Seattle Real Estate Bells

Negative Headlines Effect Seattle's Real Estate Market

With all the negative news about the slumping National Real Estate Market is hurting the Seattle Real Estate Market even though Seattle is not facing very many of the problems that are effecting other areas like, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Southern California, and Florida. While the national figures show that home prices have fallen by as much as 15% in some areas, other areas like Seattle have only fallen by about 5%. And while that drop started in early 2007 in other parts of the country, it only started in Seattle in the late fall of 2007 and after there was so much bad news about other areas of the country and the sub prim fiasco.

So much fear has been created by the media that many people are just plain scared to buy or sell today. We have one client that wants to rent their home and buy a smaller condo but is so afraid of what is happening that they are not going to do anything. The facts are that they can buy a condo now for about 10% less than they would have been able to at this time last year and they would be able to rent their house for about 15% more than they would have last year. Financially they would be making a good decision to make that move today but all the bad national news has them too afraid to make the move.

The rental market in Seattle is very strong today and there have even been bidding wars on some rentals. Over the past several years there have been so many apartment building converted to condos that we have a short supply of rental apartments. Because the housing market has changed and buyer and sellers are waiting to see where this market is heading, there aren't as many homes for rent. Supply and demand! Demand is up because people aren't buying and supply is down.

We see Bloggers that put out all these Real Estate sales statistics that can be very misleading. They paint the greater Seattle area with the broad brush of average sales prices and prices per square foot. They fail to understand that every city has areas that are different. If you look at sales figures for all of King County you get a much different picture than if you look at Ballard, Queen Anne, or Magnolia. Renton has a different Real Estate market than Madison Park. Yet people tend to lump all the areas together and make their analysis. Usually that analysis is misleading and inaccurate and we believe now that these misperceptions are hurting our market unjustly because of the phycological impact it's making on people here.

A good example of this just happened to a client of ours. They have their home for sale and received a low offer the first day it was on the market. The client countered and the buyer walked away. Three weeks passed and it was evident that a price reduction was needed even though the home was originally priced very well. But the few buyers that are out there are being so cautious that they have to feel like they are getting a very good deal. Well, the original buyers came back after the price reduction and wrote another offer for $30,000 less than their original offer. With this offer they attached a letter from the seller stating that all the headlines say that home prices have fallen by at least 15% and the end isn't near. They stated that mortgage rates have increased as well. What happening in Stockton California and Phoenix Arizona isn't happening in Seattle. In fact that same article with it's headlines saying "Home Prices Fall by 15%" buried in the middle of the article it said that Seattle prices were only down 4.8%. And mortgage rates are still at historical lows but the talk is that mortgage rates will be heading up.

You need to understand your specific market and not just rely on broad statements or sensational headlines. There are some outstanding opportunities in Seattle today to buy homes at greatly reduced prices, yet you still need to be careful and make sure you are buying a good home in a good location at a good price. You need to be working with a real estate agent that fully understands the Seattle market and home values and know how to get you best deals.

Magnolia Townhome

This townhome is in the great Magnolia neighborhood that is so quite yet so close to everything.  Just minutes to downtown Seattle by Car or by Bus saving on fuel costs and commute times.  This spacious home was built in 2005 and has three levels.  On the main floor you have a large open kitchen with s/s appliances and gas cooking, a large pantry area, and a 1/2 bath.  The Living Room and Dinning Rooms are combined to offer wide open spaces and there's a very private patio and small yard off the Living Room.  On the second floor you have a 2 very large and light filled Bedrooms each with there own Full Baths, pulse a Laundry area with full sized washer and dryer.  On the top floor you have a huge Master Suite with a Sitting Room with a gas fireplace and a huge Master Bedroom with it's Master Bath. The ceilings on the top floor are vaulted giveing you the sense of even more open space and light.  This Townhome is huge at 1930 square feet and is priced at a excellent below market value of only $233 a Sq Ft...just an outstanding value.

The open large Kitchen has Cherry Cabinets, Granite Counters and Tile Floors.  The large Living Room is filled with light and has sliding doors to the Patio that's perfect for entertaining or if you have a pet.  There is a lot of design detail in this home as shown by the stairs leading up to the Master Suite.  The Sitting Room has Hardwood Floors and and a very cozy Gas Fireplace.  The Master Suite takes up the entire top floor giving you tremendous space and privacy from kids or house guests.  Use the 2 floors large Bedrooms as office space.  You really have so many wonderful options.  The Master Bedroom has Vaulted Ceilings, Windows on the South and West Sides and French Doors that open to the Sitting Area. The Fireplace in the Sitting Room has a Granite Surround and a huge top shelf that's filled with light.  This home offers privacy, great space with good design, and convenience to shopping, downtown Seattle, the Metro Bus, Ballard, and the Magnolia Village.  For any questions or to arrange a private showing please contact us at 206.283.9100 or dkbell@dkbell.com.  You can read more about this home at www.dkbell.com then just click on Homes for Sale.

Year Built:  2005   Sq Ft: 1930 per KCR    Number of Bedrooms:  3     Number of Baths:  3.5         Offered at : $449,500

People are Driving Less, 30 Billion Miles Less, Not Even Close!

The Seattle Times reported yesterday that Americans have driven 29.8 Billion fewer miles for the six month period from November 2007 to April 2008 than they did for the same period in 2006/2007. The only way we can have any impact on oil prices in our opinion is to drive less, and it's beginning to look like that is starting happen. Also the article goes on to say that "commuters took 10.3 billion trips on public transportation last year, the most in 50 years." And AAA reports that the average family with two cars will spend $6,200 a year now for gas, that's huge. These trends suggest that we are reaching the point where we will be willing to give up the freedom of our cars and take public transportation. That's all good news but why are gas prices still going up?

If Americans are driving less and if public transportation is up, why then have gas prices gone up so much in the past 6 months? We all hear that it's basic economics 101, supply and demand. The demand is up but we are driving less, or are we? It's estimated that public transportation accounts for only about 1 percent of US travel. If public transportation increases by another 20 percent that will only be 1.2 percent of US travel. Has the US economic slow down had any impact on these numbers? With more people out of work they should logically be driving less. We are driving less, even thought we have to use our cars for our business. We take fewer trips to the store and we don't do some of things we used to because of the fuel costs. We were able to get a hybrid car and that car has cut our gas consumption in half. It's not enough however, Americans will need to cut their driving down by about 10 percent across the board to have a recognizable impact on oil prices. But we also think that oil prices are artificially high based on speculation by investors. Could have demand over the past 6 months really increased that much to drive up prices they way they have?

Oil prices may be one of biggest economic challenges we face over the next several years. We need to do something about it. Our government needs to do something about it. The new administration in 2009 needs to do something about it. As informed voters, we need to understand what each candidates plan is. We need to actually see a plan, not just a bunch of words, smiles, and non specifics. It's a very complicated problem however, but one that needs our full attention. As of right now, does anyone know what both sides even think about the problem and how to fix it? We do agree that we need to open up many domestic areas for oil exploration yet even if that happens immediately, it will take many years to produce oil. However, our need for oil will be around for many many years, and the US will depend on it for a long long time to come. Just saying that we need more fuel efficient cars will help some, but it's going to require a lot more than that. How many cars would we need to replace so that just 50 percent of the cars Americans drive (not to mention the rest of the world) were hybrid or cars using alternate fuel sources? We have no idea, but we bet it would be a long long time and a huge unmanageable expense for most Americans to replace even half of our cars.

We think we need to stop all the political positioning and arguing and deiced on a direction that will reduce our demand for foreign oil and at the same time put a full blown effort into developing alternative sources of energy like we did in the space race. We think we need to have a environmentally safe plan to tap all of our oil reserves. We can fix all this if we all work together to get it done and understand that there will have to be compromises on all sides.