People think we’re approaching the bottom and are starting to get serious about buying?

Interesting … I knew some people who have bought a house recently, or who is shopping. I think a few reasons are driving this (I work in the software industry, not in real estate. So, take my words with a grain of salt. )

1) people who relocated to Seattle to work for amazon, Microsoft, etc. a couple of years ago finally make up their minds to stay in the area. They move here from areas such as the bay area or LA. They can still handle the price in seattle. I don’t know if anyone has numbers of relocations by Microsoft or Amazon. 2005, and 2006 must be the peak.

2) two-income families are looking to upgrade their house. They want to sell their current house because they think they can still sell now and they’re not sure if they can sell them 6 months from now. They want to move to a bigger house.

3) some people wants to take advantage of foreclosed/bank owned houses.

4) mortgage rate just came down. folks think this will be the last time we see low rate because it shoots up.

Bill

I think that people who want to trade houses figure that now is the last chance.

I don’t think that there is any reason why relocations would be significant at this time. I do think that there might be some people who think that the bottom is in, but these people are knife catchers if they buy now.

coincidence. its a batting average. averages out. will you raise my taxes?

Layoff news is some of the best advertising you can get.

We’ve seen a similar phenomenon at our brokerage over the last month or so. Hard to say how things will continue as we enter the holiday season, but we have been surprisingly busy as of late.

Obama will make some serious changes to the capital gains tax if he is elected.

McCain will tax 0% more on home sales up to $500,000 per home (for couples). McCain does not propose any change in existing home sales income tax. In WA state you already pay a state sales tax on the sale of a home. In California, you do not, for example.

Obama will tax 28% more on profit from ALL home sales. (How does this affect you? If you sell your home and make a profit, you will pay 28% of your gain on taxes. If you are heading toward retirement and would like to down-size your home or move into a retirement community, 28% of the money you make from your home will go to taxes. This proposal will adversely affect the elderly who are counting on the income from their homes as part of their retirement income.)

My guess is that people are trying to sell their homes while they can make a profit, and are looking hard at new homes while they can still afford to upgrade.

How much is a record?

Not sure, but I don’t think it’s specific to Seattle. Last week, we broke our previous record for goal conversions on our IDX. That stat is a comprehensive measure of all sites that host our IDX app on their sites, so it’s been an interesting snapshot metric to watch as the economy changes.

Your recent publicity may have had a lot to do with the new signups. Washingtonians are a loyal bunch and favor local companies. It is definately worth the effort to contact each of them and ask.

Over the last week we’ve noticed an increase of Buyer inquiries statewide. Many are transferring with their existing employer.

Cheers,
Larry Wright

[...] Friday, when we noted that many home-buyers were suddenly getting off the dime, brokers from all over the country chimed in with similar observations. Now perhaps we know why. [...]