Seattle just named one of the Top 3 "Hottest" Real Estate markets (sales, house prices)

[cmswazey]

Originally Posted by Tac-Sea

I've wondered for a while why Seattle housing isn't more expensive. I make as much and in many cases more than Senior Engineers at LinkedIn, Yahoo, Twitter, even Google, yet here for 600K you can buy a nice house. In SF 1.2 million buys you a tear down.

I personally think 600k is a lot of money.

[The Global Citizen]

That's the real problem: most of us think the same way that you do. However, society suggest otherwise. I honestly believe that million dollars for a home will be the norm in our lifetime in most major markets outside of Texas and Florida.

[Thom52]

Originally Posted by cmswazey

I personally think 600k is a lot of money.

I remember when people were saying that in the Bay Area. (including me)

We bought a tumble down foreclosure in Seattle back then for $70k, an absolute mess, with plumbing that wouldn't even hold water. But we owned it and loved raising our kids in the Seattle area. I put in 30 years of sweat equity into slowly rebuilding and remodeling the house while raising a family.

We plan to sell it in a month, coincidentally planning on only getting $600k for it, which my family in the Bay Area think is ridiculously cheap give-a-way price.

What I find interesting is that way back then, we were happy to buy this fixer upper for a good price and spend enormous energy and time bringing it up to a nice comfortable standard. Whereas the people we are selling to now, cannot even deal with having to paint an interior room of the house they buy their preferred color, and it better be "ready to move in", might as well be new, better not need as much as a new light bulb. Or they will walk away.

Prices have gone up, but if you correct for expectations, really not as much as it might seem for a 30 year span, especially compared to the same period of time and the conditions people will buy houses in the Bay Area for much much more.

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by Thom52

I remember when people were saying that in the Bay Area. (including me)

We bought a tumble down foreclosure in Seattle back then for $70k, an absolute mess, with plumbing that wouldn't even hold water. But we owned it and loved raising our kids in the Seattle area. I put in 30 years of sweat equity into slowly rebuilding and remodeling the house while raising a family.

We plan to sell it in a month, coincidentally planning on only getting $600k for it, which my family in the Bay Area think is ridiculously cheap give-a-way price.

What I find interesting is that way back then, we were happy to buy this fixer upper for a good price and spend enormous energy and time bringing it up to a nice comfortable standard. Whereas the people we are selling to now, cannot even deal with having to paint an interior room of the house they buy their preferred color, and it better be "ready to move in", might as well be new, better not need as much as a new light bulb. Or they will walk away.

Prices have gone up, but if you correct for expectations, really not as much as it might seem for a 30 year span, especially compared to the same period of time and the conditions people will buy houses in the Bay Area for much much more.

But now we've elected a city council that is not favorable to people trying to 'improve' single family homes. The view now is that all SFH zoning should be removed in favor of multi-plexes. You, us, we're the enemy. You less so because you're selling and getting out but those of us that have stayed and attempted to rehab an old house to raise a family in, we're not too politically popular now.

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

Part of it is that both Portland and Seattle have great SFH neighborhoods (don't know about Denver), but almost all of the supply being added is MFH. San Francisco has always been much more dense.

But few are going to stay as such. Under current leadership SFH is done, gone. You stay too long the city moves in the junkies and others suffering from severe untreated health issues then shames you for saying anything about it.

[pnwguy2]

My parents bought a Wedgwood split level in 1973 for 40,000. Comps in this area are now 720-880K.

I'm sorry, but this is totally out of the park unreasonable. But, then again, it isn't if it can sell for that. And it can.

I don't pretend to understand it, but I do accept it. At what point do we accept 15X inflation, when incomes and the actual cost of living is far below this figure?

[KonaldDuth]

Well yea, everyone wants to live here.

[xboxmas]

Originally Posted by Seacove

We need to discourage this invasion. Talk about the rain more.

That's what most like about Seattle. They want to get out of the heat.

[thatguy950]

600k for a nice house in Seattle???

[cmswazey]

Originally Posted by The Global Citizen

That's the real problem: most of us think the same way that you do. However, society suggest otherwise. I honestly believe that million dollars for a home will be the norm in our lifetime in most major markets outside of Texas and Florida.

Sounds right. I feel sorry for low and medium earners who want to buy a place.

[SorryForLaughing]

My parents bought a house in West Seattle for 200,000 in 1983 and sold it in 2014 for 2.2 million.