{"id":18898,"date":"2012-02-09T12:00:47","date_gmt":"2012-02-09T20:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/?p=18898"},"modified":"2012-02-09T13:12:13","modified_gmt":"2012-02-09T21:12:13","slug":"reader-rant-seattle-home-prices-still-make-no-sense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/09\/reader-rant-seattle-home-prices-still-make-no-sense\/","title":{"rendered":"Reader Rant: Seattle Home Prices Still “Make No Sense”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once in a while a reader leaves a comment that deserves its own post. In the wee hours this morning, gardener1 left such a comment<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Dear god, I cannot fathom why anyone would commit 30 years of hard earned wages into a crapshack like the housing that is available in Seattle. Has the Seattle algae slimed their brain cells into mush?<\/p>\n

$300,000 IS A LOT OF MONEY. Why would anybody pay more than a quarter of a million dollars over half a lifetime for a run down frame shanty built 80 years ago? Is Seattle long on stupid people? Was PT Barnum from Seattle? Where is the explanation for this insanity?<\/p>\n

I can live here (grudgingly) for a fraction of the monthly payment buying a house would cost me. If the landlord raises my rent, I’ll move. I still live in a better dwelling than half the houses in my neighborhood (W. Seattle) whose owners pay twice as much mortgage payment as I do in rent.<\/p>\n

It makes no sense. I don’t see how they sell one house a year in this city. Who are these suckers being relieved of their wages in exchange for tenement dwellings, and WHY do they do it? I’m completely mystified by Seattle housing. I just can’t grasp it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Personally, this kind of sentiment made perfect sense to me between 2005 and 2008 or 2009. Today, not so much:<\/p>\n

\"King<\/a><\/p>\n

Even if interest rates were at the same level they were throughout the bubble (6.1% on average), King County’s “affordable” home price would still be around $340,000, which is a good eight percent above the actual median price in January.<\/p>\n

Yeah, $300,000 is a lot of money. But it doesn’t feel<\/em> like quite as much money when you consider that the total PITI monthly payment<\/a> on a $300k home after 20% down at today’s rates is only $1,470. And if there’s one thing we’ve learned from the housing bubble, it’s that most people base their buying decisions much more on their gut feeling than on an emotionally-detached analysis of long-term financial consequences.<\/p>\n

[Update]<\/strong>
\nThe comment by AxlRose below gave me an idea for another new chart: Actual median household incomes and the household income required to make the median-priced home affordable. Here it is:<\/p>\n

\"King<\/a><\/p>\n

The median household income today is 39% higher than the income required to make the median-priced home affordable. At the peak, the median household income was 35% lower<\/em> than the income required to make the median-priced home affordable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once in a while a reader leaves a comment that deserves its own post. In the wee hours this morning, gardener1 left such a comment: Dear god, I cannot fathom why anyone would commit 30 years of hard earned wages into a crapshack like the housing that is available in Seattle. Has the Seattle algae…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18902,"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":[206],"tags":[28,9],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-18898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-affordability","tag-reader_question"],"yoast_head":"\nReader Rant: Seattle Home Prices Still "Make No Sense" \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\/2012\/02\/09\/reader-rant-seattle-home-prices-still-make-no-sense\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Reader Rant: Seattle Home Prices Still "Make No Sense" \u2022 Seattle Bubble\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Once in a while a reader leaves a comment that deserves its own post. In the wee hours this morning, gardener1 left such a comment: Dear god, I cannot fathom why anyone would commit 30 years of hard earned wages into a crapshack like the housing that is available in Seattle. Has the Seattle algae...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Affordable-Home-Prices_2012-01.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@The_Tim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SeattleBubble\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Tim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/09\/reader-rant-seattle-home-prices-still-make-no-sense\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/09\/reader-rant-seattle-home-prices-still-make-no-sense\/\",\"name\":\"Reader Rant: Seattle Home Prices Still \\\"Make No Sense\\\" \u2022 Seattle Bubble\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/09\/reader-rant-seattle-home-prices-still-make-no-sense\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/09\/reader-rant-seattle-home-prices-still-make-no-sense\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Affordable-Home-Prices_2012-01.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-02-09T20:00:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-02-09T21:12:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7de7c0dd14bee1a2c67f7ce86bc4505f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/09\/reader-rant-seattle-home-prices-still-make-no-sense\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/09\/reader-rant-seattle-home-prices-still-make-no-sense\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/09\/reader-rant-seattle-home-prices-still-make-no-sense\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Affordable-Home-Prices_2012-01.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Affordable-Home-Prices_2012-01.png\",\"width\":\"910\",\"height\":\"661\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/09\/reader-rant-seattle-home-prices-still-make-no-sense\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Reader Rant: Seattle Home Prices Still “Make No Sense”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Seattle Bubble\",\"description\":\"local\u00a0real\u00a0estate\u00a0news, statistics,\u00a0and\u00a0commentary without\u00a0the\u00a0sales\u00a0spin.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7de7c0dd14bee1a2c67f7ce86bc4505f\",\"name\":\"The Tim\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/37756956c11dcc50d2559761ffa5ee70\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/19e5770990a1681615608091b2de571b10c3e03bbac7d07bb2ae15297ee72fbc?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/19e5770990a1681615608091b2de571b10c3e03bbac7d07bb2ae15297ee72fbc?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"caption\":\"The Tim\"},\"description\":\"Tim Ellis is the founder of Seattle Bubble. His background in engineering and computer \/ internet technology, a fondness of data-based analysis of problems, and an addiction to spreadsheets all influence his perspective on the Seattle-area real estate market. Tim also hosts the weekly improv comedy sci-fi podcast Dispatches from the Multiverse.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/SeattleBubble.com\/\",\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/is.totally.pointless\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/The_Tim\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/author\/timothyellis\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Reader Rant: Seattle Home Prices Still \"Make No Sense\" \u2022 Seattle Bubble","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/09\/reader-rant-seattle-home-prices-still-make-no-sense\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Reader Rant: Seattle Home Prices Still \"Make No Sense\" \u2022 Seattle Bubble","twitter_description":"Once in a while a reader leaves a comment that deserves its own post. In the wee hours this morning, gardener1 left such a comment: Dear god, I cannot fathom why anyone would commit 30 years of hard earned wages into a crapshack like the housing that is available in Seattle. Has the Seattle algae...","twitter_image":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Affordable-Home-Prices_2012-01.png","twitter_creator":"@The_Tim","twitter_site":"@SeattleBubble","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The Tim","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/09\/reader-rant-seattle-home-prices-still-make-no-sense\/","url":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/09\/reader-rant-seattle-home-prices-still-make-no-sense\/","name":"Reader Rant: Seattle Home Prices Still \"Make No Sense\" \u2022 Seattle Bubble","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/09\/reader-rant-seattle-home-prices-still-make-no-sense\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/09\/reader-rant-seattle-home-prices-still-make-no-sense\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Affordable-Home-Prices_2012-01.png","datePublished":"2012-02-09T20:00:47+00:00","dateModified":"2012-02-09T21:12:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7de7c0dd14bee1a2c67f7ce86bc4505f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/09\/reader-rant-seattle-home-prices-still-make-no-sense\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/09\/reader-rant-seattle-home-prices-still-make-no-sense\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/09\/reader-rant-seattle-home-prices-still-make-no-sense\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Affordable-Home-Prices_2012-01.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Affordable-Home-Prices_2012-01.png","width":"910","height":"661"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/09\/reader-rant-seattle-home-prices-still-make-no-sense\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Reader Rant: Seattle Home Prices Still “Make No Sense”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/","name":"Seattle Bubble","description":"local\u00a0real\u00a0estate\u00a0news, statistics,\u00a0and\u00a0commentary without\u00a0the\u00a0sales\u00a0spin.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7de7c0dd14bee1a2c67f7ce86bc4505f","name":"The Tim","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/37756956c11dcc50d2559761ffa5ee70","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/19e5770990a1681615608091b2de571b10c3e03bbac7d07bb2ae15297ee72fbc?s=96&d=retro&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/19e5770990a1681615608091b2de571b10c3e03bbac7d07bb2ae15297ee72fbc?s=96&d=retro&r=g","caption":"The Tim"},"description":"Tim Ellis is the founder of Seattle Bubble. His background in engineering and computer \/ internet technology, a fondness of data-based analysis of problems, and an addiction to spreadsheets all influence his perspective on the Seattle-area real estate market. Tim also hosts the weekly improv comedy sci-fi podcast Dispatches from the Multiverse.","sameAs":["http:\/\/SeattleBubble.com\/","http:\/\/facebook.com\/is.totally.pointless","https:\/\/x.com\/The_Tim"],"url":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/author\/timothyellis\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Affordable-Home-Prices_2012-01.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6wh0F-4UO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18898"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=18898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}