Will Seattle follow the national trend?
I know this has been discussed in many iterations on this blog, and for the most part I can't help but think Seattle prices will dip. But then I discover to my dismay properties such as this one below (sorry don't have msl) which were on the market for over over 8 months, they took it off the market in the winter then put it back on for the same price, never dropped it and lo and behold it has just sold... 20K over asking. What the F?
341 N 79th St
Seattle 98103
Sold May. 23, 2007
Sold Price: $460,000... asking price $440
SO my question to everyone is if inventory is growing in Seattle, and nationally prices are soft (even in areas more desirable then Seattle- sshhh, I didn't say that), why do sale prices here seem to go over asking? What gives? And when will we see some real concrete undeniable correction?
341 N 79th St
Seattle 98103
Sold May. 23, 2007
Sold Price: $460,000... asking price $440
SO my question to everyone is if inventory is growing in Seattle, and nationally prices are soft (even in areas more desirable then Seattle- sshhh, I didn't say that), why do sale prices here seem to go over asking? What gives? And when will we see some real concrete undeniable correction?
Comments
link
http://www.zillow.com/HomeDetails.htm?zprop=49003730
Looks like perhaps a flipper found a GF and resold? Blind squirrel, meet nut.
The people who were foreclosed upon... paid 410K for it in August of 2005. For mid 2005, _that_ was a ripoff... and it's no wonder they just walked away and threw in the keys... they were not going to be able to recover that when they got into trouble (which was apparently soon after buying it).
Shopping in this neighborhood... I went to go see this house shortly after it got put on the market... As I recall, the ask was 454K, not 440K as stated. So it went for only 6K over ask, which is probably packed in closing costs. Oddly enough, this house went STI as opposed to just disappearing... usually, STI is skipped in North Seattle
There was nothing fundamentally wrong with this house... but nothing fundamentally right with it either. It's _okay_. The basement ceilings are too low to be a useful finishing candidate or work room. The layout of the main floor is a little non-traditional... and it ends up wasting a fair amount of the 900 sqr ft available. In a house of this size... a hallway is unacceptable (IMHO).
Some nice points... big tree in the back yard... kitchen had a nice exposed rafter ceiling effect... but again, dining nook had very odd layout.
August 2005 - Some moron bought it for 410K, way too much for the house at that time.
Some time 2005/06, owner fell behind payments and went it to foreclosure.
Pre-April 2007 this house was put onto the market, probably by the bank (?). It was in foreclosure state at that time, which is rare for the MLS (generally only title-clear properties are sold by realtors). It sat in on the market for something like 100 days, mostly in STI state. I looked at the photos of this house at this point and drove by, but did not see the inside.
April 2007. A flipper (I happen to know he was a flipper b/c I eventually met him) bought the house for 382K. Who knows what additional costs were necessary to get a clean title on it (maybe 0?).
May 2007. House goes on the market again, this time for ask of 454K. This time I went to go and see it... met the flipper and chatted. From what I can see of the previous listing photos and the current state of the house, he has done basically nothing to it. At the time he promised to do some basic repairs as part of selling the house.
May 2007. House sells for 460K.