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When it comes to quality of life and affordability around Seattle, don’t look in Seattle. Try looking at Sammamish instead, which was recently ranked in the top 10 best places to live.

Just over half an hour from Seattle, and closer still to major tech corporate campuses in Redmond and Bellevue, Sammamish attracts many of the people who work for Microsoft, Amazon, Expedia and other tech giants. The homes are pricey here, but average salaries are high too: Median family income is roughly $165,000, more than twice the median for the other spots MONEY analyzed. The current average list price for a single family residence in Sammamish is $1,227,275.

With an official motto of "Building Community Together," the city of Sammamish in King County,…

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Selling your home these days isn’t as simple as it used to be. With the explosion of real estate marketing on the Internet, prospective buyers can do their initial home shopping online. While this means that your listed property will be viewed by more prospective customers, it also means that many other properties will also be showcased, making for a much more competitive market.

While sales in the existing home market are expected to take a tick up early in 2020, there is a lot of concern about raising interest rates and economic uncertainty in the future. We are also looking for increasing inventory levels to start as early as March of this year with predictions of the greatest amount of housing inventory to hit the market in five years by May.

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KIRKLAND, Washington (February 7, 2019) – Homebuyers around Washington state are making their
way back to the market, hoping to take advantage of improving inventory, attractive interest rates, and
more approachable sellers, according to officials with Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

Northwest MLS statistics for January show year-over-year improvement in the volume of new listings
and total inventory, along with moderating selling prices. Although fewer pending sales (mutually
accepted offers) were reported than a year ago (down about 3.3 percent), January was the smallest yearover-
year decline since May 2018 when the drop was about 2.7 percent.

Commenting on the MLS statistics summarizing last month’s activity, broker Gary O’Leyar said
January’s…

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In today’s changing market, there’s more to a successful

closing than just getting the offer accepted. Make sure you have an

agent capable of guiding you from start to close!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once you've made an offer on a home and all contingencies have been met by both parties, closing on the property becomes final. Closing costs are generally 4% of your loan amount, but this can vary. To help you get a sense of what's left to be done, here are 10 steps involved in closing the deal:
  1. Draw up a purchase offer with detailed contingencies in place
  2. Seller accepts the deal or counteroffers with contingencies and price changes of their own
  3. Submit your deposit, also known as "earnest money"
  4. Apply for your…

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In today’s changing market, there’s more to a successful

closing than just getting the offer accepted. Make sure you have an

agent capable of guiding you from start to close!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Review Needs/Wants: Sit down and review your needs and wants.  Priority wants, as you most likely won’t find a home that covers all of them.
  2. Assess Areas Of Interest: If schools or other amenities are important, be sure to assess those as part of your search.
  3. Setup Property Showings: Once you’ve defined your criteria and areas of interest, your Cascade Team agent will go to work showing you homes.

  4. What To Expect In The Process: The most important thing is for you to understand what to expect going through…

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Recovery Slows, but Remains Steady

It may feel as if the housing recovery is slowing to certain finality, but its overall health is still improving.  Existing home sales have been declining monthly and new homes starts have fallen flat – but year over year, the local housing market is still showing growth. As we see areawide increases in price cuts and accessibility begins to improve, the market will continue to strengthen as affordability constraints ease up, even as mortgage rates continue to rise.

The Transition to a Buyer’s Market

Surges in both mortgage rates and demand, coupled with a lack of supply, brought steady hikes in sale prices in 2018. While 2019 will continue to bring healthy growth, home value increases will stabilize, making…

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KIRKLAND, Washington (December 6, 2018) – With more plentiful inventory, recently announced increases in lending limits, and moderating prices, prospective home buyers are finding more options around Western Washington, according to industry experts from Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

  • Active Listings up 41%
  • King County inventory surging 135 percent from a year ago
  • Closed sales declined about 15.3 percent from twelve months ago

“Moderating interest rates over the past few weeks could provide a window of opportunity for buyers this month, even if the Fed is widely expected to raise them again in December,” said Mike Grady, president and COO of Coldwell Banker Bain.

“We are continuing to see a balancing of the market,” Grady…

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As we careen at warp speed from Thanksgiving, Christmas, and all of the joyous (read: stressful) festivities in between, you might be tempted to take your home off the market—or hold off on listing it—until after the new year. After all, you’re swamped with cooking, shopping, and decorating, and the last thing you need is a bunch of potential buyers traipsing through your house, right?

Wrong!

While it’s true the market is slower around the holidays, it’s also an excellent time to put your house up for sale. The market is slower mostly because fewer sellers are listing, but meanwhile buyers are sitting around with pre-approval letter in-hand just starving for inventory! 

Simply put; It’s a huge, huge mistake to either remove your home from the…

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The votes have been tallied and the winners are in. We're pleased to announce the businesses Nextdoor voted as 2018's Neighborhood Favorites!

Competing in the Home Services category: The Cascade Team Real Estate who can be found in 609 different neighborhoods around the country with over 113,000 neighbors sharing information has been selected the 2018 winner of “Best Real Estate Broker” by neighbors voting in the annual poll.

At The Cascade Team we understand first and foremost that it isn't about "Us". It's all about "You"! We are dedicated to giving each of our clients the best experience imaginable. Simply Outrageous Service isn’t just a catch phrase for us. It’s how we do business! From day one we’ll be with you every step of the…

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KIRKLAND, Washington (November 6, 2018) – Seven months of steadily rising housing inventory reversed course in October when Northwest Multiple Listing Service brokers added the fewest new listings since February, according to a new report. MLS members believe the onset of wintry weather and transition to the holiday season are factors, but suggested the slower pace also signals improving conditions for house-hunters.

“After months of inventory growth that more than quadrupled the number of homes buyers have to choose from, things got back on a seasonal track with new listings and total supply falling in October,” said Robert Wasser, a director with Northwest MLS, when comparing those metrics with September.

“Buyers are catching on to their…

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