This week on Questionland we hosted local real estate experts. Here is what we learned: Things continue to suck for sellers (no surprise) but not for all sellers (surprise); they may even suck for buyers. The good news is that there are an increasing number of options for selling/buying a house/condo that do not involve obscene real estate agent fees. Here are the details:
Market Still Frothy?: 2004 Prices in 2011.
From Zillow
There are a bunch of great sources for getting market information. For straight stats go to Zillow, for analysis go to Seattle Bubble.
Our market is a little behind the trend, it got hit a little later and so we?re still falling while the nation is falling more slowly. A third of all sale were made at a loss in March 2011 and that is up 10% from a year earlier. Prices are now (on average, see below) are roughly at 2004 levels. No one pretends to know where things go from here.
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Things Are Not Bad ALL Over
From Raincityguide.com
As much as the overall averages are bad it?s worth keeping in mind that such a beast does not exist (my boss once told me what people got paid ?on average? for doing my job and so I suggested that he go hire someone average). What you get/pay for a house will depend on the unique circumstances. Up-Market houses have been affected far less (down 4.5%) than low priced houses (down 16%) and certain areas like Kirkland (90833) have even seen prices go up this year.
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More Options for Buying & Selling
The good news is that the old model of paying obscene real estate agent fees is being successfully challenged on multiple fronts and (sadly for sellers) there is of course a large market for buying ?distressed? properties. The options for buying were explained on Questionland by the WALAW experts, including auctions (Fairplay described their services for this), for-sale-buy-owner, bank-owned, Redfin, and of course the WALAW model which I suggest you check out. Where Redfin provides an agent and splits the fee with you, WALAW charges a flat fee and remove conflicts of interest rife among agents. Typical savings on a $500K transaction is $7500 with Redfin and $11K with WALAW. Both require that you do more work yourself.
Ask Your Questions
It?s not too late to ask a question about Seattle real estate or anything you have read here. Just go to Questionland and click on the Real Estate event.
Next Week on Questionland: As a refreshing change from the housing bubble, we?re having a couple of celebrities stop by who are going to be a lot of fun. Susie Bright will be coming back to answer your questions on things of a sexual nature (she was a huge hit last time) and for the first time DJ Riz (KEXP and more). Got a question for the celebs?
What is Questionland?
If you have questions about this or any other subject specific to Seattle, ask the experts on Questionland and don?t forget to get the App for iPhone or Android. As usual you can follow us on Twitter (@QLSeattle) and like us on Facebook (and thanks).
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