Wallingford Neighborhood Home Sales, 2009 - Seattle Real Estate

There have been fifty-six single family homes sold in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle so far in 2009. Median home prices stayed above the half-million mark at $502,000. For most of Wallingford, this would be the price on a typical small- to mid-sized Craftsman house with two or three bedrooms and one bath.

While total sales numbers are down, length of time on the market isn't remarkably long. Right now, the median time to sell a single family home is 50 days in Wallingford. 44% of homes sold in less than one month, which is still a bright spot for this Seattle neighborhood. If a home is priced right in Wallingford, it still seems to move quickly.

Wallingford, Seattle Homes For Sale

Foreclosures on the waterfront - Seattle Houseboats, Floating Homes, Waterfront Homes - Bank-owned

Waterfront home owners, on average, have more equity in their homes than other home owners, and their homes hold their value better. That hasn't stopped some waterfront homes in the Seattle area from going on the auction block, and reverting back to the bank.

To be honest, the number of foreclosures on waterfront homes in the Seattle metro is astonishingly low. There are five total bank-owned, waterfront homes in King County available for sale right now. Of those, two are "creek waterfront" - not high end waterfront homes. A couple of other homes are quite interesting.

The smallest is a cozy floating home on Lake Union. It's a 2007-built, high end studio with Wolf and Sub-Zero applicances, tile, cedar, and ironwood floors. As a floating home, it's no full-time live-aboard, but it would be a great weekend getaway.

The jewel of the bank-owned waterfront is a Lake Washington home in Kirkland. Listed at $3.9 million, this 5 bed, 5.5 bath palatial estate is as exclusive as its price. With 60 feet of Lake Washington waterfront, hidden staircases, a boathouse and a four-car garage, the term "foreclosure" may have never been applied to such a magnificent home in the Greater Seattle real estate market.

Seattle Waterfront Homes For Sale

My school is not a jail, but the technology is still nice

Bringing information and data to the public is in the best interest of real estate professionals. I don't buy the old mindset that we, in the real estate community, are the gatekeepers to home information. Our job is to provide service and to be educated and experienced in real estate contracts, real estate law, and transactions. Witholding data about homes listed for sale, besides personal owner information, creates distrust.

That being said, sometimes new technology and information can hit a road bump.
Average Joe homeowner in Indiana gets up in the morning and logs on to a new real estate tool on the web. He finds his home and wants to see what the public sees about his home's estimated value, neighborhood statistics, etc. He sees this:

Local High School: Marion County Jail
Seriously.

Now, if you're waiting for the usual "Realtor admonishing Zillow" rant, you won't find it here.
The technology compares tens of MILLIONS of homes based on their comparable home sales, tax assessment data, proximity to schools, etc. Sometimes it is way off. Sometimes a jail becomes a school. The vast majority of the time, it's reasonably close and a good starting point for searching overall neighborhood values. The sheer size and complexity of the technology is amazing.

Remember when banks were using AVMs and "online appraisals" to justify loans amounts? They were making the same mistake as consumers who think an online estimate is a true appraisal. That doesn't mean the technology is bad, just that when people rely solely on technology, they're probably missing a big part of the picture.

We get the same kind of arguments against any new release of information. Our MLS hasn't yet released the ability for consumers to search for "bank-owned" or "short sale" homes on public sites. How could this possibly be bad for the real estate market? Sure, some owners may not want others to know their home is a short sale, but - it is a short sale, and it's public record. Some buyers are specificially looking for short sales, and bank-owned homes. Running them through the ringer for data is not the way to help them quickly find a home to buy.

My last two clients who bought homes were young technology professionals. They hopped in my car with printed listings from another company's web site that promised to give them cash back. They loved the other site for its wealth of information, but wanted to work with a full-time Realtor and were willing to forgo the freebie cash hung right in front of them.

Most consumers will take a new technology for what it's worth. It's another tool to help them get a base of knowledge for their search. For those that don't, we can only hope they don't enroll their children in the Marion County Jail.

New tenants' rights after the purchase of a foreclosure

Buying a foreclosure is already a more complicated transaction than most consumers realize. As new regulations come into place, another hurdle is being added for investors attempting to gain occupancy of the home.

Effective immediately, federal law mandates that any residential tenant who resides in a property that is secured by a federally-related mortgage can retain posession of the property for the length of any "bona fide" lease agreement under which they are currently living. An investor could buy a home without the right to rent it to his/her preferred tenants for a year - or more.
Further, if there is no lease or a month-to-month lease in place, the current tenant retains rights to 90 days minimum after the date of foreclosure for occupancy in the home. The normal rules still apply - if a tenant causes damage, becomes a nuisance, etc, they can be evicted through the correct channels. If you've ever been through the eviction process, you know that it usually takes at least 90 days anyway.

If the buyer of the home is planning on occupying the home as a primary residence, the 90 day rule applies. Whether there was no lease in place or a two year lease, the occupant has 90 days after the foreclosure to remain in the home.

This issue is a sticky one, as there are two parties pitted against one another, in which neither is at fault. The renters are paying their rent, and the new owner has paid for the home. Certainly the current occupants deserve some time to transition to other housing when the foreclosure is through no fault of their own. At the same time, a one year lease forced on a new owner is not exactly the way to bolster confidence in investors who are buying these foreclosures and propping up the real estate market.

Sam DeBord and Brian WiegandSeattleHome.com (206) 431-5900
Seattle Waterfront Real Estate Brokers - RE/MAX Connected
Seattle Waterfront Homes - Seattle Water View Homes - Seattle Floating Homes - Seattle Houseboats - Seattle Condos - Seattle Luxury Homes - Seattle Homes For Sale

Seattle Waterfront Homes - Lower Prices

If you've wanted to live on the waterfront in Seattle, but thought it was too expensive for you, there are opportunities. With waterfront home prices at their lowest point in years, it's a good time to take a look.

For example, there are waterfront condos on Lake Union in the Eastlake neighborhood of Seatle as low as $335,000.

Watefront condos in Bellevue are starting as low as $269,000. That's actual first-time buyer pricing for a home on Lake Washington.

This may not sound like a deal, but Madison Park Waterfront Homes under $2 Million haven't been seen in a while. This is one of the best neighborhoods in Seattle, with a house and dock on the lakefront.

Waterfront living in the Seattle area is more affordable than it's been in years, and there are deals to be had.

All Seattle Waterfront Homes