An example of a $2.5 million property in Seattle: 4-bed, 4.5-bath 2-story in Magnolia 4,440 sqft 5,029 sqft lot 2008 property tax bill: $18,286 “sweeping sound and mountain views” An example of a $2.5 million property in Wisconsin: 2-story stone lodge in Couderay 407 acres 37-acre private lake 2008 property tax bill: $14,948 8-car garage…
Category: News
News, current events, etc.
Weekly Twitter Digest for 2009-09-19
Thinking about doing a weekly live-streamed call-in Seattle real estate podcast. Thoughts? Software suggestions? # Wow, that's a lot of empty, anchored cargo ships: http://is.gd/3gKMA # Good thing about the "recession is over" nonsense: it makes it much less likely the misguided $8k homebuyer tax credit will be extended. # Interesting story about a Tacoma…
FHA: The New Subprime
Three facts: Nearly 7% (and rising) of FHA loans are currently in default (source). The FHA has cash reserves of less than 2 percent (and falling) of the total value of loans they guarantee (source). FHA currently makes about 23% (and rising) of all mortgages in the USA (source). Here are those first two points…
$8,000 Tax Credit: To Extend or Not to Extend?
As the expiration date on the first-time homebuyer $8,000 tax credit nears, talk is stirring about renewing and expanding the scheme. Here’s a brief rundown of some of the varying related pieces I’ve been following from around the web. First up, we’ve got the National Ass. of Realtors pushing hard on their members to “Write…
How Many More Washington Banks Will Fail?
Interesting follow-up to Friday’s failure of Venture Bank via the Tacoma News Tribune: Some banks in state risk failure The best news to derive from Friday’s announced failure and sale of DuPont-based Venture Bank came in the form of a report from a Seattle TV and radio station. But the news – that no other…