Looking for housing advice on the moving to Seattle from Denver

[amaiunmei]

There is no magic advice or trick. This market will beat you up. Be prepared.

I have several friends that bought in the last few years. Every one of them had a different strategy. Be prepared to lose some before you get what you want; a friend of mine who bought 4 months ago went through offers on at least 8 houses before getting one. Just don't fall in love; do your homework.

Good luck!

[CrazyDonkey]

I think what he is saying is that many properties are being bid up well above their asking price, by all-cash buyers, speculators, foreign investors, airbnd entrepreneurs, and local buyers desperate to find spacious digs in walkable neighborhoods with great schools and manageable commutes.

There really are no tricks and tips, other than increase your budget or decrease your expectations. Entertain a 45-minute commute. Look for good areas in less attractive areas (you're single, so the quality of schools doesn't matter): Northgate, Greenwood, Bitter/Haller Lake, Lake City, Kenmore, Juanita, South Beacon Hill, Hillman City, New Holly/Othello, Rainier Beach, Rainier View, South Park, Burien, White Center, Kent, Renton, etc. In other words, all the places you're NOT looking at...

[Kayela]

It took 11 offers, and we got one. That's only the ones where we liked the place enough to put an offer in. Otherwise we've been to dozens of open houses with desperate buyers circling, eying their competition, realtor in tow, strategizing on their letter already, pumping the listing agent for every detail, trying to figure out how to stand out from the other dozen offers that are going to stream in by the deadline. You've spent thousands on pre-offer inspections, your mortgage broker takes calls evenings and weekends.

Only to find out that the seller went with a cash offer that was 30k higher than your already-way-over-asking offer (and your escalation clause). Didn't matter that you had 50% down, strong financing, and no contingencies - there's just always other buyers with more cash than you. You try not not to let it get to you, but man that place was awesome and the location rocked. You try to get in the right mental place to do it all again.

That's rhe reality. We contacted the estate of a gentleman who died in our old building. Guess what? So had a bunch of other people. That property never even went on the market and there were multiple offers.

So far the only 'tip or trick' that I've seen work is to pay all cash, and have more than everyone else. If you want less competition you have to go further out, or look in less desirable neighborhoods.

[theegooch]

Thanks for the great advice and feedback.

This situation sounds a lot like when I moved to Japan as a IT consultant back in 2010. I ended up renting a 500 sq ft condo there for around $3500/month ( it varied with the exchange rate ). I've decided to rent a place in Seattle for the 1st year to give me time to learn the area and compete in the Seattle house market arena.

My employer-provided temp housing is only for 45 days, and I move in there in 2 week. Based on the feedback so far, I won't be able to find and close on a home that time frame, so the rent first and buy later approach seems the best. I'll look in the Capital Hill area first, as people I know in Seattle say that would be perfect for me.

That doesn't mean I won't take my eyes off of the market, so feel free to leave your advice here!

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by Kayela

It took 11 offers, and we got one. That's only the ones where we liked the place enough to put an offer in. Otherwise we've been to dozens of open houses with desperate buyers circling, eying their competition, realtor in tow, strategizing on their letter already, pumping the listing agent for every detail, trying to figure out how to stand out from the other dozen offers that are going to stream in by the deadline. You've spent thousands on pre-offer inspections, your mortgage broker takes calls evenings and weekends.

So true, we know many who have been through the Seattle real estate competition and it's not pretty. With interest rates increasing, it's only getting worse. Years ago we beat another offer and we had both done a pre-inspection. They sent us their inspection afterward. I hope good karma followed that and they found a house right after because that was a classy thing to do.