The point has been made many times here that exposure to downturns needs to be viewed in the context of how much a market rose during the boom. I thought it would be interesting to test this by comparing the total percentage gain during the boom years to the total percentage drop from peak to…
Category: Features
Working it Out in Different Price Ranges
I got a pair of emails this weekend that are worth discussion. Here’s a portion of the first: …we’re looking at buying a townhouse as a temporary place to stay. Our income is pretty good, more than 100k a year. But the math that’s involved in figuring out all the possibilities of whether its better…
Anecdote: Bailing on Kenmore Townhomes (Too Late)
Okay, when I saw this this morning, I just had to mention it. There’s a little 8-unit townhome complex in my neighborhood (Kenmore) that I have mentioned on here a number of times in the past. Most recently, two of the eight units were up for sale. As of this morning, four of the eight…
Will High Gas Prices Save Close-in Neighborhoods?
In a discussion last month where we discussed the relationship between gas prices and home purchase decisions, I made the following assertion: …mathematically the decision to move closer just because of higher gas prices doesn’t really make sense. In the last few days I’ve run across a few news articles that again make the contrary…
Is the opposite of a flip a flop?
I want to take a moment to highlight a thread in the forums that was started yesterday. Deejayoh’s topic, “What’s the opposite of an audacious flip?” highlights a handful of interesting examples of homes on the market in Seattle right now that have asking prices tens of thousands of dollars less than what they sold…