Seattle Bubble

• Poll: Which would you prefer?
• Vote for Seattle Bubble (again?)
• Blog Contest Update: Seattle Bubble in Dead Heat
• Poll: Is it ethical for a home debtor to “walk away” from a mortgage?
• Vote for Seattle Bubble in the Semi-Finals

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12 responses so far ↓

• 1 The Tim // Feb 11, 2008 at 9:36 am

  I left Medina off this list on purpose. It’s hardly fair to include it when Bill Gates owns half the neighborhood. There’s also no “other.” Pick one.

• 2 coveredwagon // Feb 11, 2008 at 11:38 am

  would be nice to see a more colorful banner. it just looks overall too “whitish” and does nothing to offset the white bkg of the body. love your blog..and the changes too! –A canadian living in india. >> In early ‘07 I met this gal from Seattle down in Goa; her and mom both realtors, and she was hoping for rates to fall slightly so she could buy FOUR! more homes. There was just no talking sense to her…that’s what manias do. Somehow, weirdly, the mania is still going strong in Toronto, my home town. Keep up the great work.

• 3 AndySeattle // Feb 11, 2008 at 2:23 pm

  As silly as the pricing is on Mercer Island, I can’t help but think that it won’t drop too much.

  Check this listing on Redfin… Gah. Frankly I think it should be listed in the $350k - $400k range, and even that would be a stretch for this fixer.

• 4 softwarengineer // Feb 11, 2008 at 2:27 pm

  THE HIGHER THEY GOT, THE BIGGER THEY’LL FALL

  Its like the Bible says, “a haughty man goes before the fall”…..

• 5 Jess-Pumpkin // Feb 11, 2008 at 2:38 pm

  Had North Capital Hill had been on the poll, I would have chosen it. If the rest of the city crumbles to dust, I have a feeling those mansions overlooking the UW campus and Portage Bay will be just fine.

• 6 Rhonda Porter // Feb 11, 2008 at 3:11 pm

  What?! No West Seattle in the poll?

• 7 Derek Birnie // Feb 11, 2008 at 4:36 pm

  which neighborhood will hold up best in a downturn? What about historically depressed and rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods like Delridge and White Center? One would think they are poised to at least hold property values and probably see increases until and unless population growth projections level off or decline.

• 8 Rhonda Porter // Feb 11, 2008 at 6:26 pm

  WaMU just decided that most of King County (and other Washington areas) are “soft markets”. There is a 5% deduction off of maximum published loan to vlaues and combined loan to values.

• 9 NotaBull // Feb 11, 2008 at 8:31 pm

  “WaMU just decided that most of King County (and other Washington areas) are “soft markets”. There is a 5% deduction off of maximum published loan to vlaues and combined loan to values.”

  Rhonda, would you mind putting that in context a little bit regarding what the previous LTV/CLTV would have been? I know this varies, but let’s assume a borrow with good credit, capacity to pay, and a house in the 400-600 range. Did we go from 0 to 5% down payment? 5 to 10? 10 to 15?

  Also, is WAMU the first in WA to do this, and do you think this represents a continual tightening of credit in the WA area that will soon match other “soft” areas?

  Thanks in advance for answering my questions - I’m sure others will be interested too.

  It’s great to have someone in the mortgage bidniz on this forum!

• 10 Rhonda Porter // Feb 11, 2008 at 8:45 pm

  NotaBull, this is based on loan to values…and quite honestly, this is new to me. In my 8 years in the mortgage biz, I’ve never dealt with “declining” or “soft” markets. The example that WaMU gave today was if someone qualified for a 100% LTV program (like the Fannie Mae Flex 100), now the most they qualify for is a 95% LTV. I did write about this at RCG tonight.

  It will be interesting to see if others follow. Chase was the first lender I saw mention any declining values in WA…but it was not King County. WaMU’s info includes most all zip codes in our state…I couldn’t find one that wasn’t there for King County (not that I’m a zip code expert). WaMU’s move is much larger than Chase’s. Chase’s was also for second mortgages which are riskier for a lender than a first mortgage. WaMU is for all of their mortgages in specific zip codes.

• 11 wreckingbull // Feb 12, 2008 at 7:21 am

  My answer is “all of the above”.*

  * When compared to neighborhoods south of I-90.

  A downturn is when you really get to experience the truth in ‘location, location, location’.

• 12 old timer // Feb 15, 2008 at 12:18 pm

  What happened to West Seattle?
  Did they really secede from the city?

  Not that they’re immune from the RE virus, just askin’.

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