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The Northwest MLS April stats are in!  The market looks healthy and the inventory is growing, giving buyers more options to choose from. Combine that with low mortgage interest rates, now is a great time to buy a home.  Here are a few key takeaway points:

  • There was a 2.4 percent rise in median prices for sales of single family homes and condos
  • 5.8 percent gain in pending sales
  • Seven counties had double-digit growth in inventory from a year ago, led by King County (up 78.5%) and Snohomish County (up nearly 57%)
  • Northwest MLS members added 11,697 new listings to inventory during April for a year-over-year gain of nearly 3.8%
  • Home prices for last month's completed sales of single family homes and condos rose 2.4 percent area-wide compared…

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KIRKLAND, Washington (April 5, 2019) - Both pending sales and new listing activity around Western Washington surged during March as buyers, sellers, and brokers emerged from February's record snowfall.

Brokers added 10,516 new listings of single family homes and condos to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service inventory last month, the highest monthly volume since August 2018. Compared to the same month a year ago, new listings across the 23 counties in the report were down slightly (79 fewer units).

MLS members also reported 10,261 pending sales during the same timeframe, the highest number of mutually accepted offers since July, and nearly matching the year-ago total of 10,311.

"After the housing adjustment in 2018, this year's spring market is…

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The NWMLS latest Press Release showed an Icy February market.  A reflection on the weather?  Some think so, and I happen to agree!  Although inventory levels rose, pending homes dropped.  The snow certainly had an effect on people's ability to get around (myself included!) which only makes sense the market had less than normal activity.  Here are a few key points:

  • February pending sales dropped nearly 14 percent.
  • Showing activity dropped more than 41 percent the week of the heaviest snow.
  • Inventory levels show a 42.3 percent jump from twelve months ago.
  • Prices appear to have bottomed out to around year-ago levels.
  • As February temperatures plunged, prices in most counties started heating up, rising from a year ago as well as when…

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There’s no shortage of advice online about the best time to list, and it all goes something like this: The vast majority of home sales occur when the weather heats up, and homes sold during this time of year tend to attract high prices. Conventional wisdom tells us it’s best to list early in the year. That way, you’re sure to benefit from the Spring peak in sales, and the premium pricing during the warmer months as well. List too late, we’re warned, and you could miss this warm weather bump.

At first blush, this conventional wisdom seems particularly wise. After all, there’s one thing that all homeowners looking to sell have in common — they want to do so as quickly as possible, and for as much money as possible. Listing early, in theory, means…

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Selling your home these days isn’t as simple as it used to be. With the explosion of real estate marketing on the Internet, prospective buyers can do their initial home shopping online. While this means that your listed property will be viewed by more prospective customers, it also means that many other properties will also be showcased, making for a much more competitive market.

While sales in the existing home market are expected to take a tick up early in 2019, there is a lot of concern about raising interest rates and economic uncertainty in the future. We are also looking for increasing inventory levels to start as early as March of this year with predictions of the greatest amount of housing inventory to hit the market in five years by May.

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Thinking of buying in 2019?  This might be your year!  The Northwest MLS January press release highlights how the market started out 2019.  Here are a few key points:

  •                 Increases in pending home sales of nearly 7.5% in King county, and 3.8% in Snohomish county
  •                 MLS members added 7,090 new listings of single family homes and condos during January, up from 6,805 in January 2018
  •                 16 counties, including all four in the Puget Sound region, reported more inventory than a year ago.
  •                 Prices have  increased area-wide with a gain of just over 5% on January’s 4,865 closed sales of single family homes and condos.

Read the full article below.

KIRKLAND, Washington (February 7, 2019) -…

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In today’s changing market, there’s more to a successful

closing than just getting the offer accepted. Make sure you have an

agent capable of guiding you from start to close!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once you've made an offer on a home and all contingencies have been met by both parties, closing on the property becomes final. Closing costs are generally 4% of your loan amount, but this can vary. To help get a sense of what's left to be done, here are 10 steps involved in closing the deal:

  1. Draw up a purchase offer with detailed contingencies in place
  2. Seller accepts the deal or counteroffers with contingencies and price changes of their own
  3. Submit your deposit, also known as "earnest money"
  4. Apply for your loan if…

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In today’s changing market, there’s more to a successful

closing than just getting the offer accepted. Make sure you have an

agent capable of guiding you from start to close!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Review Needs/Wants: Sit down and review your needs and wants. Prioritize wants, as you most likely won’t find a home that covers all of them.
  2. Assess Areas Of Interest: If schools or other amenities are important, be sure to assess those as part of your search.
  3. Setup Property Showings: Once you’ve defined your criteria and areas of interest, your Cascade Team agent will go to work showing you homes.

  4. What To Expect In The Process: The most important thing is for you to understand what to expect going through the…

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