Seattle Housing Buzz

Recently, much has been flying around the blogisphere about a certain 60 Minutes report. And, Point2, a Canadian-based real estate website provider recently created a satirical spoof called 16 Minutes which they posted on YouTube.

The gist of the piece was that sellers may actually lose money on the sale of their home in the attempt to save on commission.

This brings to mind listing I competed for against a discount listing company. The seller, who I knew, elected to go with the discounter and I wrote about it last June in a piece called The Cost of Using Discounters. In trying to save $10,000 in commission, he actually netted less than had he listed with me. He could have walked away with $10,400 more in gross proceeds even with paying a full-service commission rate.

The market is diverse enough to accommodate various business models. Some people, in certain markets or who are in tight financial circumstances, may benefit from the alternative business models. Though, for the most part, in trying to reduce the cost of selling a home, sellers may actually be reducing, not increasing, their net proceeds than had they selected the full-service model.

Related article - Myth of the Discounters.

Interesting stats I received today comparing the top 5 real estate brokerages in the area. Based on number of transactions for 12 months ending April 2007 (King, Snohomish, Pierce & Kitsap):

John L. Scott increased its market share during this time frame and CB Bain & Re/Max flipped positions.

The top 5 command over 62% of all the transactions in King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap counties.

Source: NWMLS, the information was not compiled by NWMLS.

Tags: John L Scott

The Seattle PI had an article about condo buyers looking in the north end for affordable condo options. Highlighting recent pre-sale success of the Sapphire and Fini projects the article mentioned that more development may come to North Seattle.

Well, I agree with the author, but this isn’t earth shattering news. The north end has always been far more affordable compared to downtown core properties. But, new condo construction isn’t new idea either. Look at Lake City, Green Lake, Roosevelt, Wallingford, U-District and Phinney - all have numerous condo projects built within the past 3-4 years. The Greenwood/Phinney neighborhood has seen at least one new condo project a year for the past 5 years.

Unfortunately, with the high-profile downtown area projects, the north end properties have been overlooked. But, they do offer fantastic alternatives for buyers.

Found this on the South Beach Condo Blog, this is apparently a real ad.

Developers are increasingly worried that buyers may be trying to cancel their contracts for either legitimate or frivolous reasons. Over the last four years or so, the Miami area has enjoyed a renaissance and real estate boom. During that time, reports claimed that 60,000 to 70,000 condos were planned or under construction. In spite of the recent bust, the reality today is that most of these projects have survived and will be delivered in the next 18 months. Many people are realizing, to their horror, that they can’t afford to close or don’t want to.

At least Seattle is only building a fraction of the number of units that’s springing up in Miami.

This past weekend was Seattle’s first condo expo at the Westin Seattle Hotel. The expo is an outgrowth of last year’s Downtown Condo & Realtor Symposium which was a single evening event aimed towards industry professionals.

The 2007 Seattle Condo Expo expanded to a two-day consumer event (May 19th & 20th) with a Realtor Symposium on the evening of the 19th. As the event approached, there was great optimism and expectations that this was going to be a fantastic consumer-focused event, providing information on numerous projects all at one place.

On the surface, I’m sure the sponsors - Seattle Times & PI and the condo trinity of Realogics, Urban Condominiums and Windermere OnSite (RUCWOS) consider the event a big success. That fact that they were able to pull off the Condo Expo, in and of itself, is a success.

Dig a little deeper, though, especially from a consumer-centric and Realtor standpoint, it was a bust. Granted, this was the first event of its kind and there’s sure to be logistical and informational challenges faced by the sponsors and vendors.

As the principal sponsors, RUCWOS projects dominated the event. In addition to RUCWOS, Vulcan had a sizeable corner while Intracorp’s Expo 62, GIS/John L Scott’s European Tower and Williams Marketing’s Brix each had a table. But, notably missing were Williams Marketing’s other major projects (Olive 8, 5th & Madison, 22 West Lee) and Miller Condominium (Queen Anne HS, Trio, Luxe) who were no where to be found. You can’t have a condo expo without two of the larger condo marketing firms absent from the event.

The expo was billed as the “ultimate urban open house”. If you were a prospective buyer, it was anything but. Very few of the vendors had full sales brochures available, and many, just had single sheet flyers with a PR article printed on the back (e.g articles published in the Seattle Times New Homes & Downtown Living inserts). There were no floor plans, pricing information, scale models, vignettes or sample finishes. If you wanted more information, and if you were serious about purchasing, you then had to go to the individual sales centers scattered through the city.

Not only was there lack of info, there was lack of knowledge as well. I spoke to the woman who was manning the table for a new project (not yet pre-selling) and she didn’t know anything about the neighborhood where the project is to be built.

The Realtor Symposium was more of a social event than informational. The set-up, location, and visual aides were not conducive for presentations. One had to stand in the small area in front of the screen to have an unobstructed view of it and people were interspersed through out the expo floor where many distracting side conversations were taking place.

Most of the topics focused on the demographics of urban buyers - retirees and younger professionals as well as trying to reassure the public that projects are keeping tabs on flipper-investors. Essentially, they’re trying hard to dispel any notion that there’s going to be an excess of high-end condo units on the market in a few years. The only bright spot was Matthew Gardner’s talk on the current building cycle which was more rational than the soundbites coming from the marketers.

Last year the Realtor Symposium drew 800 attendees, was informative and conducted in seated theatre hall. This year they charged agents (with buyers for their projects) to attend. From the looks of things, there appeared to only be a few hundred in attendance. In my opinion, compared to last year, the Realtor Symposium was a disappointment.

While I’m less than impressed with the expo, I do have to give props to the visionaries behind it. I realize this is the first of its kind in the city, challenges were faced and logistical decisions had to be made. I’m sure the expo sponsors will take away important feedback and lessons from this year’s event. And, should there be a 2008 Seattle Condo Expo, sponsors and vendors need to take heed of the needs and expectations of consumers. Simply, more information that’s easily accessible and transparent.

Tags: Seattle Condo Expo, Seattle Condos

Housing Market in Western Washington Remains Relatively Healthy

KIRKLAND, Wash. (May 7, 2007) “ Unlike many regions of the country, the Puget Sound area continues to enjoy a healthy housing market, according to the latest figures from Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Condominiums are showing steady“ and in some areas very strong — demand.

Pending sales fell short of year-ago volumes, inventory is still growing, and prices are still rising to continue the pattern of recent months. Northwest MLS brokers tallied 9,156 pending sales (offers made and accepted, but not yet closed) during April, about 5.6 percent fewer than the same month a year ago. That total includes single family homes and condos.

Viewed separately, sales of single family homes slipped 7.5 percent from twelve months ago, while sales of condominiums increased by more than 4 percent.

Six counties in the NWMLS service area reported double-digit drops in pending sales. King County, which accounted for almost forty percent of NWMLS transactions, had only a 5.4 percent decline compared to a year ago.

Prices for last month’s closed sales of single family homes and condominiums area-wide rose 9.5 percent from a year ago. For the first time, the median selling price for single family homes and condos combined topped $400,000 in King County. Residences that sold and closed last month had a median sales price of $407,265.

Read more »

Urbnlivn.com received several comments from buyers at NOMA who’ve been having a heck of a time actually buying a unit. From the cement strike, to wrong sized windows to copper theft, completion is now delayed by several months.

NOMA wouldn’t be the only project experiencing delays. I’ve heard rumblings of a number of Belltown/Queen Anne projects several months behind schedule as well. Is it acceptable, no. Unreasonable, maybe. There are many factors outside the control of the developers and I can’t think of a recent project that completed on time. Unfortunately, new construction timelines are volatile and often leaves an uneasy feeling with buyers.