King County – Feb 09 – By the Real Estate Numbers!

This will be a monthly feature of mine looking at the Multiple Listing Service data for King County. The purpose is to identify the absorption rate of Single Family Homes and separately, Condominiums within King County on a month to month basis. Typically absorption rates of 7 months equate to a balanced market for sellers and buyers. Over 7 months of inventory and it becomes a buyers market, and under 7 months of inventory makes it a sellers market.

Okay, the envelope please:

Single Family Homes

Active: 9617

Pending: 1124

Sold: 607

Average Price for those Sold: $481,218

Average Days on the market  the sold: 84

Months of Inventory (Active/Sold) = 8.56

Condominiums:

Active: 3311

Pending: 294

Sold: 176

Average Price for those Sold: $285,026

Average Days on the market  the sold: 84

Months of Inventory (Active/Sold) = 11.26

Click on Image for Larger View

January 09 -King County Real Estate Statistics

Opening up Space on those 70′s split level layouts!

Over the years in my career as a Realtor I have had many clients look at the early 70′s style homes, you know the ones, split level entry and those closed in tiny kitchens. Many had written them off because they didn’t fit today’s need for open floor plans. I thought I would share one conversion that my brother-in-law undertook and resulted in a fresh and new layout. You will see from the following pictures some of the transformation.

Cost for this was about $5000 and adds enjoyment/living value along with recouping construction costs several times over in re-sale value.

As you can see the first step is of course the fun one…..tear down! being careful of electrical wiring in the walls, remove the drywall, then the studs and frame.

Three 2 x 8 beams nailed together were added to create a support beam across the length of the kitchen/dining area with the addition of 3 support columns. One post was added by the sliding glass door side of the home which was supported underneath by the existing foundation. A second support post was installed on the other end of this beam that had to be reinforced by a pillar and post from the basement. The third support is the perpedicular beam angling off the long beam (Three 2 x 8′s)that crosses the length of the house; this perpendicular beam attaches to the back of the home and again is supported by a post anchored to the homes existing foundation.

It may sound a little complicated but a good architect and construction crew will make this a painless renovation and the result adds substantial value. I should add that some minor drywal finish work is needed and if you add all new flooring, will add to the cost.

Neighborhoods Part II

I tweaked this map set already to prepare for the 200 points limit imposed by Microsoft. The first Map is for Snoqualmie Neighborhoods and the second is for Issaquah. Jump in and help grow this usefull map set for realtors, buyers, sellers, those relocating…

Neighborhoods

Neighborhoods, subdivisions, projects condiminium names…..it goes on and on! I have been a realtor for 7 years now and as much as I know my neighborhoods, I lose track at times when someone asks about one. Confusing this are how many names are similiar; to help me and others in similiar situations I thought I would start a project on Microsoft Live Maps to identify the different neighborhoods. To this end, I thought, why not share this as in wikipedia and allow others to contribute; it will add value quicker than I could ever add, and cover more neighborhoods. Live Maps allows only 200 entries to any collection so I will need to break these out to different cities. Currently I have started on Klahanie in Issaquah, Trossachs, and Snoqualmie Ridge. Please link to the shared map below and start adding to this project. Before we reach 200 entires I will export the information and create different map sets to focus on smaller pieces of the pie. I envision adding city council web links, Home Owners Association Links and so forth creating a user edited data set for the benifit of all of us. Thank you in advance for jumping in on this project.

Seattle Neighborhoods on Microsoft Live Maps

 

Let's build this out - Add Neighborhoods around you!

Hello world!

As I jump into this blog, I hope to share my thoughts in the coming weeks and months on real estate in the Seattle and surrounding area. To start with some self promotion please forgive me as I post my web site first at www.homejames-seattle.com.

To kick off, I have my notions on what buyers are feeling and thinking in this economy and hope with your input, I can substantiate that with the following poll.:

North Bend Casualty of the flooding!