Inventory Reaches Big Round Number
As some astute readers have noticed, as of noon today, the number of single-family homes on the market in King County passed the big round 10,000 mark (see the left sidebar—which I am continually working to improve based on your suggestions). Since surpassing the previous confirmed high (Sept. ’02 – 9,176) last month, inventory has grown at an average rate of about 26 homes added per day, despite decreasing by over 150 during the days leading up to Independence Day.
Also worth noting is that in my recent research of the historical Seattle Real Estate Research Reports mentioned by Steve Tytler, I was able to obtain inventory information for King & Snohomish (combined) back through 1988. The highest level of inventory in these reports was in August 1991 at 26,646 (that includes SFH, Condo, Land, Mobile, Commercial, & Multi-family). In breakdown data that was provided from 1993 to 1996, approximately 59% of total listings were SFH. This translates to a record of roughly 15,721 SFH on the market in King and Snohomish counties in August 1991. As of this post there are 15,648. I’m betting we break the all-time record here really soon.
Guest Posting at Get Rich Slowly
Tomorrow I have a guest post going up over at the excellent personal finance blog Get Rich Slowly. As you might expect, the subject of my post is how renting vs. buying affects ones personal finances. Head over there tomorrow to check out my post, and bookmark J.D.’s site or add it to your feed reader. I highly recommend it.
Seattle Civil Defense Manual
I mentioned this before on here, but it was way back when there were a few hundred readers a day instead of a few thousand, so I thought I’d throw it out there again. Check out the Seattle Civil Defense Manual from 1951. It has nothing to do with real estate, but it is probably of interest to anyone living in Seattle that enjoys a bit of history.
The Civil Defense Manual is a 25 page booklet that instructs local residents on how to be prepared for an atomic attack. A coworker discovered it in his garage, and it was so interesting I had to scan it and share it online. Be sure to check out pages 10 and 11, which contain pictures of Seattle and other Puget Sound points of interest as they existed 54 years ago. The entire publication is both interesting and amusing in a twisted sort of way.
Dragonfly
Lastly, check out this picture of a cool dragonfly that I took in our flower garden on Friday:
