Weekly Wrapup On Our Whacky Market
What to say about this whacky market!? After seeing a huge bump in new listings last week, this week was back to normal. If you can call our market normal (Death Cab for Cutie calls it a Gold Rush). This week we also saw a large number of price reductions as sellers know if they don’t get their home pending before July 4th, they could be on the market a lot longer than they’d like. And finally we heard that the Fed rate is going up and likely to increase throughout the year. While mortgage rates are only loosely correlated with the Fed rate, many buyers will likely accelerate their plans to buy “just in case” mortgage rates go up.
In terms of writing offers this week, we wrote a couple:
- an Eastlake townhouse listed at $935k that we got with a discount on and upon inspection
- one on a condo in Bellevue that was listed at $389k. We were the only offer even though a same sized unit recently sold for $425k. But our clients changed their mind.
- a home near Haller Lake listed at $545k that we offered $585k on but didn’t get
If I were planning to buy this year, and hadn’t bought yet, I’d be eager to buy now to capitalize on the combination of relatively low rates, strong inventory and the high number of homes that have either gone past their offer review deadlines or reduced their price.
If I were planning to sell this year, I’d be conservative in my pricing and realistic about the number of offers to expect. The summer slow down is here early. I’d also work hard to ensure my place looks great. Great homes are still getting top dollar and multiple offers. You can mail it in, in the early spring, not now!
Oh yeah, Father’s Day presents – of the new listings this week, my pick would be this $17m modern waterfront please! Though I’d gladly settle for this floating home at Fairview Landing (even though it’s not my style!).
p.s. we’re looking for recommendations for a modern interior designer and a floating home savvy general contractor for our place
