I have a lot of home buyer clients and some are jumping on the opportunities currently out there and many are sitting on their hands.  Most tell me that they think that the market is going to continue to drift further south for the immediate future and so they are waiting to truly get in the game.  I know it is incredibly self serving of me to say this, but:

NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY! 

In fact when we look back on this whole housing debacle I am convinced that February is going to be the true bottom of the market for Seattle. 

Part of the problem is that the media doesn’t seem to take an interest in good news only colossally awful news, ie Swine Flu.  It is equally true that most of the media is focused on national trends and not Seattle specifically.

Remember that real estate is defined by extremely small markets.  What is happening in Bellevue is dramatically different then what is happening in Seattle.   Never mind what is happening in the county, state and nation. 

I know there are a lot of skeptics out there who need to be shown and not told so here you go.  The following are the weekly inventory numbers for all multiple listing service areas in Seattle. 

A little explanation here.  Months of inventory is the relationship between how many houses are for sale and how fast they are selling.  The lower the number the fewer the homes and the faster they are selling.  Any neighborhood with inventory below 3 months is considered a seller’s market.

Need more proof.  We are having daily conversations in my office about multiple offers coming in on homes.  This was true for the really cheaply prices homes for the past few months, but now well priced homes above $500,000 are seeing activity. 

This is true even in the face of the fact that now is the time of year we see the most homes coming on the market.  I expected things to settle out but not to get better so quickly.  If this trend continues, there could be a serious boom over the summer. 

Many of my clients are even getting a little beaten up.  Just this weekend I wrote an offer for clients of mine and we were trumped by another offer.  That’s not to mention the two that we beat out.

Doubt me if you must, but you can’t say I didn’t warn you.  things are starting to move again and not just at the lower price points. 

Give me a call if you need help.

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Rob Graham, Accredited Buyers Representative

Windermere Real Estate

206-321-6349

robgraham@windermere.com

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