Uncategorized August 21, 2013

Seattle home values up 15 percent. What is your home worth now?

Home values across the country are up. In the Seattle metro area, property prices have increased by more than 15 percent from one year ago, based on figures from Zillow, an online real estate company, reports the Puget Sound Business Journal. The region’s median home value in July was $302,600, up 2.3 percent from June and up 15.3 percent from July 2012.
Based on figures from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, The Seattle Times reports the following housing data:
The median price of single-family homes sold in King County in July climbed to $434,000, up 15 percent from a year ago and up 1.5 percent from June. The number of pending homes sales hovered above 3,000, the most since 2005. 
In Snohomish County, the median home price was $304,000, almost 12 percent higher than a year ago. 

Home values in Burien & Normandy Park, WA

Pierce County posted a 16 percent increase at a median home price of $195,000.
For King County, bank-owned homes made up just 9 percent of sales in 2013, compared to 14 percent last year, according to Richard Eastern of Bellevue-based Washington Property Solutions. Short sales comprised 13 percent of this year’s sales. Southwest King County had the lowest median price at $248,500, while the Eastside boasted the highest at $566,258.
Cash buyers continue to account for a fair portion of the market. Nearly 23 percent of June home sales in Greater Seattle were non-mortgaged purchases, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. Seattle’s real estate market continues to outpace the nation’s home appreciation rate of 6 percent with a median property value of $161,600.

Your source for Real Estate News for Seattle, Burien, Normandy Park and Des Moines.
 

– See more at: http://dustinkeeth.info/#sthash.XGaxETjH.dpuf

     

 
Blog August 9, 2013

Which US Cities have the lowest Closing Costs?

Washington’s closing costs among lowest in U.S.

As mortgage rates slowly increase, so do loan origination fees. USA Today reports that loan-origination and other fees went up 6 percent in the last year to a national average of $2,402 on a $200,000 single-family mortgage loan to a customer with stellar credit and 20 percent down, based on data from Bankrate.com. The reason for the bankloanparallel rise in rates and fees is two-fold. First, higher rates mean less profit on the money loaned. To compensate for the loss in profit, lenders attempt to make up the difference in fees. Second, the work required in underwriting loans is greater today than it has been in the past, thereby increasing costs. Bankrate’s 2013 survey indicates that Hawaii averages the highest closing costs at $2,912 for a mortgage of $200,000 (excluding taxes, title fees, property insurance, association fees, interest, and other prepaid items). In contrast, Washington has one of the lowest in the nation at $2,208. – See more at: http://dustinkeeth.info/#sthash.LtCW2P5e.dpuf

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Blog August 27, 2012

Monday’s housing news

Existing-home sales could reach normalcy in 2013, according to Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors (NAR) .

Blog July 27, 2012

Mortgage debt forgiveness is on the line

Homeowners who sold their principal residences short or lost them to foreclosure have benefited from the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007. But the law expires at the end of 2012, meaning that those households who experience a short sale, foreclosure, or deed in lieu could receive a tax bill the following year.  Wisebread  explains how it works: Typically, the IRS considers forgiven debt up to $2 million as ordinary, taxable income. The lender issues a 1099-C to the borrower for the balance owed, minus what the home was sold for

Blog July 6, 2012

One square meter of my own

What could you do with one square meter? Berlin-based architect and founder of Hartz IV Mobel, Van Bo Le-Mentzel , proposes the one-square-meter house. Le-Mentzel conceptualized what is likely the world’s smallest house from his personal experience of living some of his earlier years as a refuge who depended on social housing