Tacoma has a ton of great blogs, covering every topic you can imagine. Thank goodness for Google Reader! Check out this new blog by Jacob Rose. Jacob is all over town and loves to dig up stories, but he’s also very knowledgable about zoning, business, real estate, and life in Tacoma in general.
One of my favorite parts of being a Realtor is Previewing. Previewing is just visiting homes and condos for sale keeping an eye out for bargains for your buyer clients, and building your knowledge of your market. I took a trip to Marcato at 1501 Tacoma Avenue. I had been there before, but I realised it had been about a year and a half and it was time to check them out again. I’m glad I did!
Ken Madsen, The Assessor-Treasurer
I’ll never forget the first time I visited the Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer parcel search website. I was shocked to find out that all you have to do is type in the address of a house or piece of land and it would tell you who owned it and how much they paid for it. This is a fantastic tool for first time buyers to use when researching homes they find online.
It’s useful for homeowners as well. If there’s a house on your street that is rented and the tenants are causing trouble, look up the landlord and send them a letter. Is there a house that appears abbandoned that you might be interested in buying? Look up the owner. I work with a guy who keeps an eye out for empty houses then looks up the owners on the parcel search. If they are out of state he sends them a letter offering to purchase their property. He turns them into rentals and he has made some pretty incredible deals this way.
For me and almost everyone I know, this was the week of the cold. Myself, my friends, my clients, we all coughed and blew our noses through this week. Fortunately, that didn’t stop work from getting done. My clients wrote offers on 2 houses this week, and it looks like the rest of Tacoma found time to do some business as well.
24 Houses and 5 Condos sold this week! They ranged in price from $55,000 for this bank owned tear-down to $519,125 for a 5 bedroom 3 bath 3,711 square foot house with a view of the Narrows Bridge.
The houses averaged 159 days on the market. The condos averaged 96 days on the market. Both houses and condos sold for 94% of their currently listed price. The median sold price on houses was $207,000 and $222,000 for condos.
What I find most interesting is that 6 of the properties sold this week were bank owned forclosures and 2 were short sales. Both of the contracts I wrote for clients this week were for foreclosures. That was one third of all the sales in Tacoma this week. The high number of foreclosures is one of the biggest factors in the lower prices we are experiencing- so getting those sold and off the market is both good for communities (who likes living next to a foreclosed house?) and also good for helping us return to a more balanced marketplace for houses.
Remember that this is JUST for the City of Tacoma, and JUST for this week. Stay tuned for New Years Eve, when I break down the stats for the entire year!
Prices are dropping... Inventory is high...
I get this question all the time. I’m sure every Realtor does. These days every accountant, grocery checker, and therapist probably does too. Sometimes I get it from first time homebuyers, sometimes from people who’ve bought and sold several houses. My answer varies. Sure, housing inventories are high and buyers are calling the shots on price and terms- but for a person who is serious about making wise decisions, the answer to your question depends on more than just the climate in the housing market. It depends on where you are financially, if you plan to move out of the area in the the next 3-5 years, or if you’re going to have 3 babies in rapid succession…
Other people just like to hear everyone else say it’s a good time to buy. If you are one of those people, here is an interesting article from the New York Times.
Thanks to my #1 Client Matt for sending that over.
According to The News Tribune Blog (reporting on Northwest Multiple Listing Service Data) The median home price in Pierce County is now $230,000, down 13% since last year. They are promising more pricing and analysis in tomorrow’s paper.
The number of houses on the market are dropping, but the number of closed sales are down even more- which means housing inventory is still too high. With all of the changes and new restrictions on financing I doubt that this comes as much of a surprise to anyone.
In September of 2004, The News Tribune reported that the median home price in Pierce County had topped $200,000. That was a big deal at the time. That was also the year I bought my first house and started investing in my 401k. According to my 401k statements, my stocks dropped about 40% this year- so for today I’m feeling a little bit better about my house…
Find Your Optimal Home Location!
When buying a house, it is fair to say that the majority of my clients place an extremely high priority on commute time. For people who are still part of the workforce (sorry retireds and trust funders!) this consideration is usually second only to price.
Bella View Condos Sold Out
I was hoping to do a great post today about all the condos that have sold downtown since my last post on the topic on 11/16. Unfortunately, there is not much to report, even after expanding into the Stadium District for material!
Only 2 condos have sold downtown since 11/16, one yesterday, and one today.
