It’s been tough to post here and at Rain City Guide because of work and family obligations, but here is some helpful information about petitioning to reduce your property taxes: In escrow, now is the time we start seeing some (not all) 2009 property tax assessments show up in title reports when working on transactions. …
Month: February 2009
Declines in Home Prices & Consumer Spending are GOOD THINGS
I read a great post today over at Behavior Gap (thanks to an email from J.D. @ Get Rich Slowly) that is definitely worth sharing: The Great Reset A recent New York Times headline read: “Consumers Increase Savings While Spending Less” That sounds like a GOOD thing doesn’t it? It used to be that savings…
NWMLS: Home Prices Rewound to August 2005
Is it time for January market statistics from the NWMLS already? Yes it is. Here’s the NWMLS press release. “The market seems to be gaining momentum, and buyers seem to be feeling more confident,” reports Northwest MLS director Meribeth Hutchings. Agents are more optimistic and banks are getting more realistic on pricing bank-owned homes and…
Bill Virgin: Will Recession Hit Seattle Harder than Elsewhere?
Yet another great editorial from Bill Virgin: Once considered recession-proof, Seattle no longer is Recessions, Seattle has long believed, were phenomena that happened to other, less fortunate, less blessed and, frankly, less gifted parts of the world. … Until now. As recently as the first half of 2008, you could find plenty of people who…
Zillow: Seattle Home Sellers Take Increasing Losses
Zillow has posted their latest quarterly home value reports. Their charts for the Seattle area include a graph of the percentage of homes sold at a loss (approaching 30%) as well as a chart showing the percentage of recent buyers with negative equity (over 50% of 2007 buyers). Interesting stuff from Zillow as usual. You…