Now You Can View Pricing History on StroupeCondoBlog.com!

One of the things that makes being a Realtor exciting is the service and education we get to provide our clients and the general public with the tools we have been able to integrate into our blog.  Many of the tools we’ve integrated into this site is through a 3rd party provider who has been great when it comes to helping us enhance the way properties are displayed on the site.  Yesterday, we made a call to check in on some functionality we’d like to use on another site (as well as poke some fun at a video he posted on facebook) we were told not only is that the function in question is already available, but there’s another bell and whistle we can have added if we like.

If it provides more information for people to educate themeselves, of course we want it!  As of today, you can now see a listing’s pricing history!  As a buyer, this can sometimes prove to be a valuable tool when looking to familiarize yourself with what to offer on a particular property that has caught your eye.  To see it action, use the search located above in the navigation of our site, or view our condo profiles in our sidebar located to the right.

Don’t forget, some of our newer condo profiles (identified with an asterisk) also include up to 3-years of sold history…

King County Weekly Condo Sales Ratios for November 25th, 2009

Condo Only, NWMLS Area 701 (Belltown & Downtown Seattle)

Stroupe Scoop: September 2009 Sales Stats, Featured Building, & Featured Listing

This month we feature Veer Lofts as the building of the Month.  We also have a new featured 2 bedroom1.75 bath downtown at Watermark Tower.  Great attention to detail and beautiful views with a wall of windows!

Be sure to receive the Scoop when it first comes up by subscribing!

Bulk Buy Sells 20 out of 30 Units Released!

Congratulations to Realogics for making an impressive amount of sales at The Decatur and Eleven Eleven East Pike with their Bulk Buy sales program!  Neither building had previously had any sales for the year.  Since releasing 21 condos at Decatur and 9 others at Eleven Eleven, 20 buyers have snatched up the opportunity.

Based on the 20 sales to date, [Sam] Cunningham (Managing Broker and Partner of Realogics Brokerage, LLC) estimates buyers purchased at prices that were between 25 and 30 percent off previous list prices, depending on the product. The pending block of sales are also helping unit appraisers by using an inter-building value matrix instead of relying solely on surrounding market comps. Third party comps alone may temporarily suppress unit values, given the increased activity of condo auctions and short sales within the marketplace.

If you have been considering the option of taking advantage of this program, please read the full press release and contact us for more info.

5 Major Modifications to New Homebuyer Tax Credit

The homebuyer tax credit worked! It stimulated the market and people bought homes because of it. Brokers nationwide pushed for the extension at office meetings with their agents, and we’ve all since heard that it has in fact been extended until April 30th, 2010. Those who were not able to close on time for the previous expiration date are of course still eligible, but looking at sales, that’s only a small few over the last couple of months. Probably the most exciting news is that those who were over the income limit to qualify are now included in the stimulus for a credit of $6,500. In addition, the credit is being offered to current homeowners as long as their previous home was used as a principle residence consecutively for five of the previous eight years. Another modification making things easier for everyone is that a buyer must simply be “in contract” (mutual acceptance) by April 30th. After that, a buyer has until July 1st to actually close. Under the previous tax credit, there was a lot of confusion as to when various stages of the purchase and sale process where to occur. There was a lot of “‘had to do by” events that made it stressful for buyers, and even the sellers.  Now it’s much more elementary and easier for everyone.

	Old	New
First-time Buyer Credit	$8000 credit	$8000 credit
Current Homeowner Credit	Not eligible	$6500
Expiration (Must be in contract by…)	undefined	April 30th, 2010
Closing Date	Nov. 30th, 2009	July 1st, 2010
Income Limits	$75,000 (single)$150,000 (married)	$125,000 (single)$225,000 (married)
Limitation on Cost of Home	none	$800,000

Today’s Market Conditions vs. A Year Ago

We’ve been seeing a lot of areas becoming what is technically a “sellers” market, as buyers have either rushed to take advantage of the Tax Credit or just take advantage of low pricing.  It appears our local market is not starting to look a little more balanced as experts have predicted….

King County Weekly Condo Sales Ratios for November 11th, 2009

Condo Only, NWMLS Area 701 (Belltown & Downtown Seattle)