Homebuyers beware: Redfin reports Seattle is beyond a seller’s market (Tacoma: sales, rentals)

[Blondebaerde]

Originally Posted by revelated

I guarantee you that anyone buying north of I-90 is making the same assumption I did when I rented up there: that the niceness of the area wins out. Either that or they work in the area. If they work there, it's a dream. If they work in Seattle, they'll learn, and I promise you they'll move within 3 years.

Until the 522 "freeway" develops beyond its current "might as well be a city street" level, areas like Woodinville and Bothell will never be viable for going to Seattle. I speak from experience. And even if it did develop out, they'd just throw tolls on it and negate any potential benefits.

I'm in Auburn right now and while I do like my home, now that I work from home rather than commuting, I've thought about buying in Kennewick or Pasco, or even going all the way to Spokane. I also considered Brinnon, but I don't know that I could work with being that far from civilization and it seems there really isn't any development or improvements in that area.

I've yet to commute Eastside to Seattle. Could happen, firms do move (e.g. Expedia's move from Bellevue to Seattle waterfront).

In that case I'd probably pull a Hemlock and work early AM to mid-PM, via mass transit. No way on earth would it work otherwise, sounds-like.

If I worked from home, and thought it was consistent and long-term during peak earning years, I'd probably live in Poulsbo or Port Orchard. Somewhere out of the rat-race but not crazy far away, too. If there was never any reason to go in the office, I'd consider other states (perhaps: lot of upsides to Washington for earners, of course). Seattle is self-evidently a poor place to be poor, or even Blue Collar, as there is a dramatic shift to eliminate the Middle and grow the High-end (income) and the Service (typically lower wage).

Those are good jobs, remote that is, and some are smart enough to finagle it: I've had team members (coders, UI/UX, database) who are mostly remote and have it honed to a fine art. You'd almost think they were onsite. Had one North America geographically dispersed team some years ago with guys and gals in Ohio, Canada, and SoCal. Other than the sometimes-weird rotating meeting times, it was pretty transparent. Start adding in Europe and Asia, it gets complicated.

So good for you, bottom line (grin)

[RVD90277]

i used to work in downtown Seattle when i bought my home in woodinville. it wasn't the most pleasant commute but it was tolerable. but then again, i came here from LA where a 1+ hour commute was always considered normal.

of course it's much better now that i work on the eastside as well as live on the eastside.

all of this talk about housing and costs is actually pretty simple supply/demand economics. both supply and demand are going up. there are new homes being built and there are more people moving into the area and want to buy as well as local renters who want to buy.

the demand side is exceeding the rate of supply so that only equals one thing...higher prices.

there's always going to be talk about "there's no way that that house is worth $800k" and of course you don't have to buy it. that's your choice. but when that house sells for $800k, the market is telling you that your perception of value may be off.

and i've said this over and over again...the increased demand coming from new folks moving here? their salaries are higher than the average salary here so that's only going to keep adding pressure.

and add that to the fact that for these guys they look at that same $800k home and say "omg, only $800k! i'll take 2 of them..."

[homesinseattle]

RVD90277, well spoken.

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by jm31828

Bothell is actually very heated right now. It's nice, clean, in a good location for commutes to the east side- so it is hot. Houses in my area of Bothell are only lasting 1-2 weeks on the market, sometimes even less.

1-2 weeks is a long time compared to the Eastside though and that is the point that IRA is making. Houses in my mother's area (Summit/Bellevue) only last just a couple days before getting snapped, and there's been more than several homes where the house was sold before it's actually on the market.

I remember when my mom and her husband was mulling over which house to buy, they took a little over 2 weeks to decide which house would work. Definitely a luxury to have then that can only be appreciated now because it sucks to be a buyer at this time.

[homesinseattle]

As you might imagine, how fast a home sells depends a lot on the listing price. This market encourages (or maybe deludes) some sellers into listing for unreasonably high prices, then the homes sit for a little while before until (or if) the sellers come to their senses. If homes are priced right in Bothell, they are gone almost immediately. Have to be on your game.

[CrazyDonkey]

Or sellers under-list a property in hopes of igniting a bidding war, without any intention of accepting a bid anywhere near their list price.

[Ira500]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

Or sellers under-list a property in hopes of igniting a bidding war, without any intention of accepting a bid anywhere near their list price.

That is fairly common right now. If they get only one offer and it's at that lower price, they would be obligated to sell it at the price they listed it at, but when it's underpriced by, say, 20,000 dollars, it may be more coming from the listing agent as opposed to the seller, as a strategy to get buyers to trip over themselves and make higher offers. It works a lot of the time these days. It can backfire if it's a neighborhood or town far less hot. It's not hard to get a bidding war going in Phinney Ridge. A little harder in Kent.

[homesinseattle]

When listing a home, I strongly recommend my clients not price too high or low. In very hot areas of town, choosing a "middling" price allows a bidding war to develop if one is warranted. Important also is listing midweek (I like Wednesday, as traditionally brokers open houses are done that day), public open houses on the weekend for exposure, reviewing offers after the weekend (I like Tuesday).

This allows time for the listing to arrive at it's correct market price and for potential buyers to pre-inspect before the offer review day, both of these things strongly benefit my sellers and allow us to choose the strongest buyer. I tell my sellers "At the end of the day, even the most experienced real estate brokers don't know exactly what your home is worth. Let's do all the right things and the market will tell us".

[Ira500]

Originally Posted by homesinseattle

When listing a home, I strongly recommend my clients not price too high or low. In very hot areas of town, choosing a "middling" price allows a bidding war to develop if one is warranted. Important also is listing midweek (I like Wednesdays as traditionally brokers open houses are done that day), public open houses on the weekend for exposure, reviewing offers after the weekend (I like Tuesday).

This allows time for the listing to arrive at it's correct market price and for potential buyers to pre-inspect before the offer review day, both of these things strongly benefit my sellers and allow us to choose the strongest buyer. I tell my sellers "At the end of the day, even the most experienced real estate brokers don't know exactly what your home is worth. Let's do all the right things and the market will tell us".

They're not all as ethical as you, Vince.
Most recently, I'm seeing it go in both extremes: List prices unrealistically high( probably not the agent's advice), or listings a little on the low side that seem an obvious ploy to create a frenzy( very possibly the agent's advice).

[homesinseattle]

Thanks Ira, just seems like good old fashioned common sense to me.