Readers of this blog know that up-and-coming condos in Bellevue will cost $400k for 700ft², but what about up in Snohomish County? Well, your $400,000 won’t go much further, netting you a mere extra 100ft², and hopeful residents of Everett’s fancy new waterfront condos aren’t batting an eye. But last week, Olsen said the condominiums…
More Mortgage Co. Shrinkage
Another local mortgage firm has been shrinking lately. Mortgage Investment Lending Associates, Inc.’s staff has shrunk by roughly 17% since January. Rising mortgage rates and the slowing housing market nationwide have caught up with Mortgage Investment Lending Associates Inc., which has reigned as one of the region’s fastest-growing companies. Better known simply as MILA, the…
San Francisco A Warning To Seattle
Here’s a good one to chew on. Is Seattle’s housing market poised to become as ridiculous and unlivable as San Francisco? Could be… The ripples of San Francisco’s housing crisis don’t stop at the city limits. When the working poor — receptionists, day care providers, retail salespeople and housekeepers, for example — flee the city,…
Housing Affordable… Or Maybe Not
The Washington Center for Real Estate Research at Washington State University recently released a study on housing affordability across our State, and the results were decidedly unsurprising. The Tacoma News-Tribune reports on the study in the classic “good news / bad news” style: Pierce County scored 104 on WSU’s Housing Affordability Index, where 100 is…
Seattle-Based WaMu Shrinks As Housing Cools
Although cooling in the housing market may not have reached Seattle just yet, some of its effects are being felt here: Responding to the cooling housing market, Washington Mutual Inc., the largest U.S. savings and loan, said on Wednesday that it was laying off 2,500 support employees in its mortgage unit. The Seattle, Washington-based company…