Lauren's Real Estate Perspectives: Snapshot of Seattle's Eastside Real Estate market

Lauren's Real Estate Perspectives: Snapshot of Seattle's Eastside Real Estate market: It's been a wild ride.  This year we continue to see a lack of inventory and an influx of buyers, which pushes our housing prices up.  T...

Snapshot of Seattle's Eastside Real Estate market

It's been a wild ride.  This year we continue to see a lack of inventory and an influx of buyers, which pushes our housing prices up.  That's great if you are a seller, but not so great if you are a buyer.  At a recent Coldwell Banker Bain Bellevue agent meeting, our Principal Managing Broker, Thadine Bak shared some statistics I thought were worth repeating.

For the month of May 2014 for the Eastside area including Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Mercer Island, Medina, Newcastle, Sammamish, Woodinville....

71.14% of all properties sold (closed) in the month of May, either at or above original list price.
The average percentage over original list price was 4.94%.
For properties that sold below original list price, the percentage average was 3.05%.

Days on the market for properties that sold above original list price averaged 7.4 days.
Days on the market for properties that sold at original list price averaged 14.1 days.
Days on the market for properties that sold below original list price averaged 25.0 days.
The take-away?  Price too high and you will be on the market longer.
If you have not sold after a month in this competitive market, the market has spoken!
What to do?  Change the price, condition of the property or offer better terms.

What about inventory levels?  How much supply do we really have?  A balanced market is about 5 months supply.
Overall for May 2014 we had 1.3 months supply of homes.
Typically, our 10 month average for the month of May is 3.1 months supply.

What is the hottest selling price range for the Eastside?  $500K to $750K.

The bottom line is this:  our inventory is increasing which is allowing for more pending sales.  High demand and a historically low supply has driven up May's closed sales price by 13% from May 2014 over May 2013.

The bottom line:  Eastside sales are continuing to show us that we have one hot real estate market!

Paying Taxes in the State of Washington

In the state of Washington property taxes are  paid to the county twice a year.  The County Treasurer's office sends out a bill along with your assessment mid-February.  For those new to the state, you only get one bill, though you need to remember to pay it by the due dates, April 30 and October 31.  The first bill due April 30 covers taxes for January 1 to June 30 and the October 31 bill covers from July 1 through December 31.  While some states divide these payments into county taxes and local taxes, ie, school taxes, the state of Washington combines all taxes and divides the bill accordingly. 

What if you pay late?  If you pay your April 30 bill on May 1 or later, you will have a 1% interest payment penalty.  If you wait until June, you get hit with another 1% interest payment plus, they add on a 3% penalty fee.  Wait until July and you face another 1% interest penalty, and if you wait until December to pay that bill, you will continue to accrue a 1% penalty each month plus you will incur another penalty fee, but this time it will be 8%. 

Where do you send this payment?  Your February bill will give you the address for your county, but if you have your taxes escrowed by your lender, then your lender will pay them for you directly.  If your taxes increase, you may have an escrow shortage and your lender will be contacting you at the end of the year to make up the shortage.

If you want more information on your property taxes, call your County’s Treasurer’s office.