Back in January 2008, nearly two years after the housing bust began, and six months after home prices peaked in the Seattle area, Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire was hitting the campaign trail with a reelection message powered by complete denial: Addressing the politically powerful Washington Realtors, the Democratic governor said she sometimes wishes people…
Washington State Supreme Court: MERS May Not Foreclose Unless They Hold the Note
Jillayne pointed me toward an interesting Washington State Supreme Court ruling that was just filed today. It seems that according to the Supreme Court, Mortgage Electronic Registration System Inc. (MERS)—the popular service used by many banks to consolodate their mortgage filings—doesn’t have the standing to proceed with foreclosures in Washington unless they actually hold the…
Real Actual Listing Photos: Dr. Zomb is Watching You!
It’s time for another installment of Real Actual Listing Photos. Once a month (or so) I round up some of the most bizarre listing photos from around the Seattle area and post them here, with brief excerpts from the real actual listing description, and probably a bit of snarky commentary. The idea for this series…
Buyers: Is it time to give up on 2012?
When inventory completely failed to experience the usual new year bump in January, and listings continued to decline through February, March, April, and May, I had hoped that once the “spring buying season” wore off that we might start to see inventory increase a little in the second half of the year before the usual…
Seattle Employment Improving Faster than US and WA
By request from the comments on Friday’s post, here’s a look at just the Seattle area’s employment situation. First up, year-over-year job growth, broken down into a few relevant sectors: After getting hammered harder than every other industry during the housing bust, construction employment is showing the biggest gains in 2012. Every sector we track…