Hi neighbor! Welcome to 3rd quarter MI real estate news update from your real estate concierge! Before talking about what has sold in our neighborhood this quarter, I wanted to give you a thought to consider. I have gotten 4 letters over the summer from builders regarding my house on 87th AVE, who all want to buy my property so they can build on it. What is interesting is the difference in offer amounts that have been made versus what I know my land is worth as an active real estate agent. Our house was built in the 1920’s and is great for my wife and me, but it is a tear down in the builder’s vernacular. My point is that you should strongly consider putting your house on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), as historically you will get far more on the open market for your house. If you do decide to sell to a builder, make sure you have a real estate attorney look over the paperwork to ensure it is a clean transaction. This transaction should be one where you will receive all of your money for the sale of your home in a timely manner, i.e. specifically at closing. Be leery of anyone who wants to pay you half now and half later, or pay you after the ‘build and sell’ on your property…the pitfalls of this are many and deep! Listed below are the home sales in our local area from SE 40th St. to SE 49th St. and 83rd AVE SE 
to 95th AVE SE that have occurred from June 1st to September 30th Housing Market: ﷯Our neighborhood and Island wide: The statistical information below is as reported from the NW Multiple Listing service The 3rd quarter of July through September have seen sales cool off from the Winter and Spring of 2014. The availability of houses for buyers continues to be very limited, initial asking prices are definitely up, and any home that is ‘move in ready’, around or under a million and priced right tends to go quickly. As of the time of writing, we have another 8 houses in our area either Pending Inspection or Pending closing and transfer of title. Average days on the market for the Pending homes was 22.25 days, with 3 of the houses on the market for more than a month and list prices over $1.5m. Island wide the average Days on Market (DOM) are 82 days for houses under $2,000,000 of which there are 54. Average DOM is 164 days for homes over $2,000,000 of which there are currently 32 homes. $1.5 million appears to be a soft threshold for buyers here on Mercer Island and seems to be the area of the break point for selling a house quickly in a lot of cases Locally: King County has recently seen a 2013 to 2014 increase of the average sold price of home rise 9.1% or $489,421 in 2013 to $538,132 in 2014, with slightly higher numbers from 2012 to 2013. Our market continues to be strong and our area attractive to people who are relocating here for hi-tech or bio-tech jobs. The steady increase in home prices will be tied to demand for those coming in to the area and given the lack of land available to builders in desirable areas, preexisting home prices look to remain very strong. Nationally: According to one annalist on DSNews.com, we should see a slowdown of rising home prices after the next 18 to 24 months. The annalist cited the new Case-Shiller study format tempering the rise in housing prices and further stated that housing prices did not fall on average of 34% nationally as previously suggested, but more like 25% nationally and we have rebounded to recover about 20+% of the 25% nationally during the housing crash. In King County we’ve seen a bit higher recovery than the national average for current home prices, but locally we did not fall nearly as far down in home prices as other regions nationally. Mortgage News: ﷯ Rates: After dropping a bit with the stock market rates currently holding steady at the moment and look to potentially stay that way through the end of the year. Current rates locally for well qualified buyers as of 10/13/2014 are: 30 year fixed up to $506K is 4.125%, APR 4.230% 30 year Jumbo is 4.25%, APR 4.313% FHA’s are 3.75%, APR 5.304% Here is a good link from Axia Home Loans blog talking about the strength of the US dollar and the volatility of European market effects on the US mortgage market. https://axiahomeloans.com/blog/2014/09/26/market-update-922---926/ Steve Bozick of Axia Home Loans with his thoughts on mortgage rates: It’s been a pretty amazing year for interest rates, and not in the way you might imagine. According to the Freddie Mac Mortgage Market Survey, 30 year fixed rate mortgages have been under 4.5% since August 2011, so low rates are old news. The real story is how flat rates have been this year. Since peaking in January, rates have trended lower by slightly more than .25% year to date. The last time rates changed that little over the course of a calendar year was 1977, Jimmy Carter’s first year as President. Not that the two events are related, but what an interesting coincidence. What’s this all mean for somebody looking for a mortgage? Not a lot, since past results are not a reflection of future performance. But with the US economy struggling to get momentum, Europe double dipping, 
and China contracting significantly, there is not a lot of pressure on rates to move higher. If you’re looking for a mortgage, expect rates to stay in this narrow range until we see a significant uptick on the world economic stage. Mortgage underwriting standards have also been in the news for years, more specifically, how much tougher it is to get a mortgage now then it used to be. “Used to be” is now defined as the days when a pulse was the only requirement to get a loan. If none of this rings a bell, search subprime lending crisis. Lenders and government corrected their bad behavior and lending has reverted back to the ways it really used to be; a job, decent credit, and some down payment required to get a loan. Some say the pendulum has swung a bit too far, but when Ben Bernanke, the past Chairman of the Federal Reserve can’t even get a loan? http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-03/why-even-ben-bernanke-cant-refinance-his-mortgage-chart For a personalized mortgage quote or a no obligation credit score consultation, contact Stephen Bozick 
at 206 230 5368 or stephen.bozick@axiahomeloans.com Renovation thoughts: Great article from the Seattle Times on bang for buck renovation thoughts; By Rosemary Sadez Friedmann Originally published Sept. 5, 2014 Pg. modified Sept. 13, 2014 “If you’re thinking of selling your home anytime in the next few years, now is the time to consider upgrading your master bathroom. Upgraded baths and kitchens are known to add to the resale value of your home. Remember when a master bathroom wasn’t worth much if it didn’t have a tub? Nowadays, many remodels skip the bathtub altogether and showcase only a shower. Don’t even think of using a shower curtain — you’ll be tagged as hopelessly out of touch with bathroom design. A frameless glass enclosure is the current stylish choice. Rain showers and multiple showerheads are also popular.” To read the full article go to: http://www.seattletimes.com/htmlhomesrealestate/2024455892_hrebathroomremodelingxml.html My Website: Newly published in the start of July and is located at www.SMacRae.com. Please feel free to let me know what you think!? The Power of Two: Your recommendations to friends and colleagues are always much appreciated. You have my personal guarantee that your referrals will be treated as a privilege by me, and you will be thanked by them. If you can think of two people that I could be of service to, please feel free to forward them my contact information. Best wishes to all for a wonderful fall! ﷯

Calculated Risk

PHOTO: From Axia Home Loans 2015

PHOTO: From Axia Home Loans 2015