Here’s a quote that may sound familiar… NWMLS director Joe Spencer, president of John L. Scott, Inc. described current conditions as the “Buy Zone” and “the perfect buyer’s market.” Looking at the housing market graphically over the past 25 years, it’s evident there are periods when conditions make it the perfect time to buy a…
Category: Features
Rapid Price Discovery via Resellers’ Auctions
As a coworker and I were pondering the housing market yesterday, I wondered whether it would be possible to build a computer simulation that would provide a relatively accurate model of a perfectly efficient housing market. Unfortunately we didn’t come up with a good way to do that, but he did suggest a real-world experiment…
How-To: Find Bank-Owned Homes
I received a few questions in the comments and via email last week about how to find bank-owned homes, so I thought I’d put together a little guide. For the purposes of this post, we’ll consider foreclosures in three stages: Pre-Foreclosure, Unlisted Bank-Owned, and On-Market Bank-Owned. Pre-Foreclosure A home in pre-foreclosure is one where the…
Friday Flashback: Olive 8: “We’re going to wait this out.”
Today’s flashback comes from… just over a year ago. July 2009: Photo by Flickr user paperjam At Olive 8 in downtown Seattle, county records indicate only 28 of 229 units have closed. But David Thyer, president of developer R.C. Hedreen, said his firm has no plans to cut prices. “We’re not inclined to discount the…
Reader Stories: Patience and Market Analysis Pay Off
A few months ago I had the privilege of sitting down at a local coffee shop with a long-time Seattle Bubble reader as he shared his home buying story with me, and now I’d like to share his story with you. “Bruce” got married in 2005, and like many young couples, he and his wife…