I am very pleased to announce my latest listing in Copper Hill Square. It is an absolutely wonderful townhouse style condo unit in Duvall.

The unit has vaulted ceilings and a loft. It has territorial views from the master bedroom, designer paint colors. Upgrades include a fan unit for the gas burning fireplace that is sufficient to heat the entire unit and a programmable thermostat to turn the fireplace on and off! The beauty of that arrangement is that the gas is paid for by the home ownership association!

The complex backs to a shopping center with excellent amenities. The view is of the beautiful Snoqualmie Valley and the commute from Duvall is approximately 15 minutes to Redmond and Microsoft. There are 2 reserved parking spaces deeded with the unit.

All this for less than $200,000 makes this a great opportunity for the first time home buyer or someone looking for an investment home to rent out.

Please click here to see the details.

If you would like a private showing please email me or call me, (425)785-9217.

-Chris

These are the images submitted by a colleague of mine to the MLS. I am sure the client is very proud of the ship in the pictures. But really, how do these pictures aid in selling the house? I don't think they do at all. If you would like to know what I think should have been done to make this house be more marketable, give me a call or send me an email.

As long as I am talking about yesterday's Seattle Times article on the March home sales statistics I thought I would show you this graph. The article talks at some length about the concept of "stickiness." They define stickiness as the sellers' unwillingness to cut prices. However, I think stickiness, as the Times uses it, could equally be defined as the Buyers' unwillingness to pay more for a house.

I prepared this graph for a client of mine (yes, the client's version is a much bigger). I think it shows a great example of stickiness. The green line represent the average asking price for all condos in King County from December of 2006 through February of 2008. The red line is the actual sold prices of all King County condos in the same time period.

Note that the asking prices are almost universally above $450,000 while the actual sold prices are almost universally below $350,000. That's a big difference.

Regardless of the definition, the bigger question is, who is going to blink first? As long as there is a divide between asking and actual prices there will be very little activity. When the divide starts to narrow we will see the activity pick up, the inventory drop off and the time on market shorten.

So, who do I think will blink first?

That one I'll keep to myself for now!

-Chris

Yesterday the Seattle Times ran an article on local area home sales based on the March statistics from the Northwest MLS.

The story headline proclaims that home sales volumes are down dramatically while the prices are holding. That is true when compared to last year. But, I think by now that everyone knows that this year is not last year. We know we are slower since last year. I think that it is equally important to look at how the month of March compares to the month of February.

So, here are the February and March figures for Single Family Residences in King County.

	February	March	% Change
Number of Homes Sold	1148	1503	30.92%
Average Price	$  531,448.00	$  539,733.00	1.56%
Median Price	$  429,900.00	$  439,900.00	2.33%
Average Time on Market	81	78	-3.70%

It is a slight case of comparing apples to oranges to compare two different months to each other. Real estate is a cyclical market and clearly some months do better than others. But, I just think to be fair that we should understand how the market has changed not just from last year but from last month.

With that in mind, this chart is all good news. Home sales are up 30%. Average home prices are up 1.5%. Median  prices (half the houses are above and half are below) are up 2.3%. Time on market is down 3.7%. That is a good month to month change any time of year.

Personally, I think the increase in the volume is the most important news here. I am less concerned with the selling prices. The selling price will always vary. But to see the volumes pick up again is a good thing. t will prevent our unsold inventory from climbing too high. It will keep the prices from falling too far. And, it shows hope and an understanding that despite the bad news the media outlets focus on that people will always need a house to live in and that now is a great time to buy one!

-Chris

For Doug's outlook on the financial week, please click here.

Doug Ward, Sr. Loan Officer, usbancorp Mortgage Advisers, LLC, can be contacted at 425 885-9544

-Chris

Courtesy of Doug Ward, here is this week's financial outlook.

Tops in Doug's report is the past news of the week that while prices are down, the inventory is also down.

I was having the exact same conversation just yesterday with some clients. Between the two of these items which is most important? To me the decreasing inventory is the critical item every time.

Sure, we all want the investment we have made in our homes to pay off and it seems like increasing prices is the way to achieve that. But, prices can only go so far, so fast before the market needs a breather. Push them too far, too fast and there will be a backlash. Buyers stop buying and the inventory goes up. When the inventory goes up the prices will inevitably go down. That is what many parts of the country are experiencing. Some worse than others. Thank fully we here in the Northwest are not being hit as hard as many parts of the country.

But there is no need for me to summarize Doug's news. Please check it out for yourself here.

Doug Ward, Sr. Loan Officer, usbancorp Mortgage Advisers, LLC, can be contacted at 425 885-9544

-Chris