The Seattle Times had an article recently that I never saw since I don’t read the Seattle Times. Maybe some of you also did not see it – Prices driving single women from downtown condo market. Half of downtown condo buyers are couples, a third are single men and the remaining 17 percent are single… Read More

Charles Mudude at The Stranger writes the article I wanted to write if I knew how to write (I know it’s not an excuse but I have a degree in mathematics), Where’s the Party? I Went to the Condo Expo and All I Got Was a Pamphlet and a Bottled Water: Why was the event… Read More

I had someone who was selling their condo unit with washer/dryer hookups ask me whether they should install a washer and dryer before selling. I in turn asked one of our listing agents at Redfin the same question and she recommended installing the washer and dryer before selling. What’s the consumer take on this? My… Read More

In the Q&A section of the Seattle Times on Sunday, Accountant can judge health of condo books: Q: I’m considering buying a condominium. Who can I go to who can examine the condo association’s finances? If I could hire someone to do this investigating, maybe it could save me from a lot of problems.

Given how rainy it was today I didn’t feel guilty spending a few hours at the Seattle Condo Expo. Overall the Expo was a bust but the talks were good. To get a sense of who was all there I uploaded the map of the showroom floor. As you can see there were a lot… Read More

Here are my notes from Dean Jones of Realogics talk on market trends. He started with a slide featuring four buildings – Escala, 1 Hotel, 1521 and Four Season: Average price: $1.6 million/unit 50% pre-sold Completion: Winter 08/09 These are grand estates in the sky and show that there has been pent up demand at… Read More

Here are my notes from Blaine Weber’s, of Weber + Thompson, talk on high density housing trends. There are three ideas that are big picture trend drivers in high density housing. 1. Sensibility Good design has demonstrable value Buyers will pay premium Market is responsive to innovation, authenticity, elegantly simple design Modern design is back… Read More

Here are my notes from Matthew Gardner’s of Gardner-Johnson talk on Seattle area economics and real estate market forecast. He started with a brief photo history of condos in Seattle. Things got started in 1982. In 1990 One Pacific Tower was built. Average unit size was 1,200 square feet. There were 4000 units in the… Read More

A co-worker taped this to my monitor; from the Seattle PI: