Comments

1
And that's a good thing.

Look, 3 BR houses are selling for $25,000 in Florida.

No, that's NOT a misprint.

Sooner we get rid of the bubble, the better.

And especially for young adults, who have been priced out of much of Seattle for way too long.
2
I remember the good old days when the Republicans turned the country into a giant ponzi scheme and homeowners were riding a wave of glorious increases in equity that financed the entire economy. Phony equity. Well, it's the good old days again because the Republicans control congress. THEY BETTER FUCKING DELIVER!!!
3
Interest rates are rising, so of course house prices are going to fall. With many homes at under $200/sq. ft, they might not fall for too much longer, unless there is an overcorrection. Then again, I thought back in 2006 that 25% was roughly the maximum house prices could fall from the peak (excluding new construction and cul-de-sac subdivisions in suburbia). Perhaps an average decrease of an additional three percent for 2011.

King County Notice of Trustee Sales are down to about 800 a month, compared to 1300+ a few months earlier.
4
@1 riiiight cause young adults should be able to buy houses at below what it costs in labor and materials to build one.

"seattle home sales" includes most of the greater puget sound. If you really believe sales fall in wallingford and redmond equally, your understanding of supply and demand is greatly flawed.

5
@4 originally, houses tended to cost between 1.25 and 1.75 multiples of yearly salary.

So, do the math. I didn't say $25,000 was a reasonable house pricing scheme here, but a $100,000 home is a good target.

In 1994 you could buy a decent 2 lot house with 2 BR for around $125,000 in Seattle.

Deal with it. Nobody owes real estate agents a commission.
6
"Increasingly faster?"
7
@5: I'm currently in the process of closing on a house similar to what you described in a nice Seattle neighborhood for under $250,000. It needs a little work, but nothing crazy. That's under 5% annual growth (partially inflation) from $125,000 in 1994.

The deals are out there, you just have to look very hard. It took me 4+ months to find a deal like this. The people who get hosed when buying right now are the ones who see low rates that are climbing back above 5% and think they have to get in NOW NOW NOW, and the ones who listen to NWMLS spokespersons (if you'd asked NWMLS, every day between the start of the bubble and today would have been "the perfect buyer's market") and think the same.

We haven't hit bottom on prices yet, but interest rates are going up. It'll keep a good balance for quite some time to come, so nobody looking to buy a house is going to get screwed if they wait for the perfect deal, I think.
8

He laughed at accidental sirens that broke the evening gloom
The police had warned of repercussions
They followed none too soon
A trickle of strangers were all that were left alive


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf0fmqWS-…
9
@7 every day is a "perfect buying opportunity" if you're a sales agent.

And it is ... for them.
10
@7: what methods did you use to "look very hard"? Just curious what techniques people are using...
11
Will in Seattle thinks $100,000 is what houses in Seattle should sell for. Uh-huh.

How much of that 4.1% drop is attributable to specific sectors, such as the stone-dead megahouse market, where a $15 million house a couple of years ago is now worth only $9 mil, or the still bleeding condo market, particularly the shoddy unsaleable $500,000 condo, a 2000s specialty in this area? The real measure is where sales of the same house are moving. In my neighborhood they're hanging in there, well down from the peak but no longer falling.
12
@11, I'm very glad for that. All too many of my friends decided to flee renting or owning in the sensible neighborhoods to grasp at what they thought was "more house" in the far reaches of Auburn or Kent or Lynnwood.

Absolute decimation out there - values dropping so far below the mortgaged amount it's really dispiriting them.
13
No, $100k is about what a Seattle house costs, give or take. Not counting the lot the house sits on. Those start at $300,000.
14
@10: combination of an agent, Zillow, Redfin, Craigslist for sale by owner postings, and old-fashioned driving around looking at open houses and keeping an eye out for signs with the less old-fashioned Zillow Android app (it's amazing!). Plus I made liberal use of King County's property search tool to see what permits have been granted for remodels, the sales history, and find lots of documents related to the houses.

http://info.kingcounty.gov/Assessor/eRea…

I'd had two offers that fell apart on different houses before this one worked out. One was because of some bankruptcy court shenanigans, and the other was because the house didn't pass the inspection because of the ~$30k worth of work that it needed beyond what I'd already known about. A third house I was about to make an above full-price offer on, but was outbid immediately and substantially by a cash offer.

Ultimately I found the place on Redfin - it was a bank-owned property, one of the few that are listed via MLS.
15
Everyone stop yapping about bullshit until they go read up here http://seattlebubble.com/blog/
16
As a 20something renter who desperately wants to be able to afford a townhouse in a 4-pack, I am THRILLED by this news.
17
@13 the value of land is variable too. A nice volcanic eruption gives you a nice reset on land prices, and creates a perfect buying opportunity.

what @16 said

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