Speaking of Ballard… cue the Twilight Zone music… it’s really quite eerie how every month the “angles” in local rags seem to be so in sync. Apparently this month all the clever reporters are focusing in on everyone’s favorite neighborhood: Ballard. Cynthia Creasey and Mack McCoy bought a four-bedroom house in Ballard in 1988 for…
"Your Home Is Now Your Portfolio"
It’s not often that I actually laugh out loud at a news headline, but congratulations to Elizabeth Rhodes, who actually achieved that with the gem “Local homes: Investments that just keep getting hotter.” Forget your home being your castle. Thanks to surging local home prices, your home is now your portfolio. How so? After giving…
June NWMLS: Demand Down, Supply Up
June NWMLS numbers are out (pdf). Short story: King County median home sold for $434,950, which was 16% more than June 2005 (compared to 15.51% May ’05 – May ’06), and 1.64% more than May 2006. Active listings continued their climb, up 17.17% from June 2006, while pending sales continued their slide, down 10.14% from…
Reader Email: Sale/Lease Own Home?
Here’s an email I received from a reader: I actually like my home a lot, can afford it and don’t want to move. But I also don’t want to ride 30% down if I don’t have to. I’ve come upon the idea of trying to get a “sale/lease agreement” on my home. Are you aware…
Home Ownership Above All Else
Here’s a great article from Seattle Times writer Nicole Tsong about young people who apparently value home ownership above all else. Although Seattle-area real estate is more expensive than ever – a tiny studio at the new NoMa Ballard condo building in Seattle, for example, starts at $180,000 – it’s also more attractive than ever…