I was cleaning off my desk and I found a full color flier filled with exclamation points!!! It advertises a house down the street (pictured). I picked it up a few weeks ago while out on a walk with my wife and my dog. The house is around 2,300 square feet and sits on over a third of an acre in a relatively “private” setting backing a nice city park. It was listed at $475,000. Given that Kenmore is a fairly desirable neighborhood and that there was nothing obviously wrong with this house, one would expect it to be quickly snatched up in a fury of over-bidding, right?
Well, I headed on over to the Parcel Viewer to look for the official government record of a sale, only to find that the most recent sale listed was in May 2004, when the current owner bought it for $327,000. Hmm, so it hasn’t sold yet… is it still on the market? Why yes, yes it is—and according to ZipRealty, it has been languishing on the market for 74 days now. The seller must not be very motivated (or they’re counting on the spring selling season to rescue them), because they have only dropped the asking price by $25,000.
I can understand why a dumpy little place stuck between a busy road and a Safeway didn’t sell last year. But if the market is “sizzling” as the Seattle Times and P-I make it out to be, why has this house still not sold? Seems to me that either 1) it’s got mold, or 2) the market just might not be as hot as it was before.
Before anyone jumps all over me, I’m perfectly aware that this is only one example and doesn’t “prove” anything. But it is a typical example of what is going on in the numbers we’ve been seeing posted in the comments here (thanks Dukes!). Price reductions galore and consistently more “new listings” than “solds” every day. Make of this example what you will.