The impending Seattle housing market collapse.

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by modc

2 weeks ago I came home and there was a very posh car and 3 people walking around my cul-de-sac and they kept pointing at my house. I asked them what they were doing. One of them said she Was a real Estate agent and I saw she had pictures of my house pulled up on her I iPhone from Zillow or Redfin with old Mls pictures and she said her clients were looking for houses in the neighborhood and were willing to pay cash. She gave me her business card and asked me to please call her if anything came up. I was really Surprised as this type of thing has never happened to me before. I nodded dumbly and drove into my garage.

It's a fishing expedition. Posh cars, i-phones and 'potential clients' are relatively cheap marketing in this climate. If this is really important to you, you're being scammed. EVERY neighborhood that isn't gated off has this kind of status stupidity creeping in.

[cmswazey]

Kinda makes you want to say "I don't plan to be homeless to suit YOU!"

[homesinseattle]

I call it "we steal money from older people dot com". If you are an elderly person who bought your home for $56000 back in the day, someone "respectable looking" looks in your eye and tells you it is worth $600000, they'll give you cash and let you stay there for a few months until you get your affairs in order, it might sound pretty good. What if, however, your home was really worth $925000? If you are even entertaining the idea of selling, call an established realtor and have a market analysis done.

A month ago, a friend told me that his Dad (who had a home on Queen Anne) was approached by some people who kindly offered to "accept his home as is" for $750000 cash. My friend's father was about to sell, the son called me as he suspected it was worth a touch more. I got it cleaned out, staged it, listed it for $875k, had four offers, sold it for $970000. Do your homework folks, it is amazing how often this happens.

[John7777]

Originally Posted by 41Willys

House prices will never come down. They will just level off.

That's funny. A "permanently high plateau" maybe?

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by homesinseattle

I call it "we steal money from older people dot com". If you are an elderly person who bought your home for $56000 back in the day, someone "respectable looking" looks in your eye and tells you it is worth $600000, they'll give you cash and let you stay there for a few months until you get your affairs in order, it might sound pretty good. What if, however, your home was really worth $925000? If you are even entertaining the idea of selling, call an established realtor and have a market analysis done.

A month ago, a friend told me that his Dad (who had a home on Queen Anne) was approached by some people who kindly offered to "accept his home as is" for $750000 cash. My friend's father was about to sell, the son called me as he suspected it was worth a touch more. I got it cleaned out, staged it, listed it for $875k, had four offers, sold it for $970000. Do your homework folks, it is amazing how often this happens.

Exactly. Some people we know in Loyal Heights had a couple of young guys buy the house next to them and used it as a base to scout out all of the older folks houses that might be coming on the market. All of them dressed well and drove expensive cars.

There's a young woman who lives in our neighborhood that goes down to the beach and befriends older women fishing for leads. Her husband is a realtor, though that's something she tends to lie about when meeting people. I didn't think much of it until I talked to a few neighbors all of whom had met her and were told her husband had a completely different job each time.

[cmswazey]

Geez. We're not senior citizens but are getting closer to it every day. We've had the house since 1991. Maybe that's why we get those dumb letters. I'd never sell or buy real estate without appraisals and at least a bpo to start.