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Northwest MLS brokers say home buyer frustration builds as inventory shrinks, prices rise

KIRKLAND, Washington (March 7, 2016) – Home prices in King County hit new highs in February as buyers tried to outbid each other for the sparse inventory in much of Western Washington.

"We’re in for another crazy spring real estate market," predicts J. Lennox Scott, chairman and CEO of John L. Scott, Inc.

With the number of single family homes for sale in King County down nearly 30 percent from a year ago, prices on last month’s sales surged 19.8 percent, jumping from $429,900 to $514,975. Ten other counties in the 23-county area served by Northwest Multiple Listing Service also reported double-digit price gains for single family homes that sold last month,…

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Get Your FREE Home Value Report

* Not a Guess or “Zestimate” * Actual Active Market Data * Selling vs. Asking Price * Current Active Listings * Actual Sold Prices * Days on Market * See Inventory Levels * Price Trends * FREE To Your Inbox Every Month!

Home prices are skyrocketing in the area with some areas increasing from 8% to 16% over the past 12 months. Bidding wars are now the norm, and homes selling well over asking price are common! If you have not done an accurate check of your homes value in the past year, our FREE On-Line Home Value Analysis tool allows you to see exactly what your home value is doing.It’s not a guess or Zestimate like Zillow. These are actual Sold, Pending and Active prices. You can also see what home inventory levels…

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Homeowner’s Net Worth is 45x Greater Than a Renter's | Keeping Current Matters

Every three years the Federal Reserve conducts a Survey of Consumer Finances in which they collect data across all economic and social groups. The latest survey, which includes data from 2010-2013, reports that a homeowner’s net worth is 36 times greater than that of a renter ($194,500 vs. $5,400).

In a Forbes article the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) Chief Economist Lawrence Yun predicts that in 2016 the net worth gap will widen even further to 45 times greater.

The graph below demonstrates the results of the last two Federal Reserve studies and Yun’s prediction:

Put Your Housing Cost to Work For You

Simply put, homeownership is a form of ‘forced savings’. Every time you pay your mortgage you are contributing to your net worth…

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No matter if you are buying a home in this competitive market or looking to sell, The Cascade Team has you covered. From “Smart Search” which learns with you as your browse for homes to our PRIME Marketing program designed to stimulate high interest and multiple offers we have the information, technology solution and personal service designed to take your real estate experience to the next level!

School and community information is just as important as the right number of beds and baths when looking for a home and The Cascade Team has you covered. It's so important that we built school and community reports right into every listed property at our website.

For schools, we show you which ones are nearby and even how much they spend per student. 

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Sixty-nine percent of consumers recently admitting to having a “home crush”—a property they liked so much they were drawn back tolooking at it more than once online or in person, according to a new realtor.com® survey of 1,000 consumers. But men and women respond quite differently to these crushes, according to the survey.

For example, the survey found that women are more likely than men to have a crush on a home that was out of their financial league. Forty-one percent of women revealed their home crush is out of their price range, compared to only 30 percent of men who said the same.

Men were more likely than women to move from one home crush to another. Thirty-six percent of men surveyed say they find a new house crush weekly, compared to 29…

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The NWMLS recently sent out their annual summary of the year that was in Western Washington real estate. We probably don't need to tell you that most of those numbers are up, up, up. Especially if you've been trying to buy a house all year long. We perused the report, which was chocked full of numbers, and picked out some of the most shocking, revealing and fascinating numbers within.

1. 2015 saw 88,331 closed sales amongst NWMLS members in 2015, up 14.3 percent from 77,276 in 2014.

2. The value of every NWMLS member single-family home & condo sale was over $34 billion, up almost 23 percent from 2014.

3. Both of those numbers are higher than the previous highs of 2007 when the housing market peaked (don't ask what happened after that...).

…

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The Cascade Team 3D Walkthrough Showcase is an online experience that lets home buyers move through a property and see it from any angle. Even get a completely unique sense for the place with our “dollhouse” view.

See Sample 3D Tour Below:









 

Image galleries, 360º panoramas and fly-through videos lack the perspective and “feel” that home buyers and sellers crave. A Matterport 3D Showcase™ creates an emotional connection with the home.

 

3D Virtual Tour Showcase

 

The Cascade Team is happy to announce its new 3D Walkthrough Showcase and these very exciting new enhancements. 3D Walkthrough Showcase Tours are available for every Cascade Team listed property. We use Matterport's 3D technology and…

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KIRKLAND, Washington (February 4, 2016) – Depleted inventory is contributing to "overwhelming" traffic at open houses, shifts in strategies for both buyers and sellers, and escalating prices, according to officials with the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

Dick Beeson, a former chairman of the MLS board, said the lack of inventory in almost every county is, "without question, a 2016 game changer." He described traffic at open houses as sometimes simply overwhelming. "There haven’t been any battle royals on the premises, but it could happen any day now," quipped Beeson, the principal managing broker at RE/MAX Professionals in Tacoma.

The latest figures show a drop of nearly 28 percent in the number of active listings in the MLS database…

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selling-etiquette

David Sacks/Getty Images 

If you’re trying to sell your home, you’ve probably scrutinized it, staged it, and scrubbed it down from floorboards to rooftop as if the folks from Architectural Digest were stopping by for a cover shoot. OK, so it’s in immaculate shape—but your home isn’t the only thing under scrutiny here. You are, too! That’s right: No matter how nice your home is, your behavior can also affect how buyers feel about making an offer.

A few days ago we told you the secret etiquette rules that every home buyer needs to know in order to nail the deal. Today we’re focusing on the selling side of the equation. Here are the (previously) unwritten etiquette rules sellers should follow to show their home—and themselves—in the best possible…

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KIRKLAND, Wash. (Jan. 21, 2016) – Members of Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported 88,331 closed sales during 2015, outgaining the prior year’s volume of 77,276 transactions for a 14.3 percent increase.

Measured by dollars, last year’s sales of single family homes and condominiums were valued at more than $34 billion. Compared to 2014, that dollar volume represents a gain of nearly 23 percent.

The sales activity reflects the work of 23,800 brokers across 23 counties in the member-owned Northwest MLS.

Last year’s completed sales included 75,975 single family homes (about 86 percent of the total) and 12,356 condominiums. The total units and dollar volume surpassed the previous highs during 2007 when members registered 82,197 sales valued…

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