Although the state legislature hasn’t yet made the time to figure out what to do about the $8.5 billion budget deficit, they did make the time last week to pass a “consumer protection” bill mandating warranties on new home construction. House Bill 1393 also creates an “office of consumer education for home construction” as a…
Category: News
News, current events, etc.
Poll: Will you miss the (printed) P-I?
See the forums for a related discussion: What’s so great about daily print newspapers? Update 03.16.09: Via Monica Guzman at the P-I: Publisher Roger Oglesby just announced in the P-I newsroom: Tomorrow will be our last print edition, but seattlepi.com will live on. Update 2: Aubrey Cohen will be staying on with the online-only P-I….
Slow Sales Continue to Drag Down State Revenue
Dramatically slumping real estate sales across Washington State continue to drag down State revenues, adding to an already bleak budget picture. From the latest state revenue collection report (pdf): Taxable real estate activity remained weak in February. Real estate tax activity reported by the counties was 56.4 percent below their year-ago level. January receipts had…
Reporting Roundup: The bottom is in, unless it isn’t.
Time for yet another thrilling installment of “see how the local press repackaged the NWMLS press release.” First, for comparison, here’s the NWMLS press release that accompanied yesterday’s numbers: Western Washington Home Buyers Starting to Grasp “unique housing opportunities” “I believe these results are reflective of what might be called a “mental filibuster” for potential…
More Unfounded Starry-Eyed Nonsense from Lawrence Yun
Discredited NAR mouthpiece Lawrence Yun paid Seattle a visit on Friday to spout some more of his trademark wish-based forecasting. The Puget Sound Business Journal and the P-I both had brief write-ups of his presentation. From Aubrey Cohen’s write-up in the P-I: “We believe that the home prices have already fallen to what could be…