Seattle Real Estate

Seattle has a very "hot" real estate market right now. In fact, one of the current trends is buying older homes, tearing them down and building new larger homes. For some this is a good thing. New inventory and expensive houses that are current and up to date. For many however this is a problem. The older homes are usually more affordable and in a city where the prices are increasing monthly this is a huge concern. Where are all the smaller starter homes going? It's been reported that developers are tearing down a house a day.  What are the people with new jobs and young families going to do if they want to live in a house but not move to the suburbs. City living is getting to be an unattainable goal for these people. Many are left with few choices and have to more farther away from jobs so the commute is longer. I certainly have mixed feelings and always try to help my clients find the best possible value for the money they can spend. There is no easy solution.
And then developers are doing this.. would you want this home built in front of you?

Have You Used Houzz?

With the internet accessibility increasing every day and the popularity of smart phones and tablets it's no wonder that we're seeing more more websites offering advice and services, DIY information, sales, home deliveries of food and drink, dating services and more at the click of a finger. One of the websites that has become more popular in the past several years is a website called Houzz, They have many design ideas for a home owner. Once you've created your account you will have an opportunity to save ideas to an idea book. You can search for vendors, photos, search by rooms, and even looks for stories and advice. For homeowners or renters or just interested parties this is a great place to collect ideas and information for your home resource. Do you collect ideas and save them in the cloud? Do you use Pinterest and Instagram for your search? Houzz might be another website to consider.  Houzz

Latest Statistics From the Northwest Multiple Listing Service

All of us who live in the Greater Seattle area have been aware of the very "hot" real estate market and the number of offers sellers are receiving on their listed homes. This also means that any buyer that is making an offer on a property has had fierce competition. For a fraction of buyers this has been a success as they have purchased a property but for many buyers it's been discouraging at best as they make offer after offer and are beat out of a successful transaction for any number of reasons. Finally it looks like we're starting to see a correction in the market. There are more properties on the market and there are fewer multiple offer situations. The prices still are increasing but not at the pace they have been in previous months. For now we watch and wait and see but this is still a great time to buy or sell a home because the interest rates are low and we continue to have the demand for homes.

NWMLS Market Update

Community Art Installations

                                          Photo credit: Ian Terry/The Herald

As a community, we're getting more accustomed to public art displays.  I've just learned about a new installation in Edmonds called “Luminous Forest.” This involves 177 LED solar lights that have been installed on 4th Ave N from Main Street to the Edmonds Center For The Arts. Created by  Iole Alessandrini who has training in lighting and architecture. This art installation you can drive over and it can also be triggered by interaction with people. The lights start to come on at 20 minutes after sunset and it takes 7 minutes for the entire street to be activated.

I think I might be driving to Edmonds this weekend to check out the lighted art. How about you, have you been to see this community art?

Lighted Art In Edmonds