UPDATE on Facebook Ads: Facebook Ends Ethnic Targeting Ads

In an update to a story we reported on Monday:

Facebook Ends Ethnic Targeting Ads....

Facebook announced that it will no longer permit marketers who buy housing, credit-related, or employment ads to post on its site to target ethnic groups. U.S. lawmakers had warned the social media giant that the Facebook feature allowing marketers to target users in such ways could be discriminatory.

“There are many nondiscriminatory uses of our ethnic-affinity solution in these areas, but we have decided that we can best guard against discrimination by suspending these types of ads,” Erin Egan, Facebook’s chief privacy officer, wrote in a blog post.

Facebook did not allow advertisers to target someone specifically by race, per se, but by what…

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Housing Market Forecasts and Predictions for 2017

Here are our U.S. housing market forecasts for 2017.

Housing markets in a handful of metro areas will continue to sizzle in 2017, while the rest of the country could experience a cooling trend. Mortgage rates will likely hover in the 3.5% range for the short term, but could rise above 4% through the first half of 2017. Loan limits could also rise in some parts of the country next year, in response to rising home values.

Let’s take a closer look at these and other housing market forecasts and predictions for 2017.

1. Home prices nationwide to rise 3% – 5% over next 12 months.

In October, the economic research team at Zillow issued this 12-month forecast for the U.S. housing market: “United States home values have gone up 5.1% over the past…

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The Real Reasons Behind Our Housing Inventory Dilemma

Now that we’re in the homestretch of 2016 (really, we are!), consumers are starting to plan for 2017, especially if they want to buy or sell a home. We regularly ask our users about their home-buying or -selling journey, what motivates them—and what’s holding them back. This time of year, the pool of prospective sellers shifts toward those who are just starting their research but expect to sell in the spring.

The desire to sell is there, which should be good news in a market that’s short on for-sale housing inventory. But sellers face challenges, too.

We’re seeing a wide range of motivations for selling. The top six are reasons selected by at least 15% of the sellers:

Those reasons are an interesting mix of “moving up” and…

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Area Home Sales Notch Best August Since 2005!

Housing market still active, with overall direction “positive” 

KIRKLAND, Washington (Sept. 7, 2016) – Home sales in Western Washington continued to outpace year-ago activity, but member-brokers at Northwest Multiple Listing Service say persistent inventory shortages are constraining activity. 

Despite a sparse selection in many areas, an expected summer slowdown, and “appraisal conundrums,” Northwest MLS members notched 11,898 pending sales during August, eclipsing the same month a year ago by 1,295 transactions for a 12.2 percent gain. There were 8,628 pending sales in the four-county Puget Sound region -- the best August for mutually accepted offers since 2005 when members tallied 8,874 sales.

Brokers added 11,411 new listings to the…

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Seattle-area home prices set record; 2nd-fastest rising in nation

Single-family homes across the Seattle metro area are increasing in price at a rate twice the national average.

Seattle home prices have hit a record and are now rising faster than any major city outside the Pacific Northwest, according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller data.

Compared with a year ago, Seattle area single-family home values in March were up 10.8 percent, behind only Portland, where prices have shot up 12.3 percent in the last year, according to the Case-Shiller index released Tuesday. The Seattle growth rate was more than double the national average of 5.2 percent.

March also marked the first time the Seattle region surpassed its home value peak last seen in summer…

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$150,000 Price Drop on Custom Sammamish Home

Property Website HERE

3907 222nd Ave SE, Sammamish

Price: Now $1,500,000

Beds: 5

Baths 6.25

Sqft: 4,210

Stunning Sammamish custom home on exceptionally large and flat lot within Issaquah School District. The materials and details put into crafting this beauty are extensive. Start with the driveway comprised of Roman and Mediterranean pavers, exterior consists of Western Red Cedar shingles, clear cedar tongue and groove enclosed soffits. Custom stone work all around with artistic details. Metal railing on the deck and throughout the house is work of a local Redmond Artist. The reclaimed wood timbers on the deck and entry come from a barn in Vancouver WA. Exterior paint is Miller ‘Evolution’, a lifetime product and the roof is a 50…

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3D Virtual Tag Post Now Integrated into 3D Walkthrough Virtual Tour From The Cascade Team

3D Virtual Tag Posts are spatial annotations that allow users to enhance their Spaces with text-based comments anchored to a point in the 3D geometry of a Walkthrough Virtual Tour From The Cascade Team. Unlike 2D tags which would require multiple tags of a single item across several images, once a single 3D Virtual Tag Post is placed within a Space, it is viewable from any perspective as the user moves around. Whether they’re creating a 3D virtual tour to sell a property or adding additional information about the neighborhood, The Cascade Team can now add amazing context to their virtual models.

“3D Virtual Tag Posts content vastly expands the amount of information The Cascade Team can convey about homes and properties they list. We refer to this…

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Positive News for Buyers as Housing Inventory Improves/ Sellers NOW is the Time Before Competition Continues to Increase!

Housing inventory improves, but market still favors sellers

KIRKLAND, Washington (May 5, 2016) – Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported strong gains in the volume of new listings its members added during April (up 13.6 percent from March), but inventory remained well below the supply needed for a more balanced market. MLS leaders say the lopsided market is prompting some anxious buyers to take ill-advised risks.

Prices showed some signs of moderating with a 5.5 percent year-over-year increase across the MLS 23-county market area. That’s the lowest YOY gain since December 2014 when it was 5.45 percent.

In its latest statistics with summaries of April activity, the MLS reported 11,407 pending sales during the month, about the same as a year…

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Smart Search Makes Looking For Your Next Home Easier

Smart Search Technology:  “Smart Search” exclusively by The Cascade Team is the only real estate search in the industry designed to learn and interact with you as you search for homes.  As you log onto www.TheCascadeTeam.com and begin saving listings our exclusive “Smart Search” technology will begin learning what you are looking for and make suggestions for you based on criteria such as: Price, Beds & Baths, Location, Schools and more. Start a search in one area and then find another area of interest? Smart Search will adjust for location too and begin finding homes for you in your new search area. Smart Search is a fully intuitive search system guided by your preferences and it will scour the web for new listings that meet your criteria and let you…

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Desperate Times for Home Buyers: Western WA virtually sold out of inventory with a pipeline of stalled buyers

• Inventory takes another steep fall (Down 25%)
• Prices spike rising 20.7% 

Puget Sound area home sales slow (but not prices) as supply can’t match demand

KIRKLAND, Washington (April 4, 2016) – Traffic isn’t the only thing that is gridlocked around many Puget Sound communities. "We’re experiencing gridlock in the Puget Sound housing market," suggested J. Lennox Scott in reaction to the latest statistics from Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

MLS figures show pending sales across the 23 counties it serves dropped about 4.5 percent in March compared to the same period a year ago. Inventory fell sharply – down more than 25 percent. Brokers say that imbalance helped spur a 9.4 percent escalation in prices area-wide, with 12…

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