local real estate news, statistics, and commentary without the sales spin.
Opinion, commentary, etc.
Somehow I was directed this week to a recent opinion column by the Guardian’s “US finance and economics editor” Heidi Moore: Don’t be fooled by the false economic recovery Obviously, I love a good contrarian argument. Unfortunately, this piece is far from good. Take the consumer confidence numbers, which are measured every month by the…
Many articles, papers, and opinion pieces have been written about the detrimental effects that foreclosures can have on a neighborhood. For example, foreclosures in your neighborhood allegedly lower home values, increase crime, and make refinancing harder for homeowners who live nearby. While these studies and stories may be technically accurate, their focus is too narrow…
There is one major political topic that has been mysteriously absent from both major presidential campaigns during this year’s presidential election season… housing. Nick Timiraos noted this in the Wall Street Journal in early September. Here we are in late October, four debates later, and nothing has really changed. Barely a peep about housing from…
Fair warning, this post doesn’t have anything to do with Seattle real estate, it’s just a random rant tangentially related to the work I do on this site. Dear marketers, Congratulations. You’ve located a popular, well-read site with frequently updated content and an engaged user base. Unfortunately, while you have demonstrated a basic proficiency in…
This is fairly off-topic (although we have covered this subject occasionally in the past), but with all the teeth-gnashing I’ve been reading about lately regarding the latest round of supposedly major cuts required to keep state spending in line with revenues, I thought it might be interesting to look at a couple of charts on…