I’m not one to monopolize the conversation on home prices. In the interest of fairness, I present to you the following counterpoint, which I received in an email today.<\/p>\n
Can we please stop all of the doom and gloom?<\/p>\n
As you have probably have seen in the news, the real estate market has been going through some big changes, good and bad. Our local market had years of double digit growth that became unsustainable. At the same time as the slow down, lenders were getting hit hard with record foreclosure rates. The driving force behind the problem was a meltdown of the sub prime mortgage market that had been making risky loans.<\/p>\n
While many other areas of the country are reeling from all of this, Washington State has held strong with low unemployment and economic growth. Although, the pool of real estate buyers in our area has dried up, buyers from California with all cash offers and high risk loans for buyers with questionable credit scores have gone away the home values are NOT in a free fall as has been reported in some of our local papers. The high inventory is a direct result of the scarcity of buyers due to the stricter lender guidelines, seller\u2019s high expectations and public opinion.<\/p>\n
Recently a story was printed that the average sales price in Pierce County had slipped twelve thousand dollars yet, in reality, last summer and fall, it was difficult to find a jumbo loan. A jumbo loan is a purchase price over $417,000. The average reported on did not include many of the upper end properties we normally see selling in the late summer, thus greatly pushing down the average. I believe that the average prices on homes under $417,000. have been steady increasing, though not at the double digit rate that sellers have come to expect.<\/p>\n
On a positive note, this situation has created new opportunities for investors looking to purchase rental properties that can cash flow now. The rental market is hotter than it\u2019s been in years and the reality is people are working and everyone needs somewhere to live.<\/p>\n
Buyers looking to move up from a starter home to a jumbo type property have lots of good properties out there to choose from. Mortgage interest rates have remained low and available for those with good credit and the jumbo programs have started to make a comeback. Analysts are saying that the market is poised to come storming back this spring.<\/p>\n
Remember when the high tech stocks crashed, I still scratch my head and wonder why I didn\u2019t buy, buy, buy!<\/p>\n
Gregory Loe
\nBetter Properties North Proctor
\nTacoma, WA<\/p><\/blockquote>\nI think Mr. Loe’s letter speaks for itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m not one to monopolize the conversation on home prices. In the interest of fairness, I present to you the following counterpoint, which I received in an email today. Can we please stop all of the doom and gloom? As you have probably have seen in the news, the real estate market has been going…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[199],"tags":[9],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-1295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-reader_question"],"yoast_head":"\n
"Doom and Gloom" Counterpoint \u2022 Seattle Bubble<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2007\/11\/20\/doom-and-gloom-counterpoint\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\""Doom and Gloom" Counterpoint \u2022 Seattle Bubble\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"I’m not one to monopolize the conversation on home prices. In the interest of fairness, I present to you the following counterpoint, which I received in an email today. Can we please stop all of the doom and gloom? 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