According to an article in the February 5th Seattle Times, the average sales price of a Seattle home rose 3.8% in January compared to January of 2009. This is the first time the year over year figures have gone up in 2 years. Unfortunately, the suburbs and outlying areas' figures were down in the year to year comparison.

Brokers are hopeful that the upward trend will continue and spread to other areas as Spring arrives. Last month was the warmest January on record. The Tim was quoted in the article. He said, "Now that profit is no longer a given in people's minds when buying a home, buyers are realigning their priorities. They are less likely to 'drive till you qualify' when they realize that they probably won't be able to sell that far-flung home in a few years for tens or hundreds of thousands more than they paid and then move to the neighborhood they really wanted to live in, in the first place." Some people's glasses are always more than half empty.

The important thing to keep in mind is that the best time for you to buy or sell a home is when the events in your life start to tell you that you should. Trying to time what you do to some regional or national statistic does not necessarily make for a happy transaction. And you can't get better advice on this than calling a Lake and Company agent.

The just-released Case-Shiller Index for October shows Seattle values at 149.26, virtually unchanged for the seventh consecutive month, providing further evidence that home values have stabilized in the Seattle area.

After reaching a low of 149.03 in March, index values have hovered between 148.94 and 149.54, a fluctuation of less than one percent.

The index has a base value of 100 in January 2000; thus, the October index value of 149.26 translates into 49.26% appreciation rate since January 2000 for a typical home in the Seattle Metro Statistical Area, which includes King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties.

Kirsten Grind has a fantastic new investigative report in the Puget Sound Business Journal.  In the article Kirsten questions the real reasons behind the closing of Washington Mutual.  It now appears that WAMU had enough liquid assets to survive.  So why did federal regulators close our locally grown institution so quickly?

Editors Note: In September, on the first anniversary of Washington Mutual's closure,the Puget Sound Business Journel reported that as executives fought to sell the bank during its final days, regulators undercut those efforts by signaling to bidders that the bank would soon be seized and sold at a much lower price. Now, further investigation reveals that, contrary to regulators' assertions at the time of the seizure, WaMu had sufficient liquidity and capital to meet regulatory standards and survive. Why, then, was it shuttered?

Read the article here...

This just sent to me by:

Rick Hubbert
Senior Mortgage Consultant
On Q Financial
WA Lic. 510-LO-37044
425-643-7000 PhoneUS Senators Near Deal On Extending Home Buyer Tax Credit

By Jessica Holzer, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- U.S.Senators are nearing a deal on a measure to extend the first-time home buyer tax credit through next April and expand it to some buyers who already own a home.

Under the deal, certain "step up" buyers who have lived in their current home for at least five years would also qualify for the tax credit, according to lobbyists close to the negotiations.

The deal comes amid heavy housing industry pressure to extend the tax credit, which is set to expire Dec. 1 unless Congress acts. The measure, which proponents hope to offer as an amendment to legislation extending jobless benefits, could receive a Senate vote this week.

Under the measure, the credit would run through April 30 of next year, though sales contracts in force by that date would be eligible as long as the deal closes within 60 days. The credit would amount to 10% of the sales price, with a maximum of $7,290. The current credit has a cap of $8,000.

To qualify, first-time home buyers must make no more than $75,000 a year or $ 150,000 for couples. For step up borrowers, the income caps are $125,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples.

_______________________________________________________________

So, it looks to me like it might be a good time to start thinking about a move up if you've been in your home for 5 or more years, or selling that home in the $400,000-$700,000 range to a move up buyer.

An Associated Press article from Friday points out what most homeowners already know - it still generally pays to own a home.

Even though prices are down significantly from the peak, they're still worth quite a bit more than they were a decade ago. In Seattle, the median home price is hovering at around $400,000 - compared to $237,500 in 1999.

While that may not seem like such a big gain, consider that the average homebuyer, then as now, typically buys with a five- or ten-percent down payment. So that initial investment, $12,000 down back in 1999, returned about $160,000 or so over ten years, more than ten times the initial investment. (As the AP article points out, that's a one-thousand percent increase!)

Even with 20% down, it's a return that exceeds 250%, 'way better than inflation.

The stock market? Well, in October 1999, the Dow was at 10,649. Yesterday, it closed at 9864. So the ten year gain there was ... negative.

Of course, we don't buy our homes just for the investment potential. Still, for the majority of homeowners who have been able to weather the bad times, real estate ownership has proven to be a pretty good investment. To quote the AP article again, with prices already having fallen so far, buying now could make it an even better one.

Buoyed by the federal $8000 tax credit and historic low interest rates, King County home sales rose 30% in May from April, a pace three times the national average.

Sales of Seattle resale houses have been right around 350 a month from April to June, a downright balmy number compared to the frigid 161 sales in January. A typical January would have had about 450 sales; a typical spring month, 675. So Seattle resale volume is about half of what has been typical from 2000-2007.

Andpeople have begun to spend more for houses: the median sales price in Seattle had dropped back as low as $385,000 in January, and is now at $410,500 - a huge 6.2% increase at a time when the national economy is struggling to get back on its feet.

The national analysts concur, also. The April S&P Case-Shiller Price Index shows that Seattle values were up for the first time in a year, showing 0.23% lift, while the national rate was virtually unchanged at down 0.014%, and First American CoreLogic's Loan Performance Home Price Index reported a 0.5% lift for April.

It was announced recently by a major player in area real estate that they were including a new feature on their website. News Article.

Truth be told, this feature has been around for ten years. Several companies, including Lake and Co, have been using it. Just click on the link that says open house search in the middle of the task bar on our website. In the agent input area of the NWMLS, any listing agent who is planning an open house can simply click on a link and write a few words about their upcoming open. The whole listing becomes available to anyone that knows where to search for it.

I look forward in the coming weeks to other area major players inventing such a feature. All cynicism aside, I'm happy these other companies have finally decided to join the wave of the future and are now taking advantage of this free to the agent, free to the consumer, method of exposing listings to the entire market.

If you are wondering if the $8,000 credit for first time buyers applies to you, please read the article by Kenneth Harney in a recent Seattle Times issue. Here's the link:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/realestate/2009305447_harney07.html

If you have questions, you can post them here, as many of our agents have had experience with helping buyers jump through the hoops. It isn't hard, and it is $8,000. The offer ends December 1, 2009.

Of course, it is always advisable to talk to your accountant whenever you are making moves that affect your relationship with Uncle Sam.

Are you underwater and considering a short sale?

Annie Fitzsimmons, an attorney that gives general advice to members of the Washington Association of Realtors, cautions agents and their sellers who are considering offering a property as a short sale. There is a trend now for some lenders to allow the sale but not release the seller from repayment obligations. This is a complicated issue and the seller should surely consult with an attorney.

If such a seller is unable to make payments, the other alternative is to let the property go into foreclosure. Another situation where attorney advice should be sought.

The banks may have received billions of dollars in TARP or other recovery funds, but the application of such funds sometimes seems contrary to the design of the recovery.