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King County Sees 71.3% Surge in Inventory as Sales Only increase by 0.7%

Market Recap

In addition to the 71.3% increase in listings for sale in King County, Broker showings dropped when compared to the same timeframe last year. This was a year-over-year decrease of 5.4% from the number of showings in April 2024. Days on market are also creeping up to around 28 days on the greater eastside.

Even some of the hottest markets like Sammamish are now projected to have a 2.4% decline in prices over the next 12 months according to Zillow.

Redfin reports that Seattle leads all major U.S. metropolitan areas in concessions for home buyers as the trend continues to escalate nationally.

Home sellers gave concessions to buyers in a whopping 71.3%…

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When you create private listing networks, who are you accountable to? If somebody says, “I want to sell my house to the neatest family in the world,” well, now you’re discriminating against single people. Is that fair? Could it be a situation of have and have not? In this instance, it’s saying, “we’re not going to play by the fair housing rules anymore.”

Transparency and equitable access to real estate listings is at risk, threatening to push the industry backwards. Currently, most homes are listed on the Multiple Listings Service (MLS), a database shared by the real estate industry. The MLS database is also what feeds listings to consumer platforms, allowing you to see for sale homes on places like Zillow, Homes.com or Realtor.com.

However,…

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Buckle up for a bumpy ride as 2025 looks to have multiple twists and turns.

  •         The housing market will keep shifting in 2025.
  •         The average home value rose by 9% annually.
  •         Expectations are for approximately a 5% increase in prices for 2025.
  •         Homebuying activity should pick up after a long slump, despite choppiness in mortgage rates.
  •         Housing inventory to start the year is the highest since 2020.
  •         Fewer bidding wars with normalizing housing supply.
  •         Interest rates to bounce around the mid 6% range.

Believe it or not, the housing market is still normalizing after the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past few years, the housing market has been — to put it in as simple of terms as…

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Timing the Market can put Money in your Pocket

We often see and hear news reports about the housing market and its continuing price increases. However, there is much more to the story. While prices generally increase throughout the year, those increases fluctuate throughout the year and can be very nuanced from neighborhood to neighborhood, even within the same city.

In some cases, just one month can mean a difference of hundreds of thousands of dollars. So, if you plan on selling, it may not necessarily be worth trying to “Time” the market for the end of school, especially if closing in April instead of June means an extra $200,000 or more!

Take, for example, the neighborhood of Trossachs located in Sammamish. Trossachs has just under 1,700…

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Find Your Home's True Equity

A Professional Equity Assessment Report (PEAR) is a custom evaluation of your home’s cash value. We can determine your home’s approximate equity by assessing your current mortgage and estimated selling price and deducting fees such as commissions, excise tax, and other closing costs. This report is a powerful tool for helping you make confident decisions about selling your home.

The truth is that the final numbers are more than just the sales price and remaining mortgage balance. Other factors such as capital gains tax, broker commissions, HELOC loans, prepayment penalties, special assessments, and escrow and lender fees play a part in this final number.

We’ll help you clearly understand your bottom line. All you…

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When you think of the Zestimate, for many, it gives a false anchor for what the value actually is.

The Zestimate is just one of a slew of automated valuation models that are increasingly used by banks, investors, and laypeople to estimate the value of homes. No other model, however, has wormed its way into our culture like the Zestimate. The model, like other consumer-facing AVMs, is prone to errors that render it more of an amusement than a serious pricing tool. But while the algo's price-guessing skills may be suspect, it's undeniably elite at one thing: luring people to Zillow-dot-com.

The Zestimate is both everywhere and an enigma. About 104 million homes, or 71% of the US housing stock, have a little dollar figure hovering above them on…

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As the holiday season comes to a close and the decorations are carefully packed away, many homeowners find themselves contemplating new beginnings. The start of a new year is a time for fresh starts and resolutions, making it an ideal moment to consider selling your home. Here’s why preparing your home for sale right after the holidays can be a strategic move.

1. A Fresh Start for Buyers and Sellers

The new year often brings a renewed sense of motivation and determination. Many potential buyers are eager to start fresh, and the idea of moving into a new home aligns perfectly with their resolutions. As a seller, this is an opportunity to tap into that mindset by presenting your home as a fresh, inviting option for those looking to make a change.

…

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Horror stories are unfortunately all too common in some HOA communities. In most neighborhoods, homeowners' associations are pretty chill and get things done for the residents. But unfortunately, other HOAs sometimes spiral out of control, with members flexing their power to fine, harass, and even sue homeowners over tiny infractions.

Read on for the worst HOA tales they've come across while working in the field

The “Slip”

"I slipped in my driveway and fell and broke my femur near my hip and couldn't get up. I was laying in my driveway calling for help for about 30 minutes and I could hear people walking past but nobody stopped for quite a while. I eventually asked someone to call an ambulance and got taken care of. Spent a few days in the…

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Home price predictions for the remainer of 2024

Experts generally expect home prices to increase throughout the remaining months of 2024.

  • Fannie Mae currently sees home prices rising 4.8% year over year by the end of 2024
  • The Mortgage Bankers Association believes prices could rise as much as 4.3% this year
  • The National Association of Realtors has more conservative expectations and thinks existing-home prices will inch up just under 2% overall by the end of 2024.

Low home inventory is a chronic problem in the US. This has generally kept home prices up, even as mortgage rates peaked near 7.25% and homebuying demand plummeted last year. Demand may increase if rates go down in the final few months of 2024, so even if home prices were…

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  •         Sales of previously owned homes decreased 4.3% from the prior month.
  •         30-year fixed mortgage jumped by nearly a quarter percentage point to 7.1%

The U.S. housing market is coming under renewed pressure, buffeted by mortgage rates that rose above 7% again and uncertainty over changes to the commission system for buying and selling a home.

The average rate on the standard 30-year fixed mortgage jumped by nearly a quarter percentage point to 7.1%, according to a survey of lenders released Thursday by mortgage-finance giant Freddie Mac. That is the highest level since late 2023 and the largest weekly increase in nearly a year.

Low inventory continues to fuel competition among area buyers in Western Washington However.…

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