EastSide Prices in free fall?
Been tracking properties on the East side (been tracking mainly redmond) since mid 2007. What a tremendous change. There have been some tricks on the part of sellers to make price reductions magically reappear as new listings on redfin... but here are a few examples:
A listing was at 549K now down to 499K
Have seen 3-4 listings in the same area dropping from 600s to 570s
And there are so many examples in the Redmond Ridge development its just a joke.
One thing is sure, at these prices (all these sellers are still looking at around 100K increases from 2006) no one is going to buy. Its been a long time but finally price declines have hit the "impregnable" east side.
A listing was at 549K now down to 499K
Have seen 3-4 listings in the same area dropping from 600s to 570s
And there are so many examples in the Redmond Ridge development its just a joke.
One thing is sure, at these prices (all these sellers are still looking at around 100K increases from 2006) no one is going to buy. Its been a long time but finally price declines have hit the "impregnable" east side.
Comments
I agree optimism is about all the government can try to provide, but I don't see how pulling out of Iraq will help. A lot of our budget deficit is from the war. On the one hand it hurts us having a deficit at all, but on the other hand it is often smart for governments to run deficits during major economic crashes. What's best is for the government to pay off their debts during good times, and run up new ones (or spend budget surpluses) during bad times. I think if we pulled out of Iraq today, we would just cut spending, which would add further downward pressure to the economy. Of course, it could help stabilize the dollar, but I think it might be too late for that anyways.
I agree with your first part, but not completely on the last part--let's keep in mind that a great deal of the funds for the war actually stay in this country, getting paid to defense suppliers as well as salaries direct-deposited for all of the troops and paid private contractors that are over there. Most of their $ actually stays here and is paying their mortgages, kids' college expenses, groceries for their families and so on. I don't agree with the war and the amount spent on it, but one cannot ignore the benefits that this spending has on our economy in the short term (ignoring the longer term ramifications of deficit spending).
China got a short-term boost to their economy too when Chairman Mao exhorted all citizens to melt their steel utensils to increase the country's metal production. But people were so busy melting their pots & pans that they had no time to plant & harvest crops, and millions died in the ensuing famine.
I like how Ted Turner called the Iraqi insurgents "patriots" and said the war is nothing more than a US invasion. History shows that it is very difficult to subjugate a people. As Turner pointed out, the US spends more on its military than 190 other countries combined, yet we're getting our butts kicked by ordinary Iraqis spending a few hundred dollars per roadside bomb. We couldn't enslave the Vietnamese either, even though back then we had no qualms about intentionally killing civilians by the thousands daily. Iraq may well be the straw that breaks our nation.