A few months back Jim Cramer of CNBC appeared on the today show and decided to freak out all the potential home-buyers by stating "Don't buy real estate now, you'll lose money if you do!".  While he did mention Seattle as a city of exception many would be buyers are now on the fence, even in the Seattle area.

Well I'm happy to report that Seattle is alive and still doing well in terms of housing prices and sellers gaining appreciation.  Released January 2, 2008, here is the latest data.

While the number of closed sales has decreased slightly, the median price has increased across the board in both King and Snohomish counties from 2006 to 2007!

This is great news for sellers who are fearing prices are going down.  Prices are merely stabilizing and are where they should have been to begin with.  Not overinflated as they were two years ago.  This allows more buyers the ability to qualify for the homes that are available. 

And even better news is for all the buyers!  Because of the increased inventory of homes, you can now actually negotiate the list price or perhaps request remedies on items found in an inspection.  Whereas two years ago, the question would have been, "how high are you willing to go for this home, because there will be multiple offers and the inspection will be for informational purposes only".

It's really an awesome time to be a seller or a buyer.  Once we educate and remind buyers that they really do have good lending options available to them, from honest mortgage companies, the market will pick up in terms of the number of sales. 

Don't sit on the fence too long.  Prices are slowly rising and rates won't stay low forever!!

Sandy Noll
Realtor®, eAgent
Keller Williams Realty
425-890-0878
sandranoll@kw.com
www.letsachieveyourgoals.com
Kirkland, Woodinville, Bothell