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A Year Round Washington
Snowmobile Parks in Washington State
The sport of snowmobiling is growing every year and it easy to see why. Snowmobiling offers a wonderful family and friends experience as opens up opportunities to see Washington’s back country scenery. If you are like me, you can’t get [...]
Home Buyer & Seller Information
Purchasing Short Sales & Bank Owned: Deals or Headaches?
Bank owned and short sales properties dominate the Snohomish County real estate market and it’s no surprise that many buyers are actively searching for these types of properties. But are these properties the bargain of the century or are they [...]
Snohomish County Market Updates
Snohomish County Lot Sales 4th Quarter 2009
The lot sales in the 4th quarter of 2009 Snohomish County has increased by 36% over 3rd Quarter 2009, a significant gain since it’s not typical for banks to be lending to builders. More impressively, the prices on vacant land [...]
2008’s 4th Quarter Lot Sale are In
When the real estate market corrects itself like it has in the 2007 and 2008 year it is not just the home being owner who is affected. The whole process is slowed and as such builders and developers have continued to reduce their risk by choosing not to purchase buildable lots. Some builders and developers have had even to close their doors in the face of the crisis while others sit back wait for bank owned lots to come available.
Either way, the lots sale have continued to slow since the summer of the 2006 but the 4th quarter did show increase to 222 total sales. This statistic is not an accurate picture of Snohomish County’s lot sales because 148 of those lots where purchased by the Navy for military housing project and more than likely those lots will never be sold to the general public. The corrected number puts the total sales at 74 which is only 7 more sales than 3rd Quarter 2008. The lot sale pipeline could face shortages in the future if the economy shifts back to a growth phase, more than likely that won’t be any time soon, and numbers will probably remain low until bank starting having fire sales.
Prices for individual lots have corrected themselves as well. Instead of purchasing a lot in Lake Stevens for $145,000 in 2007 lots have reduced to as low as $85,000. This correction will make prices much more attractive for builders, developers and even the custom builders (which we are seeing more of in the slow new construction market).