Check out our new homes for sale in your Seattle or San Diego neighborhood.

Our Featured Listings

  •          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…

1820 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

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…

2658 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

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…

3149 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

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.…

2526 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

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…

2244 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

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…

1951 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

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…

2270 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

What a difference just a few months can make. As the year comes to a close, the red-hot housing market has been brought to its knees by soaring mortgage interest rates.

  •          “Seattle, Phoenix, San Francisco could all see 20% price drops.”
  •          Wolf, of Zonda, expects prices could fall by 15% nationally over the next year
  •          “A really important thing to remember is housing is cyclical,” says Wolf. “We came from a massive run-up in prices, sales, demand in the housing market, and now it’s contracting. This is not new.”
  •          Nationally, home list prices rose 40.6% in just over two years’ time
  •          So, a 10%, 15%, or even 20% drop over a two-year span isn’t as significant as it might seem at first.

It now…

2311 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

The home selling process has changed considerably over the past year. Last year sellers could throw their homes on the market with little to no prep work done, throw a few pictures online and still expect multiple offers and a final sale price well over asking price. This red-hot sellers’ market was unprecedented in history and certainly not the norm.

Currently the market is in a state of readjustment and is trending back to a more normal balanced market. This adjustment may be perceived as scary by many sellers who are seeing their neighbors home prices fall in price and sit on the market for months. This slowdown can be directly correlated to raising interest rates and a huge increase of properties on the market.

The news for sellers in the…

2213 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

“As for the interest rate ‘elephant in the room,’ the time has come for buyers and sellers to revisit financing methods from previous markets,”

  •          “Mortgage programs are offering below-market rates with various buydown options – something we have not seen for years!”
  •          Buydowns, adjustable-rate loans, carrying back second deeds of trust, and closing cost allowances as possible options.
  •          Sellers need to be “laser focused on price and condition
  •          “What your neighbor’s house sold for six months ago has very little bearing on your home’s value today.”
  •          This is the new normal until interest rates go down.”

KIRKLAND, Washington (November 7, 2022) – Brokers with Northwest Multiple Listing Service…

2877 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post