Your housing woes are over!! (Seattle, Vancouver: sales, 2015, condo)

[hellopity]

Originally Posted by soldierhobo

That is the weirdest thing, Seattle doesn't rival New York or San Francisco... the "lifestyle" sucks.

It’s pretty obvious these rants of yours about Seattle housing are serving as some sort of catharsis. I hope it is working for you. That aside, if “the lifestyle sucks” forms the basis of your wild, speculative imagination, you might want to reexamine that logic. For you the lifestyle may suck, but it certainly doesn’t suck for many people living in Seattle.

PS. Here’s one realtor’s take on why he loves Seattle. You may hate the lifestyle, but the reality is we are one of the fastest growing cities, if not the fastest, in the US. http://www.urbancondospaces.com/9-re...ve-to-seattle/

[soldierhobo]

Originally Posted by hellopity

It’s pretty obvious these rants of yours about Seattle housing are serving as some sort of catharsis. I hope it is working for you. That aside, if “the lifestyle sucks” forms the basis of your wild, speculative imagination, you might want to reexamine that logic. For you the lifestyle may suck, but it certainly doesn’t suck for many people living in Seattle.

PS. Here’s one realtor’s take on why he loves Seattle. You may hate the lifestyle, but the reality is we are one of the fastest growing cities, if not the fastest, in the US. 9 Reasons To Move To Seattle - UrbanCondoSpaces

Sure it is partially catharsis. But most importantly a warning. I was thrust into this market, pretty blindly (took a 20k pay increase, not knowing I'd be a pauper in once cool city #2 up north). I really didn't choose to step into this problem.

There is an intrinsic happiness to being right (as a Math major, maybe I over indulge in it), especially when against "common wisdom."

And yes, you need a central core to be cool to support the arts, food scene, bar scene, tourists, and all the creative, niche, stuff that makes a city, a city. From the all-day and night tourists in Central Square, the better (seriously, better) food in Raleigh-Durham, MoMa in San Franscisco... you name it. Bezos Balls and the pop culture museum is quirky, but international? Hell no. (And the Space Needle needs some paint)


With a herd of Loan Officers, real estate agents(responding to my rent adds), and Apartment managers chasing me like used car salesmen. It's no wonder we get long winded articles about how wonderful Seattle is... they are all part of this real estate mad dance, and believe the music won't stop. It's part of "Irrational Exuberance" syndrome.

On the positive side, I get to run away for a month and watch the rents nose dive. You could argue it's the hiring freeze from Amazon, but I think, as stated, it's the blanket coming off and exposing the sick man underneath.

My mailbox is already filling up with incentives like 6 weeks free, 99 deposit, and that is West Seattle. I can already swing a 1 bdrm there for less than 1000. We'll see how they are doing in 4 weeks. Also, is Tacoma on firesale? People seeing the writing on the wall or moving to rent closer because of discounts? We'll see soon!

Heck, I even see listings up north and low rent in Univerisy and Queen Anne districts... the supposed rock solid, elite areas...are the walls crumbling? We'll see next month!

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by soldierhobo

Sure it is partially catharsis. But most importantly a warning. I was thrust into this market, pretty blindly (took a 20k pay increase, not knowing I'd be a pauper in once cool city #2 up north). I really didn't choose to step into this problem.

As an educated person, it should not have been a surprise and it should not have been blindly. This information is very available and being only three hours away, all the more so. If Seattle is not worth the price of admission, there are many other places to go, it's a big country. No need to suffer in a place one doesn't like.

Originally Posted by hellopity

It’s pretty obvious these rants of yours about Seattle housing are serving as some sort of catharsis. I hope it is working for you.

Thanks for this, it made no sense but that is a logical explanation.

Zillow predicts the growth to moderate this year, not necessarily retract but moderation is probably a good thing.

Zillow: Seattle housing prices will continue to climb in 2018, but not as quickly
That’s for both renters and buyers
https://seattle.curbed.com/2018/1/9/...-2018-forecast

[soldierhobo]

Originally Posted by Seacove

As an educated person, it should not have been a surprise and it should not have been blindly. This information is very available and being only three hours away, all the more so. If Seattle is not worth the price of admission, there are many other places to go, it's a big country. No need to suffer in a place one doesn't like.



Thanks for this, it made no sense but that is a logical explanation.

Zillow predicts the growth to moderate this year, not necessarily retract but moderation is probably a good thing.

Zillow: Seattle housing prices will continue to climb in 2018, but not as quickly
That’s for both renters and buyers
https://seattle.curbed.com/2018/1/9/...-2018-forecast

A lot of people, including Zillow have a vested interest in the hype train. And yep, renting for 6 months in the middle of nowhere Covington and either watching meltdown or getting out are the plan. Seattle ain't worth the price of admission. Plus, who knows what will happen when this craters. It's sad to see Seattle die, and I didn't even grow up here.

[mhays25]

That's a common fallacy...the fact that you think something doesn't mean others think it too. Hence our explosive growth lately.

If there's another worldwide economic crisis maybe we'll do what happened last time...it was something like a half-year gap between the last apartment completion of one boom (roughly the start of 2010) and the first groundbreaking of the next boom (mid 2010).

I said worldwide crisis not Seattle crisis...Seattle hasn't had our own "bust" in decades except as part of world downturns.

[soldierhobo]

Originally Posted by mhays25

That's a common fallacy...the fact that you think something doesn't mean others think it too. Hence our explosive growth lately.

If there's another worldwide economic crisis maybe we'll do what happened last time...it was something like a half-year gap between the last apartment completion of one boom (roughly the start of 2010) and the first groundbreaking of the next boom (mid 2010).

I said worldwide crisis not Seattle crisis...Seattle hasn't had our own "bust" in decades except as part of world downturns.

Funny... so you believe Seattle is somehow immune to a local crisis and the classical economic rules don't apply? You know, that is textbook irrational exuberance? Right?

Like I said, rentals are fallow. Many more will come online. Obviously, the hordes aren't getting SFRs (there ain't none!). This is a fundamental problem, and as rents collapse, I think SFR rentals will follow (investors ain't sitting on apartments). Then the whole sick man in bed is exposed. Tune in, we got about 6 months to enjoy it together, before I high tail it somewhere with culture and a pulse. (SF? NY? Time will tell..)

[mhays25]

Of course it's not immune, and of course economic rules apply. Obviously I said nothing of the sort.

What's this rent "collapse" you're talking about? Maybe it'll happen but there's no evidence yet, including the slight figure from last year. So far it's just supply growing even faster than demand, finally, after years of many experts predicting it.

[Dreams2Plans]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

Good. I'm ready to buy rental properties.

Would be a welcome news for me, too!
By the time of my planned move (a couple of years), if prices will fall considerably - all the better!

[thatguy950]

lol even the smallest critique of seattle sends the defenders into a meltdown of furious postings and arguments to quickly prop it up once again, yet they claim to not want anyone else to move here...



MAKE...UP...YOUR...MINDS

[soldierhobo]

Originally Posted by HappyNewMe

Would be a welcome news for me, too!
By the time of my planned move (a couple of years), if prices will fall considerably - all the better!

Buy low, sell high. Good investors make money in any market. It's the bad ones that you have to look out for. But, make sure you can weather some rent reductions. We'll see the numbers, Tukwila (obviously not a sought after environment) took a percentage of dip on rents. I think next month numbers will show West Seattle rents and areas around it will drop a bit (my theories is they'll drop a lot over the next quarter, unless some strange boat of rich SF refugees arrives fleeing SALT taxes).

So, stockpile that capital, might be some opportunities on the horizon (and that doesn't include wild aberrant events, like HQ2 or taxes on foreign investors, etc.)

I think it sucks. When I think about a native, who may have won the lottery and is sitting on a million dollar home, but can't leave. I mean, on one hand, they're eating a 100%+ increase in property taxes. And obviously, either love the city or are terrified of finding another residence....

Also, another great sign of a bubble is all the mom and pop real estate agents. It isn't dour, educated professionals jumping on the train, it's everyone who thinks it's an ATM.

Like I said, We'll see.