"All Things Edmonds" Blog

Edmonds, WA Real Estate | December 2009 Edmonds Home Sales Report

Edmonds Real Estate | December 2009 Homes SOLD

There were 44 homes (houses & condos) sold in December 2009 for Edmonds, WA (actually recorded with the Snohomish County Recorder's Office). In this monthly Edmonds real estate update blog, I'll summarize the market and point out any highlights worth noting. Let me know if you have any questions or are thinking about buying or selling into Edmonds or the surrounding areas. If you want to learn more about how we transfer property in Washington State a really great site to visit is the Escrow Association of Washington site. There you can find definitions and explanations of the home buying process for Edmonds, Washington.

EDMONDS, WA -- It may come as no surprise now but home prices are down while homes sales are up. Many good deals are to be had and the $8,000 1st time homebuyer tax credit didn't hurt.  With the extension of the 1st time homebuyer tax credit, and the extension to existing homebuyers who hvae been in their homes at least 5 consecutive years out of the past eight, the winter will be interesting to see if the surge in sales continues.

See my blog on real estate home sales for Edmonds, WA for specific data for Edmonds.

Edmonds, WA Real Estate | October 2009 Home Sales Report

Edmonds Real Estate | November 2009 Homes SOLD

There were 47 homes (houses & condos) sold in November 2009 for Edmonds, WA (actually recorded with the Snohomish County Recorder's Office).  In this monthly Edmonds real estate update blog, I'll summarize the market and point out any highlights worth noting.  Let me know if you have any questions or are thinking about buying or selling into Edmonds or the surrounding areas. If you want to learn more about how we transfer property in Washington State a really great site to visit is the Escrow Association of Washington site.  There you can find definitions and explanations of the home buying process for Edmonds, Washington.

Shoreline, WA -- Break out the rain coats and umbrella.... Fall is officially here!  In the real estate world, that has translated into lower condo sales in Shoreline, WA. After holding steady the past 2 months, the number of closed sales of condos in Shoreline dipped to just 3 closings in October 2009.  A year ago, there were 5 condo closings. And these numbers are anemic. Back in the hay-day, numbers were much more brisk. In October 2006, for instance, we had 19 condo closings in Shoreline.

I don't expect the volume to change much for the 4th quarter of 2009. But what you might want to consider is the Days on Market (DOM) for listings the next three months. They have fluctuated quite wildly for condos this year. If you have a nice condo, it might actually make sense to list your condo now as marketing time can be as low as two months.

SHORELINE, WA -- Sale of single family homes in Shoreline,WA were down for the third consecutive month. But this isn't all bad news as we usually see a dip in production as we get into the colder, wetter fall and winter months of the year.  In fact,

32 homes sold in October of this year was better than the 27 sold a year ago.  I'm also seeing healthy numbers of homes that are going Pending and off the market, which helps determine inventory levels.

What can we look forward to over the fall and winter months?  Look for real estate sales in Shoreline to be slow but steady.  We're slowly making the turn but these months do tend to be quiet. I'll be looking for steady  - if albeit slow - activity over the next several months. It might take longer to sell in these months but I don't expect sales to dry up completely. Patience is still key.

October 2009 condo real estate sales statistics for Edmonds, WA

For October, the condo real estate market in Edmonds, WA was up. That's obviously a relative assessment but this month we saw a second month in a row of 30+ new listings on the market compared to previous months where only half as many new listings were put on market. This could show of confidence from condo owners that they are will be able to sell their homes in the condo real estate market in Edmonds, WA.

And their belief seems to be supported by the numbers too (see my chart). Pending sales for Edmonds condos nearly tripled from last month and are up by 15-fold from the last 12 months.  There were 17 completed sales this month and that number has been see-sawing back and forth but still holding steadily above 10 per month since May of this year.

To summarize:

• Condo sales in Edmonds are tracking steadily at around 15 per month;
  
• Most inventory is from the last 2 months which means that most other listings put on market prior to September that have not yet sold are Pending.
  
• New condo listings in Edmonds are also up signficantly.

Prognosis: It seems that the Edmonds condo market is picking up a bit. I'm seeing slightly stronger demand from buyers recently too. It is hard to say for sure how much is due to the first time home-buyer tax credit - which looks like it is close to being both extended and expanded - and how much is due just to buyer sentiment about a better real estate market and economy in general.  But we'll take the good news for what it is: good news.

As for average condo prices in Edmonds, both average sales price and asking price are still below year-ago levels but are up from earlier this year. They rallied the first part of the year and then fell again the past several months but are still tracking around $300,000.

Because Edmonds has such a wide variety of condos - from your modest complex in Meadowdale to the high end project at Point Edwards - I might try and run some anaysis that breaks down these differences.  Let me know if that would interest you as readers.

Well it looks like the first-time home buyer tax credit is gaining some traction for an extension and an expansion.  There are several bills on the hill - in both the House and the Senate - that are aimed at extending and expanding the $8,000 tax credit. 

Here are two that are of note that are currently in the works.

• Representative Joe Courtney (D-CT-2) introduced the First-Time Home buyer Tax Extension Act (H.R. 1993) which, if enacted, would extend the First-Time Home buyer Tax Credit through 2010. H.R.1993 has been referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means for further review.
  
  
• The Home Buyer Tax Credit Act (S.1230) was introduced by Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) on June 10, 2009. If enacted, S. 1230 would replace the $8,000 tax credit established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act with a $15,000 maximum tax credit for first-time home buyers. Under this Act, repayment of the credit is waived unless the home is sold or unoccupied within a two-year window. S. 1230 has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee.
  
  
• The Senate has already agreed to extend the existing tax credit for first-time home buyers while offering a reduced credit of up to $6,500 to repeat buyers who have owned their current homes for at least five years.

It should be noted that nothing is a done deal yet as both the House and Senate must agree to any differences before sending a bill off to the President for final ratification.  Congress is also looking into the finances and fraud related to the tax credit and I'm sure that will have to be resolved before anything happens for sure.