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2007 six mo. home sale stats K-B-R
2007-07-06 20:08:00
A lovely progession of color expansion moving from Jan sales through June sales and into Active and In Escrow. Totally as expected. Rarely does life fall exactly where you expect it to fall. This segment involves the largest number of home buyer's and sellers. At year end I will add $200,000 to $400,000 to this category. But since it currently has a basically unexplained abnormality with closings down in June, I'm leaving them out, as that point is best highlighted separately for May vs. June statistics.
More About: Home , Sale , Stats

Kirkland, Bellevue, Redmond Over $850,000
2007-07-06 18:55:00
I'm not going to break this segment down any further than higher than $850,000. Obviously the inventory competes for fewer buyers, but not to any extreme. Having shown this segment it's a mixed bag of some overpricing, some people wanting too much for properties with weaknesses like noisy location or shared driveways. People pricing of other active listings instead of solds. Lots of just bad judgment calls and people hanging on to a price that isn't working for them given the ration of buyers to sellers. But overall, we're not looking at a huge inventory vs. potential buyers. Being a little more realistic about price would solve this segment. Some are not real sellers and end up not selling at all.
More About: Kirkland , Redmond , Bellevue , Klan

Kirkland, Bellevue, Redmond Over $850,000
2007-07-06 18:55:00
  I'm not going to break this segment down any further than higher than $850,000.  Obviously the inventory competes for fewer buyers, but not to any extreme.  Having shown this segment it's a mixed bag of some overpricing, some people wanting too much for properties with weaknesses like noisy location or shared driveways.  People pricing of other active listings instead of solds.  Lots of just bad judgment calls and people hanging on to a price that isn't working for them given the ration of buyers to sellers.  But overall, we're not looking at a huge inventory vs. potential buyers.  Being a little more realistic about price would solve this segment.  Some are not real sellers and end up not selling at all.
More About: Kirkland , Kirk , Redmond , Bellevue , Klan

Kirkland, Bellevue, Redmond $600,000 to $800,000
2007-07-06 18:49:00
My best guess here is that condo conversions and new construction generally are in play in this market segment.  Consequently resale is having a harder time competing in the marketplace causing excess inventory to some degree, but not excessively. Sellers will simply need to adjust price based on competition.  The most dramatic difference here is that "in escrow" properties far exceeds a one month supply based on May and June sales.  That is another clue that we are seeing new construction and condo conversions here and the closings for that 179 in escrow will get spread out over 2-3 months of closings or more.
More About: Kirkland , Kirk , Redmond , Bellevue , Klan

Kirkland, Bellevue Redmond $400,000 to $600,000
2007-07-06 18:43:00
Inventory is way up here, but sales are steady.  This is the market segment with the most volume and activity.  Less than a two month supply anyway you slice it.  Market reacting as expected for this time of year.
More About: Kirkland , Kirk , Redmond , Bellevue , Klan

Kirkland, Bellevue, Redmond $200,000 to $400,000
2007-07-06 18:37:00
This appears to be the only category where June sales are less than May sales.  I think increased interest rates, tighter lending standards and tighter appraisal standards have impacted this segment moreso than others.  Still, inventory vs. in escrow is clearly not excessive and in escrow far exceeds both May and Jne closings.  So an odd trend, but not predictive of market weakness overall.
More About: Kirkland , Kirk , Redmond , Bellevue , Klan

Kirkland, Bellevue, Redmond under $200,000
2007-07-06 18:29:00
  The only thing worth mentioning in this category is that buying something for under $200,000 is getting near impossible.  If you are looking to buy something for $200,000, make sure you are getting new listings emailed to you as soon as they hit the market.  Don't think you will see it three days later.  Get there fast!  If it doesn't sell in 72 hours, something is wrong with the place and you don't want those.  You want the ones that sell in 48 hours, not the ones that take 15-22 days or more.
More About: Kirkland , Kirk , Under , Redmond , Bellevue

Recording a Milestone
2007-07-02 20:16:00
Andrea's braces removed!  YAY!!!  A lesson for all of us women.  Just smile for the camera...no makeup required. 
More About: Recording , Milestone , Tone , Cord

Moving to Seattle
2007-06-28 22:10:00
Moving to Seattle This morning I wrote an article involving managing your credit score over at Rain City Guide and got a pingback from Just Jenn.  Jenn moved to Seattle from Arkansas, and besides blogging on her experience of trying on real estate as a career move, she is also posting about her experiences of moving from Arkansas to Seattle, and linking to some of her favorite finds. So if you are thinking of Moving to Seattle, you might want to follow along with Jenn's experiences in her blog.  At Rain City Guide, we have Karen, who is not in the real estate industry who just moved here from Seattle, and you can follow along with her experiences in her Move to Seattle HERE. As with any blog, lots of the Moving to Seattle information on Karen's articles is in the comments, and not Karen's article itself.  Those FROM Seattle, giving Karen advices in the comments, will likely be of great interest to anyone planning to move to Seattle, or who recently moved to Seattle...
More About: Moving , Ving

Project Blogger Winner - Kevin Tomlinson
2007-06-27 22:14:00
I have personally declared Kevin Tomlinson of South Beach Florida the Winner of Project Blogg er . The Competition has had its ups and downs, so this is my way of Coaching Kevin, so he can get the competition off his brain, and focus on his blog efforts. It's not about the winning, Kev!
More About: Logger

Prepare Your House to SELL!
2007-05-26 19:25:00
Because I rarely agree with other real estate professionals, I thought I'd put some links to what other "tips" are available out there in Cyberspace, regarding Getting Your Home Ready For Market.  Then I will provide Ardell's Advices On Getting Your House Ready For Market, which are bound to be quite different from the generic advices available on the Internet. Let's take that book up there as an example.  I didn't even open the cover yet, and I already disagree with the author. Read the yellow print.  Is your goal  to make "the inside of your house A SELLER"S DREAM"?  Of course not.  It is your goal to make the inside of your house A BUYER'S DREAM!" and there is, in fact, quite a huge difference between the two. Here are some links to various tips available on the Internet.  Many I disagree with, like getting a home inspection done before you put your home on the market.  But I want to give you as much infor...
More About: Sell , Ouse , Pare , Prep

ARDELL and Seattle Stats
2007-05-13 19:14:00
One of the reasons I look at the statistical data regarding housing sales, is to determine the odds of finding a property that matches my client's needs. When determining a reasonable real estate commission, I need to know the odds.  When we find a house and make an offer, we need to know the liklihood of the seller being able to get a higher price than the one we are offering. I posted many pie charts in different price ranges.  If I have a client looking for a property for $300,000 in an area where housing in that price range is scarce, It could take many months to find the right property.  If I have a client looking for a house for $1.3 million, where only 1 out of 9 sell quickly, then the search will take a completely different working set than for the first client. It also helps when determining whether or not to accept a client at all.  If someone wants to buy a house for $450,000 with a view, some agents will take the client and wait until that client rea...
More About: Seattle , Stats , Stat

[Sticky] NWMLS Rule Regarding Market Stats and Graphs
2007-05-13 10:15:00
NWMLS Rules and Regulations  188. Advertising-Stat istical Information.Members must include in all advertising and informational sheets containing statistics based on information published by NWMLS, the following statement:"Statistics not compiled or published by NWMLS." This statement must be clearly and distinctly set forth in large and/or bold face type. I'm not sure if a blog is an advertisement, but I am posting this as a "sticky entry" at the top of the category containing my stats called "Tracking the Mark et ". I hand calculate all of my stats, I compile them and I publish them.  I note the source as NWMLS on the graph as that is the system I use to get the raw data.  I note this so that people know I am not counting FSBO properties not in the mls, nor am I counting closings in the tax records that were not in the mls.  I figure those two balance themselves out.
More About: Graphs , Stats

North Seattle similar to Eastside
2007-05-12 19:56:00
  Not a whole lot of difference in the relationship between For sale and sold plus in excrow for North Seattle .  Running at the same pace as Eastside.
More About: Side , North Sea , Mila

18% of the Market is "Top Heavy"
2007-05-12 19:36:00
  It is ultra important to price those higher priced homes property.  Some are still selling within four days, while others sit on market for months or even years.  The proportion of people selling vs. buying goes up as the price of the property goes up.  The higher the price, the more right you have to be as to asking price.
More About: Market , Heavy , Mark , The Mark

82% of Eastside is still a Seller's Market
2007-05-12 19:31:00
  There is not much difference between this graph and the one below, so I'm posting this one to capture 82% of the Kirkland, Bellevue and Redmond Real Estate Mark et .
More About: Sell , Still , Side

Homes Sales Year to Date Eastside
2007-05-12 19:17:00
  The above chart represents 65% of all home sales onthe Eastside Year to Date.  Decided to go up to $850,000, since that segment represents 82% of home sales in 2007 Year to Date.  see next graph.
More About: Sales , Homes , Side

Ten month supply at the high end
2007-05-12 17:57:00
  I'm putting these last two graphs together, as there isn't a lot of difference up at this price range.  The only thing that amazes me here is that I was able to walk into a house priced between $1.5 and $1.6 million last Sunday  and say "This one will be gone by Friday".  Looking at the chart, it now amazes me that I was correct, given only 4 closed in April and there were 47 already on market when that property was listed.  Just goes to show you how pricing correctly is the key to success in all markets and all market conditions.
More About: High , Month , Mont

$1,200,000 - $1,400,000
2007-05-12 17:41:00
  So far the number of people buying is remaining a constant while the number of people wanting to sell inthe higher price ranges increases.  

$1,000,000 - $1,200,000 Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland
2007-05-12 17:27:00
  Quite interesting to see the Green Inventory Slice expanding for each and every segment incrementally as we move up in price.
More About: Kirkland , Bell , Land , Belle , Kirk

$800,000 - $1,000,000
2007-05-12 17:19:00
  Properties are defiitely coming on market faster than they are selling.  Back to April closings being lower than March closings as in some earlier segments.

$600,000 - $800,000 Home Sales
2007-05-12 17:06:00
A reminder to those not following this from the beginning, that this is Kirkland, Bellevue and Redmond.  The closed sales for March and April are more even in this market segment than the first two.
More About: Sales , Home

$400,000 - $600,000
2007-05-12 16:52:00
  Similar to the post below, April closings less than March Closings.  But the momentum here seems to favor property coming on market over property going into escrow.  Definitely something to watch in this market segment as the season progresses.

Beginning the Home Buying Process
2007-04-14 22:17:00
I have started a series of articles that provide True Transparency in the Real Estate Transaction by running through Home Buying and Home Selling Scenarios.  I am doing these live and in Real Time, in the way that an agent actually communicates and functions with a client. Talking ABOUT how one should go about the process, is often confusing to many.  So I am attempting a new Blog Entry Style I am calling "WorkShop Posts" that give the consumer a better glimpse at how it all really takes place. I expect to do many of these over the next several weeks, but here are Number 1 and Number 2.  These two represent A person buying a townhome in Seattle, and a person buying a single family home in the Kirkland, WA area.  I will keep addressing WorkShops from different angles until, hopefully, everyone can find their own comfort zone. So don't panic.  It's not as hard as everyone makes it out to be.  Hopefully it will be even easier, once you are giv...
More About: Proc , Process , Gathering

My Blogroll
2007-03-26 08:06:00
RAIN CITY GUIDE URBNLIVN (MATT) SEATTLE CONDOS AND LOFTS THE MORTGAGE PORTER (RHONDA) KIRKLAND WEBLOG WEST SEATTLE BLOG CAPITOL HILL BLOG ALKI BLOG SEATTLE PI BLOG REDFIN BLOG DEBORAH BURNS SPOKANE BY OWNER BLOG SEATTLE BUBBLE UBERTOR CAROL FROM WENATCHEE! 360 DIGEST GROW A BRAIN DANILO SELLSIUS  -  Joseph Ferrara and Rudolph Bacharaty III MATRIX JEFF CORBET - THE XBROKER BLOODHOUNDBLOG ZILLOW BLOG INMAN NEWS BLOG ACTIVE RAIN GENO PETRO CHRISTINE FORGIONE BRIAN BRADY KRIS BERG DAN GREEN TRULIA BLOG CURBED URBNDIGS (Noah)  
More About: Blogroll , Blog , Roll

Matching a "Redfin Deal" for Microsoft Employees
2007-03-17 18:54:00
Does Redfin have a special price for Microsoft Employees ?  Last week I received a call from "My First Blogclient".  He had been doing his own research on buying an investment property down in Federal Way and wanted to make an offer on a 4Plex.  He wanted to make an offer and indicated that Redfin had a special deal for Microsoft employees.  While I have not been able to verify this, I was told that the charge of 33% of the seller offered rate for a buyer agent is reduced to 25% of the seller offered rate for Microsoft employees only. Before calling Redfin, "My First Blogclient" called me.  I thought about it.  He had really done all of his homework regarding the property and loan programs to purchase the property.  There was no issue of "who showed the property" as no one gets to see a four-plex before making an offer because no owner wants their tenants disturbed by "looky loos".  So this was truly...
More About: Deal , Soft

My Project Blogger Apprentice
2007-03-16 23:31:00
As seen this week in Inman News, we are getting ready for the kickoff of "Project Blog ger ".  The Competition is STIFF and the Coaches will be hard to beat! Here's the meat of the Inman New story on the event:  ActiveRain will select 10-15 blogging coaches to each train a real estate blogging apprentice of their choice. Over the course of about four months, the blogging coaches will aim to develop the most successful real estate blogger. Coaches and apprentices will be chronicling their Project Blogger experiences on their own blogs and the Project Blogger group on ActiveRain. A few coaches who have already signed up are Teresa Boardman, who blogs at the St. Paul Real Estate Blog; Ardell DellaLoggia, who blogs at the Searching Seattle Blog; and Jim Cronin, who blogs at the Real Estate Tomato blog. More about the coaches who have already committed to the project is at the "Meet the Coaches" post at ActiveRain. Teams will be judged each week and scored ...
More About: Rent , Logger

Seattle Area Real Estate Market - 2007
2007-03-02 18:58:00
Where is the Real Estate Market going in 2007?  As you will see from the information below, 75% of the market will still be a SELLER"S MARKET in 2007, based on how the year is opening up so far.  We do not begin to see inventory tipping over into a balanced or buyer's market until we get over $800,000 in price, which only represents about 25% of the housing market, in the area I have chosen to examine. I am using stats from Bellevue, Redmond and Kirkland on a combined basis to track the active markets.  This Market Subset should represent the best of our Seattle Area Market, and everything else should be evaluated in relation to this market, as we move through 2007. I eliminated the under $200,000 market, as this price range is fast disappearing with rising prices.  There are only 7 properties of 919 on market ,priced at less than $200,000.  The below chart clearly defines that the market is moving at a very fast pace since 1/1/07 in the $200,000 to $...
More About: A Real Estate , Real Estate , Real Estate Market

Personal requests for 2007 stats
2007-02-06 21:40:00
I did my stats this morning over at Rain City Guide to track my predictions for 2007. If someone who may be buying or selling this year, needs stats done on a different area and basis, they can email me at Ardell at SoundRealty dot biz with that request. I don't do County Wide stats, as the data is worthless to any purpose.  I obviously don't run stats for other agents :)  So email me with what and why you want it and who you are, and I will be happy to consider any request for personalized stats.
More About: Personal , Stats , Quest , Person , Stat

It is sometimes hard to charge less than you can
2007-01-31 14:34:00
On three different occasions this year, I charged less than the client was willing to pay.  This was a little hard for me, but I felt inclined. One client said, "you really earned that 3%", and it was probably true.  But that person had so much bad luck every step of the way before I arrived on the scene, I just wanted to see her happy...truly happy.  And she was. Every time a house took longer to sell, it was because the price was pre-set before I arrived on the scene.  In all cases I gave the seller a break, about $18,000, because it was such a tough pill to swallow for them to sell the house at what the market would bear, that I felt the extra money would give them something to be truly happy about.  In all cases that worked. It is often fairly easy to do a good job.  It is often fairly easy to do a much better job than someone else.  But making it my goal to leave people really and truly happy at the end, has brought me great joy...
More About: Time , Charge , Hard , Times , Less