Seattle Real Estate 2009 Outlook

I saw this article over my time off over Christmas. It's an article from the Seattle Times regarding the upcoming year in regards to the Seattle real estate market. Everywhere you turn, another source's cyrstal ball seems to say something different about where Seattle's housing market is headed. Bottom line is nobody knows with any certainty.

The only thing we know for certain is that Seattle home prices are down to where they were 2-3 years ago. While this isn't great for more recent buyers, it's not the end of the world. Not to mention people who have owned for 1o years or more are still sitting on a fat pile of equity. In addition to more affordable prices, interest rates are at historical lows.

While this article is an interesting read...please take from it that the future looks rosier than last year but we're not out of the woods quite yet. The old saying, "Buy low, sell high." is repeated more often than it is followed. Now is a low point for Seattle housing and low interest rates make it that much more prime to buy now.

Read the full article here.

Urban Sprawl

An article from the Seattle Times discussing the transformation of Seattle neighborhoods as development gets pushed to the outskirts of the city.

The author discusses the Georgetown community and their resistance to change. I'd be interested to hear from people that have been affected by growth and development in the Seattle area. I'm sure there will be a lot of people in South Seattle, for example, that will move elsewhere as the city continues to revitalize that area with sound transit as well as new housing and business opportunities.

Read Seattle Times article here.