Tips from The Cascade Team Agents

32 percent of homes across the greater Seattle region had price drops last month, up from 27 percent a year ago and the highest for any June since the end of the housing bust in 2011.

In a nut shell, what a difference a couple of months can make for the local housing market…. We have now gone from bidding wars to price reductions in what seems like the blink of an eye.

So, what’s changed?

The Seattle area and most of Western Washington as a whole has seen the largest home price increases in the country for the last 20 months in a row according to Case-Shiller data. Currently the median house price in Seattle is at $812,500 and on the Eastside the median home price has reached $978,000. All of this has lead to a point where record-high home…

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The contingency-based clause coaxes some sellers by offering them the chance to continue marketing a property, while buyers are given time to sell existing homes.

By Robyn A. Friedman  

What to do when a home-seller gets an offer but holds out hope for something better?

Enter the bump clause.

A bump clause lets sellers enter into a contract with a buyer while still continuing to market the property. If the sellers get a better deal, they can “bump” the original buyer.

It’s most commonly used when a buyer’s offer has some contingency, usually that they need to sell their current home first. It can help coax the sellers into contract by offering them the ability to seek alternate buyers who don’t have a home-sale contingency…

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Brokers seeing “simple economic recipe for a softening housing market”

  • Active Listing Inventory Surges 47%
  • Median Home Price in King County DROPPED 1.6% In June From May
  • New Listings Outgain Sales
  • Fewer Multiple Offers Reported
  • Price Reductions Hit The Housing Market as Sellers Sense Buyers Pulling Back

KIRKLAND, Washington (July 5, 2018) – Home buyers around many parts of Washington state had

more choices and less competition during June, prompting some industry leaders to comment on “a

feeling of change in the market.”

 

“Inventory is up and demand has dropped,” reported Robert Wasser, an officer with the board of directors

at Northwest Multiple Listing Service. That combination is “a pretty simple economic…

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  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 loan if you aren't already pre-approved
  5. Have the home inspected by a licensed home inspector
  6. Get the house appraised
  7. Perform a title search, buy title insurance, and homeowners insurance, as required by your lender

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  The Cascade Team Real Estate's highly-rated real estate app for IPhone and Android allows you to search all available MLS listings of current homes for sale, so you know you're getting the best and most accurate information. Take your home search to go with the mobile app, complete with interactive maps, photos, and one-touch access to your local real estate agent. Plus, everything you do on the app syncs up with your account on www.TheCascadeTeam.com, so you always have your saved searches and homes with you and can save homes for sale that you love while you're on-the-go.   ***** "Full MLS integration on a responsive platform" ***** "Most accurate data for serious buyers/sellers" ***** "Great features and easy to use!" Key Features…

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What is a “Balanced” Real Estate Market

Today we tackle the “balanced market“, which is considered to be an overall real estate market that does not favor the buyer or seller dramatically.

Statistically speaking there are 2 ways to describe a balanced market,

  1. It is a market where homes are taking an average of 90 – 180 days (3 to 6 months) to sell
  2. Or a market where 40% to 60% of new listings in any given month sell.

Both definitions boil down to how quickly the inventory (all the homes for sale) are getting sold.

Home Prices in a balanced market tend to increase slowly and steadily, sometimes appearing flat.

One important note: is that an overall balanced market is really composed of several various markets, like this image…

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  1. Highest Number of New Listings to Hit The Market In 10 Years
  2. Increased Inventory Leans Towards a More “Balanced” Market
  3. Home Price Increases still up but Slowing
  4. Some Neighborhoods Now Seeing Slight Price Decreases  

Improving inventory creating long-awaited opportunities for buyers
KIRKLAND, Washington (June 5, 2018) – Member-brokers of Northwest Multiple Listing Service added 14,524 new listings during May, the first time that volume topped 14,000 since May 2008.

“With eyes peeled for potential shifts in a market that’s felt like ‘more of the same,’ the recent uptick in new listings hitting the market catches my eye -- the most new listings in more than a decade,” commented Robert Wasser, owner/broker at Prospera Real Estate in…

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Buying a home can be overwhelming if you don't have a clear idea of what you're looking for. Do you want to live in the city or out in the suburbs? Are you looking for a detached property or perhaps a condominium? How many bedrooms and bathrooms will you need? What about a garden, or essential amenities in the area? Once you've come up with a list of requirements, you can save time by saving your preferred search parameters.   Our cutting edge home search allows you access to thousands of MLS listed homes. You can customize your search to ensure you see only the homes you want, in a price range you can afford.  No matter what you are looking for in a new home, our search tools allow you to define your own parameters, number of bedrooms or…

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Mortgage rates are edging noticeably higher this week, and would-be home buyers and refinancing homeowners may have missed out on a chance to lock in a lower rate. 

  • The average contract rate on the 30-year fixed will likely end the day as high as 4.875 percent for the highest creditworthy borrowers and 5 percent for the average borrower.
  • Tuesday's move follows positive economic data in retail sales, suggesting that newly imposed tariffs would not hit sales as hard as expected.
  • With supply and demand so far out of whack, Mortgage Rates are unlikely to affect home prices in the near term.

Mortgage application volume for refinancing and home purchases dropped 2.7 percent last week on a seasonally adjusted week-to-week…

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Looking for local information on Issaquah Highlands real estate? You've come to the right place. The community information shown below will give you a quick snapshot of what Issaquah Highlands housing market is doing. Be sure to check out the local homes for sale stats and the available properties below. The numbers shown are inclusive of condos and single family homes, so you'll have a better all round view of the market.

Good News For Home Buyers As Area Housing Inventory Increases By 14%!

Issaquah Highlands: Name Your Selling Price And We'll Bring The Buyers!

2017 was a record year for The Issaquah Highlands. Some sections of the housing market increased by nearly 30% with the over-all price for a home increasing just under 18% for…

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