There has never been a better moment to market your business. Consumer confidence continues to inch up and that confidence powers sixty to seventy percent of the economy. Market yourself before the rebound. A number of business owners within the Seattle region have said to us that they are distinctly busier this month (November 2009) by contrast to November 2008. Recently, I spoke with a business development person who works in the commercial division of a security company that provides monitoring and security equipment for business and residence. It is a very well known national company that most would be familiar with. He told me that last year after the financial meltdown his corporate office passed to him just barely five or six leads per month. Since then that has grown more recently to about twenty-four leads per month. He can longer keep up and his office is now going to provide him additional help through a new hire.

In another example, the owner of a landscaping company told me that his business completely froze this time last year. He received virtually no calls for work. It was brutal. This November his business seems to be back on track and growing. He told me that there have been instances of referring work to other landscapers because he simply did not have enough time or resources to handle any additional workload.

The security consultant and landscaping owner spend most of their time outside meeting with businesses throughout the region. Both say that construction seems to be picking up. Construction sites are moving again. Earlier this year construction had virtually dried up, but during the last few months, it seems to be on the rise. Last year in November of 2008, there was a one-year inventory of newly constructed homes on the market. This year, only a six-month supply remains and as that inventory depletes it adds pressure to begin building again because developers have a need to keep their pipelines flowing.

 Marketing your brand between now and the next up turn is an excellent way to get ahead of the curve while your competition is still indecisive. That indecision has left a large vacancy of brand messages in the market place. You can thank the Great Recession for forcing your competition to stick their heads in the sand! Your brand has the greatest potential to be seen more than any other time of the last seventy or eighty years, but you must act now! Waiting too long will assuredly be too late because at some point your competition is going to start marketing. When that happens, the flood of your competition’s marketing messages will make your messages harder to be seen. So, why share the market place with your competition? Do not share it! Take it!

Let others know who might need this insightful help. They could be your family, friends, peers or neighbors. Here are few examples of people who really need to act.

Business owners who own utility vehicles that provide services or deliver goods. For example, they could be contractors, electricians, plumbers, florists, landscapers or restaurants. Many utility vehicles on the road today do not have marketing graphics. That is a big mistake! Sometimes you will see a vehicle without a phone number or the lettering is too small. Other times you will see vehicles that need their graphics refurbished because the graphics are worn out. Remember that your customers judge your services or products by how well you maintain your brand. Fix these problems!

Other business owners who may be thinking of trade shows or conventions. Now is the time to involve yourself in trade shows so that you can get your brand out in front of the consumer.

Still others might be people who are getting ready to open a brand new business and are in need of indoor or outdoor signage, business cards or brochures.

Do not miss this opportunity to market yourself! The time is now!

Thanksgiving

Enjoy!  Happy Turkey  Day.  Enjoy all that you have and please think about enjoying your holiday while reducing your carbon footprint.

This past week was a quieter week for Redmond home sales.  I expect with the Thanksgiving holiday, this week will also be on the quiet side.

The first time home buyer tax credit has been expanded and extended, which is great news for home sellers.  If you plan to make a move and are buying a home under $800,000, then you may be eligible to receive a tax credit. Not only will first time buyers be the beneficiaries of the tax credit, but many move-up or move-down buyers can also get a piece of the home buyer tax credit, and that could mean you!

For this week’s full report see below:

View Larger Map

In real estate terms, we call this area 530. The area of Redmond called Education Hill is north of Redmond Town Center and is not part of this report.  The area represented by the statistics posted below is Redmond, 98052, south of highway 908 and east of 140th Ave NE. The neighborhoods are all within shouting distance of Microsoft. In real estate terms, we call this area 530. The area of Redmond called Education Hill is north of Redmond Town Center and is not part of this report. The numbers in parentheses show last week’s totals. All numbers are gathered on Monday morning from NWMLS (Northwest Multiple Listing )information.

Number of homes for sale: 54 (54)

New listings: 1 (2)

$350,000-$499,999: 21 (20)

$500,000-$749,999: 18 (19)

$750,000-$999,999: 7 (8 )

$1,000,000- $1,499,999: 4 (4)

$1,500,000- $2,999,999: 2 (2)

$3,000,000+ 1 (0)
———————————–
Average Asking Price of Homes for Sale: $707,996 ($643,703)

Median Asking Price of Homes for Sale: $549,500 ($550,000)

Average Days on Market: 128 (123)

Highest Priced Listing: $4,280,000 ($1,690,000)

Lowest Priced Listing: $279,950 ($280,000)

New listings: There was only one new listing for sale this past week, which is now the most expensive home for sale in Redmond, near Microsoft. 

Pending inspections and pending: Home sales in Redmond were happening, but not at a frenetic pace.  Three homes are now pending sales, which means the buyers and sellers have negotiated through the inspection process. There were no new home sales this week.

Price reductions: Price reductions remained steady, but still not as many as we’ve seen in recent months.

Homes off the market (homes that did not sell): Two

Home sales: Two home sales closed this week.

Median and average pricing jumped up from last week because of the one new listing on the market, a waterfront property for $4280,000.

Closed Sales Of The Week:

$500,000, last asking price: $519,000, original asking price: $519,950, sold in  137 days, 11% below the original price.

$669,800, last asking price: $689,900, original asking price: $689,900, sold in 137 days, 3% below the original price.

Peak of homes for sale so far for 2009:

7-27-09   13,861

Now:

11-23-09  11,980 The second lowest weekly number of properties for sale in King County in all of 2009.  The week with the lowest number of homes on the market was January 5th, the first week of the year.

Happy Turkey Day!  Enjoy your family and your friends this holiday weekend.

„Ich glaube fest daran, dass wir vielleicht noch eine Chance haben.”
Ottmar Hitzfeld

Es sind aufregende Worte Monate für Freunde Enthusiasten von und für Betriebssysteme aller Couleur. Schließlich hat alles, was Rang und Namen hat, eine neue Version des eigenen Betriebssystems herausgebracht. Canonical hat Ubuntu 9.10 „Karmic Koala“ veröffentlicht, Novell openSUSE 11.2 , Red Hat Fedora 12 „Constantine“ und der Monopolist Windows 7. Was? Windows 7? Ja, Windows 7.

Der Leitwolf

Schließlich haben die Redmonder diese neue Version für eigene Verhältnisse ziemlich zügig auf den Markt gebracht. Und es ist ein offenes Geheimnis, dass Windows 7 die bessere Version des Vorgängers Vista ist und keine Neuentwicklung. Spötter behaupten gar, 7 sei nur das neueste Service Pack für Vista. Aber warum so schnell? Ja, schon fast hastig? Nun , die Konkurrenz, die Jungwölfe, spürte, dass der Leitwolf schwächelt. Und wie junge Wölfe, allen voran Canonical und Google, so sind, fordern sie das Alphatier beim kleinsten Anzeichen von Schwäche (lies: Vista) heraus.

ChromeOS

Der Jüngste unter den Herausforderern ist Google, im Usenet liebevoll „die allwissende Müllhalde“ genannt.

Googles neues System ist gerade erschienen. Es muss etwas an Besonderes an ChromeOS, in Analogie zum Chrome Browser, sein, denn die sog. Blogosphäre schreibt sich die Finger wund und das Internet quillt über vor Gerüchten und echten Informationen. Zwei Dinge sind es hauptsächlich:
1. Es ist das Betriebssystem von Google. Und die allwissende Müllhalde ist wahrscheinlich die, dem Endverbraucher, bekannteste Softwarefirma. Nachdem dem Redmonder, versteht sich. Und da greift die alt bekannte Kundenlogik: bekannte (und erfolgreiche) Firma = gutes Produkt. Alleine dieser Punkt dürfte Google einen guten Marketingbonus geben. In Kombination mit gescheiter PR vielleicht sogar den einen oder anderen Prozentpunkt Marktanteil.
Natürlich kann die allwissende Müllhalde nicht ein 08/15 Betriebssystem veröffentlichen. Nein, es muss, und das ist der zweite Punkt, etwas neues sein, etwas innovatives. Und das Unternehmen hat ein Problem: So ein Betriebssystem braucht auch Software, die man benutzen kann. Google hat solche Software, allerdings nur online. Nun folgt der eigentliche Trick: Man macht aus der Not eine Tugend. In dem man den hauseigenen Browser Chrome zum Kernstück des Systems gemacht wird, sind die vielen Online-Anwendungen für die Benutzer verfügbar. Und wenn die Müllhalde es schafft, den Benutzer klar zumachen, dass Online-Anwendungen ein Vorteil und kein Nachteil sind, dann stehen die Chancen gut, nennenswerte Marktanteile Bill Gates’ ehemaligen Garagenunternehmen ab zuknöpfen. Zumindest der Zeitpunkt scheint günstig: Selten waren die Benutzer eher bereit das Betriebssystem zu wechseln.

What was the hot price range of the week in East Bellevue (east of 405)  and West Redmond?

• Most number of home sales: $400-499,999 and $500-599,999 3 homes sold in each price range.
• Most number of homes for sale: $400-499,999     65 homes for sale.  The time it takes to sell a home in this price range has increased in the last few weeks.
• Best week to sell your home in the last 7 weeks?      Week of November 4th, with 18 sales.
• Most homes for sale in the last 7 weeks?       10-28-09, when 253 homes were for sale.
• All of the Bellevue and Redmond homes sales were priced under $799,999.
  
• There were 247 homes for sale and 10 homes sold in East Bellevue and Redmond near Microsoft last week.  The number of Redmond and Bellevue home sales has dropped dramatically from the high of 28 sales at the end of August.

• Peak of the number of homes for sale in King County so far this year?
• July 27th- a high of 13,861 homes for sale.
• Week of 11-16-09  12,186 homes and condos for sale in King County, the smallest number of homes and condos for sale since January of this year.
  

• With inventory down, shouldn’t you think about selling your home now, rather than in the spring?
  

This chart is updated weekly by (Windermere Real Estate/East Inc., using MLS data to show the price ranges of the homes sold each week.

Here’s how it’s set up:

The colors show who has the advantage in a particular price range.

• Green means the buyer has the advantage with many homes to choose from and not that many selling.
• Yellow means the number of homes for sale and the number of sales in the price range is balanced between the buyer and the seller.
• Red indicates a sellers’ market where the seller may have the advantage as more homes are selling when compared to what’s available.

Down the side of the chart, the home sales activity is broken down into a price bracket of $99,999. All the homes priced between $400,000-499,999, as an example, are put together in one price category in the chart.

Across the top, the chart is broken down into real estate activity by the week.

If you take the $400-499,999 line and follow it across the chart, you’ll see what has happened each of the last seven weeks.  There are three columns under each week. On the left side of the column is the number of homes for sale in East Bellevue and Redmond, near Microsoft.  The middle column shows how many homes sold that week, and the final column under the date shows the months supply of homes for sale.  In other words, if no other homes came up for sale, it would take 5 months to sell all of the homes in the $400-499,999 price range

Oh come on, just admit it! We’ve all used the holidays as a reason not to start a workout and nutrition program and even worse, most of us have used it as a reason to stop our existing ones. I’m going to be the voice of reason for a moment and force you to get real. That’s just a big old lame excuse, nothing more, nothing less. Let’s face it, even if you did go completely over board eating and drinking everything in sight on each of the actual holi-“days” and a few parties, but ate clean on every other day during the season you would probably not gain a pound.

The holiday season reminds me a lot of the “Star Wars” movies. There’s a very good side to the season with all of the parties, gift giving and getting together with loved ones. But along with the good side is a “dark side” that we all visit at some point during the season.

Holiday eating isn’t all on the dark side, but you must admit that most of us consume excessive calories in the form of second or third trips to the buffet, baked goods and alcohol. Don’t get me wrong, there is great enjoyment in savoring all of the holiday flavors and cuisines, but there comes a day of reckoning. The indulgence in excessive eating comes with a price. We pay the price in added pounds that seem to find their way directly to our hips and waist.

Calories Add Up
The good news is it takes around 3,500 excess calories to add one pound of fat to your body. That’s a ton of calories! The bad news is that many holiday meals can total 3,000-4,000 per sitting and that doesn’t even factor in the alcohol, soda or sparkling cider. Unless you’re eating your dinner on an exercise bike, you could put on nearly a pound in just one meal!

Although the calorie content of holiday meals can be very high, they don’t have to spell disaster for your waistline. The key is to carefully manage your exercise levels during the holidays and the weeks leading up to extravagant meals and eat clean on all of the days you won’t be at a party. One of the best ways to manage your exercise levels and crank up the intensity is to hire a personal trainer and Define Fitness Studio of Bellevue is the place to do it. Our small group format makes training fun and affordable at around $25 per session. We’ll even help you manage your nutrition and hold you accountable during the holidays.

Damage Control Methods
There are two strategies to holiday damage control. One is preemptive and the other is reactive. If you want to keep the damage to a minimum or even make progress toward your weight loss goals, I would suggest using both methods.

Preemptive Damage Control
The key to preemptive damage control is planning ahead. If you fail to plan you plan to fail. During the holiday season, you should increase both the quality and quantity of your exercise. This can be like putting money or “burned calories” in the bank. If you are planning to eat a huge holiday meal in the 3,500 calorie range, try and increase your calorie burn by about 500 calories per day for 7 days leading up to your meal. You are in effect, losing the weight before you put it on. The net result will be zero weight gain and you’ll be able to enjoy a guilt free feeding frenzy.

Reactive Damage Control
The main holiday meals are not the only source of excess calories. What about the extra piece of pie or other late night snacks? Don’t forget about those glasses of eggnog or the chocolate chip cookies you munched on either. These are typical food items we all end up eating during the holidays. They’re hard to resist and we often eat them without even thinking about it. No worries! These unplanned “sneaky” calories can be taken care of after the fact. This is called “reactive damage control”. Utilize the help of the best Personal Trainers on the Eastside by asking for Personal Training for Christmas. At Define Fitness Studio, we offer single month certificates as well as discounted rates for 3,6 and 12 month packages.

The Exercise Equation
Sometimes knowing the calorie content in a food isn’t enough of a deterrent to keep us from eating them. However, learning how much we must exercise to burn them off can have more of an effect. Here’s the distance you must run to burn off some popular holiday fare.

Eight ounces of eggnog 3.25 miles
Three ounces of turkey 1.25 miles
One slice of pumpkin pie 3.00 miles
One slice of apple pie 3.75 miles
Three ounces roast beef 3.00 miles
One slice pecan pie 6.00 miles
One cup mashed potatoes 3.00 miles
One cup sweet potatoes 2.50 miles
One cup of bread stuffing 4.00 miles
Two rolls w/butter 3.00 miles
One cup of gravy 2.00 miles
One cup of cranberry sauce 4.00 miles

Janelle G. Miller
Fitness Guru | Personal Trainer | Nutrition Coach
janelle@definefitnessstudio.com
206.369.7216

“Fighting America’s Health & Obesity Epidemic One Person at a Time”

With the reading of her Will, Farrah Fawcett left her longtime love Ryan O’ Neal nothing. Trying to save some face, Ryan is coming out now and saying he was not surprised Farrah didn’t leave him anything. He said, “Farrah’s and my relationship was based on deep love and respect for one another and our son Redmond.”

Now I would believe that, but since my IQ is over 70, I can simply say this relationship lacks respect and love like Ryan professed. Farrah gave her son $4.5 Million, $500,000 to nephew Greg Walls, $500,000 to father James Fawcett and $100,000 to ex-boyfriend Greg Lott.

Call me crazy but the woman who loves and respects you would rather give her nephew $500,000 and $100,000 to an ex-boyfriend but not a dime to you. I understand not wanting to bad mouth the dead but Farrah’s will has to be a low blow to Ryan. So Ryan just take the embarrassment and move on.

Homes sales were happening in Redmond this past week. I’m back to reporting a healthy and consistent turnover of homes for sale with a good number getting offers this past week. Gone on those weeks when the number of  homes available in Redmond near Microsoft was around 80 homes per week.

The first time home buyer tax credit has been expanded and extended, which is great news for home sellers.  If you plan to make a move and are buying a home under $800,000, then you may be eligible to receive a tax credit. Not only will first time buyers be the beneficiaries of the tax credit, but many move-up or move-down buyers can also get a piece of the home buyer tax credit, and that could mean you!

(The weekly real estate buzz post has moved and will now be published at the beginning of each week.  The “Hot Sales Price of the Week” will now be posted at the end of each week.)

For this week’s full report see below:

View Larger Map

In real estate terms, we call this area 530. The area of Redmond called Education Hill is north of Redmond Town Center and is not part of this report.  The area represented by the statistics posted below is Redmond, 98052, south of highway 908 and east of 140th Ave NE. The neighborhoods are all within shouting distance of Microsoft. In real estate terms, we call this area 530. The area of Redmond called Education Hill is north of Redmond Town Center and is not part of this report. The numbers in parentheses show last week’s totals. All numbers are gathered on Monday morning from NWMLS (Northwest Multiple Listing )information.

Number of homes for sale: 54 (57)

New listings: 2 (3)

$350,000-$499,999: 20 (24)

$500,000-$749,999: 19 (16)

$750,000-$999,999: 8 (9 )

$1,000,000- $1,499,999: 4 (4)

$1,500,000- $2,999,999: 2 (2)

$3,000,000+ 0 (0)
———————————–
Average Asking Price of Homes for Sale: $643,703 ($647,021)

Median Asking Price of Homes for Sale: $550,000 ($559,850)

Average Days on Market: 123 (114)

Highest Priced Listing: $1,690,000 ($1,690,000)

Lowest Priced Listing: $280,000 ($224,950)

New listings: There were two new listings for sale this past week. 

Pending inspections and pending: Home sales in Redmond are hopping again, with one home receiving and accepting an offer and 4 homes moving beyond the inspection with their offers for a total of 6!

Price reductions: Price reductions remained steady, but still not as many as we’ve seen in recent months.

Homes off the market (homes that did not sell): Four

Home sales: Five home sales closed this week.

Closed Sales Of The Week:

$344,950, last asking price: $349,950, original asking price: $349,950, sold in 9 days, 2% below the original price.

$400,000, last asking price: $400,000, original asking price: $585,000, sold in 268 days, 22% below the original price.

$431,000, last asking price: $450,000, original asking price: $450,000, sold in 16 days, 5% below the original price.

$518,000, last asking price: $549,000, original asking price: $575,000, sold in 42 days, 10% below the original price.

$725,000, last asking price: $749,950, original asking price: $799,950, sold in 257 days, 10% below the original price.

Peak of homes for sale so far for 2009:

7-27-09   13,861

Now:

11-16-09  12,186

We are back to January’s numbers of homes and condos for sale in King County, among the lowest for the year!

Erin and Andrew’s wedding was so fun to shoot!  Not only have they become friends, but with Erin’s amazing artistic talent, and their combined sense of fashion, this was a wedding like no other!  I can’t believe I’ve taken this long to show you some of my favorites.  These are just a FEW of the portraits from the day.  Later, I’ll share with you some shots of her details…

What was the hot price range of the week in East Bellevue (east of 405)  and West Redmond?

• Most number of home sales: $500-599,999 5 homes sold
• Most number of homes for sale: $400-499,999     63 homes for sale. The same number for the past three  weeks when there was a huge increase in homes for sale in this price range in Redmond and Bellevue.
• Best week to sell your home in the last 7 weeks?      Week of Sept. 30th, with 25 sales.
• Most homes for sale in the last 7 weeks?       10-28-09, when 253 homes were for sale.
• All of the Bellevue and Redmond homes sales were priced under $799,999.
  
• There were 244 homes for sale and 11 homes sold in East Bellevue and Redmond near Microsoft last week.  The number of Redmond and Bellevue home sales has dropped dramatically from the high of 28 sales at the end of August.

• Peak of the number of homes for sale in King County so far this year?
• July 27th- a high of 13,861 homes for sale.
• Week of 11-09-09  12,382 homes and condos for sale in King County, a small increase over the last few weeks.
  

East Bellevue and Redmond, Near Microsoft Real Estate Sales, 11-11-09

This chart is updated weekly by (Windermere Real Estate/East Inc., using MLS data to show the price ranges of the homes sold each week.

Here’s how it’s set up:

The colors show who has the advantage in a particular price range.

• Green means the buyer has the advantage with many homes to choose from and not that many selling.
• Yellow means the number of homes for sale and the number of sales in the price range is balanced between the buyer and the seller.
• Red indicates a sellers’ market where the seller may have the advantage as more homes are selling when compared to what’s available.

Down the side of the chart, the home sales activity is broken down into a price bracket of $99,999. All the homes priced between $400,000-499,999, as an example, are put together in one price category in the chart.

Across the top, the chart is broken down into real estate activity by the week.

If you take the $400-499,999 line and follow it across the chart, you’ll see what has happened each of the last seven weeks.  There are three columns under each week. On the left side of the column is the number of homes for sale in East Bellevue and Redmond, near Microsoft.  The middle column shows how many homes sold that week, and the final column under the date shows the months supply of homes for sale.  In other words, if no other homes came up for sale, it would take 2.2 months to sell all of the homes in the $400-499,999 price range.

Last weekend was quite an eventful, among many social gatherings with friends and family, I found 2 hours on Saturday morning to mingle with amazing gardening enthusiasts. I got to go to Green Elephant Plant swap in Redmond where group of people trade/give away extra plants, tubers and many gardening tips.

Jim Eichner organizes Green Elephant plant swap four times a year in Redmond. People gather extra wooded plants, divided perennials, tubers and swap. It is sort of tailgate party where we open up our car trunks, put stuff out on display. Towards the end of trade extra plants, shrubs, bare roots, tubers go into the big free pile. 
I had my inhibitions at first but it turned out great! I went with 7-8 pots of strawberry, Golden oregano, lupines, geraniums and Shasta daisies. Well, strawberry babies were everywhere and looked like everyone was trying to get rid of them I put all my stuff into give-away pile and glad to have found takers for oregano, geranium and lupines. I came home with mint, stone crop, hen & chicks and giant Dahlia tubers. OMG – Dahlia tubers were a steal, a nice gentleman was unloading them by wheelbarrows into free pile. These tubers are expensive – that’s like $40-$50 in free stuff right there!!!
Taking the advice from other gardener, I planted mint into container and not in the garden.

Dahlia tubers that I scored…

There were at least 50 people trading plants, it was cold, chilly and pouring heavily – a true rain or shine experience. It was my very first swap and I was totally amazed at the generosity and openness of everyone. No one left empty-handed and some brought non-plant items like birdbath, planters and cookies to keep it fun and interesting.

Here’s website for more information – http://www.holycrossredmond.org/greenelephant.htm

Redmond and East Bellevue Real Estate Sales, October 2009

Sellers had 19% odds of getting a home sold in West Redmond and East Bellevue, both neighborhoods near Microsoft, in October, 2009.  (The NWMLS, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service puts the data together from East Bellevue and the Redmond area around Microsoft.)

If you check the link above, it shows  the 5 year trend in real estate.  The numbers for the Trendgraphix chart may vary slightly from the MLS statistics posted in the above link, but the variation is slight.  The overall trend in the market is the same.

October, 2009          253 homes for sale      47 homes sold                  19% odds of selling

October, 2008          332 homes for sale      29 homes sold                   13% odds of selling

*Adjusted sales numbers reflect sales that failed and did not close.

Nineteen out of 100 homes received and accepted offers in October.  The numbers for September had shown 79 homes had sold, but only 73 of those sales stayed together.  The numbers on the chart are adjusted to reflect the actual number of home sales that did close.

What’s happening with real estate prices in Redmond and East Bellevue?

The median sales price decreased by 8% to $445,000 from $484,725, the number of homes for sale declined by 23.5%, and the number of homes sold in Redmond increased by 59%. 

For the full picture of Seattle-Eastside real estate, check out my eastside real estate blog.

Looking for more national real estate information? The Seattle-Eastside area is certainly not alone in declining home values. However, with the passage of a bill giving more widely available tax credits to home buyers, I hope to see the number of Redmond home sales remain strong.

How did October, 2009 stack up to October, 2008 in your neighborhood?

(Click on the cities below to see real estate trends for the past 5 years.  You’ll find the median pricing for each city and whether the number of homes for sale and the number of sales went up or down.  The odds of selling a home in each area is a result of the number of homes for sale divided by the actual number of home sales.)

The plateau:  Sammamish, Issaquah, North Bend, and Fall City

The odds of selling a home were 26%.

Median sales price decreased by 9% from $559,000 to $509,000.

The number of homes for sale dropped by 33% and sales were up by 119% from last year.

West Redmond/East Bellevue

The odds of selling a home were 19%.

Median sales price decreased to $445,000 from $484,725, a decrease of 9%

The number of homes for sale dropped by 23.5% and sales were up by 53%.

South Bellevue/Issaquah

The odds of selling a home were 23%.

Median price increased by 4% to $592,500 from $569,900.

The number of homes for sale dropped by 21% and sales were up 156%.

Woodinville/Bothell/Kenmore/Duvall/North Kirkland

The odds of selling a home were 16%.

Median price was down to $429,975 from $533,925, a 19.5% decrease.

The number of homes for sale declined by 15% and sales were up by 89%.

Kirkland

The odds of selling a home were 18%.

Median price decreased by 29.5%, from $709,475 to $500,000.

The number of homes for sale declined by 23% and sales were up by 142%.

West Bellevue

The odds of selling a home were 14%.

Median pricing decreased by 18% from $1,399,000 to $1,150,000.

The number of homes for sale decreased by 16% and sales increased by 100%.

Redmond/Education Hill/ Carnation

The odds of selling a home were 23%

Median pricing increased by 6% to $449,995 from $472,425.

The number of homes for sale decreased by 16% and sales increased by 190%.

The increase in sales was huge all over the Eastside.  Surprising, but maybe not so surprising, the increase in sales was the smallest in the area that has traditionally been the strongest over the last few years, the East Bellevue/Redmond area near Microsoft.  This could be the result of a few factors.  One is Microsoft is not hiring as many people and is also doing some layoffs.  Also, with the area so strong in home sales over the years, other areas are starting to catch up more in the number of sales.

Two areas saw an increase in median pricing from last year, downtown Redmond and Carnation and South Bellevue and Issaquah.  This is a real surprise, since every area has shown a decline in prices.  This may be an anomaly, so I’ll check it out next month.

The number of homes for sales in Redmond, near Microsoft remains on the lower end for the year. Gone on those weeks when the number of  homes available in Redmond near Microsoft was around 80 homes per week.   With the extension and expansion of the first time home buyers credit, this may be a great time to consider selling your home. Not only will first time buyers be the beneficiaries of the tax credit, but many move-up or move-down buyers can also get a piece of the home buyer tax credit, and that could mean you!

(The weekly real estate buzz post has moved and will now be published at the beginning of each week.  The “Hot Sales Price of the Week” will now be posted at the end of each week.)

For this week’s full report see below:

View Larger Map

In real estate terms, we call this area 530. The area of Redmond called Education Hill is north of Redmond Town Center and is not part of this report.  The area represented by the statistics posted below is Redmond, 98052, south of highway 908 and east of 140th Ave NE. The neighborhoods are all within shouting distance of Microsoft. In real estate terms, we call this area 530. The area of Redmond called Education Hill is north of Redmond Town Center and is not part of this report. The numbers in parentheses show last week’s totals. All numbers are gathered on Monday morning from NWMLS (Northwest Multiple Listing )information.

Number of homes for sale: 57 (56)

New listings: 3 (4)

$350,000-$499,999: 24 (20)

$500,000-$749,999: 16 (21)

$750,000-$999,999: 9 (9 )

$1,000,000- $1,499,999: 4 (4)

$1,500,000- $2,999,999: 2 (1)

$3,000,000+ 0 (0)
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Average Asking Price of Homes for Sale: $647,021 ($638,771)

Median Asking Price of Homes for Sale: $559,850 ($559,850)

Average Days on Market: 114 (109)

Highest Priced Listing: $1,690,000 ($1,690,000)

Lowest Priced Listing: $224,950 ($280,000)

New listings: There were three new listings for sale this past week. There are now more homes for sale in Redmond below $500,000 than in the $500-750,000 price range.

Pending inspections and pending: Sales are not as fast and furious as a few months ago, but sales are still happening and competition is lessening because fewer homes are on the market.

Price reductions: Price reductions were up this week as those home sellers on the market are trying to stay competitive.

Homes off the market (homes that did not sell): None

Home sales: One home sale closed this week.

Closed Sales Of The Week:

$375,000 last asking price: $399,000, original asking price: $429,000 sold in 89 days for 13% below the original price.

Peak of homes for sale so far for 2009:

7-27-09   13,861

Now:

11-9-09  12,382,

58 more homes for sale this week than last, the first increase in numbers in the past month.  We’re back to same number of homes for sale as we saw in February.  The big difference is so many more homes are selling now than in February.

Seattle Eastside Real Estate Sales, October 2009

The odds of selling a home on the Eastside in October 2009 ranged from a low of 14% to a high of 26%, with an average 20% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.)

October, 2009        3240 homes for sale     644 homes sold            19% odds of selling.

September, 2009   3518 homes for sale      (now 606) 668 homes sold    (now 17%) 20% odds of selling.*

October, 2008        4097 homes for sale     257  homes sold             6% odds of selling.

*Adjusted from previous month’s numbers to reflect the actual number of homes sold and closed.  Some sales from each month fall apart and don’t close, hence a lower number of sold homes may be reported at a later date.

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October, 2008 Seattle-Eastside real estate market compared to October, 2009:

Sales were up a huge, and  I mean huge, amount in most of the Seattle-Eastside cities. The number of homes for sale and the median prices were down in all neighborhoods with the exception of South Bellevue/Issaquah and downtown Redmond/Union Hill.  In both of these areas the median price increased from last October to this October.

Home sales on Seattle’s Eastside:  up 118%!!!!

Sales prices:   down 12%.

Number of homes for sale:  down 22%.

Best odds of selling:   and it’s not Redmond, near Microsoft, and East Bellevue!  This month, the plateau areas of Sammamish, Issaquah, Fall City, Snohomish, and North Bend are the top home sales areas with 26% of the homes selling.

Worst odds of selling:  West Bellevue with 12% odds of homes selling.

Biggest increase in sales from last year:   Downtown Redmond, Union Hill, Redmond Ridge, Carnation, 190% more home sales.

Smallest increase in sales from last year:  East Bellevue/Redmond area around Microsoft goes from the top home sales area to the area with the smallest increase this year from last October, only 53%.  Home sales in Bellevue and Redmond have been so strong in comparison to other eastside areas for so long. Now other Seattle-Eastside neighborhoods are catching up.

Decline in real estate sales:  None on the eastside, all areas had huge increases in the number of home sales ranging from 52% to 190%.

The peak of homes for sale in 2008:   July,   4370 homes.

The peak of homes for sale in 2009:   June,  3859 homes.

Rate of home sales that failed this month: 11%

Why home sales fail to close:

• This can be the result of inspections in which buyers and sellers do not agree, an appraisal that does not justify the sales price, lenders who do not package the loan properly or the great number of short sales that are out there.
• Short sales are sales in which the selling price for a property is less than the price owed to the bank, so the seller is “short.”  Many of these offers do not stay together because it often takes months for a short sale to get approved by the bank.  There’s no guarantee the bank will accept an offer.  I’ve heard only 4% of the short sales actually close in King County.  Since there’s a huge number on the market, if you’re someone willing to take a chance and accept that your offer may never be looked at or accepted, then a short sale may be a way to go. With the extension of the home buyer tax credit, home buyers have more time to goafter short sales.  However, months may still be needed to get the short sale closed, if it is to close at all. Since most buyers truly want to purchase a home and close on it, I would recommend NOT making offers on short sales.  I’d also recommend reading as much as you can about short sales before attempting to make an offer on a short sale. This way you’ll be prepared if you choose to go the route of a short sale.

Andrew Shim has been involved with the fitness industry by consulting with major companies, magazines, and fitness organizations nationwide and lectures internationally. He teaches motor learning and conducts research in the areas of strength, flexibility, balance, senior fitness and metabolism at Dakota State University. He holds Bachelor, Master and Doctorate degrees in Kinesiology and Health Promotion, Exercise Science and Education, respectively. He still competes in strength and muscular endurance contests. In the video below, Andrew explains what the true definition of Core Training is.

What is core training?

What is core training?
(Click on the question for the video answer!)

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One variable that remains the same for all segments of the real estate market is that the loan market is the controlling variable.  The availability of loans and now the appraiser determines whether or not you will succeed at selling or buying a home right now.    OK..  There are a few other things that go into the home sales or purchase cycle but the biggest hurdle is the loan…

Altos Research just posted this article summing up the luxury home market sales and jumbo loans.  This article provides a very good illustration of why it’s a slow go for luxury home sellers right now.

Jumbo Mortgages and Housing Market Prices

What was the hot price range of the week in East Bellevue (east of 405)  and West Redmond?

• Most number of home sales $400-499,999 8 homes sold, one more home sale this week than last.
• Most number of homes for sale: $400-499,999     63 homes for sale. The same number as last week when there was a huge increase in homes for sale in Redmond and Bellevue.
• Best week to sell your home in the last 7 weeks?      Week of Sept. 30th, with 25 sales.
• Most homes for sale in the last 7 weeks?       Last week, 10-28-09, when 253 homes were for sale.
• All of the Bellevue and Redmond homes sales were priced under $799,999.
  
• There were 244 homes for sale and 18 homes sold in East Bellevue and Redmond near Microsoft last week.  The number of Redmond and Bellevue home sales has dropped dramatically from the high of 28 sales at the end of August.

• Peak of the number of homes for sale in King County so far this year?
• July 27th- a high of 13,861 homes for sale.
• Week of 11-02-09  12,324  homes and condos for sale in King County, the lowest number of properties for sale in King County since February, 2009.  The number of homes for sale is going down, down, down.

East Bellevue and Redmond, Near Microsoft Home Sales, 11-04-09

This chart is updated weekly by (Windermere Real Estate/East Inc., using MLS data to show the price ranges of the homes sold each week.

Here’s how it’s set up:

The colors show who has the advantage in a particular price range.

• Green means the buyer has the advantage with many homes to choose from and not that many selling.
• Yellow means the number of homes for sale and the number of sales in the price range is balanced between the buyer and the seller.
• Red indicates a sellers’ market where the seller may have the advantage as more homes are selling when compared to what’s available.

Down the side of the chart, the home sales activity is broken down into a price bracket of $99,999. All the homes priced between $400,000-499,999, as an example, are put together in one price category in the chart.

Across the top, the chart is broken down into real estate activity by the week.

If you take the $400-499,999 line and follow it across the chart, you’ll see what has happened each of the last seven weeks.  There are three columns under each week. On the left side of the column is the number of homes for sale in East Bellevue and Redmond, near Microsoft.  The middle column shows how many homes sold that week, and the final column under the date shows the months supply of homes for sale.  In other words, if no other homes came up for sale, it would take 2 months to sell all of the homes in the $400-499,999 price range.