My hummingbird feeder is giving me much pleasure these days, and I sat on the deck the other day taking pictures of the cute little birds until I got this one. It is easy to set-up a feeder; it just needs to be cleaned and filled every few days for these voracious feeders.
I hope everyone is still staying safe and sound. It is heartening that there is some loosening, although we all still need to be careful. I don’t know about your car, but mine has three masks, two containers of hand sanitizer and a container of disinfectant wipes. It’s almost as if it’s the new normal, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that we can return to the normalcy we are accustomed to one of these days.
On real estate, statistics have come out for the last month and I have linked to them below.
Still a Seller’s Market
If you have a home to sell, this is a great time. Homes that are correctly priced are still seeing multiple offers; as a matter of fact, one listing in Edmonds had twenty-two offers this week.
The one constant theme is “if I sell, where am I going to go? How will I get my current home ready in time? Is it better to wait until next year and have all the details complete, or to sell now when we know the climate is right?”
There are various answers and solutions to these questions, and of course one thing that makes this such a great time to buy, despite the competition, are the low interest rates.
I have a few clients who are looking in smaller towns such as Port Townsend, Anacortes, and Bellingham, where prices are lower than Seattle. We are seeing quite a few contingent offers now, especially if the seller is living in the Seattle core where the demand is high.
While it’s not comfortable, many people in this transition phase have put the majority of their belongings in pods and storage, and often lived in long-term rental housing such as AirBnB, which is now offering month-to-month.
Sellers can also ask for a long closing, or even for rent back. Bridge loans are available. There are options.
When putting an offer on a competitive property, I always research the property and comparables, get information from the listing broker on how many offers are coming in, and position the offer to be competitive. We do this by having a letter from the lender ready and stating the buyer is pre-qualified, making sure our earnest money is competitive, and having done what we need to do including pre-inspections. If we use an escalation clause it has a cap for the price the buyer wants to pay.
Commercial Real Estate
I’ve been delving into more commercial real estate this last year, and working with Keith McKinney, our Commercial Director and Coordinator. If you are interested in buying or selling commercial real estate, please let me know.
The Northwest Multiple Monthly Press Release
“Anything under $1 million is selling quickly, and most new listings coming to market are going pending in just a few days,” stated Mike Grady, president and COO at Coldwell Banker Bain.
