By The Tim on June 4th, 2009 at 10:13 AM · 5 Comments
A couple months ago I pointed out Mike Davidson’s excellent home-building journal A House by the Park, in which he is chronicling his step-by-step process to build a custom home in Magnolia.
When I posted that link, some readers complained that Mike’s project was too high-end to be of much use to your more average family. Well, thanks to a heads up from Cheap South in the comments, here’s another local project on the opposite end of the spectrum for you: Mini-Mobile Cottage
Jeff & Arlene are building a cottage with less than 200 square feet, documenting and pricing out the project in a similar manner to Mike’s site. They’re also looking for a place to park their house upon completion in August, so if you’re interested in helping, drop them a line.
Categories: Features
Tags: construction, custom home, DIY, small spaces
Here are a few relevant news stories that have popped into my inbox in the last few days:
In the last article, Aubrey Cohen picks up on the pending story we explored on here a couple weeks ago. The NWMLS representative he spoke with provided the same two explanations for the pending/closed discrepancy that we independently deducted here: short sales and the NWMLS definition change.
From Aubrey’s article:
Bob Gent, director of business development and member relations for the listing service, acknowledged the definition change had an impact. In fact, he provided statistics showing that the rate of pending listings going back on the market jumped from 1.5 percent in January through May of 2008 to 4 percent in June 2008 through April 2009.
But said the change could only account for part of the recent increase in pending sales. Take out all the pending sales that went back on the market last April and this April, and there’s still a 6-percent increase.
”Did it have an impact? Yes,” Gent said. “It’s not big enough to explain the situation.”
So why are the increased pending sales not yet showing up in closed deals?
“The length of time from going pending to close has increased dramatically in the past few months due to short sales,” Gent said.
You may notice of course that Mr. Gent avoids addressing the issue of how many of these “pending” short sales simply never close. Local agent and Seattle Bubble regular Kary L. Krismer points out some common reasons why short sales are often failing to close in the P-I comments:
There are a number of reasons a short sale could fall out, including:
- Buyer gets tired of waiting.
- Bank refuses to accept unrealistically low price, and buyer refuses to pay more.
- Seller figures out that the bank isn’t going to release the balance, and that they’re better off being foreclosed.
Again, I’m not contending that sales are not increasing. In fact I have predicted that they will increase as prices continue to fall, just as they have in other parts of the country further along the bust cycle than Seattle. I just think the combination of short sales (which fail more often than normal sales) and the NWMLS “pending” definition change are overstating the increase.
Categories: News
Tags: AP, Boeing, condos, Everett, Everett_Herald, Jobs, job_growth, link_roundup, pending, Seattle Times, Seattle_PI, small spaces, Tacoma_Tribune, unemployment
By The Tim on September 5th, 2008 at 12:01 PM · 14 Comments
I expect August stats from the NWMLS to be posted either today or tomorrow, but here’s something from the lighter side to kill some time until then.
Mark Zimmerman (zim) had a problem that many have been faced with thanks to the housing bubble:
A few years back, I got tired of living the American Dream and struggling to keep up with a horrendous mortgage and rising credit card debt. I know there’s really only two ways to balance a budget, spend less or earn more, and I didn’t see a huge wage increase in the future. Also, I have always been interested in unusual homes and can’t pass a two or three hundred square foot enclosure without wondering what interesting living space could be made there. Less space, less stuff, less consumed, less owed. It sounded like where I wanted to be.
So what was his solution? Convert an old bus into a cheap home, of course!
Then, I got a call from a buddy that purchased a pair of used school buses from the Texas A&M surplus property auction. He knew I had been interested in one and was willing to hold on to it until I could head out to pick it up. I got myself to College Station, spent a few days changing fluids, ripping out the seats and doing general preventative maintenance. Then, for about $1400 for the bus and another $600 in diesel (probably twice that, now), I headed back to Florida with the beast. Two years later, I’ve got a fully functional, comfortable, clean living space for about $12,000 and my monthly housing and utility costs are less than $400/month.
It’s no Ballard Craftsman, but I guess it’s a step or two above living in a van, down by the river.
Hat tip: Boing Boing
Categories: Humor
Tags: affordability, DIY, Humor, small spaces
