The impending Seattle housing market collapse. (Sammamish, Puyallup: how much, buying a home, neighborhoods)

[irrational exuberance]

Originally Posted by Condorll

Well,now you have house prices falling, so proerty taxes are falling.
.....................................

Where do you renters get your info?

Seattle Property Taxes are not falling, they have gone up a few bucks and so has the appraised value for 2008 (I just got my 2008 tax bill yesterday, appraisal up 9 %, mill rate down, Total Property taxes up 1% for 2008).

Doom and Gloomers will be renters forever.

I saw the same thing in the 70's, late 80's and now again. Bought my first home with a 1st mortgage at 13% and a second mortage at 18% back in the late 70's. A little short term pain for major long term gain.

This is the buying opportunity of a lifetime with 5.7% mortgages fixed for 30 years!

Imagine a nation where people didnt buy off optimism and opinions and didnt try to keep up with the Jones'. Wait there is a nation like that its only for the upper 1% and the few who understand that and make it that way. You sound like the Fed gov right now. The best way to solve a major debt crisis is keep spending and over extending yourself, because corporate profits are far more important than millions of families struggling to make their payments because they had people like you pumping them up with optimism and didnt stop to think on the magnitude of big purchases and what they really mean. Homeownership is turning out to be the biggest mistake thousands of people have made. But go ahead brag about owning a house. Ill brag about the my portfolio and the money I saved not hurrying up and buying so I can say I own a house even though the bank does. I like you cordorll but one day you will truly realize that money makes the world go round and not houses or cars or any other item you cant gloat you own

[70Ford]

Originally Posted by baba_yaga

Sales are down in King County because people aren't buying as indiscriminately as when it was a seller's market. Prices are down 0.2%, that's nothing. Seems like a more normal market to me. The best homes in the better locations are still going STI within a few days.

Of course, I last bought in 1995 when interest rates were high and buyers had a lot of choices.

You can have 4 or 5 homes on the MLS as Subject to inspection but that doesn't mean all 4 or 5 will be sold.

0.2 percent IS nothing.
28 percent less sales? = something.

[baba_yaga]

Originally Posted by 70Ford

You can have 4 or 5 homes on the MLS as Subject to inspection but that doesn't mean all 4 or 5 will be sold.

0.2 percent IS nothing.
28 percent less sales? = something.

Yes, condos and townhomes are not selling as well. Poorly located, overpriced, and/or uncared for homes that desperate buyers would have clung to 2 years ago are not selling now. Again, this is more like a normal market. It's good to see some air let out of the balloon.

[70Ford]

"The reality is, our real estate market is in the tank," said Don Dutton, managing broker of Windermere Real Estate's Puyallup Office.

Single family home closings are down 33% and condo closings are down 40%.

[Ira500]

It has been said that Seattle typically trails San Diego in it's housing market pattern by 18 months..Inventory is up by a lot here, sales are down, and both of those usually appear before price drops. Median sales price here is down 5.5% from it's peak in July '07, which was a year later than most areas, and 17 months after San Diego's. I think Seattle area prices will continue to drop...That doesn't necessarily mean don't buy, it means find a good deal on a house you like and intend on living in it for a long while.

[70Ford]

Actually, I do plan on buying a home in Seattle, around 2011.

I wanted to make a post in the Seattle forums about you Ira500, but I don't think it's allowed. People should rep you higher. You have good info - and you're not pushy. That's awesome. I wish that was represented in your score. (Maybe people will read this and hit the freaking + button, dang it.)

Thanks for your insight. Nice to see the Realtor's side of it.

[Ira500]

Thanks 70 Ford. I do take a contrary view to most realtors on some issues. I just don't think that right now is a great time to buy, except from the perspective of there being a lot to choose from...Prices are dropping, and nobody knows where the bottom is...But 2011 might be a perfect time to buy!

[robertpolyglot]

Regardless of how many planes Boeing has to build, there is clearly irrational exuberance in the Seattle metro area housing market. One only needs to look at townhomes on the Eastside, all the way up to Mill Creek, which is technically in Snohomish County. (I'm a Californian, so Bella-fornia and communities like it make it on my radar screen more so than the city of Seattle itself ). That being said, over $ 300K for a townhome in Mill Creek is NUTS. And a quarter of a million in Woodinville for a flat, that is, a condo like an apartment, with someone above and below you, is RIDICULOUS. And $ 500,000 for a dog$hit dingy old clapboard bungalow of 1,000 sf in Subaru-clogged Wallingford or Ballard downright RAISES ONE'S BLOOD PRESSURE.

[Ira500]

Couldn't have said it better myself, robertpolyglot...the thing is, while the townhome in Mill Creek and the Woodinville flat may be staying empty, unsold, people are still salivating and tripping over themselves to buy these dog$**** bungalows in Ballard...Most of these don't stay listed very long, but for some odd reason when I read the listings, they usually say things like " Old World Charm Craftsman" instead of " Dog$hit dingy old clapboard bungalow."

[MarketingGuy]

Interesting discussion. Something we've been dealing with in Florida for 2 years+..

Florida.. the new California.