"All Things Edmonds" Blog

Successful fishing in Edmonds, WA can require some know-how. Two boating classes are being offered by the Edmonds Flotilla.

The Coast Guard Auxiliary Edmonds Flotilla is offering two 12-week boating classes for experienced and novice boaters.

• The Weekend Navigator begins Sept. 13, and will discuss electronics and navigating.

• The Boating Skills and Seamanship begins Sept. 15, and will cover all aspects of boating.

For details, call 425-483-9684 or email boatclasses@hotmail.com.  These are good courses for those wanting to learn more about fishing in Edmonds, WA.

The Washington State Auditor raised some red flags over lax enforcement of guidelines meant to prevent abuse of use of Edmonds School District credit cards. Parents with kids at public schools in Edmonds, WA certainly don't want to see a scandal like what the Seattle SD recently went through. The Edmonds School District and schools in Edmonds, WA in general have generally been great for our kids (and pocket books). Take this opportunity to talk with school administrators and school board members to let them know that you expect them to do as good a job keeping the books as teaching from them.

You can view the full report on enforcement of credit card use for public schools in Edmonds, WA.

Casey

OK, OK.... we're still in an economic funk. Housing is down; jobs are hard to find; gas prices are high.

But when it comes to real estate prices in the Edmonds WA Bowl area (and greater Puget Sound region as well), we have to keep a long view of what the recent "housing bubble" has done to prices. Certain markets are down. But some are healthy. I wrote a blog about the Edmonds WA real estate market and how healthy we actually are in the single family house sector, but not so much in the condo sector.

Most everyone has heard of the Case-Shiller Home Price Index which gets much publicity monthly. It tracks home prices both nationally and regionally compared to previous months or years. And it's been consistently indicating downward pricing pressures. But it's also important to consider long-term views on housing. The New York Times recently put together a chart showing housing prices for 20 major cities. The important perspective they make is this: yes, we're down over the past several years, but home prices are still up around 33% for the decade (since 2000).

In the above chart, Seattle's line is blue. The national average is black (the other lines are the other major cities around the U.S.) Click on the NY Times link above to play with the chart. But you'll note that the greater Seattle market didn't rise - or fall - as much as other markets nationally. It's the silver lining set against the dreary cloud-covered region we call home.

But it's also a reminder that, like all investments, long term toirtoises often out-perform the short term hares of the world. So don't fret if you know you're in it for the long haul because the Edmonds Bowl real estate in Edmonds WA is doing fine (generally). :)

Keep the chin up!

Casey
Edmonds, WA

ps. Wanna know where home prices are below 2000 levels? Detroit (-32.9%), Cleveland (-3.2%), Las Vegas (-2.8%), Atlanta (-1.6%).

Free trout fishing in Edmonds WA anyone?

The weather for this weekend could not be better for the 24th Annual Edmonds WA Waterfront Festival (see green arrow on Google Map). There will be free trout fishing for children (under age 12) hosted by Trout Unlimited, Edmonds WA chapter.

The free trout fishing will take place at the Willow Creek Fish Hatchery (95 Pine St at the Corner of Edmonds Hwy (SR 104) and Pine St... see yellow arrow on Google Map).

There is a shuttle bus that will ferry people between the hatchery and the Edmonds Waterfront Festival between 11am and 3pm on both Saturday and Sunday.

For more information, contact Trout Unlimited at (425) 771-5970.

For a great introduction to fishing in Edmonds WA, consider the Edmonds WA Waterfront Festival.

Is there anything much better than taking advantage of the natural beauty around us? I particularly love the fishing options we have here in the Northwest.

My dream vacation? 

Catching the Edmonds ferry to Kingston on a sunny, calm day. A nice drive to the Olympica Peninsula. A week at the cabin just outside Port Angeles and fishing and enjoying the outdoors. 

With sun, please.

Enjoy this first wonderful sunny weekend in 7 months folks!

Casey
Edmonds, WA

Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee have drafted legislation that would raise the minimum down payment for FHA mortgages to 5% and cut the maximum FHA loan amounts in many markets. The bill looks to be more of a philosophical response - rather than a fiscal one - to the question of how much the federal government should be involved in the housing market.  Ironically, the program originated during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when the rates of foreclosures and defaults rose sharply, and the program was intended to provide lenders with sufficient insurance. So, its contraction in a similar economic and housing environment today is worthy of "factoid" status.

FHA loan limits are already set to decrease in various markets beginning in October 2011. If this bill passes, those limits will come down even further.  But I'm not here to state that loan limits are, or are not, at the right levels. Quite frankly, the only market I service and know well is Seattle so speaking to the limits of other markets would be spurious.

However, I know that there are many buyers who can only purchase with the assistance of an FHA-approved loan.  There have been many who have made the argument that these limits should go up because too many people who can't afford houses are buying. This argument is based more on anectdotes than real life. We should remember that most home-buyers who are FHA-approved still have to demonstrate an ability to pay and have decent credit ratings.  FHA has two distinct advantages that a conventional loan cannot provide certain buyers: first, it allows those buyers the ability to get a home loan without a significant downpayment that most conventional loans require; second, it provides for better interest rates than the conventional lender, which in turn makes the home purchases (more) affordable.

And so before you make final judgment on certain people who have good jobs and credit - but not quite the tens of thousands often required to get into a home - don't deserve an opportunity at homeownership, keep in mind that many of those would-be buyers are likely to be the ones looking at your home you've got listed.

Enjoy the sun!

Casey
Edmonds, WA

The fact is, I've closed more short sales and REO (real estate owned -- by banks) this year than the traditional types of private party sales. Some statistics show that 40% of homes for sale now are indeed short sales. 

Now I don't go looking for short sales necessarily. They are just so prevalent these days that my (buyer) clients seem to snag them faster than I snag dog fish while salmon or halibut fishing.  Short sale response times so far this year are averaging about 4 months for me.

Here's a good article, if not a bit wordy, that gives prospective buyers of short sale homes five tips to help them endure the frustrating process. Meanwhile, my next short sale closes this Friday.    I should note that I represent banks and list REO properties regularly. Bank-owned REO's tend to provide a much quicker response time than do short sales. That's a distinction worth making.

Casey

My wife and I are expecting our first son this summer which, naturally, prompted some questions about the schools in Edmonds, WA and how they rate.  There are a plethora of websites and organizations out there that rate schools and school districts.  Based on the ratings of one website (www.greatschools.org), I've compiled some very broad ratings. Not comprehensive at all, so forgive the brevity!  It's just a website I happened upon that rates schools. Their criteria for rating schools is listed at the bottom of this blog post. I would love to hear your own thoughts and feedback of the schools in your own part of Edmonds. I'm sure other readers would benefit from this as well.

The average rating this website gave the eight public elementary schools in Edmonds, WA was a 7 out of 10, with the highest school receiving a 10 and the lowest school receiving a 2.  Here's the breakdown with direct links (ranking in parentheses). I didn't include private schools schools.

Elementary schools:

• Maplewood Parenting Co-op (10)
• Madrona Non-graded (9)
• Picnic Point Elementary (7)
• Seaview Elementary (7)
• Westgate Elementary (7)
• Edmonds Elementary (6)
• Serene Lake Elementary (6)
• Chase Lake Elementary (5)
• Sherwood Elementary (5)
• Mountlake Terrace Elementary (3)
• Edmonds Heights K-12 (2)

Middle schools:

• Alderwood Middle School (7)
• Meadowdale Middle School (7)
  
• Brier Terrace Middle School (6)
• College Place Middle School (6)
• Terrace Park School (4)

High schools:

• Meadowdale HS (9)
• Edmonds-Woodway HS (8)
• Mountlake Terrace HS (8)
• Lynnwood HS (7)

GreatSchools Rating Criteria:
"GreatSchools Ratings for Washington In calculating these ratings, GreatSchools analyzed the 2009-2010 Measurements of Student Progress (MSP) and High School Proficiency Exam (HSPE) reading, writing, math and science results and compared them to the standardized scores of all Washington schools with the same grade levels. If there are no GreatSchools Ratings for a school, the school's test results were either not reported or incomplete. The different student groups are identified by the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction; if there are fewer than 10 students in a particular group in a school, data is not reported for that group. Keep in mind that when comparing schools using GreatSchools Ratings, it's important to factor in other information, including the quality of each school's teachers, the school culture, special programs, etc. GreatSchools Ratings cannot be compared across states, because of differences in the states' standardized testing programs."  -- Taken directly from their website @ http://www.greatschools.org/issues/wa/ratings.html.

Another website you may be interested in is www.schooldigger.com.

Earlier this week I posted some new data that showed that 30% of home sellers lost money in March '11.  The fine folks at NPR recently asked a Juliard opera performer to sing the home prices from 2001 through 2011.  They charted national home prices from the well-known Case-Shiller Housing Price Index (see attached graph) into musical notes.

You can hear the NPR story here.  Happy reading.  Or listening.

Zillow just reported that one-third of all home sales in the greater Puget Sound region (Snohomish, King & Pierce Counties) lost money in the sale of their homes.  That number was 22% in March '10. If it's any consolation, that's still less than the national average of 37%.

Zillow also reports that the median price of all homes (condos, townhouses, etc) was $259,200 in the same month.

My own analysis of MLS data shows that in Edmonds, 70 homes sold in March '11. The average sales price was $427,849 and the median price was $353,750 with an average of 115 days on market.  These are very healthy numbers compared to either the country or greater Puget Sound. In fact, in an earlier post I indicated that the single family housing market for Edmonds is very healthy -- to the point of almost becoming a balance market (neither a buyer's nor a seller's market).