Archive for the ‘Real Estate Information and Statistics’ Category
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Oct
02
Posted by Larry Cragun
The Chart below shows a huge drop in the average days on market for the current condo inventory for sale in Issaquah. Condominium days on market has dropped to less than 65% of September. The 63 average days on market are the fewest since last October.
The percent of asking price went from 96% to 98% of listing price.
Last month there was almost a years worth of condominium inventory on the market and it has dropped by 1/4th in one month. I will post each month how this trend is shaping up. I know from other blogs I write on that a large amount of non home owners out there are looking for the bottom. This is only one month, but very interesting.
If you are a potential condo buyer you might also find it interesting that the average price has risen from $240 to about $268 per square foot, back to where it was in June 2007.
Pardon the push for an advertising customer – Tanglewood Condominiums in Klahanie - but they recently dropped prices by close to 10%. You might want to check out this property with more amenities than you can imagine for the price.
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Sep
23
Posted by Larry Cragun
We just posted a 14 month graph of the Issaquah Real Estate Stats.
As you might expect 14 months ago numbers are the best for sellers or their listing agents. January 2008 had the least sales but also the least number of listings. Note the number of homes sold a year ago is down from 59 to 43. To see real estate information regarding homes for sale, number of homes sold, number of pending sales, month by month for the last 14 months click here.
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Sep
08
Posted by Larry Cragun
Already people have been contacting me about the Fed take over of Fannie and Freddie. What will that do to us or for us is the question? ………..From Dan Green who I respect: Sunday, the government announced that it will takeover Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and assume their respective operations. Mortgage-backed debt is now government debt.But for all the front page stories today, there’s suprisingly little coverage about how the news impacts homeowners in need of a mortgage.Mortgage rates are down sharply today, and possibly forever.…………..another good article: These are potential benefits:
- Lender balance sheets will be cleaned up and thinned out.
- Mortgage rates and fees should get cheaper as a result.
- Mortgage paper will be turned into Federal paper, establishing much needed confidence from foreign investors. Its a global market, keeping foreign investment money flowing through our economy is vital to its existence in 2008 (and going forward).
- Federal paper will allow borrowers to potentially ‘work out’ their delinquent loans with far more flexibility than they could with lender owned mortgage paper.
Loan ‘work-outs’ were/are generally not in the interest of lenders, especially those who’ve retained mortgage servicing companies or run the divisions internally, since these profit centers are paid to keep homeowners in their current situation and/or handle the foreclosure process. If the business model is to keep borrowers making payments they can’t afford and/or pushing them into foreclosure, well its easy to see where the misalignment of objects and conflict of interests arise.
The government can effectively work with homeowners to restructure payment terms any way they see fit, keeping more people in their homes, substantially reducing the number foreclosures that have fostered the rapid depreciation in many housing markets around the country.
- Reduction of Wall Street volatility in what has historically been a stable segment of the bond market. Consumer confidence needs to be restored to the mortgage market, volatility and consumer confidence usually don’t coincide with each other.
Many speculators made a lot of money by short selling Fannie and Freddie’s stock, accelerating their devaluation. The SEC put a stop to this in mid July 08, by then the damage (or rewards) had been realized. Months late and billions short(ed) I will be linking other valid articles to this article over the next few days, so come back and check if you are interested. Visit Agent Genius for the completion of the text above. …..From the Garrett-Watts blog: They will still be in business Monday, but with their existing shareholders no longer owning it.We tend to think there will be minimal impact on the day-to-day selling of loans to them.We can envision three things happening after there is a thorough review by the Treasury Department of all aspects of their operations.………………………………………. FHFA Director Lockhart Remarks on Housing GSE Actions From The Big Picture:I am still working my way through the details of the GSE takeover by Treasury, but here is my initial read of the details:
• FHFA will act as conservator of the two firms — meaning the US government has day-to-day control of Fannie and Freddie;• The conservator’s goals are to (1) put the company in a sound and solvent condition, and (2) carry on the company’s business and preserve and conserve the assets and property of the company.
• There is an immediate moratorium of the firms’ lobbying activities.
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Sep
03
Posted by Larry Cragun
Last night I received a couple of compliments at a public meeting about our Issaquah blogs. Thanks folks. We love writing about and photographing Issaquah. We hope we provide great local and real estate information for your review. If there is real estate data you would like that we don’t provide, please ask.
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Aug
26
Posted by Larry Cragun
Why are people still moving to Issaquah? Real Estate is still selling fairly well.
Hopefully some of these young ones will join us here. I have a special reason to want these kids to move in the area, they are some of our grandchildren.
The answer I would say is a combination of things. Prices are holding there own, the location is convenient to all parts of the county, the city is very proactive, there are a lot of things to get involved in. I invite you to study this blog, we have over 450 reasons to live in Issaquah that we have written about.
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Aug
16
Posted by Larry Cragun
This beautiful shot is from our home in Issaquah.
Click here for the open house map.
By the way, we were showing homes the last couple of days and many sellers are pricing their homes higher than their competition. Selling your home is a game of competition. A serious game if you are a serious seller.
I was asked on the P I blog I write for what makes home prices go up. The answer was simple – multiple offers.
The same goes for going down, multiple options. Our buyers had multiple options on similar properties. They were looking in a certain price range for a home with a swimming pool. The first home they thought they were interested in was soon devalued by $75,000.00. What caused the devalue? The home we went to 2 houses later. The fact they had more than one great option placed the owner of the first home in jeopardy of selling their house to our buyer. That home had been on the market for 280 days, so they obviously had a problem.
We are in a buyers market. Not enough listing agents are receiving offers on their listings. Buyers agents have clients that are in control.
To sell your home and not list your home so it is clearly the best value in its competitive market is asking to just list your home and watch it sit. Sorry for the bad news sellers – welcome to the good news buyers.
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Aug
09
Posted by Larry Cragun
Get that car out of the garage and see some open houses.
Visting Issaquah Open Houses (click here) can be fun and educational. Do too much of it and you may want to become a real estate agent. Each week real estate agents have the option to list their open houses in the MLS. The weekend open houses are posted on our map. Enjoy and let us know if you have questions.
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Aug
02
Posted by Larry Cragun
Click here for the map of Real Estate Agents open houses. These were announced as information in the MLS.
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Jul
18
Posted by Larry Cragun
My Realtor said I could just lay around (like he is today)
The market has picked up steam and the listing agents are home on the deck (Phone in hand). The sellers are out fishing and the buyers wondering what the heck happened – “they want more open houses”. OK lets reward the ambitious ones and visit them all. All 4 Condomiums for sale and all 7 homes in Issaquah for sale:
Yoooooo Hooooo Wherea are you? (Makes for a good commercial idea doesn’t?)
CLICK HERE FOR ISSAQUAH OPEN HOUSES: Click the balloon for more information
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Jul
11
Posted by Larry Cragun
What are the home prices like? The best way to know is see them first hand. The best way to find them in Issaquah is on our MAP. Click here for the weekend open houses posted in the MLS by the listing agent. Let us know if you need a buyers agent. Lar
Click Here for the open houses information map.
Tags: Issaquah, open+houses, mls, listing+agent, buyers+agent
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Jul
05
Posted by Larry Cragun
We have been mapping homes sold in Issaquah since March. Click the category and post the solds. Click the balloon and see asking and sold price. None of the homes on this map show a higher than asking price. Several sold for listing price. The map is interactive, so you can double click it to move in and grab the map with your mouse to move around, click here.
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Jul
05
Posted by Larry Cragun
Here it is the weekend of the 4th of July and some agents just have to work. All work and no play does what they say? Oh well, take advantage of it. Visit the 5 we have posted on the open houses map. If the agent didn’t post it in the MLS we of course didn’t get notice. Also note, this week there are only homes shown, no condominiums.Click here for the information map.
Tags: open+houses, issaquah
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Jun
28
Posted by Larry Cragun
Yes, the world is standing still for Issaquah Highlands Highlands Day. What a blast for many of our grandchildren.
I guarantee to you there are few communities that get into it like Issaquah Highlands. People love it here.
However, many want to move up, down, or into all parts of Issaquah. So tomorrow go do the open house thingy.
The open house map has 12 for your Issaquah house hunting pleasure. Click here then click the balloons to see more detail.
Tags: issaquah, open+houses, issaquah+highlands
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Jun
24
Posted by Larry Cragun
The mapping of the sold homes makes it easy to find homes in the neighborhood you are interested in. The map also shows what the list price and final price the home sold for. June sales are the current default, but you can add by month since we starting recording the homes sold in Issaquah in March. The data is taken from the Northwest MLS. Click here for the Issaquah Real Estate, homes sold.
Tags: sold, real+estate, issaquah
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Jun
13
Posted by Larry Cragun
Mostly on Saturday you will find open houses. Click the balloon icon for more detail… And as my friend Matt of Gig Harbor Undressed says: “Give dad a tour of the house you WANT to buy him! – It’s Father’s Day weekend.
Click Here for the updated weekend Issaquah Open Houses Map. The information is taken from real estate listing agents posting the data in the NW MLS.
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Jun
11
Posted by Larry Cragun
The market is interesting is Issaquah. Sold homes include those that have been on the market a lenghty time and some less than 3 weeks. The map has June sales showing. You can click the legend to add March, April, Or May home sales. Click here for the sold homes in Issaquah Map. Don’t you just love real estate?
Tags: sold+homes, issaquah
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Jun
01
Posted by Larry Cragun
The Issaquah home sales are interesting this month. Some homes went soon after being listed for sale. Others that have been on the market for around a year were sold. All sold for asked for or less, none more than the listing price. Click here, and check out the homes sold in your favorite neighborhood.
Tags: homes, sold, issaquah, mls
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May
31
Posted by Larry Cragun
Each week we provide the weekend open houses in map format. Click the balloon for details. The map is updated now.
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May
27
Posted by Larry Cragun
The closed home map is updated. click here
The map has sold and ask prices for Issaquah homes, closed, since March 1, 2008. The information is taken from the NW MLS data.
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May
23
Posted by Larry Cragun
Here we have a 3 day weekend and 23 homes are scheduled for an open house in Issaquah. Of course your Realtor is always ready to serve.
Click Here for the map.
PS: This map was updated with the latest information Friday Evening.
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