Gallery Condo Auction Set For March 5th

UPDATE: The Gallery just announced this morning (Friday, March 4) that they’re cancelling the auction and changing the format to a “Buy Now One Day Sales Event.”  

Click here for the full details including the email Gallery sent to our agents this morning.  

If you’re still interested in purchasing one of these units and haven’t gotten in touch, just give our Downtown team a call at 206-659-1708.

Gallery, located at Second and Broad in Belltown, is the latest of Seattle’s condo developments to hold an auction. Twenty five residences will be auctioned off on Saturday, March 5 at 5 p.m., at the Grand Hyatt at 721 Pine Street, Seattle, 98101. Doors will open at 4 p.m.

Here are the details on Gallery:

• Located at 2911 2nd Ave
• 25 residences up for auction (24- Open 1b/1b, one- 1b/1b + Den)
• Minimum bids starting at $175,000 for a 571 square foot Open 1bed, 1 bath up to $295,000 for a 883 square foot 1 bed, 1 bath with den

Buy at Auction with Redfin’s Help

Interested in buying but unsure about the auction process? Need someone to help you from start to finish?

Redfin Seattle agents Bryon Ziegler and Earnest Watts both have extensive experience with helping clients buy at auction and would happy to answer any questions you have.

Bryon or Earnest Can:

• Set up a tour of Gallery
• Give advice prior to the bidding process and be there for the signing of the purchase and sale agreement (if you win)
• Guide you through the closing process

Bryon and Earnest will be at the auction, but please contact them ahead of time if you’re interested.

How to Get Started

Just give Redfin’s downtown team a call at 206-659-1708 or send us an email and tell us you’d like to tour Gallery. We’ll help you get it all set up. A Redfin agent must accompany you on the first tour to Gallery if you want us to represent you as the buyer’s agent at the auction.

You’ll also still be eligible for Redfin’s refund since Redfin will receive a 2% broker referral fee, of which we will refund up to 50% to you. Keep in mind that we do have a $6,000 minimum fee so if the final purchase price is below $300,000 you won’t receive a refund but will still receive great representation.

To be eligible for the Redfin refund, you do need to indicate you are represented by Redfin on your Auction Registration Form. If you want Redfin to represent you, the deadline for this registration is March 2nd.

To Participate in the Auction, Each Buyer Must:

• Prequalify with either MetLife Home Loans or Cobalt Mortgage
• Register in advance of auction, and make sure to have Redfin agent accompany you to your first tour of Gallery
• On auction day bring a cashiers check payable to yourself for $2,500. Also bring a blank personal check in case of a winning bid to pay the 3% minimum down payment (less a $2,500 earnest money check)

Other Auction Information

• Gallery auction site: auctionthegallery.com
• Results from previous Seattle area condo auctions:
  o Olive 8 auction results
  o Lumen auction results
  o Queen Anne High auction results
  o Brix and Gallery auction results

Redfin Releases Search Clusters in Seattle!

We just made a big upgrade to the Redfin search experience by clustering your map search results based on the number of homes for sale.

Get all the details on our main blog and let us know what you think!

Olive 8 Condo Auction Set For September 19th

Olive 8, located above the Hyatt in downtown Seattle, is the latest of Seattle’s condo developments to hold an auction. Thirty four residences will be auctioned off on Sunday, Sept. 19th at 1pm, at the Hyatt at 1635 8th Ave., Seattle, 98101. There will also be a practice auction and “How to Buy at Auction” seminar, held by the auctioneer, this Sunday, Sept. 12th at 1pm, also at the Hyatt.

Here are the details on Olive 8:

• 737 Olive Way
• 34 residences up for auction (8 two bedrooms)
• Minimum bids starting at $160,000 for a 650 square foot 1bed, 1 bath up to $440,000 for a 1,586 square foot 2 bed, 2 bath with den

Buy at Auction with Redfin’s Help

Interested in buying but unsure about the auction process? Need someone to help you from start to finish?

Redfin’s downtown Seattle agent, Bryon Ziegler has extensive experience with the development of the Olive 8 project and can help you navigate the auction process.

Bryon can:

• Set up a tour of Olive 8
• Give advice during the bidding process and be there for the signing of the purchase and sale agreement (if you win)
• Guide you through the closing process

Bryon will be at the auction, but please contact him ahead of time if you’re interested.

How to Get Started

Just add any listing at Olive 8 on Redfin to your tour cart and click “Schedule My Tour”. We’ll call you to get the tour set up and help you see all the units you want.

You’ll also still be eligible for Redfin’s refund since Redfin will receive a 2% broker referral fee, of which we will refund 50% to you. Keep in mind that we do have a $5,500 minimum fee so if the final purchase price is below $275,000 you won’t receive a refund but will still receive great representation.

To be eligible for the Redfin refund, you do need to indicate you are represented by Redfin on your Auction Registration Form. If you want Redfin to represent you, the deadline for this registration is Sept. 16th if you want Redfin to represent you.

To participate in the auction, each buyer must:

• Prequalify with either Wells Fargo or Bank of America
• Register in advance of the auction by 6 p.m. September 16th (make sure to note that Redfin is your broker)
• Have a personal check on hand in case of a winning bid to pay the 3% minimum down payment (less a $5,000 earnest money check)

Other Auction Information

• Olive 8 auction site: www.olive8condoauction.com
• Results from previous Seattle area condo auctions:
  o Lumen auction results
  o Queen Anne High auction results
  o Brix and Gallery auction results

Interested in West Seattle Real Estate and a Free Happy Hour?

Come have a drink on us, talk local real estate and meet a few of our West Seattle agents. For planning purposes, please let us know if you can make it, but if you’re in the neighborhood feel free to just stop by.

Hope to see you there!

West Seattle Free Real Estate Happy Hour

Come have a drink on us, talk local real estate and meet a few of our West Seattle agents. For planning purposes, please let us know if you can make it, but if you’re in the neighborhood feel free to just stop by.

Hope to see you there!

Seattle May 2010 Market Report: Prices Increase, But Demand Weakens

Redfin’s monthly Seattle real estate market report draws from our proprietary database of information on homes for sale and that just sold, along with insight from our agents to get a sense of what’s going on in the market right now. If you’d like to receive the report via email, just sign up.

Howdy Redfinnians!

We just released our monthly report on Seattle-area home prices, based on the industry’s most comprehensive database of broker- and owner-listed homes, as well as public records and our own brokerage activity. Here’s the scoop: the median price of a single-family home increased 2.5% from April to May, and 2.5% year over year as well, which we mostly attribute to the expiring federal tax credit.

Other metrics were weak: sales volume for King County was mixed from April to May and competition among home-buyers declined, even though the number of houses for sale dropped 5.4%. As a result, we think the market will soften over the course of the year, especially in fall and winter as interest rates rise.

Inventory Declines 5.4% Across King County

From April to May, the number of houses for sale declined significantly across all the major cities in King County, particularly in more affordable markets to the north and south of Seattle:

# of King County Houses for Sale in May 2010, By City

“We’ve seen a lull in tour activity and offers since the tax credit expired, with buyers telling us the current inventory has become stale,” said Allie Howard, who runs Redfin’s business in Capitol Hill and along Lake Washington. “But when high-quality new listings come on the market we still see a frenzy over them. A charming turn-key home in the heart of Mt. Baker is likely going to have multiple offers the first week it’s on the market.”

Within Seattle, the biggest drops in inventory were in Ravenna and Capitol Hill:

# of Seattle Houses for Sale in May 2010, By Neighborhood

Based on our own listing activity in the past two weeks, Redfin expects inventory to increase in June.

King County Sales Volume Data Mixed

Compared to other markets across the country that Redfin monitors, Seattle’s sales growth was weak; in absolute terms, sales for the county declined 1.3% from April to May. But since virtually all closings occur on a weekday, Redfin adjusts for the fact that May had fewer weekdays than April; by this math, the number of sales occurring per weekday in King County was 3.4% higher in April than May. Year over year, sales were 33.4% higher.

The biggest monthly gains occurred in more-expensive cities like Seattle, Bellevue and Issaquah:

# of King County Houses That Sold in May 2010, By City

Within Seattle, the month-over-month increase was consistent across 10 of 12 neighborhoods:

# of Seattle Houses That Sold in May 2010, By Neighborhood

Sales actually declined year over year in Beacon Hill, which is still recovering from a 2008 – 2009 boom.

King County Median Prices Up 2.5%

Driven at least in part by the federal tax credit, prices of houses closed in May increased from the previous month by 2.5% in King County; the annual increase was also 2.5%. The big monthly gains were all on the Eastside:

Change in Median Price of King County Houses That Sold in May, By City

Within Seattle, the data were mixed:

Change in Median Price of Seattle Houses That Sold in May, By Neighborhood

Sellers are responding to the softening of demand more quickly than they have in the past. “The listing clients I’m working with seem to be more realistic about market prices and a little more willing to cut their losses than they were six months ago,” said Febe Cude, Redfin agent for Laurelhurst, Wedgwood and Ravenna. In a few markets over the past few months, activity has been too light and fluky to prepare a comparative market analysis, so pricing has been tricky – particularly for condos.

Redfin agent Trevor Smith, who leads a team covering Ballard, Green Lake and Wallingford, is still seeing plenty of competitive offers in his area, even though our brokerage data for all of King County show that bidding wars have become slightly less common. “Eight of my past ten offers have been competitive; the competition has been most intense in the $300,000 to $450,000 price-range. We’re offering $40,000 over list price and still losing.”

What does it mean that sellers are cutting their losses while buyers are out-bidding one another? Basically, we see two types of listings on the market. The stuff that has been out there a while without any bidders drifts down in price until it finally gets an offer. Then when a new listing does hit, it is usually well priced, and often gets three or four offers. There isn’t much in between.

And that’s all the new data we have for this month. To dive into more detail, just look at the raw numbers in this spreadsheet. Or check out the methodology for our reports. In a couple of weeks, we’ll email you again with a digest of all the reports issued by others on the state of the market. Until then, email me with questions or comments, and have a good June!

Best, Glenn
CEO, Redfin

Come Out to Redfin’s West Seattle Happy Hour on May 24th

Come have a drink on us, talk local real estate and meet a few of our West Seattle agents.  For planning purposes, please let us know if you can make it, but if you’re in the neighborhood feel free to just stop by.

Hope to see you there!

Redfin Now Showing New Listings from Past 5 Days

At 12:15 p.m., we began showing all the new homes for sale in the Seattle area after five days of downtime due to NWMLS upgrades.  The site is running normally now and should be pulling new listings every 15 minutes.  Unfortunately, we still don’t have photos for new listings in the past five days and hope to have them up and running tomorrow morning.

Thanks for your patience these past few days!

Update – May 10 at 10:30 a.m.: We’re still working with NWMLS to get photos of new listings.  We’ll continue to update the blog as we know more.

Update – May 10 at 5:30 p.m.: We’re starting to get photos for new listings from NWMLS and hope to have them all by this evening.

Update – May 11 at 11:30 a.m.: All new listings and photos should be updating normally now every 15 minutes.  Thanks again for the patience this week and let us know if you see any issues!

NWMLS Upgrade Still in Progress

A few days ago, we notified you that the NWMLS, the Multiple Listing Service that provides all Seattle-area brokerages with listing information, would be down for a scheduled upgrade from noon on May 4th to noon on May 6th.

We’re checking in with NWMLS regularly and will continue to post updates as we learn more.  As of 4:00 today, NWMLS reports that they’re close to restoring their file server that would allow us to get a large dump of new listings; however, it may be a couple days before we begin to receive an automated feed of listings that’s updated every 15 minutes.

Thanks very much for your patience.

Update – May 7th: The NWMLS is still working to bring their system back up, but in the meantime we’ve manually pulled new listings for single family homes and condos from the past three days in Seattle and the Eastside so you can get a sense of the new inventory.

New listings in Seattle

New listings in Bellevue, Mercer Island, Sammamish, Issaquah

New listings in Kirkland, Redmond, Bothell, Kenmore, Juanita, Woodinville

Update – May 8th at noon: The NWMLS is still working on the upgrade but based on what we hear from them we expect to have all new listings on our site by tomorrow at noon. We’ll let you know if that changes.

Update – May 9 at 9 a.m.: Our engineers are working hard this morning to test the new system from NWMLS.  We still hope to be live at noon with new listings.  Thanks again for the patience!

Update – May 9 at 1 p.m.: We’re back up and running with all new listings from the past five days and receiving new ones every 15 minutes!  You won’t be able to see photos just yet but we’re working to bring those up as soon as possible.

Update – May 10 at 10:30 a.m.: We’re still working with NWMLS to get photos of new listings.  We’ll continue to update the blog as we know more.

Update – May 10 at 5:30 p.m.: We’re starting to get photos for new listings from NWMLS and hope to have them all by this evening.

Redfin Seattle Agents Claim the Top 6 Spots in King & Snohomish Counties for January, February & March 2010!

Redfin Seattle agents took the top 6 spots for King & Snohomish counties in January, February, and March 2010! Of the 4,000+ buyers’ agents who closed a deal in the first three months of the year, the top six and the tenth agent work at Redfin.

These numbers come from the NWMLS, which tracks real estate transactions in Washington state. We ranked buyers’ agents in King & Snohomish Counties first by number of purchases of single-family homes and condominiums in December, then by total dollar amount.

Six more of our Seattle-area agents closed deals in the past three months, including two in the top 20:

When you work with Redfin, you get great customer service while working with some of the most successful and active agents in the region.

Most agents spend around 80% of their time finding new clients, but Redfin agents don’t need to prospect since folks come to us on Redfin.com. As a result, Redfin agents can spend all their time serving clients: answering questions, hosting home tours, writing and negotiating offers, and listing homes. Redfin agents are experts in today’s market because they spend more of their time in the market.

Our Clients Love Our Service

We survey every client and track every transaction in a central customer database. For the surveys we received in the first three months of the year from our clients in the Seattle area:

• 180 clients responded to our customer-satisfaction survey and posted a review online
• 172 of those clients, or 97%, would recommend Redfin to a friend

We ask customers to rate the likelihood that they would recommend Redfin to a friend on a 0-to-10 scale. Customers who rated 6 or higher count as people who would recommend Redfin to a friend. To learn more about how we survey our clients and calculate the customer ratings, check out our FAQ on agent reviews.