Seattle Bubble

There have been a lot of local real estate stories this week that are worth mentioning, but aren’t big enough to merit their own post. So it’s time for another link roundup.
Tax Assessments & Government Revenue
First up, while tax assessments may be falling in Pierce and Snohomish, it looks like they’re still on the [...]

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Declining property values are beginning to sink in at tax assessors’ offices around the sound.
From the Everett Herald: Slump hits tax value of your home
“I don’t think I can remember a year where we’ve decreased residential values countywide since I started working here in 1987,” county assessor Cindy Portmann said. Her chief residential appraiser, Steve [...]

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If you think our “strong local economy” is going to protect the Seattle area from feeling a pinch in the housing market and elsewhere as recession looms on the horizon, think again. The pinch is here.
With a cooling economy pinching tax revenue even as government costs rise, King County faces a $45 million budget [...]

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Looks like that slowdown in state government revenues that Washington State’s chief economist ChangMook Sohn has been consistently warning us about really has come to pass.
Sharp declines in predicted revenue from the real estate excise tax and a mild national recession have led the state’s top economist to downgrade his revenue forecast by $423 million.
But [...]

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Everybody’s pal Christine Gregoire gave a pep talk to the Washington Realtors last week in which she made some interesting comments.
Gov. Chris Gregoire told about 400 Washington Realtors on Thursday that she has been working to meet goals the group has for transportation, affordable housing, education and quality of life.
Gregoire, who spoke a day after [...]

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Haven’t seen this one mentioned on the other local real estate blogs, but it’s definitely of interest to anyone out there that already owns a home (or a home loan, as the case may be). Depending on who you believe, a new bill floating around down in Olympia may either help home owners reduce [...]

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