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Foreclosures Benefit a Neighborhood, Not Hurt It

Foreclosures Benefit a Neighborhood, Not Hurt It

By The Tim on April 15, 2013 | 30 Comments

Many articles, papers, and opinion pieces have been written about the detrimental effects that foreclosures can have on a neighborhood. For example, foreclosures in your neighborhood allegedly lower home values, increase crime, and make refinancing harder for homeowners who live nearby. While these studies and stories may be technically accurate, their focus is too narrow [...]

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Dear Marketers: I Don’t Care About Your Press Release

By The Tim on July 30, 2012 | 15 Comments

Fair warning, this post doesn’t have anything to do with Seattle real estate, it’s just a random rant tangentially related to the work I do on this site. Dear marketers, Congratulations. You’ve located a popular, well-read site with frequently updated content and an engaged user base. Unfortunately, while you have demonstrated a basic proficiency in [...]

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The Sex Offender Bogeyman

By The Tim on June 21, 2011 | 243 Comments

One of the primary goals of many home shoppers is finding a neighborhood that is safe. That makes sense. No one wants to live in constant fear of having their valuables stolen—or worse, being assaulted. However, there is one specific “safety” criteria that makes little sense to weigh heavily in one’s home search: Registered Sex [...]

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There is no such thing as "a great time to buy."

There is no such thing as “a great time to buy.”

By The Tim on April 25, 2011 | 58 Comments

With home prices off a third or more around Seattle from their hyper-inflated housing bubble levels, interest rates still hovering in the sub-five-percent range, and numerous economic fundamentals indicating a market more balanced than it has been in nearly a decade, has the perennial claim of home salesmen come true? Is now, finally, “a great [...]

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Housing Bubble Winners and Losers

By The Tim on October 25, 2010 | 66 Comments

I’ve been hearing a lot of frustration vented recently in exchanges on this site and conversations I’ve had with friends and acquaintences about the end game we’ve been experiencing recently as a result of the housing bubble and subsequent bust. I thought it might be interesting to consider the different ways that people have been [...]

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Does anyone pursue actual home ownership anymore?

Does anyone pursue actual home ownership anymore?

By The Tim on June 25, 2010 | 84 Comments

I’m hoping the readers of Seattle Bubble can help me out with something. First, a little background on my perspective. My parents bought their first house in 1987, when they were about 30 years old. They paid $45,000 for the modest 1,288 square foot, 3-bedroom, 1.75-bath house pictured below. They refinanced once in the ’90s [...]

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