You Snooze, You Lose, in This Seattle Eastside Real Estate Market

by The Beaupain Team

Brooks and I just sold a home in Redmond which had multiple offers. A contract was in hand, when the very next day I received phone calls from both an agent and a prospective buyer who wanted to see the home. They were a day late. It was gone. It was sold.

Here on the eastside, the market is doing well for the good homes, but not for all homes. These are the homes that are the best of the competition in terms of price, condition, style, floor plan and location.

One reason why the good homes are selling with multiple offers:

Less than 9000 properties are for sale in King County, for the first time in years. Supply is dwindling fast. If you compare the number of homes for sale with this time last year, 3000 fewer homes are on the market. As the year heads to a close, more sellers will take their homes off the market.

I expect to see December and January be good markets for sellers because of the decrease in competition. Quality homes will go fast, and possibly with multiple offers.

Does this mean it’s a bad market for buyers? No, there are still a lot of good homes for sale. Plus, it’s the most affordable market we’ve had in the Seattle area 17 years. With the lower interest rates, a mortgage is starting to rival rental costs.

So if you snooze, you can lose. Do you homework. Determine what’s most important to you. Is it the location, is it the good floor plan or a combination of many factors? Know the prices of homes in the area. Learn what’s selling and for what price. Know your wants and needs, study the market by visiting homes, and learn what sells well in the area.

If you do all these things. You won’t snooze and lose. You’ll know which homes work best for you and which are the best values. You can then jump in and buy a good home and not lose.