Median home price plummets by $40,000 (Seattle housing market starts to crack)

Seattle-PI ^ | 2/8/2007 | Aubrey Cohen

[Proud_USA_Republican]

Seattle's median home price in January was the lowest it has been in a year, according to statistics released Wednesday.

The median price of $379,990 was down from $420,000 in December, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

A seasonal decline is consistent with recent years, but Seattle's January median home price also was lower than King County's median -- a first since at least 2001. King County's median home price in January was up 8 percent from a year earlier, while the median for all 19 counties in the Northwest MLS was up 10.6 percent.

"That's odd," Bob Melvey, assistant manager at Windermere Real Estate's Ballard office, said of the Seattle numbers. "My personal experience doesn't jibe with the stats."

[television is just wrong]

I have a sister in Smyrna, De. I checked her home value on Zillow.com, it dropped almost 100K in 4 months. Her 4 bedroom 2 bathroom home on a lake dropped 35%.

Meanwhile here in Ca., my home went up 2400.00 in one month. and is worth a heck of a lot more than hers.

[RobRoy]

>>Seattle, the city I grew up in, the city of fishermen and loggers has become the city of homo's and coffee drinkers<<

IOW, nothing has changed:

The Lumberjack Song from "Monty Python's Flying Circus"
Continued from Petshop, Barber, or a variety of other Python sketches....

I never wanted to do this job in the first place!
I... I wanted to be...

A LUMBERJACK!

(piano vamp)

Leaping from tree to tree! As they float down the mighty rivers of
British Columbia! With my best girl by my side!
The Larch!
The Pine!
The Giant Redwood tree!
The Sequoia!
The Little Whopping Rule Tree!
We'd sing! Sing! Sing!


Oh, I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay,
I sleep all night and I work all day.

CHORUS: He's a lumberjack, and he's okay,
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

I cut down trees, I eat my lunch,
I go to the lava-try.
On Wednesdays I go shoppin'
And have buttered scones for tea.

Mounties: He cuts down trees, he eats his lunch,
He goes to the lava-try.
On Wednesdays 'e goes shoppin'
And has buttered scones for tea.

CHORUS

I cut down trees, I skip and jump,
I like to press wild flowers.
I put on women's clothing,
And hang around in bars.

Mounties: He cuts down trees, he skips and jumps,
He likes to press wild flowers.
He puts on women's clothing
And hangs around.... In bars???????

CHORUS

I chop down trees, I wear high heels,
Suspendies and a bra.
I wish I'd been a girlie
Just like my dear papa.

Mounties: He cuts down trees, he wears high heels
Suspendies?? and a .... a Bra????
(spoken, raggedly) What's this? Wants to be a *girlie*? Oh, My!
And I thought you were so rugged! Poofter!

CHORUS

All: He's a lumberjack, and he's okaaaaaaayyy..... (BONG)

Sound Cue: The Liberty Bell March, by John Phillip Sousa.
-or-

---

Dear Sir,
I wish to complain on the stronglyest possible terms about the previous
entry in this file about the lumberjack who wears womens' clothes. Some of
my best friends are lumberjacks, and only a FEW of them are transvestites.

Yours faithfully,
Brigadier Sir Charles Arthur Strong, Mrs.

P.S. I have never kissed the editor of the radio times.

[RobRoy]

Last week, my wife counted TEN construction cranes in downtown Bellevue.

When this thing crashes, it's gonna be hard.

[RobRoy]

>>I've wondered the same thing. <<

Reverse amortization loans. Yeah, it's gonna hurt soon.

[RobRoy]

>>Would you raise kids there?<<

;)

My brother lives there. It's a nice place to live if you're single.

[achilles2000]

770 sq/ft! $228k! I'm not surprised because I'm from Seattle but now live in Texas - $228k buys a very nice 4k sq/ft with pool in a good part of town here. I find it preferable to visit relatives in Seattle rather than live there ;-)

[achilles2000]

770 sq/ft! $228k! I'm not surprised because I'm from Seattle but now live in Texas - $228k buys a very nice 4k sq/ft with pool in a good part of town here. I find it preferable to visit relatives in Seattle rather than live there ;-)

[RockinRight]

How did they do it 4 years ago before were common?

[RockinRight]

Before THEY were common?

[CORedneck]

That's the truth. Along with it, the right to be left alone when not bothering anyone else. My former boss from my old job was prime example. I got in trouble with him one time for going to a different floor to use the bathroom and one of his "pets" reported me. Another time, I was told to park my pickup truck away from the building since it was considered an eyesore. One of the execs complained to him about the truck.

I lived here in Colorado for almost 12 years but I am thinking it might be time to move on. As I mentioned before, New Zealand is a thought. If I was single and not tied down, I would be getting to NZ as quick as possible !

The Wild West pioneering attitude is long gone except maybe in some of the eastern plain cities.

[RobRoy]

Prices were not so high. Also, we have a lot of asian "multiple family" houses. My wife and I were touring some new homes in 2003 and noticed they were clearly designed for multiple asian familes. When we left one, we even noticed the entry was specifically designed with Feng Shui in mind. It was a split level, but with a 90 degree bend at the entry so the homes "positive energy" would not fall down the stairs and out the door.

No, I am not joking...

[RockinRight]

Wow...very odd. Even here in Akron, OH, where apartment rents can be $400 a month or less in areas, are often packed with 12 to 14 illegal Mexicans sharing a one-bedroom apartment.

My general point though was even 10 years ago, home prices in those markets were way out of whack with incomes. Not as severely as now, mind you, but still out of whack.

[RobRoy]

I may be a special case. I was a y2k programmer back then. I could have easily afforded to buy the house I live in now, and the payments would probably have been about what I am paying now. There is NO WAY I could afford it now. My income has been flat, but the house prices have MORE THAN DOUBLED in that time.

[MaxMax]

Looks like Seattle will need to raise taxes to make up for the shortfall.

[jwh_Denver]

LOL! "Use the floor bathroom". What jerks.

Was your boss from CO? That's wierd with the truck thing.

I still really like living here but it's the country I'm really worried about. I don't see any hope for it now the way things are going and I only see that as getting worse. It might be beyond repair, I don't know.

Costa Rica is the place for me. A place where one man can hold off the army with a semi auto 9!

[CORedneck]

Nope... I think he was originally from Texas - accent and support for the Dallas Cowboys. He use to work for IBM and the exec use to work for them as well who complained about my truck.

On the bathroom thing, we had inadequate bathroom facilities for the number of people and it was better to use the bathroom on a different floor especially when you had to do some "reading" where you can have some peace and quiet.

On NZ, I was there on vacation after Christmas and not only was it a nice place but the people seem pretty alright. You can speak your mind and no one has a problem with that. In this country, free speech is very dead thanks to P.C. At my old job with that jerk, I don't know how many times I get called into his office and given a talking to because I said something that needed to be said but offended some hypersensitivity person.

LOL! "Use the floor bathroom". What jerks.

Was your boss from CO? That's weird with the truck thing.

I still really like living here but it's the country I'm really worried about. I don't see any hope for it now the way things are going and I only see that as getting worse. It might be beyond repair, I don't know.

Costa Rica is the place for me. A place where one man can hold off the army with a semi auto 9!

[Publius Valerius]

Once squatters move in and get established, it is very difficult to have them evicted. Because squatters seek free legal aid from the county to fight evictions.

I realize that I'm coming late to this thread, but why would you bother seeking an eviction for a squatter, who has no right to occupy the dwelling?

You show up with a gun, tell them they are trespassing and to get the hell out.

[Publius Valerius]

Adverse possession takes years in most states--a person won't get title until they have openly occupied the property for 15 or 20 years.

The law is designed to encourage the most efficient use of land. If someone doesn't bother to visit their land for 20 years to figure out if someone else is using it, then, well, policy says we ought to give it to the person that's making productive use of it.

[ex-Texan]

The squatters would only call the police and say you threatened them with a loaded firearm. You would be arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon (a felony). These squatters typically claim they have paid 'someone' for rent or have another 'colorable claim of right' to be there. As such, you would be 100% in the wrong legally. After you are charged and convicted, the squatter would hire a lawyer and sue for major damages. They would most likely end up owning the building, just like those Mexican illegals who sued a land owner who was defending his property in Texas.

[Publius Valerius]

If it's your property, what's the problem? They didn't pay rent to you, so it doesn't matter what they claim. The have no right of possession.

They are trespassers, period. They don't have a leg to stand on. If they call the police, when they show up, you say that I own the property, these people are trespassing, and they should be removed and/or arrested.