Tips from The Cascade Team Agents

2022 Study: More Than Half of Buyers Would Purchase a Haunted Home in a Competitive Market October 10, 2022 by Jaime Dunaway-Seale

As Americans spend less time at home in 2022, fewer people believe they’ve lived in a haunted house. Among those who have not shared a house with ghosts, however, two-thirds (67%) believe it’s possible for a home to be haunted.

Read on to discover how Americans’ beliefs in the supernatural have changed and how that affects their home-buying preferences in a still-competitive market.

REAL HAUNTED HOUSE STATISTICS

  •          About one-fourth of Americans (24%) believe they’ve lived in a real haunted house, down from the 44% who said the same in 2021, when they spent more time at home during the pandemic.

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By: Melissa Dittmann Tracey

Find out what designers say, and consumer surveys show are becoming tiresome trends in the home.

Every year, there are new and evolving home design fads that should “scare” you to death. Last year, there were moss-covered accent walls (gasp!), acrylic furniture (shriek!) and Tuscan-style kitchens (yelp!). This year, it’s the “cloffice”—a pandemic-era closet-turned-office—and many others. With Halloween around the corner, Styled Staged & Sold presents its annual countdown of the top 10 home trends of 2022 that are haunting our nightmares.

10. The classic farmhouse look

Many designers have called for the modern farmhouse trend to be put…

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I personally would say “Hell No” to this rate. Up or down a fraction of a percentage please before I locked this one in!

The rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage averaged 6.66% this week, down from 6.70% one week ago, mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac reported on Thursday. Last year at this time, the typical rate was 2.99%.

The interest rate on the most popular home loan in America has fallen for the first time in seven weeks, ending a streak that pushed borrowing costs to their highest point since 2007.

Yet even with the decline, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is still more than double what it was last year.

Text “BOO” to (425) 223-4655 for a Free Value Analysis

Unfortunately for borrowers, this week’s dip was just a small…

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The only thing scarier than paying too high of a commission to sell your home… Is realizing that you don’t have too while getting even MORE service and support than most brokerages offer at a higher fee!

The Cascade Team Agents are Full Service. We are a real estate company like no other, because of the tools, service and savings we provide our clients with. We understand that in today’s fast paced environment, we need to provide a high level of service, utilize technology to keep our clients up to date at all times and provide added value to both buyers and sellers in the transaction. By leveraging these technological tools, it allows our agents to focus more of their time to servicing our clients, and also provide the most comprehensive…

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As real estate and real estate-related companies continue to cut their workforces, it's become clear that it's no mirage -- the housing market is indeed cooling. Another sign? The real estate giant Redfin has experienced a nearly 92% drop in stock value since last year.

While homes are still more expensive today than they were before COVID-19 changed the world, demand is slowing, and prices are dropping. Redfin recently released data showing which markets are cooling at the fastest rate. What was a seller's market is quickly flipping to a buyer's market in these areas of the country:

Rank

Metro Area

Median Sale Price

1

Seattle, Washington

$774,950

2

Las Vegas,…

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You may be aware of a new rule change from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service regarding “Offering” a Buyer’s Agent Compensation (We no longer use the term Commission). While it’s a confusing topic for both consumers and real estate agents alike, The Cascade Team has put together some Questions and Answers on the topic.

What is a “Fair” amount to pay for real estate compensation?

“Fair” is whatever you and the agent decide is fair, and just as you are not under any obligation to pay more than you want, the agent is not under any obligation to do business with you if they are not going to earn what they expect.

The Cascade Team will charge a total of 2% compensation to sell your home if the buyer comes unrepresented.

This includes full…

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Ben Luthi

The real estate market has two opposing sides: buyers, who want to keep their costs low, and sellers, who want to maximize their profits. Depending on the inventory of available housing, one of those sides might have bigger advantages — and greater bargaining power — than the other. Understanding the difference between a buyer’s market and a seller’s market can be tied back to one of the fundamental laws of economics: supply and demand.

What is a buyer’s market?

When there is a surplus of homes and low demand for them, you’re in a buyer’s market. Prices tend to go down in these conditions, because there’s less competition. Additionally, homes are likely to stay on the market for longer, putting pressure on sellers to…

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Covering housing news and more. Our informative and locally based real estate news blog will feature the latest housing statistics for Sammamish and Issaquah as well as information on the housing market shift, mortgage rates and local information that affect your home, commute and the area you live in. 

We’ll dive deep into the stats and strive hard to provide detailed analysis that is helpfully while also being easy to understand.

If you ever have a question or suggestion we’re here. Just reach out to us and let us know and we’ll be happy to answer!

CONTACT HERE

The Cascade Team Real Estate

 

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Cary Porter 425-891-7447

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Check out some of our most current stories…

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  •          Pending sales drop nearly 22% from a year-ago
  •          Closings were down about 24% from a year ago
  •          Economist Gardner expects prices will soften.
  •          trend toward a more balanced market.
  • Mortgage rates are at their highest level since the Great Recession, according to data released by Freddie Mac Thursday, as housing affordability continues to slump.
  • The 30-year fixed mortgage rate is now 5.89%, according to Freddie Mac, up from 5.66% last week and 2.88% at this time last year.
  • Mortgage rates are now at their highest since November 2008, when Freddie Mac reported a 6.04% 30-year rate.
  • Mortgage rates have climbed as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to tame inflation.

Surprising Fact

 The…

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Home values decreased for the first time in a decade, according to Zillow, and that's just one of several signs it's finally getting easier to buy a house.

The Zillow Home Value Index dropped in July for the first time since 2012, according to new data from the real estate website. The index, which uses Zillow data to measure the value of a typical home, fell 0.1% on a monthly basis.

That decrease may not seem like a lot (home values are still significantly higher than they were last year and the year before), but it’s likely a welcome relief for buyers who have been struggling in the red-hot market.

"Home values flattening so quickly after recent record growth might surprise,” Zillow Chief Economist Skylar Olsen said in a news release, “but…

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