There Is Still A Home Buying Frenzy In Seattle: (Lynnwood: for sale, real estate market)

[Vinylly]

Inspite of what is going on with the rest of the nation, home buying in Seattle is still at a frenzied pace.
Case in point: We have a young friend who bought a 'starter' home in Ballard about ten years ago. They just put it on the market this last weekend. It sold immediately for their asking price, -no negotiations were offered. The price they are getting for it is almost twice the price they paid for it ten years ago.
Most of the Ballard homes are small cottages, either craftsman or small brick tudor style and usually less less then 2,400 sq. ft. including basement, first and if there is a second floor. They are selling mostly for around $400,000 to $500,000.
These Ballard cottages seem to be very hot in the Seattle market. If they look nice and are well cared for, they will sell fast. Young families coming into Seattle are looking for 'affordable' houses. Ballard seems to be the place where they are at.
Any home selling for over $600,000 are out of most young families budget. These higher priced homes are the ones that seem to be slow in selling, no matter where they are located.

[Ira500]

Originally Posted by Vinylly

Inspite of what is going on with the rest of the nation, home buying in Seattle is still at a frenzied pace.
Case in point: We have a young friend who bought a 'starter' home in Ballard about ten years ago. They just put it on the market this last weekend. It sold immediately for their asking price, -no negotiations were offered. The price they are getting for it is almost twice the price they paid for it ten years ago.
Most of the Ballard homes are small cottages, either craftsman or small brick tudor style and usually less less then 2,400 sq. ft. including basement, first and if there is a second floor. They are selling mostly for around $400,000 to $500,000.
These Ballard cottages seem to be very hot in the Seattle market. If they look nice and are well cared for, they will sell fast. Young families coming into Seattle are looking for 'affordable' houses. Ballard seems to be the place where they are at.
Any home selling for over $600,000 are out of most young families budget. These higher priced homes are the ones that seem to be slow in selling, no matter where they are located.

Not exactly, but you're mostly right. There are about a half dozen areas in Seattle that seem to be going counter to the rest of the area, areas like Ballard, Ravenna, Phinney, Wallingford. If there's a house for sale there, especially a 1920's home in good shape and selling for less than 550,000, it's going to sell, and quickly, especially if it's priced a little lower than comparable houses for sale.
But other parts of the city aren't faring nearly as well, even lower priced homes. Prices have dropped quite a lot on the northern and southern edges of the city ( Lake City, Broadview, Rainier Beach) and even some closer in neighborhoods like Mount Baker and Queen Anne. But I guess that fits your theory too: A lot of the Mt. Baker close to the lake homes and QA homes are over 600+ thousand, as are some Madison Park/N. Capitol Hill/Montlake homes, so they sell less quickly. Which has always been the case, as the buyer pool for million dollar homes is just a lot smaller.
As a real estate agent, I was involved recently representing buyers in a bidding war on 1920's Craftsman home in Ravenna. I never encourage this. Unless you're positive that it's the house you want and can easily afford the payments, don't let the emotions sway you without some rational thinking. Any kind of auction or bidding war brings out the stupid in people. I've purchased a few things I didn't need at auctions, as if this spirit was possessing me into bidding.
Whatever the real estate market is doing, it's not always going to stay the same. A few years ago, people were saying that Seattle was immune to price drops, that we were special. Since July, 2007, the price of the average home in the Seattle area has fallen about 28% home, and we're down to late 2004 prices. 1920's Craftsmen homes in Ballard and Ravenna haven't fallen as much, maybe 15%?
I can see it going one of two ways:
1. They're not building new 1920's Craftsmen, and these homes are pretty close to downtown and sought after.
2. How many people have incomes where they can afford a half a million dollar home? Don't they still seem too expensive, even though they've already fallen in price?

[jm31828]

Seems to be spotty in other parts of the metro area as well- some sell really fast, others seem to take a long time to sell. I live in a development that is only a year and a half old in Lynnwood- these houses start under $250K. Our neighbors put their house up for sale about 3 weeks ago, and there is already a "sold" sign in the yard. Maybe the entry-level-priced homes are still a hot item around here?

[seattlecoming]

Seattle seems to have escaped much of the foreclosure crisis, but since it has been a nation wide catastrophe some of the fallout has been felt in Seattle and the rest of the PNW. I am delighted to know that it's a lot more of a sellers market than where I'm from. Practically the entire sunbelt region is Foreclosureville. You can almost buy a resale home in Arizona or Nevada for as much as you'd pay for a new Corvette. Honestly, with the shoddy home construction these days in that area, I'd rather live in a Corvette.