condominiums

condominiums, first time buyers, moving, open house, real estate

Open House Etiquette

With real estate market activity picking up there will be more open houses to visit in the coming weeks. Are there rules of etiquette when visiting an open house? Common sense and courtesy should prevail, but it can be surprising what visitors think is acceptable when walking through someone else’s home. So what is OK, […]
Bellevue, condominiums, Downtown Bellevue, real estate

Bellevue’s Condo Market is Off to a Quick Start This Year

Today’s Seattle Times (link to the article below) provided a review of the region’s 2019 real estate market comparing sales activity and property values to the prior year. While prices in the county were flat throughout the year, the last quarter of 2019 bucked that trend with inventory selling quickly and multiple offers more common. […]
Bellevue, condominiums, Downtown Bellevue, family, lifestyle

Snow Days

I grew up on the East coast, so was used to several snow storms every winter. School was rarely cancelled or delayed and you hardly ever got a day off work due to snow. The north and mid-Atlantic states on the East coast are prepared for snow every winter. There are more snow plows there […]
Bellevue, condominiums, Downtown Bellevue, home property values, real estate

Eastside Condos – What Can You Expect in 2020?

Today’s Seattle Times and Puget Sound Business Journal reported that the 2020 real estate marketplace was likely to open fast paced with low inventory levels and high buyer demand following a robust December of residential sales. Without a significant increase in available housing inventory it could be a “red hot market” this year with a […]

condominiums Open House Etiquette With real estate market activity picking up there will be more open houses to visit in the coming weeks. Are there rules of etiquette when visiting an open house? Common sense and courtesy should prevail, but it can be surprising what visitors think is acceptable when walking through someone else’s home. So what is OK, […]

Bellevue Bellevue’s Condo Market is Off to a Quick Start This Year Today’s Seattle Times (link to the article below) provided a review of the region’s 2019 real estate market comparing sales activity and property values to the prior year. While prices in the county were flat throughout the year, the last quarter of 2019 bucked that trend with inventory selling quickly and multiple offers more common. […]

Bellevue Snow Days I grew up on the East coast, so was used to several snow storms every winter. School was rarely cancelled or delayed and you hardly ever got a day off work due to snow. The north and mid-Atlantic states on the East coast are prepared for snow every winter. There are more snow plows there […]

Bellevue Eastside Condos – What Can You Expect in 2020? Today’s Seattle Times and Puget Sound Business Journal reported that the 2020 real estate marketplace was likely to open fast paced with low inventory levels and high buyer demand following a robust December of residential sales. Without a significant increase in available housing inventory it could be a “red hot market” this year with a […]

Bellevue Welcome Winter I love the change of seasons, despite winter’s shorter days. Embrace the grey! Though slowly, the days will begin getting longer.

condominiums 2020 Real Estate Excise Tax Revision The Washington State Legislature has changed the way in which real estate excise taxes taxes (REET) will be calculated. This change will impact real estate sales beginning next year. Starting January 1, 2020, the real estate excise tax, currently a flat 1.78% of the sales price paid by the seller at closing, will be calculated […]

Bellevue Eastside Condo Sales Activity As was true across the Puget Sound region, the inventory of available houses and condos for sale on the Eastside dropped dramatically in November. the median sales price was $900,000, up 2% over last year 20% of those homes sold above list price 45% of the homes sold in 15 days or less the Eastside […]

condo financing NEW FHA GUIDELINES OPEN OPPORTUNITIES FOR HOME BUYERS Condominiums are an important part of the housing market, especially for first time buyers. Often buyers have the income and credit score needed to purchase a home but lack a substantial down payment which can make entering the housing market prohibitive. In an effort to promote affordable homeownership for credit worthy buyers, the […]

condo financing NEW FHA LOAN GUIDELINES FOR CONDOMINIUMS BENEFIT BUYERS Condominiums are an important part of the housing market for first time buyers. Too often buyers have the income and credit score needed to purchase a home but lack an adequate down payment which can make entering the housing market prohibitive. In an effort to promote affordable and sustainable homeownership, especially among credit-worthy first […]

condominiums Renting Your Condo? What You Need to Know About New Washington State Landlord-Tenant Laws Washington State Landlord-Tenant Laws were revised in July that include new tenant protection laws relating to rent increase and eviction notices and changes to property use. If you currently have tenants renting your condominium (or house), or you’re thinking about renting your condo, here is a quick look at recent changes to the state landlord-tenant […]

condominiums Home Search – What’s more important? Location or dream home updates? Seafair, vacations, weddings, sunny weather, back-to-school shopping – the month of August is filled with distractions that cause buyers to take a break from their summer home search. Local condominium and house inventory is up (though there’s hardly a glut of available inventory), making this a great time to take advantage of having more […]

condo financing Don’t Ignore Condo Resale Disclosure Documents In this fast paced, competitive real estate market, it’s common, in an effort to “win”, for buyers to waive contract conditions such as inspection, financing, appraisal, neighborhood review, etc. Buying a condominium is different than buying a house. With condominiums perhaps the most important contract condition in place to protect a buyer is the […]

Bellevue Does Walk-ability Add Home and Community Value? Living in communities close to workplaces, shopping, dining and other amenities is becoming increasingly important to buyers when searching for a home. A recent survey conducted on behalf of the National Association of REALTORS® found over half of the respondents preferred to live in a community that offered smaller or no yards but was within […]

Bellevue Bellevue Condo Market Statistics Earlier this month I shared 2017 King County real estate market statistics supplied by the NWMLS. Median sales prices were up 15% county-wide (houses and condos) over 2016. Taking a closer look, here are the 2017 market stats for Bellevue condos: 759 condos sold in 2017 (resale and new construction), up from 746 in 2016 […]

Bellevue Time to Sell an Investment Property? Interest in rentals remains strong, but there’s been a noticeable slight decline in area rents this year. Even in high demand urban areas, rents have dipped slightly. With thousands of new apartments recently completed or nearing completion, and hundreds more under construction, rental supply may have begun to outpace demand. If you own a rental […]

Bellevue Where Are the Bellevue Condominiums? An article in the Puget Sound Business Journal this week compared the available local condominium inventory to New York City. Granted, NYC is a much larger and more expensive market, but currently NYC has 388 condos for sale priced less than $500,00. At the time the article was written there were only five condos available […]

Bellevue Buying a Home with Less than 20% Down It’s a common misconception that a minimum 20% down payment is required to purchase a home. Buyers, saving to put 20% down on a home purchase, could be missing the opportunity to buy a home, and instead are watching prices continue to escalate. There are excellent loan programs available with 5% or 10% down (even […]

Bellevue 2016 Strong for Condo Sellers With only 24 resale condos listed for sale in downtown Bellevue there are very few choices for buyers ready to purchase. (Add in the 39 developer owned units still available at Washington Square and the total is barely over 60 in the entire downtown marketplace). Inventory is at historic lows, prices are at or near […]

condo financing Condo Financing and the FHA Condominiums offer a great opportunity for first time buyers to enter homeownership and begin to build wealth, equity and credit. FHA (Federal Housing Administration) loans were a popuilar option for financing as they often offered more favorable interest rates and down payment options than conventional loans. In recent years FHA has placed significant restrictions on […]

Bellevue Condos Fill Affordability Niche in Bellevue Housing prices keep going up and available inventory keeps shrinking . . . this combination continues to drive prices upward with no immediate relief in sight. With Eastside home values appreciating on average 10%+ per year, finding an affordable home can be challenging. While the suburbs are popular with some buyers, the demand for urban […]