Opinion: Today the Fed announced a significant plan to purchase an additional $750 Billion in mortgage backed securities from agencies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The proposal is hopeful in that it will stimulate the housing market and refinance business by producing exceptional mortgage rates lower than where they are today. Will this impact the…
Category: News
News, current events, etc.
The Stranger on Seattle’s Empty Condos
Here’s a great article on the vacant condo situation in Seattle in general and Ballard specifically from The Stranger’s Dominic Holden: Nobody’s Home “I think that there was some overanticipated demand that was probably not real,” says Matthew Gardner, a land-use economist and principal of real-estate analysis firm Gardner Johnson. He notes that, given the…
State Senate and House Pass “New Home Warranty” Bills
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…
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…