We’ve been hearing a lot of speculation recently that goes something along these lines: There is basically this enormous teeming horde of potential home buyers out there lurking on the sidelines for no good reason. All we need to do is come up with the right concoction of incentives to get these pent-up buyers off…
Tag: Opinion
Tax Giveaways Succeed in Borrowing More Demand from the Future
Congress agreed to pour an additional $2,000,000,000 into the cash credit toward an overpriced new car for clunkers program this week, with various pundits praising the program as a rousing success. Meanwhile, industry professionals point to the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers as a major factor behind the recent increase in home sales. One…
Are Home Price Drops Around Seattle Mostly Over?
I was thinking recently about the claim that we’ve been hearing lately from some sources that Seattle home price declines are over. The primary evidence they seem to provide for this hypothesis seems to be the slight bump in some Seattle-area median prices, and the uptick in sales. I’m not convinced, but rather than just…
Seattle Bubble: Hindering the Market?
Seattle Bubble scaring away buyers, sellers and refinance consumers? I’m really not convinced Marlow Harris of Coldwell Banker Bain feels that Seattle Bubble is all about fear mongering and scaring the public away from buying a home. I know she mentioned it, but I don’t believe it. Marlow and many other agents and loan officers…
Housing Crisis Not Over, Just Starting in Seattle
A couple people pointed out a piece in the Wall Street Journal yesterday titled The Housing Crisis Is Over. I don’t doubt that the mere fact that it was printed in the WSJ makes it gospel to some folks. I am not interested in writing a rebuttal to this piece, as that has already been…