A home buyer does not want to be caught off guard in a seller's market. It's one of the reasons that the most important thing a home buyer can do is trust his or her real estate agent to advise on market conditions. If it is a seller's market, it could very difficult, if not almost impossible, to buy the first home a buyer wants to buy.

Because home buyers generally have very little interest in the real estate market when they are not buying a home, they don't always know how the market moves from one season to another, much less from month to month. It is often uncomfortable for a buyer to be told the market is a seller's market when the buyer may believe otherwise -- especially a buyer who is trying to buy in a down real estate market.

It’s time once again to take an updated look at how King County’s sales are shifting between the different regions around the county, since geographic shifts can and do affect the median price.

In order to explore this concept, we break King County down into three regions, based on the NWMLS-defined “areas”:

• low end: South County (areas 100-130 & 300-360)
• mid range: Seattle / North County (areas 140, 380-390, & 700-800)
• high end: Eastside (areas 500-600)

Here’s where each region’s median prices came in as of December data:

• low end: $252,500-$377,500
• mid range: $383,975-$719,000
• high end: $480,000-$1,960,000

First up, let’s have a look at each region’s (approximate) median price (actually the median of the medians

Understanding the Numbers When Buying in a Low Inventory Real Estate Market

As a homebuyer in today’s market, you’re no doubt at your wit’s end trying to find your dream home.

And when you find a home you love,  you’re competing with all cash offers and bidding wars driving the sales price above what it’s listed for, and many times, even above what the home is actually worth!

While there is nothing you can do to create more homes for sale, you can certainly arm yourself by understanding the trends and patterns in the areas you’re trying to buy in.

While it’s not quite rocket science, there is definitely a significant competitive advantage to those that understand the trends of a real estate market.

Sometimes, being competitive means not

Moving into your first home is exciting! But it also means you’ve got work to do.

Change the locks when you move into a new house — that way, you control who has access to your home. Image: Courtney Craig for HouseLogic

When I bought my first house, my timing couldn’t have been better: The house closing was two weeks before the lease was up on my apartment. That meant I could take my time packing and moving, and I could get to know the new place before moving in.

I recruited family and friends to help me move (in exchange for a beer-and-pizza picnic on the floor) and, as a bonus, I got to pick their brains about what first-time homeowners should know. 

Their help was one of the best housewarming presents I

A home buyer does not want to be caught off guard in a seller's market. It's one of the reasons that the most important thing a home buyer can do is trust his or her real estate agent to advise on market conditions. If it is a seller's market, it could very difficult, if not almost impossible, to buy the first home a buyer wants to buy.

Because home buyers generally have very little interest in the real estate market when they are not buying a home, they don't always know how the market moves from one season to another, much less from month to month. It is often uncomfortable for a buyer to be told the market is a seller's market when the buyer may believe otherwise -- especially a buyer who is trying to buy in a down real estate market.

Markets

I'm still undecided if this is a good thing, bad thing, or irrelevant. I'm leaning towards irrelevant. It does seem to ensure that "Zestimates" (the bane of my existence) are here to stay.

Zillow’s long-anticipated acquisition of Trulia has finally closed after a six-month review by the Federal Trade Commission. Announced last July, the closure of the deal between the two largest U.S. real estate portals begins the next chapter of a fierce competitive battle with News Corp. and its Move and realtor.com properties.

“This is a pivotal day in online real estate and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome Trulia to Zillow Group,” said Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Zillow Group, the new firm Zillow created to house its suite of consumer and business

The first secret is to make a reasonable offer. Many of us feel that the banks and asset managers are willing to take a dramatically lower price than the asking price. This is not the case. We can lose a good deal on a foreclosure by trying to make it a great deal.

In order to know what we are willing to offer on a foreclosure home we need to cover the second secret. That secret is to be prepared with the supporting data in advance of making an offer. By checking the recent sales we can often see what the home should sell for under normal circumstances.

By knowing what other similar homes have sold for recently we are more likely to have a better idea on what to offer in order to make a wise but rapid decision on what to offer rather than a knee

Home prices rose in the fourth quarter of 2014, especially in Western markets. See how your region of the country fared.

If you own a home, chances are good it’s worth more now than when you bought it. Home prices rose in 86% of metro areas in the fourth quarter of 2014, data from the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® show.

Prices increased steadily due to a shrinking supply of homes for sale and a growing number of homebuyers entering the market to take advantage of low mortgage interest rates, said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.

“Home prices in metro areas throughout the country continue to show solid price growth, up 25% over the past three years on average,” he said. “This is good news for current homeowners but remains a

Jon Marical

• Email:  Jon@TheCascadeTeam.com
• Cell:  541.430.2551

We are happy to welcome Jon Marical to The Cascade Team! He will be joining our Portland office.

At age 15 I developed an intense interest in Real Estate. Helping a close friend find homes on the local MLS, and helping him show homes gave me an early feel for how things are done properly. I Spent the following six years in the construction industry doing everything by hand that makes your home shine! After two years in retail management, I am finally ready to chase my dream by providing the best customer service you can find. For most people, buying a home is the biggest investment of your life. When making such a big decision it is important to have someone you can talk

House hunting? Use this five-point sniff test to detect potential problems in prospective homes

In high school, I had an eccentric German class teacher who—among other quirks—didn’t allow us to use cough drops during class. If a student was hacking away, she’d offer a peppermint candy instead. She based this practice on a study she’d read about. In it, the scent of peppermint was piped into the air at a factory where it was found to markedly increase assembly line worker productivity. She may have been a little nutty, but she was definitely on to something: subsequent studies have shown that our sense of smell affects our behavior and decisions.

This isn’t news to real estate agents who’ve long known the power of baking cookies or brewing a pot