Back in January 2008, nearly two years after the housing bust began, and six months after home prices peaked in the Seattle area, Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire was hitting the campaign trail with a reelection message powered by complete denial: Addressing the politically powerful Washington Realtors, the Democratic governor said she sometimes wishes people…
Category: Features
Real Actual Listing Photos: Dr. Zomb is Watching You!
It’s time for another installment of Real Actual Listing Photos. Once a month (or so) I round up some of the most bizarre listing photos from around the Seattle area and post them here, with brief excerpts from the real actual listing description, and probably a bit of snarky commentary. The idea for this series…
Buyers: Is it time to give up on 2012?
When inventory completely failed to experience the usual new year bump in January, and listings continued to decline through February, March, April, and May, I had hoped that once the “spring buying season” wore off that we might start to see inventory increase a little in the second half of the year before the usual…
Mapping Unemployment: Washington 15th Worst in USA
Wednesday afternoon the front page of the Seattle Times website featured the following story about how Washington State’s unemployment rate compares to other states: It’s no secret that the economy, in Washington and across the nation, is struggling. …Are we really doing that much worse than most everybody else? Pretty much, although some explanation is…
Cheapest Homes: August 2012 Edition
Let’s check in again on the cheapest homes around Seattle proper. Here’s our methodology: I search the listings for the cheapest homes currently on the market, excluding short sales, in the city of Seattle proper. Any properties that are in obvious states of extreme disrepair based on listing photos and descriptions will be excluded. This…