» Is This a Good Time For Seattle-Eastside Home Owners to Make a Move Up?

Is This a Good Time For Seattle-Eastside Home Owners to Make a Move Up?

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.

Barbara Corcoran, the owner of Corcoran Real Estate in NYC, spoke about the Top Five Real Estate Markets Expected to Rebound:

Denver
Raleigh
Austin
Seattle
San Francisco

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?

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