local real estate news, statistics, and commentary without the sales spin.
Opinion, commentary, etc.
Now that a year has passed since Rocket Companies completed its acquisition of Redfin and it’s been six months since Redfin had its own CEO, I thought it would be worth reflecting on what Redfin accomplished during its two-decade run as an independent company and how the Redfin of 2026 became exactly the kind of company that the Redfin of 2007 was created to fight against…
An editorial by Christopher Kirk in the Seattle Times yesterday was so stupid I had no choice but to finally come back here and respond.
Here’s the link: Statewide rezoning of single-family neighborhoods is a terrible idea
Now, before we start it’s worth noting that this piece is described as a “Special to The Times” and the author is not a journalist. He’s not an economist, either. He’s also not an urban planner, and as you’ll see he’s obviously not a historian. He’s an architect whose primary accomplishments listed on his bio attached to the piece are having “served on public historic preservation and design review boards.”
So with that context, let’s get into it…
I did some speculative analysis for Redfin on the impact that Amazon HQ2 will have on the Seattle real estate market: Amazon HQ2 Could Quickly Turn Seattle Into a Buyer’s Market
For the article I spoke with a Redfin Seattle agent who has had some interesting conversations already with buyers…
A reader going by the handle “JustSomeDude” left a comment this morning that is worth highlighting:
Came upon this website a couple months ago and find everyone’s perspectives interesting. I see a lot of wondering on what potential regular, non-speculating, non-investor sellers and buyers are thinking and doing. People who just want to live in a nice house.
I can’t speak for others, but I can share my thoughts / experiences recently as well as some anecdotal stories…
You’ve probably heard about the asinine legal threat that Zillow lawyers sent to the architecture criticism blog McMansion Hell (currently offline), a popular blog that provides entertaining and educational commentary and criticism of the scourge of the McMansion. If you’re in the dark, allow me to summarize the events of earlier this week, with some of my own speculation and opinion thrown in (indicated in italics below)…