The news media provides an overall look at what the real estate market is doing coast to coast. If you regularly read the local Sunday papers, you may even get a feel for what's selling in various counties or even in your local community.
Graphs bring that information down in a visual, manageable method, making it a bit easier to figure out what's really going on.
The graphs here are for the Auburn, Algona & Pacific areas of King County, known by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service as Area 310. At the time we look at your home's individual value, however, this information will be localized even further, helping everyone involved understand what the appropriate market price for your home really is. It's tough to make educated decisions without the hard facts backing them up.
This first graph illustrates the average price for homes on the market (active) vs the average price for those homes where the sale was completed (closed) in the same month. Here one can see that there was a spike in sold prices in July, with a drop in August.
This next chart shows the average sales price for homes in Area 310 (not just Auburn --gotta fix that chart title) .. by month since the start of 2005. So .... if you purchased your home in August 2005, it's easy to see that your home's value may be slightly less than that $$ amount in August 2009.
Next: The number of new listings coming on the market each month since 2005. Good for helping decide when the right time to list might be. 
And look how the number of closed sales went month by month for the same period. (still gotta change these titles -- this is for Auburn, Pacific & Algona, not just Auburn Addresses!). Remember that sales typically receive a mutually accepted offer 30-45 days prior to closing. Look at August -- there's that July housing shopping in action!
I like this next chart! Look how far the inventory has fallen. Either houses are selling, or listings are being cancelled or expired. There are certainly fewer of them! It's really important to remember here, however, that this little chart only compares one month's of active listings to one month's of closed sales -- That's a bit limited in scope, but gives you an idea.
These are just a few of the statistics I use to help you work on your own home's value. Don't hesitate to give me a call or an e-mail if you want to examine your own situation!
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