Why Are People Moving to Seattle? For the Job, or for the City?
A recent report from ApartmentList.com, "Why Some Renters Chase Jobs & Others Chase Locations," delves into why renters are moving to specific destinations as well as their likelihood of staying and purchasing a home. In general, they broke their research down into two primary groups, location-first job seekers (those who pick the location then find the job) and job-first seekers (those who apply to desired jobs in a multitude of cities). The research showed that college educ
What's going on with mortgage interest rates these days?
One of the Seattle real estate trends that has been weighing on buyers' minds is rising interest rates. The recession obviously brought its perils for many families, but it also brought affordable real estate and historically low interest rates. Prices have rebounded, and then some, dampening affordability and stretching the wallets or commutes of home buyers. But we've been in a golden era of mortgage interest rates... a golden era that is slowly coming to an apparent end.
Positive Story about a Rental Property and Seattle Homelessness
I recently reached out to an investor client to see how everything was going with a rental property I helped her acquire a few years ago. I had seen a Facebook post from her asking for a few items of necessity (i.e. bedding) for a family who had just moved into her rental property. This particular client is quite involved with philanthropic work, so it came as little surprise to learn that she had rented her property to a homeless family through a local emergency shelter. In
Most and least expensive zip codes in Seattle
By now, we're all fully aware of the escalating prices for homes in and around Seattle. But what are the most expensive places to live in Seattle, and correspondingly, what are the least expensive places to live in Seattle? The discrepancy between the least and most expensive zip code is pretty stark for single family homes, with the two most expensive zip codes more than doubling the two least expensive zip codes. Probably not much of a surprise that the Madison Park, Capito
Recent KOMO story illustrates an important buyer beware
A recent KOMO story about buyers who purchased a "flipped" home illustrates an important "buyer beware" lesson. The KOMO story is about a couple who bought a home that had been flipped, only to find out after purchase that there were significant structural deficiencies as a result of the remodel the seller/flipper performed. Washington is essentially a buyer beware state, with the onus largely put on the buyer to adequately research a property to their satisfaction. Accordi
