A lot of people have emailed me and a lot of discussion has been going on in the forums and comments about the new mortgage freeze plan that is being announced today. Even Bill Virgin, one of Seattle Bubble’s favorite local editorialists has a column on the subject today: You were the careful, responsible sort…
Forbes: Seattle a “Down Market” & also 8th Best
I’m a bit confused. Just two weeks ago, Matt Woolsey’s latest real estate list in Forbes placed Seattle as the 8th best real estate market in the country. Now this week, Forbes writer Joshua Lipton pens an article titled Selling Your Home In A Down Market, which highlights the difficulty many people are having in…
When is the drink going to run out?
As the flying party that is the debt-fed US economy and the super-special Seattle housing market experience more and more turbulence, I feel that the following quote from Douglas Adams’ novel Life, The Universe, and Everything (third book of five in the must-read Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy) is even more pertinent than it…
The Amazing Disappearing Condo View
Granted, this is pretty much old news by now, but the issue of the disappearing condo views is at least worth mentioning. Benjamin Shanfelder signed up to buy a condominium on the west side of downtown Seattle’s Cosmopolitan building in 2005 because it was one of the first new downtown high-rises and was convenient to…
Reader Question: Market Stability & Interest-Only Loans
Here’s a question I received via email from a reader, whom I shall refer to as Malcolm: I will be getting married next August and am beginning to look at buying my first home that we could be in for 5-7 years before children would demand a bigger home. My fiancée and I have a…