Despite Seattle’s resilience so far, the deflating bubble elsewhere around the country continues to affect businesses based in the Seattle area. The latest victim—HouseValues—took a hit last week. Last year’s booming housing market helped pump up 2005 profits at Kirkland-based HouseValues, but the company’s forecast for the current year led to a 28 percent stock-market…
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Government-Funded "Affordability"
What’s the solution to ridiculously high home prices in Seattle? Why, government programs, of course! Some programs available here max out annually but others remain untapped, leaving thousands of dollars in assistance available to people earning as much as 80 percent of the $72,000 median household income in the Seattle metropolitan area. That currently translates…
Looking Into Downtown’s Future
Is downtown Seattle destined to become populated with nothing but luxury condos and low-income housing? If taxes and fees for building downtown keep going up, some see that as Seattle’s future. As the Seattle City Council prepares to vote on reshaping downtown Seattle with taller buildings, a heated debate remains over how much residential developers…
Mobile Homes Disappearing In Seattle’s Bubble
While most home “owners” are nothing less than thrilled about skyrocketing real estate prices, mobile home owners are having the land sold out from under them as land owners cash in on Seattle’s bubble. Our state is facing a mobile home space crisis. Exploding real estate prices are making the land too valuable for this…
Renting "May" Be Better Even In Olympia
Here’s an insightful headline from The Olympian: Renting may be better for first-time buyers. Yes, that’s “may be better.” Heh. Is it better to rent than to own, particularly as the median price of a home in Thurston County keeps climbing and now approaches $250,000? Renting offers the advantage of flexibility and a landlord who…