Federal Way Undressed

These last few days has made SNOW - a very distant memory!

Sunny weather vs. Stormy weather.

It may have been pretty here in Hill Creek and Regency Woods when the snow hit Federal Way,  but I choose SUN!

Marine Hills - a neighborhood with views of the water in Federal Way!

As you may have noticed, you have all types and styles of homes in this lovely neighborhood.  It is peaceful and quite appealing.  The drive on this beautiful sunny day kept me wanting more.  Just another perk of living in Federal Way, Washington.

Let Go of Buyer Fear. . . Or Don’t Believe All the National Gloom!

I wanted to include this information from an email I received from our broker so as to spread the word that the buyers here in the Seattle area can let go of some of their fear.   

A special Broker meeting for SKCAR was held a few days ago. It was to start the celebration for the 100 year SKCAR Anniversary and for us to hear from the Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors, Lawrence Yun.  His presentation was similar to the one Mathew Gardner gave us a few weeks ago, but with more comparisons to the national economy.  The bottom line, once again, was that the media is the problem as the real estate picture is not near as bad as it is portrayed and especially the
Seattle market is just fine!  The national average is up about 50% over the last 5 years and only down about 1.5% in the last year.  So, would any other industry, money fund or anything on earth be upset with that type of return?

It was interesting to find out that an often quoted professor,Robert Shiller (Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20 city home priceindex), who is responsible for many news media articles that the real estate is melting down, also is the same person with a hedge fund that is banking on a down market!  NAR is publicizing this little fact so as to properly discredit that organization and person.  This is just another example of hugely biased reporting. Case-Shiller not only uses a limited number of cities to compile their data, but for the most part they are in areas that have had more volatile markets such as California, Florida and Arizona.  When you read articles keep this in mind.   Mr. Yun said, in this area we have absolutely no negative indicators for any type of housing recession.  The only factor affecting us is buyer fear.

Thank you Wayne and Debra.

Remember the Sunny Days Before the Storm. . .

Well, I captured this little view of Mt. Rainier from the Crossings plaza.

It is amazing how much “The Crossings” has changed since the summer time.  Alot of great stores have made their way here.  One that caught my attention was “honestjohn” computer services.  They may come in handy, especially if you are one of many who got hit with some of the latest computer viruses during the holidays.

I have not been in here yet but Massage Envy definitely caught my attention.  Both stores are located by the LA Fitness.

But it was Mt. Rainier that caught most of my attention that day.  It really looked beautiful from The Crossings.

Federal Way does have some interesting views!

Federal Way Real Estate Market Survey - Condominiums January 2008

Number of condominiums that sold in Federal Way last month.  Residential Homes seem to be doing better than condo sales.

The number of condominiums that were added to the Real Estate market for January.

And the number of active Condominium listings in our local MLS. You are welcome to visit my MLS home search. The links are above.

Federal Way Real Estate Market Survey - Residential January 08

Number of homes that sold in Federal Way last month. It looks like the local real estate agents have been busier than projected. The number of homes sold is up and the days on market are shorter.

Number of homes for sale that came on the market. Again the Realtors have been busy, the number is big for Federal Way. the assortment of homes for sale might please home buyers, especially in the $250,000 to $500,000 bracket.

Number of active residential listings in our local MLS. You are welcome to visit my MLS home search. The links are above.

Further interpretation - I leave to you.