost pets. We get a few messages every year about lost dogs, or cats, one just recently. Your dog or cat should be microchipped, even if you’re not moving. It’ll make it easier to find your pet.
Do you have other suggestions for making the move for your pet as smooth as possible? Have you heard any horror stories about moving with pets?
My team and I are starting the year by seeing direct evidence of the lower number of homes for sale in King County. One of our most recent offers was for a buyer whose offer was one of three for the same home!
I do expect the number of homes on Seattle’s eastside to climb as the year progresses, so if you’re planning to move, the earlier the better.
The number of properties for sale was lower in King, Snohomish, and Pierce Counties, the counties which surround the Seattle area, back in 2007. We have to go back to the week of June 5th, 2007 to find a similar number of homes on the market in King County. During that week there were 9856 homes on the market. Interestingly, if you go back to April of 2006, there were about 5000 properties for sale, about half of what is for sale right now in King County.
Weekly King, Snohomish, and Pierce County Listing Count 01-4-10
I remember the phone call I got Christmas Day, 2008. I happened to be coming back to Seattle when my phone rang just as I got on the plane. December of 2008 was frigid. It had been snowing on and off for days. Everything had been freezing. The airport had been shut down. There was not enough de-icing fluid for the planes. Remember? Things were just starting to thaw out that Christmas Day.
A neighbor across the street from a home I had sold earlier that month called to ask if I knew how to find the buyers because water was gushing out the front of the house! I had no idea how to get in touch with them as I had a relationship with the sellers. I immediately contacted the buyer’s agent who told me the buyers were out of the country.
It turned out the buyers closed on the home, moved their stuff in, and left the country for a month. When they left their home they turned the heat off. Apparently pipes froze in the wall and burst on Christmas Day. The new home owners did not know to leave the heat on while they were out of town. Having lived most of their lives in a warm climate, it did not occur to them to leave the heat on.
So this brings me to my question with a new idea for the new year:
Should first time home buyers be required to take a home maintenance class?
There’s so much press about the consumer not being armed with enough information about the home buying process, the home inspection or the mortgage process, but I rarely hear of anyone talking about the home ownership process. I haven’t heard of a class for new home owners. I believe the real estate industry, the insurance industry, and lenders have all let new home owners down by not offering or suggesting classes about home ownership and home maintenance. Buyers close on a house, their insurance is in place, the first loan payment coupons have been handed out, and the keys delivered. We thank our buyers, tell them congratulations and wish them well. Many of us keep in touch over the years, but no one offers a home maintenance class that I’ve heard about.
Should we offer classes to first time home buyers?
Should we require first time home buyers to take a home maintenance course?
King Snohomish County Monthly Supply - November 2009
King-Snohomish County Real Estate Map - October 2009
King Snohomish County Months Supply-November 2008
The November, 2009 Seattle real estate map looks a lot different than October and really different than last November. More of the eastside of Seattle was in the “yellow,” a real estate market more evenly balanced between buyers and sellers, in October than in November, 2009. The increase in real estate sales in the Seattle area in October was so huge, that the real estate market settled down a bit in November.
There was such huge increase in Seattle-Eastside home sales in October 2009 with 100%+ increase in many neighborhoods. This past November, the increase in Seattle area home sales was an average of 50% more than last November. This is still a terrific increase in Seattle home sales, but not off the charts like October. Kirkland had the highest increase with 148% more homes selling this year than last. The smallest increase at 9% was in area 530, the East Bellevue and Redmond area near Microsoft.
The number of homes for sale is at the lowest point in almost three years. We have not seen so few homes for sale since March, 2007.
As I’ve been mentioning, be prepared for any and everything with real estate sales in the coming months. There’s no “one size fits all.” Home sales will depend on the price point, location, the home’s condition, the competition, and/or a combination of these things. Some homes will sell quickly and for a good price, others will still undergo significant price reductions to meet market expectations, and others will sell, but for less than one would expect. This, actually, is what we expect to see in a normal, more balanced real estate market.
What do the numbers on the map mean? The map is divided into the numbered areas as defined by our Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS). Downtown Bellevue is area 520 and East Bellevue is area 530, as an example.
What do the colors mean?
Red means it’s a sellers’ market, a sellers’ advantage.
Yellow means a balanced market between buyers and sellers.
Green means its a buyers’ market.
If you take each area as shown on the map and look to the area number on the side of the map, it will tell you how long it would take to sell every home currently for sale if no other home came up on the market in that area.
(The absorption rate, the percentage of condos selling, is the number of condos for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of condos sold that month. So if the absorption rate or chance of selling is 10% that means out of 100 condos for sale, 10 received offers and sold.)
November, 2009 1289 condos for sale 140 condos sold, 11% odds of selling.
October, 2009 1363 condos for sale 239 (now 207) condos sold 17% (now 15%) odds of selling.*
November, 2008 1243 condos for sale 85 condos sold 7% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s original numbers to reflect the actual number of condos sold and closed. Some of the sales originally reported last month failed and did not close.Thirteen percent of condo sales originally reported in October failed to close.
The number of condos for sale also dropped by 74 units, which is 6% decrease in the number of condos available for sale on Seattle’s eastside. The number of Seattle Eastside condo sales dropped from the last couple of months to numbers more similar to what we saw in the summer.
With only about 10 out of 100 condos selling, it’s a great time to buy. There’s not much competition with other buyers. With the extension and expansion of the home buyer tax credit into 2010, there’s the added benefit of a tax credit, but only if you buy before the end of April, 2010.
How did November, 2009 stack up to November, 2008 in your neighborhood?
(Click on the cities below to see real estate trends for the past 5 years. You’ll find the median pricing for each city and whether the number of homes for sale and the number of sales went up or down. The odds of selling a home in each area is a result of the number of homes for sale divided by the actual number of home sales.)
The number of homes for sale decreased by 21% and sales increased by 19%.
Last month I reported an increase in home prices in the Redmond/Education Hill/Carnation area and was surprised since all the other cities had lower median home prices. This month, however, almost all the median home prices in the different Seattle eastside cities remained the same as November, 2008. This is good news as prices may have stabilized. Since the number of homes for sale on Seattle’s eastside stands at the lowest number since March, 2007, it bodes well for Seattle real estate. With the extension of the home buyer tax credit, smaller numbers of homes for sale, low interest rates, real estate activity should be brisk in the first part of the year. For those reasons, if you want to sell your home and move in 2010, do it now, rather than later in 2010.
The odds of selling a home on the Eastside in November 2009 ranged from a low of 13.5 % to a high of 23%, with an average 17% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.)
November, 2009 2943 homes for sale 503 homes sold 17 % odds of selling.
October, 2009 3240 homes for sale 644(now 561) homes sold 19%(now 17%) odds of selling.*
November, 2008 3645 homes for sale 238 homes sold 6.5% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s numbers to reflect the actual number of homes sold and closed. (see explanation below) Each month some sales fall apart and don’t close. A lower number of home sales may be reported at a later date to show the actual number of sales that did close.
November, 2008 Seattle-Eastside real estate market compared to November, 2009:
Several important trends this month:
Home sales were up in all Seattle-Eastside cities.
The number of homes for sale dropped to the lowest number, below 3000 homes, since March, 2007. This is a very important factor in our real estate market. For most of the past two years, there’s been a large number of homes on the market. In 2005 and 2006, when the real estate market was booming, we saw the numbers of homes for sale on the eastside in the 2000-3000 range.
The median prices were UP slightly, by 2%.
Home sales on Seattle’s Eastside: up 50.5%, a terrific increase in sales, although a much smaller increase than in October, when the increase was over 100%.
Sales prices: UP 2.1%.
Number of homes for sale: down 22%.
Best odds of selling: For the second month in a row, the cities of Sammamish, Issaquah, Fall City, Snohomish, and North Bend, with 23% of the homes selling.
Worst odds of selling: Woodinville, North Kirkland, Bothell, Kenmore and Duvall, with 13% odds of homes selling.
Biggest increase in sales from last year: Kirkland, with 148% more home sales.
Last month, numbers like this were more common in all the eastside cities. Not so this month with Sammamish, Issaquah, etc. coming in with the second highest increase at 77%.
Smallest increase in sales from last year: Again it’s the East Bellevue/Redmond area around Microsoft, with the smallest increase this month, only 9%.
Home sales in Bellevue and Redmond have been so strong in comparison to other eastside areas for so long. Now other Seattle-Eastside neighborhoods are catching up.
Decline in real estate sales: None on the eastside.
The peak of homes for sale in 2008: July, 4370 homes.
The peak of homes for sale in 2009: June, 3859 homes.
Rate of home sales that failed this month: 13%
Why home sales fail to close:
This can be the result of inspections in which buyers and sellers do not agree, an appraisal that does not justify the sales price, lenders who do not package the loan properly or the great number of short sales that are out there.
Short sales are sales in which the selling price for a property is less than the price owed to the bank, so the seller is “short.” Many of these offers do not stay together because it often takes months for a short sale to get approved by the bank. There’s no guarantee the bank will accept an offer. I’ve heard only 4% of the short sales actually close in King County. Since there’s a huge number on the market, if you’re someone willing to take a chance and accept that your offer may never be looked at or accepted, then a short sale may be a way to go. With the extension of the home buyer tax credit, home buyers have more time to go after short sales. However, months may still be needed to get the short sale closed, if it is to close at all. Since most buyers truly want to purchase a home and close on it, I would recommend NOT making offers on short sales. I’d also recommend reading as much as you can about short sales before attempting to make an offer on a short sale. This way you’ll be prepared if you choose to go the route of a short sale.
My team and I are closing on a short sale this week. The original offer was written in August. There were two lienholders, two banks with mortgages on the property, which complicated the process. Short sales can happen, but a buyer has to expect a rocky ride through the sales process, if the banks actually respond to the offer. Be ready for most anything and most of all, be patient and not under any time constraints.
We have the triple or maybe the quadruple whammy going on in Seattle-Eastside real estate right now.
The number of homes and condos on the market in King County is now at the lowest point since January of this year, which means the competition to find a buyer is way down.
According to Steve Tedrow from Windermere Mortgage : Interest rates have dipped back down near their lowest levels of the year and near a 30 year low. Current rates are hovering around 4.50% (APR = 4.609%) *Rates can fluctuate.
Most people will think along the same lines and plan to sell their homes around March of 2010, as is typical of real estate patterns each year. The real estate market could be flooded with more homes for sale in Seattle and on the Eastside.
Of course, my crystal ball is a bit cloudy right now and no one knows what will happen for sure, but given typical trends, there’s a good chance this will be the pattern for Seattle real estate in 2010.
So why not think differently than most people? If you’re planning to sell in 201o, then buck the typical trend and sell your home now. Now? No one puts there home up for sale during the holidays! That’s exactly the point. If you sell now, there are fewer homes on the market for sale, which increases the odds of finding a buyer for your home.
The current market conditions are among the best of the year. We can’t go back and change economic events and home prices are what they are. But if you make a move up and sell your home for less than your home’s previous value, you’ll also pay less for your new home. And you could be eligible for the $6500 tax credit!
The Seattle-Eastside weather outside is just frightful or should I say just awful. November is always such a “fun time” with rain and wind with this November being no exception. (I love Seattle, but did I tell you I hate November in Seattle?)Weather for the week has been windy, wet, and wild. Everyone is talking about staying warm and dry. Trust me, it’s a big topic on Facebook among my Seattle friends this week.
But is your home helping you to stay warm and dry? Are your heating bills as low as they should be?
There’s a video in the link above to Green, Inc in which a manufacture of cellulose insulation is interviewed. Sounds pretty “dry” and boring, but it’s actually pretty interesting. Cellulose insulation is made from phone books, newspapers and other papers. But would insulation made from paper be fire retardant? Watch the video to see a “torching” demonstration.
Then go check out your insulation and your heating bills. Should you be making any improvements?
Have you ever been frustrated by the lack of electronic signatures when you’ve been buying or selling real estate in the Seattle area? Many of my hi-tech clients have been surprised and bemused by this over the years. Considering we live in the land of hi-tech with Microsoft, Amazon and many other hi-tech companies, our NWMLS (Northwest Multiple Listing Service) and the real estate industry in general have been behind the curve on this issue.
Our capital investment and guidance will serve as a catalyst for this company to become the standard and meet the market demand for legally binding electronic signatures that help REALTORS close more deals at a faster rate, and offer the convenience and flexibility buyers require,” he said.
Market demand? Definitely, it’s an understatement and has been a long time coming. Since one of the untold rules of real estate is someone, the Realtor, the buyer or the seller are out of town when an offer needs to be presented and negotiated. Electronic signatures should make life a whole lot easier. I think of the times I’ve had clients on opposite sides of the globe in places such as Taiwan, India, and Sweden or clients who are at out of town conventions or meetings.
Having been in the business of helping people buy and sell homes for a long time, I’ve traveled from offers having to be signed with original signatures in person or via snail mail to the giant leap made with faxed signatures. It would be terrific to make another leap forward to meet the needs of our clients who are busy and on the move.
What do you think? Have you ever been in a difficult situation with getting an offer signed and delivered?
King-Snohomish County Real Estate Map-October 2008
King-Snohomish County Real Estate Map - October 2009
The real estate maps show a market more balanced between buyers and sellers than we had last year. That’s no big surprise. Only a few pockets remain in which buyers still have more of an advantage as evidenced by the “green” areas still on the map. But the balance is tipping to a more even market between buyers and sellers all over King and Snohomish Counties.
There’s been a huge increase in Seattle-Eastside home sales since last October, a whopping 100%+ increase in many neighborhoods. The number of homes for sale is down to the lowest numbers we’ve seen since February and the number of home sales are skyrocketing when compared to last year. Home prices are not going anywhere and may have stopped going down.
As I mentioned last month, be prepared for any and everything with real estate sales in the coming months. There’s no “one size fits all.” Home sales will depend on the price point, location, the home’s condition, the competition, and/or a combination of these things. Some homes will sell quickly and for a good price, others will still undergo significant price reductions to meet market expectations, and others will sell, but for less than one would expect.
What do the numbers on the map mean? The map is divided into the numbered areas as defined by our Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS). Downtown Bellevue is area 520 and East Bellevue is area 530, as an example.
What do the colors mean?
Red means it’s a sellers’ market, a sellers’ advantage.
Yellow means a balanced market between buyers and sellers.
Green means its a buyers’ market.
If you take each area as shown on the map and look to the area number on the side of the map, it will tell you how long it would take to sell every home currently for sale if no other home came up on the market in that area.
(The absorption rate, the percentage of condos selling, is the number of condos for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of condos sold that month. So if the absorption rate or chance of selling is 10% that means out of 100 condos for sale, 10 received offers and sold.)
October, 2009 1363 condos for sale 239 condos sold 17% odds of selling
September, 2009 1407 condos for sale (now 210) 236 condos sold (now 15%) 17% odds of selling.
October, 2008 1351 condos for sale 116 condos sold 9% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s original numbers to reflect the actual number of condos sold and closed. Some of the sales originally reported last month failed and did not close.
More Seattle Eastside condos are selling than earlier this year, although the absorption rate is still under 20%.
How did October, 2009 stack up to October, 2008 in your neighborhood?
(Click on the cities below to see real estate trends for the past 5 years. You’ll find the median pricing for each city and whether the number of homes for sale and the number of sales went up or down. The odds of selling a home in each area is a result of the number of homes for sale divided by the actual number of home sales.)
Median pricing increased by 6% to $449,995 from $472,425.
The number of homes for sale decreased by 16% and sales increased by 190%.
The increase in sales was huge all over the Eastside. Surprising, but maybe not so surprising, the increase in sales was the smallest in the area that has traditionally been the strongest over the last few years, the East Bellevue/Redmond area near Microsoft. This could be the result of a few factors. One is Microsoft is not hiring as many people and is also doing some layoffs. Also, with the area so strong in home sales over the years, other areas are starting to catch up more in the number of sales.
Two areas saw an increase in median pricing from last year, downtown Redmond and Carnation and South Bellevue and Issaquah. This is a real surprise, since every area has shown a decline in prices. This may be an anomaly, so I’ll check it out next month.
The odds of selling a home on the Eastside in October 2009 ranged from a low of 14% to a high of 26%, with an average 20% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.)
October, 2009 3240 homes for sale 644 homes sold 19% odds of selling.
September, 2009 3518 homes for sale (now 606) 668 homes sold (now 17%) 20% odds of selling.*
October, 2008 4097 homes for sale 257 homes sold 6% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s numbers to reflect the actual number of homes sold and closed. Some sales from each month fall apart and don’t close, hence a lower number of sold homes may be reported at a later date.
October, 2008 Seattle-Eastside real estate market compared to October, 2009:
Sales were up a huge, and I mean huge, amount in most of the Seattle-Eastside cities. The number of homes for sale and the median prices were down in all neighborhoods with the exception of South Bellevue/Issaquah and downtown Redmond/Union Hill. In both of these areas the median price increased from last October to this October.
Home sales on Seattle’s Eastside: up 118%!!!!
Sales prices: down 12%.
Number of homes for sale: down 22%.
Best odds of selling: and it’s not Redmond, near Microsoft, and East Bellevue! This month, the plateau areas of Sammamish, Issaquah, Fall City, Snohomish, and North Bend are the top home sales areas with 26% of the homes selling.
Worst odds of selling: West Bellevue with 12% odds of homes selling.
Biggest increase in sales from last year: Downtown Redmond, Union Hill, Redmond Ridge, Carnation, 190% more home sales.
Smallest increase in sales from last year: East Bellevue/Redmond area around Microsoft goes from the top home sales area to the area with the smallest increase this year from last October, only 53%. Home sales in Bellevue and Redmond have been so strong in comparison to other eastside areas for so long. Now other Seattle-Eastside neighborhoods are catching up.
Decline in real estate sales: None on the eastside, all areas had huge increases in the number of home sales ranging from 52% to 190%.
The peak of homes for sale in 2008: July, 4370 homes.
The peak of homes for sale in 2009: June, 3859 homes.
Rate of home sales that failed this month: 11%
Why home sales fail to close:
This can be the result of inspections in which buyers and sellers do not agree, an appraisal that does not justify the sales price, lenders who do not package the loan properly or the great number of short sales that are out there.
Short sales are sales in which the selling price for a property is less than the price owed to the bank, so the seller is “short.” Many of these offers do not stay together because it often takes months for a short sale to get approved by the bank. There’s no guarantee the bank will accept an offer. I’ve heard only 4% of the short sales actually close in King County. Since there’s a huge number on the market, if you’re someone willing to take a chance and accept that your offer may never be looked at or accepted, then a short sale may be a way to go. With the extension of the home buyer tax credit, home buyers have more time to goafter short sales. However, months may still be needed to get the short sale closed, if it is to close at all. Since most buyers truly want to purchase a home and close on it, I would recommend NOT making offers on short sales. I’d also recommend reading as much as you can about short sales before attempting to make an offer on a short sale. This way you’ll be prepared if you choose to go the route of a short sale.
The chart shows the differences between the two programs.
As most of you already know, the main difference between the two programs is the 2010 inclusion of move up buyers who qualify for the program according to the guidelines listed below.
2009 Home buyer tax credit compared to 2010 Credit
From The National Association of REALTORS® Government Affairs Division 500 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington DC, 20001, here are some of the most frequently asked questions on the changes to the Homebuyer Tax Credit:
Question: Existing homeowner credit: Must the new house cost more than the old house?
Answer: No. Thus, for example, individuals who move from a high cost area to a lower cost area who meet all eligibility requirements will qualify for the $6500 credit.
Question: I am an existing homeowner. On October 25, 2009, I signed a contract to purchase a new home. I have lived in my current home for more than 5 consecutive years and am within the new income limits. I will go to settlement on November 20. If President Obama has signed the bill by the time I go to settlement, will I qualify for the new $6500 tax credit?
Answer: Yes. The existing homeowner credit goes into effect for purchases after the date of enactment (when the bill is signed). There is no reference to the date of contract for the new credit. The provision looks solely to the date of purchase, which is generally the date of settlement.
Question: I am a first time homebuyer but was not within the prior income limits at the time I entered into my contract to purchase on October 30, 2009. I will be covered, however, by the new income limits. If the new rules have been signed into law by the time I go to settlement, will I be eligible for a credit?
Answer: Yes. The new income limitations go into effect as soon as the President has signed the bill. The income limit and other eligibility rules will look to your status as of the date of purchase, which is the settlement date. So if the new rules have been signed when you go to settlement, you should be eligible for the credit (or a portion of the credit if you’re within the phase-out range).
Question: I am an eligible existing homeowner. I have a fair amount of equity in my home. I have found a home with a nonnegotiable
price of $825,000. Will I be able to use any of the $6500 tax credit?
Answer: No. The $800,000 cap on the cost of the purchased home is firm at $800,000. Any amount above $800,000 makes the home ineligible for any portion of the credit. The $800,000 is an absolute ceiling.
Question: I owned my home for 10 years, but sold it two years ago year and have been renting since. If I purchase a home, will I be eligible for the $6500 tax credit if I meet all the other eligibility tests?
Answer: Yes. Because you lived in the home for more than 5 consecutive years of the previous 8, you will qualify for the $6500 credit. For example, Say John and his wife bought a home in 2000 and lived there until 2008 when he got a divorce. Whether John has been renting or bought in the interim, he WOULD INDEED be eligible for the credit because he owned a home and occupied it as his principal residence for 5 consecutive years out of the last 8 years. The
keyword here is “consecutive.” As long as he lived in that house for 5 years straight what he did since 3 years doesn’t impact eligibility.
Question: I am an eligible first time homebuyer. I entered into a contract to purchase on November 1, 2009. Do I have to go to closing before December 1? How does the extension date affect me?
Answer: You do not have to close before December 1. Once the legislation has been signed, it will be as if the Nov 30 date had never existed. Therefore, so long as the contract settles before April 30 (or July 1, worst case), the purchaser will be eligible for the credit.
“Where’s the best pizza?” You just moved into your new home. You’re starving after a long day unpacking and this is one of your first questions.
You’ve just unpacked a million boxes. Do you know when trash pick up is at your new home?
These are critical questions when you’re trying to settle in and feel at home in your new home. But rarely does anyone suggest a buyer ask these questions of the seller before moving in.
The following is a list of suggested questions buyers should ask of sellers from The Seattle Times article:
1. Are any appliances under warranty?
2. Do you have product manuals for appliances?
3. Can you provide a landscape plan or a list of outdoor plants and how to care for them?
4. What are the names and phone numbers of immediate neighbors?
5. Are there children living on the street?
6. Where is the school-bus stop?
7. What day is trash pickup?
8. What do I do with recyclables?
9. What are your favorite restaurants, video stores and parks?
10. Can you recommend a dry cleaner, mechanic, etc.?
11. What companies did you use for lawn care, snow removal, pool cleaning, etc.?
12. Is there an electrician, plumber or technician familiar with the systems in the house?
13. What are the names of the paint colors used in the house?
14. Are there any light switches that operate something unexpected?
This is a good list, but I think there’s more that can be asked, such as:
Do you have any carpet, tile or flooring samples?
What’s the carpet style and color name? Where did you buy it?
How do you clean the furnace filters?
Do you have a maintenance contract for any of your systems, such as the furnace?
If there’s a sprinkler system, do you have the system blown out and serviced every fall? Who does that for you?
Is the alarm system monitored? Who monitors it and what’s their phone number?
Are there any warranties for the roof, furnace, windows or other systems?
What’s the best supermarket?
Is there a park n’ ride lot nearby?
Where’s the nearest bus stop?
What if you and the seller had long, drawn out negotiations or a difficult building inspection? Sometimes buyers and sellers end up feeling a lot of animosity towards each other. The seller wants nothing to do with you, the buyer, so it can be difficult to get the answers to these questions.
Early in the transaction, before the building inspection is completed, and the seller has gotten involved in packing and moving, ask the questions that are important to you.
As a listing agent, how can you help sellers be prepared with the answers to these questions? Have the seller answer a list of typical questions before the home goes on the market. The answers can be given to the buyer when the offer is accepted. It smooths out the sale and the closing for both the buyer and the seller.
What other questions should buyers ask to learn more about the home and the neighborhood?
Hang on! The roller coaster ride for the extension of the first time home buyer credit may be ending.
Nothing is written in stone yet, but the Senate has reached a deal that the first time home buyer credit of $8000 is to be extended through April, 2010. Along with first time home buyers, the tax credit could be extended to repeat buyers to the tune of $6500. Certain limits, such as a buyer’s income would apply.
Is it easy to believe some people would try to get the tax credit, even though they weren’t first time buyers or people who even bought a home? Unfortunately, yes.
Frank Keith, a spokesman for the IRS said:
…. the IRS doesn’t have the authority to reject a claim for the tax credit without doing a full audit first. Keith says his agency has flagged more than 100,000 tax returns for a second look.
But it’s truly mind boggling, infuriating, and sad to hear there isn’t a carefully thought out system to verify the first time home purchase.
I’ve been for the tax stimulus and bailouts, because something had to be done to save our economy and jump start it again. But the plans should have been completely thought out. There’s so much talk about the big bonuses still be handed out to bankers and Wall Streeters, which is also incomprehensible and infuriating, but this, too? We still have people on all levels, from pseudo-first time home buyers to corporate execs, ripping off the taxpayers. The stimulus plan has certainly not done what it needed to do to change that part of the economic problem.
We just heard from the buyers about the building inspection on one of our listings, just two hours before the deadline. The buyers had been advised to schedule a sewer scope of the sewer lines because the home was built in the 1960′s. The sewer inspection was held on the afternoon of the last day of the building inspection, so the inspection request came in just two hours short of the deadline.
A sewer inspection on Seattle’s eastside? We don’t hear about them very often, particularly because many of the Seattle eastside neighborhoods were built from the 1970′s on. However, there are a fair amount of homes built in the 1950′s and 1960′s. It’s smart to have the sewer line checked as part of a home inspection to make sure there is no blockage or cracks in the line. It can be costly to do sewer line repairs.
The bottom line is to ask questions about the sewer if you’re purchasing an older home. (Older to many in the Seattle eastside area is a home built before the 1970′s!) Of course, you can choose to do a sewer inspection on any home. Most importantly, make sure a camera is put down the sewer line to do an accurate inspection and be present during the inspection so you can ask questions.
Should the first time home buyers credit be extended or are there other options? The time available to use the $8000 first time buyer home credit is almost gone. There’s little time left to buy a home and close on it by November 30th to be eligible for the credit.
This economy that we’re in went into the tank because of residential housing, and it will only really come out of the tank with residential housing.
The stimulus that Congress passed was $787 billion. The total cost of this, if you extend it for a year, not half a year, and if raised to 10,000, would be about $28 billion. That’s less than four percent of the stimulus – yeah, we already have proof of how many home sales it will generate, how many jobs it will produce. So by any measure, it is a small down payment on a great repayment that we’ll get in our economy and it’s not throwing dollars away.
Every 1,000 home sales generate $112.4 million of economic activity with $71.9 million of it directly from home-sale preparation and the actual real-estate transaction. In addition, more than 700 new jobs are created.
Buying a home requires building inspectors, lenders, escrow people, and movers to complete the process. Home buyers buy curtains, appliances, beds, couches, TV’s and other hard goods. Buying a home employs shop keepers, store personnel, and the factory workers who make the goods needed to furnish a home. Home owners employ plumbers, electricians, landscapers, and other contractors. Home sales to first time home buyers has allowed other home owners to buy and make a move up, helping to increase overall home sales.
Home buying has provided one of the few boosts to the national economy this past year. Money must come back into the economy in order to breathe life into it.
King-Snohomish County Real Estate Sales Activity-September 2009
Seattle/Eastside real estate is more balanced. The number of homes for sale is down, which is a good thing, and the number of home sales are up, another good thing, all over greater Seattle. What’s not up are home prices.
From all the real estate activity we’re now seeing, it appears we’ve bottomed out. More home buyers feel it’s safe to go out and buy a home. The stock market has come back to twice what it was in March and more high end homes are selling. Both point to a renewed confidence in Seattle area real estate.
The map shows a market more balanced between buyers and sellers than we had even earlier this summer, never mind last year. However, pockets remain in which buyers still have more of an advantage as evidenced by the “green” areas still on the map. Buyers markets still exist in parts of King and Snohomish County. The strongest areas for selling a home are in Seattle proper.
However, in all areas, be prepared for any and everything with real estate sales in the coming months. There is no “one size fits all.” Home sales will depend on the price point, location, the home’s condition, the competition, and/or a combination of these things. Some homes will sell quickly and for a good price, others will still undergo significant price reductions to meet market expectations, and others will sell, but for less than one would expect.
What do the numbers on the map mean? The map is divided into the numbered areas as defined by our Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS). Downtown Bellevue is area 520 and East Bellevue is area 530, as an example.
What do the colors mean?
Red means it’s a sellers’ market, a sellers’ advantage.
Yellow means a balanced market between buyers and sellers.
Green means its a buyers’ market.
If you take each area as shown on the map and look to the area number on the side of the map, it will tell you how long it would take to sell every home currently for sale if no other home came up on the market in that area.
(The absorption rate, the percentage of condos selling, is the number of condos for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of condos sold that month. So if the absorption rate or chance of selling is 10% that means out of 100 condos for sale, 10 received offers and sold.)
September, 2009 1407 condos for sale 236 condos sold 17% odds of selling.
August, 2009 1429 condos for sale 206(now 178) condos sold 14%(now 12) odds of selling.
September, 2008 1458 condos for sale 151 condos sold 11% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s original numbers to reflect the actual number of condos sold and closed. Some of the sales originally reported last month failed and did not close.
More Seattle Eastside condos are selling. The trend continues as sales numbers are more than double January and February of this year.
Sales don’t close for a variety of reasons: In September, 2% of the condo sales failed to close. Some sales are falling apart and not closing because of inspection, financing issues, and appraisal issues.
A sale could fail because an appraisal came in lower than the selling price, an inspection happened in which both buyer and seller couldn’t agree or a lender didn’t put the loan package together properly. Unfortunately, there are other reasons sales fail to close, such as short sales in which a seller is selling a condo for less than is owed on the property. If the bank doesn’t agree to sell the condo at the price established between the buyer and seller, the deal could be off.
My team and I worked on a condo sale that almost fell apart because of the FHA spot approval. The condo complex did not meet FHA spot approval guidelines because of the lack of a condo reserve study. The buyer had to redo their loan and was able to qualify for conventional financing. It was a little hairy for a while, but the sale closed.
As the year comes to a close, look to see if the absence of FHA spot approvals and the end of the $8000 first time home buyer tax credit affect the number of condo sales. I suspect the entry level condo sales, those under 300k, will slow down.
How did September, 2009 stack up to September, 2008 in your neighborhood?
(Click on the cities below to see real estate trends for the past 5 years. You’ll find the median pricing for each city and whether the number of homes for sale and the number of sales went up or down.)
The odds of selling a home on the Eastside in September 2009ranged from a low of 15% to a high of 32.5%, with an average 19% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.)
September, 2009 3518 homes for sale 668 homes sold 19% odds of selling.
August, 2009 3604 homes for sale 683 (now 604) homes sold 19 (now 18)% odds of selling.
September, 2008 4240 homes for sale 433 (now 373) homes sold 10 (now 9)% odds of selling.*
*Adjusted from previous month’s numbers to reflect the actual number of homes sold and closed. Some sales from each month fall apart and don’t close, hence a lower number of sold homes may be reported at a later date.
September, 2009 Seattle Eastside real estate market:
Sales were up, the number of homes for sale and the median prices were down in all neighborhoods, except for the Redmond/Carnation area.
Home sales on Seattle’s Eastside: up 29%
Sales Prices: down 11%.
Number of homes for sale: down 17%.
Best odds of selling: Redmond, near Microsoft, and East Bellevue, 32.5% chance.
Worst odds of selling: South Bellevue/Issaquah, a 15% chance.
Biggest increase in sales from last year: West Bellevue, 92% more home sales.
Smallest increase in sales from last year: Sammamish, Issaquah plateau, 30%
Decline in real estate sales: Redmond/Carnation, -6%
The peak of homes for sale in 2008: July, 4370 homes.
The peak of homes for sale in 2009: July, 3819 homes.
Failure rate for home sales: 12%
Why home sales fail to close:
This can be the result of inspections in which buyers and sellers do not agree, an appraisal that does not justify the sales price, lenders who do not package the loan properly or the great number of short sales that are out there.
Short sales are sales in which the selling price for a property is less than the price owed to the bank, so the seller is “short.” Many of these offers do not stay together because it often takes months for a short sale to get approved by the bank. There’s no guarantee the bank will accept an offer. I’ve heard that only 4% of the short sales actually closed in King County. Since there are a huge number on the market, if you’re someone willing to take a chance on a property, are willing to accept your offer may never be looked at or accepted, then a short sale may be a way to go. However, since most buyers truly want to purchase a home and close on it, I would recommend NOT making offers on short sales.
Number of King County Homes & Condos for Sale, 09-28-09
Less is more as they say. This week, there are 2638 less homes and condos for sale, 16% less, than one year ago. Add this to the fact that only 31 new properties have come on the market in the entire county over the past two weeks and this is good news for the real estate market. Buyers still have a lot of choices and sellers have less competition. We have a healthier, more balanced real estate market. I’m hoping the trend with less homes coming on the market will continue.
The chart above not only shows the information for King County, but also for Pierce and Snohomish County. If you follow the top line across, it shows the date, total number of listings, weekly change (increase or decrease), and change in numbers and percent from one year ago. (In case you’re wondering, STI represents homes that are “sold subject to inspection” and CTG represents homes “sold to buyers who still have homes to sell.” Neither category is included in this list.)
Anchor to a region of corporate innovators, from Amazon.com to Starbucks, Seattle is “a high-tech and lifestyle mecca,” Dr. Florida says. Mr. DeVol says the city’s high-tech sector, with 226,300 workers, is just slightly smaller than Silicon Valley’s. Joblessness, at 7.7%, remains relatively low. City officials see rapid growth in biotech; Seattle also has tens of thousands of jobs in music and interactive media. And it enjoys a reputation as home to a lot of brainy people.
Seattle/Eastside real estate is looking good. The “green” is almost gone from King and Snohomish County real estate. It’s been almost 15 years since I can remember such a balanced, healthy real estate market. A balanced market is when the real estate market is not skewed towards buyers or sellers, but is balanced between both.
A number of my colleagues, including myself, made a move in 1994, the last time I can think of such a balanced market. The market was healthy then and is healthy now. There’s a reasonable supply of homes and a good number which are now selling each month. We’re seeing homes sell quickly, if they are priced right and show well. There are some homes that sell with multiple offers, but rarely for full price.
What do the numbers on the map mean? The map is divided into the numbered areas as defined by our Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS). Downtown Bellevue is area 520 and East Bellevue is area 530, as an example.
What do the colors mean?
Red means it’s a sellers’ market, a sellers’ advantage.
Yellow means a balanced market between buyers and sellers.
Green means its a buyers’ market.
If you take each area as shown on the map and look to the area number on the side of the map, it will tell you how long it would take to sell every home currently for sale if no other home came up on the market in that area. This number is shrinking each month, which is a good thing. Buyers still have a great selection and sellers can sell for a realistic price. There’s a renewed confidence in Seattle/Eastside real estate.
(The absorption rate, the percentage of condos selling, is the number of condos for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of condos sold that month. So if the absorption rate or chance of selling is 10% that means out of 100 condos for sale, 10 received offers and sold.)
August, 2009 1429 condos for sale 206 condos sold 14% chance of selling.
July, 2009 1441 condos for sale 203 (now 171) condos sold 14% (now 12%) chance of selling
August, 2009 1495 condos for sale 159 condos sold 10% chance of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s original numbers to reflect the actual number of condos sold and closed. Some of the sales originally reported last month failed and did not close.
More Seattle Eastside condos are selling. Numbers are more than double the figures from January and February of this year. But still, some sales are falling apart and not closing because of inspection, financing issues and appraisal issues.
Sales don’t close for a variety of reasons: an appraisal that came in lower than the selling price, an inspection that both buyer and seller couldn’t agree upon or a lender who didn’t put the loan package together properly. Unfortunately, there are other reasons sales fail to close, such as short sales in which a seller is selling a condo for less than is owed on the property and the bank does not agree to sell the property at the price agreed upon between the buyer and seller.
Important news for all condo buyers:FHA spot approvals will be going away. If a unit in a condo association could meet designated FHA guidelines and the whole complex is not approved, then an offer and approval for this spot FHA loan must be approved by the lender by October 1st, only two weeks away. FHA financing allows for a borrower to put just 3.5% down.
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in August 2009ranged from a low of 15% to a high of 28%, with an average 19% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.)
Here are the real estate statistics for single family home sales activity on Seattle’s Eastside:
August, 2009 3604 homes for sale 683 homes sold 19% chance of selling.
July, 2009 3819 homes for sale 631 (now 538) homes sold* 19%(now 14%) chance of selling.*
August, 2008 4346 homes for sale 433 homes sold 9% chance of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s numbers to reflect the actual number of homes sold and closed. Some sales from each month fall apart and don’t close, hence a lower number of sold homes may be reported at a later date.
(Click on the cities below to see real estate trends for the past 5 years. You can see the median pricing for each city and whether the number of homes for sale and the number of sales went up or down. If you look at the charts, you’ll notice the total number of homes for sale and the number of homes sold can vary slightly from the above chart. The information for the charts is gathered at slightly different times so can vary slightly. Regardless, the charts show the same trends.)
(click on city names for a chart showing the latest stats in the area)
How did August, 2009 stack up to August, 2008 in your neighborhood?
Median pricing decreased by 10% from $599,950 to $542,250.
The number of homes for sale decreased by 12% and sales increased by 27%.
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Thoughts on the August 2009 Seattle Eastside real estate market:
Is there a change in the Seattle-Eastside real estate market? You bet! The key indicator is homes are not only selling, but more homes in the high end are selling. This means that buyers in all price ranges are less afraid to go out and buy. This uptick in real estate sales is not just the result of first time buyers looking for the $8000 tax credit, but for home buyers in every price range.
Most eastside homes had 19% chance of selling. Nineteen out of 100 homes had offers last month and are now pending. Home sales on Seattle’s Eastside were up 42% and prices were down 8.5% overall.
Several areas had a huge increase in the number of homes sold:
West Bellevue 129%
Kirkland 83%
South Bellevue 55%
Best odds of selling: once again it’s Redmond, near Microsoft, and East Bellevue with a 28% chance of a home selling.
Most difficult odds of selling: West Bellevue, with a 13% chance of selling a home. Yet, West Bellevue had the biggest sales increase from last year, a whopping 128% more homes sold this August than last year.
Last month the median sales price in Kirkland and West Bellevue both were up over July, 2008. Looking at August’s median pricing, every neighborhood experienced a decline in median pricing combined with a strong uptick in home sales.
If you look at the chart above, it’s clear the number of homes for sale is less than last year when the peak of homes for sale happened in July of 2008. I’m hoping this year we hit the peak of homes for sale on Seattle’s Eastside back in July, when 13,835 homes were for sale. So far, this is holding true and the number of homes for sale on Seattle’s eastside keeps dropping each month.
It’s still looking like a lot of home sales fail to close. There’s a high fallout rate with sales, as you can see from July’s numbers alone, almost a 100 home sales did not close! Given that originally 631 sales were reported for the month in July and 538 sales were reported a month later, 15% of July’s sales failed. This is a high number of failed sales and could be the result of inspections in which buyers and sellers do not agree, an appraisal that does not justify the sales price, lenders who do not package the loan properly or the great number of short sales that are out there.
Short sales are sales in which the selling price for a property is less than the price owed to the bank, so the seller is “short.” Many of these offers do not stay together because it often takes months for a short sale to get approved by the bank. There is no guarantee the bank will ever look at an offer or approve and accept it. I’ve heard that only 4% of the short sales actually closed in King County. Since there are a huge number on the market, if you are someone who’s willing to take a chance on a property, are willing to accept that your offer may never be looked at or accepted, then a short sale may be a way to go. However, since most buyers truly want to purchase a home and close on it, I would recommend NOT making offers on short sales.
Here’ s what the local news media, The Seattle PI and The Seattle Times reported about August real estate activity. The Times echoed my thoughts above as to the fact that the higher end of the real estate market has new life.
Are you selling your home? If your home is not listed with the correct details, the buyers won’t come, and they won’t buy.
Here’s what prompted me to write this post:
I watch certain neighborhood real estate activity like a hawk. I know every home that’s on the market, how it shows, and if it’s priced right. Today I got a call from someone selling in this area. I was floored when he told me he had his home on the market. How did I miss it? Simple, the agent he’d been working with at the time had listed his home in the wrong area. His home was showing up on the MLS, the real estate listings, in a completely different area from where it actually was located.
This is simple carelessness.
Do real estate agents/buyers miss seeing a home if listed in a different neighborhood than where its actually located? Sure.If real estate agents/buyers don’t find your home’s listing, they will not come, and they will not buy. Many agents and buyers set up prospecting programs and are notified as soon as homes are listed, reduced or sold. The prospecting programs include a location factor, so a home listed in the wrong area will not show up in a search.
Seems simple and it is. Before you lists your home, interview your agent. Try to get a sense for whether the agent is detail oriented. If they seem really nice, but not business-like, that will be your first clue. A red flag should go up if the real estate agent is not organized, knowledgeable, and detail oriented. Try to pick up some clues from your initial meeting, because no one is going to admit he/she isn’t detail oriented and accurate. They may not even know they’re not! So as a home seller, you need to verify that the listing information is correct.
Here are 10 simple things to look for when checking your listing paperwork:
What MLS (Multiple Listing Service-where Realtors list homes for sale) area is your home listed? The areas in the NWMLS, which generally do not follow city boundaries, have numbers attached to them. Check what the area number is for your home and ask your agent to describe which area is represented by the particular number. Redmond, for example, has more than one area number. Your home could either be in area 530, 550 or even 600. Make sure the number is right, so your home will be found when a buyer or agent searches for it.
Is the correct map and grid listed? Is your home listed on the correct map page? For example, map 506, not 560? Is it on Grid D3, not grid D5?
Is the address correct? I’ve seen homes listed as 97th NE St. when they were located on NE 97th St., a totally different location. On Seattle’s eastside, the direction placed before or after a street name makes a huge difference as to where the house is located.
Do the directions to the home actually lead you to the home? Does it say take a left when you should take a right to get to your home?
Location, location, location-the most critical piece of information. If buyers don’t find your home when they’re searching on-line or in real-time, because it’s listed in the wrong area, on the wrong map, with the wrong address, or with the wrong directions, they will not come. If buyers don’t come, they don’t buy.
Here are some more things to look out for in your listing:
Is the style of your home listed correctly? What if your home showed up in the MLS as a one level home (a rambler to Seattle home owners and a ranch in many other areas) and it really is a two story? Buyers searching for two story homes will miss it. A “style code,” which is also a number, is used to describe the style of a home. A “10″ is a rambler, a “12″ is a two story. Check the style number listed and make sure it matches to your home.
Is the total number of bedrooms listed and on the right floor(s)? This can be huge for a buyer looking for a master on the main or all the bedrooms on the second story.
Is the right number of bathrooms and their location listed? If your listing calls the first floor bath a 1/2 bath, when in fact, it’s a 3/4 bath (a bath with a shower) you’ve lost the buyer who needs that 3/4 bath on the first floor.
Are the right schools listed? What if the buyer is looking for a particular program only available at a particular school, your neighborhood school, but the school given in the listing is not the correct school?
Is the correct bus route listed? What if the buyer needs a certain bus route to get to work and doesn’t know this bus line is really nearby?
Is the backyard fenced? What if the buyer has a big dog and is looking for a fenced yard and it’s not checked off in the listing?
Realtors must accurately proof their listings and marketing pieces before they are advertised to the world. Sellers also need to look at the listing information in the MLS and the marketing pieces to double-check the accuracy of the information, Make sure the facts about your home are correct. If they’re not, the buyers won’t come and won’t buy. It could cost you as sale, which is very expensive in any real estate market.
Microsoft, Amazon and all the important technology spots are now part of a “geek” tour of the Seattle and the Eastside. There’s a lot of real estate important to the “geek” world in Seattle and on the eastside. There’s an opportunity to see the first Bellevue home of Jeff Bezos, the home where he started Amazon in his garage, the main Microsoft campus,
Microsoft
and most importantly, Burgermaster, the ultimate, iconic burger spot that early Microsofties frequented.
When the duck boats start leading the tours on the eastside, we’ll know we’ve made it! We don’t have Hollywood stars here on Seattle’s Eastside, but we do have “geek” stars. Welcome to our world of fame and fortune.
Should you have your home pre-inspected? That’s a loaded question. There are so many positive things that can come out of knowing what needs to be fixed before you go on the market. And there are so many negatives, too.
Here’s two stories of home owners who had their homes pre-inspected. What do you think?
Home number one:
The sellers had an inspection done about a year before going on the market. Granted, most people don’t know they’ll be moving a year in advance, but these home owners did. They had their home inspected. Everything on the inspection list was completed prior to putting the home on the market. The siding was inspected because it was LP siding, Lousiana Pacific Siding. The siding passed muster and needed only a minor repair. The inspection of the siding eliminated a huge stumbling block for potential buyers. LP Siding can raise concerns, but this LP siding was in terrific shape and it was a non-issue because it had been pre-inspected by a siding inspector and the few repairs mentioned were completed by the seller before going on the market.
Home number two:
Listed with another agent for almost 90 days, the home was inspected prior to going on the market. The owner was also very proactive, all the major items, such as dry rot and broken window seals, were repaired before going on the market. However, there were a number of small items brought to the home owners attention that were not dealt. The home owner/seller furnished the inspection report to a prospective buyer as required by disclosure laws. The buyer had many, many questions about the items still needing repair, even though they were minor. The seller answered all the buyers questions, the buyer made an offer, but it was very low. One of the reasons for the low offer? The buyers felt there were items that needed to be taken care of that had been called out in the inspection report. Did the presence of the inspection report with items listed cause the buyer to make a lower offer? Possibly.
If you decide to have your home inspected before you sell it, then plan to repair/replace everything mentioned on the inspection list, no matter how small the item is. If you don’t do this, it could cost you more money in the long run.
The fourth post in my “Saving Energy/Saving Money Series,” courtesy of the New York Times.
Get ready for fall by air sealing your home. Keeping the cold air out and heat in is another easy way to save money over time. Most of us on Seattle’s eastside don’t live in homes with basements, but doors and windows can be sealed with caulking to prevent heat loss, saving energy. Insulating your attic is another way to save money on your heating bills over time.
Do you want to save some money and some energy at the same time? I’m doing a series of posts which will give you some good ideas about ways to save both money and energy. This is my first post in a “Save Money and Energy” series.
CRAWL, the anacronym from Jennifer Schwab of the Sierra Club, is an easy way to remember some of the basic things you can do to improve your energy savings.
Real estate is getting brighter in Seattle, literally and figuratively. Real estate is turning yellow in Seattle, King, and Snohomish Counties. Yellow stands for a more balanced market between buyers and sellers, a balance between supply and demand. The demand for homes, the number of homes sold in July when compared to the amount (supply) of homes for sale was more balanced. There was a healthy turnover of homes, as homes were selling and not as many new listings have come up for sale.
King Snohomish County Months Supply of Homes for Sale-July 2009
The map was very different for July, 2008, when most every area of King and Snohomish Counties was green, representing a buyer’s market. No big surprise, last year the supply of homes was much greater than the demand to buy those homes.
(The absorption rate, the percentage of condos selling, is the number of condos for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of condos sold that month. So if the absorption rate or chance of selling is 10% that means out of 100 condos for sale, 10 received offers and sold.)
July, 2009 1441 condos for sale 203 condos sold 14% chance of selling
June, 2009 1491 condos for sale 189 (now 171) condos sold 13% (now 12%) chance of selling*
July, 2009 1495 condos for sale 154 condos sold 10% chance of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s original numbers to reflect the actual number of homes sold and closed. Some of the sales originally reported last month failed and did not close.
More Seattle Eastside condos are selling. However, 10% of the sales didn’t close that were reported as pending in June. When first reported in June. there were 189 sales. The month of June ended with 171 sales, which means 18 condo sales fell apart and did not close.
Sales don’t close for a variety of reasons: an appraisal that came in lower than the selling price, an inspection that both buyer and seller couldn’t agree upon or a lender who didn’t put the loan package together properly. Unfortunately, there are other reasons sales fail to close, such as short sales in which a seller is selling a condo for less than is owed on the property and the bank does not agree to sell the property at the price agreed upon between the buyer and seller.
This is the first time since May of 2008 that over 200 condos sold on the Eastside. The amount of condos for sale has also dropped from last month’s high. Let’s hope that June was the peak with the number of condos for sale on Seattle’s Eastside.
I’m going to have to move. I just realized how much straighter my hair is when I’m in Southern California. I just got back from a mini-high school reunion in San Diego. I went to high school in Connecticut and there’s a small group of us who live out west who decided to meet. But back to the story. When I was in Southern California, there was nary a curl on my head because it’s not humid. I’ve had to fight with my curly hair all my life. It’s a battle I haven’t always been able to win. Now I want to surrender by moving to southern California, where I won’t have to fight the daily fight.
I hadn’t realized how much of a difference the weather and humidity made with the relative curliness of my hair, until I left New England and moved to Seattle. I grew up in Connecticut and also lived in Massachusetts for a number of years. One of the benefits of the move to Seattle was my hair was so much straighter. Of course, it’s not always completely straight, but it, believe it or not in “rainy” Seattle, is a lot less frizzy and curly than in New England. Seattle is less humid than New England! Everything is relative, of course. Straight hair in Seattle is nothing like straight hair in southern California.
So now the move is on. I’m giving up the battle and gaining back all the hours it takes me to try to keep my hair straight. I’m motivated to move because I can gain these hours of my life back. I won’t need to spend so much time straightening my hair, if I move to Southern California.
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Is my motivation real? No, but why do people move? What’s a person’s motivation to buy or sell their home? This, after all, is the guts of it all. Is it a positive move? A new job, marriage or baby? Is a negative situation? Job layoffs, divorce? It’s important for agents to address a seller’s motivation upfront. If a seller doesn’t have a strong reason to sell their home, like only looking for straighter hair, then maybe they should not be making a move.
The real estate market is improving as more homes are selling in the Seattle area than have sold in the last two years. Prices are still holding, though, so it’s important to price a home realistically in order to be one of the homes that sells each month. Homes are selling well and there is a more balanced market. But the homes that are selling are those that are priced well. A well motivated seller is more likely to price a home to sell than a seller who is not realistic about moving and the real estate market.
I’m going to report on why my clients are moving and choosing to sell or buy a home. Of course, names and places will be changed to protect the innocent. But every once in a while, I’ll talk about the reasons buyers are buying and sellers are selling homes. The seller’s motivation to move will be the key. Motivation will play a key part in market time and sales price of a home.
(Oh by the way, I’m not moving, but it sure would be a lot less “work” for me each day!)
What do wine and real estate have in common, besides the fact most home buyers and sellers need a glass or two after a day spent looking at homes? Now wine bottles are the new advertising. Forget Facebook pages, twittering, and Craig’s List ads for real estate. All you need to prepare to look at homes or to sell your home is the ads posted on the back of the Cost Vineyards wine bottles. Do this while drinking a bottle of Pinot Noir and you’ll be ready to buy or sell! It helps minimize the stress of making a move and you ‘ll feel no pain.
(pended means the number of condos that got offers this month)
Seattle-Eastside Condo Sales June 2009
(The absorption rate, the percentage of condos selling, is the number of condos for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of condos sold that month. So if the absorption rate or chance of selling is 10% that means out of 100 condos for sale, 10 received offers and sold.)
June, 2009 1491 condos for sale 189 condos sold 12% chance of selling
May, 2009 1441 condos for sale 153 condos sold 10% (12%) chance of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s original numbers to reflect the actual number of homes sold and closed. Some of the sales from each month originally reported fall out and do not close.
Real estate activity, in general, stronger this year than last. However, 14% of the sales didn’t close that were reported as pending in May. When first reported in May. there were 177 sales. The month of May ended up with 153 sales, which means 27 home sales fell apart and did not close.
Sales don’t close for a variety of reasons: an appraisal that came in lower than the selling price, an inspection that both buyer and seller couldn’t agree upon or a lender who didn’t put the loan package together properly. These are just some of the reasons sales have failed recently. Unfortunately, there are other reasons sales fail to close.
The condo market on Seattle’s eastside is still far stronger than last year at this time. Both the number of condos for sale and the amount of sales have increased. For buyers thinking about making their first purchase, it’s a good time to make a move to get the $8000 tax incentive. Right now, the tax incentive goes away if you have not purchased and closed on a home by November 30th, 2009. It sounds like it is far away, but if you want to close in November, you should be making an offer by the beginning of October. It’s really not all that far away.
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in June 2009ranged from a low of 13% to a high of 23%, with an average 17% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.) Numbers are rounded off to the nearest whole number, unless the number is exactly .5% between two numbers.
Here are the real estate statistics for single family home sales activity on Seattle’s Eastside:
June, 2009 3859 homes for sale, 675 homes sold 17% chance of selling.
May, 2009 3841 homes for sale 557 homes sold 14% (16%) chance of selling.*
June, 2008 4305 homes for sale 478 homes sold 11% chance of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s original numbers to reflect the actual number of homes sold and closed. Some of the sales from each month originally reported fall out and do not close.
(You can still find the MLS charts by clicking on each of the cities below. Those charts have some of the same information as the chart above, but also show the real estate trends for the last 5 years which includes median pricing for each city and whether the number of homes for sale and the number of sales are up or down. If you look at the charts by city, you’ll notice the total number of homes for sale and the number of homes sold can vary slightly from those charts to the chart above. The information for the charts is gathered at slightly different times so will vary slightly. Regardless of the exact numbers, it’s clear the charts show the same trends, which is the most important piece of information.)
(click on city names for a chart showing the latest stats in the area)
Median pricing decreased by 21% from $671,035 to $529,950.
Inventory decreased by 5% and sales increased by 43%.
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Thoughts on the June 2009 Seattle Eastside real estate market:
Most eastside homes had 17% chance of selling. Seventeen out of 100 homes had offers last month and are now pending.
It looks like 11% of the home sales fell out of escrow, as the absorption rate for May dropped by 2%. Originally, there were 624 pending sales, so 67 offers did not stay together. This is a high number of failed sales and could be the result of inspections in which buyers and sellers do not agree, an appraisal that does not justify the sales price or lenders who do not package the loan properly. If a lender doesn’t put the buyers information together correctly or doesn’t understand all that will be required, then the loan may not be approved.
Best odds of selling:once again it’s Redmond, near Microsoft, and East Bellevue with a 23% chance.
Most difficult odds of selling: West Bellevue, with a 13% chance of selling a home. Yet, West Bellevue had the biggest increase from last year with the chance of getting a home sold.
The number of homes for sale is still less than last year, but the home sales were up in almost every part of the eastside.
Both The Seattle Times and KPLU had good stories about the more positive Seattle area real estate market.
In addition, appraisals cost buyers about the same as before, $450-500, but the portion of the fee directed to the appraiser has decreased. The appraisers only make about $200 and the rest of the fee goes to the appraisal management companies, which, by the way, are often owned by banks and title insurance companies. This from Matt Carter at Inman News:
As originally proposed, the code would have barred lenders from ordering reports from appraisal management companies they owned more than a 20 percent stake in. But as adopted, the code does not limit lender ownership stakes in appraisal management companies.
What if your lender makes a mistake and your loan needs to go to a different lender? Believe me, it happens and it happens to good, strong buyers. Well, not only will your loan close late, you”ll be the proud owner of two appraisals. This from Matt Carter at Inman News again ( Joseph Heller would have had fun with this one):
The code allows lenders to accept an appraisal produced for another lender, for example, but only after the receiving lender obtains confirmation in writing from the original lender that the appraisal is in compliance with the code.
Because there is currently no industry or supervisory standard regarding what constitutes an adequate written confirmation of compliance with the code, Kittle said, lenders are reluctant to accept another lender’s appraisal because they might be forced to repurchase loans if they are found to have breached the code.
That means lenders “typically order a new appraisal at the expense of the borrower,” even if an appraisal has recently been performed by another lender, Kittle said.
I’ve heard of appraisals coming in late, causing the buyer to close late and lose their loan lock. Imagine how difficult this is when you have movers sitting in your driveway and they are booked for weeks afterward. I could go on, but this is a simplified version of the changes brought to the real estate industry by the HVCC.
It’s important for you to contact your congress person to see this law is passed to help protect the integrity of the system and ensure changes to the appraisal system are a benefit, not a detriment.
This past Saturday, I showed a home I had listed on Finn Hill, which is in Kirkland. The showing went well, the people were great, and I was done showing by 10:40 in the morning. It was a gorgeous, sunny day, the kind you wish you could bottle and keep in Seattle year round.
Since it was so beautiful, it was fun to be out driving around on such a gorgeous day. I noticed a sign that said “plant sale” taped to a stop sign. I decided to follow the “plant sale” sign. The sign led me further north on Finn Hill to the next town, Kenmore. When I found the house with the sale, I expected to find a few plants, but nothing like what was there. Behind a wooden fence, is a huge garden, with a huge nursery on about two acres! Who would have thought! I found “Taking Root,” the fabulous garden and nursery created by Kathy Norsworthy.
Beautiful Plants from Kenmore's Taking Root
Photo from Kathy Norsworthy of "Taking Root"
There’s a huge variety of plants, over 300. Everything you could ever think of was there. Plants for sun, plants for shade, veggies, sedums, perennials, annuals, shrubs, and more than 49 varieties of hostas. Every time I asked about a particular plant, Kathy found several for me. Her mission is “helping to grow beautiful gardens, one at a time.” Many of the plants were just $5.00. So all you gardeners looking for some great plants should get in touch with Kathy. Kathy’s email address is knowsbetter1@comcast.net. Contact her as she is only open certain days. This week she is open today, July 2nd and tomorrow, July 3rd from 9 to 5 PM.
After stopping at “Taking Root”, I wandered down Juanita Drive and stopped at a stand to buy some bing cherries.
Selling Bing Cherries
It’s cherry season in Washington State and this is a recording breaking season for the bing cherry crop. Summer is the time for fresh bing cherries from Yakima Valley, which is just over the Cascade Mountains from Seattle. So take advantage of this season’s bounty. We are so lucky to have such wonderful plants and fruit available to us in the Northwest.
Sometimes you find the most interesting things when you least expect it.
A top quality website enhances the customer experience, which ultimately should be the goal. It’s not only a benefit for the real estate company and every buyer and seller, it’s a benefit for Windermere agents, buyers, and sellers. It’s a win-win situation for all.
The traditional real estate companies are so well versed in the home buying and selling process, providing all the real estate data online provides true full service to the consumer.
Popular Price Ranges for May's Home Sales on Seattle's eastside
The sales prices for homes on Seattle’s Eastside is similar to the popular price ranges for home sales early this year, as shown by the chart below. The total number of sold homes varies by just a few percent from winter, 2009 to May, 2009. In May, 89% of home sales on the eastside were priced under $1,000,000, 79% under $750,000 and 49%, almost half, were under $500,000. So if your home is priced under $500,000, is a resale, and is vacant, you’ve got the best chance of selling. ( numbers at the bottom of the chart were rounded off, hence the discrepancy in the actual total numbers. All numbers were compiled by Windermere Real Estate from Northwest Multiple Listing data)
the most popular price ranges for homes sales on Seattle’s eastside, winter, 2009
Seattle-Eastside Condo Real Estate Statistics, May 2009
(pended means the number of condos that got offers this month)
(The absorption rate, the percentage of condos selling, is the number of condos for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of condos sold that month. So if the absorption rate or chance of selling is 10% that means out of 100 condos for sale, 10 received offers and sold.)
1441 condos for sale 177 condos sold 12% chance of selling.
May represented the highest number of condo sales on Seattle’s eastside since June, 2008. The number of condos for sale increased dramatically this month, with the addition of 126 more condos for sale, whereas only 15 more condos sold in May than in April. There was a much bigger jump in the condos for sale than in the number of condos that sold.
Real estate activity, in general, is picking up. It will be interesting to watch how the fluctuating interest rates affect the sales of condos on Seattle’s eastside and in the real estate market overall. We have to remember that rates are still wonderfully low, even if they go up.
The Seattle area real estate market is going from green to yellow. The map colors have changed on these real estate maps, representing a shift in the real estate market.
King Snohomish County Months Supply Area Map May 2009
King Snohomish County Months Supply Area Map-May 2008
Here’s what these maps show:
Each NWMLS (Northwest Multiple Listing Service) real estate area in the two counties is shown on the maps. For example, if you look at the eastside, you’ll see an area labeled 530, which is East Bellevue and parts of Redmond, and 560, which is Kirkland.
Every area of the NWMLS is then evaluated by looking at the number of homes for sale and the number of homes that sell each month in that area. If there’s an overabundance of homes for sale compared to the number of homes selling, then it’s a buyers’ market. If there are a reasonable number of homes selling each month compared to the number of homes on the market, then it’s a balanced market between buyer and seller. Lastly, if the number of homes is selling well compared to how many are for sale, then it’s a sellers’ market.
What do the colors on the maps represent?
Green represents a buyers’ market.
Yellow represents a balanced market between buyer and seller.
Red represents a sellers’ market.
Along the sides of the maps, each real estate area is listed with the number of months it would take to sell all the homes currently for sale in the area. Let’s look at area 530 again. In area 530, if no other home comes on the market, it would take about 4.4 months for the homes to sell. In Kirkland, area 560, if no other home comes on the market, it would take 8.1 months to sell the homes for sale. East Bellevue and Redmond near Microsoft are color coded in yellow. With 4.4 months of inventory, it has a more balanced market. Kirkland is colored green. It’s a buyer’s market because it would take 8.1 months to sell the homes on the market.
Looking at 2009′s map, it’s clear how much the Seattle area real estate market has changed to a more balanced market. Most King and Snohomish county real estate areas are colored yellow, showing a balance between buyers and sellers.
May of 2008 was very definitely a buyers’ market and a buyers’ market only. In May of 2008, green for a buyers’ market was the predominant color on the map. In May of 2009, yellow is the dominant color, representing a more balanced real estate market.
Seattle/ Eastside Residential Real Estate, May 2009
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in May 2009ranged from a low of 12% to a high of 23%, with an average 16% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.) Numbers are rounded off to the nearest whole number, unless the number is exactly .5% between two numbers.
Here are the real estate statistics for single family home sales activity on Seattle’s Eastside:
May, 2009 3841 homes for sale 624 homes sold 16% chance of selling.
April, 2009 3600 homes for sale 497 homes sold 17% chance of selling.
May, 2008 4305 homes for sale 478 homes sold 11% chance of selling.
(You can still find the MLS charts by clicking on each of the cities below. Those charts have some of the same information as the chart above, but also show the real estate trends for the last 5 years, including median pricing for each city and whether the number of homes for sale and the number of sales are up or down. If you look at the charts by city, you’ll notice the total number of homes for sale and the number of homes sold can vary slightly from those charts to the chart above. The information for the charts is gathered at slightly different times. Regardless of the exact numbers, it’s clear the charts show the same trends, which is the most important piece of information.)
(click on city names for a chart showing the latest stats in the area)
Median pricing decreased by 12% from $650,000 to $569,895.
Inventory decreased by 8% and sales decreased by 25%.
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Thoughts on the May 2009 Seattle Eastside real estate market:
May is the second month in a row for the odds of selling a Seattle/Eastside home falling in double digit range.
Most eastside neighborhoods had 17% odds of homes selling. Seventeen out of 100 homes had offers accepted last month and are now pending.
Best odds of selling: Redmond, near Microsoft, and East Bellevue with a 23% chance.
Most difficult odds of selling: Kirkland with a 12% chance.
The stand-out area, which is often the case, is East Bellevue and Redmond, close to Microsoft. This area’s absorption rate was the last to slow down and is the first to come back to life. Twenty-three percent of the homes for sale sold there in both April and May.
The biggest increase in the chances of getting a home sold: West Bellevue.
The number of homes for sale is down and home sales were up all over the eastside.
Are real estate prices increasing on Seattle’s Eastside? No, the number of sales has increased dramatically, but not the prices.
I’m having a bad real estate day because of an appraisal and I was just about to rip my hair out until I read Kris Berg’s excellent piece which did make me laugh about the “fun” we are having with appraisals these days. Kris has a great way of getting serious issues across to her readers, but with a light touch. The HVCC, The Home Evaluation Code of Conduct, is not a humorous situation for consumers and the real estate industry, but it’s probably better for me to laugh a little, since I really want to scream.
As of May 1st, the appraisal industry had to meet new Freddie Mac guidelines called The Home Evaluation Code of Conduct, subtitled “Enhancing The Independence of Appraisers“.The debate about the new home valuation code of conduct has been going on since it was first announced last year and is going on to this day. Before the financial meltdown, there were appraisers who needed to be run out of the appraisal business for appraising properties for exorbitant prices, but the reality is there is now a new set of problems created by these new appraisal guidelines. The appraisals or home valuation system has not been fixed, it just has new problems. In today’s real estate world, a request for an appraisal is sent to an independent clearing house and the next appraiser on the list is selected to do the job. This system has been designed to “enhance the independence of appraisers,” as mentioned above.
Now that this “new and improved system” has been in place for just over 30 days, I’ve had the good fortune to see how it works in reality. Take the latest appraisals I’ve had on two of my recent sales. For those of you in the Seattle area, you’ll understand how far flung the different areas are that each appraiser had to drive to in order to complete assigned appraisals. Appraiser #1 scheduled his appraisal late in the day for a home I’d sold in Redmond, Washington. He had to come late in the day, because he was coming from an appraisal on Vashon Island. Vashon Island, the last time I looked, is southwest of Seattle proper in Puget Sound, while Redmond is located east of Seattle across Lake Washington from downtown. Between ferries, bridges, and highway travel, the appraiser may have to travel 1 1/2 hours (on a good day) between these two appraisal appointments. Appraiser #2 called to appraise a listing of mine in Kirkland, Washington, again on the eastside of Seattle. This appraiser was coming from an appointment in Maple Valley, which is a city much further south and east of Seattle.
This map shows the location of the places the two appraisers had to go to do their job. If you click on “view larger map”, you’ll be able to see the location of these cities. Oh, I forgot, Vashon Island, which is in a different county, doesn’t show up on the map because it’s so much farther south of the Seattle! If you look for Maple Valley that, too, does not show up on this map. Maple Valley happens to be south of Issaquah.
Silly me, when I have a client who wants to look for a home on Vashon Island, I refer the client to a Realtor who knows the island. The same goes for Maple Valley. I could show homes in all of the far flung regions of Seattle/KIng County, but I don’t, because it’s a disservice to my clients. I don’t know about the different school systems and how they affect the value of the homes in each of the cities, counties or islands in the area. I don’t know about the different builders in the area, the different neighborhoods, the shops, parks, etc, etc. Don’t appraisers need that same knowledge to evaluate properties? How can appraisers know all of these areas well and give an accurate appraisal for a home? It’s a problem happening all over the country right now.
The second problem I’ve seen come up with appraisals is a little box checked by the appraiser. As part of the appraisal report, the bank wants to know if the real estate market is appreciating, remaining stable or declining. Recently, two appraisers have checked the box labeling the Seattle/Eastside market as “declining.” What a shock, this is a market where home prices have gone down! I wonder who or where appraisers are checking anything but “declining” in that box. In each case, because of this checked box, the underwriter required a second appraisal.
The lending/appraisal industry was far from perfect before, but these “improvements have and are wreaking havoc with home prices and the entire loan process. If appraisers are not really familiar with a city or neighborhood, there is no way that the majority of appraisals will be accurate. This could hurt consumers, both home buyers and home sellers, if properties are not accurately evaluated. The appraisal process needs an industry watch dog and stricter guidelines, but having the appraiser who’s next in line complete an appraisal in an area he/she knows nothing about dilutes the whole appraisal process. It’s a sad state of events for real estate. I’m hoping the government will see the light and make reasonable changes to this system in the near future.
What problems have you seen since the change in real estate appraisals? My guess is the examples above are only the tip of the iceberg.
Is this a good time to buy a home and make a make a move up? Two long term clients of mine called me today to talk about the possibility of making a move up. Both realized it will be tough to sell, they know they won’t get 2007 prices, but they won’t pay 2007 prices either. If they decide to buy, they’ll pay 2004-5 prices. People are starting to get it. This is the 4th past client whose called in the past month to talk about making a move up.
Real estate has focused more on the first time home buyer because of the stimulus package’s $8000 first time home buyer credit.I’ve spent a lot of time writing about this tax credit on this blog, but many of us who blog about real estate forget about those who already own a home. This is a terrific time to make a move up.
Here’s the equation: Lower prices+ lots of choices+ good interest rates=buyer’s market. Buyers rule right now. So if you’re a seller, expect to sell for less than you thought you would, but then make it up as a buyer. The happy news website tells the tale of a Bothell couple who moved from a small condo to their first single family home. They sold their condo for less, but paid considerably less for their new home. I just sold a home for a couple in the Juanita area of Kirkland who would have sold their home a year ago in the low 400′s. It just sold for $360,000. They bought new construction in Kirkland priced a good $100,000 less than its original asking price.
People forget how difficult it was to buy a home in a seller’s market. The Seattle-Eastside has been a seller’s market for most of the decade from 1997-2007. Some years were more challenging for buyers than others. Buyers jumped to compete in multiple offers, paid over full price for homes, bought a home without an inspection or financing clause, pledged their first born, and were happy to do it. Sometimes buyers paid for a pre-inspection because the offer could not have an inspection clause to compete with other offers. Sometimes buyers paid for multiple inspections on different homes before they bought a house. Many people think our real estate market of the past was easy. It was easier for the sellers, but it was difficult for the buyers.
Now it’s a lot easier for the buyer to buy, but more difficult for the seller to sell a home. It’ s hard to reach that nirvana of a balanced market between home buyers and home sellers ( although we are getting closer in some Seattle neighborhoods), so if you think about making a move up, go for it as a buyer and be giving as a seller.
Couple all the above with the improvement in the real estate market in Seattle and if you want to move up, now’s the time. Are we at bottom? Many people, including me, believe we’re near or at the bottom of the real estate market, so this could be a good time.
The 8 criteria to be in one of the top five cities:
job growth
growing population
location-good weather (we may be gray and cloudy, but usually not a lot of snow)
first time buyers
No over building of condos and office space
Vital downtown
well educated ( Seattle is a brainy city)
first with foreclosures
Does Seattle fit all of the above criteria? I think not, but we fit most of it, hence we’re not number #1, but #4. Downtown Seattle and Bellevue have a huge number of new condo developments that are not filling up. Seattle was not one of the first cities with a large number of foreclosures. However, Seattle has a young, bright population, a vital downtown both in Seattle and Bellevue, and great prospects for future job growth.
So is this time for you to make a move up? With all these factors playing on the side of buyers, it is a great time to make a move up. What do you think?
Seattle Eastside April 2009 condo real estate statistics
April, 2009 1315 condos for sale,177 sold, 13% chance of selling a condo
(The absorption rate, the percentage of condos selling, is the number of condos for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of condos sold that month. So if the absorption rate or chance of selling is 10% that means out of 100 condos for sale, 10 received offers and sold.)
(pended means the number of condos that got offers this month)
Much good news for the Seattle-Eastside condo sales during April, 2009. April represented the highest number of condo sales on Seattle’s eastside since June, 2008. Only 15 more condos were offered for sale, but 67 more sold in April than in March. I’m sure the first time home buyer credit is spurring on all the activity.
Have you remodeled or upgraded your home? It may be time for an insurance update and possible upgrade in your insurance coverage. A client of mine asked me to come by her home to see all of the remodeling work she had done. Her insurance agent wisely suggested she get a home valuation so she would have the right amount of insurance coverage. The entire main floor of her home has been remodeled. It’s just gorgeous with elegant kitchen finishes, beautiful hardwood flooring, upgraded windows, a beautiful bath and wonderful colors.
There are many issues to consider, such as natural disasters like hurricanes or earthquakes, the need for umbrella policies, additional coverage for valuable art, jewelry or furnishings. All these are very important issues to consider, but getting an update for the value of your home will help to ensure the structure is adequately protected for the appropriate replacement value. Contact a Realtor you trust to give you an up-to-date pricing opinion. And make sure you contact a good insurance agent!
The media was hopping with news stories about the increase in April, 2009 real estate sales in the Seattle area. Local TV stations KOMO and KING5, both had reports on the more positive real estate market. The Seattle Times, Seattle PI.com, and BizJournals all had stories with the same theme.
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in April 2009ranged from a low of 10% to a high of 23%, with an average 16% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.) Numbers will be rounded off to the nearest whole number, unless the number is exactly .5% between two numbers.
Here are the real estate statistics for single family home sales activity on Seattle’s Eastside:
April, 2009 3600 homes for sale 573 homes sold 16% chance of selling.
March, 2009 3711 homes for sale 372 homes sold 10% chance of selling.
April, 2008 4017 homes for sale 489 homes sold 12% chance of selling
(This monthly Seattle/Eastside real estate report now includes the chart above because it’s clear and easy to read. You can still find the MLS charts by clicking on each of the cities below. Those charts have some of the same information as the chart above, but also show the real estate trends for the last 5 years, including median pricing for each city and whether the number of homes for sale and the number of sales are up or down. If you look at the charts by city, you’ll notice the total number of homes for sale and the number of homes sold can vary slightly from the chart above. This is because the information for the charts is gathered at slightly different times. Regardless of the exact numbers, it’s clear the charts show the same trends, which is the most important piece of information.)
(click on city names for a chart showing the latest stats in the area)
Median pricing decreased by 14% from $652,450 to $554,950.
Inventory decreased by 9% and sales decreased by 5%.
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Thoughts on the April 2009 Seattle Eastside real estate market:
Ok, everyone, take a deep breath. Things are looking up! Seattle -Eastside homes are selling. Every eastside area had a double digit absorption rate, for the first time in months.
All areas saw some very positive changes this past month. The positive changes are in bold print. Everycity had some positive change in the real estate activity. The number of homes for sale, the inventory, was down in every city, except one. The number of homes sold was up in all cities except two!
The stand-out area, which is often the case, is the area in East Bellevue and Redmond, close to Microsoft. This area’s absorption rate was the last to slow down and is the first to come back to life. Twenty-three percent of the homes for sale sold there last month.
Are real estate prices increasing on Seattle’s Eastside? No, the number of sales has increased dramatically though.
April had the most number of home sales since June of last year. In King County overall, six of the last ten weeks have had the most number of sales since July, 2007.
In some areas on Seattle’s Eastside, we are seeing a more balanced market between buyers and sellers.
Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said that the Federal Housing Administration is going to permit its lenders to allow homeowners to use the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment.
According to Donovan, the FHA’s approved lenders will be permitted to “monetize” the tax credit through short-term bridge loans. This will allow eligible home buyers to access the funds immediately at the closing table.
Stay tuned. As soon as I learn more, I’ll let you know in this blog. Happy house hunting!
Are home prices still declining in the greater Seattle area? Yes. However, according to the Case-Shiller Index , they are no longer falling off the cliff. No longer do you need your climbing ropes to hang on, you probably just need some skis to help take you more gently down the pricing slope. Standard and Poor’s Case-Shiller Index tracks the real estate activity in 20 cities all over the country. The decline in nationwide real estate prices was 18.6% from last February, however, Case-Shiller is based on a survey of 20 cities. Real estate on the Seattle-Eastside declined 15.4% in value from last February. We are not the best, but we are not the worst either.
“While the declines in residential real estate continued into February, we witnessed some deceleration in the rate of decline in some of the markets,” said David Blitzer, head of the S&P index committee.
Prices are “no longer falling off a cliff,” wrote Patrick Newport, an economist for IHS Global Insight. “Instead, they are rolling down a steep hill.”
Seattle-area home prices dropped an annual 15.4 percent in February from February 2008, compared with a 15 percent annual decline in January.
Seattle’s February annual price drop was the ninth-smallest decline among the 20 metro areas in the Case-Shiller index.
Seattle prices fell 1.5 percent in February from January, the fourth-smallest monthly decline among the 20 metro areas. The average monthly decline among the 20 cities was 2.2 percent.
There’s no doubt we’re still in a tough real estate market. But there are some lights on the horizon in the Seattle/Eastside real estate market.
Inventory is stabilizing throughout King County. Some weeks inventory increases, but in some weeks there’s a drop. It’s at a higher point for the year right now as 13,306 properties are for sale. However, last year at this time, there were 14,321 properties listed. We are far from the highest point of inventory which was reached at the end of July, 2008 with 16,618 homes for sale in King County. The largest number of properties for sale in King County so far this year has been 13,414 back in March.
The number of home sales in King County reached the second highest number of home sales for a week, 560 sales, since July, 2007. Five of the last 8 weeks were amongst the highest number of King County home sales in the last two years.
There’s a definite interest in real estate and buying homes. There wouldn’t be so much press written about real estate if this were not the case. I’ve written a number of blog posts on the first time home buyer tax incentive and all have had more hits than any of the other posts I’ve written. Previously, my posts on the Seattle Street of Dreams had received the most hits. But of my top 8 posts, according to WordPress, which is this blog platform, three of the five posts are about the stimulus package and the first time home buyer incentive. The top post has received 3700+ hits. I recently wrote about Washington State’s plan to allow the $8000 tax incentive to be applied towards a down payment. This post, too, is getting numerous hits. This tells me people are searching for information. They are searching for information about the options available to buy homes.
Listings are getting a lot of showings. Buyers are out there as the number of showings has increased.
I feel more homes will sell over the next few months. I do not feel that prices are heading up any time soon.
A $10,000 home buyer credit for purchasers of new homes in California? I’ve been checking on the web to see if things are different in other states with regard to jump starting the economy and the housing market. There are actuallydifferent things happening out there to spur the economy. Here are a few highlights of a California new home buyer incentive:
It’s in addition to the federal first home buyer tax incentive of $8000. (so first time home buyers who buy new construction have a total of an $18,000 credit)
It’s not just for first time home buyers, it’s for any home buyer who buys new construction.
It’s limited to the first 10,000 new home buyers.
It is available now through March of 2010.
If you follow the link above, you can find out the complete details of the new home buyer credit, which is not to be confused with the first time home buyer credit!
What do you think? Is this something that would work in Washington State?
Will Washington State be the first state in the nation to offer a program to first time buyers to use the $8000 home buyer credit towards a down payment for a home?
Here’s a memo from Barbara Lally of the Washington State Realtors Association explaining the program that is in the works:
OLYMPIA, Wash. – The Senate Ways and Means Committee last night (Thursday) unanimously approved a measure designed to help first-time home buyers come up with a down-payment. The committee adopted the measure as an amendment to the proposed Senate biennial operating budget.
The proposal would make the $8000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers available at the closing of a home sale instead of when a buyer files a tax return. Home buyers would repay the $8000 after filing for and receiving a tax refund. The amendment creates a Tax Credit Advance Loan Program and authorizes the State Treasurer to deposit $25 million in a financial institution giving it the ability to open a line of credit to the State Housing Finance Commission to provide the downpayment loans. The deposit would not deplete state funds, but would provide liquidity for the financial Institution to lend its own funds.
The program is the first of its kind in the nation and would work as follows:
The State Treasurer’s Office would make an off-setting deposit in an FDIC-insured short-term
account with a selected financial institution. The investment would earn a low interest rate to
stay fully insured under federal guidelines.
Realtors and other stakeholders back the loans with funds to provide security against losses.
The financial institution provides the Washington State Housing Finance Commission a line of
credit to advance up to $8000 to qualified first-time home buyers for a down-payment.
Buyers repay the advance loan after filing for and receiving the tax credit.
The amendment is the result of the efforts of the Washington REALTORS®, Washington State Treasurer’s office, and Washington State Housing Finance Commission. State Treasurer James McIntire wrote the budget proviso and is helping to advance the measure through the state legislature.
State Sen. Steve Hobbs (D-Lake Stevens), who offered the amendment, said that using the $8,000 tax credit to help first-time home buyer make downpayments could help jump-start the economy. Hobbs noted that home purchases have a significant impact on the retail and banking sectors of the economy and on state and local coffers. “In this recession we need to find new and innovative ways to stimulate the economy. This proviso will slow the decline of our housing market and stimulate the economy,” Hobbs told the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
“Down-payment assistance to our first-time home buyers is the key we need to unlock economic activity throughout the state,” said Greg Wright, President of the Washington Realtors. “This tax credit is new money that we can put to work now to help the housing market and ignite economic action statewide.” According to a study by the Washington Research Council, each home sale by a first-time buyer generates $11,100 in state and local tax revenue. Every 1,000 home sales generate $126 million in general economic activity, supporting 711 jobs.
Home buyer tax credit fact sheet
The goal of the program is to get the money to buyers efficiently and return the federal refund quickly so that the HFC can turn it around to provide more assistance. The funds may revolve as many as three times before the tax credit expires, reaching up to 9000 first-time homebuyers. These “bridge loans” would expire at the same time as the federal tax credit, on November 30, 2009. All of the bridge loan funds return to the state system by early 2010 to use for capital projects in 2010-11.
“With homes at affordable prices and interest rates at historic lows the $8,000 tax credit opens a window of opportunity that may never be seen again,” said Wright, a Chelan Realtor. “The Senate’s budget helps bring that opportunity to families throughout our state.”
Lack of a down-payment is the only barrier to home ownership for up to 50 percent of first-time home buyers, according to J. Lennox Scott, Chairman and CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate. A recent study by the Federal Reserve Board showed that home ownership for people 35 years and younger increased by as much as 43 percent when a primary mortgage was combined with a down-payment assistance loan.
“First-time home buyers are the most critical to the recovery of the housing market and our overall economy, because their purchases set off a chain reaction of buying and selling,” Scott explained. ”The first step toward stimulating the state housing market is making the federal tax credit available at the closing table and increasing down-payment assistance.”
(REALTOR® is a federally registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.)
The NAHB, The National Association of Home Builders put together a great list of questions and answer about the 2009 $8000 tax incentive. (And here I thought I knew everything about it!) Seriously, some great questions are asked and answered in this post.
Seattle Eastside March 2009 condo real estate statistics
March, 2009 1300 condos for sale, 123 sold, 9.5% chance of selling.
March, 2008 1288 condos for sale 175 sold 13.5% chance of selling.
(pended means the number of condos that got offers this month)
The good news is 36 more condos sold this past month than in February. There were, however, 105 more condos to choose from. I’m expecting more condos to come on the market per the typical spring real estate selling season. The chances of selling a condo increased slightly this month from February, as more buyers seem to have that spring time bug and are out shopping around.
Competition will remain fierce. Since there are many options in each price range, sellers will need to be realistic both in their asking price and what they’re willing to take for a final sales price. The good news is more people are buying and the realistic news is prices are not going up at this time.
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in March 2009ranged from a low of 6.5 % to a high of 15%, with an average 10% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.) Numbers will be rounded off to the nearest whole number, unless the number is exactly .5% between two numbers.
Here are the real estate statistics for single family home sales activity on Seattle’s Eastside:
March, 2009 3711 homes for sale 372 homes sold 10% chance of selling.
March, 2008 3637 homes for sale 493 homes sold 13% chance of selling
I’ve changed the format of this monthly Seattle/Eastside real estate report to include the trendgraphix chart above. This chart is clear and easy to read, so you can get the real estate data quickly. For those of you who want to get more detail, you can still read the MLS charts by clicking on each area below. The charts have some of the same information, but also show the real estate trend for the last 5 years, the median pricing, and whether the number of homes for sale and the number of sales are up or down. If you look at the charts by area, you will notice the total number of homes for sale and the number of homes sold can vary slightly from the trendgraphix chart above to the MLS-Windermere graphs. Some of this may be a result of when the information for the charts are gathered . Regardless of the exact numbers, it’s clear the charts show the same trends, which is the most important piece of information.)
(click on each area name for a chart showing the latest stats in the area)
Sellers had an 8% chance of getting a home sold, THE SAME as last month and DOWN from 14.5% last year. Median home prices were DOWN from $579,500 to $513,025. Inventory was down by 6% and sales were down by 35% from last year.
Sellers had a 15% chance of getting a home sold, UP from 10% last month, and DOWN from 19% last year. Median sales price decreased from $539,000 to $499,000, a decrease of 8%. Inventory was up 4% and sales were down 24%.
Sellers had an 11% chance of getting a home sold, UP from7% last month and DOWN from 12% last year. Median price decreased by 21% from $659,900 to $519,900. Inventory was up 1% and sales were down 7%.
Sellers had a 10% chance of selling a home, last month and DOWN from 12% last year. Median price was down to $450,000 from $525,000, a 14% decrease. Inventory was up by 4% from last year and sales were down by 16%.
Sellers had 6.5% chance of selling a home, DOWN from12% last month and DOWN from 9% last year. Median price decreased by29%, from $699,999 to $499,000. Inventory was up by 4% and sales were down by 33%.
Sellers had a 9% chance of selling a home, The SAME as last month, and UP from 5% last year. Median pricing decreased by 5% from $1,250,000 to $1,185,000. Inventory increased by 1 % and sales increased by 57%.
Sellers had a 11% chance of selling a home, UP from 10% from last month, and DOWN from 15% last year. Median pricing decreased by 20% from $600,000 to $481,975. Inventory increased by .3% and sales increased by 29%.
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Thoughts on the March 2009 Seattle Eastside real estate market:
Most of the real estate sales activity is happening below the $750,000 range. Out of the 247 sales on the eastside in March, 210, or 85%, were below $750,000.
Forty-eight percent of the sales were below $500,000.
The chances of selling a home on the eastside increased from February to March in all areas except Kirkland.
More homes are selling as the number of sales in just the first week in April increased by 37% more than most of the past 6 weeks.
Both West Bellevue and Redmond, north of downtown, had an increase in the number of sales from last year to this year.
Redmond, north of downtown, had a more balanced real estate market last month than any other area on the eastside. With the number of home sales increasing by 29%, the sales activity represented a more balanced market.
Other eastside areas are still more of a seller’s market.
More sales are beginning to happen, but prices are not going up.
It’s Saturday morning, you jump out of bed at 8 AM. Your real estate agent told you to be ready and waiting for home buyers to walk through the door, possibly as early as 9 AM. You attack your daily checklist in order to be prepared:
Make bed, fluff pillows,
dirty dishes in the dishwasher
trash taken out
counters emptied
litter box emptied
kitchen floor swept
carpets vacuumed
Jump under the shower
bathrooms cleaned, mirrors sparkling
damp towels in the washer
Etc, etc.
You gulp your breakfast down and……nothing. You wait. The phone doesn’t ring. It’s 10 AM, still no calls. Noon strikes and you have a quick bite of crackers and cheese. You don’t bother making a big lunch as you might have to scramble to put everything away if someone calls to see your home. Two o’clock rolls around. You start surfing on your TV and watch the basketball game while on the edge of your seat. The game is not exciting, but you’re literally on edge, thinking someone could come at any time. By 5 PM, no one has called or come see your home.
But your home looks great. It’s perfect and ready to go. It’s all dressed up for the “party” to meet a “hot” home buyer, but no one came to your party. It’s like getting ready to meet someone, you look perfect, your hair is great, you’ve got a great outfit on. You’re ready, you go to the party and no one comes to talk to you. Disappointing, but it does happen.
Selling a home can be stressful, just like trying to meet the “hot” date. There’s a lot of “prep” work to get your home ready each day for a potential buyer and there’s a lot of work to get ready to meet and greet. There will be days when the planets are aligned and you have three buyers who come to see your home. Some of these home buyers will spend more time looking your home over, some will stop by and be out the door in 5 minutes. Then 5 days could go by when no one comes to visit.
There are parties or events you’ll go to where you might meet several interesting people. Then you could attend 5 parties and no one will be interesting. Selling a home can have its ups and downs, those schizophrenic moments when you’re so excited about selling your home and other times, when the whole process is very tiring, just like looking for that “hot” date. But be patient. The right home buyer will come along, even in this market, if you have your home perfect and ready to sell and priced right. It just takes more time and patience these days.
Consumer confidence, shifting values, and changes in purchasing power? Windermere Real Estate sent an email out this morning with the following charts highlighting these issues. The information is from James Russo, Vice President of Marketing at Neilsen. The top chart focuses on the ups and downs with consumer confidence. We’ve seen other dips this decade with 9/11, the war in Iraq, and hurricane Katrina. None of these dips in consumer confidence have shown the tumble we’ve seen since 2007. But it’s good to balance this fear and lack of confidence with the real changes evidenced in purchasing power. The lower chart has positive news for consumers. Food prices have held firm, gas prices and mortgage rates are down, not to mention the fact that home prices are also way down. Watch for spending habits to continue to evolve over the next few years. What do you think?
March 18th, 2009 Posted in Cusumer, Nielsen News, Politics
By James Russo, Vice President, Marketing, Nielsen
With unemployment reaching 25-year highs, it is no surprise that Americans are nervous about their futures. Over the last twelve months, confidence has nosedived as consumers worry about keeping their jobs, paying their mortgages and other bills, and their retirements.
Click to enlarge
We are on the verge of a potential fundamental shift in how consumers shop and buy that could have ramifications long past economic recovery. They are shopping less and changing the types of products they purchase, such as shifting to store brands and focusing on necessary items such as food and cutting back on luxuries.
At the same time, however, purchasing power is actually increasing for some Americans. Consider the facts:
The price of crude oil has declined 71 percent from July 2008 to February 2009 (from $133/bbl to $33/bbl), and retail gas prices have dropped 53 percent. To fulfill annual driving needs in July 2008, consumers were spending an average of $3,045 at $4.06 a gallon; In February 2009, that figure declined to $1,440 at $1.92 a gallon – a savings of $1,605 per year. And with the average American household owning two cars, the potential savings are even higher.
Food inflation has moderated since July 2008 to current levels of 2 percent.
While a great deal of attention has been focused on those people who had subprime mortgages and are now experiencing foreclosures on their homes, 30-year fixed mortgage rates have declined 1.30 pts during the same period, also resulting in potential savings.
Tax credits in the stimulus legislation passed by Congress will put an additional $672 in the average worker’s pocket.
Combine these facts with a growing sense that we may be seeing the first signs of a bottoming out and many Americans will be well-positioned to resume their spending. However, until the fear and uncertainty about the economy dissipates, it is unlikely that they will feel confident enough to exercise their increased purchasing power. And once they do, there is little doubt that how they spend their money is likely to be very different in how they did so in years past. Nielsen will continue to closely monitor consumer confidence, shopping trends and other factors to enable our consumer product manufacturing and retail clients to deliver value in the short term and innovate in the long term to help ensure continued growth.
June 08
Feb 09
Change
REALITY
Crude Oil
$133
$33
-71%
* Retail Gas
$4.06
$1.92
-53%
* Food Inflation
215.3
219.7
2%
Fed Funds Rates
2%
0%
-200 basis points
30 yr fixed Mortgage Rates
6.37%
5.07%
-1.30 pts
FEAR
Unemployment
5.80%
8.10%
- 3.6 million jobs
Avg Wkly Earnings
$596.50
$608.3
2%
Equity Markets
11,378
7,062
-38%
Source: EIA, FOMC, Nielsen Strategic Planner, Bureau of Labor Statistics, cpi
Much has been written about the first time home buyer tax credit of $8000, but there are other real estate programs available. I touched on this in one of my previous blog posts on the 2009 stimulus package, but thought I would write another post about real estate and the stimulus plan because a client had an interesting question. She’d heard from another real estate agent she could rent her current home out and use the stimulus tax credit to buy another home. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The $8000 tax credit is for first time buyers or people who have not owned a home for the past three years, not for those who want to upgrade to a another home and keep their present home as a rental.
There are a lot of misconceptions out there. If you want the whole truth and nothing but the truth, the official White House site for The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act gives all the information about the stimulus plan, including incentives for real estate. You can read all about it by clicking on the link to the complete bill, all 407 pages of it. I’m not suggesting you read it all, but it’s worth skimming to see what’s available. The stimulus plan for real estate is not just for first time home buyers, there are incentives for rural home owners, Native Americans, and aid for the homeless. There are tax breaks for updating a home with more efficient energy systems, such as solar panels. Last week there was a good article in The New York Times that summarized the programs designed to help stimulate real estate:
Provide first-time home buyers with a refundable tax credit of up to $8,000, up $500 from the original credit enacted last year, for purchases made this year (before Dec. 1). The credit phases out for single taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes that exceed $75,000 (or $150,000 for married couples filing jointly). The buyer will forfeit the credit if he or she sells the house within three years.
There are some wonderful choices. In King County alone, there are over 13,000 properties available to pick from. On the eastside, there are 3500+ homes and 1200+ condos available to purchase. ( I have some great homes listed to buy among those 3500+!)
There are more homes available to buy for under $500,000 (and even under $300,000) than there have been in years.
There are ready, willing, and able sellers who want to sell their homes. Many sellers understand the current real estate market and are pricing their homes to get them sold.
Until the end of November 2009, first time home buyers may be eligible for the lower of an $8,000 or 10% of the value of the home tax credit. Remember a tax credit is very different than a tax deduction – a tax credit is equivalent to money in your hand, as opposed to a tax deduction, which only reduces your taxable income.
The tax credit starts phasing out for couples with incomes above $150,000 and single filers with incomes above $75,000. Buyers will have to repay the credit if they sell their homes within three years.
The above is all great news during times in which there hasn’t been a lot of good news to report. Making the decision to buy is a very personal one and doesn’t work for everyone. Some people have layoff concerns, as an example, and are hesitant to make a purchase. For some, waiting it out on the sidelines is the best thing to do.
Are Seattle/Eastside home prices at the bottom yet? We probably won’t know until after we get there, but prices are back to 2005 levels. The areas of the country with deeper home price cuts than Seattle’s Eastside are areas in which the economy is struggling even more than we see here. But for those who have secure jobs, good income, great credit scores, and plan to stay in a home for 3-5 years, this is a terrific time to buy a home.
Wondering what homes are selling on Seattle’s Eastside? A burning question many people are asking. Here’s the answer to that question:
Which Seattle/Eastside Homes Are Selling?
The comments above list the key points presented on the chart. In the first two months of 2009, 86% of the Seattle/Eastside real estate sales occurred below the 750k range and of those sales, 64% were below 500k. The market is shifting dramatically as prices decline and more homes and condos are priced below the 500k benchmark.
As I’ve mentioned in recent blog posts, more sales are happening below the 500k mark than we’ve seen in years. In previous years, the majority of homes sold in the 500-750k price range. You’ll can see evidence of this price shift in the above chart. During the first two months of the year, 36% more properties sold on Seattle’s Eastside priced below 500k than priced between 500-750k, which, in the recent past, used to represent the largest number of home sales.
(area 500-600 are the NWMLS numbers used for the Seattle/Eastside real estate)
February, 2009 1244 condos for sale, 110 sold 9% chance of selling.
February, 2008 1304 condos for sale 150 sold 11.5% chance of selling.
(pended means the number of condos that got offers this month)
The number of condos for sale peaked in July, 2008. There has been a gradual decline each month in the number of condos for sale since then, until this past month. This past February there were 132 more condos for sale. The numbers are still far below the high of 1557 last July.
Not only were there more condos for sale this month, the number of condos receiving offers increased slightly from 96 to 110 from January to February.
Fifty-six condos closed in January and 58 in February respectively, just about half to a third of the number that were selling a year ago.
Inventory may creep up as it usually does as spring turns into summer. This is the typical trend we see, no matter what the real estate market is like.
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in February 2009ranged from a low of 7 % to a high of 10%, with an average 9% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.) Numbers will be rounded off to the nearest whole number, unless the number is exactly .5% between two numbers.
Here are the real estate statistics for single family home sales activity on Seattle’s Eastside:
February 2009 3556 homes available 308 homes sold 9% chance of selling.
January 2009 3294 homes available 325 homes sold 10% chance of selling.
February 2008 3303 homes available 453 homes sold 14% chance of selling.
Seattle/Eastside real estate Feb-2009
(chart includes Mercer Island homes, which are not included in my numbers above the chart)
Sellers had an 8% chance of getting a home sold, DOWN from 11% last month and DOWN from 16.5% last year. Median home prices were DOWN from $599,950 to $522,250. Inventory was down by 5% and sales were down by 52% from last year.
Sellers had a 10% chance of getting a home sold, DOWN from 11% last month, and DOWN from 16% last year. Median sales price decreased from $599,000 to $457,475, a decrease of 24%. Inventory was up 10% and sales were down 27%.
Sellers had an 7% chance of getting a home sold, DOWN from11% last month and UP from 8% last year. Median price decreased by 12% from $659,000 to $579,950. Inventory was up 2% and sales were down 49%.
Sellers had a 10% chance of selling a home, THE SAME as last month and DOWN from 12% last year. Median price was down to $381,450 from $549,950, a 30% decrease. Inventory was up by 16% from last year and sales were down by 6%.
Sellers had 8% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 11% last month and DOWN from 12.5% last year. Median price decreased by 3%, to $687,000 from $711,250. Inventory was up by 1% and sales were down by 38.5%.
Sellers had a 9% chance of selling a home, UP from 7% last month, and the same as last year. Median pricing increased by $1000 from $999,000 to $1,000,000. Inventory increased by 26 % and sales increased by 19%.
Sellers had a 10% chance of selling a home, UP from 9% from last month, and DOWN from 16% last year. Median pricing decreased by 21% from $694,970 to $542,900. Inventory increased by 18.5% and sales decreased by 24%.
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Thoughts on February’s real estate market:
Most eastside neighborhoods experienced a decline in sales and an increase in the number of homes for sale. The only exception was West Bellevue. More homes sold in West Bellevue in February this year than last year and the median price was up by just a hair.
Similar to last month all eastside areas, except the plateau area of Sammamish, Snoqualmie, Fall City, Issaquah, and North Bend, had an increase in the number of homes for sale when compared to last year. There were 40 less homes available to buy on the plateau this February than last. On the eastside, the plateau is the only area that had fewer homes for sale.
The number of homes for sale is up this week. The total number of properties ( single family homes and condos) for sale in King County increased to 13,038 on March 9th. Expect more homes to come on the market over the next couple of months.
Home prices are clearly shifting. For the first time in years more homes sold in the $350-500,000 range than in the $500-750,000 range.
This past month there were more home sales happening below the $500,000 mark. Seventy one homes sold in the $350-500,000 range, while 63 sold between $500-750,000. There were also 37 home sales below $350,000. Two years ago, it was impossible to find homes in this price range.
Are multiple offers happening on Seattle’s Eastside? Yes. My team sold a home in which our buyer’s offer was one of three offers. Our buyer’s offer was accepted.
Why was this home one that three buyers wanted at the same time? The home was originally listed at $625,000. It was reduced to $574,950 and then finally to $550,000. At that price it was a screaming deal. Here are the specs on the home:
Newer style, two story-11 years old.
Great location with easy freeway access.
2330 square feet with 3 bedrooms, den, and bonus.
5 piece master bath.
The competition in the immediate area for the same price:
$549,900 1967 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, built in 2001, Approx 363 smaller than the home we sold.
$549,999 2620 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, new construction. Built close to the freeway, so noisy location.
$550,000 2440 square feet 3/2.5 mid-entry built in 1976 with a view. Older home, different style.
$550,000 2240 square feet, 3/1 bath. Value in land, not the home.
The nearby competition was not as good a value as this home. The only home that was remotely close to the one we sold is the first home on the list above. It, too, is a newer style two story, but almost 400 square feet smaller for virtually the same price. The smaller home helped to sell the home the buyer’s bought because in comparison, the smaller home was not a great value.
Moral of the story: price your home ahead of the competition to get noticed and get the offers.
How old are your parents? How many of you have been involved with elderly parents or know someone who has had to drop everything to take care of their parents’ changing needs?Many boomers are dealing with these issues NOW and will be facing them personally within the next decade or two.
When I talk with my boomer friends these days, we commiserate about our elderly parents. I’ve gone through all the stages involved with a changing parent-child relationship. I became the parent and had to move my parents out of their long time Connecticut home of 50 + years to a safer, easier to navigate environment. It would have been much better to leave them in their home because they had been so comfortable there. However, with two stories, steps to the front door, and inaccessible sinks, counters, etc, it would have been impossible for them to stay in their home.
Traditional home designs don’t easily accommodate changes in people’s lives and abilities as they age. Sometimes people have to move, a costly choice, because their home no longer supports these changes. Wouldn’t it be less expensive to have home design that can be easily modified and adapted to many different needs?
We have more advanced materials and amenities in our homes, but our floor plans are very similar to homes built 100 years ago, when the average life expectancy was less than 50 years old. Today the average life expectancy is 80 years of age.
Consider this:
1/3 of all Boomers are more than 50+ years old.
People who are age 50+ are more than a third of the population.
The population of 50+ people is going to double in the next 35 years.
We have a housing crisis coming up on our hands. Today we talk about affordable housing. Tomorrow we’ll talk about accessible housing, only tomorrow will be too late.
Universal design is intended to be user friendly and provide easy access for people of any age and ability. Universal design has been called other things: aging in place, design for all ages, basic access, and barrier-free design.
It’s a light filled, sunny, happy home with lively colors, big windows, and high ceilings.
If you didn’t know he used Universal Design principles in his plans for the home, you wouldn’t notice much that is different. Universal Design done right is very comfortable, livable, and practical. When a home is built from scratch with Universal Design principles, it can be more cost effective over the long run.
What are some of the universal design features?
All the hallways are 42 inches wide and the doorways are all 3 feet wide.
The closets are ready and waiting for a future elevator. Emory incorporated a stacked closet area on each floor, with the space retrofitted for an elevator. The cost to incorporate into the original plan? About $21,000. The cost to retrofit the home with no dedicated spot for an elevator? $100,000.
The first thing you notice when walking up to the front door is the completely level entry into the home. The entry walk is actually sloped slightly toward the home. It’s 17 feet long and rises 1 foot along its length. A wheelchair would have an easy time of entering the home.
Universal Design-Level Entry
The thresholds throughout the house are level.
All flooring is level with no thresholds
Instead of door knobs, you see door handles.
The open airy kitchen has several useful features, the island is surrounded by wide access ways.
wide access around the kitchen island
Kitchen cabinets have pull out shelving.
Pull out kitchen shelving
The master bath is a Universal Design dream. The vanity is built on wheels, so in the future, if you’re using a wheelchair, you could remove the vanity and scoot under the sink.
Master bath vanity-now you see it.
Master bath vanity-now you don't see it
Showers have completely level entries. The shower entry is completely level with the bathroom flooring and would accommodate a wheelchair, if necessary.
Homeowners are becoming increasingly more aware of affordability, accessibility, and sustainability when buying real estate. Homes that meet more of these criteria will become increasingly more desirable. Green and accessible features will help increase the value and saleability of a home.
Congratulations to Emory for his AIA award and designing this beautiful, practical home.
Selling your home? How do you know when your home is priced right? When the agents who’ve shown your home call your agent first.
When I list a home for sale, it’s really exciting when the buyer’s agent contacts me, the listing agent, first. I know my sellers are pretty close to the mark on price. If the buyer’s agent contacts me first, the buyer has an interest in the home. The buyer’s agent is asking the questions, not me. The questions asked are more about the buyer’s concerns:
Why is the seller moving?
What’s their time frame?
Is the swing set included?
How old is the roof and furnace?
Questions like these above are “buying questions.” It means your home has made it onto the buyer’s consideration list. Your home is on the list, not off. The buyer is looking at your home more closely to see how it fits them, their needs and their lifestyle.
There’s a different exchange between agents when the listing agent is contacting the buyer’s agent first. It doesn’t always mean the buyer has ruled out the house if the seller’s agent initiates contact, but it often that is the case.
Typically, I’ll contact the buyer’s agent via email with a link to the listing and photos to refresh the agent’s memory. This contact usually generates a response from the buyers’ agent like:
home to close to a busy street
lot not big enough
great house, but first day looking
bedrooms too small, etc, etc
nice home, but did not work for my buyer
saw a home they liked better because the kitchen was redone
There’s a big difference between the two scenarios. In the first scenario, the buyer’s agent is calling me first to get answers to the buyers’ questions. These answers may remove some of the buyer’s concerns and help the buyer move towards a purchase.
The second, in which I ask for feedback first, the answers will tell more about why the buyers did not buy.
Sellers need to pay attention to what their agents are learning from the contact with the buyer’s agents. Find out what is being asked and answered, so you’ll have a better feel for whether your home is priced right for the market and the competition. If your home is not priced right, you’ll need to change the price to meet the market. The type of feedback your home receives, will give you the answer to your pricing.
What other questions give some clues as to the buyer’s thoughts about a home for sale?
I often read the Sellsius Real Estate blog. Joseph Ferrara writes about all things related to real estate, some funny and some serious. I’ve written serious articles about the stimulus plan and real estate, but this about Seattle’s Lusty Lady got my attention. I couldn’t resist commenting on the Sellsius blog. The marquee is a Seattle institution. Whomever writes the ads for The Lusty Lady marquee has a great sense of humor, something we all need these days!
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in January 2009ranged from a low of 7% to a high of 11%, with an average 10% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.) Numbers will be rounded off to the nearest whole number, unless the number is exactly .5% between two numbers.
Here are the real estate statistics for single family home sales activity on Seattle’s Eastside:
January 2009 3294 home available 325 homes sold 10% chance of selling.
December 2008 3169 homes available 243 homes sold, 8% chance of selling.
January 2008 2963 homes available 346 homes sold, 12% chance of selling.
Sellers had 11 % chance of getting a home sold, the same as last month and DOWN from13 % last year. Median home prices were DOWN, from $619,900 to $535,000. Inventory was down by 4% and sales were down by 24% from last year.
Sellers had a 11% chance of getting a home sold, the same as last month, and DOWN from 15% last year. Median sales price decreased from $567,250 to $480,000, a decrease of 15%. Inventory was up 20% and sales were down 14%.
Sellers had an 11% chance of getting a home sold, UP from 6% last month and UP from 8% last year. Median price decreased by 11% from $630,000 to $559,900. Inventory was up 1% and sales were down 58%.
Sellers had a 10% chance of selling a home, UP from 7% last month and DOWN from 14% last year. Median price was down to $438,200 from $459,950, a 5% decrease. Inventory was up by 27% from last year and sales were down by 9%.
Sellers had a 11% chance of selling a home, UP from 6% last month and UP from 10% last year. Median price decreased by 21%, to $521,440 from $652,250. Inventory was up by 2% and sales were down by 10.5%.
Sellers had a 7% chance of selling a home, UP from 3% last month, and the same as last year. Median pricing decreased by 10% to $937,500 from $1,027,500. Inventory increased by 43 % and sales decreased by 43%.
Sellers had a 9% chance of selling a home, UP from 7% from last month, and DOWN from 12% last year. Median pricing decreased by 27% from $664,925 to $484,950. Inventory increased by 17% and sales decreased by 13%.
——————————————————————–
Some thoughts on January’s real estate market:
No big surprise again, all eastside areas experienced a reduction in both pricing and sales.
Most eastside neighborhoods had similar chances of having a home sell in January.
All areas, except the plateau area of Sammamish, Snoqualmie, Fall City, Issaquah, and North Bend, had an increase in the number of homes for sale when compared to last year. There were fewer homes available to buy on the plateau this January than last, about 30 less homes
The chances of selling in the core neighborhoods of Kirkland, area 560, was actually a little better than last year, but only by 1%. The same thing is true for (area 500), South Bellevue and parts of Issaquah. Sellers had a 4% greater chance of getting their home sold this January than last.
The number of homes for sale on the eastside is creeping up slightly. As of February 16th, there are 12,678 homes available, whereas 2009 started with 11,363 homes for sale. This is the typical pattern each year. As spring progresses, more people think about moving. I anticipate more homes coming on the market in the next few months. If you’re thinking of moving, your chances of getting your home sold are far better with less competition now, so it’s best not to wait. Those of you who are thinking of waiting until school is over, should be thinking about putting your home on the market in March or April, so you can get moved in the summer. If you wait until school is over, then you may not have your home sold and your move complete by the time the next school year starts.
As I’ve been saying for the past year, this is a market for realistic sellers. If you want to make a move, be prepared to have your home in show condition and priced right. If you’re planning a move into a new home, since it clearly is a buyer’s market, you can negotiate in your favor then. Homes are selling, as you see above, but it usually is the homes that are the best value that get sold.
Contact a Realtor well before you want to sell to make sure you’ll be ready when you do want to sell. As always, if the market or your situation means it’s best for you to stay put, then that’s what you should do.
Did our dog have an accident all over the kitchen floor? I wish. Apparently, ice got stuck in the freezer causing the valve for the automatic ice cube maker to get stuck and the water to go into overdrive. In the space of 15 minutes, there was a huge puddle on the kitchen floor the size of Lake Washington. OK, maybe it was just the size of Lake Sammamish, but it was a huge puddle of water and it happened fast. I shudder to think what would have happened if we weren’t home. Visions of buckling hardwood floors and ruined rugs danced in my head.
We had to take the whole freezer apart, which was probably a good thing since food tends to get lost in the freezer and never come out. The freezer had to be turned off so the leaking water didn’t freeze to the walls. All the shelving came out. Everything had to be washed, the freezer walls cleaned and dried off. Not exactly how we planned to spend Valentine’s Day afternoon.
While cleaning up, I happened to notice there’s an “on/off” switch for the automatic ice maker. Amazing how easy it would have been to keep it turned off, something I never really thought about. I think about so many other things, like turning the heat down and unplugging appliances when I go out of town, but the ice maker has never been on my list. My advice is to turn off your automatic ice maker if you aren’t using it, you’re not going to be home or, most importantly, if you’re going on vacation. Most of the time we never think about the ice maker. But this simple thing can cause big problems and damages if there’s ever a leak.
Can you think of other things people should turn off when they are heading out of town? At some point, I’ll tell you another water and disaster story. My story is pretty mild compared to how it could have been, but this other story was not.
Does Real Estate Bar Camp take place in a bar? No, question asked by my husband before I went.
Do people look the same in real life as they do in their photos on the internet? No
Does Zillow’s downtown Seattle office have a killer view? Yes, Real Estate Bar Camp was held in the Zillow offices, one of the sponsors of the event. My camera was home sitting on my desk because I dropped it and broke it, but trust me, the view of Puget Sound, the city and the mountains would make you never want to leave Seattle.
Can you be overexposed on the net? (Talking about Realtors here) Question asked at the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers Talk. No
What is Real Estate Bar Camp? It’s for people in the real estate industry who are “passionate about what they know and excited to share it, free of charge.” It’s a very free exchange of ideas with opportunities to learn more about web 2.0 marketing and social media from some of the experts. There’s so much to learn and people are so willing to give. People had come to present and lead talks, but many of the meetings were determined by the participants. When I walked into the Zillow offices first thing in the morning, I saw an almost empty white board with times blocked out. Some of the spaces were filled with the pre-determined presenters and others were blank. As the day wore on, the spaces were filled in by people who wanted to talk about specific topics. My goal was to learn about how to improve consumer experiences and bring more technology to the table for my clients.
Most of the people there were primarily from the west coast, Washington, Oregon, and California. I got to see people I’d met online and offline before, Marlow Harris from 360 Digest and Seattle PI Real Estate Professionals fame, Ardell, the very famous , and Rhonda Porter from Rain City Guide. Nick Bostic who’s down in Portland and blogs for Agent Genius was there. Several of Windermere’s internet folks were also there. It’s nice to actually meet people you converse with online.
My most important take aways from Bar Camp:
The importance of bringing hyper-local and relevant real estate data to the consumer.
The need to hire a professional to re-design my website and move my blog from WordPress. com to WordPress.org. I got some great tips on what needs to be done.
To continue write about more local events and real estate issues.
I’ve signed up on Facebook, and Twitter may be my next step on the web 2.0 chain.
Thing I forgot to take away:
I forgot to ask for another Zillow baseball cap! The most important thing I should’ve done at Bar camp. The Zillow baseball cap is one of the few caps that fits me.
Thanks to all who sponsored, presented and talked at the event. Special thanks to Drew Meyers of Zillow and the GeekEstate blog.
Most of the real estate commentary I’ve seen on the stimulus plan focuses on buying a home, mortgage rates, and mitigating disclosures. Here’s some of the highlights and other things to think about from final real estate version:
Everyone now knows the tax credit will be $8000 with no payback required. It’s only available to first time buyers or those who haven’t been home owners for the past three years. The credit is available for homes purchased before December 1, 2009. I’m wondering if a buyer has to close on the home purchase before December 1st or have an accepted offer by that date. If the home sale must be closed by the first of December, then buyers need to be buying no later than the end of October to make sure they close on time. Does anyone have the answer and know whether it is an accepted purchase agreement or does the home sale need to be closed?
Did you know if you use tax credit, you must stay in your home for three years or you would have to repay the credit? I like this idea because it helps to keep home ownership more like it used to be: buying a home to live in, rather than as a quick investment.
Government backed loan limits will be $729,950 in areas with expensive homes. This should mean the Seattle/Eastside, but have not heard. Does anyone else know if this means us?
There’s more than $50 billion designated for foreclosure mitigation, some of which will come from last year’s TARP money. It’s about time more is done to stem the tide of foreclosures.
Tax Credits for Energy-Efficient Improvements to Existing Homes. The bill would extend the tax credits for improvements to energy-efficient existing homes through 2010. Under current law, individuals are allowed a tax credit equal to ten percent (10%) of the amount paid or incurred by the taxpayer for qualified energy efficiency improvements installed during the taxable year. This tax credit is capped at $50 for any advanced main air circulating fan, $150 for any qualified natural gas, propane, oil furnace or hot water boiler, and $300 for any item of energy-efficient building property. For 2009 and 2010, the bill would increase the amount of the tax credit to thirty percent (30%) of the amount paid or incurred by the taxpayer for qualified energy efficiency improvements during the taxable year. The bill would also eliminate the property-by-property dollar caps on this tax credit and provide an aggregate $1,500 cap on all property qualifying for the credit. The bill would update the energy-efficiency standards of the property qualifying for the credit.
It’s unfortunate the home buyer tax credit was reduced. Fewer homes may sell as a result. However, cuts did need to be made in different parts of the plan to get it passed. I like the incentive for making energy efficient changes to a home. I’m hoping it will get more people to think to make a change as a long term payback.
What will the home buyer’s tax credit be when the stimulus plan is signed into law? Today’s news focused on the compromises being made between the House and the Senate to pare down the cost and reconcile the differences between the two plans. It’s looking like the Senate tax credit of $15,000 for a home purchase may be scaled back to the House plan of $7500. Both Houses seem to agree the credit would not need to be paid back.
From Nick Timiraos of www.wsj.com:
“But it’s far from certain that the House will accept the Senate version, which includes far more generous credits. The House version would modify an existing $7,500 credit so that it wouldn’t have to be repaid, while the Senate goes much further by doubling the credit, removing income limits, and extending it to existing homeowners, from just first-time buyers.”
At this point, I’m anxiously awaiting the outcome and will do my best to summarize the details when they’re finalized. But I’m going to hop of the roller coaster until everything is finalized.
Tax incentives to buy real estate are coming. Incentives are coming from the top down and need to come from the bottom up. We need the 2009 Stimulus Plan to pass with some clear incentives for home buyers from the top, Congress and The White House. We also need incentives from the bottom, directly from the sellers, to make home sales happen.
Do I mean cash bonuses to buyers or agents for buying a home? No, I mean offering the buyer the best incentive of all, a great value for a home that shows well and is priced right. The government is trying to do something to get the economy moving and this doesn’t mean sellers can sit back and be complacent. There may be an up-tick in sales, but the homes that get the sold sign posted in the front yard will be those that offer a great price for a great home, an incentive buy.
The home buyers who get off the fence to buy will buy the home that offers the best in value. If there’s no incentive from the bottom up, from the sellers, there’s still no home sale.
Soon there may be the best opportunity in over a year for homes to get sold. Home sellers need to run with it, price their homes ahead of the competition, and not lose this great opportunity.
When the 2009 stimulus package is finalized, which, hopefully, will be next week, I’ll try to summarize the benefits to real estate. There’s some talk that the Senate tax credit to home buyers may be scaled back to nearer to the limits proposed by the House.
“The proposal would allow a tax credit of 10 percent of the value of new or existing residences, up to a $15,000 limit. Current law provides for a $7,500 tax break for the purchase of new homes only.”
When I looked back at David Espo’s remark about the “tax break for the purchase of new homes only,” I wonder if he meant to say the original tax credit is for new home buyers, those who had not owned a home for three years.
There’s discussion now with the Senate proposal for the credit apply to all homes and buyers. I’m still not clear on this, so if you heard something please jump in.
There’s a lot of discussion as to whether the housing industry is the linchpin to getting the economy back on track. Helping to move unsold homes and get people into homes that are so much better priced than in the recent past, is a good thing. The country has to start from somewhere to get the economy moving. I would much rather see tax money go to home buyers than bank executives with no accountability.
Hopefully, the new stimulus package will have clearer guidelines and expectations of those who receive any money or tax incentives. Incentives, whether it’s for housing or some other commodity will help get people moving, literally and figuratively.
What do you think of the $15,000 home buyer credit?
Is there a new rule going into effect requiring agents in the State of Washingtion to make disclosures when referring home inspectors?
Hotline Attorney Annie Fitzsimmons wrote the answer to this question on the Washington Realtors website:
“Yes. On January 31, 2009, a new Department of Licensing regulation will take effect requiring all licensees referring a home inspector with whom they have or have had a relationship including, but not limited to, a business or familial relationship, to fully disclose that relationship. If such a relationship exists, then full written disclosure of the relationship must be given before buyer or seller uses the services of the inspector. The Department is also requiring that all brokers establish a written office policy including procedures for making referrals to inspectors consistent with the Department’s new regulation.
The term “familial” means a family relationship. If agent is related to the inspector in any way, that relationship must be disclosed.
The term “business relationship” means that agent has done business with the inspector previously, even if unrelated to inspection services. For example, agent may have hired inspector to perform an inspection for agent, agent may have sold property to or for the inspector or agent and inspector may have had some other, unrelated, business dealings between them. The mere fact that agent has referred the inspector to others in the past, or has included the inspector on a list of recommended inspectors, does not constitute a “business relationship” requiring disclosure.
While the Department will enforce this new regulation, the Department’s primary focus between now and July 1 will be to insure that brokers and licensees are exposed to the new regulation and have opportunity to come into compliance with the regulation.”
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Disclosure is always a good thing. In most home sale situations, the Realtor will not have a “familial” or personal relationship with a service provider or inspector. However, if they do, it makes perfect sense that a buyer has this information when making the decision to hire an inspector.
Realtors who’ve been in business for a time will have a list of recommended contractors, inspectors or lenders. These are people who have a proven track record with the Realtor AND the Realtor’s clients. However, buyers have the right to choose and work with whomever they want. Buyers should never feel they must work with anyone that is referred to them without an opportunity to decide if the service provider is the right person for the job. It’s also good to get more than recommendation. Make sure to ask a lot of questions before you hire anyone:
Be clear about the person’s services.
How many years has this inspector been in business?
What is the inspector’s background?
Is this inspector licensed and bonded?
Is this inspector a member of ASHI? The American Society of Home Inspectors?
The news is full of stories about the stimulus package. The stimulus package is shown in full on the Huffington Post. It’s pretty dry reading and only recommended if you need something to help you sleep at night. If you want a shorter, more concise version, check this summary from CNN. The package is now on its way to the Senate to be dealt with next week. The full package may undergo more changes before it ends up in the Oval office.
“A refundable tax credit for a home purchased in 2009, payable at the time of the purchase, would be an effective way to quickly stimulate home sales and reduce the mountain of unsold homes weighing on house prices and exacerbating foreclosures and the crisis in the financial system.”
Here’s some additional news about the tax credit from a CNNMoney article:
“To be eligible, buyers cannot have owned a home for the past three years, and the new home has to be used as a primary residence. The credit phases out as income rises above $75,000 for singles and $150,000 for couples, and disappears entirely at $95,000 and $170,000, respectively.
Applying for it is easy, or at least as easy as doing your income taxes. Just claim it on your return. That’s it. No other forms or papers have to be filed.
Both the Senate and the House versions of the new act remove the requirement that buyers repay the credit. The Senate bill applies retroactively to any purchase completed between January 1, 2009 and the end of August. The House version is also retroactive to the start of the year, and expires at the end of June. As long as buyers don’t sell for at least 36 months, they keep the money.
And the credit is refundable, meaning that it can be claimed even if the amount of the credit earned exceeds the buyer’s tax liability.So even if your total tax bill comes to just $5,000, you can still qualify for a full $7,500 refund.”
Seniors are also mentioned in the stimulus package with regard to reverse mortgages. Seniors are often overlooked when people talk about the economy. Many seniors have lost so much of their equity and life savings and are no longer in a position to go back to work. Anything that can be done to ease their situation is significant. The stimulus plan is increasing loan limits for reverse mortgages. The FHA HECM (Home Equity Conversion Mortgage) loan is now $625,500 while conventional loan limits are at $417,000.
The truth is out-The Eastside rocks! The latest issue of Seattle Metropolitan magazine has a terrific article entitled, “The Rise of the Eastside.” It’s an interesting read with sections on the eastside’s growing pains, a developer who worked on Crossroads shopping center, and the very latest in things to do.
After reading the “very latest things to do” section, I realized I must go out to eat a lot as I had been to many of the restaurants mentioned on the magazine’s list! It was a little scary for me to see how many of them I’d been to. But then again, I can say it’s all in the name of research. It’s important for me to be knowledgeable about my local community. How else can I “sell” the benefits of living here?
Supporting the local merchants is also huge thing for me, whether it’s trendy restaurants, little lunch places, or unique shops. I come from a family that had many small merchants in previous generations and I know how hard it is to run a small business.
I love seeing local restaurants from Seattle coming to this side of the pond, such as Wild Ginger, El Gaucho and Monsoon. Local restaurants and stores add to our lifestyle and help make the eastside unique and interesting. It keeps us from being indistinguishable from “anywhere USA.”
I was really pleased to see Grasslawn Park in Redmond mentioned as a destination park. It’s undergone an amazing renovation and is very kid, sports, and “green” friendly. Most people think of Marymoor Park, the big kahuna, when they think of the eastside, but Grasslawn is a hidden gem.
Want to learn a little about the history/real estate/economy of the eastside? Check the section out entitled “Growing Pains.” There’s a quick review of the real estate market, with an emphasis on downtown Bellevue and the Bel-Red corridor. Watch for changes in the Bel-Red area (Bellevue-Redmond) over the next decade, now that Safeway has pulled out and left a huge piece of land behind that is crying out to be developed.
Full disclosure here: I love the eastside, but still love Seattle.
We have the best of both worlds here. The eastside is growing and becoming more interesting, but Seattle has exciting things to offer. It’s only a bridge away and we don’t have to cross it unless we choose to. But the reality is, Seattle and the eastside each benefit from each other.
Clearly it’s harder to sell a home and even more difficult to sell a boat these days. However, there were a lot of people out at The Seattle Boat Show this past weekend, looking over some pretty snazzy boats.
Realtors and boat brokers are pulling out all the stops or they should be to get homes and boats sold. Everyone’s getting into staging to sell lifestyles these days. People, if they are buying at all, want to buy a lifestyle, whether it’s a boat or a home. Agents must be top notch marketers and convey the lifestyle and the ambiance of a living in a home or of cruising on a boat.
Down at this week’s The Seattle Boat Show there are some gorgeous, staged boats. Here’s an example of what one boat broker did to “dress up” a boat for sale and set the stage for living and using the boat. The room descriptions in parentheses are for those of you who are landlubbers.
The salon (main living area) was nicely decorated with its own flat screen TV, which was designed to pop out only when in use, a nice settee, and chairs. Notice the beautiful wood used throughout the boat.
The galley (kitchen) came complete with granite counters and stainless steel appliances.
Both staterooms had elegant heads (master baths) decorated with granite counters, undermount sinks and the expected fluffy towels and white shell decoration.
Each state room (bedroom) came complete with a queen sized bed decked out with an elegant spread and decorative pillows. Notice the plant to the side of the bed and the decorative throw casually tossed on the bed.
The space felt like a small condo, a very small, nicely decorated condo with a water view. So how much is a little piece of heaven or should I say water worth? About one million dollars.
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in December 2008ranged from a low of 3% to a high of 12%, with an average 8% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.) Numbers will be rounded off to the nearest whole number, unless the number is exactly .5% between two numbers.
Here are the real estate statistics for single family home sales activity on Seattle’s Eastside:
December 2008 3169 homes available 243 homes sold, 8% chance of selling.
November 2008 3640 homes available 323 homes sold, 9% chance of selling.
December 2007 2594 homes available, 295 homes sold, 11% chance of selling.
Sellers had 11 % chance of getting a home sold, the UP from 9% last month and DOWN from 12% last year. Median home prices were DOWN, from $639,900 to $516,750. Inventory was up by 4% and sales were down by 1% from last year.
Sellers had a 11% chance of getting a home sold, DOWN from 12%, and DOWN from 16 % last year. Median sales price decreased from $589,500 to $544,475, a decrease of 8%. Inventory was up 18.5% and sales were down 18%.
Sellers had an 6% chance of getting a home sold, DOWN from 9% last month and DOWN from 9% last year. Median price decreased by 10% from $599,975 to $539,950. Inventory was up 7% and sales were down 26.5%.
Sellers had a 7% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 8% last month and DOWN from 9% last year. Median price was down to $399,970 from $549,000, a 27% decrease. Inventory was up by 41% from last year and sales were down by 6%.
Sellers had a 6% chance of selling a home, UP from 5% last month and DOWN from 10% last year. Median price increased by 3%, to $694,450 from $676,475. Inventory was up by 17% and sales were down by 35%.
Sellers had a 3% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 7% last month, and DOWN from 10% last year. Median pricing decreased by 15% to $935,000 from $1,099,000. Inventory increased by 60% and sales decreased by 44%.
Sellers had a 7% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 12% from last month, and DOWN from 12% last year. Median pricing increased by 3% from $651,975 to $669,970. Inventory increased by 36% and sales decreased by 20%.
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Some milestones for December, 2008:
It was the toughest month to sell a home located on Education Hill.
Inventory dropped by 500 homes and there were 80 less sales than November on Seattle’s eastside.
The median price in North Kirkland, Woodinville, and Duvall fell under $400,000 for the only time in 2008.
Some big numbers: Inventory was up by 41% in the Woodinville area.
Inventory was up by 60% and sales were down by 44% in West Bellevue.
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Some year end thoughts on the eastside real estate market, many of which will be no big surprise if you are following real estate news:
Every area on the eastside experienced increased inventory and decreased sales when compared to last year. Every area saw a drop in the median price point, although in some months the median price went up. Kirkland is a great example of this. Several months of the year saw an increase in median pricing, although most months did not. People need to remember that an individual month’s real estate statistics reflects only the sales for that month, so, for example, if more expensive homes sold this year in December than last year, the median pricing for this December will be higher. It’s fair to say, no area experienced an increase in median price when the full year’s real estate statistics are evaluated. This is abundantly clear when we see almost every month in every area had more homes for sale and less sales than last year.
The silver lining at the end of the year? Inventory for the year is down dramatically. There were 500 less homes on the market in December than in November, 2008.
This year the uncertainty of the market continues. The latest news, with a possible impact on eastside real estate, is rumored reorganization/layoffs at Microsoft, one of our biggest employers on the eastside. The Seattle Times also had a story about Microsoft in today’s paper, but the rumors have been swirling for weeks. Hopefully, things will turn to a more positive note with a fresh start in The White House. I’m pleased to see the year start with less homes on the market than we saw in mid 2008, however, pricing is still significantly lower than last year. Sellers need to be prepared for the market before listing a home. Staging, competitive pricing, and stellar marketing are all key. Homes that meet these criteria will sell, but pricing will be dictated by the competition and the real estate market.
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Below you will find the real estate statistics for November:
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in November 2008ranged from a low of 5% to a high of 12%, with an average 9% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.) Numbers will be rounded off to the nearest whole number, unless the number is exactly .5% between two numbers.
Here are the real estate statistics for single family home sales activity on Seattle’s Eastside:
November 2008 3640 homes available 323 homes sold, 9% chance of selling.
October 2008 3975 homes available, 320 homes sold, 8% chance of selling.
November 2007 3141 homes available, 423 homes sold, 13.5% chance of selling.
Sellers had a 9 % chance of getting a home sold, the SAME as 9% last month and DOWN from 13% last year. Median home prices were DOWN, from $558,944 to $552,500. Inventory was up by 3% and sales were down by 26% from last year.
Sellers had a 12% chance of getting a home sold, UP from 11%, and DOWN from 15 % last year. Median sales price decreased from $521,475 to $479,000, a decrease of 8%. Inventory was up 10% and sales were down 8%.
Sellers had an 9% chance of getting a home sold, UP from 8% last month and DOWN from 12% last year. Median price increased by 13% to $685,000 from $605,000. Inventory was up 6% and sales were down 21%.
Sellers had a 8% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 9% last month and DOWN from 14% last year. Median price was down to $411,750 from $492,975, a 16.5% decrease. Inventory was up by 26% from last year and sales were down by 27%.
Sellers had a 5% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 6% last month and DOWN from 11% last year. Median price increased by 7%, to $739,950 from $689,975. Inventory was up by 13% and sales were down by 52%.
Sellers had a 7% chance of selling a home, UP from 6% last month, and DOWN from 9% last year. Median pricing decreased by 26% to $996,500 from $1,349,000. Inventory increased by 40% and sales decreased by 16%.
Sellers had a 12% chance of selling a home, UP from 7% from last month, and DOWN from 19% last year. Median pricing decreased by 4% from $585,000 to $559,900. Inventory increased by 31% and sales decreased by 16%.
The number of homes for sale on the eastside continued its decline below the 4000 mark for the second month in a row
Median prices have dropped back in most neighborhoods, hovering at the last quarter of 2005 and the first quarter 2006 levels. In most areas, median prices are down from last November, 2007, but Kirkland and South Bellevue prices are not lower than the November 2007 prices. Remember, the median pricing for the month reflects only the sales for that month, not the median pricing for the full year. Sellers in Kirkland continue to have the weakest absorption rate for the eastside. In most of the Seattle/Eastside neighborhoods, besides the median pricing being lower than last year, inventory is up, and sales are down. West Bellevue had stronger sales this year than last, the only area on the eastside to do so. However, the 16% increase in sales in West Bellevue translates to 22 from 19 sales in 2007.
Recently a real estate agent called me about one of the homes I have for sale. He had a buyer who was interested in buying the home. The buyer wanted to make an offer. However, the home buyer wouldn’t make an offer unless they first heard whether the seller was “negotiable.“I told the other real estate agent, I could only tell him the asking price for the home. I couldn’t tell him or anyone else for that matter, what the seller would do with an offer to purchase his home. It’s the homeowner’s decision, not mine, and often homeowners don’t know what they’ll do until they see the whites of a buyer’s eyes and the blue ink of a contract. If this buyer wanted to make an offer on my listing, then I suggested the buyer put pen to paper. The seller could look at all the terms of the offer, including the price, and then make a decision. Without an offer, there was no decision to be made.
The other agent insisted I have a conversation with the seller or no offer. I warned this agent, in all kinds of markets in the past, when sellers had been asked this question there was the typical “knee-jerk” reaction with something like: “Let’s see an offer “ or “no way”. This buyer risked the seller responding like this, because no seller will take any buyer seriously who won’t show them the money.
Maybe other real estate agents will answer this question when asked, but according to license law, we agents have a fiduciary responsibility to our client, in this case, the seller. This means we can’t speak for the seller. If you’re a serious buyer, show the seller the money and write an offer the homeowners, not the Realtor, can then respond to.
So home buyers, step up to the plate. If a home seller is educated about the market and realistic, they’ll listen to your offer. Can the offer offend the seller and be rejected? Yes, but it can also be countered with a different price or accepted. Our job as real estate agents, and as advisers to a home seller, is to work through the offer price and terms to help a sellers come to a decision. Maybe the decision will be to reject the offer, maybe it’s a counter, and maybe, even maybe, it’s acceptance. But if you’re not willing to write an offer and show sellers the money, you and the sellers will never really know what they would have done. We do know without the offer you won’t be buying the house and the seller won’t be selling it to you.
What have you seen happening in the marketplace? How would you respond to the other agent’s question?
Okay, I’m the one out there talking about web 2.0 marketing and social networking. I do a lot of marketing for my listings on the internet, but I’m coming a little late to social networking.It’s been on my to-do list for a while, but somehow, I could not seem to find the time between working as a Realtor, blogging on 4 different blogs, following about 20 blogs on Google Reader, writing occasional articles for my local newspaper, reading the Sunday New York Times, listening to NPR, reading books, eating, sleeping, spending time with friends and family, taking photos of local events, and working out.
A few weeks back I received an email about a social networking webinar being put on by Jim Cronin of The Real Estate Tomato and Brian Brady , mortgage broker extraordinaire, blogger, writer, and speaker. He’s a contributor to one of the premier real estate blogs, the Bloodhound blog. Jim has a business in which he advises Realtors on web 2.0 marketing and blogging.Brian Brady uses social networking like it’s been part of his life for years.He’s a master at it.So I sat down at my laptop for 1 ½ hours and listened to Brian and Jim talk about LinkedIn, “the business, buttoned up” networking site, Facebook, the “casual Friday”, and MySpace, “the Saturday night” of social networking.(Brian’s characterizations, and good ones)
A week and a half later, I still hadn’t done much more than sign up on Facebook, a pretty weak start. This past Saturday morning, I had a message from a friend asking me to join her on Facebook and I was off and running.I posted some photos of myself and my husband, David, and, most importantly, of Henry our dog.I filled out my interests, my activities, my schools, place of birth, and place of work.And then the connections started coming.
My husband decided it was also his time to join Facebook.We sat dueling it out on our computers, calling out the number of friends we were up to.We were both hooked.But he beat me, hands down.He has far more friends than I do!On his first foray on Facebook, he ended up with 48 friends, while I ended up with only 23.Since he is an ex-techie from Amazon, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.His community is pretty wired.
I’ve connected with people from high school, college, California, an art gallery, family, neighbors, and a few past clients.Will Facebook be an asset for me in my real estate career?Time will tell.My guess is it will give me the chance to connect with people on a more casual, personal level. It’s an opportunity for anyone and everyone from my business and personal connections to know more about me as a person. Besides, I think it’ll be fun!
I’m curious, how has Facebook has been working for you?Do you find it more of a truly social, fun site or is it a networking opportunity, too?
Guest Post from Steve Tedrow of Windermere Mortgage Services LLC/East:
The government has initiated their buying of mortgage backed securities as part of their recent plan. This has been received very favorably in the markets and has caused interest rates to start dropping again. 30 year fixed rate conforming loans are back into the 4.625-4.75% range. Hopefully, as conditions begin to improve, we will see investors start to get back in the market for jumbo loans so those rates will come down as well.
The experts I listen most closely to are predicting an improved year over last year. The Fed and the Treasury will continue to add lots of stimulus to our economy (like buying billions and billions of dollars of mortgage backed securities). The improvement will obviously take a little time. We shouldn’t expect any rate cuts since there is nothing to cut. When we do see a rate hike, that should be a welcome sign since it should be a sign of an improving economy.
One certainty is that there will continue to be extreme volatility in stocks, bonds, and mortgage rates. Their prediction for mortgages rates this year will be in the 4.5 – 5% range (unless there are any special government sponsored programs).
Conforming rates are the lowest they have been in decades.
And for an interesting news item for today…..
In a historic move, the Bank of England lowered their benchmark interest rate by .50% to 1.5%. Now get this – the benchmark rate has NEVER been this low since King William III founded the central bank in 1694 to fund a war against Louis XIV’s France. The rate began at 6% and fell no lower than 4% throughout the 18th century. It touched 2% several times in the second half of the 19th century. The central bank held it at that level throughout the Great Depression and World War II until 1951. These sure are historic times.
Birthday cake was served and tours were given of the house. We saw the pink bedroom, the true honeymoon hideaway,
the master bath with its free-standing tub,
the gorgeous living room with its 64 foot long built-in couch, the dining room. the pool area, and the escape route Elvis and Priscilla used to leave the house to fly to Las Vegas for the wedding ceremony.
Hounded by the paparazzi of the day, Rona Barrett, a Hollywood gossip columnist, Elvis decided the ceremony could not be held at the house as originally planned. He and Priscilla escaped by taking the path which led to the back of the property. Frank Sinatra had a car waiting to take the couple to his jet and off to Las Vegas.
Memorabilia is all over the house, from photos to newspaper articles,
juke boxes. and guitars.
The can of Charles potato chips brought different memories back for me. I remember Charles Chips being delivered to my parents’ door when I was a kid in Connecticut. Charles Chips are another ’60′s icon.
Mid-century Modern Architecture and Real Estate
The house is also fascinating from a real estate/architectural perspective. Built by the Alexanders, a family of builders, who built huge neighborhoods in Southern California, mostly in Los Angeles area and Palm Springs, the house is iconic not only because of Elvis, but because of its design. The house was featured in LOOK magazine, a mid-century pictorial, shortly after the home was built. The entire house is a set of round forms on different levels, there’s not a square room in the house.
Designed in 1962 as “The House of Tomorrow’” by the architecture firm of Palmer and Krisel and built for a mighty sum of $300,000, Helen Alexander fell in love with the house her husband had built, so he gave it to her. The house set the tone for much of mid-century modern architecture by incorporating indoor and outdoor spaces. The big windows captured the views of the mountains, bringing the outdoors inside. The peanut brittle stone and terrazzo flooring was carried from the interior to the exterior of the home.
William Krisel and the Alexanders went on to build homes for the low and moderate income families in the area. The Alexanders were prolific builders in post-war America, building huge neighborhoods of more affordable homes.
According to architectural historian Alan Hess: “They (Palmer and Krisel team) brought excellent and elegant modern design to mass-produced housing.”
Homes all over Palm Springs were built with the trademark butterfly roof, huge windows and simple lines. The homes were between 1200 and 2500 square feet, often with 3 bedrooms and 1 3/4 baths. Clean lines, open spaces, and simple materials were the trademarks of the Alexander homes. Today, these homes are being beautifully remodeled and refurbished, utilizing the best of the clean and simple designs.
Bellevue’s Lake Hills neighborhood is a huge neighborhood of similarly styled homes, mostly built in the 1950′s. View Larger Map The ’50′s in Bellevue, saw housing on Seattle’s eastside explode, much like California and the California desert. The end of WWII and the completion of the Mercer Island floating bridge opened the Seattle/eastside for real estate development. The ramblers of Lake Hills, with their big windows, simple lines, and modest spaces, were similar to the Alexander homes and represent some of the first big growth of housing developments and suburban neighborhoods on Seattle’s Eastside.
Back to Elvis:
You, too, can rent Elvis’ honeymoon cottage, for a fee. Click on the second link above to find out all about it.
I just turned down my first listing for 2009. The seller needs to get a certain price out of the sale of his home, a price the market will not bear. There ‘s absolutely no reason to take this listing, because the home won’t sell at the price the seller needs. The real estate market is not about what the seller needs. It’s about what the buyer is willing to pay. Those who really need and want to sell in this market will sell if the home is not overpriced. As Realtors we can’t change the overall economy, but we can contribute positively to the state of the real estate market by only taking listings that are priced right.
The real estate agent 2009 resolution:
Just “say no” to overpriced listings.
Tell sellers the reality of the marketplace.
Don’t list a home unless the seller is on board with today’s pricing, condition, and marketing.
Worried about Seattle’s below freezing temperatures? Worrried about possible freezing pipes? KIRO TV had an excellent story with information straight from The American Red Cross about how to protect your water pipes during this unusual cold snap.
Guest Post written by Steve Tedrow, Windermere Mortgage
While the mortgage market continues to generate a lot of chatter in both the media and in Washington, interest rates are currently near or at all-time lows. If you or anyone you know are looking to take advantage of these low rates, let me explain why now is the time to act.
Lately there has been talk about the 4.5% 30-year fixed rate mortgage. Will it become a reality though? Right now, no one really knows. Homeowners who could benefit from a lower interest rate need to know that even if 4.5% becomes a reality from Washington’s actions, it would only be available to home buyers, not homeowners seeking to better their rate. If you need to refinance, you will be left out.
You also may have heard about Hope for Homeowners, which is a program approved by legislators to help distressed homeowners. However, regardless of its best intentions, the program has not been embraced by investors, and it is not available to many it could help.
The bottom line is, the Fed announced recently that they are going to buy up to $600 billion in mortgage-backed securities. This has already driven rates to historical lows. In January, the SEC is meeting and information may be released that could have a significant bearing on rates, potentially for the worse.
Waiting to obtain the best rate is only possible for those with loan applications already in process. Interest rates are incredibly volatile and fluctuations that used to take months are now occurring in just days or even hours. If you don’t have an application in process, you could lose out.
We are already seeing lender backlog due to low interest rates. In 2003, with rates at these same low levels, we saw some lenders taking up to 90 days to close a loan.
Home loan rates are currently in the high 4% range. Home values are significantly lower than their high peak several years ago. If you–or friends and family members you know–are contemplating seeking financing, now is the time to act.
With a first time home buyer tax credit of up to $7,500 and low money down programs available for many people today, now is a great time to buy a home.
I recently wrote a post about Windermere Real Estate/East, Inc.’s Target for Kids program and then happened to see this article in The Bellevue Reporter about the Windermere Foundation. The Windermere Foundation works towards the elimination of homelessness and supports programs which foster a sense of stability in people’s lives. Looking at the Target for Kids story and the article about the Windermere Foundation got me to thinking in a different way about the question: Are you hiring the Realtor or the Realtor’s company when you hire a real estate agent to represent you?
There’s a lot of discussion on real estate blogs about the importance to the consumer of the individual Realtor and/or the real estate company. Russell Shaw wrote on Agent Genius about the future of national real estate brands:
“If not, what are those “brands” worth? Not much. Why? They don’t stand for anything. To matter, a brand must mean something in the mind of the public and few national real estate firms have ever done that and then managed to hold on to their position.”
I agree with most of the blogs, the Realtor is the one who gets the job done for you. It’s not the company. There are great Realtors at every company, large and small.
Some Realtors have a higher level of experience along with a greater understanding of the real estate market, builders, housing, real estate statistics, real estate marketing, contracts, and negotiation skills. The Realtor who brings cutting edge information and innovative marketing techniques to the table is gold in any market.
That being said, does the real estate company where a Realtor works matter to you, the consumer? Some companies offer cutting edge websites, better technology, better training for their agents, and the best in legal support. Some companies and their agents have a strong reputation for getting the job done, helping the consumer buy or sell a home.
As an independent contractor, I have complete freedom to choose where to hang my real estate license. I could work for brand X or Y real estate company. I chose Windermere Real Estate for a lot of reasons. Many of my reasons match what Windermere Real Estate has in its tool box for the consumer. The breadth of knowledge and support provided by the company is a huge reason for me to work for Windermere. It makes me a stronger Realtor and it makes what I bring to the table that much more valuable. With today’s low absorption rate, the smaller number of homes getting sold, it’s critical for a real estate company and a real estate agent to pull out all the stops.
But, I haven’t read much in articles or on blog posts about working for a real estate company that gives back to community as a reason for a Realtor to choose that company. Russell Shaw said above: “To matter, a brand must mean something in the mind of the public.” Windermere has a strong brand name in the western United States and a sterling reputation because of its quality of service and because “giving back” is a company priority. Giving back to the community is also a priority for me. I like working for a company that remembers those in need, especially during these times. According to the article in The Bellevue Reporter, the Windermere offices on the eastside of Seattle contributed $162,000 to:
There are a lot of reasons to choose a Realtor and a real estate company to represent you. The Realtor is far and away the most important consideration for a consumer, but it’s not just the Realtor you are choosing. From where I sit, the real estate company matters.
Everyone worries so much about whether our equity is secure when we buy a home, and rightfully so, but what about good old “terra firma”? In the Seattle area, people buying homes rarely investigate whether a home is in a slide zone or close to a fault line. Shouldn’t this be something buyers investigate? If you want a home that will stand the test of time both financially and structurally, you may want to check Dave’s Landslide blog. The blog discusses the book, Landslides and Engineering Geology of the Seattle, Washington Area, published by The Geological Society of America has been recently published and includes an analysis of the area with maps.
From Dave’s landslide blog: “This volume brings together case studies and summary papers describing the application of state-of-the-art engineering geologic methods to landslide hazard analysis for the Seattle, Washington, area.
Should you check out the land? I honestly cannot remember the last time a home buyer checked maps for slide zones or had a geological study done of a property. If you don’t want to buy or read this book, pay a visit to your local city hall. Some municipalities will have maps of slide areas available for you to look at. It can be eye opening. That beautiful ravine you so admire for privacy when you look at a home, can be the edge of a slide area. Check it out and make sure you are buying on firm ground.
Saturday morning a number of Windermere Realtors from the eastside offices met at Target in Factoria to help some local kids buy Christmas gifts for their families. Windermere Real Estate/East, Inc, one of the largest Seattle/Eastside real estate companies, sponsors an annual holiday program, Target for Kids, to help kids buy Christmas presents for their families. The company decided a number of years ago to forgo a Christmas party and have a “shoppping party” for kids.
We had to be at Target at 7:45 AM to meet our shoppers. This was slightly better than the usual 6:45 AM meeting time when I usually have to keep my eyes open with toothpicks! My Windermere office, the Yarrow Bay office, worked with children from Kirkland’s Boys and Girls Club. The kids are always very appreciative and fun to shop with. Each Realtor is armed with a gift card for $175.00 and a list of gift requests from the shopper’s family. With that and a warm coffee for me, we were off and cruising the aisles, ready to shop.
This year I was assigned to help an 11 year old boy from John Muir Elementary School. He knew exactly what his brothers wanted and quickly zeroed in on gifts. Our only disappointment was one brother wanted Sonic the Hedghog, but it (he) was nowhere to be found in Target. My shopper settled on some Transformers for his brother. This year my shopper was able to buy two gifts for each brother since each of the gifts ran on average $20.00. The kids do not know that they also are able to pick a gift out for themselves. It’s a nice surprise for them.
After we shop, the gifts went to a wrapping area where a group of Windermere wrappers (no, not rappers) worked hard to get all the gifts in holiday wrapping paper. Those of us who had braved the aisles and were heavily shopping could then kick back and relax.
The kids are always appreciative and fun to shop with. It is one of the highlights of the season for me.
Dress up like a drag queen or Marilyn Monroe, get the spirits out of your home with the Native American tradition of smudging or use a little feng shui. Some interesting ideas to generate traffic and interest were presented on this morning’s Today show.
Funny, I thought it was price and condition that got buyer’s attention and a home sold!
Seattle is ahead of many areas with the cohousing options, some of which I mentioned in a previous post.
What is cohousing?
Cohousing is the new extended family, a community in which people live and work together to maintain the neighborhood. Think sustainable living, smaller carbon footprints, the synergy of community, and you have some of the principles of cohousing.
The New York Times had an interesting article about cohousing opportunities in a new development in Brooklyn. Selling a complete new development to a cohousing group means a developer can move the whole complex in one fell swoop. The opportunity for a cohousing neighborhood helps the economy and provides a cohesive friendly neighborhood environment. It’s not fre everyone, but it’s an interesting concept.
I’ll never forget the time sellers contacted me to sell their home and they were pretty excited because they had done some updating before they called me. When I arrived at their home and took a look, my heart just sank. They had spent a lot of money on updating the carpet and many of the fixtures in the house. However, the carpet was a different color in every room! Teal was the main color throughout most of the house, but some of the bedrooms had pink carpet and others had blue. If this home had been in New England, it would have been fine. In New England, I’ve seen a lot of the homes with different carpet in each room, but not in the Seattle area. Carpet is usually one neutral tone throughout the house.
Every year The National Association of Realtors publishes a list comparing cost vs. value of different remodeling. The list breaks down different remodeling projects and the value of the remodel in each part of the country. Remodeling projects which “sell in Peoria” do not necessarily “sell in the Seattle” area.
According to the NAR report, the big “six” remodels in the West/Pacific region are :
” a wood deck addition, a minor kitchen remodel, fiber-cement siding replacement, wood window replacement, and an upscale wood and vinyl window replacement.”
“Similarly, the cost recouped on a given remodeling project depends on a wide variety of factors. These include the condition of the rest of a house, the value of similar homes nearby, and the rate at which property values are changing in the surrounding area. A home’s urban, suburban, or rural setting also affects its value, as does the availability and cost of new and existing homes in the immediate vicinity.”
The most important questions to ask yourself first:
1. Is this a remodel that will fit my lifestyle and pocket book?
2. Will I enjoy the changes I make to my home?
Then seek the advice of a Realtor you trust before you start any remodel. Contact a Realtor who is market savvy, knows your neighborhood, and will be willing to spend the time with you, even though you are not selling. Your Realtor should be able to give you solid advice about where you should spend, and not spend, your money. Get the answers to these questions:
What are the homes worth in your neighborhood?
How does your home compare to the others in the neighborhood?
Will your remodel add value to your home in your neighborhood?
How does the remodeling project fit with the rest of your home?
Will you price yourself out of the neighborhood?
What are the popular colors and materials in the area that will help maintain the value of your home?
Is your home located close to economic and transportation hubs which will help maintain its value in the future?
Will a remodel help balance any negative factors in your home?
Remodeling is a balancing act in which you as the homeowner have to measure how much the remodel means to you, your lifestyle, and your pocketbook as it compares to the future resale value of your home. It can also help to balance and counteract other features of a home. For example, if your home backs to a busy road, not only should your home be priced to accommodate the road noise when you go to sell, your home should be updated and upgraded to be more of a value to a potential buyer. A home in a noisy location will often be dismissed by buyers. But, if it is beautifully remodeled, it may help to counteract the negative location.
But please, do yourself a favor and get all the facts clear in your mind before you begin a project. Check out the link to the cost vs. value list above, spend time evaluating your wants and needs, talk to some contractors and to a trusted Realtor before you proceed.
I’m a baby boomer. Because of my aging parents, I’ve gotten involved in senior issues over the last few years. I have one parent remaining, my step-Dad, who after 41 years in my life, I think of us as my Dad. He’s not doing well right now, but is in a safe, loving environment.
I know many friends and clients have been through what I’ve been going through. I hear stories of people running to see their parents in another part of the country because they’ve had to find a safe home or a less costly place for their parents to live. Accessibility and affordability for seniors is a serious issue. With our aging population, it will only become worse.
I had to rethink my parents living situation both from a monetary and an accessible point of view. For them living in a safe place where they could have assistance was the most important thing. They couldn’t stay in their home on their own. So I relocated them from Connecticut to Kirkland, Washington five years ago to be near one of their children, me.
So many seniors are facing these same issues here on Seattle’s Eastside. Some of the more expensive areas, Medina, Clyde Hill, Kirkland, and South Bellevue, have some of older homes which are still in the hands of the original owners. When these homes were purchased 40 or 50 years ago, these neighborhoods were considered nice suburban areas, but nothing like they are today. Today, many of the homes in these areas are surrounded by million dollar properties, causing property taxes to rise significantly. The cost of staying in a home can be a huge problem for seniors because of increasing property tax bills. I’ve heard countless stories of seniors forced out of their homes because they can’t afford to pay the real estate taxes for a home which they’ve occupied for half a century.
I’m always intrigued when I learn about new ways to help seniors with housing and real estate. Having aging parents led me to volunteer for The Kirkland Senior Council these past three years where I had the opportunity to learn more about the issues seniors face. I pay attention to seniors and real estate.
Last week I noticed a post on the Sellsius Real Estate blog regarding the way property taxes are handled for seniors in British Columbia. Those Canadians have an interesting plan with programs set up for seniors to defer or refinance their property taxes. The goal is to keep the senior home owner in their home.
Here is the nuts and bolts of what’s happening in British Columbia according to the Sellsius blog:
“Simply, it is a low interest loan offered by the province (state) to the homeowner. The province, on behalf of the homeowner, then pays those property taxes owed to the civic authorities.
Highlights:The British Columbia Property Tax Deferment Program is a loan program that allows home owners to defer their annual property taxes on their homes subject to eligibility criteria.
you must be at least 55 years old
you must be a Canadian citizen or be a permanent resident who has lived in British Columbia for at least one year prior to applying for the program
it applies only to your principal residence
deferment applies to all or some of your tax owed
taxes can be deferred as long as you own and live in your home and continue to qualify for the program
the deferred taxes must be fully repaid, with interest when either of these occur (a) before your home can be legally transferred to a new owner, other than directly to your surviving spouse, (b)upon the death of the agreement holder(s)
you may repay all or part of the deferred taxes, fees and interest at any time without penalty
simple interest is charged on deferment accounts at a rate not greater than 2% below the prime rate of the Province’s principal banker.
What’s your thought? Should we create a program similar to this so seniors can stay in their homes? Are there other programs you’ve heard of that could help seniors financially with things such as property taxes?
All together, 2430 pounds of food were donated to Western Washington’s Food Lifeline. Congratulations to all who participated.
Most of you know Zillow and Windermere Real Estate, but not the Windermere Foundation. Begun in 1989, The Foundation is an organization dedicated to fighting homelessness and helping those who are less fortunate. Windermere donates to the foundation from each real estate transaction. Each Windermere Realtor can also donate a portion of his/her commission to support the foundation. Over the years, Windermere Real Estate has given to such organizations as Habitat for Humanity, Second Harvest, The Boys and Girls Club, just to name a few.
Speaking of the need for food, I wrote about the empty shelves in eastside food banks. Eastside food banks are struggling mightily this year. Hopelink is in need of more food to give out at its food banks. The city of Kirkland and its neighborhoods have rallied around Hopelink with a neighborhood competition to raise cash and food donations. If you are able to donate even a small amount of money or some food, it can go a long way. Here’s how you can help Hopelink.
My brother was not really trying to rub it in, but maybe a little, when he send me a link to an article from the New York Times, not about the state of real estate in the Pacific Northwest, but about the state of professional sports. He, of course, lives in the land of the New York Yankees and the Giants.
Real estate and sports are two of the hottest topics at cocktail parties, in the news, around the office cooler, and on the internet. Both topics are acceptable for everyone to talk about, unlike politics and religion.
One of the hottest years for real estate and Seattle sports teams was in 2005. The real estate market was booming. The Seahawks went to the Superbowl and the Sonics were in the playoffs. Seattle was a shining star in both sports and real estate. We were hot! People from other parts of the country cast a jealous eye on us. Not only were we strong in real estate and having a good year in sports back then, we also had Microsoft, Starbucks, Boeing, Amazon, and Washington Mutual. Everything was positive about the Seattle area.
Fast forward to 2008 and the Sonics are gone, the Seahawks are in the tank and real estate is suffering. Starbucks is closing some stores and WaMu, well, you know about them.
Everything goes in cycles and we’re at the bottom of the cycle. Although, it may take a while to get back up, I’m betting on Seattle/Eastside real estate coming back before many other areas of the country. Our economy is stronger than most, so should bounce back more quickly. Now for our sports teams…..what’s your bet?
Sellers had a 12% chance of selling a condo on Seattle’s Eastside in October, 2008. ( click on 2008 year to date statistics in the link above for a chart showing the condo report)
October, 2008 1324 condos for sale, 153 condos sold, 12% chance of selling.
September, 2008 1414 condos for sale, 173 condos sold, 12% chance of selling.
October, 2007 1121 condos for sale, 202 condos sold, 18 % chance of selling.
The number of condos/ town homes for sale on the Eastside is dropping from its summer high. The chance of selling a condo, however, has remained pretty constant throughout the year with 12-13% of the available condos selling each month.
Median pricing was down this month by about 13%, dropping from $345,416 to $300,215. Inventory is up by 18% from last October and sales have dropped by 24%.
I’ve seen some great condos sell and all of the ones that have sold were well priced and showed well, the key to success in this market. Sellers must be ahead of the curve in pricing or they stay among the pack of available condos.
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in October 2008ranged from a low of 6% to a high of 11%, with an average 8% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.) Numbers will be rounded off to the nearest whole number, unless the number is exactly .5% between two numbers.
Here are the real estate statistics for single family home sales activity on Seattle’s Eastside:
October 2008 3975 homes available, 320 sold, 8% chance of selling.
September 2008 4117 homes available, 513 sold, 12% chance of selling.
October 2007 3398 homes available, 461 sold, 14% chance of selling.
Sellers had a 9 % chance of getting a home sold, DOWN from 14% last month and DOWN from 17% last year. Median home prices were essentially the same, from $559,000 to $559,194. Inventory was up by 13% and sales were down by 40% from last year.
Sellers had a 11% chance of getting a home sold, the SAME as last month, and DOWN from 14 % last year. Median sales price decreased from $609,950 to $484,725, a decrease of 20.5%. Inventory was up 13% and sales were down 10%.
Sellers had an 8% chance of getting a home sold, the same as last month, and DOWN from 12% last year. Median price decreased by 14% to $569,900 from $664,950. Inventory was up 5% and sales were down 32%.
Sellers had a 9% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 12% last month and DOWN from 13% last year. Median price was down to $533,925 from $549,250, a 3% decrease. Inventory was up by 17.5% from last year and sales were down by 17%.
Sellers had a 6% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 9% last month and DOWN from 11% last year. Median price increased by 8%, to $709,475 from $657,475. Inventory was up by 17% and sales were up down by 41%.
Sellers had a 6% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 8% last month, and DOWN from 10% last year. Median pricing decreased by 6% to $1,399,000 from $1,492,000. Inventory increased by 45.5% and sales decreased by 9%.
Sellers had a 7% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 17% from last month, and DOWN from 16% last year. Median pricing decreased by 21% (oops, typo of 421% before!) from $599,475 to $472,425. Inventory increased by 24% and sales decreased by 44%.
October has been the toughest month to get a home sold on the eastside so far this year. This is not a big surprise, given the volatility of the economy, the bailout, and the pre-election jitters. Most neighborhoods saw the chances of selling drop to the single digits, with the exception being the East Bellevue and Redmond area around Microsoft. Eleven percent of the homes for sale in that area received offers last month, while it was toughest to get a home sold in Kirkland as only 6% of the homes sold.
Every area on the eastside experienced a decline in the number of sales when compared to October of last year. Ironically, most of this September’s sales were higher than September of last year. The number of homes for sale on the Eastside has dropped back below 4000 homes for the first time this year.
Median prices have dropped back, in many cases, to 2006 levels. In some areas, such as East Bellevue and Redmond around Microsoft, the median price has dropped below $500,000 for the first time since the beginning of 2006. Even though the number of sales are down, the median price continues to jump up or down. In Kirkland, the toughest area for a sale last month, prices went up almost 8%, while in Sammamish, sales were down, but prices remained stable. As I’ve mentioned in the past, it’s important to look at trends in each area over a few months. Prices and sales go up and down in each area and there isn’t always a correlation between the two.
Will things continue to drop or will they stabilize? Having the election behind us and giving the country a more optimistic focus than we have seen in a long time, it will be interesting to follow. It take a few months after the election before we see any changes.
But if you follow Forbes magazine, Seattle is looked at as the number one city to bounce back.
Homes and lifestyles are changing. The dream of the suburban home with a yard, the two (or three) car garage filled with 2 cars still works for some people, but many people are rethinking how they want to live. A lifestyle is emerging all over the country and in the Puget Sound area called cohousing. Cohousing is the new extended family, a community in which people live and work together to maintain the neighborhood. Think sustainable living, smaller carbon footprints, the synergy of community, and you have some of the principles of cohousing.
Want to learn about it? This weekend there’s a cohousing fair in South Seattle where you can learn more about the communities and the cohousing lifestyle. I wrote about the cohousing fair on the Seattle PI Real Estate Professionals Blog. If you click on the link you’ll find out more information about the fair and the communities that exist around Puget Sound.
There are several cohousing communities on the eastside. Clearwater Commons, New Earth Song Cohousing, which is right next door to Songaia Cohousing are all located in Bothell, Washington. New Earth Song has a focus on seniors and helping them to stay in their homes, age-in-place, and not move to communities that are just for seniors.
Cohousing may or may not be for you, but it’s good to know about alternative real estate and living choices. Things are no longer the same, as we all know, and many people are curious about more affordable, greener ways of living. Check it out!
James Lupori of Kenmore Undressed commented on my post in which I had said I’d been down in the California desert for some work (some) and some play (lots). I told him I hadn’t taken a lot of pictures, but thought I would share some of the differences with the architecture and real estate down there as compared to the Northwest.
In Seattle, people are more private about who owns what and where it is located. Most people know where Bill Gates’ home is, especially since the tour boats go by everyday in the summer. But there are many celebrities’ homes that are hidden away and private. There’s a different celebrity mentality in the desert, possibly because of the Hollywood “glamor” influence. Homes become associated either with the famous person who lived or lives in the home or the architect who designed it. There’s the Elizabeth Taylor house, the Frank Sinatra house, and the Bob Hope house, just to name a few.
There’s The Kaufmann House in Palm Springs, which I wrote about this past spring when it went to auction at Sotheby’s as an art piece and sold for $15 million.
The Kaufmanns were a Pittsburgh department store family who had, arguably, one of the most iconic mid-century homes built in the California desert. The Kaufmanns built the home in the 1940′s, but the home will forever be associated with them, even though it is on its 3rd (or 4th) owner!
While in the desert, I had the good fortune to be invited to The Dinah Shore house. This home is privately owned, but was opened for a party. Donald Wexler, an architect famous for his mid-century modern designs which decorate the Coachella Valley, created the home. (If you click on the link to Wexler, you can see photos of his work, including the Dinah Shore house.) With unbelievable spaces, clean lines, high ceilings, walls of glass framing the mountain views, and fabulous materials, the home is drop dead gorgeous. (I feel like I’m writing a real estate ad.)
In Seattle and on the eastside, there are some neighborhoods with the mid-century flair, but they are few and far between. I wrote a piece a couple of months ago about Hilltop in Bellevue, a unique neighborhood of mid-century homes built by Seattle architects in the late 40′s and early 50′s. Lake Hills, built in the 1950′s, in Bellevue is a huge neighborhood of mid-century homes. When it was built, it was one of the Eastside’s cutting edge suburban developments. The homes in Lake Hills share some of the same mid-century styling with big windows and clean lines, but on a much smaller scale.
Since it’s a private home, I was not able to take photos of the Dinah Shore house, but was able to take some photos of The Greta Garbo house. The Garbo house is now on the grounds of the La Quinta Resort, which is where the Windermere Real Estate Symposium was held. Garbo’s house is more typical of the Spanish style found in many of the 20th century desert homes. Spanish styling is incredibly popular, along with the mid-century dynamic in the California desert. What a great place for the party that was going on!
However, Spanish architecture is fairly rare in the Seattle area. Perhaps our cooler weather lends itself to other styles? Many Spanish style homes are oriented to the outdoors with large patios and courtyards. The Garbo house is divided into two buildings with a massive courtyard, fountain, and fireplace in the middle, which you can see in the first photo of the Garbo house above. The dining room and kitchen were in one building while the other living spaces were across the courtyard. We were only allowed into certain rooms, but we were still able to get a feel for the Moorish/Spanish style used in the home.
Oh by the way, the desert is also famous for its mountains, but they are just a tad drier than the Cascades in the Northwest and not too many evergreens can be found!
The week started with 595 email messages, 898 spam messages and no posts on this blog. Ironic, since the last post was about how I was staying in the real estate game, and then I disappeared. (I did write a short post telling people to vote.)
Here’s what happened over the past week or so: I’d had some intermittent problems with my computer as I reported on my Kirkland and Redmond blogs and then my computer decided it must have a complete full-blown breakdown. Combine the computer breakdown with my trip to Rancho Mirage, CA last week for the Windermere Symposium and blog postings were toast. The first part of the week involved attending meetings, which, to no surprise, involved real estate. The second part of the week involved wiping my computer clean of everything, and I mean everything, and having all of my programs re-installed. I think I got a working computer back on Friday of last week. (Thanks to my husband for reinstalling everything for me.) At first I was completing stressed out. How could I go for days without email? How could I respond to my clients? How could I keep up with my blogs? All a problem. At the end of the week I did post my weekly statistics on my other blogs, but did not get to post anything regarding real estate on this blog.
It was very strange to be without my “mouth-piece”, my laptop. It was strange not to be checking email every few hours. It was strange to not be posting on my blogs on a regular basis.
So what was good about what happened last week?:
I learned some interesting stuff at the Windermere Symposium that I will incorporate into my real estate business. 1000 Watt Consulting did a couple of presentations about better ways to market real estate and utilize the internet. I’ve heard them present at Inman’s Real Estate Connect conferences and the two principals, Brian Boero and Marc Davison always have a lot to bring to the table.
I got to be in warm, sunny Southern California.
I ate great Mexican food.
I read a book in a day.
So what was bad about last week:
I was disconnected from email for a couple of days and communication with friends, family, and clients.
I missed out on following the New York Times online, so was behind on important news.
In a sense it was a bit liberating to be not so tied to my laptop. I slowed down a bit, got to sit by the pool, and read a book while my husband fought the fight with my computer. It was a strange feeling to be so disconnected from “life” and real estate.
But gee, can we have my computer breakdown again sometime soon?
Kris Berg wrote a piece on her San Diego Home blog about how strange it felt writing about the “normal” things in real estate when there are so many sad houses and people going into foreclosure. I’ve been thinking the same thing. Although Seattle and eastside real estate are not as dire as Southern California, there are auction signs and short sales happening here, too. It feels strange to focus on day to day real estate when so much of the world has changed. Is it the right thing to do? I understood Kris’ dilemma. It feels downright strange and, sometimes, it feels as if the day to day real estate no longer has much meaning.
So I had to ask myself, should I stop writing about “regular”real estate, fold up the tent, and just stay home? This is a tough market. Every time I turn on the radio, look at the newspaper or check on line, there’s the latest wrinkle in the economic crisis. I’m not minimizing the severity of the times, it’s not good and I feel for the many people who are truly suffering. Those that have lost jobs or homes are having the toughest time right now. Everyone is affected by the change and few will get out of this economic mess without some battle scars.
But is real estate still happening on Seattle’s eastside? Yes. Right now our market has some high points and many low points. There are people needing and wanting to make a move. Personal needs are the overriding cause, not the economy. Maybe it’s for a job, a new marriage, a new baby or maybe it’s because of a divorce. The number of homes for sale is at the highest point since December, 1996 (although not as high as earlier in the 1990′s) and sale prices are down. Competition is stiff. There are over 15,000 homes and condominiums on the market in Seattle’s King County right now. Fifteen thousand families/individuals are trying to make a move. ( I realize some are foreclosures). Five thousand of these condos and homes are available on the eastside. Over 500 people bought homes and 170 bought condos on the eastside in September.
So I’ll talk about the economy, because it’s the bottom line, but I’ll also write about day to day real estate, the things that happen to me and my clients, and the issues that confront buyers and sellers in this challenging market.Because the market is so tough, I need to focus even more on these basics. It’s important to write about what buyers and sellers need to do to make a sale happen in today’s world. It’s not business as usual, but there’s business happening and people need guidance. The buyers and sellers out there need day to day support, top notch internet marketing, and information even more now than when a seller could expect an offer before the sign was posted in the front yard.
So I could fold up my tent or I be active in real estate and write about current real estate issues on my blogs. I can continue to work, advise my clients, and help people make a move. There are people still needing to move on Seattle’s Eastside.
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in September 2008ranged from a low of 8% to a high of 17.5%, with an average 12% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.) Numbers will be rounded off to the nearest whole number, unless the number is exactly .5% between two numbers. (Revised numbers)
Here are the real estate statistics for single family home sales activity on Seattle’s Eastside:
September 2008 4117 homes available, 513 sold, 12% chance of selling.
August 2008 4240 homes available, 503 sold, 12% chance of selling.
July 2008 4332 homes available, 543 sold, 12.5% chance of selling.
September 2007 3529 homes available, 443 sold, 12% chance of selling.
Sellers had a 14% chance of getting a home sold, UP from 13% last month and DOWN from 15% last year. Median home prices were down by 14%, from $602,500 to $519,000. Inventory was up by 10% and sales up by 1.5% from last year.
Sellers had a 17.5% chance of getting a home sold, DOWN from 19% last month, and DOWN from 19 % last year. Median sales price decreased from $575,000 to $550,000, a decrease of 5%. Inventory was up 24% and sales were up 16%.
Sellers had a 11% chance of selling a home, THE SAME as last month and UP from 10% last year. Median price decreased by 5% to $594,500 from $627,250. Inventory was up 7% and sales were up 19%.
Sellers had a 12% chance of selling a home, UP from 11% last month and DOWN from 13% last year. Median price was down to $459,950 from $495,000, a 7% decrease. Inventory was up by 19% from last year and sales were up by 15%.
Sellers had a 9% chance of selling a home, THE SAME as last month and DOWN from 12.5% last year. Median price increased by 2%, to $695,000 from $679,975. Inventory was up by 20% and sales were up by 17%.
Sellers had a 8% chance of selling a home, UP from 6% last month, and THE SAME as last year. Median pricing decreased by 15% to $1,314,000 from $1,550,000. Inventory increased by 49.5% and sales increased by 53%.
Sellers had a 17% chance of selling a home, UP from 14% from last month, and UP from 11% last year. Median pricing decreased by 4.5% from $549,950 to $525,000. Inventory increased by 11% and sales increased by 58.5%!
Most eastside neighborhoods showed similar real estate activity in September as in August. The chances of selling a home hardly varied with the exception of the Redmond’s Education and Novelty Hill areas and Carnation. The area experienced a 3% increase over August activity. This area also saw the largest increase in sales from last September, 58% more homes sold.
Homes in West Bellevue had only an 8% chance of selling. However, West Bellevue had a huge increase in inventory, almost 50%, resulting in 53% more sales this year than last year at this time.
All the eastside areas dropped in median pricing, with the exception of Kirkland, which was up 2% this month.
The chances of selling a home on the eastside have not varied much in most neighborhoods over the past few months. However, in almost all neighborhoods, prices are down and inventory and sales are up.
In my email was a message: How long would it take to sell a mid-entry style home with 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths in Kirkland?How many days would it take to sell a home with these specs? I can’t answer this question. Of course, I can tell this person what the average number of days are to sell a home, but it’s just a very general number and may not apply to this home.
Why can’t I give a better number? NEI-Not enough information.
Here’s what I’d want to know to give a more accurate market time:
How large is the home?
The age of the home?
What’s the lot like? How big is it? Is it private?
How do the street and neighborhood look?
What are the neighboring homes like?
What surrounds this particular home?
Are there updates/remodeling? When and what has been done?
And most importantly, can I see your home to get the “feel” of the home?
Okay, this is what I’d need to know about your home.
Now what are you willing to do ?
How old is the roof and are you willing to replace it if needed?
How old is the furnace? Will you clean and service it and replace if needed?
What’s the condition of the landscaping? Are you willing to dress it up?
Are the decks and patios in good condition? Are you willing to make any necessary repairs?
How does your home show? Is it fresh and clean?
How do your baths show? If needed, are you willing to update the bathrooms before selling?
Does the home need carpet or paint? Are you willing to do it before listing your home?
Do you have a lot of clutter? Are you willing to start packing before you sell your home?
Does it need to be staged and are you willing to stage it to sell it?
And the grandaddy of all the questions: Are you willing to price your home to stand out from the competition?
It’s not enough for me to just spout numbers without the right data. Market time and selling a home are based on so many details. The home, its condition, its price, its location, its price, and its competition play into the number of days it takes to sell a home. Oh, and did I say its price?
I have to know how your home is “dressed” and if you are willing to “dress it up” to come to the home selling party. What are you willing to do to have your home market ready? Without that information, I can’t answer the question. I can’t tell you how long it would take to sell your home. If your home is not updated and staged and/or it’s not competively priced, it may take months longer to sell. If your home is “dressed” for the party, in its finest when it steps out into the real estate marketplace, and well priced (did I say price?) your market time can be drastically cut by months, not days, but by months.
So, if I can see your home and find out what you’re willing to do, I can answer your question and tell you more accurately how long it might take to sell your home.
Homes for auction in Bellevue and Redmond, Washington? I noticed the first signs I’d ever seen for the auction of residential real estate in the Overlake area of Redmond/Bellevue, just a hop, skip, and a jump from Microsoft.
I’d just left a meeting with a client in a nearby neighborhood and was surprised to stumble upon a sign posted advertising an upcoming real estate auction. I drove by the home and it had fabulous street appeal. Sited on a cul-de-sac, it looked to be nicely updated.
I know homes have gone into foreclosure and to auction, but it’s still a surprise to see a sign posted advertising a real estate auction in the area. The Redmond/Bellevue/Microsoft area has been the strongest performing real estate area on the eastside. That being said, there are people in all demographics and neighborhoods who are struggling and losing their homes. No area is exempt.
The auction company, John Hill, has a website and people are able to bid online, for this home. The auction is on October 13th at 7 PM. You can attend the auction in person at the neighborhood clubhouse or bid online.
Larry Cragun’s blog, Real Estate Undressed has nominated a recent Eastside Real Estate buzz blog post for his Magnificent 7 consumer information post contest. Larry selects 7 blog posts recognized for the post’s consumer related content. My post, The Top Ten Things Not to Do During a Home Inspection, was nominated. The other articles are great and I feel honored to be in such well-respected company.
The FHA Mortgage Center: Don’t allow your home to go to foreclosure or a short sale without contacting an FHA loan rep.
Sacramento Real Estate Voice: Tips for Buying a New Home. As a fellow Realtor, I could relate to this article. Buying a new home in today’s market requires navigating more difficult waters.
Luxury Home Digest: There are buyers out there, but the liquidity in the market has dried up.
The Mortgage Porter: an advisory post about predatory lending practices still going on in today’s market. I had the pleasure of meeting Rhonda Porter, who writes the Mortgage Porter, at this past summer’s Inman News Real Estate Connect Conference in San Francisco.
The Phoenix Real Estate Guy: Inspections can be stressful to both buyer and seller. I also briefly met Jay Thompson, the Phoenix Real Estate Guy, at the NYC Inman Connect this past January, although it was late in the evening. He was at the bar in the Marriott Marquis with Kris Berg of The San Diego Home Blog and a few other bloggers, so I doubt he remembers meeting me!
I met Larry Cragun at Inman Connect in NYC, too!
Four of the posts have to do with financing, fraud, and consumer awareness. Two have to do with building inspections, and one with the purchase of new construction. The emphasis on mortgage fraud is clearly a sign of the times. Each article has some solid advice for consumers and are worth a read.
Home prices are down and real estate sales are up. The Seattle Times had two articles screaming these headlines here in the Seattle/ King County area. So who has made a move this year and why?
I thought I’d look back at the reasons some of my clients chose to move. What Motivated them to make a move? Some are buyers, some are sellers, some are both. Here are some of their reasons:
Lost a long time spouse, remarried and moved to retirement community.
Divorce (2)
Needed more space for growing family (2)
Relocated for job, retirement, family (6)
Long time owners downsized to a condo (3)
Moved out of the country
Sold within 2 year limit for tax break on primary residence (2)
First time buyer (2)
Moving up to capitalize on buyers’ market. Didn’t make as much on sale of home, but made killing on purchase. (3)
Moved to mother-in-law unit on daughter’s property.
Expecting first child
buying parent’s home, selling present home
The above are examples of why my clients have either bought or sold a home.
But who bought my listings? What was their motivation to move?
Most of my listing have sold to first time buyers, buyers relocating for jobs, one investor, and two move up buyers.
If you made a move, what was your motivation? If you’re an agent, why did your clients make a move?
From the Seattle Architecture Foundation Newsletter:
The Terry Thomas: An Elegant, Environmentally-Correct Approach to Design
When: Friday, October 17
Group 1: 10:00am
Group 2: 11:30am
Cost: $15 advance registration required. No walk-ups accepted. Register online or call the SAF office at
206.667.9184.
Where: Weber Thompson offices in The Terry Thomas. 225 Terry Ave., N., second floor Joseph Vance Building: Historic Building, Modern Green Design
“Seattle Architecture Foundation is partnering with Weber Thompson to present The Terry Thomas: An Elegant, Environmentally-Correct Approach to Design, a one-hour guided tour. The Terry Thomas is a highly sustainable, commercial building located in the South Lake Union neighborhood. Wrapped in windows, it is a building designed along a modern aesthetic with a combination of time-tested strategies from the pre-HVAC era and complimentary new technologies.
…this tour explains how the project reduces its carbon footprint, the workings of the passive cooling system, strategies employed to reduce water usage by 50% and energy usage by 30% and how the building has met its original vision of thoughtful sustainable design and a workplace that contributes to the occupant’s well-being, satisfaction and productivity. “
When: Tuesday, November 11
Group 10:00am
Group 11:30am
Cost: $15 advance registration required. No walk-ups accepted. Register online or call the SAF office at206.667.9184.
Where: Joseph Vance Building lobby, 1402 Third Avenue
“Elements of the project include restoring the building’s terra cotta façade, original ceilings, terrazzo floors, and operable windows, and updating the facility using sustainable materials, systems, and fixtures. Custom window shades and light shelves help preserve energy and maximize natural light while controlling heat gain and glare.”
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I’m really excited to see The Terry Thomas. This is one of the first buildings to be built in years with no air conditioning! The building is designed to maximize air flow/cooling through the use of sun shades, louvers, light colored roofing, and an interior courtyard. This tour ought to be interesting and filled with valuable information regarding “green building.”
Three times in the past month, clients, past and present, have called with questions about home repairs. Two times furnaces were involved and one was for an electrical repair. Both furnaces were deemed unsafe and in need of replacement by the first contractor. The home owners then contacted two other contractors for further bids. These contractors stated the furnace was in need of a basic repair, but not replacement.
Another client called an electrician who wanted $200 just to do an estimate. I realize the contractor’s time is valuable, but come on! I gave my client the names of two electricians I’ve had experience with who could help her out. Neither electrician charged for a bid, but has done great work for other people in the past.
I constantly update my contractor referral list. If I know a client has had a bad experience, the contractor goes off my list. Conversely, if someone tells me about a great experience, I add that contractor to the list. Sometimes I’ll have had direct experience with a contractor or service, other times it will be a name obtained from a colleague. Sometimes one contractor or another may be better for a specific repair. Feel free to contact me if you have more specific questions about any referrals.
I was curious to know how may condos were for sale on Seattle’s Eastside in this price range and if any had sold. I checked the MLS and right now there are two condos priced above $5 million, both new construction in downtown Bellevue.
The most expensive condominium home is the penthouse at Bellevue Towers. It’s priced at $9.2 million with 6397 square feet, 4 bedrooms, and 4.5 baths.
The runner-up is priced at $5.2 million and is located in The Bravern, just a few blocks away. This condominium home is 3923 square feet and has 3 bedrooms and 3. 5 baths.
How many condominiums on the Eastside are priced between $4-5 million? 2
between $3-4 million? 4
between $2-3 million? 11
between $1-2 million? 75
How many condominiums have sold in the last 6 months for more than $5 million? none
between $4-5 million? none
between $3-4 million? 3 pending
between $2-3 million? none
between $1-2 million? 29
Is the high end really above $2 million on the Eastside, not $5 million? The number of condominiums available above $2 million drops dramatically from the condos available between $1-2 million. Seventeen condos are priced above $2 million. There are 75 condos between $1-2 million and 29 are pending or closed sales. Above the $5 million range, there haven’t been any sales and only 3 condos have sold between $2-5 million in the last six months.
We all know most people cannot afford the million dollar range of homes or condos, but it looks as if there is a high end real estate market between $1-2 million and an “ultra high end” when we talk about the Seattle/Eastside condo market.
Sellers had a 13% chance of selling a condo on Seattle’s Eastside in July of 2008. ( click on 2008 year to date statistics in the link above for a chart showing the condo report)
August, 2008 1456 condos for sale, 195 condos sold, 13% chance of selling.
July, 2008 1476 condos for sale, 187 condos sold, 12.7% chance of selling.
August, 2007 1002 condos for sale, 309 condos sold, 37% chance of selling.
Throughout the summer months, the chances of selling a condo have been pretty similar with about 12-13% of the condos receiving offers and selling each month. The number of available condos is only slightly less than last month. Still, the condo prices have gone up a bit, with a 2% increase this month. Each area on the Eastside of Seattle varies, however, and in some areas the competition is very stiff and values are lower. The best of the best are selling. Those condos that are overpriced are sitting on the market and helping the other condos to sell first.
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in August 2008ranged from a low of 6% to a high of 19%, with an average 12% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.) Numbers will be rounded off to the nearest whole number, unless the number is exactly .5% between two numbers.
Here are the real estate statistics for single family home sales activity on Seattle’s Eastside:
August 2008 4240 homes available, 503 sold, 12% chance of selling.
July 2008 4332 homes available, 543 sold, 12.5% chance of selling.
August 2007 3336 homes available, 643 sold, 19% chance of selling.
Sellers had a 13% chance of getting a home sold, UP from 12% last month and DOWN from 21% last year. Median home prices were up by 4%, from $549,250 to $572,000. Inventory was up by 19% and sales declined by 22% from last year.
Sellers had a 19% chance of getting a home sold, UP from 16% last month, and DOWN from 25 % last year. Median sales price decreased from $582,475 to $549,000, a decrease of 6%. Inventory was up 43% and sales were down 12%.
Sellers had a 11% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 14% last month and DOWN from 20% last year. Median price decreased by 8.5% to $592,475 from $647,800. Inventory was up 14% and sales were down 38%.
Sellers had a 11% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 15% last month and DOWN from 16% last year. Median price was down to $478,062 from $502,500, a 5% decrease. Inventory was up by 30% from last year and sales declined by 14%.
Sellers had a 9% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 10% last month and DOWN from 14% last year. Median price declined by 11%, from $649,950 to $585,000. Inventory was up by 29% and sales were down by 14.5%.
Sellers had a 6% chance of selling a home, UP from 5%, and DOWN from 19% last year. Median pricing decreased by 37% to $999,950 from $1,582,500. Inventory increased by 73% and sales declined by 42%.
Sellers had a 14% chance of selling a home, the same as last month, and DOWN from 26% last year. Median pricing decreased by 8% from $650,000 to $599,950. Inventory increased by 19% and sales dropped by 34.5%.
July and August’s market activity was very similar, with most neighborhoods seeing the same chances for selling in both months. However, the top area for sales on the Eastside, with the largest increase in chances from last month, was the East Bellevue/West Redmond/Microsoft area. The chances of selling your home in South Bellevue, North Kirkland, Woodinville, Kenmore, Bothell, and Duvall dropped by few percentage points. For the first time this year, West Bellevue’s median price dipped below $1,000,000. We’ve not seen median pricing in West Bellevue below $1,000,000 since 2006.
To determine the most realistic view of the market, look at several months worth of data. Pay particular attention to the amount of homes for sale in your area. Regardless of what’s happened in the previous months, make sure you know the actual competition in your area before establishing a sales price and going on the market.
Be the best home out there and your home will sell. People are still relocating, changing jobs, needing more space, reasons that still exist for making a move.
Sustainable September, an event designed to help people “go green,” is happening in Kirkland and on Seattle’s Eastside through the month of September. On Saturday, I attended the first set of classes. Lesa McIntyre from Greenworks Architecture spoke about ways to ”go green.” Lesa McIntyre mentioned a very interesting concept for builders, investors, and home purchasers. As an architect who works with “green principles,” she is able to look at older homes to determine whether the home could be remodeled with “green” principles more effectively than building a new home to “built green” standards. She considers the lot, its sun and wind exposure, and placement of trees in her analysis.
Here’s some of the other information she presented:
Look at the products under your sink. Throw away all the chemicals.
Built Green is a great website to learn about rebates for “built green” materials.
The msds sheet available for products is the materials safety data sheet which will identify any carcinogens. (something new that I learned)
Learn where building materials come from. This will help determine whether shipping bamboo from China or cork from the east coast has a greater carbon footprint.
Ecohaus, formerly Environmental Home Center, a store with a plethora of eco-friendly materials and advice is on Northup Way in Bellevue.
Denim insulation is a great recycled insulating product for homes.
Marmoleum and cork are eco-friendly flooring products.
Reclaimed materials, such as timber, are the best option for reducing the carbon footprint of building and remodeling.
Carpet is one of the least safe products that goes into a home. If you must use carpet, go with 100% wool with a jute (natural) backing. Lesa suggested 100% wool area rugs so they can be easily cleaned.
Tristan Heberlein from Solstice Landscapes NW discussed ecologically friendly landscape design. His three principles for “green” landscaping are:
Feed the Food Chain:
Add compost at least every 2 years
Don’t use landscape fabric as it will deplete the soil of necessary nutrients.
Use medium wood chip mulch.
Corn gluten is a natural way to minimize the seeds from weeds germinating. The treatment last for up to 6 weeks.
If you wouldn’t put it on your skin, don’t put it on your plantings.
Now that summer is winding down, whatever summer we’ve had that is, people’s fancy turns back to the business of selling their home. Today I received the traditional late summer/early autumn phone call from a client asking when would be the best to sell. Should they start later this fall or should they wait until next year, and if they wait until next year, when’s the best time?Bottom line, if you are thinking of making a move in 2009, it’s time to start thinking about it and getting ready to sell.
Seems too early to you to switch gears from thoughts of sun and fun to moving? Think about this: 2008 started with roughly 10,000 listings in King County. It’s now September and there are over 16,000 homes and condos for sale countywide… a 62% increase in inventory as the year has progressed. This year is showing the same trends we see every year, although, obviously, with larger numbers.
Here are some statistics from this year’s inventory of homes for sale in King County:
January 2, 2008-10,322 the least amount of inventory for the year thus far.
June 23, 2008- 16,030 homes for sale, the first time the market crossed 16,000 homes.
July 28, 2008-16,618 the most number of homes on the market.
Two drops below 16,000 since June 23rd:
July 7, 2008- 15,867.
September 2, 2008 - 15,742
This chart has the totals for the year thus far, weekly-county-listing-count-9-8-08. The first chart shows the actual numbers for each week in the tri-county area. The second chart shows the trendline of the inventory.
Will the same thing happen next year? Will we see the same increase in inventory? There’s a good chance. Regardless of whether it is a seller’s or a buyer’s market, more homes and condos come on the market as the each year progresses. In my 22 years in the business of selling homes, the overall trend is to see the most number of sales happen in the spring of each year, usually in March.
Many people still think summer is the best time to sell, but it’s not. There’s far more competition and the amount of sales often decrease. Seattle is a gorgeous wonderful place in the summer and people take advantage of the sun and fun and postpone house hunting and buying.
But don’t many people want to move in the summer, between school terms? Yes, people often want to move during the summer to be ready for school, but those people should put their homes on the market no later than April, so their home can sell and close by the summer. If a home comes on the market in June, it needs to sell in 30 days or less to close before the start of the school year. In other years, it was easier to do, but still a challenge to sell a home this quickly. Market times are often several months, which could mean a closing date of 90-120 days or more from when the home first is listed.. If you wait to put your home on the market in June, you may not be able to make your move until the fall.
Is it worth trying to sell before year’s end? As the fall progresses homes usually start to come off the market. By holiday time, inventory is usually at one of the low points for the year. It’s can be counter-intuitive, but selling your home when everyone else is taking theirs off for the holidays puts your home up against less competition.
If the end of the year and holiday time does not work for you, then shoot for the first part of the year, before inventory begins creeping up. Spend the next few months laying your plans for the move. Talk to a Realtor who can give you the advice to put your home in top-notch condition and start packing. Clean out excess clutter and make the necessary cosmetic and structural repairs so your home is “dressed and ready to go.”
If you check this site, each month I will post statistics for each of the eastside MLS areas. It’s a good way to check market activity in your area. Statistics will vary from area to area. Feel free to contact me if you have further questions about your home or neighborhood.
I just got off the phone with one of my sellers who had checked his home after the buyer had finished the building inspection. The home owner was steaming, just like his furnace was when the buyers and their agent finished up the inspection, only it was 85 degrees outside! The furnace was going full blast, the back door was unlocked, the lights were left on, and cabinets in the kitchen were left open.
Buyers do you want to be able to negotiate on a home inspection? Do you want to get a good deal and be able to focus on what’s important to you? Then make sure you and your agent leave the home in the same condition as it was before the building inspection.
Here’s the list of the top ten things to NOT DO when leaving a home inspection:
Leave doors unlocked.
Leave lights on.
Trip the circuit breakers
Leave food and dirty food wrappers on countertops.
Leave a trail of crumbs on the floor.
Track dirt tracked on the carpets.
Mess up the children’t toys
Leave the TV on.
Let the cat or dog out.
Leave all the stuff removed from closets to gain access to the crawl space or attic out in the rooms or hallway.
You need to keep the focus on what’s important! Don’t upset the apple cart and take the focus away from the real issues. Respect the seller, the home, and leave the home in the condition in which you found it. It will help to keep the focus on negotiations and what’s important to you.
One of my clients, a home seller, just contacted me because he’d received a letter from the escrow company handling the closing of the sale on his home. Was he supposed to give the information requested on the form to this particular escrow company? Escrow companies traditionally send a letter to each party in the transaction, buyer and seller, disclosing the escrow company’s involvement in the sale. The escrow company is the independent third party company which ensures the proper documents are signed by both the home buyer and home seller to close the sale.Escrow will send a form with such questions as your social security number, your mortgage lien holder, permission to contact the mortgage company, home owner’s dues, etc, etc. The home seller was exercising due diligence. He wanted to know if the questions asked in the letter were appropriate and if he should pass along his social security number to this company.
Giving out your social security number and personal financial information is always a “big deal.” He was right in asking if this was proper and appropriate. Identity theft is becoming more of a problem and people should exercise “due diligence” before giving out personal information.
Here’s a list of suggestions to safeguard against identity theft. I received this list from Patrick O’Neill at Commonwealth Title:
1.Next time you order checks have only your initials printed instead of your first and last name. If someone takes your checkbook they will not know how to sign your check… but the bank will.
2.Do not sign the back of your credit cards, instead write Photo ID Required.
3.When writing checks to make a payment on a credit card do not put the complete account number in the “for” line, instead just put the last four numbers.
4.Put your work phone number on your checks instead of your home number and use your PO Box or work address instead of your home address.
5.Never have your social security number printed on your checks.
6.Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of your license, credit cards, etc. This way you will have a record ofeverything contained in you wallet in the event that it becomes stolen.
7.If your credit cards are ever stolen, file a police report immediately in thejurisdiction that the theft took place. This proves to creditors that you were diligent in trying to recover the cards.
8.If your credit cards are stolen make sure to call the three national credit reporting agencies and place a fraud alert on your name and social security number.
“I think first time homebuyers need to take a serious look at the new tax credit available to them.This could be very beneficial to many people.Any individual earning less than $75,000 per year or couple earning less than $150,000 per year can take advantage of the $7,500 credit.A tax credit means that once you calculate your final tax liability, you reduce that amount by $7,500.So, if you would have owed $1,500, then you deduct the $7,500 and would receive a tax refund of $6,000.
Some people complain that this is actually a tax free loan since the credit needs to be paid back over 15 years (or when the house sells).But their analysis would be short-sighted unless they realize that the tax benefits of home ownership are normally much greater than the $500 per year which would get repaid.
For many people, it is difficult to come up with a down payment.Consider this….a 3% down payment on a $250,000 condo is $7,500.People should consider borrowing from their 401k or against another asset in the short term, knowing that the loan could be repaid at tax time.
If you are a first time homebuyer, I recommend you take a serious look at the tax credit.It could be the key to many for getting into their first home.There are many extraordinary housing deals in the marketplace right now.Take advantage of those deals before interest rates go up and erode your buying power.”
This is really bad staging, but it’s nothing compared to the staging problems in this video on the Sellsius real estate blog . Here’s an example of bad decision-making and really bad home staging combining to create a terrible home selling situation. Something like what’s portrayed in the video rarely ever happens, but home sellers should take the right steps to minimize any problems.
The video proves the point that in real estate, as in life, many things can happen and many things can go awry. However, you can limit your risk by making sure you pick the right staging company to stage your home. In 99% of the cases, staging is a huge benefit to getting a home sold at the best price the market will bear. I always recommend staging a vacant home. I’ve got a list of great staging companies I know I can count on to bring quality furniture and design into an empty home, bringing more $$ to the closing table for a seller.
To help minimize problems and get the best service, seek the advice of a real estate agent who can recommend good staging companies or get references and photos of staged homes from other sellers. If possible, see homes staged by the staging company. Check the staging company out with the Better Business Bureau. Review the staging contract and contact an attorney if needed. Most staging companies do a stellar job, but be careful out there!
And, in case you haven’t figured it out, don’t let someone move into your home while your home is for sale! In the State of Washington, there could be a whole host of issues with landlord-tenant law. Certainly no way to have fun or get your home sold!
I recently received an email from a buyer who was interested in a new construction neighborhood in an area where I actively sell homes. This buyer wanted to know whether to buy new construction in this market. Here’s what I told him to consider in this market:
Pick the best of the lot because you make your profit the day you buy your home. Unlike driving a new car off the lot which immediately depreciates, your home can appreciate or depreciate based on the market conditions AND the choice you make.
Purchase from a known builder with a proven track record.
Negotiate on pricing and/or upgrades. The sales price will be a business decision to the builder, so don’t hesitate to make an aggressive offer. If the price doesn’t work, the builder will counter the offer.
Look for special builder financing. Some builders have special pricing available for jumbo loans.
Buy a home in a good location, close to transportation, shopping, and schools.
Pick a good lot. Stay away from lots that are marginal. Lots that back to busy roads or are under power lines, as an example.
Look for standing inventory, completed homes the seller will want to get sold. Prices are more negotiable for any completed homes.
Pick a functional, good floor plan.
Pick a home with lots of light and openess.
Make sure the home has great finish work and has the most up to the minute features.
Have the home inspected when you buy it!
Okay, so I came up with 11 items. Inspecting the home is critical, so make sure you do it. Over the years, I’ve sold new construction homes in which the insulation was missing in the attic, the dishwasher was not hooked up, and the furnace had not been cleaned out after construction. All easily fixed. However, if the issues were not remedied before buying the home, they could have become major problems later.
Sellers had a 12.7% chance of selling a condo on Seattle’s Eastside in July of 2008. ( click on 2008 year to date statistics in the link above for a chart showing the condo report)
July, 2008 1476 condos for sale, 187 condos sold, 12.7% chance of selling.
June, 2008 1427 condos for sale, 194 condos sold, 13.6% chance of selling.
May, 2008 1472 condos for sale, 211 condos sold, 14% chance of selling.
July, 2007 918 condos for sale, 332 condos sold, 37% chance of selling.
The chances of selling a condo have been pretty consistent for the last three months, varying only by a percent. The number of available condos shrunk a little in June, but is now slightly over the number of condos available to buy in May.
Are condo prices still going up? Yes. However, this past month and in May, the increase in value was less than one percent. Increases in value have slowed down considerably, while the inventory and the chance of selling has stayed fairly constant. Cream puffs are selling, other condos are taking a very long time to sell. If you are buying, consider the best condo with the least amount of issues.
Is the condo located near employment, transportation, schools, shopping?
Is the condo in good condition?
Is the condo in a quiet location?
Does the condo have a strong amount in reserves?
Are the condo dues low?
Do the dues cover exterior maintanence, water, sewer, and garbage?
Anything else you should look for? Do let me know.
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in July 2008ranged from a low of 5% to a high of 16%, with an average 12.5% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.) Numbers will be rounded off to the nearest whole number, unless the number is exactly .5% between two numbers.
Here are the real estate statistics for single family home sales activity on Seattle’s Eastside:
July 2008 4332 homes available, 543 sold, 12.5% chance of selling
June 2008 4154 homes available, 635 sold, 15.2 % chance of selling.
May 2008 4349 homes available, 522 sold, 12% chance of selling.
July 2007 3253 homes available, 773 sold, 23.8% chance of selling.
Sellers had a 12% chance of getting a home sold, DOWN from 17% last month and DOWN from 22% last year. Median home prices were up by 1%, from $569,800 to $575,000. Inventory was up by 18% and sales declined by 33.5% from last year.
Sellers had a 16% chance of getting a home sold, DOWN from 23% last month, and DOWN from 34% last year. Median sales price decreased from $599,000 to $574,990, a decrease of 4%. Inventory was up 70% and sales were down 20%.
Sellers had a 14% chance of selling a home, UP from 12.5% last month and DOWN from 23% last year. Median price decreased by 19% to $604,950 from $749,975. Inventory was up 24% and sales were down 24.5%.
Sellers had a 15% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 15.5% last month and DOWN from 26% last year. Median price was down to $475,000 from $550,000, a 14% decrease. Inventory was up by 35% from last year and sales declined by 23%.
Sellers had a 10% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 16.5% last month and DOWN from 22% last year. Median price declined by 25%, from $757,475 to $569,000. Inventory was up by 25% and sales were down by 38%.
Sellers had a 5% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 9.5%, and DOWN from 19% last year. Median pricing decreased by 29% to $1,354,975 from $1,748,000. Inventory increased by 85% and sales declined by 50%.
Sellers had a 14% chance of selling a home, UP (barely) from 13% last month, and DOWN from 22% last year. Median pricing decreased by 15% from $644,435 to $549,375. Inventory increased by 18% and sales dropped by 25%.
The activity for May is included at the top of this article because July’s market performance is very similar to the market performance in May. June was a stronger month for sales for most of the Eastside neighborhoods than July has been. South Bellevue, and Education Hill, Carnation, and Union Hill areas were all stronger performing areas, but only by a fraction. Every other area of the Eastside showed less of an absorption rate than in June. West Bellevue, Medina and Clyde Hill, our most expensive areas, were hit the hardest with the biggest decline in activity and pricing.
To determine the most realistic view of the market, look at several months worth of data. Pay particular attention to the amount of homes for sale in your area. Regardless of what’s happened in the previous months, make sure you know the actual competition in your area before establishing a sales price and going on the market.
Remember sellers, it’s price and condition in this market. Homes are selling, but as we all know, there’s competition. Be the best home out there and your home will sell.
The following is excerpted from a press release from Margaret Nicoll at Gruman-Nicoll and Tami Elwin at Schnitzer West:
Top-Rated Luxury Brand To Open
First Northwest Boutique at The Bravern
BELLEVUE, WA August 5, 2008 – WhenSchnitzer West opensThe Shops at The Bravern in September 2009, itwill be home toBottega Veneta, rated the number one luxury brand in a recent survey conducted by the Luxury Institute. The Bravern will be Bottega Veneta’s first location in the Pacific Northwest where the leather goods purveyor joins a star-studded line-up of firsts for the region, including Neiman Marcus, Jimmy Choo and Red Door Spa.
“Bottega Veneta epitomizes the character of The Bravern in its commitment to fashion design, extraordinary craftsmanship and personal service,” says Tom Woodworth, senior investment director withSchnitzer West, developer of Bellevue’s only outdoor, upscale lifestyle shopping village.
“With the addition of retailers such as Neiman Marcus, Bottega Veneta, Louis Vuitton, Jimmy Choo and Red Door Spa, Schnitzer West has assembled a line-up that both validates the strength of the Pacific Northwest economy and will position The Shops at The Bravern and Bellevue among the top shopping destinations in the country,” says Maria Royer, principal with commercial brokers Real Retail in Seattle.
Currently under construction and scheduled for completion in 2009, The Bravern’s vibrant outdoor village will feature gracious arrival courts and European-style piazzas. The 1.6 million square foot development in downtown Bellevue, WAwill include approximately 305,000 square feet of fashion-leading retail and restaurants anchored by a 125,000-square-foot Neiman Marcus, 455 Signature Residences in two elegant condominium towers and two office buildings, which have been fully leased to Microsoft. When finished, the five-acre site will accommodate 2,300 Microsoft employees, approximately 1,000 homeowners and employ between 300 and 500 staff among the retail shops and services. The project also will include a 35-acre subterranean parking garage with 3,100 stalls.
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When I read the above press release, it is clear that even during this economic slowdown, Bellevue continues to be the stronger economic region of the Seattle/King County area. Luxury brands new to the area are choosing to move to the eastside, rather than to Seattle, because of this point.
Look for information on Google? Duh! It’s second nature to all of us these days, but here are some other ideas about how you can you use Google in real estate. Kris Berg’s piece on Inman News blog talked about a multiple offer situation in which the agents bringing the offers were googled. The agent who didn’t appear professional online to the seller did not get their offer accepted. Hmm.. never thought of checking agents out online before accepting offers, but this is a great idea.
Want to know more about a potential listing agent? Google the agent to find out more about the agent’s online presence.
Does the agent have a personal website (in this day and age, one would hope)?
Does the agent blog about real estate?
Does the agent appear knowledgeable about real estate from what’s written on the blog posts?
Does the agent appear to be trustworthy and competent?
Is the agent doing any business?
Is the agent’s online marketing strategy evident?
Does the online marketing look fresh, interesting, and relevant?
When you get an offer for your home do you want to know more about your buyer?
Past sellers have googled the buyer on a number of occasions to learn more about the buyer. As agents, our job is to ask questions about the buyer’s financial qualifications, but not about the buyer’s personal information. In fact, we agents have to be very careful to not violate fair housing laws and ask any questions which could be discriminatory. Since I work in Microsoft country, we can ask if the buyer works at Microsoft, since Microsoft is not a protected class! If you, as a seller, have your own questions about the buyer, google him/her/them.
The internet can tell you as a potential buyer or seller a lot of things about the people involved in the process. Google them!
Any other ideas about what you can Google to help with real estate listings, buyers, sellers, and agents?
Craig Newmark, the founder of Craig’s List, a frequent guest at Inman Real Estate Connect, stole the show once again on the opening day of SF Connect.Craig is witty, self-deprecating, honest, interesting, and involved politically. Last Inman Connect, Craig described himself as “The George Costanza of the internet.”
At the recent Inman Connect, politics and political involvement were more the discussion between Brad Inman and Craig Newmark. Craig Newmark believes the US Constitution is the key to who we are as a country as it’s the perfect example of our representative democracy and describes the ability to “play fair.” He advocates extensively for investigative journalism because he believes journalism, with a critical eye, is vital to the survival of our republic. A liberal thinker and an Obama fan, he looks towards the reinstatement of the Constitution on January 20th!
A bit about Craig’s List: The “list” started modestly 13 years ago by matching friends up with information and things.
Some facts about Craig’s List:
12 million (or was it billion?) hits per month
26 employees, 16 engineers
Company valued at $5 billion by either Forbes or Fortune magazine
96% of the traffic on Craig’s List is from the U.S.
I wrote a piece on the Seattle Real Estate Professionals blog about the death of newsprint advertising for real estate and as things usually go in the blogging world the conversation in the comments drifted to the number of forms now used to list a home in Washington State. The list of forms has grown exponentially just recently because of the new distressed sale law and further clarifications about the disclosure form. So here’s the list of the forms and information pamphlets that I now use when listing a home:
Agency pamphlet: Explains The Law of Agency and agency representation.
Listing agreement: 5 pages includes 2 pages are the actual contract and 3 pages are the information forms to input the data.
Disclosure form, Form 17: 5 pages in which sellers are to disclose anything and everything they know about their home. Additional pages can be added if further explanations are needed. Accompanied with a form letter explaining the disclosure form.
Explanation form regarding seller’s disclosure rights: 2 pages
Lead paint disclosure for all homes built before 1978: 2 pages
Lead paint booklet from the Federal Government explaining the form.
Utility addendum: 1 page listing all the utility companies and their addresses.
Distressed sale form: 1 page ( Windermere company form)
Distressed sale pamphlet explaining the Washington distressed sale law.
Legal description: 1 page to be initialed by the seller.
Business affiliation disclosure form: 1 page
Have a septic system? In King County there are forms that must be completed and recorded regarding the care and “feeding” of the system.
Facts about your home: 4 pages (my own form I use to get all the facts about a home)
There’s a lot to review and a lot to absorb. If you plan to sell your home, allow time to review and complete all these forms.
What other forms have you seen for listing a home in a county other than King County?
(*There are some forms that may vary from county to county.)
Need new furniture for your home? Are you looking for the unusual, the conversation piece? Check out The Designzen blog for Lila Jang’s Sofa that Climbs a Wall. The sofa is part of a Paris art exhibition. Since most of probably won’t be hopping a plane right now, this might be a good time to look at all the art pieces. Brush up on your French and check out the Parcour Saint Germain.
I was just reading Katrina Munsell’s piece over on Redfin’s Sweet Digs blog about planning out real estate searches. Her advice about planning your search for a home by mapping your route is good. It saves time and gas when you’re doing the all important home search. Checking the homes out in real time is that all important next step.
Does the home have good street appeal?
Is the house well situated on the lot? Does it have a yard that works for you?
What does the house look out to?
Does the home back up to a busy road? What else is behind it?
What are the homes around the subject property like? Are they well maintained? Are their lawns cut?
Interested in the home? Now get out of your car. Go talk to the neighbors.
Find out how the neighbors like living on the street.
Is it noisy in the area?
Are their neighborhood activities going on? Annual picnics? Barbecues?
Are there neighborhood CCR’s?
Are their neighborhood amenities?
I had one buyer talk with a neighbor only to find out the slope opposite the house had already partially slid. Pretty wonderful information that convinced the buyers to “run” from the home. These buyers ultimately found a much better home to buy without any slide issues.
Whom else should you talk with? Figure out what’s important to you and what you would like to learn about, then target people who can give you the answers.
Questions about schools? Visit or call the school administrators.
Safety? Contact the police and get their opinion.
Check out the location of the nearest fire station and hospital.
Who are the first responders in the community? Is the house under city or county jurisdiction?
Public transportation? Check out the King County websitefor information about public transportation.
Noise? Check the neighborhood out during various times of the day. See what’s going on.
Do you need to ask all these questions and do the research before you make an offer? No, you still have time after an offer is written. Obviously, if you have the time to check things out before-hand, it’s always best. But if you can’t, there’s a clause every buyer can exercise in a contract called “Neighborhood Review”. Exercising this option gives you 3 business days to review any and everything about the area. You can talk to anyone you want to determine whether the home or neighborhood is the right fit. If it’s not right, you as the buyer have the right to terminate the contract and get your earnest money back.
Ate there other questions buyers should ask? Are there other sources of information or people buyers should contact?
Mr. Rogers had it right when he said “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.” Make sure you know, as much as you possibly can, if buying a particular home will make it a beautiful day in the neighborhood for you.
From my inbox the John Burns Real Estate Consulting Local Building Market Intelligence(TM) Report. John Burns Consulting reports monthly on housing starts and new construction. The following is from their latest report.
Gas Prices Shift Demand Back to the Urban Core
We believe that there is going to be a tremendous shift back to urban areas, led by those who bought homes in the outlying areas who lose their home to foreclosure. They will choose to rent near work to save money.
The high price of gas is playing a very important part in home buyer decisions. The phrase “drive until you qualify” has less meaning these days as each mile becomes more expensive. Our clients’ favorite question has shifted from “What markets will recover first?” to “What submarkets will recover first?” Our advice: put your money near the job centers.
I’m at my third Inman News Real Estate Connect Conference. I’ve traveled coast to coast in the last year and a half to follow this Real Estate Connect. Why have I become a Real Estate Connect groupie? Because it’s one of the best, if not the best, real estate conferences out there today. It’s a chance for me to learn about the latest in the real estate industry from some of the top technology gurus in the country. 1000 Watt Consulting is here, as they will be at the Windermere Symposium this fall in the California desert.
It’s also a chance to hear from the industry leaders. Is the real estate market at the bottom or is there more to come? On Friday Alex Perriello CEO of Realogy, the parent corporation of Coldwell Banker and others, Joel Singer from The California Association of Realtors, Jonathan Miller from Miller Samuel, Inc. and Patrick Stone, Chairman of The Stone Group, will all give their opinions.
Today’s Blogger Connect, a day in which we bloggers get to hear about some of the crucial issues that affect the blogging world. Kris Berg of The San Diego Home blog, Joseph Ferrara of Sellsius Real Estate Blog, Seattle’s own Ardell of many blogs, including Rain City Guide, will speak. Jillayne Schlicke has already written about SF Connect. Of course, the conference started out last night with the all important Beer with Bloggers event.
Sellers had a 13.6% chance of selling a condo on Seattle’s Eastside in June of 2008. ( click on 2008 year to date statistics in the link above for a chart showing the condo report)
June, 2008 1427 condos for sale, 194 condos sold, 13.6% chance of selling.
May, 2008 1472 condos for sale, 211 condos sold, 14% chance of selling.
June, 2007 840 condos for sale, 382 condos sold, 45.5% chance of selling.
The absorption rate, the chance of getting your home sold, did not vary much from May to June of this year. Inventory is actually down slightly, but the chances of selling were almost the same during the past two months.
Condo values on the Eastside continue to go up, but last month the increase was negligible at only .5% from June of last year. The actual number of sales is down considerably, by almost 50%. This means the cream of the crop of condos are getting the offers and other condos are just sitting on the market. Pick your condo/town home purchase wisely.
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in June 2008ranged from a low of 9.5% to a high of 23.2%, with an average 15.2% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.)
Here are the real estate statistics for single family home sales activity on Seattle’s Eastside:
June 2008 4154 homes available, 635 sold, 15.2 % chance of selling.
May, 2008 4349 homes available, 522 sold, 12% chance of selling.
June 2007 3107 homes available, 841 sold, 27% chance of selling.
Sellers had a 16.7% chance of getting a home sold, UP from 12.7% last month and DOWN from 25.3% last year. Median home prices were down by 2.6%, from $604,475 to $589,000. Inventory was up by 17.5% and sales declined by 22.6% from last year.
Sellers had a 23.2% chance of getting a home sold, UP from 13.5% last month, and DOWN from 42.5% last year. Median sales price decreased from $624,500 to $549,500, a decrease of 12%. Inventory was up 80.4% and sales were down 1.3%.
Sellers had a 12.5% chance of selling a home, UP from 11.5% last month and DOWN from 24.9% last year. Median price decreased by 15.7% to $588,975 from $699,000. Inventory was up 25% and sales were down 37.4%.
Sellers had a 15.5% chance of selling a home, UP from 9.6% last month and DOWN from 26.8% last year. Median price was down to $498,875 from $522,475, a 4.5% decrease. Inventory was up by 37% from last year and sales declined by 20.9%.
Sellers had a 16.5% chance of selling a home, UP from 9.6% last month and DOWN from 23.5% last year. Median price declined by 4.5%, from $724,950 to $694,000. Inventory was up by 28% and sales were down by 10%.
Sellers had a 9.5% chance of selling a home, UP from 7.3%, and DOWN from 34% last year. Median pricing decreased by 13.7% to $1,294,750 from $1,500,000. Inventory climbed by 95.7% and sales declined by 45.5%.
Sellers had a 13.2% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 21.2% last month, and DOWN from 25.5% last year. Median pricing increased by 12.2% from $598,000 to $671,035. Inventory increased by 25.5% and sales dropped by 35%.
Inventory on Seattle’s Eastside dropped significantly from last month, by 195 homes, a 5% deline in inventory. All the eastside areas showed an increase in the absorption rate, the number of sales compared to the amount of homes for sale, except in the Education Hill, Union Hill, Carnation area. This area was the highest performing area last month, with the sales activity declining this month. West Redmond/East Bellevue had the best absorption rate of the Eastside once again. May was the only month this year that the area east of 405 and south of highway 908 was not the best performing area on the eastside.
To determine the most realistic view of the market, look at several months worth of data. Pay particular attention to the amount of homes for sale in your area. Regardless of what’s happened in the previous months, make sure you know the actual competition in your area before establishing a sales price and going on the market.
Remember sellers, it’s price and condition in this market. Homes are selling, but as we all know, there’s competition.
So you just closed on a new home! Congratulations! You’ve bought a brand new home and you and yours are the first to move in. Fast forward about 10 years and its time to move on. You’ve changed jobs and the commute is just killing you. You contact a real estate agent to help you get your home ready for the market. The real estate agent gives you a lengthy “to do list.” Item #9 on the list is to freshen up your dull granite counter tops. Dull? How did that happen? Aren’t the counters beautiful and shiny, just like when you bought your home? You take a look and, yes, the counters do seem duller than you’ve noticed in a while. How did that happen? Probably from a very typical lack of maintenance. Rarely do people think about taking care of granite counters.
Recently, a granite specialist from Premier Stone Care Company spoke to a group of agents at my office about maintaining granite counters. Premier Stone Care Company had a great list for homeowners to follow:
Wipe up spills immediately.
Use a neutral PH cleaner on all natural stone.
Do not use vinegar or cleaners containing ammonia, acids or harsh abrasives such as Tilex or Windex.
Never cut directly on the stone surface.
Dust-mop granite floors weekly and damp mop frequently.
Never place a pot directly from the stove or oven on a counter top.
Seal your stone every 6 to 18 months, using a penetrating sealer, not a topical sealer.
Place drip pans under plants to prevent staining.
Use felt pads under chairs and furniture.
Squeegee shower walls after each use.
Seems “elementary, my dear Watson.” But, in reality, many home owners don’t realize granite requires tender loving care and continual maintenance. The maintenance begins with a new home. Building inspectors will tell you builders rarely seal granite counters when completing a home. Sealing the counters helps to keep the counters more maintenance-free and able to withstand all kinds of use and abuse.
But here is my #1 natural stone maintenance tip: Make sure you have that squeegee and use it on your stone showers and glass doors after each shower. Nothing is more of a turn-off to buyers and harder to get rid of than built-up soap scum on walls and shower doors. Believe me, it’s not a pretty sight to buyers.
If you would like more information about natural stone maintenance, you can check the link to Premier Tile Care above.
Recently, I spent three hours taking the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Ethics class. Realtors must take an ethics class every 4 years to keep their Realtor’s license active.I found it ironic to be taking the class when the media released reports about the indictment of 142 loan officers, title people, appraisers, and escrow people who had been arrested for committing massive mortgage fraud.
I am a huge proponent of education (it’s the ex-teacher in me), but education at this stage of the game has to be meaningful.Teach me about the latest changes in financing (there are many), give me the latest legal update, educate me on the new distressed home owner law.Bring it on!I want the latest information that’s important to me in my job as a real Realtor.I want the knowledge to better serve my clients.
But requiring an ethics class?Ethics cannot be taught.By the time one is an adult, your values are in place.At the end of the day we all have to look in the mirror and live with how we treat people in all of our interactions, including the sale of real estate. If you don’t care how others are treated, a 3 hour class once every four years isn’t going to make a difference.
Hmm…I wonder if the people currently under indictment took any of these ethics classes.
The Fip Video Camera is a really cool, easy to use tool that easily works for videos of anything, including real estate. The Seattle Times had a great article about the camera, which is inexpensive and easy to use. Remember when “easy to use cameras” first came out and the expression was, “Push here dummy” Well, the same high level of skill applies to the Flip Video Camera!
I’m beginning to experiment with YouTube videos and plan to use them a lot more in marketing neighborhoods, parks, schools, all the amenities in an area people like to see and know about when they’re buying a home.
Just for fun, this is one of the YouTubes I did of last night’s Kirkland Washington’s Fourth of July fireworks show. Enjoy!
The sellers came home from a second showing of their home to find all the windows open, the doors unlocked, and all the lights on.They were not happy.They were feeling a little violated when they found the house wide open.
When an offer came from these buyers who had left the house open, there was an additional issue to overcome.Not only was the buyer’s offer low, but the lack of respect shown to the seller and the seller’s property by the buyer and their agent presented an additional negative issue.Not only were the sellers unhappy with the low offering price, they weren’t excited to work with these buyers and perceived them to be rude, uncaring people, people they would not want to sell their home to.Negotiations got off to a bad start.
When first listing a home, I counsel sellers to look at all offers seriously, even if the price is low.But if the buyer brings unnecessary baggage it complicates the issue.It can make or break the sale. My advice: don’t bring this unnecessary baggage.
Remember you’re in someone else’s home.Think about how it feels to have people come to where you live.
Agents and buyers, remember some very basic rules of showing etiquette.
Call before showing a home and leave your cell phone number so the seller can call you back if needed.
Give the seller at least an hour’s warning before showing up at their door.
Remove your shoes if asked or use the shoe covers which are often by the door.
Turn lights out if you turned them on.
Close windows you open.
Lock all doors.
Don’t leave fences open.
Leave a business card.
Watch children, make sure they don’t disturb anything belonging to the seller.
Agents and buyers should be professional and courteous to sellers.You are in their home.
Buyers have great choices and there are many flexible sellers out there.Don’t get off on the wrong foot. Keep the focus on getting that good deal.Don’t make some very simple mistakes, which could keep you from getting what you want at a good price. Respect the seller and the seller’s home.
Interesting and open, this is how I would characterize Jorrit Van Der Meulen, the Vice President of Partner Relations for Zillow.I had the opportunity to hear Mr. Van Der Meulen talk at my monthly Forum XXII networking meeting.He shared some of the history of the Zillow, the missteps, changes in direction, and future goals.For those agents out there, Zillow is NOT our competitor, but is trying to be a partner in our real estate business. This piece is an effort to understand Zillow’s current and future business model.
Initially Zillow hoped to change the way real estate business was conducted. But shortly after forming, the company realized the real estate industry “takeover” was probably not going to happen.The powers that be at Zillow recognized the real estate industry was far too complex to completely revamp.
Zillow has gone through several gyrations over the short history of the company.After many focus groups the company zeroed in on giving consumers information regarding prices, thus the infamous “Zestimate” was born. (*Zestimate is a registered Trademark of Zillow.) Zillow’s goal was to put a price point on every home in the United States.Mr. Van Der Meulen admits there’s a huge disparity between MLS, multiple listing data, and tax records.He stated Zillow is “not trying to give anyone the price for a house.”The “Zestimate” is “the starting point of a conversation”.He followed this with a recommendation for people to talk with real estate professionals, “someone who knows the real values”.
When asked about the 5 year plan for the company, Mr. Van Der Meulen talked about an expanded company offering. The company’s goal is to create an information site that generates revenue through advertising.They’ve launched a free mortgage site that’ll be transformed into a future revenue producer for Zillow and lenders.There’ll be a home improvement services component to the site and, again, the hope is to generate advertising revenue.Zillow’s online discussions are great, giving people the chance to talk about a myriad of real estate issues.There’s a whole host of question and answer pages which also give great information about the home buying and selling process. These pages are a great benefit to the public.
Back to the “Zestimate”, Zillow has always been a big question for me because the information provided is often inaccurate.Yes, they have all kinds of algorithms and tests to increase the accuracy of data and, yes, a home owner can claim a home and update the information.But at the end of the day, most of the pricing data Zillow provides is inaccurate.I rarely ever look at “Zestimates” for that reason.
But what’s the public’s perception of these values?Do most people look at the “Zestimate” as the gospel on pricing or at a “starting point for a conversation”? Is the consumer better served with this inaccurate information or is this information a detriment?
I advertise my listings on Zillow because I believe homes should be marketed wherever buyers are looking online. But I’ve always been concerned about the inaccuracy of Zillow’s data when advertising listings.The inaccurate Zillow data could influence a potential buyer or seller to make a bad real estate decision.
The comparables given for a home are nearby home sales, which may or may not have any correlation to a home’s value. For example, two comparables given for one of my listings, a ranch style home, varied greatly. My listing has new windows, carpets, moldings, doors, drop dead, private, gorgeous backyard and was impeccably maintained by its owners.The first comparable Zillow used was a ranch style home, whereas the second comparable was a duplex style home in a planned neighborhood. Someone looking at the second comparable would have no way of knowing it’s a duplex, because legally it’s considered a “single family residence.”Clearly, the duplex style home is not at all similar, but how would the public know?Ironically, the ranch style home was more comparable to the advertised home, but only on paper.Although similar in square footage, it was a completely different home.It had absolutely no updating and everything was original.It had an eyesore located in front of it and backed to the noise wall barrier of a busy highway.The backyard was small and so noisy as to render it unusable.
Joseph Ferrara’s blog, Sellsius Real Estate, has had interesting discussions about Zestimates and Zillow.Sellsius’ believes home owners should have the ultimate decision as to whether their home’s value goes online.To Sellsius, it’s a matter of choice, whereas, Zillow deems transparency of data is more important than choice, even if the data is inaccurate.When I mentioned this ongoing Sellsius discussion at our meeting, Mr. Van Der Meulen was clear that Zillow’s “transparency” whether accurate or inaccurate trumped choice.(And yes, I do know people can claim their homes and update the data.Another Realtor mentioned some home owners don’t want to publicize, perhaps to the tax assessor, their home is not what Zillow states.)
Zillow is a company still in its infancy that seems to be looking to grow and develop a relevant business model.They’re fortunate as a company to have the luxury to find their way.Here’s hoping they do and are able to provide something truly meaningful and different to the consumer.After all, it seems this was their original premise.For now, as a real estate professional, I’d like to see disclaimers about the values given and recommendations for the public to talk to real estate professionals, since Zillow is the “start to a conversation.”
On the third Friday in June of each year, Windermere Real Estate closes its doors for the day. The Windermere agents volunteer to take care of other kinds of real estate. It’s Windermere Real Estate’s Community Service Day. Each office works on a project in the local community. it’s a great opportunity to give back to the community.
Over my 19 years at Windermere, we’ve worked on a huge variety of projects. Past projects in my office have been to clean Juanita Beach Park, Houghton Beach Park, and Bridle Trails State Park. We’ve worked on individual homes for people who have been unable to do maintenance, we’ve planted yards and laid sod for group homes. We’ve painted community centers and schools. We’ve built massive play structures in parks.
This year, our office worked on the Kirkland city cemetery on Rose Hill. We cleaned head stones and weeded around them and trimmed trees and bushes, giving the cemetery a fresh look.
I recently met with some people who have a beautiful home.They’d been thinking this might be a good time to make a move because they had their “pick of the litter” with all the homes available. They believed, rightfully so, they could get another home at a great price.I agreed with them.
However, they didn’t want to “give their current home away”.Their home was worth more than the home in the neighborhood that sold last summer.Their home was on a better, more private lot, had beautiful new carpet, the basement had been finished off beautifully as a family room with a gorgeous fireplace and solid wood built-in cabinets, unlike the other home.The asking price for their home should be at higher price, they felt, because it was worth more than the other home.
As a Realtor, my job is to explain market conditions. I shared the real estate statistics specific to their area with them. I explained to them the other home sold a year ago in a vastly different market.The current owner of the home could not sell it today at the price they paid for it just one year ago.If that home were to sell in today’s market, it would be priced below what the seller paid a year ago.I did agree their home was worth more than the other home, but at today’s market price.
You can’t have it both ways. You can’t get the price now you could have gotten for your home a year ago.You can, however, get a fabulous deal on the home you purchase.
Real estate markets go in cycles. Last year, as we all know, it was a seller’s market.This year it’s a buyer’s market.If you’re making a move in the same area, you can get a great value on the home you purchase.The new purchase will be a much better deal than it would have been a year ago.
No one wants to “give away” a home.But when you sell a home in a ‘buyer’s market, it’s the seller’s turn to be more competitive with pricing. Remember the silver lining for sellers is that good buy on a home purchase.
Sellers had a 14% chance of selling a condo on Seattle’s Eastside in May of 2008. ( click on 2008 year to date statistics in the link above for a chart showing the condo report)
May, 2008 1472 condos for sale, 211 condos sold, 14% chance of selling.
April, 2008 1392 condos for sale, 222 condos sold, 15.9% chance of selling.
May, 2007 761 condos for sale, 376 condos sold, 49% chance of selling.
Condo values on the Eastside continue to go up. Last month prices increased over 5% from May of last year. The actual number of sales is down considerably, which means the cream of the crop is getting the offers and the other condos are just sitting on the market. Pay attention to the competition in the area and price or buy accordingly.
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in May 2008ranged from a low of 7.3% to a high of 21%, with an average 12% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.)
Here are the real estate statistics for single family home sales activity on Seattle’s Eastside:
May 2008 4349 homes available, 522 sold, 12 % chance of selling.
April, 2008 3985 homes available, 512 sold, 12.8% chance of selling.
May 2007 2823 homes available, 871 sold, 30.9% chance of selling.
Sellers had a 12.7% chance of getting a home sold, DOWN from 15.4% last month and DOWN from 29.8% last year. Median home prices were up by 3.1%, from $596,450 to $614,900. Inventory was up by 36.8% and sales declined by 41.7% from last year.
Sellers had a 13.5% chance of getting a home sold, DOWN from 19% last month, and DOWN from 63.8% last year. Median sales price decreased from $619,000 to $559,950, a decrease of 9.5%. Inventory was up 128% and sales were down 51.5%.
Sellers had a 11.5% chance of selling a home, Up from 10.6% last month and DOWN from 29.1% last year. Median price increased by 1.5% to $699,475 from $689,075. Inventory was up 48% and sales were down 41.4%.
Sellers had a 9.6% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 12.5% last month and DOWN from 24.9% last year. Median price was down to $499,950 from $525,000, a 4.8% decrease. Inventory was up by 47% from last year and sales declined by 43.3%.
Sellers had a 9.6% chance of selling a home, UP from 8.46% last month and DOWN from 31.3% last year. Median price declined by 15.1%, from $799,950 to $679,000. Inventory was up by 55.4% and sales were down by 52.3%.
Sellers had a 7.3% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 9.03%, and DOWN from 29% last year. Median pricing decreased by 11.4% to $1,325,000 from $1,495,000. Inventory climbed by 103.2% and sales declined by 48.9%.
Sellers had a 21,2% chance of selling a home, UP from 14% last month, and DOWN from 33% last year. Median pricing decreased by .08% from $654,950 to $650,000. Inventory increased by 60.9% and sales dropped by 3.2%.
County wide, inventory is up from January’s numbers. On the eastside 2963 homes were on the market in January and now there are 4349 homes for sale, a 32% increase. The median price was up in four areas on the eastside in April, but only in two areas in May.
To determine the most realistic view of the market, look at several months worth of data. Pay particular attention to the amount of homes for sale in your area. Regardless of what’s happened in the previous months, make sure you know the actual competition in your area before establishing a sales price and going on the market.
Remember sellers, it is price and condition in this market. Homes are selling, but as we all know, there is competition.
Many real estate bloggers are writing about the change in the real estate law, HB2791 which covers distressed home sales in the State of Washington. The bill is very complicated and very confusing, setting up some situations which may not be as the law was intended, to help seller’s in distress. The intent of the law is good, however the execution of the law is severely flawed. The legislature hopes to protect home owners going into foreclosure, but who are also 30 days late with a mortgage payment. This law is something we’ll be hearing more and more about in the coming months.
I thought two of the members of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Real Estate Professionals Blog, of which I am a member, wrote some excellent pieces regarding the new law, Kary Krismer from Keller Williams and Dugald Allen from Windemere. Both of the articles and the resulting commentary are worth a read. Jillayne Schlicke over on raincityguide.com had another perspective.
There would never be this much discussion on blogs if the new law were not so complicated. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. Again, I applaud the intent of the law, but question its execution.
One of the perks of being a real estate agent is learning all kinds of useful information about real estate and homes. We learn about household maintenance when we attend building inspections. We learn about style, color, and popular finish work by looking at 100′s of homes each year. We attend seminars in which we learn about both. As agents, we are on the cutting edge of style, so we can give our clients the very latest information.
Sometimes we have the good fortune to meet great contractors whom we can turn to for tips, advice, repairs, and remodeling work. This is the time to get your home spruced up. If you need the name of a good contractor, don’t hesitate to ask. I can refer someone to you from my list of preferred contractors. This list consists of contractors I’ve used personally and professionally or other agents or past clients have recommended.
So fire up that tool box, get out the ladder, and go to work! Happy fixing!
When I drove by this billboard near the Mercer St. off ramp in downtown Seattle, I just cracked up. Whomever writes the ad copy for MegaMillions has a sense of humor. I’ll be attending my high school reunion a little later this year. This billboard echoes the sentiment many feel when revisiting their “youth”. Do you look forward to a reunion? Do you feel successful? It gives one pause and provokes one to reassess.
A step back gives me time to think about these things. How did I end up here ***ty years after high school? “Here” is a figurative and literal expression, of course.
Life can take interesting and surprising turns. As a born and bred east coaster, Connecticut to be exact, never did I think I would live on the west coast. I now have lived here longer than I’ve lived anywhere else. College in Massachusetts led me to Boston for a number of years and work as a teacher in a suburban middle school. It was fun, an interesting challenge.
From there I earned a master’s degree in counseling and moved into a guidance counselor position in the same middle school where I had taught. Looking back, teaching was far more fun and creative than counseling in a public school. The stories you hear about kids with peer problems are usually a result of family problems. If the family was not willing to get help, my job would be akin to putting a band-aid on a surgical wound, not very effective.
The Seattle/Eastside was a 2-3 year move, 22 years ago! We came to the eastside for the same reasons people have been coming for the last two decades and will continue to come, there’s a plethora of high-tech jobs on the eastside. The economy, relative to the rest of the country, is strong, the surroundings are just beautiful, the temperatures are mild year round. There’s great culture and beauty surrounding us.
My high school friends will ask me how I’m doing and what it’s like to live in Seattle. Here’s what I’ll tell them:
My personal life is strong, but I’ve weathered some difficult times in the past and am lucky to be in the place I’m at now. The late 80′s with moving to a new city, new part of the country, new marriage, new career, and building new friendships was a challenge. The year 1989 was particularly difficult because of a very serious car accident. Another tough one was 1994, with believe it or not, a personal loss in real estate because of a sewer line (but that’s another very long “messy” story). However, the tougher times, both personally and economically, help me to appreciate what’s here in Seattle, the Eastside, and where I am in my personal life.
Life has its ups and downs for a country, city, and for an individual. Seattle is going great guns, relatively speaking, whereas there’s much more of a struggle back in New England these days. When I left Boston in the late 80′s, I left a booming place and came out here to a city that was just waking up. When I bought my first home here in 1986, real estate was just coming out of the doldrums in Seattle and not expected to do much. Home prices were much more affordable then when compared to the Boston area. Boston, on the other hand, is having a tougher time in today’s market than we are here in Seattle. We have a strong economy in the Seattle area and there are jobs. Seattle is weathering the downturn in real estate and the economy far better than most of the country.
No one gets out of this life without going through a series of ups and downs. Some of us have more than our share of the good or the bad, some have a lot less. That’s life. I understand how hard it is to see the light at the end of the tunnel when things are down. But when things are bad, we tend to forget they can change vastly in a few years. Some of the change can be due to luck, some can be due to hard work, and some is out of our control.
I will also say:
I love that I own a winter coat which I may wear 3 times a winter.
I love the snow on the mountains that is rarely in my backyard.
I love the mountains and the lakes.
I love the sensibility of the Seattle/Eastside, where environmental concerns are becoming more and more important.
But most of all, I love that it’s less humid here than in New England, so my hair doesn’t frizz as much.
And yes, I will tell them I didn’t win the Megamillions, but I’m still glad I’ll be at the reunion.
Homes are shelter, homes are places we eat, sleep, work, celebrate, and ??? Some homes are more. They are architecturally inspiring. Marlow Harris often writes of unique homes on her blog, 360digest. Few homes achieve icon status, but those that do, are they art or architecture or art and architecture? Are these homes works of art?
There’s Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, Richard Neutra’s Kaufmann House, Greene and Greene’s The Gamble House, and Philip Johnson’s Glass House, which opened to the public last year, just to name a few. These homes are all incredible, unique, and wonderful examples of superb design.
Two of these homes were owned by the same family, The Kaufmanns. Not only did they own their namesake home, The Kaufmann House in Palm Springs, but they owned Fallingwater in Pennsylvania. A Pittsburgh department store family, they chose two titans of architecture to design and build two phenomenal homes. The Kaufmann house, built in 1946, was one of the first mid-century modern homes to dot the Palm Springs landscape.
Mid-century modern architecture has become to Palm Springs what art deco style has been to Miami Beach. Mid-century modern means clean, simple lines, big windows, and light, open and airy spaces. Glass, steel, wood, and stone are the materials of choice. Preservationists have been working hard to save these mid-century masterpieces which contribute to the uniqueness and very soul of Palm Springs. Over the last couple of decades, some famous properties and homes have been demolished in the area. Lloyd Wright, Frank’s son, had designed a hotel in the 1920′s which has since been torn down. (Interestingly, Lloyd Wright was the inventor of the all-important Lincoln Logs)
The current owners of the Kaufmann house purchased it as a run down fixer upper in the early 90′s. They hired the Los Angeles architectural firm of Marmol Radziner to help bring the home back to its original splendor. To help save the house from some future owner tearing it down, as has happened too often with iconic architecture, the owners hired Christie’s to auction their home off as an art piece. Their goal, as stated in Edward Wyatt’s The New York Times article was “promoting architecture as a collectible art worthy of the same consideration as painting and sculpture.” The New York Times article has some great photos of this masterpiece of modern design.
The expected selling price was to be between 15-25 million dollars. Last week the home sold at auction for $15,000,000 and some change.
So, is architecture art? Should it be up for auction?
Sellers had a 15.9% chance of selling a condo on Seattle’s Eastside in April of 2008. ( click on 2008 year to date statistics in the link above for a chart showing the condo report)
April, 2008 1392 condos for sale, 222 condos sold, 15.9% chance of selling.
March, 2008 1277 condos for sale, 208 condos sold, 16% chance of selling.
April, 2007 621 condos for sale, 377 condos sold, 60% chance of selling.
Condo values on the Eastside continue to go up. Last month prices increased over 7% from last year and this month prices are up 12.6%. This is not to say it’s easy to sell a condo. Clearly, the actual number of sales is down considerably, by 41%.
Pricing a condo for sale should be based on the amount of competition and the most recent sales. Sales from even a few months ago are out of date. Understanding the competition when you go on the market is the key to a successful sale. Pricing must be competitive so a condo stands out from the pack.
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in April 2008ranged from a low of 8.46% to a high of 19%, with an average 12.8% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.)
Here are the real estate statistics for single family home sales activity on Seattle’s Eastside:
April, 2008 3985 homes available, 512 sold, 12.8% chance of selling.
March, 2008 3637 homes available, 493 sold, 13.5% chance of selling.
April, 2007 2444homes available, 734 sold, 30.0% chance of selling.
Sellers had a 15.4% chance of getting a home sold, UP from 14.5% last month and DOWN from 29.4% last year. Median home prices were down by 6.2%, from $637,000 to $597,639. Inventory was up by 48.8% and sales declined by 22% from last year.
Sellers had a 19% chance of getting a home sold, DOWN from 21.7% last month, and DOWN from 46.0% last year. Median sales price increased from $569,000 to $608,998. Inventory was up 110% and sales were down from 63 sales to 55 homes, a 12.7% decline.
Sellers had a 10.6% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 12.3% last month and DOWN from 25.9% last year. Median price decreased by 19% to $600,000 from $741,150. Inventory was up 54.5% and sales were down almost 36.7%.
Sellers had a 12.5% chance of selling a home, a minimal change from 12.3% last month and DOWN from 37% last year. Median price was down to $484,450 from $514,950, a 5.9% decrease. Inventory was up by 60.1% from last year and sales declined by 45.9%.
Sellers had a 8.46% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 10.7% last month and DOWN from 30.5% last year. Median price declined by .03%, from $710,000 to $707,950. Inventory was up by 62.6% and sales were down by 54.8%.
Sellers had a 9.03% chance of selling a home, UP from 7.26%, and DOWN from 28.3% last year. Median pricing increased by 42% to $1,399,000 from $985,000. Inventory climbed by 106.2% and sales declined by 34.1%.
Sellers had a 14.0% chance of selling a home, DOWN slightly from 14.8% last month, and DOWN from 20.9% last year. Median pricing increased by 13.1% from $577,015 to $652,450. Inventory increased by 71% and sales dropped by 14.5%.
County wide, inventory is up from January’s numbers. On the eastside 2963 homes were on the market in January and now there are 3985 homes for sale, a 26% increase. The chances of selling in the different eastside areas varied very little from March’s numbers. However, if sales were down in an area, there was no absolute correlation with median price. Even if sales were down, the median price could still go up. The median price was up from last April in four of the eastside areas and down in three of the areas.
If you are trying to get a feel of the market in a particular area, look at several months worth of data. This will give the most realistic view of the market. Pay particular attention to the increase in inventory in your area. Sellers. regardless of what’s happened in a previous month, make sure you understand how much actual competition there is in your area before establishing a sales price and going on the market.
Remember sellers, it is price and condition in this market. Homes are selling, but as we all know, competition for the buyer is fierce.
I just received the April email newsletter from Bellevue Towers, The LEED certified high rise condos in Bellevue. The newsletter announced the restaurants coming to the complex.
(Photo taken a few months ago)
Purple Cafe and Wine Bar’sowners will open 3 different restaurants in the complex. The Bellevue Towers will be the home to the 4th Purple Cafe and Wine Bar, after Kirkland, Seattle, and Woodinville. Two other new concept restaurants will also open at the Towers, a coffee/dessert cafe, and a Latin/Mexican restaurant.
(Original Purple Cafe and Wine Bar in Woodinville.)
From the April Bellevue Towers email newsletter:
“One couple with three brilliant restaurant concepts that perfectly complemented the Bellevue Towers neighborhood. Larry and Tabitha Kurofsky, the Seattle husband and wife team behind the popular dining venue Purple Café and Wine Bar, plan to introduce three distinctive restaurant concepts to Bellevue and Bellevue Towers.The largest of the restaurants at Bellevue Towers will be a new Purple Café and WineBar, scheduled to open in November 2008.
Opening in early 2009, the secondrestaurant, Barrio, will be an upscale take on the traditional Mexican restaurant featuring a Latin-themed cocktail menu.
The yet-to-be-named third restaurant is another even newer concept that is still in the early stages of development. The Kurofskys envision a unique café and dessert lounge that will wake up with the neighborhood and continue to serve its needs throughout the evening. The café will offer fresh-baked goods, espresso and tea early in the morning; serve as a convenient lunch option throughout the afternoon; and transform into a dessert lounge serving sweet treats and cocktails into the evening.”
Downtown Bellevue will be destination dining spot for a wide variety of dining experiences over the next couple of years. These restaurants will join El Gaucho, Wild Ginger, and others in downtown Bellevue. The dynamics of downtown Bellevue will be completely different. It should prove to be fun and exciting. Another added benefit, with so much more available on the eastside, it ought to improve traffic heading into Seattle at night!
This just in my inbox today: Dwell Magazine’s Green Award, is a contest sponsored by Dwell magazine and the American Institute of Architects. Through June 20th, the sponsors are looking for the best “green” or sustainable projects. According to Dwell’s criteria, projects will be judged on the basis of functionality, originality, sustainability, and cost effectiveness. The prize? $2000 towards a future “green” project.
I’ve been subscribing to Dwell magazine for a few years now and find them to be on the cutting edge in many of their articles on sustainable, affordable home design, materials, and styles. The magazine also has articles about small homes, remodels, furniture, and modular housing. All interesting stuff.
Sellers had a 16% chance of selling a condo on Seattle’s Eastside in March of 2008. ( click on 2008 year to date statistics in the link above for a chart showing the condo report)
March, 2008 1277 condos for sale, 208 condos sold, 16% chance of selling.
February, 2008 1230 condos for sale, 140 condos sold, 11% chance of selling.
March, 2007 535 condos for sale, 405 condos sold, 75% chance of selling.
The eastside certainly doesn’t follow expected trends. Even with the more than double the inventory, pricing is still 7.4% higher than last year. Usually, if there are more properties available and less sales, then the prices go down, but not on Seattle’s Eastside.
Let’s face it, yards look awful in November, no matter where you live. When I list a home in the dark of November, I say a prayer to the landscape gods, hoping the home owners have taken photos of their spring and summer flowers. These photos can be used anytime to advertise a home, whether it’s the darkest day in November or the middle of summer. So plan ahead, get your camera rolling, and take some great photos. You never know when you may need them.
Gorgeous, gorgeous, The Bravern is one of the premier condominium towers being built on Seattle’s Eastside. The Bravern is at the corner of NE 8th and 112th Ave NE, perhaps the new luxury corner of downtown Bellevue? Comprised of residential condominium towers, an office complex, and luxury shops anchored by Neiman Marcus and Jimmy Choo, The Bravern will be one of the premier destinations and addresses in Bellevue.
Here are some of the features of the complex:
24 hour concierge
7 floors of parking for homeowners with a private elevator
valet parking available
25,000 square foot private roof garden
Protected easterly views
Auto court, similar to the Fairmont Hotel in Seattle
Luxury shopping with the feel of a European Village
I attended an open house a couple of weeks ago and had a chance to see some of the floor plans and finish work of the model homes.
The office space has been leased to Microsoft. The retail space is filling up, although names of all the tenants are not yet public. Premier restauranteurs, such as John Howie of Seastar fame, will be opening restaurants. The first eastside outpost of the Seattle’s wildly popular Wild Ginger restaurant will also be in The Bravern. The Bravern should be a dynamic new addition to Seattle’s Eastside and downtown Bellevue.
In honor of wearing “the green” on St. Patrick’s Day, I thought I’d share these resources and sources for built green and sustainable living. I wrote a post a few weeks ago with some suggestions from a Built Green classI took over at Windermere Real Estate taught by Rachel Shindler and Thor Peterson.
The two had assembled a terrific list of books and other sources, some free, in the Seattle area to learn more about sustainable living and building and built green techniques.
FREE Seattle/King County area resources for green building:
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in February 2008ranged from a low of 9% to a high of 16.4%, with an average of a 13.7% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.)
Here are the real estate statistics for single family home sales activity on Seattle’s Eastside:
February, 2008 3303 homes available, 453 sold, 13.7% chance of selling.
January, 2008 2963 homes available, 346 sold, 11.6% chance of selling.
February, 2007 1910 homes available, 699 sold, 36% chance of selling.
Sellers had a 16.4% chance of getting a home sold, UP from 13.3% last month and DOWN from 35.7% last year. Median home prices were down by 3.8%, from $623,495 to $599,900. Inventory was up by 65.4% and sales declined by almost 24% from last year.
Sellers had a 15.6% chance of getting a home sold, DOWN from 15.8% last month, and DOWN from 58% last year. Median sales price increased from $579,000 to $599,000. Inventory was up 168% and sales were down from 57 sales to 41 homes.
Sellers had a 13.4% chance of selling a home, UP from 7.2% last month and DOWN from 34.6% last year. Median price decreased by 2.4% to $659,000 from $675,000. Inventory was up 65% and sales were down almost 35.8%.
Sellers had a 12.3% chance of selling a home THE SAME as 12.3% last month and DOWN from 37.6% last year. Median price was up to $549,950 from $549,000, a .2% decrease. Inventory was up by 68% from last year and sales declined by 44.5%.
Sellers had a 12.5% chance of selling a home, UP from 9.8% last month and DOWN from 29.8% last year. Median price declined by 15%, from $839,925 to $711,250. Inventory was up by 51% and sales were down by 36%.
Sellers had a 9% chance of selling a home, UP from 7%, and DOWN from 29% last year. Median pricing dropped by 31% to $999,000 from $1,449,500. Inventory climbed by 101% and sales declined by 38%.
Sellers had a 15.6% chance of selling a home, UP from 12.4% last month, and DOWN from 44% last December. Median pricing increased by 6.8% from $650,950 to $694,970. Inventory increased by 85% and sales dropped by 35%.
Inventory is up from the numbers we saw early last year. January and February had the lowest inventory in 2007. September 2007 saw the highest inventory. There’s a yearly cycle showing a similar trend in the inventory. Inventory is generally the lowest at the beginning of a year, peaking either in the summer or fall:
June and July in 2004
October in 2005
September in 2006
September in 2007
If you are an active buyer or seller, it’s important to break the data down regarding the inventory and the absorption rate even further than what is reported above. For example, the numbers listed above for Woodinville, Duvall, and Bothell encompass a huge area with a variety of homes. When looking at the pricing for a particular home, it’s wise to target the information relevant to that home and price range.
If you are looking in Woodinville, as an example, then look more specifically at the numbers just for Woodinville. Look at the inventory and how homes are selling in a particular area and price range. If you want to buy or sell homes on large lots priced in the 600′s, then determine the amount of inventory and the absorption rate for these homes.
This holds true for all of the areas. Here is another example of a more specific analysis of the data: In West Redmond/East Bellevue, the inventory is actually down in the Redmond area from last fall’s peak. Buyers near Microsoft may encounter more competition for that reason. Here is an article I wrote on my Redmond blog describing the market conditions in that area.
Bottom line is competition is tough. There are some great homes available and in order to be the seller who snags the buyer, a home will need to stand out from the crowd as a great value and in great condition. Anticipate realistic pricing and longer market time.
There’s been a lot of press this past week about the torching of The Street of Dreams homes. My previous post was about this story. People were horrified by this senseless act. When reading other posts about the event, particularly the one on The Seattle P-I Real Estate Professionals blog, I noticed another thread in the blog comments about the tragic event, many people were voicing an opinion against the mega-houses The Street of Dreams shows represent.
I thought this might be a good time to visit a different form of American architecture, log homes.
Log homes evoke the past, a sense of adventure, and the “Wild West.” We think thoughts of Abe Lincoln and Laura Ingalls Wilder. The rustic nature of logs brings people close to the wood in its natural state. For some, it can create the perfect ambiance of a rustic, warm getaway and still be a primary residence. A log home is a great antithesis to today’s hectic lifestyles.
There are a number of log homes all around Seattle’s eastside. Most are in areas such as Union Hill or in cities like Duvall, Carnation, Fall City, Woodinville, and Issaquah. However, there are log homes everywhere. There’s a great log home in my neighborhood in Kirkland, one on Market St., and one on Rose Hill.
One recent issue of Realtor Magazine had a interesting article about log homes. According to the article, log homes were first seen in this country in the 1700′s. Early settlers had to make do with what was available. Without “city” conveniences and lumber mills, the full logs did the trick. Homes were often built without nails since nails were scarce.
Remember Lincoln Logs? My brothers had those when we were kids. Lincoln Logs were toy sets for building log homes. The toy logs had the same notched style construction as the original log homes. When I read the above article, I discovered Frank Lloyd Wright’s son created Lincoln Logs. I wonder what his Dad would have thought!
The Log Council , a member of NAHB, The National Association of Home Builders, is an industry trade group and information resource. Numerous architects and builders specialize in log home design and building. The above linked article will give you a great introduction to the concept of log homes in the 21st century.
It has been all over the news this week, the tragic torching of The Street of Dreams homes in Woodinville, Washington. The home above, called The Urban Lodge, was totally destroyed. Here’s a sample of the articles written about the tragic fire:
Ironically, a woman has been found guilty this week of arson in the torching in 2001 of The Center for Urban Horticulture. ELF, The Earth Liberation Army, the same group, was thought to have burned the center to the ground because they believed, erroneously, experiments were being done to genetically engineer trees. Many UW professors lost years of work in the fire. This is The Seattle Times article about the trial.
So here ELF (allegedly) goes again, accomplishing nothing good by what they do. This was the first Seattle Street of Dreams with an eco-friendly sensibility. Sustainable materials were the norm in the building process. It was great for the public to see homes beautifully done and “green” at the same time. It was a good learning experience and may also have encouraged people to go “green”. Yes, the homes were huge, you cannot dispute that fact. However, the message of sustainable materials went a lot farther with the public. How ironic for the group to have torched anything, let alone these homes.
There’s been talk the fire was set in retaliation for the trial of Briana Waters, who was the lookout for The Center for Urban Horticulture fire. The jury was beginning deliberations in her case at the start of this week, when the homes were torched at The Street of Dreams. So, if torching the homes was in retaliation for the trial of a group member, then it sounds like the message ELF was trying to send was to not “mess” with them. This certainly is not a statement for saving the earth.
The third irony for me as a blogger is the amount of hits I received on Monday, the 3rd of March and Tuesday, the 4th, for a post I wrote back in August about these Street of Dreams homes. As journalists will tell you, bad news travels fast and certainly grabs people’s attention. This is the post I wrote last year, if you’d like to see photos of the homes before the fire.
Let’s hope the perpetrators are caught and punished. Terrorism, for whatever reason, is unacceptable.
Here’s what you can buy in a new glass condo tower in Brooklyn and on the Eastside of Seattle.
On my way back from Inman News Real Estate Connect, I sat next to John who makes a monthly commute from NYC to Seattle meetings at The Cancer Care Alliance. John and I had a long talk about his experience with New York real estate. John purchased a condo in Williamsburg this past year and during our conversation I was able to find out what 700k will buy. I thought it would be interesting to compare Bellevue and Williamsburg, since both are located across a bridge from the “big city.”
First a bit of history about Williamsburg where he purchased a condo:
His condo is in a section of Brooklyn, Williamsburg, which lies across the East River from Manhattan and has traditionally been a working class community. Developers jumped on the gentrification bandwagon after the State of New York allocated money for a new park that will follow the East River. John made a purchase in a new glass tower which will be right by this new park. The park is scheduled to have play areas, walking/biking paths, and that all important dog park.
Besides its fabulous location, the complex, known as Northside Piers is one of the few all-glass residential buildings in the New York area.
With 10 foot high ceilings and floor to ceiling windows offering unobstructed views of the river, the building will be state-of the-art. John purchased his unit for $700,000 in February, 2007, almost a year ago. Each month prices go up making his unit worth considerably more before he has even taken occupancy. (The building is behind schedule and is still not complete.)
So what did $700,000 buy in this new glass tower in Williamsburg?
It bought a one bedroom unit with about 737 square feet, storage and a laundry area, top of the line finish work, and high end appliances, such as Subzero, Wolf, and Viking. The unit comes with spectacular views of the river and Manhattan. Parking is not included and there are only 170 spaces available for about $300-400 dollars a month in rent.
Homeowner’s dues or maintenance fees, as they are called in NYC, are $700 per month for a unit of this size. Fees give you a lot for the money: interior, exterior, and grounds maintenance, garbage, heat and A/C, hot water, and gas. Electricity and phone are not included.
Here is a New York moment:
The units also come with $6.00 a month in real estate taxes! Yes, you read it correctly, $6.00 a month or $72.00 a year for 25 years. At Inman News Connect we heard about this incentive created by Mike Bloomberg, New York’s Mayor. If new condominium complexes include 20% of the units for lower or middle income housing, the home owners who purchase units at market rate get a tax break. Overall, the units become more affordable with the low real estate taxes. (By the way, real estate taxes are usually much higher than Washington State, almost double.)
John thought his 700k would buy him a 400 square foot studio in Manhattan, so the Williamsburg condo is a fabulous deal.
Northside Piers $700,000 1 bed/1 bath/ 737 sq ft/ parking not included/ $700 H.O. Dues/ $72 yr. real estate taxes. What do you get in a “glass” tower/condo on the Eastside of Seattle?
(Taxes are usually determined upon closing for new construction. It’s safe to say taxes will be similar to Lincoln Tower, which are the only resale condos listed here.)
Here is the new kid on the block. The Bravern is on NE 8th over by 112th Ave NE. I attended an open house for Realtors the other day and I’ll do a more detailed post about the complex. Studios have been predicted to start in the 400k range.
Downtown Bellevue prices are similar to an up-and-coming Brooklyn neighborhood with views of the city and the river. Bellevue is not downtown Seattle and Williamsburg is not Manhattan. Both areas are expensive, but better priced than the heart of the big city. The proximity to the “big city,” plus the more for your money value helps to drive interest to Bellevue and Williamsburg.
But the other reason for the burst in high rise condos on the Eastside that doesn’t compare directly to Williamsburg, is the growth of the job market on the Eastside. The Eastside is more the economic center of King County. People live in Bellevue because the downtown experience is becoming more dynamic, but also because they work on the eastside. Just take a look at traffic during rush hour. The reverse commute is far worse!
The hot topic, the cool color, in today’s real estate is green, built green, sustainable materials, carbon footprint, LEED certification. These are all becoming familiar terms.
On my Kirkland blog, I wrote about a free Built Green seminar at Kirkland City Hall. Ironically, I was already signed up for a “Green Built” class through Windermere Real Estate’s education program that same day. Not only did I learn a great deal at the class, I earned 3 credits for continuing education. Realtors have take continuing education classes.
Since most of you reading this blog are not running out tomorrow to find a built green home or remodel your current home with built green principles, during the class I asked the question:
”What can people do if they aren’t planning a “built green” remodel? What can be done everyday for minimal cost?”
Listen to Eastern cultures and remove your shoes. Shoes are the single biggest home polluter in homes. Shoes bring all kinds of dirt and toxins into a home.
Have a “walk off” mat at the front door that can be hosed down.
Household cleaning products are just as important as building green. Use cleaning products that are natural substances such as baking soda, vinegar, water, citrus and Bon Ami. Bon Ami is a product that has been around for decades. ( those of you over 50 may remember your mother cleaning with this when you were a kid)
Read the labels on cleaning products. If a label says something is harmful if swallowed, think about whether to clean with it.
Use compact fluorescent bulbs. Make sure they’re energy star certified. Recycle these bulbs properly as they contain mercury. (I didn’t know this one)
Go natural and buy wool carpet. Carpet is one of the worst home pollutants. The Carpet and Rug Institute will certify carpets as “green”,however, the carpets are not third party certified.
Solar tubes provide light in dark spaces and are more energy efficient than a skylight.
Is there more you can do to limit your carbon footprint? You bet. This list is just a start. Some of the things are common knowledge and others are not. Feel free to add suggestions. I will do another article listing some great free resources and books on reducing your carbon footprint and built green ideas.
Sellers had a 14% chance of selling a condo on Seattle’s Eastside in January of 2008. ( click on 2008 year to date statistics in the link above for a chart showing the condo report)
January, 2008 1059 condos for sale, 149 condos sold, 14% chance of selling.
December, 2007 949 condos for sale, 135 condos sold, 14% chance of selling.
January, 2007 507 condos for sale, 288 condos sold, 56% chance of selling.
This January inventory more than doubled from last year, while sales declined by almost half of what sold last January. However, the chances of selling a condo are the same as last month. Both inventory and sales increased this month, keeping the chances for selling at the same level.
Median pricing dipped a bit from last month by just a few thousand dollars. In December the median price for condo sales was at $344,414. This month it’s $341,249. Last year, even though the market was popping, the median price was $267,949.
So, we defy the trends again with a 27.4% increase in pricing in a “down” market? This number may be an anomaly as pricing for all of 2007 condos increased by 8%. The median price for any month is a reflection of the sales for that particular month, so last January’s sales may have included more entry level condos, which resulted in a huge increase in median pricing this year when more expensive condos sold. When we see February’s statistics, which will come out in March, we will have a better feel for the actual increase in pricing.
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in January 2008ranged from a low of 7% to a high of 15.8%, with an average of a 11.6% absorption rate. Here are the real estate statistics for single family home sales activity on Seattle’s Eastside:
January, 2008 2963 homes available, 346 sold, 11.6% chance of selling.
December, 2007 2594 homes available, 295 sold, 9% chance of selling.
January, 2007 1895 homes available, 506 sold, 26.7% chance of selling.
Sellers had a 13.3% chance of getting a home sold, UP from 12.2% last month and DOWN from 32.6% last year. Median home prices were down by .8%, from $624,900 to $619,900. Inventory was up by 55% and sales declined by almost 36.5% from last year.
Sellers had a 15.8% chance of getting a home sold, DOWN from 16.1% last month, and DOWN from 33.6% last year. Median sales price increased from $539,450 to $567,250. Inventory was up a whopping 112% and sales were exactly the same as last January, 36 homes.
Sellers had a 7.2% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 8.9% last month and DOWN from 21.3% last year. Median price decreased by 13.1% to $630,000 from $724,975. Inventory was up 51.6% and sales were down almost 48.3%.
Sellers had a 14% chance of selling a home, UP from 9.3% last month and DOWN from 25.7% last year. Median price was down to $459,950 from $499,950, an 8% decrease. Inventory was up by 50% from last year and sales declined by 18%.
Sellers had a 9.8% chance of selling a home, DOWN a hair from 10.2% last month and DOWN from 17.2% last year. Median price declined by 3%, from $672,475 to $652,250. Inventory was up by 38% and sales were down by 21%.
Sellers had an 7% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 9.7%, and DOWN from 21.6% last year. Median pricing dropped by 13% to $937,500 from $1,077,500. Inventory climbed by 78% and sales declined by 42%.
Sellers had a 12.4% chance of selling a home, DOWN ever so slightly from 12% last month, and DOWN from 32.8% last December. Median pricing increased by 2.5% from $648,950 to $664,925. Inventory increased by 59% and sales dropped by 40%.
This will continue to be a more realistic year. Here is the evaluation of the market from my January, 2008 article in which I summarized 2007 Seattle/Eastside real estate. The remarks still hole true for this month’s report:
“The market is softer for sellers, but not dead on the arrival of 2008 like in many areas of the country. Sellers need to be competitive with pricing and have a top notch marketing plan and presentation to capture a buyer’s attention and get the sale. Realistic sellers should not have a problem getting a home sold. Those who decide to sell should expect longer market times and flexibility in pricing.
Buyers have great choices, interest rates, negotiation opportunities, and a chance to think before jumping on a home in today’s market. Buyers, however, who plan to buy should stay put for at least 3-5 years. ” So this may not work for everyone.
The front page of last week’s Puget Sound Business Journal had an article written by Barbara Clements about the abundance of new signs decorating homes for sale. According to the article, of the 7000 homes on the market in the Tacoma area, 1000 are reduced and displaying a sign that states: “Price Reduced”.
Dick Beeson, an owner/broker at Windermere Real Estate voiced his opinion:
“Beeson’s plea for the area’s real estate agents to ditch the signs, first issued on a Tacoma real estate blog three weeks ago, has ignited debate over the topic that touches raw nerves among professionals trying to earn a livelihood selling houses in a showing market.”
“If agents were to stop posting those “reduced” signs, Beeson said, buyers would feel more positive about making an investment, and it would change the dynamic of the market.”
Another agent, Kari Scott, with John L. Scott, believes in signs which read “New Price”. In her view, buyers see the change in price posted on a sign and it draws interest.
Matthew Gardner of the Gardner Johnson real estate advisory firm weighed in with a third opinion and stated: “Many buyers have been online already and have an abundant amount of information. That might make the yard signs useless.”
My vote goes with Matthew Gardner. I believe so much information is available on the internet in today’s world, it’s redundant to put the reduced or new price up on a home.
What do you think? Are “price reduced” or “new price” signs a motivating or de-motivating force in the real estate marketplace? Do these signs help or hurt buyers and sellers? Do the signs make you want to buy or run for the hills?
I was really busy last month and spent about $30,000 on my credit card. I signed up for several matchmaker services, resume websites, and, oh yeah, I took a few flights to London, The Middle East, and Singapore. I’m really tired because I was so busy!
What really happened was someone “borrowed” my credit card number, shared it with friends and family, charged a number of trips, and used dating and job services. I figure the person(s) who had the card number was really hurting and in need of a job, a date, and travel.
At any rate, when I read “This is the Big One” by Glenn Kelman on Redfin’s Sweet Digs blog, having just had an issue over my credit card, I got the willies. Mr. Kelman wrote about an idea presented to him for showing homes. To Mr. Kelman’s credit, he put the idea out to his readers. The article’s premise, and you can read more about it by clicking on the link, is buyers could contact sellers directly to view homes. Buyers would submit financial statements and credit card numbers on line to a seller whose home they chose to view.
The seller would review the documents to determine if the buyer was qualified to see the home. If so, the buyer would be given a code to a keybox to enter the home. When viewing the home, the seller might not be present.
Here is my comment to this article on The Sweet Digs blog:
“TMI- Too much information! Would a buyer want to give every seller whose home they simply want to view all of their personal and financial information. I think not! It is none of the seller’s business. As a Realtor, it’s none of my business either. I recommend good lenders who will take care of my client, be honest, and explain everything throughout the process. I need to know the buyer is qualified, not their financial history.So would a buyer want to put all their financial information out on the internet to anyone and everyone, highly unlikely. Sounds like a good way for someone to hack in and get financial data. From the seller’s point of view, as many people have already said (in blog comments), the security issues would be huge. Just because you were privy to someone’s financial records, does that mean the person is a fine, upstanding citizen?What if the person who came in was really looking for prescription drugs? Don’t think it happens? It does.”
Real estate could be the birth of two start up industries! I see possibilities for growth here.
It could be the real estate industry’s way of contributing to the economy by creating two niche markets:
Niche market #1-
Company name: We’ve Got Your Number
This company would provide financial data, including credit card and social security numbers, selling the information to anyone who will pay.
Niche market #2-
Company name: I Want to Take You Higher
Prescription drugs available at great prices! Hurry for the best selection.
Seriously, showing homes in this way would open a can of worms stretching from identity theft to the thievery of household treasures and other crimes I don’t want to think about. It was unsettling enough to have someone out using my credit card, never mind what could happen if showing homes was handled in this way.
Finally, someone in Congress may be getting it. Michelle Leder in the Footnoted blog says a hotter ticket than the Superbowl will be for the House Committee on Oversight meeting on February 28, 2008. Congressman Henry Waxman has invited Angelo Mozilo of Countrywide, Stan O’Neal formerly of Merrill Lynch, and former Citigroup head, Chuck Prince to a meet and greet in the halls of Congress. Henry Waxman wants to know why these heads of financial institutions are raking in the money, even as they are “let go” and/or their companies and the country are foundering. It’s about time somebody noticed! The only article I could find when we first heard about Stan O’Neal deploring his golden parachutewas by at USA Today writer, Rich Unger. The kings of the mortgage/credit mess are raking in big bucks. There’s something very wrong with this picture. Angelo Mozilo will be giving up his golden parachute of $37 million. He’s starting to get it, but a little too little and a little too late. We will not shed any tears for his “loss”.
Back in October I started writing an article about Stan O’Nealand his golden parachute. (Keep in mind when reading this, Stan O’Neal is easily interchangeable with Angelo Mozilo or Chuck Prince.) Stan ONeal /Chuck Prince/Angelo Mozilo “retired” from his many posts and titles at Merrill /Citi/Country. He was given the option to retire, rather than be fired. Merrill/Citi/Country was unhappy with his performance as he failed to see the danger coming in the subprime market, putting the company earnings and stock price at risk. Here’s a man who had been incredibly successful, made a lot of money, made a lot of mistakes, and the board chose not to fire him, but allowed him to retire, collecting a huge sum of money, give or take $160 million.
Let’s see, what could that money do? What if Mr. O’Neal only took $10 million and gave away a $151 million? Maybe he could pick one of his favorite charities and donate the money to the organization, a la Bill Gates. Just think of the impact this gift could have for many people. Maybe Mr. O’Neal/Prince/Mozilo could fund college scholarships or donate to The Nature Conservancy or The American Cancer Society. Or maybe he could start a fund that could be distributed to people in danger of losing their homes. Standards would have to be met, people would need to qualify. Obviously, a strong program with strong implementation would be needed. Maybe people who have been laid off from their job and can no longer afford their monthly payments could apply to get some of this money. Maybe money is given to some of the people who lost their homes in New Orleans or in the California fires. The money Stan /Angelo/Chuck will retire with could have such a positive effect on the world. Just think of the great publicity Stan/Chuck/Angelo would get, rather than all the negative press. Sounds like a win-win situation to me. Imagine the possibilities….
So, Mr. Waxman, since you invited these men over to your “House” for a visit, see what you can do. At the very least, see what you can do about executive compensation, so the rich don’t become richer and the poor become poorer.
On my way home this evening, I heard Ted Koppel’s piece on NPR’s ”All Things Considered” entitled “America’s Economic Woes: Loose Spending, Lending”. This link will take you to the podcast. Mr Koppel gave his thoughts about the President’s bailout package. He doesn’t think it’ll work. He wonders, as many people do, where all the money will come from to take care of the lost revenue. According to Mr. Koppel, the President’s plan is like a glorified Ponzi Scheme.
Not to minimize concerns with the bailout plan, what really piqued my interest in the piece, was Mr. Koppel’s reference to a company called Tradelinesolutions. This company promises, for the small fee of $1399.00, to clean up your credit history with a piggyback loan. Here’s how they do it, and I quote directly from the company website:
1. You are matched with an open credit account drawing near its closing. You’re added as a joint account user.
2. The previous account holder is transferred off or to another account.
3. The account stays open with your name still on it.
4. You assume the credit history and own the account and when you pull your credit report this account shows up as your own account.
5. Now you can get a loan!”
So people with bad credit get to “piggyback” on someone else’s good credit to boost credit scores. Unbelievable! When I went to check off a category for this post, I couldn’t find one that really fit. I was thinking maybe I need to have a category labelled unbelievable!
Here are the condo stats for December 2007 and a wrap up for 2007.
Sellers had a 14% chance of selling a condo on Seattle’s Eastside in December of 2007. ( click on 2007 year to date statistics in the link above for a chart showing the condo report)
December, 2007 949 condos for sale, 135 condos sold, 14% chance of selling.
November, 2007 1076 condos for sale, 172 condos sold, 15% chance of selling.
December, 2006 439 condos for sale, 229 condos sold, 52% chance of selling.
So buyers and sellers, there was a huge change in the chances of getting a condo or town home sold in December of ’07 when compared to December of ’06. Over half of the condos for sale in December ’06 received offers and sold. This December’s 135 sales represented a 14% chance of selling, quite a change from last year’s 52% chance.
However, we are defying real estate market trends as the median price for December, $344,414, was just a hair under the year’s high. In October the median sales price for a Seattle/Eastside condo was $345,416. Condos ended the year with almost an 8% higher median price point. The overall price increase for 2007 is counter to traditional real estate market trends. Usually, if there is such a drastic decline in sales, a decline in prices follows, but not in Seattle’s eastern suburbs in 2007!
The Seattle/Eastside condo market at a glance:
Highest median price: October
Lowest median price: January
Greatest amount of inventory: September and October.
Lowest amount of inventory: January
Largest number of pending sales: March
Lowest number of pending sales: December
In my summary for the Seattle/Eastside 2007 residential market post below, I made some comments about this year’s real estate market, which I believe to hold true for the condo market:
“This will be a more realistic year. The market is softer for sellers, but not dead on the arrival of 2008 like in many areas of the country. Sellers need to be competitive with pricing and have a top notch marketing plan and presentation to capture a buyer’s attention and get the sale. Realistic sellers should not have a problem getting a home sold. Those who decide to sell should expect longer market times and flexibility in pricing.
Buyers have great choices, interest rates, negotiation opportunities, and a chance to think before jumping on a home in today’s market. Buyers should also plan to buy and stay put for at least 3-5 years.
Keep in mind, we are one of the stronger markets in the country. There have been other realistic real estate markets in Seattle before. I’ve seen a few over my 20 year real estate career. The market will change once again. It always does!”
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in December 2007 ranged from a low of 8.9% to a high of 16.1%, with an average of a 9% absorption rate. The chances of selling a home have slipped a little over the last few months. Single family sales activity:
Sellers had a 12.2% chance of getting a home sold, DOWN from 12.9% last month and DOWN from 29.2% last year. Median home prices were up by 7.2%, from $596,800 to $639,900. Inventory was up by 39% and sales declined by almost 42% from last year.
Sellers had a 16.1% chance of getting a home sold, Up from 14.5% last month, and DOWN from 31.3% last year. Median sales price increased from $525,000 to $589,500. Inventory was up a whopping 139% and sales were down by 17%, a huge change since last year.
Sellers had a 8.9% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 11,6% last month and DOWN from 25.6% last year. Median price decreased by 4.8% to $668,222 from $637,619. Inventory was up 50% and sales were down almost 37%.
Sellers had a 9.3% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 13.8% last month and DOWN from 28.4% last year. Median price was up to $549,000 from $464,500, an 18% increase. Inventory was up by 46% from last year.
Sellers had a 10.2% chance of selling a home, DOWN a hair from 10.8% last month and DOWN from 19.5% last year. Median price increased by 5.7%, to $676,475 from $639,950. Inventory was up by 38% and sales were down by 28%.
Sellers had an 9.7% chance of selling a home, UP from 8.8%, and DOWN from 31.3% last year. Median pricing dropped by 8% to $1,099,000 from $1,198,000. Inventory climbed by 91% and sales declined by 41%.
Sellers had a 12% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 18%, and DOWN from 26% last year. Median pricing declined by 5.4% from $689,500 to $651,975. Inventory increased by 26% and sales dropped by 41%.
So how did your neighborhood end up at the close of 2007?
The areas that ended up with a higher price point than last year:
The plateau: Sammamish, Issaquah, Snoqualmie, North Bend
West Redmond/East Bellevue
Woodinville, Bothell, Duvall, Kenmore, Kirkland north of NE 116th
Kirkland, south of NE 116th AVE
Areas in which the price point is lower than last December:
West Bellevue
South Bellevue
Redmond: Education Hill, Carnation
Area with the highest % price increase when compared to Dec. ’07: Woodinville
Area with the biggest % price decline when compared to Dec. ’07: West Bellevue
Area with the greatest % increase in homes for sale when compared to Dec. ’07: West Redmond/East Bellevue
Area with the largest % decline in sales when compared to Dec. ’07: South Bellevue
Area with the smallest % decline in sales when compared to Dec. ’07: West Bellevue
So here you have it, the total increases and decreases in pricing and inventory in Seattle’s Eastside real estate market.
This will be a more realistic year. The market is softer for sellers, but not dead on the arrival of 2008 like in many areas of the country. Sellers need to be competitive with pricing and have a top notch marketing plan and presentation to capture a buyer’s attention and get the sale. Realistic sellers should not have a problem getting a home sold. Those who decide to sell should expect longer market times and flexibility in pricing.
Buyers have great choices, interest rates, negotiation opportunities, and a chance to think before jumping on a home in today’s market. Buyers should also plan to buy and stay put for at least 3-5 years.
Keep in mind, we are one of the stronger markets in the country. There have been other realistic real estate markets in Seattle before. I’ve seen a few over my 20 year real estate career. The market will change once again. It always does!
”A is waiting in line at a movie theater. When he gets to the ticket window, he is told that as he is the 100,000th customer of the theater, he has just won $100.
B is waiting in line at a different theater. The man in front of him wins $1,000 for being the 1-millionth customer of the theater. Mr. B wins $150.
Amazingly, most people said they would prefer to be A. In other words, they would rather forgo $50 in order to alleviate the feeling of regret that comes with not winning the thousand bucks. Essentially, they were willing to pay $50 for regret therapy.”
He cited the above example to demonstrate how most people think of money.
“Regret falls under a psychological effect known as loss aversion. Research shows that before we risk an investment, we need to feel assured that the potential gain is twice what the possible loss might be because a loss feels twice as bad as a gain feels good. That’s weird and irrational, but it’s the way it is.”
Loss aversion explains why people are consumed with our more difficult market.
Loss aversion explains the bubble bloggers.
Loss aversion explains why so many buyers hesitate to make a purchase.
Buyers, even in a buyers’ market, fear they will lose, and, as Mr. Shermer states, a loss feels twice as bad as a win. This also explains why so many buyers jump on the bandwagon in a sellers’ market and buy even when caught in multiple offer situations and bidding over an asking price. As counter-intuitive as it seems, buyers believe they will “win” and make money in a sellers’ market, and “lose” in a buyers’ market.
My advice in our buyers’ market? Think seriously about buying. With interest rates at the lowest point in years, it’s a boon to buyers. However, if you buy, plan to stay in your home for no less than 3 years, and, preferably five years. The Seattle real estate market goes in cycles and the market will be in the sellers favor once again. It has happened before and will happen again.
Will you buy at the bottom of the market if you buy now? No one will ever know when the market is at bottom until after it has passed.
What we do know now is rates are great, pricing is in favor of buyers, negotiation is expected, deals can be had, there are many homes to choose from, and real estate goes in cycles.
Everyday there’s something written in the press about the dire shape of the housing market. Reporters, bloggers, homeowners, lots of talk about the downward movement of the housing industry.
It’s time to be proactive. It’s time to do something to help provide some relief to the people who are in danger of losing their homes. The number two million keeps getting bandied about, a lot of people and a lot of homes. This will have a profound affect on the country as a whole. Neighborhoods will be affected if there are a number of empty homes.
While at Inman News Real Estate Connect, an interesting proposal was presented by Dr. John Vogel, a professor at Tuck School of Management at Dartmouth College, “The Last Chance” mortgage. I explained the details of Dr. Vogel’s proposal in an articleI wrote for The Seattle P-I Real Estate Professionals blog. Larry Cragun also attended Inman News Real Estate Connect and presented his thoughts on his blog, Issaquah Undressed.
Our society, our government need to take steps to mitigate this problem. Unfortunately, little action is being taken. Take a close look at our Presidential candidates. See if the candidate of your choice has a proposal to ease the credit crunch and check how promising the proposed plan will be. It’s important to all of us.
I just returned from NYC and the Inman News Real Estate Connect conference, one of the best real estate conferences out there. Here’ s a photo of the view from my hotel room. When I looked outside at the low clouds and blowing rain, I couldn’t help but feel ”at home.” The view of the Hudson River was pretty gray and wet. I was on the 32nd floor of the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. (Of course, there are just a few more buildings in New York than in Seattle.)
While at the conference, I had a chance to hear some great speakers talk about the state of the economy and real estate, with some suggestions for the future. I’ll be sharing some of what I learned over the next week, mostly on The Seattle PI Real Estate Professionals Blog. I’ll link to a couple of articles from that site to keep you in the loop. Stay tuned!
The new year brings in a new licensing requirement for loan officers in Washington State. It has been the talk of the media and blogs over the past week. Elizabeth Rhodes reported on the changes in the industry and the requirements in a recent article in The Seattle Times. Larry Cragun also commented on the changes over at the Seattle Real Estate Professionals blog. Jillayne Schlicke wrote a detailed post about the changes over on Rain City Guide.
Here are some interesting facts:
13,722 loan originators took the test, 90% passed.
Only 5,720 completed the full process to become licensed.
Interestingly, loan officers who work for banks, credit unions and some financial institutions are not required to be licensed by the state.
Sellers had a 15% chance of selling a condo on Seattle’s Eastside in November of 2007. ( click on 2007 year to date statistics in the link above for a chart showing the condo report)
November, 2007 1076 condos for sale, 172 condos for sale, 15% chance of selling.
October, 2007 1121 condos for sale, 202 sales, 18% chance of selling.
November, 2006 614 condos for sale, 272 sales, 44% chance of selling.
The numbers this month show the inventory declining from October by about 46 properties. Sales in November decreased by 30 properties, keeping the activity for October and November at about the same level. Last year, 44% of the available condos received offers as compared to 15% this month. November, 2006 was a slight drop from October of last year, when 51% of the condos sold.
Overall, the median price continues to defy market trends and has increased by 2% from last year. It is now $319,840 and last November it was $312,411. However, there is a significant drop from the October, 2007 median pricing of $345,416. This could simply mean the condos that sold this month are slightly less expensive than last month or it could mean the median pricing dropped. I am guessing it’s a little bit of both.
Inventory, although less than last month, is up by 462 properties from last November.
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in November 2007 ranged from a low of 8.8% to a high of 18.7%, with an average of a 13.4% absorption rate. The chances of selling a home have varied little over the last three months.
Sellers had a 12.9% chance of getting a home sold, DOWN from 16.9% last month and DOWN from 24% last year. Median home prices were down by 2.8%, from $574,975 to $558,944. Inventory was up by 35% and sales declined by almost 23% from last year.
Sellers had a 14.5% chance of getting a home sold, UP (oh so slightly) from 14% last month, and DOWN from 42% last year. Median sales price declined from $550,000 to $521,475. Inventory was up almost 88% and sales were down by 36%, a huge change since last year. The increase in inventory is significant, almost double last year’s numbers.
Sellers had a 11.6% chance of selling a home, UP from 11% last month and DOWN from 25.1% last year. Median price decreased by5.2% to $605,000 from $638,500. Inventory was up 31% and sales were down almost 40%.
Sellers had a 13.8% chance of selling a home, UP from 12% last month and DOWN from 32% last year. Median price was up to $494,975 from $457,495, a 8% increase. Inventory was up by 32% from last year.
Sellers had a 10.8% chance of selling a home, DOWN a hair from 11% last month and DOWN from 18% last year. Median price increased by 3.1%, to $689,975 from $669,000. Inventory was up by 28% and sales were down by 23%.
Sellers had an 8.8% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 10%, and DOWN from 18.8% last year. Median pricing rose by 42% to $1,349,000 from $949,950. Inventory climbed by 75% and sales declined by 17%.
Sellers had a 18% chance of selling a home, UP from 16%, and DOWN from 20.5% last year. Median pricing declined by 16% from $699,900 to $585,000. Inventory increased by 25% and sales dropped by 14%.
There are many similarities in the numbers as most of the areas performed similarly to October. Clearly, the market has slowed as fewer homes sold this month than earlier this year. Just because there’s more consistency in these market indicators, there are still some surprising statistics. For example, in West Bellevue the median price shot up 42%, even as inventory skyrocketed by 75%. West Bellevue is not alone in price increases as you can see above in the median price ranges that were up this month from last year.
Education Hill has had some of the slower activity this year, but is the top Eastside performer with the highest percentage of homes selling this month. Ironically, this performance is closer to last year’s sales than the other areas. Most of the other Eastside areas had a much higher percentage of sales last year, so the numbers for these areas are dramatically lower this year. While Education Hill had the best performance at almost a 19% absorption rate, it had a steep decline in value in November.
In other areas, there has been a huge increase in inventory. Homes for sale in West Redmond/East Bellevue have almost doubled in number since last year. However, inventory continues to drop overall, putting September as the month with the greatest number of homes for sale.
Sellers had a 19% chance of selling a condo on Seattle’s Eastside in September of 2007.
September, 2007 1119 condos for sale, 212 sales, 19% chance of selling.
August, 2007 1002 condos for sale, 309 sales, 30% chance of selling.
September, 2006 639 condos for sale, 340 sales, 75% chance of selling.
Take a look at the chart showing condo activity from 2003 to the present. Despite all the bad news we hear about the condo market, this chart is very telling. The cycle of pending sales is almost a mirror image for each of the last four years. We are in the midst of a pattern that happens year to year. Each year starts out with the lowest number of sales and hits a peak sometime in the summer. By September, the number of pending sales starts declining. December and January see the least amount of sales most of the years.
Are there more condos on the market during this year’s cycle? Yes, the market has the highest inventory since 2003. The condo market performance seems more worrisome partly because inventory was so low in 2005 and 2006. Our inventory levels are more like 2003, but the price ranges are much higher. In 2003, the median price for condos hovered around $200,000 for the entire year. In 2007, the year started with the median pricing just above $250,000 and now median pricing is more like $325,000.
Choices, choices, choices, There are so many great properties out there for you to choose from. If this annual pattern continues, expect to see more market activity as 2008 progresses.
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in August 2007 ranged from a low of 14% to a high of 25%, depending on the neighborhood. All of the Eastside areas experienced a decline in the chances of selling a home with the exception of the Redmond/Education Hill area and West Bellevue. Sellers in these areas had the same chance of selling this month as well as last month.
(click on each area name to see a chart showing all the latest stats)
Sellers had a 20% chance of getting a home sold, DOWN from 21% last month and DOWN from 36% last year.
Median home prices dropped by about 5% to $549,250 from $574,975.
Inventory is up by 43% and sales declined by 18% from last year.
Buyers get in your horse and buggy and start trolling for a home. There’s a gold mine out there for you to choose from, start prospecting for a home.
Sellers had a 24% chance of getting a home sold, DOWN from 33% last month and DOWN from 53 % last year.
Median sales price increased to $582,475 from $529,000 last year, a 10% change.
Inventory was up by 55% and sales were down by 28%
Sellers had a 16% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 25% last month and DOWN from 41% last year. Median price was up from $474,000 to $502,500, a 6% increase. Inventory was up a whopping 64% and sales are down by 35%.
Sellers had a 14% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 22% last month and DOWN from 21% last year.
Median price moved slightly, by 1.7% to 574,975 from $574,975 to $585,000.
Inventory was up by 14% and sales were down by 23%
Sellers had an 18% chance of selling a home, THE SAME as last month, and DOWN from 28% last year.
Median pricing rose by 9% to $1,582,000 from $1,443,500.
Inventory climbed by 25% and sales declined by 18%.
(The sales drop translates to 8 less homes sold this past month than last year at this time.)
Sellers had a 25% chance of selling a home, THE SAME as last month, and DOWN from 31% last year.
Median pricing was up from $650,000 from $599,880, a 8.4% increase.
Inventory was up by 35.5% and sales were up by 22%
Are we seeing a the real estate market behave like fall of 2001? It reminds me of what happened to the economy after 9-11. After the terrorist attacks, everyone froze and no one did anything. Homes, cars, boats, none of the large consumer goods were selling. When 2002 came, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and was able to move forward as if the country was off to a fresh start. In the Puget Sound region with our strong economy, there is no reason to stop looking for and purchasing homes. Homes will still appreciate. Prices are will not going to become significantly less expensive in this area.
All my hot buttons in one place: real estate and financing , emergency preparedness, seniors, and Built Green issues! Wow, good stuff for all to see and learn about. The Master Builder tour of homes began today and covers new construction sites in King and Snohomish Counties. Tour hours are from noon-6 PM each Friday to Sunday from the 14th to the 30th. A number of the popular builders, including Camwest, Burnstead, Murray Franklyn, and Shea homes are involved in the tour. Learn about the latest new construction styles, in addition to learning about Built Green issues, emergency preparedness classes, home warranties, and mortgages. Given the latest in the mortgage industry, the mortgage classes should be hot ones. For a class schedule, check out the Master Builders Tour of Homes Classes
It is that time of year again when the luxury home tours happens in the Seattle area. Actually, this year marks the 20th year of the Seattle Street of Dreams and it is happening in “Quinn’s Crossing” in Woodinville, Washington. What is new and exciting and different at this year’s show is the emphasis on Built-Green homes. The homes in the show all have a minimum of a 3 Star rating and have been built with environmentally “green” building materials. Home #5, The Urban Lodge, is the only 5 Star home in the show. The Seattle Master Builders Association is concerned with the built-green concept as I mentioned in a previous post
I went to the Street of Dreams on one of two Realtor Days. We Realtors get free admission to see the homes so we can then talk about the homes with our clients and maybe even sell one of the homes as a result! This year’s “Street” is a cluster of 5 homes located around a cul-de-sac. The exterior styling is more craftsman, lodge-like, and prairie style home. The first home stands out on the “Street” as unique to the show with its very European, Tuscan feel.
Pictures and comments on the individual homes are below, but you might need to scroll down to see them due to Blogger formatting issues…
#1 – La Belle Fleur
It definitely had the most formal street presence with its stucco style siding and European flavor. There’s a lot of elegant ironwork, limestone, Venetian plastering, and wall murals. There’s even a fish tank, but it was not operating when we were there.
The master suite was the best of the five homes, more elegant than my taste generally, but you could just imagine yourself relaxing in the sitting area which comes complete with a built-in fridge. There was a private balcony and a gorgeous, huge dual headed shower. The tub conjured up relaxing images of soaking and gazing out at the view. However, I think you might take your life in your hands trying to get out of the tub with wet feet. It looked a little dangerous to me.
#2 – Greenleaf Retreat
This home was truly unique to the show. It had the cleanest, most contemporary lines of any of the homes. I would call the exterior style transitional, but the interior was very contemporary. It seemed far more contemporary than the exterior of the home. Some retro furnishings, glass topped tables with metal legs were used to decorate the home. There’s a huge great room area with french doors that lead to the exterior and a unique outdoor metal fireplace, built-in grill, and fridge.
I loved the master bath with its see-through fireplace, gorgeous shower and interesting sinks. This master bath is more my style. Check out the tile work on the master bedroom side of the fireplace when you go to the show. I thought it was done well. Upstairs there was a huge bonus/media room that had a built-in coffee maker.
The entry is graced by a beautiful waterfall, a beautiful touch.
The backyard was great, beautifully landscaped with some nice plantings. You could almost see the family dog running across this backyard. It was the best backyard of the five homes. There’s an outdoor room with a fireplace that looked like a great place to relax and unwind.
This home is a well done re-creation of a Craftsman style home done in the Arts and Craft tradition, think of an updated version of the Greene and Green homes, such as the Gamble house in Pasadena. There’s lots of wood paneling, built-in glass shelving, and great period style light fixtures.
There is a beautiful yard, unfortunately, most of it was to the side of the house.
I was surprised to learn that California Closets installed the furniture in one of the offices. It looked terrific. The majority of the wood used in the flooring and woodwork is reclaimed hickory. Much of the cabinetry throughout the home was sleek in appearance, a little surprising because of the heavier look of the hickory wood trimwork.
Summary
Besides an emphasis on the “green building” for all of the homes, the show continues its traditional alliance with Make-A-Wish Foundation. A room in each home is decorated to mirror a wish that has been granted by the foundation. Drink up and eat at the show as a portion of the concession stand sales will be donated to help grant future foundation wishes.
My show favorites:
Best home overall – #5 The Urban Lodge
Best kitchen – #4 Tamarack
Best master bedroom – #1 La Belle Fleur
Best master bath – #2 Greenleaf Retreat
Best backyard – #3 Copper Falls
Best outdoor room – #5 The Urban Lodge
My Street of Dreams picks, tell me what you think! What were your favorites?
I just had a past client call me to get my advice about making some changes to her home before she put it on the market. We have known each other since 1999, when she and her husband were referred to me to help them find a home on the Eastside. They purchased a home that they remodeled and sold after living in it for several years. At that time, they decided to move closer to family in the Midwest. Now, she and her family are heading back to the Northwest.
The home in the Midwest has a very 60′s retro flavor. The light fixtures in the home are true period pieces. She emailed me photos of her home and asked what I thought about changing the light fixtures. I questioned her about the type of buyer who might be buying her home, the performance of the real estate market in the area, and if her home had competition from other listings. Finding the answers to these questions helped her to decide whether or not to change out the light fixtures. Her Realtor in Illinois was a fan of removing the fixtures, since she didn’t think buyers would appreciate them. Her thought was to update the fixtures as this would appeal to more buyers.
Ironically, I know people in the Seattle area would kill for retro light fixtures, and this is my point. Different markets demand different styles and features. If this home was selling in the Seattle area, I would not recommend removal of the light fixtures. Here, retro fixtures would be an added plus.
It is important for both buyers and sellers to know what works in a particular market. What sells in Peoria does not always sell in Seattle. Your Realtor should be able to help you determine what “sells” in your area. Making choices that appeal to the local market when updating your home is critical for making the most money when you sell your home. It is a great way to make more money, and, also, not lose money because of a costly remodeling mistake.
But remember, ask a Realtor “what plays” in Seattle so you can make the most money out of any remodeling.
Planning a kitchen remodel or just updating appliances?
The attached article will give you some great information about the newest kitchen trends for 2007. Some of the ideas really hit home with me.
When I show prospective buyers new homes, I constantly hear how everyone congregates in the kitchen. People want different spaces right in the kitchen. Home owners want places to read and store mail, plus sitting areas for entertaining guests and for relaxation. These spaces are not just in the family room anymore, but now are more incorporated into the kitchen.
Kitchen design is now looking at separate work stations throughout the kitchen, rather than the simple triangle work pattern with a path between the stove, refrigerator, and sink as points of a triangle.
I have some clients who are avid cooks and were way ahead in kitchen design with their kitchen remodel. They have a large U-shaped prep area with the stove, a work sink, refrigerator and abundant counter and storage space. The clean up area is on the other side of the kitchen and it has its own sink, the dishwasher, and cabinets for storing the dinnerware. The cabinetry for each area is even different. The prep area has light cabinets, while the clean up area had dark stained cabinetry. When I saw their kitchen about 6 months ago, it made an impression on me because it was so functional.
Storage is becoming more elaborate. Cabinet interiors are designed to store specific items such as pans and trays. Storage is also sleeker.
I saw a great example of sleek cabinetry at the Bellevue Towers condominiums being built in downtown Bellevue. Clients of mine purchased a new home in the complex, so I got to see the finish work first hand. The kitchen designs were just fabulous. So fabulous that I could not find the dishwasher or refrigerator easily, which is exactly the point! Both appliances were behind beautifully crafted cabinet doors that were flush with the rest of the cabinetry. The design was quite elegant and seamless. The kitchen designs had more to offer in smaller, sleeker spaces, and with a less cluttered look. (These kitchens made me want to go home and rip my kitchen out!)
Sustainability is also more of a consideration. People are using more “green” materials, such as bamboo flooring. Not to tout Bellevue Towers again, but the condos are being “built green”
I was excited to see the concept of universal design, design for everyone of any age and any ability, mentioned in this article. With our aging population, everyone needs to rethink design and livability. Accessible cabinets and counters and levers instead of door knobs are all issues to be considered when designing a kitchen that works for everyone, regardless of age.
It seems like everyone wants to live “close in” today. We all know everyone is tired of the commutes on the Eastside. So the older homes that attract the most buyers and sell for the most money are the homes that have been updated. These homes keep the best features of the existing home, but incorporate some of the attractive features of newer homes.
Want some creative ideas for remodeling that older home? Everyone knows kitchens and baths are the “no-brainer” remodels that will earn home owners the most bang for their buck, but in this article a few more great ideas were presented. Here are some suggestions from the article you can link to below:
Raise the roof! What a great idea. When I show buyers homes I constantly hear about the desire for an open floor plan with high ceilings. This is one of the major attractions of newer homes and is a great way for older homes to compete in the marketplace.
Tear down walls- another great way to create openess. Older homes often have small rooms. Why not open the kitchen to the dining room or family room?
Paint the interior with fabulous colors. No longer is beige, beige, beige in demand. People love personality and color. Go for it and show your style.
Add a bath or hardwood floors. Again, great features that excite buyers.
Check out new construction for what is popular and then adapt the features to your own remodel.
I have seen some really cool midentry and rambler homes built in the 60′s and 70′s that had open floor plans. These open living areas were created by knocking down walls. When these homes have been on the market, they have attracted top dollar for the sellers. The older homes with the open floor plans, plus the remodeled kitchens and baths, are the most in demand.
I am often asked what updates to a home make the most sense and reap the greatest financial reward when you go to sell your home. As most people know, updated kitchens and baths really excite most home buyers. The National Association of Realtors annual cost vs. value report analyzes the value of remodels in different areas of the country. What sells in Peoria may not sell in Seattle!
If you want more specific information about a home update or remodel, please feel free to call on me. Since I have been out looking at many new and remodeled homes in the area, I know what people like. You may not be selling your home at this time, however, making the right choices when remodeling can reap you additional money when you decide to sell your home in the future. Making the wrong choices can be very expensive.
Seattle Eastside April 2009 condo real estate statistics
Have you remodeled or upgraded your home? It may be time for an insurance update and possible upgrade in your insurance coverage. A client of mine asked me to come by her home to see all of the remodeling work she had done. Her insurance agent wisely suggested she get a home valuation so she would have the right amount of insurance coverage. The entire main floor of her home has been remodeled. It’s just gorgeous with elegant kitchen finishes, beautiful hardwood flooring, upgraded windows, a beautiful bath and wonderful colors.
, and Rhonda Porter from 
was served and tours were given of the house. We saw the pink bedroom, 
the true honeymoon hideaway,
the dining room. the pool area, and the escape route Elvis and Priscilla used to leave the house to fly to Las Vegas for the wedding ceremony. 
The homes were between 1200 and 2500 square feet, often with 3 bedrooms and 1 3/4 baths. Clean lines, open spaces, and simple materials were the trademarks of the Alexander homes. Today, these homes are being beautifully remodeled and refurbished, utilizing the best of the clean and simple designs.
Everyone worries so much about whether our equity is secure when we buy a home, and rightfully so, but what about good old “terra firma”? 
Saturday morning a number of 
Each Realtor is armed with a gift card for $175.00 and a list of gift requests from the shopper’s family. 
With that and a warm coffee for me, we were off and cruising the aisles, ready to shop.
Those of us who had braved the aisles and were heavily shopping could then kick back and relax.
Oh by the way, the desert is also famous for its mountains, but they are just a tad drier than the Cascades in the Northwest and not too many evergreens can be found!
This is really bad staging, but it’s nothing compared to the staging problems in this 
Eastside Real Estate Buzz
