Since I was on KING 5 News last night and KOMO 1000 radio this morning*, I thought it would be good to write up a slightly more detailed post aimed at answering the question: “What is Seattle Bubble about?” So, here’s a summary of the important points. The Bottom Line: Now is not a good…
Category: Features
Washington Real Estate: 40% overvalued?
I ran across this very interesting analysis of the California real estate market by Goldman Sachs this weekend (PDF alert!). It is the author’s contention that in the past, changes real estate prices could be explained by two factors: disposable income and interest rates. They then go on to demonstrate, as shown below – how…
Realistic or In Denial? You be the judge.
The Craigslist Housing Forum has settled down considerably since last year, and the prevailing sentiment seems to have shifted from “mercilessly mock anyone who thinks housing is overpriced” to “well dang, looks like the market is headed down after all.” However, despite the increasingly obvious indicators that our local market will not be spared the…
Homebuying Platitudes vs. Reality
This is a post that I originally wrote for the highly-recommended personal finance blog Get Rich Slowly. As such, the style of writing is more geared toward the audience of that site. However, I felt that the post would be of interest to the readers here as well, so I am re-posting it in its…
Best, Worst, & Most Likely Scenarios?
Here’s something that should be fun to discuss. I’m interested in hearing everybody’s ideas about the types of scenarios that may play out in the Seattle-area housing market. Best case, worst case, and most likely case. Here are my wild-donkey guesses: Best CasePrices flat to +3% for ten or more years. Local economy keeps chugging,…