East King County

June 2009 East King County Resale Data Available!

Our June 2009 East King County Market Stats Report is ready for viewing.

  

We go directly to the county database when we gather our statistics. This way, we can account for every transfer of ownership rather than just those listed via the local multiple listing service. Our Talon Market Stats report uses the following criteria for reflecting monthly sales:

• Current use code of single family homes. (look for a condo sales report in the near future!)
• The sales price is greater than 35% of the assessed value. (eliminates quit claims with no monetary consideration and other like transfers)
• Sale dates are recorded and reported by the county within the reports time-frame.

For more detailed information, please contact our friendly Property Information department. 

May 2009 Eastside Home Statistics

Our May 2009 East King County Market Stats Report is ready for viewing.

  

We go directly to the county database when we gather our statistics. This way, we can account for every transfer of ownership rather than just those listed via the local multiple listing service. Our Talon Market Stats report uses the following criteria for reflecting monthly sales:

• Current use code of single family homes. (look for a condo sales report in the near future!)
• The sales price is greater than 35% of the assessed value. (eliminates quit claims with no monetary consideration and other like transfers)
• Sale dates are recorded and reported by the county within the reports time-frame.

For more detailed information, please contact our friendly Property Information department. 

March 2009 Home Sales Statistics for East King County

Our March 2009 East King County Market Stats Report is ready for viewing.

  

We go directly to the county database when we gather our statistics. This way, we can account for every transfer of ownership rather than just those listed via the local multiple listing service. Our Talon Market Stats report uses the following criteria for reflecting monthly sales:

• Current use code of single family homes. (look for a condo sales report in the near future!)
• The sales price is greater than 35% of the assessed value. (eliminates quit claims with no monetary consideration and other like transfers)
• Sale dates are recorded and reported by the county within the reports time-frame.

For more detailed information, please contact our friendly Property Information department. 

February 2009 East King County Statistics

Our February 2009 East King County Market Stats Report is ready for viewing.

  

We go directly to the county database when we gather our statistics. This way, we can account for every transfer of ownership rather than just those listed via the local multiple listing service. Our Talon Market Stats report uses the following criteria for reflecting monthly sales:

• Current use code of single family homes. (look for a condo sales report in the near future!)
• The sales price is greater than 35% of the assessed value. (eliminates quit claims with no monetary consideration and other like transfers)
• Sale dates are recorded and reported by the county within the reports time-frame.

For more detailed information, please contact our friendly Property Information department. 

Local Plans for Stimulus Money

On March 14th The Kirkland Report published an article on the use of stimulus funds for road construction projects around the Puget Sound Area.  Besides a discussion of the pros and cons of the plans for the East Lake Sammamish Parkway the article includes a list of projects slated to receive funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

There is some local concern about Phase 1b of the Sammamish Parkway project as (among other reasons) it has rreceived 3.5MIL through stimulus funding yet is estimated to cost 7MIL.

House Prices Put Mortgages in Reach

An article published in the Seattle PI this weekend commented that the Nationwide home prices have fallen far enough, when combined with current low mortgage interest rates, to get payments back in line with wages, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors said Friday in Bellevue.

"We believe that the home prices have already fallen to what could be justifiable," economist Lawrence Yun said, noting that mortgage payments for a typical household buying a typical house last year were back to 1998 levels, as a percentage of income.

With the economy being in a recession and the housing prices being subject to fall more, some people are waiting and some people are jumping off the fence. A couple of things that may encourage fence-sitters to purchase are the stimulus measure's $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit and a return to last year's higher limits on loans from $506,000 to $567,500 in the Seattle area.

So what does all this mean to us locally?  According to a report done by the Talon Group, the median Seattle household income was $54,976 for 2008.  The average household income was at $80,515.  The average sales price for a single family residence in the city of Seattle was $560,920, which was down 3% from the 2007 average sales price of $579,977.

Different areas have different resale values, so please check out the Seattle Neighborhood Report (or any area you are interested in) for current resale data.  Please contact our customer service department  for demographics in your area as well.

January 2009 Stats For East King County!

Our January 2009 East King County Market Stats Report is ready for viewing.

  

We go directly to the county database when we gather our statistics. This way, we can account for every transfer of ownership rather than just those listed via the local multiple listing service. Our Talon Market Stats report uses the following criteria for reflecting monthly sales:

• Current use code of single family homes. (look for a condo sales report in the near future!)
• The sales price is greater than 35% of the assessed value. (eliminates quit claims with no monetary consideration and other like tranfers)
• Sale dates are recorded and reported by the county within the reports timeframe.

For more detailed information, please contact our friendly Property Information department. 

Where's the bailout for taxpayers

CNN Money has a few great articles relating to the bailout, and answers some of the most pertinent questions surrounding what is going on.  For example, Miranda Marquit of Logan Utah asks "If we just gave all the bailout money to taxpayers, how much would we each get?"  The answer is $9,718.49 per U.S. taxpayer.

Colleen Hargis, a computer instructor from Springfield Mo, also asks why they don't give taxpayers the money to stimulate the economy?  That $9,718.49 would look very nice in all of our bank accounts, but wouldn't necessarily give the economy the jump start it needs.  According to Lakshman Achuthan from the Economic Cycle Research Institute, "there's a good chance I'm going to save it...Our economy is based on people spending money.  So people saving money doesn't help."

Please visit CNNMoney.com to view all of the related articles and get your questions answered from industry experts.  It's a very interesting read and will give you insight into what is going on in our world today.

Photo courtesy of pfala

Homebuyers getting off the fence

Seattle area homebuyers are getting off the fence according to a SeattlePI article posted on January 12th. With prices down and interest rates very low, some people are choosing to move on this opportunity.

According to Aubrey Cohen, "Some areas of the county have more homes than could sell at just about any price, thanks to rotting economies or huge amounts of speculative construction.  Seattle is relatively well off in both respects--its housing recovery largely depends on when potential buyers decide prices are low enough".

Skeptics remain, but the increased activity bodes well for our local market.

Photo by oddharmonic

December 2008 Stats for East King County

Our December 2008 East King County Market Stats Report is ready for viewing.

  

We go directly to the county database when we gather our statistics. This way, we can account for every transfer of ownership rather than just those listed via the local multiple listing service. Our Talon Market Stats report uses the following criteria for reflecting monthly sales:

• Current use code of single family homes. (look for a condo sales report in the near future!)
• The sales price is greater than 35% of the assessed value. (eliminates quit claims with no monetary consideration and other like tranfers)
• Sale dates are recorded and reported by the county within the reports timeframe.

For more detailed information, please contact our friendly Property Information department.