•          U.S. weekly average for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.09%
  •          The “new normal” for mortgage rates will likely be in the 5.5% to 6.5% range.
  •          While interest rates have tempered a bit, many buyers are moving forward to purchase with an intent to refinance once rates come down more.
  •          The unemployment rate fell to 3.4%, the lowest level since 1968.
  •          The spring real estate market is here early.

KIRKLAND, Washington (February 6, 2023) – Pending sales around Washington state reached the highest level since October and surged nearly 44% from December, according to the January report from Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Last month’s 5,776 mutually accepted offers were down about 9% from a…

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Mortgage Rates Just Hit a 4-Month Low, but Do Homebuyers Even Notice—or Care?

Recognize that media outlets and social media influencers are competing for scoops and eyeballs. As a result, their reports sometimes exaggerate issues, don’t tell the whole story, or get it wrong…. And the same thing can be said about the local housing market.

Mortgage rates are down again this week, which means things are looking up for homebuyers.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage ticked down 2 basis points to 6.13%, according to Freddie Mac, continuing a pattern of rates seesawing lower since topping 7% in the fall. In fact, mortgage rates are at their lowest levels since mid-September 2022.

Yet, while lower borrowing costs are a boon for…

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A strange topic for a blog post I know, but for the past month I have felt like I have been living in the Twilight Zone dealing with ever increasingly aggressive rabbits….

Blame the unusual weather patterns, pesticides, or sheer malicious intent; any and all reasons end with one undeniable fact: The rabbits in Sammamish are out of control and they are Hell-bent on taking one of us with them when they go…

On any given morning, just as the night gives way to the light of day you can see them waiting in the bushes just off the side of local neighborhood roads. Carefully you head down the street, eyes peeled, the radio playing lightly in the background….. And “BOOM!”

Another rabbit shoots out into the road, darting directly under your tires…

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NOW is ABSOLUTELY the best time!

We all know that home sellers have had the upper hand for several years, but those days are behind us, and though the market has slowed, there are still buyers out there. The difference now is that higher mortgage rates and lower affordability are limiting how much buyers can pay for a home.

Because of this, I expect listing prices to pull back further in the coming year, which will make accurate pricing more important than ever when selling a home. 

In Seattle I expect somewhere between 9 and 15% continued drop. (That’s around 1% per month but still much less than we saw in many cases last year.)

“As a side note remember we saw some areas literally increase by 100% in a single year during the pandemic.…

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2022 Recap

2023 Predictions

National and Industry-Wide Headlines

What began as an extension of 2021’s high-flying real estate frenzy soon enough tumbled and fell to a near standstill by the Federal Reserve’s hiking of interest rates, rendering borrowing costs too pricy for most would-be homebuyers, who, no matter how hard they tried, couldn’t bend the numbers to their will. 

As rates rose, existing-home sales fell, builders pumped the brakes, price growth decelerated, and property sat on the sidelines far longer than forecasted. Real estate companies, meanwhile, braced for lean times after riding high through most of 2020 and 2021, with thousands of workers laid off and quarterly earnings reports showing losses — in some cases, to an…

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KIRKLAND, Washington (January 6, 2023) – Last year was a tale of two housing markets, suggested broker Dean Rebhuhn in commenting on the latest statistics from Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

  •          In the first half of the year, we had low interest rates, rising prices, and little inventory
  •          The second half of the year brought increasing interest rates, some lowering of prices, and increasing inventory
  •          The local housing market in 2022 ended with a whimper rather than a bang
  •          Overall, the housing market is going to continue falling off the artificial ‘sugar high’ that was a function of the artificially low mortgage rates during the pandemic
  •          Gardner, the Windermere economist, expects prices will…

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Mortgage rates are continuing their downward trend as investors keep a lookout for more signs of cooling inflation.

“This week, labor cost data provided a ray of hope as it showed that hourly compensation was lower than previously reported in the second and third quarters for all sectors except manufacturing,” writes Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, adding that gas prices are also plunging.

Nadia Evangelou, NAR senior economist and director of real estate research, commented: 

“Mortgage rates continue to move down. According to Freddie Mac, the rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage dropped to 6.33% from 6.59% the previous week. Housing affordability rose about 8% in the last four weeks as mortgage rates moved closer to 6%. If…

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Stuff happens! That’s especially true during the holiday season. With guests coming and going, the fireplace regularly blazing, and packages arriving at your front door by the truckload, this is a particularly precarious time.

New data reveals that porch pirates (aka nefarious folks who sneak up to your doorstep and steal your packages) are among the most dreaded holiday-related worries, according to a survey from home security company SimpliSafe.

Almost half (45%) of the respondents reported they have had packages stolen from their front porch or home.

Porch pirates

The United States Postal Service estimates it delivers more than 13.2 billion parcels between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. And with more people doing their holiday shopping…

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Mortgage rates continued their plunge from a peak of 7.08% in November, marking their biggest three-week drop in 14 years.

“Mortgage rates continued to drop this week as optimism grows around the prospect that the Federal Reserve will slow its pace of rate hikes,” says Freddie Mac chief economist Sam Khater.

Mortgage rates this week

30-year fixed-rate mortgages

The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 6.49%, down from 6.58% the week prior, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. A year ago, the 30-year rate averaged 3.11%.

Mortgage rates began to slide below 7% after the most recent inflation data was released in mid-November. The consumer price index was at 7.7%, coming in below economist's expectations.

“Data shows that mortgage…

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With snow in the forecast over the next week and the possibility of a foot of blowing snow and frigid temperatures we wanted to help make sure everyone had an idea on how the city of Sammamish plans for such events.  But no matter what this storm brings to Puget Sound, cities around the region like Sammamish say they are making special plans to make sure everyone, pedestrian to drivers to firefighters, can get around safely.

Here are the published routes for snow and ice removal and plowing from the City of Sammamish!

Sammamish

Sammamish has a plowing priority system in place to clear our 400 miles of road. The plowing time required depends on several variables such as the snowstorm intensity, duration, wind, and the temperature. The Snow…

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