It is important that consumers who are buying homes or refinancing understand that until a fiduciary relationship (one where the loan officer is working in the best interest of the borrower) becomes law, you are on notice that by not shopping you could be paying hundreds of dollars more per month than need be and…
Category: News
News, current events, etc.
January Reporting Roundup
It’s time for another reporting roundup. Let’s see what the local newspapers have to say about January’s not-so-positive numbers from the NWMLS. Will they claim that the market “bottoming out” and about to jump into full recovery mode? Or maybe they have finally come to accept the fact that Seattle will not avoid the downturn,…
Two Years Too Late: Legislature to Address Condo Conversions
Here’s a follow-up to yesterday’s condo re-version story. Just in time for the condo conversion mania to switch directions, while supply and demand do that thing they do so well, here comes the State Legislature to “fix the problem.” Renters forced from their apartments to make way for condominiums would get more time to find…
Repartmenting Around Seattle
Looks like the repartment trend has picked up enough steam in Seattle to catch the attention of the press. Specifically, the Sunday Times yesterday featured an article titled “Re-apartments” blooming. The newest trend in the Seattle rental market is a “re-apartment” — an apartment that was converted to a condo and is now being converted…
Property Values: Stalled; Property Taxes: Rising
The mythical “fixed payments” for home buyers takes another hit in 2008, as property taxes increase an average of 6.5% across the county. The average King County homeowner will pay about 6.5 percent more in property taxes in 2008, mostly because of voter-approved increases and creation of new taxing districts, Assessor Scott Noble reported Thursday….