Folks with good credit, a down payment, and verified income (W2s, tax returns) have no problem in getting a loan right now. Absolutely no problem. Get yourself a conforming, non-jumbo, boring old fashioned fixed rate and you’ll be sitting pretty on a 6.5% 30 year loan.

We are returning to pre-bubble, sensible, underwriting standards and doing so means that people can no longer “afford” the houses, that they couldn’t actually afford in the first place.

Down payment? Shudder.
Verified income? Shock!
Cash reserves? Horror!

Having a good FICO score just says that you’re likely to pay your bills on time. Verifying income and staying within appropriate debt to income levels is what affordability is really about.

http://www.zillow.com/HomeDetails.htm?zprop=49040246

House 2 doors down from above house now on the market for 535k

http://www.zillow.com/HomeDetails.htm?zprop=49040244

my “informant” told me that the house that is currently for sale is “much nicer inside” than the one that recently sold fwiw.

Housing prices change constantly in both directions. Some homes will sell for more than asked, others for less. This has been true since there were houses in Seattle. What makes right now more special than the rest of the time?

People looking to make a quick buck in housing (and day trading stocks as a parallel example) are at increased risk to lose money. Buy and hold and you increase your odds of a positive return greatly.

if you only have these “cherry picked” examples, then no. But numbers don’t speak to everybody, real life examples do. that’s why at BMIT both the numbers are used and the examples are posted. And this is not the first time I’m criticized on the examples I use as “cherry picking.” But when you can cherry pick an example of equity loss every single day, is it really still cherry picking?

Its got worse since then….

Seattle home prices up 9% last Summer….lol

Try, down 8%. See the proof:

http://www.realestatejournal.com/buysell/tactics/20070618-hodges.html?mod=RSS_Real_Estate_Journal&rejrss=frontpage

Is cherry-picking a few examples like this a good basis on which to base you preceptions about the market in general? I don’t think so, but to each their own I guess.

The RA didn’t say “must sellers”. He said “sellers”. I don’t know maybe he meant Peter Sellers, or wine cellars or granite countertops.

But seriously, the median price is still increasing due to the mix of sold homes – this has been substantiated by data on this blog. I haven’t seen data anywhere that supports “more buyers than sellers” or “more must sellers than buyers”.

Brilliant!

Looks like some Microsoftie did. It is now STI.

Do you think it would be true if he said, ” there are more buyers than ‘must sellers’ (ie. folks that HAVE TO move for whatever reason?)

The other sellers could be classified as discretionary sellers. EVERYONE is a discretionary seller for the right price.

http://tinyurl.com/2vgjbz

The article suggests that the seattle market will only loose 3% by next year this time.

Here is a link for the full article.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/09/19/real_estate/steep_home_price_drops_coming/index.htm?postversion=2007091915

His comments are false and irresponsible. If I were a RE agent, I would be afraid that his comments would give my industry a “bad”, that is “worse”, name.

Buyers Beware.

It’s in the heart of Microsoft! Redmond.
Huge cut, $60k! Must Sell!

Microsoftees, hurry up! Buy it or get priced out forever!

(I guess the new home owners that bought in the past 6 months in this community must hate this seller to death.)

enjoy!

The last mailing was a shocker. The sales activity has been constant over the past three years, but listings have been trending up for quite a while. In July, listings shot through the roof. They’re at least double the usual level now.

I own my place free and clear and have for five years, but I keep my finger to the wind just for the hell of it. I also track rents, because some time back I rented out my place so I’m curious on that front too.

In 1996 I bought my place for $260K, and in ‘98-’03 I rented it out for $1,800-$1,900 a month. I had to take a haircut to $1,600 just after 9/11, when one tenant moved out and the whole economy (including rentals) was in a free fall. It soon recovered back to where it was.

Since then, rentals of comparable places have come up a bit. I think I could get maybe $2,200 or $2,300 now. But selling prices? Based on sales up until about Memorial Day, my place is “worth” $800K or so. Today, I don’t think it would go for that. I’ve seen some “reasonably priced” (compared to earlier-’07 sales) houses sitting there for quite a while.

If you use the 160x monthly rent rule of thumb as a rational price, my place is worth $360K and not $800K. I don’t know if prices will fall back that far (if they do, it’s no skin off my nose, but I think the spinoff effects would be nasty even for the prudent), but my gut says Seattle topped out about six months ago.

By the way, if you click on my name I have a blog where I talk about Federal Reserve policy.

The market will never drop in Portland. Everyone wants to move here.

You hear that a lot.

Didn’t you guys hear Ardell’s plea ? “Don’t let Seattle down”

http://www.raincityguide.com/2007/09/29/how-are-condohome-sales-being-financed/

The exact same model, in the same community, with better lot and location, is asking for only $529K now!

What if I have waited, for only 6 months !